It’s time for more boring updates on my school life. The recess week has officially started yesterday, and for the whole week we’re free to do whatever we want, except that there are certain things waiting for us after the recess week is over. They are called the mid term tests, and I have to prepare myself for those tests.

I have a GEK1520 test, a MA2216 test, and a EE2011 test as well as EE2004 online “quiz”. I’m not too worried about the EE2004 since I can do it anytime online, so I don’t need to memorize all the concepts + formulas.

Since I’m hopelessly lagging on my studies, I have decided to take this recess week to catch up on my lectures and tutorials so that I can start the 2nd part of the semester on a good note. However, I have not been successful at keeping to my schedules, since there is much to cover, especially with the mid term examinations looming around the corner. There’s also tutorials and assignments to prepare, and two term papers to write.

Hence this is not a recess week, but a catch-up-and-study-for-mid-term week. But I guess it’s pretty normal since I didn’t study so hard during the semester time itself. At least I had my free time too. But I guess when the second part of the semester comes, I’ll be more strict on myself.

The EE2005 lecturer says other universities (NTU included) have more stuff to cover for the EE2005 equivalent. I wonder if its true because if it is, then their syllabus is more sick and how can they be less stress than us? Hence, saying that NUS is more stress is a total bunch of bullshit. Why?

Because both universities take in the same batch of people. Unless you say that only hardworking and studious people go to NUS, then I believe there are such people in NTU too. And there are the many scholars that’s flooding NTU as well, so they are probably as stressed as us.

Anyway I’m more stressed than the first year, especially when I’m expecting more out of myself this semester. Well, got to study harder and see how it goes.

Well yesterday (since its already past 0000), I went to Tiong Bahru to meet up with QQ and Nelson for dinner. We’re supposed to give QQ her birthday surprise (her birthday’s today), and we have been kept busy the whole day with changes in plans because our oweek councillor Terence asked QQ to eat at Tiong Bahru when the original plan was Bukit Timah Market.

We spent quite long (from 5.30 to 6.20) walking about Tiong Bahru Plaza. I tried to find the new Fish Leong’s cd (hey I saw her in Bugis live on Friday. She’s quite cute.) but there’s no CD Rama there. The Music Junction Shop showed her CD behind the counter. I couldn’t even take it for myself to see what’s inside. Anyway its 26++ dollars so I felt it’s a little expensive. Shall find other places and see if that’s standard rate. And I actually went to ask the staff like this: “How much is the fish’s cd?”. Lol.

Well eventually all came and we ate. Nelson and I were worried because cy’s suppose to bring the cake and she’s late. Eventually she did appear with the cake and we presented QQ with a Yoshi soft toy with the sunflower curled round the Yoshi. The sunflower is more of a private joke thing, and I suggested it. It’s pretty original now that the Yoshi is decorated. Haha.

Then we took the mrt down and transferred to 96 to University Cultural Center at NUS. Michelle’s dancing in the concert so we all (except cy who has her friend’s birthday party elsewhere) went to support her. At first I was wondering if it was the right decision, since I have stuff to clear in terms of school work, but I’m glad I went. It’s a pretty enjoyable evening, and the dances are pretty interesting.

I like the one where the guy is searching for his darling, and the dance has this story which showed that the girl is always beside him, but she’s already dead because of a fire that broke out in the house, and the husband (the guy) didn’t know because he’s overseas. I find that rather sad and I think the whole song and story and dance fits pretty well. I enjoyed that a lot.

Another one I enjoyed is perhaps the solo which was dedicated by the dance to his mum. The song is chosen very well and it fits with the dedication. Hence I thought it was rather meaningful. The other dances were great, but I cannot grasp the meaning of each and every one of them. Michelle appeared in three dances and she did a pretty good job, especially since she’s the secretary and she’s always so busy till we don’t see her around in school.

After the concert we hung about outside waiting for Michelle and then we gave her her belated birthday present. Her birthday’s on 6th September. Yay. Finally all the pretence and planning has come to an end with all the 3 September babies’ birthday over! Phew!

Finally we had ice cream at Mc Donalds and then we all went home!

I think by now everyone already know that the semester is eating me up. There are lesser posts and most posts are about updates on my life, rather boring I know but just bear with me.

I just finished my Japanese lessons on Sunday 7th September, a day JH calls my 22.25 birthday because 0.25 years ago I had my 22nd birthday. I actually took quite some time to figure it out when he told me. Anyway on the 7th I had the final exam for the course (which lasted 8 weeks, 8 lessons in total), and I managed to pass it. Hence I have put down a very huge stone, and now I can fully concentrate on my 6 modules in NUS.

However studying for the Japanese exam meant that I sacrificed my entire Sunday to memorize the vocabulary and study the grammar and try to practice for the oral examination. Hence I didn’t really have time to catch up on my work or finish my tutorials.

The problem is that I had lab yesterday and I spent the entire day on the lab because the questions are so vague and I don’t really know what exactly I should be learning. The stupid thing is, we have to print the simulation out, but the lab only has 2 computers and no one can use it. Anyway there isn’t any printers. The software cannot be installed on school computers too because we’re not having an administrator account. Hence they force us to go home to do the simulation and print them out. The problem is the TA went through a quick lesson and we all forgot what we should do once we got home. The lab manual also didn’t help.

Having spent a whole day for the lab report meant that I had one less day to recap and do my tutorials. This week is especially sick because apart from EE2005′s tutorial 3, I had to do 3/4 of tutorial 4 (which is for next week), for my assignment due tomorrow after lecture. That’s like 2 tutorials worth!

I also couldn’t find time to edit my marketing assignment, which I just did and I don’t know how I will do. I also couldn’t find time to catch up on my EE2004, so I’m now officially lost. I’m also quite lost for EE2011, but I suppose I can catch up during the recess week. It’s a minor coordinate system conversion problem that I’m stuck with, but I’m confident it can all be solved during the recess week.

I’m pushing everything to the recess week, and I’ll be having more intensive studying sessions to catch up and revise for mid term tests. When the next part of the term begins, I have to be consistent and not lag behind, so I got to plan my time better and make use of my weekends better. I guess it’ll be easier now I don’t have Japanese lessons + homework + memorizing of vocabulary? So my aim is to be able to do revision at night after the morning + afternoon lectures, and all my tutorials should be finished by Sunday night so I won’t need to touch tutorials during the weekday. It’s difficult but I have to do it.

I’m also getting sick of marketing. In a way the notes are so vague that I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to study. I don’t know why EE forces us to take two business related modules. Marketing is a different module from engine lo. Engine is just technical. Mathematics. We have right answers and right methods and it’s interesting. Marketing is like no right answers, so much text to memorize and its difficult to memorize. At least I can derive engineering stuff out if I have the formulas. But marketing is like totally no linkage to me. It’s my killer mod!

Well I guess that’s university life for you. I have just begun to feel that I’m really in university, and I’m getting so busy with 6 modules. Should clear the projects and term paper as soon as possible before the shit comes in.

I need more practices!

*Yells like a mad man*

This month I overspent my budget. Or rather, the correct term to use is allowance. To put it in plain mathematics terms, if x is the amount of allowance I get, I spent x+30. I overshot by about $30 dollars this month and it’s largely due to the start of school this month.

The first major event of the month is the O week which started at 1st August for the councillors and 2nd August for the freshies. I paid $15 for the O Week, excluding food meals which we paid an extra of $2 per meal for catering. Not to mention one of the meals was short of 1 due to freshies coming and going without prior notification. I spent the $2, and had to add in $5 to get two items from Delifrance. Total damage, a $7 meal. Not to mention the suppers we had.

During the O week we had external hunt too and had to travel. However this was probably offset by the fact that I stayed in school over some days and didn’t spend on travel during those days.

I also had to buy my ink cartridge at $29.50 for blank ink so I can continue to print my notes at home, and this is a one off expense that probably occurs once every semester, and I probably buy only 3 cartridges a year.

I went to Popular this month to get some supplies. I got a A5 size file with A5 writing paper and it’s now going to be my notes library. I will revise and compile all the notes into the file and hopefully it helps in revision.

Another noteworthy thing to mention is that I’m spending more on food. I’m having 7 meals in school at least now, because on tuesdays and fridays, I have MA2216 which is from 6pm-8pm. Not to mention Sunday lunch and dinner when I study with my friend outside as well as have Japanese Language lessons. The amount of Old Chang Kee I eat should warrant a need for a membership discount card. Haha. I’m also eating more snacks. It seems to be a standard event to buy coffee on Thursday and Friday mornings. I’m also having to snack on Thursday morning because my day starts from 8 and the first break is at 2 due to my tutorial lecture timeslots.

Not to mention that food prices are increasing. Technoedge’s prices are increasing and the food quality isn’t going up too. Indon’s Chicken Chop at $3 is the best deal and the price hasn’t changed since I was a freshie. Mc Donalds already upped their prices in my second semester in NUS, and the other stalls increase prices by 20 to 30 cents for each dish.

Well I should expect not to overspend in September since there are plenty of miscellaneous fees that I won’t be spending on, like $15 for O week, $30 for ink and $23 for supplies. That’s already $68. Well then, perhaps Monday mornings I can buy coffee too.

Well this blog is becoming more of a journal of my life, and is really becoming more and more uninteresting, not that it ever was interesting in the first place. The second week of school ended rather fast and next week is the start of most tutorials.

Something I hate about my timetable is that my EE2005 has two lectures, one on Monday and the other on Friday. By the time Friday arrives, I would have forgotten what was taught. The other lectures are better because they are either not so far spaced out, or on consecutive days, so it’s easier to digest, in my opinion of cause. The downside to consecutive days is that if you can’t get it you have very little time at night to mug and get it before the next lecture.

But generally school is still alright, and the 6 modules is actually barely manageable. I think I just need some time to digest and do my revisions and I suppose that is what I’m going to do for my weekends. Japanese lessons are also going to end in 3 sessions time (about 2 weeks), and that will leave me with more time for studies.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. I went for 8.30 – 10 lecture for my EE2005 and I’m completely lost because I can’t remember what was the point in the Monday lecture. Hence I have to do some revision either today or tomorrow so I will be on track on Monday. Haha. After that I went to the Multi Purpose Sports Hall 5 (MPSH 5) to play badminton with the freshies and councillors of my orientation group, and now I’m aching in numerous parts of my body due to the long 3 hour game. I really enjoyed myself and I am sure the freshies did too.

After that had a super full Subway meal at 2pm and it screwed up my meal timings. Went to the library to do tutorials and revise one particular module, and then went for “dinner”. Ordered the “Shui Jiao Tang” (Dumpling Soup) at Science and my opinion is that it should be renamed “Vegetable Soup”. The amount of vegetables they put in is more than the dumplings!

Sat in the front side for MA2216 for the first time and I realized what a wonderful experience it is to be able to hear the lecturer’s voice. From this week onwards I have to reach the LT earlier to get a seat that’s more to the front. However I was surprised that I had recursion in my probabilities course. Need to figure out that recursion thing. Perhaps I’ll borrow the textbook from the library.

After lecture we just took the bus 197 to Bugis Junction and ate the weekly dessert at the dessert shop my clique frequents. In the past I didn’t join them and I’m now making an effort to join them for all such outings, especially when we don’t get to see each other in school often due to the conflicting timetables.

Got home late and slept, this morning woke up again to go to school for a 9-12 lecture for EE2004. I got lost after the first hour or so and thank goodness it ended a little past 11. Hence there is not much I am confused about and I can just read it later and try to decipher before I do my tutorials.

And oh my marketing lecturer is great. She makes things fun and lively and I listen to the whole 2 hours. Now my problem is remembering exactly what everything is about. Lol.

That sums up my second week of school!

I haven’t been really blogging for a very long time. I can’t remember the last time I sat down to write a decent post, be it a serious opinion or a book review, or even a review for the JDramas that I have watched before. Most of the time I seem to have lost an interest or lost the passion, the zeal, of blogging.

The main reason is that the semester has started and I became lazy. There’s just stuff to do at night, and the freshies are already freaking me out. It seemed that this batch of freshies are all very hardworking. My lecture just ended and they came in to sit down and take out their lecture notes, and I haven’t even gotten out of the lecture yet!

The libraries are quite occupied too. I’m surprised to see the whole of level 5 taken only in the beginning of second week. Unless the seniors changed all at one shot, the logical reason is that quite a number of freshies are inside.

I know they are different because they hunt for textbooks more rigorously than we did last year. They kept asking me if I knew anyone still selling the MLE textbooks. But admittedly, some are just plain stupid, or desperate. Two guys in Used Textbook Forum sold their MLE textbooks for 35 and 36 dollars respectively. The clementi bookshop price is about $38 and that’s first hand. 2 dollars cheaper for a 2nd hand book? I rather “upsize” and get a new one.

But thankfully they have not started to book the discussion rooms yet, so I can still book them and have my group mugging therapy sessions. Again this semester is 6 modules so more work needs to be done.

A friend challenged me. Loser treats winner to Kushinbo. Based on the SAP score. So there’s much work to be done, very little time. I even brought my Japanese homework to school to do. It’s pretty fun though, being in school and studying. A good change to lazying around in the 3 months holiday.

I ran today too. Ran a shorter distance and didn’t clock the time I wanted to clock. In short I’m slower and more easily tired than I was last month. I guess I need to get used to running.

Well uni life is pretty much settled. Bought all my 3 core module’s books already, the last one from Coop instead of clementi bookstore cause the stock only comes in 6-8 weeks, of which my sem is probably going to end in a month’s time. So I just get it at 1 dollars extra from Coop and without the nice plastic cover too. Haha.

Well, shall continue working hard!

Well it’s the first day of school today and I finally gotten my last module. Why so late? Because to get the sixth module, we have to bid from round 3 onwards, and round 3 starts today. It’s due to a new NUS policy where they try to make it easier for people to get all 5 modules first before allowing the rest of us who want a sixth module to try.

I’m not being a sick mugger when I took this sixth module, but I absolutely have to clear it for my minor requirements. Since the department of ECE decides that we have to take 2 business modules, it has lead me to need to overload 3 semesters so that I can do my IA and clear my minor altogether within 8 normal semesters.

Hence here is the breakdown:
EE2004 – 1 point
EE2005 – 1 point
EE2011 – 1 point
All these three above are preallocated.
MKT1003 – 1 point
GEK1520 – 600 point from G account
MA2216 – 1 point

There you go. 605 points spent this semester.

Tutorial balloting also starts today. I managed to get my desired tutorial slots for GEK1520, EE2004 and EE2011. EE2005 I didn’t get because everyone chose the same slots. Why? Because the other EE2005 tutorial slots clash with the other preallocated module’s lectures. Totally stupid. No one from the same group as me would be able to attend the other tutorials. Dumb right?

So I shall do something tomorrow, maybe appeal. Then I will wait till round two before I ballot for my MKT1003 and MA2216 tutorials, of which both I hope to get my desired slots.

Got to pray then!

Well, it’s time for the plan of what to study for the rest of my 3 years. The degree is already set, but whether I want to take a minor or not, that I have to plan for. I kind of regret not reading up more before the start of university, which is one year ago. Sadly I have missed two semesters chance of overloading, and it will be a little bit tougher.

I’ve just checked my recommended study schedule, and this is it:

Those in bold are modules that I plan to take or overload, and the MC count in () is the count after I overloaded

Semester 3
EE2006 Digital Design – 4
EE2009 Signals – 4
EE2010 Systems and Control – 4
EE2012 Analytical Methods in ECE – 4
1 * 4 MC Slot GEM: Understanding the Universe
Overload: MA2216 PROBABILITY – 4
Total MCs: 20 (24)

Semester 4
EE2004 Electronic Devices – 4
EE2005 Electronics – 4
EE2007 Microprocessor Systems – 4
EE2011 Engineering Electromagnetics – 4
1 * 4 MC Slot SS Module
Overload 1 * SARTOR Module – 4
Total MCs: 20 (24)

Semester 5
EE2001 Project (Analog and Digital Systems Design) – 6
EG2401 Engineering Professionalism – 3
Breadth Level Technical Electives × 2 – 8
1 * 4 MC Slot GEM Module
Overload: MA2222 BASIC FINANCIAL MATHEMATICS – 4
Total MCs: 21 (25)

Semester 6
EE3001 Project (Technology Assessment) – 4
Breadth / Depth Level Technical Elective × 1 – 4
Industrial Attachment – 12
Total MCs: 20

Semester 7
EE4001 B.Eng. Dissertation (over 2 semesters) – 6
HR2002 Understanding Human Relations in the New Economy – 3
Breadth Level Technical Elective × 1 – 4
Depth Level Technical Electives × 2 – 8
Total MCs: 21

Semester 8
EE4001 B.Eng. Dissertation (over 2 semesters) – 6
Depth Level Technical Elective × 1 – 4
1 * 4 MC Slot MA3245 FINANCIAL MATHEMATICS I – 4
1 * 4 MC Slot QF3101 INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS: THEORY AND COMPUTATION – 4
Total MCs: 18

This will enable me to finish up on the Minor in Financial Mathematics. The problem with this minor is that not all modules are available each semester. Basically I need to clear four separate modules (since I’ve finished MA1505 and MA1506 as Core Modules): MA2216, MA2222, MA3245, QF3101.

MA2216 is available in both semesters 1 and 2 and I have cleared the pre-requisite. Hence I will take it in semester 3.
MA2222 is only available in semester 1 and I have cleared CS1101C but not MA2216. Hence I cannot take MA2222 with MA2216 in the next semester. Hence I can only take this in semester 5.
MA3245 is only available in semester 2 and the pre requisite is MA2222. Hence I can only take this in either semester 6 or semester 8, of which semester 6 is Industrial Attachment (IA) time, so I do not want to overload it then.
QF3101 is only available in semester 2 and the pre requisite is MA2222. Hence I can only take this in semester 6 or 8, by the above arguments, the only chance I would have is semester 8 for both modules, and since semester 8 has a UEM and a Breadth slot, then I might as well use them.

However, since I’m in Electrical Engineering, the department wants me to clear 2 * SARTOR modules. Of which, my EC1301 is considered a SARTOR. So I have to clear one more, and the best time to clear the SARTOR would be in semester 4. Thus, my overloaded modules will come in semester 3, 4 and 5, of which I have a GEM, SS, and GEM in the respective semester workload. Since S/U policy only allows S/U of non-core + non-minor modules, I can only S/U my GEMs/SS. So if the workload is too much for me, I will just prepare to S/U the related module.

I will then graduate with 160 + 12 (3 overloaded modules) = 172 MCs. Haven’t decided which SARTOR to clear yet, perhaps ACC1002X Financial Accounting, or BSP1005 Managerial Economics or MNO1001 Management and Organization? Got to discuss with the other EE people to decide what to take.

/* This serves as a record of what I have planned. */