The past two days...

... Have been filled with thrills!

27 June

I went to hang out with my dad at the airport. Nobody we know was flying anywhere, but it's a Singaporean thing that we like to go to the airport for no good reason. Changi Airport is after all one of the best international airports, it has air-conditioning, and what else is there to do in this tiny country anyway? Besides, I like the skytrain, which is a light-rail system connecting Terminals 1, 2, and 3. As my longer-term readers will know, I have a thing for trains.

We took the skytrain a few times, and I got to see the Jewel under construction. The Jewel is the latest vanity project our airport authorities are working on. It'll be a big shopping centre and lifestyle attraction, and there will also be lots of greenery and waterfalls inside the building. But what's most exciting for me is that they're running a new line for the skytrain that travels right through the heart of Jewel itself. From the outside, you can see they've already finished putting up the track leading into the building. I can't wait for the opening next year!

After leaving the airport, we went to a hawker centre. I wasn't craving for anything in particular that day, so I simply browsed the stalls until a ban mian (handmade noodles) stall caught my eye. The pictures on the menu board looked nice, and I picked a bowl of mee hoon kueh (randomly shaped bits of rice flour dough, boiled in liquid) on impulse.

I'd never tried mee hoon kueh until then. I'm not sure how it had escaped my notice all these years. I've had almost every kind of noodle: mee pok (flat yellow alkaline noodles, like linguine pasta), mee kia (thin yellow noodles), thick beehoon (rice noodles), thin beehoon, yellow noodles (generic noodles of medium thickness, contains a delightful cocktail of synthetic chemicals which lend it an overpowering alkaline smell), lamian (noodles pulled by hand), ee mee (another kind of thin yellow noodles), you mee (yet another kind of thin yellow noodles), beetaimak (fat white noodles colloquially termed as mousetails)... But not mee hoon kueh.

Fortunately, I liked it. The smooth yet chewy pieces of dough were fun to eat as they had an interesting texture. They were helped in terms of taste by the addition of a runny egg, anchovies, and fatty minced pork to the soup.

I also had a cup of tea. Lately this has been my beverage of choice, especially during daylight hours. What can I say? I'm getting on in years.

That night, my mum came home from work with the mail from the letterbox downstairs. There was a brown envelope addressed to me, with the return address of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean's Office. "Must be a bill of some sort," I thought. "Or maybe they're accusing me of misconduct."

When the government sends us mail, it's never anything pleasant right?

Not this time. The letter turned out to be good news: I am awarded the China Daily Prize for the Arts 2 level for the 2017/18 academic year! The prize is given to the best Communications and New Media (CNM) student in each level each year, and has a cash payout of $1500.

Hype!

There was a lot of jumping and screaming when the contents of the letter had been digested. I knew I'd done well in my CNM modules, having obtained straight 'A's, but I wasn't quite sure how they determined which straight 'A' student gets the prize, or if I was even eligible for it rules-wise as my period of candidature has been rather short for a level 2 student.

Anyhow, it's apparently mine, and I'm glad.

Still high from the buzz of this revelation, my dad and I proceeded to watch the Germany versus South Korea game. Everybody knows what happened in the end so I won't belabour the point here, but suffice to say that what the match lacked in football quality, it more than made up for in drama. It was easily one of the top three most entertaining matches I've ever seen. Being a typical kiasu (afraid of losing out) Singaporean, I started out supporting the Germans, but by the time the referee trotted over to watch the video assistant referee review footage, my heart was thumping in my chest, willing the referee to award the goal to the plucky underdogs. Time seemed to slow. And when the referee returned to the field and pointed to the kickoff spot, there was another round of hollering from the guys in the house.

The second goal was icing on the cake, made even more memorable by the lack of a goalkeeper.

28 June

For the first time in over a decade, I rode the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) subway train system.

Also for the first time, I visited The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

Parking at The Shoppes costs an arm and a leg, just like everything else in that cesspool of pretentiousness, so it made sense for me to take the MRT there if I wanted to explore it. But taking the MRT isn't straightforward for someone like me. Just to get from my house to the station involves a dangerous traversal of the condominium driveway, exposure to the elements, and a trek of half a kilometre. Then I have to take a lift into the basement, tap my payment card through the fare gates, and take yet another lift deeper underground, all of which would be almost impossible if I were by myself.

And all that wouldn't count for anything if my wheelchair can't cross the platform gap to get into the train carriage.

That's what dads are for. He was the one who suggested this journey in the first place, since I have a lot of free time during the university off-season to give it a shot and see how it goes. And he helped me overcome all the obstacles between me and the train, and luckily my wheels are big enough not to get stuck in the platform gap.

Problems avoided, we were on our way to The Shoppes!

We alighted at Bayfront station on the Circle Line, which is conveniently connected to The Shoppes and the rest of MBS by a warren of subterranean tunnels, allowing us to stroll around leisurely without melting under the sun. I got to lay my plebian eyes upon a host of branded items that I'll never be able to afford, restaurants bearing the names of various celebrity chefs that I hopefully will one day, and the casino. Ah yes, that casino which keeps the money flowing through our economy like blood through your veins, and the very purpose for the existence of MBS. Ka-ching!

I was very intrigued when we discovered a plate of chicken rice going for a mere $7 in a hidden corner of the place, but it was too early for lunch so we gave it a miss.

One thing that I really loved about The Shoppes was the number of angmoh (Caucasian) people. They were walking everywhere, and a few groups of them were even riding the boats down the canals which run through the mall, being paddled along by Filipino and Chinese underlings. Forming the upper class here, even among the tourists, they tend to congregate around the bay area where everything is bathed in gold.

Angmoh people are my favourite kind of human and I don't care if you judge me for it.

The famous Singapore skyline, the beautiful Marina Bay, and me.

Soon it was time to eat, and we decided to retreat to a more heartland location in search of sustenance. Back onto the MRT we went! A quick trip to Chinatown on the Downtown Line ended with us discovering that there was no way to connect underground to Chinatown Point shopping centre, and I would have to use aboveground roads. I didn't like that, so we hopped back onto the MRT and returned to Bayfront to change back to the Circle Line.

You know what else dads are for? Making sure their kids don't get lost. The interchange stations nowadays are a helluva lot more mind-boggling than they were when I took the MRT as a child in a stroller. There are so many train lines running in so many directions that the stations now are sprawling complexes that have so many different levels and platforms so as to be able to accommodate them all. I felt like a fish out of water, but I just had to follow my dad's lead and I'd eventually get to the right part of the station.

My dad is also a great shield against people I want to avoid. While we were going back to Bayfront, an acquaintance boarded the same train. I got a rude shock because this was a real case of speak of the devil. The day before, while we were at the airport, this acquaintance had rung up my dad out of the blue, inviting us to a dialogue with other people with my disease, to openly discuss morbid topics in a safe space. Sounds good, but I've got no problems discussing morbid topics in an unsafe space, as evidenced by my posts on this blog which is publicly visible for the world to see, so thanks but no thanks because I'd rather use the time for other things. I had snickered about this to both my parents that night and the morning after, and lo and behold here she appeared in front of me. She's always been a bit too much of a goody-two-shoes for my liking, and I didn't feel like entertaining any inane conversation with her. As it was, I was barely holding myself together against the aural assault of the train and tunnel sounds and the rocking motions jolting every bony protrusion in my body. So the five-year-old boy withdrew behind his mum's skirt, peeking out shyly I stared at the wall and kept quiet, and my dad smoothly stepped in and handled the acquaintance with his excellent interpersonal skills until it was time for us to get off the train.

We took the Circle Line to Stadium station, where we ate at Old Town White Coffee at Kallang Wave Mall. It was our first experience with this casual dining chain, which was apparently brought to Singapore by actor and one of my favourite local celebrities Mark Lee, and I'm pleased to say it was a good one. The staff were prompt and polite. My dad enjoyed his nasi lemak (coconut rice) and loved the thick black coffee it came with, and my garlic butter thick toast, essentially an Asian version of garlic bread, was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, exactly what a toast should be. The flavour of the garlic was adequate, and accentuated with the salty undertones of the butter. I had it with a cup of white milk tea, and oh my god it was the strongest cup of tea I've ever had. Usually I like my tea overly sweet and excessively milky, because I don't like the bitter taste of the tannins. But this one of full of that tannin bitterness. That's not to say it was unpleasant. In fact, it was surprisingly palatable for me, and a novel experience. But I did feel a bit trembly all over and my heart started to race, so perhaps I should cut down on the caffeine intake... Who am I kidding? Not a few hours later, I knocked back a can of Pepsi.

At the mall, I passed an electronics shop and it was selling the GoPro Hero 6, which I talked about in my previous post, for $595. I mention this because if not for the GoPro in the hands of the American man Dennis, I might not have agreed to my dad's idea of riding the MRT to explore Singapore. Dennis' video series showing off his neighbourhood spurred me to want to get out there and get to know mine better, from the ground and on foot rather than from inside the sterile and detached environment of a car.

The past two days have been a rollercoaster ride. What an adventure! It was tiring but I have no regrets. Now I look forward to a few peaceful days just chilling at home, playing computer games, and recharging my battered body and mind... But I'm already planning where to take the MRT to next, and beyond that, becoming $1500 richer!

Around the world from my bedroom

I went on a holiday to Southern California recently.

It didn't cost me a cent, and I didn't even have to get on a plane.

In fact, I didn't even have to get off my bed.

It's all thanks to the internet, YouTube, and one man's latest personal project.

Flashback

Last year, I wrote an Independence Day post in which I mentioned a YouTube channel called Mobile Home Gourmet.

For my newer followers, here's a quick summary: It's a collection of over 300 cooking videos made entirely by a single person, an old American man named Dennis Viau, who lives in "a mobile home in a trailer park".

He is also quite skilled in other areas besides cooking, and often tinkers around with stuff.

For example, he custom-built computers and air-conditioners for himself, and once even cauterised his own nose using chemicals.

You read that right. He burned the blood vessels in his nostrils so that they wouldn't bleed so often, while sitting in his kitchen, filming the whole surgery with his video camera and providing a running commentary to boot.

All these shenanigans are gleefully revealed in his other YouTube channel, My Kitchen Vlog. More details can be found in his blogs.

But Dennis now has a third YouTube channel, and it's totally different from the other two.

Cycling Adventures for Seniors

Where his existing YouTube channels are set almost entirely indoors in his kitchen, Dennis tackles the world outside with his newest venture, Cycling Adventures for Seniors.

The concept he has for this channel is to post videos of his bike rides around his neighbourhood, which is near Santa Barbara in Southern California. He hopes to inspire seniors like him to do the same, creating a niche for videos of old people cycling around and being fit and healthy together.

He uses a Pedego e-bike in his videos. He feels that this is a good choice for older bikers because it comes with a motor that will help riders pedal up steep slopes or through rough terrain, while letting them do all the work on smooth and level ground. This ensures that the seniors will still get exercise while avoiding excessive fatigue or injury.

The other tools of his trade are a GoPro Hero 6 video camera with a special attachment for mounting it on his handlebars, and an Evo SS Gimbal stabiliser to prevent the video footage from shaking or tilting.

In future, he plans to go further afield, so he also has a Thule carrier on his car for stowing his Pedego during road trips.

Armchair travel

I'm nowhere near the age where I'd be considered senior, although as I was telling a friend the other day, "(e)very day I wake up aching in some new body part I never even knew I had".

So Dennis' stated intention for his new channel, though commendably noble, doesn't mean much to me.

What does attract me, apart from his overwhelming charisma, is the novelty of being able to see America through the eyes of an American and with the voice of said American narrating in the background.

It's almost like going on a guided tour.

Take this video, for example. He posted this on the My Kitchen Vlog channel because he hadn't made up his mind whether to start the Cycling Adventures for Seniors one back then, but the idea is the same.

He made this video after I requested in a comment on an earlier video to see "symbols of American decadence" like Walmart and Costco.

What intrigued me was how different practically everything looks over there.

Notice how he says "shopping centre" to refer to those low-rise collections of buildings containing shops. We call them town centres, and what we call "shopping centres" are always monolithic glass-and-steel structures.

And we almost always park our cars underground.

The inside of a supermarket or, as the Americans call it, a grocery store seems to be the same wherever you are in the world, however. I could have believed that I was seeing an NTUC FairPrice when he filmed himself shopping for his supplies.

Another way of looking at things

So besides just encouraging seniors to lead an active lifestyle, I think this channel has great potential to start a trend of videos posted by elderly people all over the world, filming and narrating as they cycle past local places of interest. The fact that they are from the places they are talking about, and not some generic host who appears in a different country each episode, lends credibility to their voiceovers. Their age also makes them more believable, and they are likely to have interesting things to share.

If this concept really takes off, I'll be a huge fan of the genre. Given my inability to leave Singapore, media is now my only link to the world outside this sunny island home of mine.

Which is why Dennis, and Cycling Adventures for Seniors, can count on my enduring support.

***

Cycling Adventures for Seniors is up and running! You can watch the introductory video below.

If you enjoy it, give it a Like, Subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends!

Book review: Writing Skills for Public Relations by John Foster

Book cover image from Google Books.

Writing isn't hard. Writing well is.

That's what you'll quickly come to realise once you've finished the first few chapters of Writing Skills for Public Relations by John Foster.

But once you've read this book, I guarantee that your writing would have improved. It's that good.

Although the title suggests that it's for public relations people, this book is actually a worthwhile read for everyone. We all write, just that we might not realise it. Don't you send emails? That's writing! Since you do it all the time, you might as well find out how to do it properly.

What the book is about

The essence of the book is that it gives you tips on how to make your writing easier to read. And it covers all the bases, talking not only about language but also design and typographical techniques that will help your readers.

For example, what happens when you see a page filled to the max with row after row of text printed in tiny font and nothing else? If you're a normal person, you won't read anything on the page. That's why publications meant for consumption by laypeople always have fancy things like headers in different colours, boxes at the sides of the page, infographics and photographs, and so on. These things keep people interested, but more importantly, they don't tire the eyes.

Even something simple like line spacing can make a big difference. Readers' eyes need to breathe "air" too. Give them air by leaving lots of white space on the page.

Like writing in short paragraphs.

There are plenty of other publishing concepts explained in the book, and Foster shows you how to apply them to the design decisions you make when writing even a simple document.

But probably of most relevance to general readers would be his advice on the use of the language itself. For example, he encourages you to write the way you speak. In other words, don't be afraid to use contractions like "it's" because they seem friendlier than spelling out their full equivalents. "It's a long way to Tipperary" sounds much better than "It is a long way to Tipperary", doesn't it?

The biggest takeaway is that writing formally doesn't mean being uppity. Leave the incomprehensible stuff to the lawyers. For us normal people, when you write something, remember that someone somewhere will read it. And if you find obnoxious, longwinded text boring and difficult to read, why shouldn't he? Always visualise yourself writing to a fellow human being. Think about what they want to see, then give it to them.

Did I like it?

Yes! I enjoyed the book a lot. Foster does a stellar job breaking down the various public relations concepts into plain English. You won't need any training in communications to get the best out of this book.

He is also very thorough in terms of content coverage, and I learned about way more than just writing skills and design skills. There are a couple of sections on building an online presence, another couple on giving speeches, and even a primer on the laws that public relations people need to take note of, among a myriad other topics. In fact, this book is so comprehensive that I think it can become a university textbook for communications courses like the one I'm in.

Should you read it?

If you work in an executive job and want to become a better employee, please read this book. It'll give you an idea of what affects your company's reputation, and how this is managed by your colleagues over in the spin doctors' office. Who knows when the knowledge might come in useful?

Even if you don't care about your company's reputation, at least read the chapters about how to improve your writing. Chapters 2 to 9, 14 to 18, and 20 are relevant to all readers. No matter what job you have, chances are that at some point, you'll find yourself preparing a report, a presentation, a letter or an email. Don't waste this opportunity to learn how to do it better.

And worry not. Foster is an engaging writer himself, and his book isn't laborious to read at all.

Details

Title: Writing Skills for Public Relations: Style and Technique for Mainstream and Social Media (5th ed.; part of the PR In Practice series)
Author: John Foster
Publisher: Kogan Page (2012)
ISBN: 0749465441, 9780749465445
Number of pages: 280

Available from the National Library Board Singapore as an ebook: https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/1079566. You must be a library member and have a MyLibrary account. You must also install the OverDrive application on your smartphone or computer.

Genki Sushi Singapore: Shinkansen Shenanigans

What's better than Japanese food? Gimmicky Japanese food!

I'm an unabashed sucker for gimmicks. When I see something cool or novel, I get so excited and obsessed about it to the point that I 1) can't stop yammering on about it, or 2) buy it. There was once I saw a cute pillow that was made to look like a volcanic rock. I talked and talked about it until my father told me irritably to shut up.

Recently, another gimmick caught my attention: the shinkansen trains that deliver your food to your table at Genki Sushi.

They look like the speedy shinkansen bullet trains Japan is famous for, and they do indeed move really fast. That they manage to reach their destination without food flying all over the place is a testament to the smoothness of the track. What an engineering marvel!

For the uninitiated, Genki is a small chain of casual Japanese restaurants. It specialises in sushi and sashimi of course, but it has tempura, udon, soba, rice bowls, and assorted hors d'oeuvres too.

Enticed by the prospect of seeing the trains in action, I flashed the cash and brought my parents to Genki Sushi at Waterway Point last Friday.

Besides trains, Genki uses iPads to drive more nails into the coffins of waiters. That's right, you place your order electronically, not to a human being.

Tutorial: Browse the various categories of food by tapping the icons at the top of the screen. Within each category, swipe to turn the pages. To order, simply tap on the item you want. Each tap will send one serving of that item onto the train at the bottom of the screen. Each train can hold up to four servings regardless of item (e.g., it can hold 4 plates of salmon sashimi, or 1 plate of salmon sashimi + 1 cup of chawanmushi + 1 bowl of miso soup + 1 plate of tuna sushi). When you are done, or if the train is full, tap the green tick symbol and confirm the order. The train at the bottom of the screen will become empty and you are free to order some more food. You can also pass the iPad around as it is not attached to anything.

In fact, you only talk to the staff when you arrive and they seat you, and when you leave and they collect money from you.

Waiters' other job, serving food, is done by this neat system.

There are three tracks stacked up. Your orders can come on any of them. Sometimes you will see trains whiz by on their way to other tables, and when the restaurant gets busy, there will be trains running to and fro on all three tracks at once! The backdrop simulates a verdant countryside with quaint farmsteads and rolling hills, not unlike the actual view you get as a passenger on a Japanese railway. By the way, piping hot water comes out from the tap at the end of the table, so please do not use it to wash your hands! It is meant for making your own green tea. There is tea powder in the drawer under the table, and an empty mug will be delivered to you by a human being when you order tea using the iPad. Drinks are brought to you by humans because the trains might slosh the liquid everywhere and make a huge mess.

Each table is considered a "station", named after a place in Japan.

We sat at Sendai station.

Unseen workers in the kitchen will prepare your food, load it onto a train, and send it on its way. The train will zoom along one of the tracks, and stop neatly at your station bearing its yummy cargo.

"Please mind the platform gap."

After you unload the train, press the blinking yellow button to send the train back to the kitchen!

Each button corresponds to one of the three train tracks. Simply press the blinking one once you have transferred all the food to your table, and the train will go back to the kitchen.

Here's what the whole process looks like.

Now, I can almost hear you screaming: "Stop it with the autistic love affair with the trains! Talk about the food, dammit! You didn't go to a restaurant to just look at the tech, right? Surely you ate something."

Well, actually I did go to the restaurant to watch the trains. But okay, I did eat something and I'll oblige you by turning this into a traditional food review now.

The food was good! My personal favourite was the salmon belly sashimi. A fattier cut than regular salmon sashimi, the belly came in huge slices which were thick and firm, with the decadent aroma of fish oil.

The ratio of white fats to pink flesh is higher in salmon belly sashimi compared to regular salmon sashimi, resulting in a richer taste.

Other highlights were the melt-in-your-mouth tender tuna sashimi and the delightfully crispy prawn tempura.

Price-wise, Genki is pretty reasonable. A family of three, we racked up a total bill of just under $100 inclusive of drinks.

Genki is a fun hangout destination for young families with children, because which child doesn't like trains? So expect to have a rather noisy and bothersome ambience. If you can't stand the high-pitched screams, go dine at an omakase restaurant instead.

I had a great experience at Genki. It's one of those places where you can spend a few hours just relaxing, because the portions are quite small and you can nibble on them slowly, sampling a wide variety of dishes along the way without feeling too bloated or burning a hole in your pocket.

And the trains will make sure you never get bored.

Artistic shot along the track.

I had to throw away an S/U, and it was as painful as dropping a dollar coin into a manhole

It's probably just the Singaporean "kiasu" (Singlish for "afraid to lose") culture talking. Once we're given something for free, we hate to have it taken away.

You see, students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) are provided with a certain number of credits to exercise the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade option (S/U) on. When we S/U a grade, we can still count it toward our degree, but it won't affect our Cumulative Average Point (CAP).

I started with 20 modular credits (MCs), or the equivalent of 5 standard modules, worth of S/Us. Last semester I S/Ued one module in which I got a B, leaving me with 16MCs, in other words 4 modules, this semester.

But I don't need any S/Us this semester, having got 2 CS grades, 2 A+ grades, 1 A grade, and 1 A- grade. Well yeah, technically I can S/U the A-, but I'm not that kind of student (read: perfectionist) and besides, S/Uing an A- can come back and bite you on the bum if you cop a B or C near the end of your university education and have no S/Us left. An A-, for all intents and purposes, is a very good grade and will effectively counteract an unS/Uable B or C somewhere down the road, so the advice from generations of seniors who've played this game before is to keep it.

Now, the problem is that this is my second semester. Next semester is my third, and according to the rules of this game, I can only carry with me 12MCs, which is 3 modules, of S/Us. Basically, 4MCs, the equivalent of 1 module, of my S/U entitlement will be wasted. Brutally snuffed out before fulfilling its true purpose in life.

That makes me sad.

Could I have avoided this sticky situation? Theoretically, yes. I could've chosen to take modules this semester and last semester that are more difficult and would've likely needed to be S/Ued. For example, I still need to fulfil my Asian Studies basket and foresee needing to S/U it because the modules for that requirement are excruciatingly abstract and turgid and I can't see myself being motivated enough to do anything better than pass it. So I could've taken an Asian Studies module this semester, passed it, S/Ued it, and have 12MCs left, just nice to carry into my third semester.

The problem was timing. I place greater emphasis on designing a nice timetable for the upcoming semester, rather than worry about purposely setting up module combinations that will allow me to use up S/Us at the end of it. After all, I'll have to live with and suffer through a badly planned timetable for four months, so it'd be stupid to contrive to take an S/U-worthy module at a lousy timeslot and risk fatigue dragging down my performance on all the other modules too.

And this was the case in the semester just ended. The Asian Studies modules that I am vaguely interested in, SE1101E Southeast Asia: A Changing Region and MS1102E Malays: Tradition, Conflict and Change, both had 4pm lectures, which is too late in the day for my liking. Besides, I'd found a configuration of modules and tutorial slots that allowed me to go to campus on just two days every week, and I didn't want to give that up.

So although I'm upset that one of my S/Us is forfeit, I have no regrets about the way things panned out.

I just have to use the last three bullets in my S/U "gun" wisely now. Nobody said university was going to be a walk in the park...

About the S/U system:

The purpose of the S/U system is to allow students to have an easier transition into university life and explore new subject areas of potential interest without the fear of "putting my grade point on the line". It is intended to benefit first-year students, which is why the rule against hoarding S/Us, mentioned in the main post, was enacted to prevent students from keeping large amounts of unused S/Us with them beyond their first year at NUS.

And another quick P.S.:

Woohoo! A double-post day! I published my module reviews earlier today. Check them out!

Module reviews for AY17/18 Semester 2

Well, how time flies. I'm only a year into my university education and already I'm halfway to a B.A. degree, thanks to polytechnic exemptions. I got into the meat of my chosen major, Communications and New Media, this semester, and am confident that I picked the right one. This semester was also notable because I took two modules in which my batch was the pioneering cohort, CFG2001 and GET1031A.

Here are the module reviews for this semester. I noticed that the academic-related posts on my blog seem to far outperform all the other types of posts. It's probably an #Asian thing. We do take our schooling very seriously! Nevertheless, I'm a little bit sad that hardly anyone reads my other posts which are so chockfull of my trademark sharp wit and candour. Never mind, I'll import said sharp wit and candour into these module reviews instead! Get ready for a laugh a minute as you go through the rest of this piece, but rest assured that everything I've written is totally true and I didn't make anything up.

CFG2001: Career Catalyst

MCs: 2 for Unrestricted Elective

Delivery:

2 face-to-face workshops, in Week 1 and Week 8
6 e-seminar videos

Assessment:

Attend the two workshops and watch all six videos on IVLE (yes, they can track this) = 15%
Reflective learning essay in which you complete some personality tests and attend two career-related events organised by CFG and think about what you have gained from these experiences = 35%
Your resume, cover letter, and interview pitch = 30%
Career roadmap which is essentially an overview of your takeaways from the module = 20%

Overall rating: 8/10

General comments:

This was the first run of this module and it even made the news. Compared to CFG1010 Roots and Wings, which was kind of fluffy, Career Catalyst is much more practical and teaches actual jobseeking skills like how to craft a resume and cover letter, and deal with interview questions like the dreaded "Tell me about yourself." Oh, it's graded on a CS/CU basis by the way, so your CAP will be safe. Besides, the 2MC from this module matches with the 2MC from Roots and Wings to bring your MC total back to a multiple of 4, which is easier for tracking your graduation requirements. The time commitment for this module is also really low. So instead of asking why you should take this module, you should be asking "Why not?" Note: I received an email on 22 May that seems to imply that this module is being recoded as CFG1002 Career Catalyst 2.0. If you cannot find it under the old title, try searching using this one. Note number 2: I see from the Centre for Future-Ready Graduates website that CFG1010 Roots and Wings is no more. Incoming freshmen count yourselves lucky that you won't have this weird neither-here-nor-there module rammed down your throats!

FAS1102: Public Writing and Communication

MCs: 4 - compulsory Written Expression and Communication module for FASS students

Delivery:

Weekly student notes and homework
Weekly 2-hour tutorial

Assessment:

Blog, in which three or four students write one post each about a common social issue = 35%
Presentation, 15 minutes long, done in the same group as the blog and on the same topic = 35%
Reflection letter, summary of what you have learned from the module = 10%
Participation, in tutorials and completing the homework tasks that do not have a grading component of their own = 20%

Tutor: Ms Christalla Havadjia - 8/10

She did her best given how deeply flawed the design of the module is. At times, I thought she tried a bit too hard to force an element of interactivity into the tutorials. For example, there was an exercise in which we had to rewrite sentences that were too difficult for readers to understand. Simple enough task, but she asked us to get into groups and discuss. I'm still mystified as to what there was to discuss in such a straightforward matter. But don't get me wrong. She's a nice lady with a pleasant personality.

Module: 6/10

Not everyone may agree with me but I think this is a very poorly designed module. The emphasis is so heavy on persuasion. In fact, the whole module can be summarised as "Pick a social issue, write a blog and give a presentation to convince people to support you." But this is too narrow a definition of public communication. Lots of other types of writing and speaking fall under the umbrella of communicating with the public. For example, giving instructions to a layperson or explaining a complicated process to someone who is not an expert. I would think these are equally important because at the end of the day, communication is about transmitting knowledge from one person to another. Another bugbear I have with the module is that the blog and presentation parts of the assessment together make up a huge proportion of the final grade, and they are done in a group. I have two issues with this. Firstly, given that the topic is about a social issue, I don't think it's fair to make everyone in a group work on a single issue because everyone will have different causes that they're passionate about. Secondly, the skills that are being taught and tested, writing and speaking, are individual in nature. Granted, the marking rubrics do have components where students in a group are graded separately, but the whole module should be individual, in my opinion. Can you imagine the chaos that will ensue if they made FAS1101 Writing Academically a group project?

GEQ1000: Asking Questions

MCs: 4 - compulsory General Education

Delivery:

E-lectures, every two-week block is dedicated to one topic and there are six topics in total
2-hour tutorials on alternate weeks

Assessment:

Quizzes on IVLE based on the e-lectures and required readings = 29%
Post smart-sounding comments on the forum at least six times spread throughout the semester = 14%
Engineering short paper = 6%
Design a wallet = 6%
Fold a piece of origami involving at least 30 steps = 1% (yes, 1, not 10, this is not a typo)
Final paper to reflect on everything you have learned = 14%
Attend and participate in the five face-to-face tutorials = 30%

Tutor: Mr Daryl Li - 8/10

Not a bad tutor. He makes his own slides to help us break down the important concepts from each lecture segment, and comes up with his own tutorial activities which are sometimes better than the template ones given by the professors. He also knows what's important and doesn't harp on individual facts or big words like "phenomenology", but rather focuses on the key life lessons behind them like being open to having your beliefs shattered by contradictory evidence so as not to be stuck with faulty worldviews propped up by the confirmation bias, which is the tendency to seek evidence in favour of your point and reject all opposing evidence. I think he can afford to be a little more aggressive in calling out the less participative members of the class during discussions. Some people just need that extra push to speak up.

Module: 7/10

One look at the assessment components listed above and you can immediately tell that this module is the result of a methamphetamine-fuelled schizophrenic chihuahua puppy's fever dream. The module is supposed to teach you about asking questions and it certainly succeeds as you'll be asking yourself again and again: "What the hell am I actually doing?" The multidisciplinary nature of the module also poses some difficulties for the tutors. Everyone can only be an expert in one area, so when it comes to the tutorials for the other fields, those who are not trained in them will struggle. For example, my tutor has a Master's degree in philosophy. When the economics segment rolled around and he was trying to explain the pitfalls in social science research, he promptly put his foot in his mouth by saying "halo effect" when he really meant "social desirability effect". And who can blame him? They don't talk about such things in philosophy, I'm sure. But that's not to say the module isn't enjoyable. The learning activities can be pretty fun and the workload is manageable. Things move along at a nice, sedate pace and there's no need to chase every last point or mark because the grading is CS/CU, meaning that your CAP is not at risk for this module.

GET1031A: Computational Thinking

MCs: 4 - compulsory General Education for FASS students because we are no good at logic and will soon be replaced by the robots

Delivery:

Weekly e-lectures
2-hour tutorials on alternate weeks, prepare your responses to the questions uploaded about a few days before class

Assessment:

Quizzes on IVLE based on the e-lectures = 15%
Individual assignments = 3 x 5%
Essays = 3 x 5%
Group project = 40%
Tutorial participation = 15%

Tutor: Mr Leon Lim - 8/10

A shaggy and scruffy young fellow, who wouldn't be out of place as the lead character in a theatrical production about a retired Asian Santa Claus. He is jovial and easygoing, which endears him to the students. One area he needs to work on is explaining the tutorial solutions in a clearer way as they are quite complex sometimes.

Module: 8/10

Technically, this is not a brand-new module as there was always a GET1031 Computational Thinking available for bidding on CORS as a General Education module. But because the President of NUS is on this big push to make computational thinking compulsory for every single student, the two old men who created the original GET1031 had to unfurl their creaky bones and figure out how to deliver the module to many times the number of people than they were used to, beginning with about 500 clueless FASS students as a warmup/pilot run for a start. The result was GET1031A, the baby of GET1031, delivered after a painful labour and showing signs of some birth defects. E-lectures were not posted online promptly, correct answers were not keyed into the system properly resulting in marking errors, and a general sense of panic was palpable among the intrepid professors and tutors who were forced to venture into this scary new world. To their credit though, they pulled off the job in a satisfactory manner, and I have no major complaints about the teaching or the content of the course itself. In fact, I think the two old men got their teaching philosophy absolutely right. Too often, teachers at all levels seem to take great joy in torturing their students with diabolically difficult test questions, but that wasn't the case here. The professors set fair quizzes which tested exactly what they talked about in the e-lectures, and even managed to inject occasional bits of humour into the questions and answer options. Their learning activities were also very engaging and helped in demystifying what computational thinking is all about. Note: Effective from the start of AY19/20, this module has been discontinued and directly replaced with GET1050.

NM2103: Quantitative Research Methods

MCs: 4 - essential major module for CNM majors, and Unrestricted Elective for others

Delivery:

Weekly 2-hour lecture
Weekly 1-hour tutorial focusing on computer skills like finding journal articles using online databases and crunching data with SPSS software

Assessment:

Group project, basically a piece of original research related to CNM done in a group of about five students = 35%
Tutorial attendance and participation = 5%
Lecture attendance and participation, recorded when the lecturer opens a quiz or survey on IVLE during the lecture and asks everyone to log in and complete it = 5%
Research participation, where you participate in 5 studies conducted by postgraduate CNM students or CNM staff = 5%
Midterm = 20%, all MCQ and True/False
Final = 30%, MCQ, True/False, and short answers

Lecturer: Dr Taberez Neyazi - 9/10

Yes, he is an Indian from India, but no, his accent is not a problem, although he does have funny ways of pronouncing certain words, like the time he said "rooster" to refer to a roster. And he does set questions in tests and exams that have awkward phrasing which may occasionally confuse and mystify. But teaching-wise, he does a fairly good job. He is able to simplify the concepts so that they are understandable to even those of us who are not scientifically and mathematically inclined. I also appreciate that he isn't particularly concerned about the memorisation of facts and formulas, of which there are many like how to calculate z-score, t-statistic, standard deviation and standard error, and so on. He always says that the computer software will do the computations for us, and we should just focus on making sure we understand the logic behind how the statistical analyses work, and the interpretation of the meaning behind the numbers the computer spits out. The questions he sets reflect this style too. Students with special educational needs will also be pleased to know that he is prompt and reliable in arranging for any necessary accommodations for midterms and finals. One more thing that I find impressive about him is his confidence and poise in front of the lecture theatre. He is actually a very junior faculty member, having received his doctorate not too long ago, but he looks like he has been doing this for decades, so seasoned he appears. And he is brave: There was one time, a suspicious character was loitering inside the lecture theatre (I suspect he was a pervert hoping to look at the many eye-candy Arts girls), and the professor brazenly walked right up to him, confronted him, and told him to get lost, which he promptly did. #respect

Tutor: Mr Chen Zhuo - 8/10

A course team made up of one Indian national and one Chinese national. Intriguing! Fortunately they both speak English well. Mr Chen (or is he Mr Zhuo?) is a decent tutor who gets his job done with minimum fuss. That's all I ask for, really.

Module: 9/10

The professor said he understood that this being compulsory for CNM majors, he had a captive audience. He was also aware that this module would have been the first experience with scientific research for some students such as those from the Arts stream in junior college. So he was careful to make everything as idiot-proof as possible, and drew numerous parallels to real life examples from the communications industry to try to get us to see the relevance of what we were learning. When it came to the part about statistics, he went extra slowly so as not to leave anyone behind, and demonstrated the use of the various analyses in a step-by-step manner to remove our fear of the unknown. All these efforts deserve recognition and I hope the department continues to put this professor in charge of future editions of this module. Click here for a preview of the content!

NM2220: Introduction to Media Writing

MCs: 4 - elective major module for CNM majors and recommended by the department for those interested in pursuing an internship in Communications Management for the NM3550Y Compulsory Internship Programme, and Unrestricted Elective for others

Delivery:

Weekly 2-hour lecture
Weekly 2-hour tutorial in which you will write, write, and write some more

Assessment:

Critical thinking about a topic in the news = 10%
Write your own news article with accompanying photograph and infographic = 25%
Create a one-month social media campaign in response to a given topic = 15%
Tutorial participation = 10%
Final, in which you have to produce a news article, a press release, an idea for a news photograph, and an idea for a social media post, based on information provided about one specific incident = 40%

Lecturer: Ms Tan Ee Lyn - 8/10

CNM is one of the rare university departments where someone with years of practical industry experience can get hired despite not having a doctorate. This is because communications is a very skills-based discipline so it's really valuable to hear from veterans in the field rather than pure theoreticians. Unlike, for instance, political science for which the only quality one needs is an ability to talk one's way out of a plastic bag. With over 20 years as a journalist under her belt, Ms Tan is able to bring her lectures to life with personal anecdotes from her myriad exploits across the globe including war-torn Afghanistan and disease-infested Hong Kong (my words, not hers), and it was a joy being in her class. Her lectures were by no means faultless, however. Most of them were messy affairs in which she would talk round in circles about the same point for an excruciating length of time. In my student feedback I employed the metaphor involving the perpetration of a brutal assault on a deceased equine to describe this phenomenon. She really needs to get out of that habit. Organising her thoughts beforehand might help. Additionally, I think she should streamline the course coverage a bit. Currently, social media writing, crisis communication, and advertising are all included as guest lectures as Ms Tan does not have expertise in those areas. The guest lectures were interesting and I liked them a lot but I thought they were a little out of place and didn't really fit into the overall look and feel of the module. And Ms Tan seemed to be going through the motions with the tutorials and even the examination questions for these topics. So I think she can afford to take them out. After all, the CNM department already offers modules covering those areas in greater depth: NM2203 Social Media in Communication Management, NM4228 Crisis Communication, and NM3215 Advertising Strategies respectively. Having said that, she handles cases of students requiring special educational needs assistance really well, so if you are such a student, there is no reason not to take modules with Ms Tan.

Tutor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn - 15/10

Getting the professor as your tutor is such a rare treat due to the rise of cheap foreign labour from the People's Republic of China masquerading as teaching assistants. But for this particular module, it's actually not that uncommon. Ms Tan is very hardworking and takes most of the tutorial groups herself. The remainder are taken by another reporter teaching part-time. Experiencing Ms Tan's tutorials will make you wonder if she's some kind of Jekyll and Hyde case. Unlike her muddle-headed lecturing, her tutoring is fantastic! Off the charts! She is open, communicative, and possesses a great sense of humour that is so refreshing coming from a faculty member. Tutorials mainly involve writing exercises in which she will set up a scenario and give you some background information about a topic, and then leave you to write a news article or press release based on what she has provided. She will walk around the room and give comments on your writing. In this way, everyone gets some one-on-one personalised interaction and feedback from her. And her feedback is really really useful. She'll tell you what you've done right so you know to keep doing them, and how you can improve. Over the course of the semester, I could feel my writing skills becoming sharper and sharper as the weeks went by, and this in turn grew my confidence.

Module: 11/10 (why do I even bother marking out of ten when I keep giving hyperbolic scores??)

Let me tell you what I think. I think this module should be recoded into an FAS11XX module and made compulsory for all FASS students. Too drastic? Okay, how about replacing NM1101E with it? No? Well, perhaps formalise it as a prerequisite for CNM majors pursuing Communications Management internships instead of leaving it as merely being recommended. This module is wasted languishing as just another CNM module out of the dozens available for selection. It deserves its day in the sun. Give it a bigger role please! Click here for a preview of the content!

It has been a very fun and fruitful semester for me. Based on what I've seen of CNM modules, I'm looking forward to taking more of them in the future semesters! I think I'll attempt the level 3000 ones next semester...