Last Post Of 2007

It has been quite a year...this post will be the last post for the year 2007.

I just came back from Medan last Friday. When I reached home it was already quite late. Medan was quite interesting. There, I met some friends and chatted.

One of them (Let's call him Ron) said something interesting. I met him in Church the Sunday before Christmas. I sat next to him in Church while there were some youths in front practicing for some Christmas dance. This was what he said (I will translate all to English).

Ron: Did you see that?
Me: What?
Ron: The sparkle in her eyes. (Sinar mata).
Me: Who?

He nudged his head in the direction of a particular lady.

Me: Her? I didn't realize it. Let me see.

I looked in her direction and she was busy practicing some dance moves.

Ron: So do you see it?

I tried to change the subject.

Me: How about you? Do you see anyone whose eyes sparkle when she looks at you?

I suspect there is one. But he refused to admit it.

Ron: Hey...the lights above are kinda bright ain't it?

Never mind.

Me: How do you know that she has that sparkle?
Ron: Well, I can observe.
Me: What if you are wrong?
Ron: Well, I am hardly wrong.
Me: What if I walk up to her and ask "Hey, according to Ron, he says that you like me." and she says that it isn't so? Won't it be pretty embarrassing?
Ron: Hm...well maybe not 100% right...it's about 80% right.
Me: 80%?
Ron: Well, if you talk to her, I am sure she will like you.

Wha...he's so confident about it.

Me: So why do you say that?
Ron: She's similar to you...quiet...able to mix with people despite their social status.

In case you don't know this girl is considered "high profile" because of her accomplishments. This girl (from what I can see) is pretty quiet. Anyway, we chatted about other things after that.

A few days before I went back to Singapore, there was another Church service. There, my mother said something.

Mum: Why don't you talk to her?

She's referring to the same girl Ron was talking about.

Me: But what should I say?
Mum: Well, just try. Maybe talk about school or something. She's looking over at your direction you know.
Me: Really?

Yup, she's looking at my direction. I guess my friend Ron maybe right. Why maybe? Well, until it's confirm, everything's just speculation.

Anyway, that's about it.

I checked my results for my first semester of my first year over at Medan on the 28th and surprise surprise...I didn't know what to say when I saw my results. Overall, I am quite satisfied with my results.

It's the last day of the year and I wish everyone a happy year ahead :)

Going To Medan

I am going to Medan today. Be back somewhere end of December.

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas :)

Helpline

Someone suggested this to me and I decided to give a try. What is it? Simple.

All you need to do is write your problem to me. I can't guarantee a good answer but I can try. If you want to remain anonymous that's fine with me. To remain anonymous, just write your problem in the "comment section" without putting your name. If you want to be brave, just email me your problem (my email is at the right bar).

For starters, let's come up with an imaginary letter from someone that reads something like this:

Dear Steph,

I have a problem. My problem is this. I have a cat and dog at home that doesn't seem to get along very well. I have read books on cat/dog training but still they will fight whenever they see each other. Furthermore, I stay in a small HDB flat. So the chance of one meeting the other is actually quite high.

Once I came back from NTU and saw poor Brownie (the name of the cat) injured. Toodles (name of dog) was injured too! I asked my mom and she said that Brownie and Toodles had fought while I was in NTU. I can't help but cry when I see both my darlings hurt.

What should I do?

Guardian of Brownie and Toodles.

Okay the above is just an example okay. I may not know much about cats and dogs. All I know is that they fight. But sometimes there are some pairs that just seem to get along well.

What would my reply to this letter be? Hm...let me see...a rough (I emphasize ROUGH) reply would be this:

Dear Guardian of Brownie and Toodles,

First of all, I must say that it's a commendable feat to have a pet cat and dog at the same time. It's not easy but hey, if you love both animals I guess it will be fine.

Maybe you can try this. Allow both animals to spend more time together. Like bringing both animals out to the park at the same time (I know that people walk the dog...but walk the cat? That would be something new). You see if Brownie sees Toodles and vice versa, they will be familiar to each other and not treat the other as an enemy.

Another way would be to place their sleeping place in an area. Then decrease the area slowly until they are just next to each other. Let's say you place Brownie at one corner of the room and Toodles at the other end. After one week, decrease the distance between both sleeping places by a certain distance (this distance will be the maximum distance between Brownie and Toodles without them fighting). Repeat this until they are just beside each other...aww...ain't that cute.

Well, I am not animal expert but the above are two points that you can try out.

By the way...Toodles just sounds...weird. However, that's just my opinion :)

Regards,
Steph

The above is just a rough reply.

So I hope you get the idea. I don't know why my friend suggested this idea of me being "Aunt Agony" but hey...why don't give it a try?

Remember, you can tell your problem via the comments or to my email.

Oh yah, if your problem is fictitious, it's fine with me too.

I wonder who will be the first...and what will the problem be...hm...(that is IF anyone wants to write to me that is...lol.)

Christmas & STARS & Other Misc Stuff

It's been a long time since my last post. Let's see what I have to say...

1. Christmas gifts.

Yup it's that time of the year again where I need to shop for gifts for my friends in Medan. Sadly, I won't be going there as I am busy with my Uni stuff...like choosing which modules to take. Yes...yes...STARS Planner can take up a lot of your time. Actually, I have other stuff to do other than planning for my timetable for my next semester.

However, I still get to taste Medan food! For example, I got to eat Mee Tiong Sim! In case you don't know. Mee Tiong Sim is kinda like wantan mee. However, the noodle used is very different. The best part of it is the wantan. It's nice man! Too bad I didn't take a picture of it.

2. Choosing a UE and GE for next semester.

Yes. This took quite sometime. I have been wondering. Would you take an elective that is easy so that it will pull-up your GPA (eg. BASIC1001: How To Kill A Mosquito)? Or would you take an elective that you like even though it is challenging (eg. SCIENCE1001: Nanosystems In Modern Humanistic Societal Platforms)? Please feel free to input your views on my tagboard over on the left.

After talking to a few people and listening to what they have to say. I have grouped all of their suggestions into 2 groups.

The first group says that you should take an elective that is easy. The reason given was simple. If it's easy, then it would be able to help increase your GPA. However, if it's easy, scoring would be difficult as more people would get an A.

The second group says that you should take an elective that you are interested in. Why? If you are interested in the subject, you would put in the effort to study it. Sounds logical doesn't it? But what if you take an elective that you like let's say..."ART1001: Sewing and Knitting for the Modern Man"?

Let's say Tom like to sew and decides to take ART1001 because he's very interested in sewing. When he enters the tutorial group he realized that there are other students who are much more professional in the subject then him. They sew better and some can even sew with their eyes closed! This automatically places him at a disadvantage, even though he is interested in the subject.

Another example. Let's say Jane, a Humans student is interested in "ENG3.142: Engineering Sciences For The Modern Citizen". She takes the module and realizes that there are a lot of Engineering students in that module! What a shocker that is to her! Without knowing it, she is already disadvantaged because Engineering students definitely have an upper hand in an engineering elective.

Looking at Tom and Jane, it's quite disheartening to see two students who choose an elective because of interest only to find themselves disadvantaged. Sad right?

That's why they implemented the SU option! If you like an elective and after a few weeks, you realized that it's difficult you can just SU it. Of course you still need to pass lest an ugly "U" appear in your degree.

I heard from somewhere that the other university allows students to SU a subject after knowing their result. However, the university I am in does not allow students to SU a subject after their results are known. NTU students have to decided whether to SU their subjects before the final examination. Good? Bad? Well you decide.

So what did I do? I choose an elective that I am interested in. At first I choose one elective (I am not going to say which one it is. Let's call it A). It was easy. Exams are only in MCQ! Oh how we all love MCQ. We have been doing MCQ questions from pre-school and all the y way to (can you believe it?) University!

The field the elective touches on was a familiar field to me. So I took it. However, after some advice from the people around I decided to choose another elective. Why? Because elective A was kinda simple with no real applications to my course. So despite the fact that it's simple (and easier to score), I switched it with another one that sounds difficult but has a practical aspect to it. I pray that I made the right decision. By the way, elective A is pretty famous in the STARS Planner. It has over 1200+ people on the wait list.

3. Another story.

I remember at this point of time last year, I wrote a pretty lengthy story. The title was "The Value Of Honesty In A Relationship". Should I write another one? Maybe with the theme of Christmas?

So why not write another story? Hm...I am a bit hesitant as all stories have the same plot. Boy and Girl meet. Some problem surfaces. Boy and Girl get back together. So it's pretty boring. I tried an experiment in the story "She Likes Me?" by placing myself in the story itself. Haha...that drew quite a response. Hm...maybe I should try something new...

Or maybe I should just read my textbook...lol.

4. Comments on the tagboard.

At times, I receive comments from anonymous readers. Interesting.

Sometimes. I wonder who they are behind those words. Is he/she someone I know? Is he/she from NTU? Does he/she talk crap like me?

Of course the fact that they name themselves as "Anonymous" with the big "A" means that they don't want me to know who they are. Fair enough. But sometimes I just wonder...do I know them...hm...

5. Blog renovation.

Should I renovate my blog? Those two stick men at the top have been standing there for ages with the same pose. I myself won't be able to do that. Maybe I should renovate...but the thing is that it takes time.

I remember how much time I spent just to come up with the current skin and MAKING SURE that it's browser compatible. You know Firefox and IE have some compatibility issues that you need to look out for when coming out with a blogskin. The html and css coding...wah...it really took a lot of time.


That's quite a lot of stuff. I guess I should stop now.
Enjoy your Christmas holidays :)

The Perfect Partner (In My Opinion That Is)

I was tagged by Denise on this tag. After looking through it several times and making changes here and there...I finally finished it. Here it is.

8 Points In My Perfect Partner

1. She must be a true Christian.

Christianity is a very important part in my life. I was born into a Christian family and I plan to have a Christian family of my own.

If she's of a different religion, then there will be awkward times. For example, when I say grace and she just looks at me…it's weird right?

On Sundays, I would go to Church and my partner should go with me also. She should follow me not because she wants to please me but because she believes in Jesus Christ herself.

What do I mean by "true". Simple. She must have the life of Christ in her.

2. She must come from a good family.

How do you define "good"?

"Good" means that she's from a family that has values. Values like respect for elders, discipline, responsible...etc.

I believe this is important as a person is shaped by his/her environment. One such environment is the family. The individual grows up in a family that has certain values. When the individual becomes an adult, some of the family habits and values (be it good or bad) will definitely rub-on to him/her.

If she has bad habits and values then it will be pretty hard getting along with her. For example, maybe she thinks that drinking and clubbing is fine. However, I don't like those activities. Of course to her those activities may not be "bad" but to me it is. With such conflicts it's pretty hard to maintain the relationship.

If she has good habits and values then it's easier for me to get along with her. For example, she feels that no matter how tired one maybe, if you see someone in need you should offer your seat to him/her. To me this is a good value. So it will be easy to get along with her.

3. Both our families must consent to our relationship.

They say that you don't just marry the man/lady but his/his family also. I feel that this is very true. When you marry someone, your in-laws and parents must be able to get along, else there may be some friction in the future.

For example, during Chinese New Year when we visit our extended families, you won't want a situation where there's this uneasiness between you and your in-laws or your spouse and his/her in-laws. It will be good if everyone can just sit around the table and eat happily.

4. She must love me and accept me for who I am.

This I feel is important. I don't want to spend the rest of my life with someone who doesn't love me. It's kinda sad. If there is no love, then there is no point in the relationship.

She must be able to accept me for who I am - both my strengths and weaknesses.

I am not perfect. I am not able to run the full Standard Chartered Marathon nor am I able to write with both my left and right hands simultaneously.

However, I have some strengths that I shall boast off. I am able to multi-task. Let me give an example.

I am able to chat simultaneously with 2 or more people on MSN, do my tutorial, listen to online lectures, compile a simple C++ program, watch Channel News Asia, have my dinner and finally...sit on a chair. Impressive huh?

5. She must be able to communicate with me.

Communication is very important. That's what I learn in HW110 Effective Communication. Actually I knew that before attending HW110.

Anyway, communication is important. If she says something and I don't understand. She’s just talking to herself. How sad that is. If I say something and she doesn't understand then I am talking to myself.

If we don’t understand each other, then we won’t be able to get to know the other person better. If this is the case, how is it possible to commit to the other person?

That’s why communication is important.

6. She must be able to complement me.

Complement according to Dictionary.com is "something that completes or makes perfect".

They say that behind every successful man is a woman. I agree.

She must be able to complement me such that there’s this synergy in the things we do. Sounds kinda abstract. Let me give an example.

Let’s say we need to come up with a video presentation on needy children. Let’s say I am in-charge of the video presentation. If I do it by myself I can only come up with...let’s say a B-standard presentation. However if I do it with her, we are able to come up with an A-standard presentation. In this example, there’s a form of synergy and teamwork between us.

This is important as if we end up getting married, having a family requires a lot of teamwork (between me and her that is) and synergy. One goes to work while the other takes care of the children. If I were to do it by myself alone, I doubt it will be manageable. If she does it herself, I doubt she can manage. However, because we have each other, no matter how hard the situation maybe, I can always look to her for support and vice-versa.

7. She need not come from a rich family.

In some places, there are some guys who marry rich girls. However, I wonder how many of them marry because of love. Sometimes they do it because of the money. Maybe the man comes from a poor family and marries the girl so he could support his parents. I don’t know. It’s just a guess.

Personally, I feel that if she’s rich or poor it doesn’t matter. What’s important is whether she loves me and whether I love her. It’s pointless to have a lot of money but you end up in a cold relationship. It’s pretty sad.

If she comes from a poor family, then it’s fine with me. I can work and support her.

If she comes from a rich family, then I will see if there’s love in the equation or just money. If money is a big factor in the relationship, then it’s pretty hard to continue.

8. Looks.

They say that pretty girls have a higher chance of getting married than not-so-pretty girls. That’s what they say.

I know of a married couple. The wife belongs to the latter in the above sentence. However, she has a heart of gold. She’s very supportive of her husband and makes a very good housewife. Is her husband happy? Definitely!

We marry someone not to show him/her to the world but to enjoy our lives with him/her.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So my perception of beauty may be different than yours. She just needs to be “beautiful” in my sight and I will be happy.

Looking at the list above, I must say that it’s pretty lengthy.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I used a lot of “must” in the list. Why “must”? Because I believe that marriage is for life so I can’t afford to make a mistake in it. If a girl is not suitable, I rather stay single than suffer. However, if she’s suitable, then when I marry her, I can be assured that I have made the right choice and look forward to a life with her.

Of course one important thing that I must mention is this: I believe that in the right time and in the right place, the Lord will show me who this lady is. On that day, I will be content and happy to meet the person who is able to complete my life.