Cross-posting my LinkedIn article: Cold calling

Besides writing on this blog, which I reserve for less serious topics, I also publish articles on LinkedIn about my learning experiences in communications and public relations.

Click here to see an article I wrote on 30 April 2018, Cold calling: A newbie's anecdote.

Time capsule for CORS

Time capsule, time capsule, travelling through time

Time capsule, time capsule, keeping things of mine

Precious things we put away

Save them for another day

The day has come when I can say it's time capsule time

~ Time Capsule by Kellie from Hi-5, a popular children's show in the 2000s (view the clip)

Just like how the above lyrics from a children's show that was popular in the 2000s were preserved on YouTube, the internet can serve as a time capsule to record for posterity many other things that are fading into obscurity.

Things like CORS, which is entering its last year of operation.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, this post will give you some context.

The demise of CORS makes me a little sad, so I decided to make a time capsule for it in this post. I'll put some screenshots showing what the system looks like, along with captions explaining what each picture represents.

Because what goes on the internet stays on the internet, the memory of CORS will be immortalised by this series of images forever.

Who knows? Decades from now, a misty-eyed former NUS student might stumble across this post, and recall with great nostalgia how CORS made him feel, all those years ago.

Let's get into it.

This is the screen that greets us when we first log in.

This is the Module Management page. Under Allocated Modules, we can see what modules the university has pre-allocated to us in the coming semester. We can also select modules that we want to take by clicking the orange Add New Module button, and they will appear under Selected Modules.

After clicking the orange Add New Module button from the previous screenshot, we select our desired module from this list. The system is quite smart and if we fail to meet the prerequisites for a module or it has a clash in lecture or examination timing with another of our modules, we will be barred from adding it.

This screen tracks the number of bid points we have. We each have two accounts: the Programme account for buying modules within our faculty, and the General account for buying General Education modules and modules offered by other faculties. Each semester, we are credited 1000 points, split into 600 Programme points and 400 General points for FASS students. We can get bonus points by completing the student feedback exercise at the end of every semester. Points are debited out of the respective accounts when we place a bid for a module, and any refunds are credited back in afterwards. One point is also debited out for each pre-allocated module.

Where all the action happens! On this screen, we put in our bids by entering a whole number into the text field under the Your Bid column and clicking the orange Bid button. If the module is really popular, we watch anxiously as the next minimum bid, which is the amount we will have to pay if we want the module, steadily creeps upward as more and more people put in ever-increasing bids. The section called Modules Not Available for Bidding in Current Round is for advanced bidding on modules that will only be up for bidding in later rounds. We can put in bids in advance, and these bids will be automatically placed once the relevant round begins. This is great for people who are going on vacation and may not have access to the system when bidding is live.

After clicking the orange Bid button, the system prompts us to confirm our bid amount.

After confirming our bid amount in the previous screenshot, the system tells us that our bid has been successfully placed.

A few hours before the end of each round, bidding shifts to closed mode. Statistics showing the highest and lowest bids, and the next minimum bid, are no longer available. We can still place bids during this period, and people usually do to take advantage of the fact that no one can see the bid prices and react to any trends. This practice is sometimes known as sniping.

This is the appeal system. We can submit many different kinds of appeals for different purposes, but all of them must be supported by valid reasons written in a clear and coherent manner. A team of administrators manually reviews all appeals so frivolous appeals or those that are difficult to read will annoy them and they will not look favourably upon such appeals.

The website has an archive of statistics from previous bidding exercises. We use this to gauge the popularity of modules when deciding whether or not to bid for them, and for how much. In this example, from Round 1C of the AY2018/19 Semester 1 bidding exercise, we can see that Introduction to Psychology had two lecture timeslots up for bidding. The first one had 117 places available to students in their first or second semester, and 166 of them bid for it. In the end, it went for 300 points. The second lecture timeslot had 150 spots open for students in their first or second semester, and 215 of them vied for a place resulting in a final price of 201. The second lecture timeslot also had 3 bidders from outside FASS, and all of them got it for 1 point as the 12 vacancies for that student type was more than enough to accommodate them. Nobody from FASS who were not in their first or second semester bid for this module. From this information, if we were to be interested in buying this module in a future semester, we can conclude that psychology is a popular introductory module and we should be prepared to spend at least 200 points on it, unless we wait until we are no longer considered as New Students and will probably be able to secure the module for a much lower price.

This is an example of the so-called showhand syndrome, in which people bid disproportionately high amounts for a module that looks like it will go for a low price. In this case, there were 28 vacancies but fewer than 10 bidders, but I put in a huge bid of 1925 points which emptied my Programme account. There was no downside to this, as I would get all the excess points refunded to me at the end of the round. People who often showhand are colloquially referred to as whales, a term borrowed from gambling and gaming to label those who spend a lot of money.

After the end of the round, the system ranks all of the bidders in order of bid size, and the top X bidders get the module, where X represents the number of vacancies in that module. This table is then published on the website. My bid of 1925 points can be seen right at the top. It is lots of fun to showhand and this is one of the emotive aspects of the bidding system that I will sorely miss.

Another table on the website shows the aggregated results of the bidding round. My bid of 1925 points is reflected as the highest for the first timeslot, which was priced at 1 point in the end. I got my refund of 1924 points shortly after.

That's it. CORS has one more exercise left, over the New Year period between 2018 and 2019... Then it's goodbye forever, with only screenshots like the ones in this post to remind us of what was almost a quintessential part of life as a millennial-generation NUS student.

National Day 2018: A (totally nonpartisan) tongue-in-cheek literary analysis of this year's reimagined version of We Are Singapore

JSI1111 Song Interpretation by Jonathan's Junkyard

Final Examination

9 August 2018

Question: These are the new lyrics written by composer Charlie Lim for the revised opening bars of the classic National Day song, We Are Singapore.

How many times have you heard them say
“The future is uncertain and everything must change”
Well all of my worries and all of my fears
Begin to lose their weight, when I hold you near
If all that we are is what we believe
Then I know I’ve got to be the change I want to see
How easy we forget that everything takes time
No, nothing's ever perfect, but I still call you mine (o-o-o-oh, o-oh)

(from genius.com)

What do you think these lyrics mean?

[100 marks]

Answer:

There is a possibility that these lyrics are intended to be pro-government.

"How many times have you heard them say / The future is uncertain and everything must change" could be a reference to the digital disruption, in which people are fearful that automation and artificial intelligence will cause them to lose their livelihoods as more and more jobs are taken over by robots. Following that, the lines "Well all of my worries and all of my fears / Begin to lose their weight, when I hold you near" could be talking about how, if Singaporeans continue to support the policies implemented by the establishment, such as SkillsFuture and the Smart Nation initiative, which are designed to help them modernise and cope with the changes brought about by the digital disruption, they will feel comforted and confident that they will be okay.

"If all that we are is what we believe / Then I know I’ve got to be the change I want to see" could be a veiled jab at Singaporeans' tendency to complain a lot about everything the government does. It serves as a reminder that every Singaporean has a responsibility to play his or her role in making the country even greater, and to stop relying on or blaming the government for everything. Finally, the lines "How easy we forget that everything takes time / No, nothing's ever perfect, but I still call you mine (o-o-o-oh, o-oh)" could be a reference to how people fail to see that unpopular government decisions like raising the Goods and Services Tax and utilities prices are painful in the short term but are for the long-term good of Singapore as a whole, and Singaporeans should not hate on the government or the country because they are unhappy with these policies.

There is also a possibility that there is a hidden anti-government sentiment in these lyrics.

When taken together, the first four lines "How many times have you heard them say / The future is uncertain and everything must change / Well all of my worries and all of my fears / Begin to lose their weight, when I hold you near" could in fact be referring to how the establishment is increasingly making policies that harm the man on the street such as raising taxes and clamping down on freedoms, causing rumblings of discontent among the people who are turning to opposition parties for a glimmer of hope that with more of them in parliament, things will get better.

"If all that we are is what we believe / Then I know I’ve got to be the change I want to see" is, in this context, an obvious rallying call for more Singaporeans to vote for the opposition in the next election, and a reminder that every person is responsible for using his or her vote wisely to bring about a political change in the country. With an eye on the recent swapping of the Najib regime in Malaysia for a new Mahathir government, the lines "How easy we forget that everything takes time / No, nothing's ever perfect, but I still call you mine (o-o-o-oh, o-oh)" are a warning that if a similar switch happens in Singapore, there will be some difficulties in the early days as the new government tries to come to terms with the work involved in running the country and fixing the problems that the previous administration leaves behind, just like what is happening in Malaysia, and Singaporeans must have the patience and perseverance to give them time and a chance to prove themselves capable of handling the responsibility, and avoid the temptation to kick out the new government quickly and vote the old one back in.

✔️

100/100

Very good analysis

A new academic year: AY2018/19 Semester 1

It's that time again to preview the coming half year, and cast a quick look back at the past year.

This semester, I will be stepping up the difficulty level of my modules by taking a level-3000 module, three level-2000 ones, and a level-1000 Human Cultures General Education module. Only the level-1000 module and one level-2000 module can be S/Ued if necessary, so I don't have as big a safety net as in previous semesters. #lifeonhardmode

My modules this semester

EL2102: Sound Patterns in Language
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, not eligible for S/U due to having EL1101E as a prerequisite
CORS bidding result: Bid 1925 Programme points, won for 1 Programme point
Format: Weekly three-hour seminars
I took EL1101E in my first semester and loved it. English linguistics is divided into several subfields, and phonetics and phonology is the one that focuses on sound. It deals with things like how speech is produced by the structures in your body like the lungs, throat, mouth, and nose, as well as how sounds are put together to form words. There are patterns in the way sounds work in English which I find fascinating. For example, if the first sound in a word is not the sound of "s", the second sound, if it is a consonant sound, must be a "l", "r", "w", or "y" sound.

EL2151: Social Variation in English
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, not eligible for S/U due to having EL1101E as a prerequisite
CORS bidding result: Bid 1924 Programme points, won for 1 Programme point
Format: Face-to-face lectures and tutorials every week
I was originally planning to take GES1035 to clear my General Education requirement, but it was exorbitantly priced in CORS so I couldn't afford it, having only three semesters' worth of points while bidding against seniors with thousands at their fingertips. I decided to clear my Unrestricted Elective (UE) requirement instead, and I always had an eye on this module because when I took EL1101E, sociolinguistics was the most interesting part to me. So here it is. To clarify, I am not collecting EL modules to minor in EL. If I had no exemption off my UEs from my polytechnic diploma, I might have taken an EL minor, but in my situation right now, building a minor would mean taking more modules than I need to graduate and that is not something I intend to do. The reason for me gathering all these EL modules is: 1) out of interest, because I really love linguistics; and 2) because my mother graduated from NUS English many moons ago, and I am inspired to learn more about this wonderful topic too! I am not bothered by the fact that I cannot S/U them, because: 1) I can only S/U three more modules anyway, and I still have a couple of eligible modules to clear next semester which I want to reserve some S/Us for; and 2) I have interest in these modules, which means I will study properly for them and have a better chance of doing well.

GEH1014: Samurai, Geisha, Yakuza as Self or Other
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, eligible for S/U
CORS bidding result: Bid 1292 General points, won for 100 General points
Format: Face-to-face lectures and tutorials every week
I have no idea what this module is about other than that it has something to do with Japanese culture. But it looks cool because samurai and yakuza are badass, which is maybe the reason why it is popular and oversubscribed. Another possible explanation is that it has no finals.

NM2101: Theories of Communications and New Media
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
This is like NM1101E on steroids. It deals with a wide range of current issues in the communications industry, including modern ones like the advent of artificial intelligence.

NM3217: Design for Strategic Communications
Number of MCs: 4
Grading: Standard letter grades, not eligible for S/U due to being level-3000
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
Public relations professionals are not specialist designers, but they need to know a bit about design to do their job properly. In smaller organisations, the person doing public relations may even have to take on the role of a designer too, creating posters, brochures, websites, and other collaterals for the company. This module teaches the skills and knowledge needed to design effective materials online and offline.

My workload this semester falls exactly on the recommended amount of 20 MCs.

Looking back on the past academic year

I finished my first full academic year in university with a respectable CAP of 4.88. Though frantic at times, overall it was manageable and I enjoyed the new skills and knowledge I picked up from some of the modules.

This blog over the next few months

I noted a flurry of site visits to my blog recently and attribute it to the aggressive tweeting I have done in the past few weeks to promote my blog, as well as the usual surge from fellow NUS students scouring the internet for module reviews during CORS bidding season. Now we are entering what I expect to be a quiet lull for my blog in terms of viewership figures. As usual, I have pre-written several posts and scheduled them to be automatically published over the next few months while I cope with school. This time, they will appear much more frequently. In fact, one new post will come out every Sunday from 26 August to 25 November, with the exception of recess week and 21 October. I have published very frequently in recent weeks so I kept the two weeks before 26 August free as a sort of cooling-off period, and my finals end on 5 December so I should be writing original pieces again a couple of weeks after the scheduled posts run their course. Recess week will see at least one fresh post to talk about what's been going on in my various modules. As for 21 October, well that's my birthday, so no new content that day as it's a self-declared holiday.

Putting a foot in it

People have been maimed by it.

Belongings have been swallowed up by its hungry maw, never to be seen again.

What is this monster?

The gap that exists between the train carriage and the platform in any subway system, including Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines.

I don't have a problem with it being there. Obviously the train can't be flush against the platform or there'll be a terrible grinding noise with sparks flying everywhere each time a train enters a station.

But I've got a problem with how big it is on the MRT.

Particularly on the older North-South and East-West lines, the gap is gaping like the shark from Jaws.

Not only that, the train is sometimes about an inch higher than the platform.

This isn't a deal-breaker for me. I can still get into and out of the trains.

But to make sure I don't get stuck, I have to drive my motorised wheelchair at high power so that it will cross the gap and mount the small step at the same time. Failure to do so might result in me causing a service disruption, as my wheels become lodged in the gap, preventing the doors from closing and the train from leaving!

Such aggressive driving is uncomfortable for me physically. I am jolted around quite hard as my wheelchair roars over the large obstacle like an off-roader jumping a ravine.

It's also a bit dangerous for the passengers already in the carriage, as I might accidentally careen into them if I lose control of my bucking steed.

There's no excuse for the gap being so big, and the train not being level with the platform.

Look at the photograph below. It shows the crossing between platform and train at the Changi Airport Skytrain. The foot is there to give you a point of reference to judge the size of the gap.

The width of the gap is indicated by the blue line.

See how small the gap is? It's about the length of a toe. I can go as slowly and leisurely as I want without fear of my wheels dropping in.

Notice also the area circled in red. That's a black hardened rubber lining. I think it's there to make the gap even smaller than it was originally. Mentally erase that black lining yourself and the gap will be about the size that it is on the newer Circle and Downtown lines. The gap on the older MRT lines are about a third larger than that, with a height difference too. No wonder people get their legs trapped in there sometimes!

Why can't the MRT operators get it right? They should really seek help from the engineers in charge of the Skytrain. Installing similar rubber linings on all existing platforms would be a good start.

Hopefully the upcoming lines, like the Thomson-East Coast and Cross-Island lines, are built with greater precision to eradicate the difference in level between train and platform, and minimise the size of the platform gap.

This will benefit not only me, but everyone else too, in terms of improved safety.

The end of Tanglin, and a bit of a linguistic ramble

Tanglin ends on 28 September.

Words cannot express how devastating this is to me.

Since late 2016, when I caught a bout of flu and happened across the show while recuperating at home, it has been a fixture in my weekday evenings.

Pepsi in one hand, Kleenex in the other, I would sit enthralled as the Tongs, Bhaskars, Rahmans, and others played out their utterly compelling drama.

Grinning like a fool as warm, fuzzy moments unfolded on screen, and tearing up like a child at the touching and tragic scenes... I can't think of a better way to spend 30 minutes each day.

Tanglin lets me forget all my problems while it's on. It makes my life bearable, knowing that at the end of every day is something worth looking forward to: that precious half-hour of solace in front of the telly.

Its absence will leave a gaping hole in my heart.

A new drama called Kin will be taking the 8:30pm to 9:00pm timeslot.

I'll give it a chance, because I love TV and believe in supporting local. If it's any good, I'll follow it faithfully too.

But nothing will ever truly take the place of Tanglin.

Goodbye, old friend, till we meet again.

A serendipitous find

While writing this post, I, as many others do these days, popped over to Facebook for a brief interlude. I came across a set of stickers made by user Aaron Mak, who seems to be some sort of Grammar Nazi.

This set of stickers, making the rounds on social media right now, aims to correct several common English mistakes made by Singaporeans.

Here's one that caught my eye because it deals with exactly the situation I'm about to face a few weeks from now.

Did Aaron Mak know about Tanglin when he made this?

I know that feeling. People's inability to distinguish between "it's" and "its" grinds my gears too.

Out of curiosity, I flicked through the rest of the set and found that Aaron Mak is a very demanding person with a very low tolerance level. For example, he made a sticker that states "You want a stamp, not a chop. But if you really want a chop, I know a bit of kung fu." And one that says: "NEH-MIND ✗ NE-VER-MIND ✓ Pronounce it loudly, proudly and properly today." He also has this strange vendetta against American English, dedicating entire stickers to the fact that there is a "u" in "colour" and "neighbour", and another that implores people to "Use British English. After all, the English are the ones who invented the goddamn language!"

It's not that I condone the use of improper English. In fact, I was once a militant Grammar Nazi too. I'd go around shamelessly correcting people's language errors like a vain, arsey pedant (credit for this eloquent turn of phrase should go to Daily Mash). To some extent, I still get annoyed when people use certain expressions that I don't like, such as "For your information, please" in emails, or butcher the language beyond reasonable limits, for instance by misusing punctuation marks or leaving them out altogether.

But my stance has softened after learning basic linguistics in university. I now recognise that language is a fluid construct which is ever-changing. What was regarded as bad English during my parents' generation is today widely accepted. What is regarded as bad English today could very well be part of everyday English 20 to 50 years from now, and who are we to judge?

Besides, the purpose of language is to communicate. As long as we achieve that, does it really matter if we use the Queen's English or the variant used at the market? Particularly in speech, what does it matter if I say [næmai] or [nɛvəmɑind], as long as the other party knows that I mean "never mind"?

Languages take on unique characteristics in different parts of the world. That's why we've got American English, British English, and even Singapore English as a recognised version of English as described by linguists. Even within American English, there are dialects spoken by the various demographic groups, such as the Blacks who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE). There's nothing inherently wrong with this diversity. One isn't more "correct" than the others. They just are the way they are.

So I don't think there's anything wrong with using "chop" to refer to a rubber stamp. That's just how we do it in Singapore, just like we say [næmai] instead of [nɛvəmɑind]. We still understand one another, and life goes on. In fact, the basilectal form of Singapore English builds warmth and a feeling of closeness between two people who use it with each other. This can only be a good thing when navigating the social world. Try acting all uppity and acrolectal with the fishball noodle hawker and see where that gets you!

Product review: Ensure Plus Savoury and Resource Breeze

Because of the bulbar dysfunction caused by my spinal muscular atrophy, eating can be a laborious and time-consuming, albeit highly enjoyable, process.

To make life easier, there are liquid diet options that I can turn to in the event I have no time or energy to eat a proper meal. They also help to plug nutritional gaps left by foods I steer clear of for fear of choking, such as vegetables and red meat.

With these special drinks, I can simulate eating an entire meal in half an hour instead of the one-and-a-half hours I usually take to finish a serving of solid food.

Here are two of the supplements I use.

Ensure Plus Savoury

I remember when Ensure only came in disgusting flavours like vanilla and chocolate, both of which tasted like pulverised dog shit.

Fortunately, manufacturer Abbott has since pulled up its socks and now offers a chicken-flavoured version, branded as Ensure Plus Savoury.

Each bottle of 200ml is designed to completely replace one meal.

The soupy mixture is very thick, almost gloopy in fact. But this is understandable because it does contain lots of milk solids to really amp up that nutrition factor.

In terms of taste, it is actually very palatable. The strong salty flavour drowns out any grossness from the chemicals used to impart all the health benefits, and there is even a slight creamy aftertaste which is pleasantly surprising and, dare I say it, moreish.

The package directions say to heat the drink in a saucepan until just below boiling, but I prefer to take it at room temperature and I doubt there is a difference anyway. Do shake it to reincorporate the sediments though. Again, I like mine shaken only gently because it forms a stubborn froth if shaken too hard which I find off-putting. It all comes down to personal preference.

Taken from Abbott official website. This product is available from online retailers like Lazada and Guardian, as well as brick-and-mortar pharmacies like Guardian.

Resource Breeze

Made by food-and-beverage giant Nestle, Resource Breeze is to diet management what the steam engine was to the industrial revolution.

How something so good for me can possibly be so yummy is beyond my comprehension.

Breeze comes in three fruity and delicious flavours: Wild Berry, Peach, and Orange.

I like the Wild Berry the most because it has a tangy zing that adds an extra dimension and works so well with the natural sweetness of the plant-based sugars.

But the others are also quite nice.

The only indication that this is a dietary management drink and not a generic fruit juice drink is that the liquid is slightly thicker than normal. But unlike the Ensure Plus Savoury, it is not to the point of being gloopy. It is clear and contains no obvious signs of milk solids, but they are in there somewhere for sure.

Another key distinction is that one pack of Breeze is not meant to replace an entire meal, but rather to act as a top up. For example, I could eat a smaller serving of solid food and wash it down with a refreshing box of Breeze.

With its striking resemblance to fruit juice, it can certainly be used that way.

Taken from Nestle official website. This product is available from online retailers like Lazada, and brick-and-mortar Guardian shops.

Medical technology has definitely advanced and delivered positive results for patients with nutritional deficiencies like me! Gone are the days of disgusting protein shakes that I absolutely hated. Thanks to Abbott and Nestle, even drinking my meals has become reasonably pleasurable.