Fulfilling the basics

I just walked out of a final examination, unable to answer 1/3 of the questions.

I just checked online and realized that I haven’t read 2 sets of the notes posted. I wasn’t even aware that they were posted.

This taught me a lesson on the importance of getting the basics done well first. Should have checked before hand.

Damn exciting

It’s course registration this morning. Basically, priority is decided by seniority, and within each level, first-come-first served.

I have 1 important course which I have to get into. If not, I will have to take this other course with a not-so-good professor to achieve a normal courseload. The website froze with 2 minutes to go and I ran to the computer cluster upstairs only to find that it was full, and then sprinted to the library.

As of now, there are 330 people in the electronic queeze and 9 seats left.

Last year the same thing happened. The network crashed with only minutes to spare. Like a cruel joke.

Can’t you guys just chill out a little?

http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKSIN6721820080126 

This is old but I have only seen the video recently.

Lyrics: 

We get fined for almost anything
Drivers won’t give chance when you want to change lane
The indoors are cold, the outdoors are hot;
And the humid air, it wrecks my hair
Those answering machines always make you hold
Only to hang up on you

When a pregnant lady gets on the train
Everyone pretends to be asleep
I’m stuck with my parents till I’m 35
Cause I can’t apply for HDB
We don’t recycle any plastic bags
But we purify our pee

*chorus:
What’s wrong with Singapore?
Losing always makes me feel so sore
Cause if you’re not the best
Then you’re just one of the rest

My oh my Singapore
What exactly are we voting for?
What’s not expressly permitted
is prohibited

“Ooh”

When I’m hungry at the food court, I see
People chope seats with their tissue paper
To the auntie staying upstairs:
Your laundry’s dripping on my bed sheets
Please don’t squat on the toilet seats
And don’t clip your nails on MRT

Stray cats get into noisy affairs
At night my neighbor makes weird animal sounds
People put on fake accents to sound posh
And queue up 3 hours for donuts
Will I ever live till eighty five
to collect CPF?

*chorus

Singaporeans too kiasu! (so scared to lose)
Singaporeans too kiasi! (so scared to die)
Singaporeans too kiabor! (scared of their wives)
Maybe we’re just too stressed out! (even the kids)

“Ooh”

Old National Library was replaced by an ugly tunnel
Singaporean men can’t take independent women
People blow their nose into the swimming pool (and pee too)
And fall asleep on my shoulder in the train

Singapore’s national bird is the crane (the one with yellow steel girders)
Real estate agents’ leaflets clogging up my mailbox (en bloc, en bloc, en bloc, en bloc)
Why can’t we be buried when we die?
No one wants to climb Bukit Timah with me

*chorus

There are not enough public holidays
My neighbor sings KTV all night
Wedding dinners never start on time
My hair is always cut shorter than I want
Channel 5 commercials are way too long
Why do men turn bald?

At first it was to speak more mandarin
Then it was to speak proper English
What’s wrong with my powderful Singlish?

People sit down during rock concerts
We have to pay for tap water at restaurants
ERP gantries are everywhere
But I can still see traffic jams on the road
All the bus stops have tilted benches
Cannot access playboy.com

*chorus

I thought this is humor in good taste. In any case, they are true observations from our society. What harm is there in having a little fun by presenting them in a lively and humorous choir?

The Media Development Authority banned the foreign members from participating, and the public performance has to be cancelled as a result. How sad.

I understand where the authority is coming from, but I can’t help but feel that they are being too petty. I mean, to embrace globalization, we must practise some tolerance too.

On another note, yesterday we led our opponent in IM soccer by 5 goals at a point. I had a golden moment when I dribbled all the way up and scored a goal. But we conceded 5 after that and the game ended in a draw. Agonizing!

Yes, we won

I was reading the Straitstimes yesterday and read about how they have set padang up for a party if Singapore win the bid for the Youth Olympics in 2010.

I was concerned: What if we lose to Moscow? It would be really sad. I imagine the concregation dispersing in muted conversations (leaving behind random trash in the process). But we won, and that’s great.

Stock market as a long term investment

Stock market is an attractive option for long term investment.

The basic investment strategy, known as Dog of the Dows, boast an average annual return of17.7% since 1973. This strategy involves simply purchasing 10 stocks from the Dow Jones Index with the highest dividend yield and updating your portfolio in a similar manner every year. However, the key to succeeding in this strategy is to adopt a long term approach so as to ride over bearish markets and sustain an overall gain in the long run.

Common sense fundamental analysis should work well. Companies with sensible business approach, strong management and well-branded products will probably win the market share and grow in its stocks. Well established blue chips stocks like Coca Cola and Disney will probably have positive yields in the long run too.

American dollars has suffered a fall due to its expanding trade deficits that leads to weak demands for US dollars and the sub-prime mortgage crisis. A recession is looming. This appears to be a good time for investment, so as to reap the rewards of a recovering economy in the future.

I wonder how capital gain tax works for alien non-residents like me. In any case, I am glad that there is no capital gain tax in Singapore. Not that it concerns me now, but who nows about the future? I might end up being a professional day trader.

Life has been going alright so far.

Rush for langdorm has begun and it was fun meeting and interacting with the rushees.

It is snowing now. On my way to the library, I stopped by the computer terminal and listened to several speeches of Reynold price. It left me peaceful and inspired.

Spain and Morocco in 3 weeks

I am back at Duke now. The taste of spain and morocco still lingers. I have selected some of the more interesting photos and put them into a slideshow.

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From the moment I stepped into Tangier, the port of entry of Morocco, I was met with curious stares and glances. During our first dinner, I sat in front of a window facing the alleyway and people walking past would inadvertently turn to look at me. My first interaction with the local happened when a group of Moroccans walked passed me and called out “Qing Hwa!” The word probably referred to the famous university in China. I turned around and they gave me a smile and a thumbs up. From then on, my numerous interactions with the locals were friendly and fun spirited. While there were no lack of hustlers and street vendors who came up to us to sell their wares and offer their services in Marrakesh, locals in Fes were genuinely friendly. Darin, an american tourist, and I gamely joined a group of teenagers in a little soccer in one of the alley. I kicked the ball and it knocked over some shoes on display in a nearby shop and the owner just laughed it off. After the game, the teenagers helped him to rearrange the shoes.

One night, the group went into a restaurant for dinner and I decided to search for cheaper alternatives. I wandered along the alleys alone and soon a boy came up to me. He asked me where I am from and we chatted as he followed me around merely for fun. I saw him the next day under a less pleasant circumstances. His eyes were teary and he was walking around begging for food. He came to me and I gave him 10 dirams.

Bargaining is a must when buying things in the Medina and my friend was skilful at it. He played the role of a poor student expertly and infused much fun and laughter into the exchange as he drove the price down. We had much fun out of it.

I saw a painting which I thought my mum would like and decided to try my hand too. I got it from 600 down to 130 dirhams, not too bad I guess.

My experience at Sahara was worth describing. After 2 days of bus ride the awe-inspring sand dunes finally came into view. We rode the camel for about half an hour to our tents.

The night fell, the cloudless sky opened up to reveal a mind-blowing patchwork of stars and constellations. Well, mind-blowing to a city dweller like me. A group of us gamely climbed up a sand dune to admire the sky. The climb was labourious though.

Dinner was a cozy affair as we sat around a small table and ate chicken tangine and bread with our hands. We made friends with the koreans sitting with us and found out they had taken a semester off for travelling. Impressive endeavour.

After dinner we gathered around a campfire and our berber guides treated us to some indigenious berber music with drums and singing. It appeared that they were doing it more for their own enjoyment and less as an obligation to us. I like the authenticity of the experience.

Favourite photo from Vegas trip

I took this photo from the airplane during the descent. The desert landscape of Nevada. Pretty awesome.

Why compare academic results between races? Well, nothing’s wrong actually.

From The Straits Times today (14th December 07):

Malay exam performance slips slightly

Across races, students did well overall in 2006; Malay results still better than in 2004.

AFTER chalking impressive gains over several years, Malay students recorded a slight decline in their performance at national examinations last year.The Education Ministry’s latest report card for the ethnic groups showed Malay performance slipping slightly at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), and at the GCE O and A levels.Chinese and Indian students showed improvement at the PSLE and O levels, but both groups also dropped in performance at the A levels.The good news in the data released on Friday is that children of all races did well overall at all the major examinations.In the PSLE, over 95 per cent passed. At the O levels, over 95 per cent obtained at least three O-level passes and over 80 per cent obtained at least five.And at the A levels, over 90 per cent obtained at least two A levels and two AO levels.Across the board, Chinese students kept up their record of performing best at all three levels, their results outstripping the national average.Malay students shone in mother tongue, outperforming Chinese and Indians at all three exams as in previous years. Overall, Indians did best among the three main races in English language, while the Chinese excelled in mathematics and science.Chinese and Indian students generally maintained or improved on most of their performances in all three exams.

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Why compare academic results between races? Well, initially I thought it might be inappropriate to compare the academic performances between the different races and highlighting the differences, but I realized that I was being too sensitive.

This may be good for increasing general awareness to shape effective policies for assisting the individual races in their weaker areas. Perhaps, it might promote some form of healthy competition? The obvious downside is propagating certain superior attitudes and stereotypes (Eg: I am a Chinese, therefore I am good in Math and science, but I will never be as good as an Indian in English).

And I am really bewildered by this statement:
“Malay students shone in mother tongue, outperforming Chinese and Indians at all three exams as in previous years. “

Isn’t this naturally expected? Is it newsworthy?