Alright I'm supposed to be studying but I'm not. Instead, I started watching lectures/talks on Asian vs. Western development by Prof Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of NUS. It's really interesting how he's so persuasive and a really interesting speaker. He's very pro-Asian, so westerners would definitely not take his words without feeling awfully disgruntled. His speeches and debates are very provocative, which makes them seemingly full of judgments and propaganda. But if you look up the facts, they are all indeed truly objective and as such, would come as quite a shock to westerners. Truly inspiring. I really recommend people to take some time of mugging (ony applicable for those who are still drowning in pyps and lecture notes) and watch some of them. Oh and on a side note, he was just voted one of the world's top 100 thinkers. He really deserve it. =D
Anyway I suddenly thought of Operation Orion 2010. I really miss that trip and the people there.
I really miss the kids! Omg the kids are damn adorable (ok I sound like an absolute pedophile, but I love kids! =D)! And I'm feeling really sore that I will be slogging out in camp instead (after all the studying that made me put on quite some spare tires -.-zZZ). Oh well.
This semester, I just so much more relaxed than the last 2. Am I confident? I wouldn't say I'm really confident, but I kinda changed my mentality towards studies this semester. And it's really making learning so much more interesting.
The university shouldn't be like the A levels. All the mugging and frantically doing all the possible PYP ain't studying. It's memorizing. That's why I kinda question Singapore's engineering education. We are just producing students who can study very well. But that doesn't make an engineer. That's why I'm so persistent to study in Europe. In Europe, the universities train engineers, not educate one. And this one word makes all the difference. Engineering is a discipline, and the way it's taught should not be like science and math. So far in the university, I feel that only a couple of modules I've taken have sort of met this expectation - Process Safety, Health and Environment and Separation Processes. All in this semester. It really trains an engineers intuition - it's not always about getting the correct answer (although it would be good to). It's more of understanding what you learn and applying them to new situations. That's something I really enjoy. So exams aside, I really feel that this semester has been really fulfilling.. in every way.
Alright studies aside, I have been listening to Adele's songs these couple of weeks. Here are 2 songs that I really like.
Rolling in the deep
Somebody like you
These songs really grow on you. The more you listen, the more meaningful it gets. And every time I listen to it, I get this new experience. It's really good. The 2 songs are exact opposites. Rolling in the deep is more about a strong individual living her life to the fullest despite all the adversities that come her way, while someone like you really describes how people sometimes lose themselves in relationships. Really meaningful. It really shows the different sides of relationships. Go ahead and listen to them - I'm sure everyone who listens will get something meaningful out of them. =D
Someone commented yesterday that I seem to have my future all planned out and stuff. But I sort of think otherwise. The fact that my life's been super fast paced ever since my days of formal schooling ended, just meant that I have to do things spontaneously - to make decisive decisions at every point along the way. It's really not as easy as it seems. Sometimes it really makes me wonder if the choice I made earlier is correct, or if it's really the best choice. At every turning point in my life, I am bound to ask myself questions like "have I done my best?", "is there anything that I would have done differently?" or "What are my priorities?". But at every stage, my answer seem to change.
Actually I wrote a pretty long post about my life story, but felt that a single idea can encompass my entire point. Sounds really cliche, but to me, everything happens for a reason. Don't feel sad or blame everyone and everything around you when things don't turn out the way you want it to. You just have to believe in karma - what goes around, comes around. It may not be in the most obvious and direct way, but everything you do will eventually come back to you. It's really amazing once you experience it once - at least I felt that a couple of times already. So yeps, that's actually the main reason why I'm taking things much more easily that I did in the before. =D
