Academic stuff: Midpoint of AY2017/18

I've only been in the university one semester but already I'm considered a level 2 student, or ARS2 in official parlance (ARS stands for Arts and Social Sciences, not a set of nether regions). The system automatically promoted me because I have 42 credits to my name after counting the 20 I was given in recognition of my diploma, and hence passed the threshold of 40 which is required to ascend from the newbie tier. I feel so... veteran.

But actually, it doesn't matter what level you're in. Nothing changes except for some words on a screen in acknowledgement of the fact that you're now that much closer to graduating. You still have to study, take exams, do assignments, and bid for your modules, regardless of whether you're in ARS1 or ARS3.

Speaking of bidding...

My modules this semester

CFG2001: Career Catalyst
Number of MCs: 2, so I call it a "half-module" as a regular module is 4 MCs
Grading: CS/CU, does not count towards the CAP or S/U allowance
CORS bidding result: Bid 800 General points, won for 1 General point
Format: There are no physical lectures and only two face-to-face workshops in the entire semester, although obviously some effort is required for coursework in order to get the CS grade
"eeyer why u want to do cfg mod" was what my friend WhatsApped to me when I mentioned I was intending to take this module. The brutally pragmatic answer is because of its light schedule and CS/CU grading. Also, its 2 MCs combined with the 2 MCs from CFG1010, which I took last semester (preview and review) bring my total number of credits back to a nice multiple of 4, which is easier to keep track of for graduation purposes as most modules are worth 4 MCs and not 2. This new module is being run for the first time so I will be in the pioneering batch. How exciting! Content-wise, it is supposed to go more in-depth into career-preparedness skills like networking, resume writing and job interview techniques. If you noticed my bid amount and are wondering why I threw so many points at this module, I only had to bid for this one module as all my other modules were pre-allocated. Hence, I had the luxury to be wanton in the way I used my points. After all, I get refunded the excess points anyway, so nothing goes to waste.

FAS1102: Public Writing and Communication
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, eligible for S/U
CORS bidding result: Pre-allocated for one point from the Programme account
Format: All lectures are e-lectures and face-to-face tutorials are held every week
The counterpart to FAS1101 (preview and review), which teaches academic writing, this module is about delivering persuasive messages through a variety of non-academic channels such as letters, presentations, and blog posts. Students in FASS take one module in their first semester and the other in their second, with the exact order being decided randomly for each student.

GEQ1000: Asking Questions
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: CS/CU, does not count towards the CAP or S/U allowance
CORS bidding result: Pre-allocated for one point from the General account after successful appeal through CORS
Format: All lectures are e-lectures and face-to-face tutorials are held on alternate weeks
All students in NUS will be pre-allocated this module. In my case, I wanted it this semester as the schedule was a match made in heaven with my other modules. But I was unlucky and it was not given to me at first. Fortunately, my appeal was granted and I was pre-allocated the module in the end. The module is about, well, asking questions, conducting inquiry, finding out information and thinking critically about a wide range of serious topics.

GET1031A: Computational Thinking
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, eligible for S/U
CORS bidding result: Pre-allocated for one point from the General account
Format: All lectures are e-lectures and face-to-face tutorials are held on alternate weeks
This is a new module that is compulsory for all Arts students to take, hence the A at the end of the module code. Just like with CFG2001, I am in the pioneering cohort for this module. There is an existing GET1031 Computational Thinking module but I presume the two are different enough that the university added a suffix to the code to distinguish them. The module can be described as "coding without actually coding". It contains concepts like recursion, which is some kind of logic used by computers. Huh. I believe I am good with computers. This morning, my laptop screen suddenly went totally grey, and the taskbar vanished together with the desktop and every single programme, but I was able to use Control-Alternate-Delete to access Task Manager and its Run function, from which I restarted the explorer.exe process, and magically, my computer worked perfectly fine after that. Where does recursion come into the picture again?

NM2103: Quantitative Research Methods
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, eligible for S/U
CORS bidding result: Pre-allocated for one point from the Programme account after participation in the Module Preference Exercise
Format: Face-to-face lectures and tutorials every week
Being a serial hoarder has its perks. I kept all my notes, lecture slides and other detritus from my research subjects in polytechnic so now I have a ready resource to refresh my memory of t-tests, ANOVAs and the SPSS software, all of which make up the content of this module.

NM2220: Introduction to Media Writing
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, eligible for S/U
CORS bidding result: Pre-allocated for one point from the Programme account after participation in the Module Preference Exercise
Format: Face-to-face lectures and tutorials every week
I am going to be taught by a former journalist with more than 20 years of experience in renowned news services including Reuters. Hopefully I pick up some useful skills on how to improve my writing!

Just like last semester, I will be taking on a total workload of 22 MCs, slightly more than the usual 20 MCs because of the extra 2 MCs from CFG2001. But this is not really a big issue as the extra credits come from a rather light module so it is worth it.

Looking back on the previous semester

My first semester in university went about as well as I could expect. It got a bit crazy during midterms, project deadlines and finals, but otherwise I thought the workload was quite manageable. I did rather well, too. My CAP is 4.88, after I used an S/U to get rid of the B grade I got for GER1000.

Looking ahead

I declared Communications and New Media (CNM) as my major during the Major Declaration Exercise in December 2017, which allowed me to select New Media modules that I wanted to take in the next semester during the Module Preference Exercise which ran concurrently. These modules were then pre-allocated to me for one point from my Programme account. This works for all modules and majors in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, as long as the number of students who want a particular module does not exceed its capacity, in which case CORS bidding will be conducted in a special round reserved only for majors from that particular department.

Now that I am officially a CNM student, I am excited to sink my teeth into the meat of what the major has to offer!

This blog over the next few months

Akin to the situation last semester, I have prepared some posts in advance and scheduled them for periodic release over the months of February to April. They will appear about once a month, until I return in May. During the recess week, I may or may not write a fresh post. If I do, it will be made clear right at the top, like the way it was for my recess week post last semester.

Until then, see you on the other side.

Happy New Year 2018

The only sure things in life are death, taxes, and every year being branded annus horribilis by people who want to sound smart by using Latin (i.e., the media).

Every turn of the year we humans seem to go through the same cycle of regret and self-loathing at our failures throughout the year, anger and resentment at all the bad things that the year brought us, and naive hope that the next year will be better.

I have never made a New Year resolution in my life precisely because I know it will ultimately prove an empty and futile ritual. Why go through the motions?

I would much rather focus on the positives: my personal highlights of the year, and lessons learned that will improve who I am as a person.

In this post, I write down some of these reflections and share them with you.

My highlight reel for 2017

It has been a milestone year. I graduated with a Diploma in Psychology Studies from Temasek Polytechnic and started on my Bachelor of Arts degree programme at the National University of Singapore.

Along the way, I got to know some really great folks, a couple of whom have become my friends.

We also welcomed a new member to our family: Toki, a rabbit we adopted from local rescue shelter Bunny Wonderland.

This year, I also joined Twitter and Reddit! Better late than never. They are such fun and I have no regrets whatsoever.

Things I learned this year

Take a leap of faith

I have a collection of Water Wally plush toys that I love very much. Some of them were suffering from floppy leg syndrome, making their legs look really grotesque and misshapen. This distressed me greatly and I wanted them repaired. Fortunately, my good friend knows a skilled craftswoman who agreed to take on the project, with some apprehension because she had never done such a thing before (her expertise lies in clay firing, not fabrics). I, too, was a little nervous but decided to push through as the potential rewards were too attractive to ignore. My toys will finally have a chance to look good again. That was something I desired so badly and I was willing to take the risk. It all worked out well in the end. My toys were opened up down the central seam, their stuffing and the broken pieces of cardboard in their legs removed and replaced with better quality stuffing, and then stitched back together again. The artisan later wrote about the process on her Instagram account, saying that she was glad to have taken a leap of faith in accepting my request and that it had made her more determined to be brave in other areas of her life too. I am also happy that I took a similar leap of faith. Her handiwork is incredible and my plush toys are as good as new!

Be myself

Sometimes we worry about how others perceive us, and put on a bogus front in an attempt to appear more socially desirable. But I discovered that if I just let myself be who I really am, I make interacting with people more fun for myself and attract the right kind of people to be my friends. I have a no-holds-barred conversational style that may come across as offensive, so I used to be very cautious when talking to others and would often prefer to say nothing at all, but now I realise that those who get upset by the way I speak are not the type of people I want to be friends with in the first place. Far better to behave naturally and let things fall into place without stressing myself.

My hope for 2018

I wish for simple things: happiness, good health, and safety for all my family, friends, and you, the readers of my blog. Thank you for reading and supporting my work. I hope you like what you see, and will continue to visit regularly in the year ahead.

A good start to the year...

I sent out the customary New Year greetings to my close friends and relatives, exchanged a few messages with those who replied, did one last round of social media, then locked my phone and went to bed.

Or that was the plan anyway.

As I lay there in the darkness, a ball of fire grew in my belly. It moved with frightening speed in a clockwise direction, burning up my gut every step of the way. Within minutes it reached its destination and threw itself against the door.

I tensed and broke out in a cold sweat. "Please," I begged. "Wait until tomorrow."

But it had other ideas. It crashed against the door again and I knew I could not hold it for much longer. Resignedly, I went to the toilet and let it burst forth.

And with great satisfaction and swathed in newfound comfort, I promptly fell into a deep slumber.

Out with the old and in with the new!