Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Internship draws near


Its now my turn to be emotional as they say. Today was the Specialist Diploma feedback forum where the entire class sat down with the director to give feedback on the course and watch the final projects of all 4 groups. It was nice to see the class again. You'd think that we'd be able to see each other during lecture again but going through the feedback for each module just brought back memories of this course we took together. How we had to make new friends from the different classes and work together.

I think that the spec dip was a good way for us to get to know people from other classes. Through it I got to know Farid, Jessica, Devon, Joanne and got to know Shawn a lot more than when Shwee introduced us the other time at Ngee Ann. And of course, got to know the 05 sisters, Arisya and Dione, even more.

Then came the picture taking session where we took the first spec dip class photo. Can you believe? One and a half years and we haven't taken a photo of the entire class? Oh well... It was fun really. And I must say that the other stories weren't bad, the final projects I mean. Interesting stuff. Kinda like our own mini-cinema. And the school provided us with several pizzas and rodeo wings and Pepsi to enjoy as well.

What am I gonna miss most? I think it'd be working together with TwentytwO on projects and the whole balancing of the main diploma with the specialist one. As Ms. Peter said, we should all congratulate ourselves. While the top ranking students retained their top ranks, I've more or less maintained my grades. Could I have done better? Sure, but I suppose through it all, I'm happy with how I've done.

So, to end off, here are a few shout-outs to those who can read them.

Shout Outs
Twenty twO productions - I'm really gonna miss you guys for sure without fail. The last semester I suppose was when we became really close and you guys are FUN. So I'll miss all the energy and lame-ass stuff we did together.

The rest of the spec dippers - You guys were fun to have class with. As Ms. Peter also said, we tried to hoodwink Chet by saying e-learning week meant no classes for us and what not. Hah! I'll remember watching The Departed with y'all.

Ms Kwa, Mr Loh & Chet - Thanks for the enthusiastic approach to lessons and the countless hours of guidance provided. Very much appreciated and hopefully one day, we'll all do something you guys can be proud of.

Now I shall go and be sad about leaving.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Saturday, October 13, 2007

What Hurts The Most


I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house
That don’t bother me
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out
I’m not afraid to cry every once in a while
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days every now and again I pretend I’m ok
But that’s not what gets me

What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was tryin’ to do

It’s hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go
But I’m doin’ It
It’s hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I’m alone
Still Harder
Getting up, getting dressed, livin’ with this regret
But I know if I could do it over
I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart
That I left unspoken

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

Not seeing that loving you
That’s what I was trying to do

Each time I hear this song it never fails to make me slow down and think of two people. Never. It just has that impact. And one of the worst parts was not being able to say good bye to one of them. Yeah, the song is that powerful.

Dear Nana,
Y'know I really miss having you around. You always had something good to say about people, even the most socially inept (you know who I'm talking about). You always gave a lot from yourself, sacrificing too. Your patience and understanding are qualities that are missed.

Love,
Jono.

Dear bro,
Every time I hear that song it gets to me. Not being able to say good bye was one of the hardest things, cause eventually we ran out of time. I know you were trying to be and were strong. Anyway, you're missed and I liked having your opinions around.

Love,
Jono.


-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Thursday, October 11, 2007

What?!


Internship posting turned out to SO be not what I expected. Maybe I'm just being a diva and making too big a deal out of nothing. So screw me. Maybe I just need time to say, okay, this is what you've got - deal with it. Y'know sometimes you just feel lousy about yourself, guess this is another one of those times. You just gotta get up, move on and continue walking. Most probably away from it.

Anyway, something to be happy about. The 5 Of Us had a baking session today. We baked brownies, not too bad I'd say. Could do a little better perhaps. And had lunch and watched Moulin Rouge. Fantastic show. Enjoyed the day for that part pretty much. The brownie's mostly gone by now, just a little left in the fridge.

Have you ever wondered how cyclical things can be? Take a look at technology. Let's ask this question, is technology really for the good of mankind or is it just for the good of its inventors (who pocket the earnings)? Let's look at mobile phones in particular. A model with 3.2 megapixel camera comes out. Then comes the 5 megapixel camera model less than a year later. Then a video phone, phone with this function, that function. Never ending. And since things are constantly being upgraded, if you don't keep up you lose out. How? Depreciation. What a 3.2 megapixel camera phone was once worth is higher than what it is worth now thanks to the arrival of the 5 megapixel camera phone. The longer you keep it, the lesser value it holds. And so repeats the cycle. Before you know it, a phone with more features comes out into the market and the value of the set you own currently goes down again.

And how about education? You start of slow, progress to increasingly difficult levels. And the further you go, the more you have to cope with. Gotta leave time for this project, that assignment, study group, mid-term, and whatever rubbish that is thrown at you. You get a break here, then go back for another term of bashing you with loads of assignments, projects, mid-terms, what-have-yous. Come out of education, work till you're dead. You take a break, feel refreshed. Return to the mundane job. You need a break again. The world is a cycle. And it seems as though it is progressing towards a cycle of mundanity, depression and destruction.

Do you seriously need technology to do everything for you? It may be more efficient, sure, but it lacks personality. It lacks emotion. One day, technology is going to overtake mankind. Be way too advanced for the commoner to understand. Only the elite inventors will understand it..

Obviously, I'm ranting which shows I'm not in that great a mood. But I think that the worst is over for now. On to happy thoughts of the night, also known as dreams.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Internship - The industrail attachment programme


Its become too important to ignore any more. It just a few weeks I won't be going to school anymore, it'll be going to work. Not too sure how that will go down. Tomorrow brings us one step closer to that. Actually its today, depending how you look at it. I was all okay with it telling others how the postings will be okay and it will be fun. That is, till I saw someone's blog and I thought of something else. I dunno, its suddenly kind of scary to think you'll be working. You have no idea what the company expects of you or what hours you will have to work and how much time you'd have to do the things you want to do. I'll admit it, I'm a tad scared of what lies ahead. Tomorrow, during the briefing and postings revelation, I suppose we shall see. I just hope that I get a good company which I can learn from that allows me to have some time to myself. I doubt that they'd push us in slowly. Events companies are desperate for people (I wonder why) and they need manpower.

I think its likely that we'd be on the front line, manning booths, running around doing setting up or waiting on people do help them get seated. Make coffee for anyone, wash the dishes, mop the floor? I don't think so. You've heard stories of how interns have to do that when they go for their attachment, but I don't think the events companies would do that. Unless I'm sorely mistaken. But I think what's open is to go in to the company with a good attitude, just be yourself, learn what you can, make the mistakes that you will make, admit to making the mistakes and take whatever "feedback" you get with an open mind. Okay, so here's to tomorrows announcement of our postings to our companies. =/

Lord help me. No social life for 3 months I foresee.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Uggh, How Stupid Can I Get?


Wireless communication - you thought it'd be something fun and easy to talk about, come up with activities that revolve around it and get people to talk about. Not so straight forward. I feel really helpless about the topic. The other day, just talking to Ms. Kwa for consultation on the topic, I felt embarrassed that I wasn't more independent. Looking at how others are handling their courses in pre-med or psychology or what have you, I question myself - are you lazy or is your course just slack at the moment? Hmmmm..... Maybe I'm just moody now. But yeah, I feel kind of stupid and maybe I'm lazy or the course is slack for the mo.

-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Technology - K850i


Since we're doing the wireless communications presentation for NCT on Monday, this totally fits the topic. Have you heard about the new K850i phone from Sony Ericsson? Its a new phone released under the cyber shot branch which features a 5 megapixel camera. How awesome eh?


The phone is available in 2 colours - luminous green and velvet blue. Design wise, the phone ain't bad either eh? Compared to the first cyber shot phone released, the K800i which I'm using, this one beats it flat for design asthetics. But what about functionality?


When it comes down to phone functions, the basic thing you want to do is to make calls and send or receive text messages. I'm sure making calls is a given with any phone already in or about to enter the market. Its standard cause they're not called phones if you can't call with it. For text messaging, I feel that the K800i will fare better due to its larger buttons. The K850's buttons seem small and if you were to type out a long message, I'm not sure if you'd escape sore thumbs after the exercise routine.


However, when it comes down to additional features, the phone is once again tops. With a 5 megapixel camera (not bad for a phone), in built MP3 player and the capability to watch TV on your phone, its additional functions are definitely more advanced than what is available currently. It seems as though more and more features are being added to the phones these days as each month passes.


All in all, seeing the preview of this phone nearly made my jaw drop. Okay, fine, it did make my jaw drop. It even has this feature that rotates the screen according to if you hold the phone vertically or horizontally for the media tab. Not sure about the others. It also has touch screen keys but I wonder how reliable those are.



A preview video of the phone.


-LIVESTRONG!-
Heads Up and Stay Strong
Be Proud