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alright. I actually had plenty to update didnt I? to make up for the previous few emoish and mushy posts, I will do a proper life update. even if no one reads it, its for personal future reference.

if the following feels like a blame game, I am not. just thought its kinda funny to jot down nuggets of stuff friends are telling me.

quickly running through the extremely madnessly busy week 6..

Japanese Speaking Test

due to a particular attempt-to-act-hero moment, I hemmed and hawed my first line. thanks luh edmond. watashi wa doyoubi wa tempura otabemasu soshite kaimono oshimasu indeed.

other than that its pretty fine. its quite amazing I actually uttered the time properly without realising it myself. the power of your subconsciousness must not be underestimated.

DSS Class Test

um. simple. not being egoistic, just being honest. I expected a bit more actually. anyway, I made a careless mistake with the 8% markup for sales amount or something though. must thank jiayan for bursting my bubble with this one.

DSS Presentation

my group, thanks to a tip-off by Inez, was dressed for the occasion and got some points just for that. it invoked quite a rage in the other groups. sorry =(

we did alright methinks. the role play involving big boss visiting turning out to be his assistant flopped due to the chronic lack of preparation time. we just ended up representing different employees of Super Cars and touching on a small part of the presentation respectively.

I did question 2 as per arranged, then question 4 when hup song didnt prepare for it cos he didnt know he had to.

Mr Yang said I started out smoothly but stuttered at the end, not really knowing what to say (lol I didnt prepare question 4 remember?), and that guiding the audience with the mouse pointer is good. will keep them in mind. thank you.

POA Quiz 1

only knew its an open book test on the day itself. I wanted to slap myself for spending so much time preparing for it there and then.

the preparation kinda paid off at least. I didnt have to refer to the notes many times. blessing in disguise? quiz was quite alright overall I suppose..

LMS Group Assignment 1 Presentation

this was the thing that kept me nervous for the week. we only really prepared on 9am that day, and even then I was polishing up the powerpoint all the way into the wee hours the previous night. had to an expresso to protect myself from the zzz monster.

christine injured her foot and we ended up at her condo a short distance away from NP. fully airconditioned houses and private lifts are like, wow. at least to average HDB dwellers (whose lift is only being upgraded now to serve every floor no less) like me. imagine stepping into the lift and going "ahh... home" and having that literally happen.

there we scaled down the role play quite a bit to keep within time limits, found the sound effects, beautified the powerpoint and rehearsed. all within about 3 hours (we only went to christine's place at about 10).

I must admit its my first time pulling off such an impromptu presentation. knowing myself, I spent some time thinking typing out some points in the ppt. christine and jiayan are born actresses and they did really really (and I really mean it) well for the role play.

of course elizabeth's role in the ppt initial research and beautifying as well as ian's effort on bgm and sound effects must not be forgotten too.

I am actually kinda glad to be in this LMS group. hope we can stick to this in IAC too.

and now for this e-learning week and POA common test...

monday was for BMGT project. sent mel to school early in the morning (and wish her luck for her jap speaking test), rushed to JW for breakfast with parents and to cut my hair. then rushed home to prepare to meet group at Orchard MRT (kiasu me am the first to arrive as usual), went to taka B1 for lunch, a short briefing by boss (hannah) and its off to pairs for work.

swee mun and I were supposed to comb citylink mall, suntec city and marina square. all in all we checked 12 cafes. unfortunately we were not detailed in checking and only mainly recorded the prices of their latte, cappucinos, mocha and some interesting side or main dishes they offer.

hup song and wen yi literally did their 5 cafes questionnaire style (of course good) and hannah and jacqueline found like 15 or 16 cafes with brochures to boot. no wonder both of us were reluctant to share our findings.

the exploring in suntec and marina is kinda fun actually. chatted a bit here and there. like someone being an arcade addict. after all we didnt really talk to each other before this. just that. no other feelings ok.

the day wrapped up with a meeting at the food court of raffles city with the completion of the organisation chart and a review.

on tuesday I went to do some stuff for my aunt's workplace again. this time to rescue data from a failing hard disk. copied out what I could (two folders worth of stuff didnt make it). shall not elaborate on the technical details so you all dont sleep. then its off for jap that started at 6pm as usual.

I managed to complete my POA quiz 2 and an ungraded DSS week 7 quiz on tuesday morning as well since I woke up early. not too bad.

wednesday was for the SYF opening ceremony briefing at 5.30pm or something at LT5A. went to school at 2 plus and tried to study for POA. accomplished a little. its basically for admin: the indemnity form, the shirt sizes, the dress code, confirmations, trainings, blabla.

at first I was worried about clashes with LMS presentation and first IAC lesson. but now LMS presentation shifted to week 12 (in fact no lesson on week 11 to let us prepare) and we only had to leave at 1pm (IAC from 10am to 12 noon), it is a good example of 船到桥头自然直. haha.

thursday I went school since zp said he wanna tour NP. ended up he didnt come since his mother fell sick. so I ended up finishing the BLAW group tutorial there as well as to add the narrations for BMGT group tutorial while waiting for mel. basically we went for a dinner and movie. reached home at like 12.30am.

friday was LMS again. so had to go back to school. briefing for group assignment 2 and selection of topic. my group also tried to come up with a more concrete plan on meetings during june break. we more or less did.

then studied a bit at the library with mel. continued and chionged like mad at home for POA since apparently I didnt study much thanks to my schedule for the week.

apparently my e-learning week didnt make me any more free.

and today its POA common test already. thanks to all the crazy last minute studying it didnt go so bad. at least for the quantitative questions. the balance sheet is balanced in my first attempt. woo. and I spotted and quickly corrected my mistakes in the adjusting entries too.

though I smoked through (with industrial strength thickness kind of clouds no less) my definitions. didnt even study about that double-entry accounting lol. good thing its only 4 marks or so.

and I just wasted hell a lot of time writing this when i should be preparing for macroecons. SHIT. I will talk about today in my next post. dont ask me when.

NOTE: The first part of this post is kinda whiny. The second part of this post is kinda mushy. I guess this post must make a pretty bad read.

just reached home at about 12am after spending time out with melissa.

thought of spending more time with her now since common tests are coming up and I think it isnt a good idea to meet during that period since we both are the type who has to study.

tomorrow (actually today) is her birthday, the 2nd month and the final meeting before its time to work extra hard before the next meeting next thursday.

I should really study hard. just the amount of material in BLAW is creeping me out. I sometimes really wonder if I had learnt all the stuff in the slides already? its like damn fast can.

like a few people had helpfully pointed out, the POA accounting cycle took 6 to 9 months to teach in secondary school with about 6h weekly. poly finished it in a month with 4h weekly.

MAEC has a tricky setter. and I am the gullible kind who keeps stepping into these landmines. the fact the topics are simple and the questions are true/false and MCQ makes it all the more suspicious and easier to get tricked.

but the point of this post is not to bitch about the common tests starting this saturday (!).

==

continuing from where I left off, since we had about 6 hours to ourselves after the SYF briefing today, we actually spent some time knowing a bit more about each other.

I had been thinking this way for a while now. and I am becoming increasingly convinced that we are really alike.

likes (TV shows, movies...), dislikes (sports. oops), preferences (places to visit after school, amount to spend, aspirations, number of children to have and their gender [!]), bad habits (shaking legs, muddle-headed...) and quite a few other (and very interesting. lol.) things. it is the small things in life that we always seem to agree on and/ or are similar that makes things so comfortable.

of course we have differences. but they are quite few and far between, even if some of them are pretty major. but the major similarities we have makes it worth the effort for us to change. for us to try and accomodate each other.

sometimes I really think it is fate that brought us together. all the way back in february, both of us thought we were just a random friend that you happened to have a lot to share about. there was no hint of what is about to develop.

and then it happened. I could not even tell exactly when. it just came suddenly. when we realised we mattered more to each other than we expected. when we realised we are so comfortable with each other that when one of us are not around, the other party feels awkward. feels as if something is missing. (remember my FOC and BAoc and your FOP?)

in fact I have gotten so comfortable with her presence that I really do not wish to leave her anymore. I didnt expect myself to want to settle down so soon, but she is so special that sometimes, I really pondered over taking that option.

of course, it is too early to say anything now, but my gut feeling just seems to be telling me that fortunately, this journey wont be ending anytime soon.

and with that, happy second month =)

P.S. I am going to be the last one to wish you happy birthday so I am not about to wish you just that. haha.

a well-planned weekend gone down the drain. especially after such a busy week.

but can't be helped la. CCA points important. school important. hor?

this hectic week is coming to an end... but its kind of like out of the frying pan and into the fire. allow me to explain.

the e-learning week can't cheer me up. still got plenty of lectures and tutorials. except you read and do them online. deadlines are mel-controlled. no slacking.

and the saturday of the e-learning week happens to be the principles of accounting common test already. yes I can hear you say, so soon? personally thought so too.

and on monday the 2nd of June (2 days after POA) is macroeconomics common test set by the super devious and tricky lecturer. the extremely-crazily-content-heavy business law follows right on 5th of June.

how to relax right? anyway want to relax also no one to relax with la. now who wants to study with me? oh, I forgot most of them dont have my blog address. nevermind.

right now I am doing the LMS presentation as well. goodness gracious. what a high-velocity end to this term. can you feel my blood pressure rising?

oh. I will talk about this week in another post.

I hate to post about life nowadays cos its creepily boring. and any life post resembles a whining post a lot.

this week's POA quiz got postponed next week thanks to a technical glitch. that should have made the quiz tomorrow, unfortunately tomorrow is a public holiday. our make up tutorial is on thursday. so it is on thursday.

I would have preferred it to happen last monday. next week is already packed enough. no need to make it worse. but I cant change history nor the future, so for next week...

tuesday: japanese speaking test
wednesday: DSS class test and DSS PBL presentation
thursday: POA quiz
friday: LMS group assignment 1 presentation

marvelous. and my wednesday will end at 6pm and thursday at 4pm instead because of the POA make up lecture and tutorial.

japanese speaking test is perhaps the scariest. 30% of the score determined just like that raishuu kayoubi no gogo roku ji (next tuesday at 6pm). and I am still not very good at it. *faints*

POA need some refreshing and I think its fine. DSS I have read through the text. maybe a quick glance again tomorrow would do the trick.

DSS presentation shall be really impromptu due to lack of time but got idea liao. LMS we meeting tomorrow to try out. but the script is still half done so far.......and one of them cannot come. what will happen to her role? gosh.

okay the more I talk about it the more pressured I get. off to plenty of work. I am quite sure the next post will be up only during the next weekend. tata.

I should be using this difficult-to-come-by time to study for the POA and BLAW quiz coming up tomorrow (!) and tuesday respectively but I am not in the mood for work so here I am.

this is one of the rare sundays I am at home. usually I would be at my maternal grandma's house, but since my father isnt well. I visited neither of them for this weekend. and the last actually.

my father is down with the bouts of fever again. and since he doesnt get enough sleep, he cant really recuperate well. sometimes I feel kinda guilty he is the sole breadwinner. but it is at his insistence that my mother does not find a job and continue attending to the kindergarten children on his bus so...

==

before I start on the past two weeks, I actually spent some time reading archives of my blog just now. there was actually this part that went

"as you can see the four paragraphs above can be described as whining but well, I needed somewhere for me to say all these and putting it here means I can refer back here some years later and take a look (and maybe laugh at it for it is less than one-hundredth of what I will have then)."

haha how nostalgic and how true. I really can feel the difference in maturity between the me then and now just from the posts. even if I am still not super mature now.

it gets kinda sad reading all of these, comparing and realising how much things have changed. and how they are not the same anymore. and probably wont be.

I wanted to start on my final sec 4 days, especially the night study. they are really proving to be goddamn memorable. but I will leave this for another time.

with this, the ride down memory lane had finished its loop for the time being and arrives once again at the present.

==

this had been an okay week. busy with tutorials and projects (and perhaps life?). at this moment there is the LMS and BMGT project.

the LMS one was freakier because we had to adapt a real life case of anger management into a skit. and skits are normally comical. and this is the irony. to maintain enough content to illustrate the case and our point without sacrificing humour.

to make matters worse, my LMS group are busy people and some have CCA or work during nights. so even MSN discussions is not easy. but still we will be meeting for a few moments on monday and wednesday and make best use of the time.

BMGT is with the people from my class TB31. it is going to be a major project accounting for 30% of the total score and I think the group is not too bad. I am quite comfortable working with them and hope that I will become better friends with these group mates.

since we are on projects, I actually settled my BMGT lecture summary and newspaper article presentation. we only can choose between being the first and last and I thought might as well just get it out of the way once and for all. but I forgot its graded. lol.

there is also the weekly BLAW and MAEC tutorial questions presentations but we decided to work individually and compile during the lesson for these so it doesnt matter now.

==

school starts at 9am daily (except fri at 1pm) for me and ends at 1 on Mon and Thu, 5 on Tue and 4 on Wed. but I will wait for mel on mon (that is 8pm), have jap myself on tue (that is 8pm too), spend my thursday slacking at OurSpace@72. on fridays I go out with mel after lessons.

so I literally reach home at 9 plus or 10 DAILY. that leaves most tutorials to the weekends. my early monday and thursdays are used to settle projects and whatever little tutorial I can finish with that time. and now I will have LMS discussions on mon and wed late noons, the only time my group is free.

when CCA comes into the picture, I dont want to think whether it would be a better idea to just sleep in school instead.

from the above, I realise poly life isnt a walk in the park that I am totally expecting. I know JC people are going to come in and tell me they reach home at 12 midnight. I am not comparing to JC, I am comparing against my own expectations of poly life.

but a big part of my busyness (I know its not a word) is because of my relationship la. so people in relationships in JC with CCA commitments are... godly. currently we meet nearly daily to go home together. I think her peer tutoring is going to be a blessing in disguise. I sincerely dont want relationships to be at the expense of studies.

==

in poly I have quite a few acquaintances, but I am really thankful that I have a few rather good friends in poly. and of course my dear melissa. poly life would probably been unbearable if not for all of you. though I think I ought to break out of my shell and make a few more good friends in class and CCA (once I get one). 在家靠父母，在外靠朋友. this saying remains really true.

the CCA thing is really bugging me since I am lazy to email the various clubs I want to join after I know I got rejected from BA Envoys. aww. anyway I will remain active in BA Society and NP-CSS Alumni Chapter, and join Poly Stage Productions as well as Japanese Tsubasa Club. wanted to join floorball in place of poly stage and tsubasa but got no response from them. oh well.

the culture here is kinda slack to me la. many tutorials are discussions based so your group gets only a small part. and even then there are 5 of you all working on that one question so you would be really tempted to just heck care. I try my best to do work la, but like this weekend when there are 2 tests coming up I really cant help it.

and there is still jap to think about. I think the jap class is really becoming a chore. I am surrounded by people who can actually watch anime raws, and pressure is quite great to perform. yet I have no time to properly revise. even my weekends are spent on tutorials or preparing for quizzes. so I am seriously considering if I should continue the class next sem. there are plenty of self-help japanese books after all.

oh, POA quiz is tomorrow. BLAW class test on tuesday and DSS next next wednesday. apparently school has went on enough to warrant tests already. but it still feels like I havent really been learning that much. the pace of teaching is really that fast, as one of the lecturers pointed out. week 8 (3 more weeks!) is common test already. gawd.

I think this brings me back to reality. time to study for them. see ya. the lecturers and tutors post will be within the week starting tomorrow. I am sure of that.

today was an eventful day. because of one major event.

met melissa at 12 plus to go library so she can do research for IAC and I can do my work. meeting up proved to be a total hassle since her phone had zero value. so by telepathy and some arrangements through positions to stand in, we finally managed to meet on SBS7363 on service 198.

then we went library. she found her books but I didnt do much work. hahaha. then went IMM since she going shopping with her mum and sis. sent her there and left soon after that.

its either sheer laziness or coincidence (as you will see later) that I decided to take 333 from IMM side without crossing overhead bridge. so I went one round towards Jurong East Street 32 before it goes back in the direction of the interchange towards the library where I planned to get off.

when I am inside the Street 32 loop, melissa smsed me (with her sis phone) to tell me she hit her thigh against some broken glass in Giant and bleeding profusely. since the bus heading back, I sort of rushed back again.

she was at the bread section with her mum and sis and they already stuck the plaster on. the staff kept telling us they cant do much and it isnt their fault but the customer's for chipping off the glass panel.

of course I am furious. shouldnt someone go bloody take that dangerous SOB down if that customer chipped it off? I railed at their manager over the phone (and in malaysia at that) to ensure they take responsibility.

I wanted to make them sign an agreement, but I decided the workers are quite innocent anyway and they are probably already a little irritated over my less than pleasant attitude.

anyway they gave 50 dollars first and said they would reimburse further if necessary. so we cabbed down to the clinic in Jurong West that I remember opens daily till 11pm.

even there we waited for about half an hour. cannot imagine if we went to the Westpoint Hospital at Taman Jurong. probably will take two hours.

when inside, the doctor slowly opened the plasters. it was only then I saw the wound. it looked a lot like the valves in the arteries. it is crescent shaped and you can actually see it went quite deep.

the doctor decided it needed two stitches. and that meant two shots of local anaesthetia by injection right before that happens. melissa nearly cried after knowing that.

the anaesthetia was injected without issues except some honestly not very vulgar terms peppered in between. apparently the anaesthetic injection ended up hurting more than the actual stitching itself.

I watched the stitching process closely. it looks like it would hurt bloody much loh. imagine poking a needle through the underside of your flesh. yes that means the skin can be flipped over already. wth. the anaesthetia really worked.

melissa was quite brave I think. she only complained a bit during the injection and stayed really still for the rest of the process. I dont think I would have quite been as still. especially after knowing how the surgery is performed. or maybe she freaked out beyond consciousness or something haha.

throughout the injection and stitching, my left hand was covering mel's eyes. the other hand of mine decided to take some photos with my phone other than consoling her even though she didnt really need much la.

but alas, I am lazy to fetch them from my now-overflowing memory card. another time another time. I will post them up eventually. I think.

anyway the total bill came up to S$108. it is quite unexpectedly high for me la. I never went for such mini surgeries before ma (and I sure as hell hope I wont have to). so the 50 dollars indeed proved to be a total shortfall.

then the dressing have to be changed two days later. then two weeks later they have to return to remove the stitches. not to forget the cab fare. I bet the final value will stand around S$300.

but I am sure Giant can afford it, if they are so gigantic and is able to rent such a huge part of IMM, they will have no problems paying S$300 to save themselves some bad publicity (which I will ensure it happens if they do not keep to their words).

Singapore 101 is a new series that will periodically feature some of my (mostly negative) thoughts on the policies of Singapore.

You are welcome to share any opinions you may have on the issues, provided it is healthy and with substance. You are never anonymous on the internet, as the previous two bloggers prosecuted for sedition may illustrate. So avoid seditious and slanderous remarks for your own good.

I also understand this is an extremely sensitive issue to be touched on in our sunny city-state island. But I am taking this risk for what I will be mentioning are going to be issues I feel strongly about.

==

DISCLAIMER: This post is in no way attempting to insult, defame and/or undermine any nationality, race, religion and/or person. Phrases and words used which one deems to be defamatory, insulting and/or otherwise undermining the integrity of any of the abovementioned will be immediately looked into and edited as necessary once the writer is informed.



Don't you think this video has a very patriotic feel to it?

Actually the person who made this video was actually angered the comments made by various ministers over our foreign talents policy.

And I think I kind of agree with him. No doubt, foreign talents helped increase our competitvity, especially in the higher value-added sectors such as the finance and banking industry. It made us work hard, it allowed Singapore to be "a developed country growing at the speed of a developing country". Being a small country with no resources, it allowed us to be where we are standing today. But I guess amongst all the glitz about growth, we forgot about the lower end of the scale.

The influx of foreign workers has threatened the rice bowl of the low-income workers further. They are already putting in long hours for a pittance. What's more, these low-wage locals are often already in their 60s, how can they match up to the energy levels and efficiency of a 20 plus year old foreigner, who is ready to give his or her all to make money?

"Singaporeans would lose jobs without foreign workers." - PM Lee. This is even more ironic, for these foreign workers are the ones who WILL be making these older Singaporeans lose their jobs as companies prefer to hire someone who can work better for less.

And I am sure many Singaporeans are willing to put out long hours just like the foreign workers do, even if only to ensure they do not starve under our self-reliance philosophy.

I am sure the government knows really well the line our older Singaporeans are working in (Yes, cleaners). But, with the new ruling coming up that will make it mandatory for companies to re-hire their older workers till they are 67, as well as the ever-deferring CPF draw-out age, I forsee a huge problem coming up in the near future if we were to continue to keep our doors open to lower-skilled, work permit holding foreigners.

The government in recent years had been making great leaps in providing greater support to the needy. The long-term Workfare Income Supplement as well as short term measures like Progress Package, GST Credits and Growth Dividends are all designed to give greater benefits to the lower-income groups.

We are giving them a fish (in terms of aid) and teaching them to fish (through skills upgrading). But, we are not giving them a fighting chance in the strong seas.

Competivity is important. But should it be at the expense of the very people we are trying to help? Unlike many many countries in the world, Singapore does not attempt to provide concessions in the job market to their own citizens. Isn't it the basic right of us as citizens to be taken care of? If we are going to be subject to the competitveness of a foreigner, why not we just migrate and be a foreigner in another country instead?

Is it time for a shift in policies?