Friday, November 16, 2007
It's hard to keep to your promise of regularly updating your blog, epecially when you are an engineering undergraduate at Cornell! Admittedly I could have scribbled a few lines now and then, but I like to use the blog more as a form of self-reflection. Thus, as the semester heads towards a frentic finish, I feel it's apt that I post on my blog, reflecting on the events thus far. They say a picture speaks a thousand words; unfortunately, camera has never been a must-have item in my bag, so I don't have too many photos that chronologises my fall semester. Below are a collection of low quality photos taken using my samsung camera, and you have to forgive me... so here we go!
Well, how can work not be THE MAIN feature of one's semester? And yes, work has been an almost unavoidable daily activity. Not that I have been overly studious; on the contrary, I feel I could have worked even harder! But that does not take away the fact that it has been yet another work-laden semester! From nearly tearing my hair out literally when trying to produce the pro-formal statement of cash flows for my NBA 506 final project, to staring at the immortal words of Prof Bland for ORIE 320: Optimization, the rigor of academic curriculum at Cornell has never been in question.
This, together with the stress stemming from my own expectations, at times hindered, rather than helped, my academic progression. There were too many occasions when anxiety during an exam got the better of me, resulting in hesitation and thus excessive carelessness. I have been a victim of my own carelessness too many times; there was not a single paper where I had more than 5 points taken away for a single question. Rather, I have uncountable number of single points taken away for sheer carelessness. And it has begun to take its toll on my grades. That said, I have truly learned from this, and would strive to be clearer in my presentation of answers and weed out these nitty gritty errors. it's painful, but it's not costly, and it's salvageable!
This was a picture taken at Ian's place when several friends from UPenn came over for this fall break. It was nice catching up with friends like Yexiang and Yinwei, as well as making new ones! And as usual, when boys get together, booze is the order of the day! That said, it was fun just chilling with a group of friends, so long as we chat more than we drink. And I think there could be more such impromptu gatherings among the Singaporeans @ Cornell, inter or intra-batch.
Although the SSA has many activities lined up each year, I feel there is a genuine lack of interaction among Singaporeans across various batches of students, especially with the grad students. It's' uncommon to hear the familiar sounds of Singlish-laden conversations in Statler terrace restaurant or at Taste of Thai, yet often we struggle to identify our fellow Singaporeans. It's the same even within the undergraduate community. Even though we have had Prepare, AGM, Happy Hour and Makamannia, there are several freshmen out there whom some of the seniors struggle to recognise (unless you have done Prepare). This is not the fault of the SSA; it's more down to the individual.
Cheers to friendship, within and beyond Cornell!
This guy is the champion of ORIE 320. He would always sit at the front row, and he will NEVER FAIL TO FALL ASLEEP within 10 minutes into the lecture. This picture was taken 10 MINUTES after the lecture had ended! He's the man, man! lol.
Prof Bland, what a fella! He drones, he mumbles, he comes up with crap ideas like distibuting exam papers with 2 colours, he comes up with a seating arrangement that hinders, rather than helps, the conduct of the exam. He declares crap events like cell phone day, dresses up on halloween wth a leather strap attached to the back of his pants, as well as wearing a silly hat. He calls everyone who raises questions by the name "Adam", and when you knock on his door, he can be curt as you could ever imagine. Z-Z-Z.
;
5:10 PM
***
Well, how can work not be THE MAIN feature of one's semester? And yes, work has been an almost unavoidable daily activity. Not that I have been overly studious; on the contrary, I feel I could have worked even harder! But that does not take away the fact that it has been yet another work-laden semester! From nearly tearing my hair out literally when trying to produce the pro-formal statement of cash flows for my NBA 506 final project, to staring at the immortal words of Prof Bland for ORIE 320: Optimization, the rigor of academic curriculum at Cornell has never been in question. 
This was a picture taken at Ian's place when several friends from UPenn came over for this fall break. It was nice catching up with friends like Yexiang and Yinwei, as well as making new ones! And as usual, when boys get together, booze is the order of the day! That said, it was fun just chilling with a group of friends, so long as we chat more than we drink. And I think there could be more such impromptu gatherings among the Singaporeans @ Cornell, inter or intra-batch.
Cheers to friendship, within and beyond Cornell! 
This guy is the champion of ORIE 320. He would always sit at the front row, and he will NEVER FAIL TO FALL ASLEEP within 10 minutes into the lecture. This picture was taken 10 MINUTES after the lecture had ended! He's the man, man! lol. 
