Thursday, April 13, 2006
3:42 PM

is this the end of year 1?

whoa... myriad of emotions now... Relief becuz all the mad rush for projects and reports and presentations are over. All my exams are over. And that's just the end of this term, and year 1. When the freshies come in, I'm no longer a freshie. And the feeling of being a fresh freshie is still fresh in my mind - the feeling that u'r thrown in a crowd of strangers and starting everything from ground zero, the helplessness and mad rush amidst tests, projs and presentations.

Wow! I must say I learnt a lot this term, and gained quite a lot too. I'm quite satisfied with the past term. At least I don't have to tell pple "it's just another term"; in fact, it's a term with a purpose, it seems.

In management accting (MA), had to fiddle with excel and learnt to do budget, but most imptly had on-the-ground research at gabe's dad's wine shop! Really have to thank my grp: gabe, gav and zc for every1's hard work in the MA proj, and making it such an enjoyable, efficient and fun proj grp to work with! It was filled with the right energy and drive. can say it's one of the more efficient grps i worked with in smu. Have to thank kelly for MA exam last qtn oso! muacks! thanks babe!

I'm the rose among the thorns!

BGS! my prof is my eye candy! He's quite old alr la, but it's his maturity that's attractive! he got this seemingly french (or is it italian) accent that I enjoy listening to. but this is not the only reason i enjoyed his lessons. I nv thot I'd learn much from such a "crappy" module, as the name suggests. I mean, what can u learn from "business, government and society"? ethics? csr? But levine proved us wrong! i realised that i nv really knew wad was scientific management, bureaucracy, social capital, trust, globalisation, etc until this lesson. On the other hand, this lesson is a struggle cuz every mon and tue (much time) was spent deciphering wad the Harvard Business Cases, textbooks, hypotheses papers meant, without which u'll flunk your closed book quizzes and class contribution. The aura in class was scary too, and makes pple feel stupid and inadequate.

Our research paper was such a struggle too. Our proposals for hypotheses was total crap, and got crappy grades too. Come to think of it, y are we writing hypotheses in year 1, moreover as acc/biz students? Even the executives who were the discussants for our presentation were surprised to find out we'r year 1s. But somehow, 2 weeks b4 our presentation, we came up with a decent survey for consumers and collated the data. Have to say we only put in minimal effort to look for interview targets, since my grp members were not really interested or keen in the proj, hence we did not manage to secure any company interviews. We were rather half-hearted and demoralised cuz we din really understand wad was happening. But presentation turned out well, and hopefully we'r able to score for our report too!

Had to wear full suit for presentation!

Group strength: 5 (numerically), 4 (effectively)

Blaw is a really interesting module, which seemed like a half-module. Haha. I'm quite lucky to get a rather slack prof who cut down the syllabus and gave such simplified and summarised notes which are super useful for her exams! Woohoo! But I noe I'm not cut out for law, and I hate writing 12-page essays in 2 hr 30 min.

Finance is a really interesting topic I have to say. And it makes me know that I'm def going to do a major in this, though I'm not avid or savvy in stocks. Fin turned out to be rather theoretical under this prof. But this makes me consider very much abt the chances of me becoming a financial adviser in the future. Quite likely I'll consider this career... hmmm...

Not forgetting AS which drove every1 pretty mad. Every conversation we had ever since this class had to contain some attack at fallacies or validity or soundness. Madness! And finally there was CT which was a super rushed (and therefore disappointing) class. If only this class was less general. I meant how more general can "creative thinking" get. Poor prof had to concoct her own syllabus, and attempt to inject creativity in all of us. I tink we ended up more intellectual, not necessarily creative. She said so many things that made me tink A LOT. Like every piece of news found in the papers makes me tink of the cause, deep reasons for the phenomena, as well as the effects on diff pple.

Last Wed was our CT Installation Art. It's been a long time since I was involved some form of art, and I really miss it! I rmb in Nanyang, there was SO MUCH emphasis on art that we took it for granted. To name a few, gymnastics lessons, mass dance, modern dance, chinese dance, theatre and gender studies, choral nite, theatre nite, Arts Fest, etc! I really missed acting - the feeling of being immersed in a different character, the experience of putting urself in the shoes of another person. I tink that's just so interesting and fun!

Cast and Crew of 'Save Us, Kill Them' Installation Art :)

Spot the guys.

There's still much more to these that I gained this term. It's really nice to have friends to hang out with. Gav juz came to realisation that we only knew each other for a few mths, but I really appreciate this bunch of frens to lunch with, do proj with, joke and crap with. :) Whatever it is, these pple made me realise that it is possible not to have only hi-bye frens in uni, despite the mad rush.

Now that exams are over, here's my to-do list for the summer hols:
1. Climb Rinjani
a. Train up myself
b. Get trekking shoes
2. Get part-time job and earn $$$
3. Org SMUX camp
4. Learn driving (if got time)
5. Go recre diving (if got $ and time)
6. Clean up my messy and unhygienic room
7. Org 4/9 outing
8. Org 68 outing, which was pushed back several times

9 Apr was 4/9's bday! Haha... Come to tink of it, I miss 4naiers, our humour and appreciation for witty humour. We'r the few pple who appreciate Mrs Seah's style of humour, with the injection of sarcasm and wit. After 4/9 I've much reduced the use of expressions like "move, files, move!", "where are my eyes?", "help me find my eyes" or "you too!" since nobody really understand the real meanings of these expressions. Moreover, the eye-rolling activity that was predominant in 4/9 is rare and considered mean to many non-4naiers... And how many gals are willing to act shocked, act cute, act dao, act ghostly, look hideous etc in group photos, or scream and laugh hysterically like 4naiers? Perhaps we only act like this together as 4naiers, just like puzzles that are incomplete without any piece.