The post before 2007

This would most likely be my last post before 2007. Haven't been blogging much because I'm too lazy now.

So why am I writing this post? Because my exam results were released recently!

As usual there are shockers... didn't do as well as expected in certain subjects and did better than expected in others. But the latter exceeded the former, so I'm satisfied. Considering the effort that I've put into my studies for the past semester... it's better than what I predicted. Still, my CGPA is affected, and now I'm out of the "first-class honour" range with 4.47/5.00. Hopefully I can do well in the following semester to push it back up. Didn't have any A+ this semester and my German got A- (guess the competition was too tough with only one class, taking German III next sem--might have to S/U it).

All the best to you all in 2007 and Happy New Year!

NLDS 2006

NLDS = National Leadership Development Seminar, is one of the main activities organised by AIESEC in Singapore every year.

Lots of things to say but I'll like to collect more photos first =P

One week after exams...

It's already one week after the exams have ended and I feel that I'm so unproductive. There's lots of things I need to get done, extra things I can do to improve myself etc... but I'm not doing it yet. *sigh* Holidays come and my procrastination habit kicks in again at full blast.

Summary of how I've spent the past few days:

Went to Vivocity (twice!), watched Happy Feet at Golden Village Cinemas there, tried Botak Jones at Clementi, went swimming twice, sang karaoke at KBox from 8+pm til 3am, went for a Dim Sum buffet at Dragon Gate Restaurant and basically used up a lot of money.

I would never have realised exactly how much money I had spent if I hadn't done a income-expenses budget as suggested by this book "Money Matters for Young People" by the famous Consumers Association of Penang (CAP). Gosh. Really gotta stop splurging myself on so much stuff. I could earn some money from URECA but I haven't claimed any money yet as I've not done a lot yet.

Anyway, celebrated Yu Chii's birthday yesterday at this restaurant called 2Hot at Vivocity which offers halal versions of fusion dishes that are usually not halal. For the amount I got for my fettucine and turkey slices the price wasn't really worth it, but it was delicious nevertheless. Anyway both me and Yu Chii noticed that the waiter who served us looked like 汪东城 from the Taiwan boyband 飞沦海, but Yi Cheng disagreed. Too bad didn't get his photo, can't compare here.

Off to AIESEC Singapore's National Leadership Development Seminar (NLDS) for the next 4 days~ Hope it'll be an enriching experience like last year's.

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Hot news!

Genting has won the Sentosa Integrated Resort (IR) bid! Genting's second to be awarded after Las Vegas Sands Corp won the Marina Bay IR. It's a bit shocking to me actually; personally I found Genting's proposal rather boring and mediocre compared to the others which were more high-end. But then again it has Universal Studios and can appeal to the wider consumer market. It has the advantage of being popular in this region as well. According to Channel News Asia a "hefty 45% of the criteria" was based on tourism appeal.

But I wonder if this has anything to do with Najib's (Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister) call for greater cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore to ensure economic development in this "globalised world" (cliché, i know). In his talk he had mentioned also that there needs to be some recipocity from the Singapore side now that Singapore has taken some stakes in Malaysian companies. Well, well... Genting seems to be a convenient answer to that. Haha...

End of Exams and Stanchart

Updates for the last few exams...

Maths 3 was harder than I thought it would be. Gosh... I think sometimes I really underestimate how hard papers can be. Not placing my hopes too high for this one. Might get a B+ or so.

I had Biz Finance on the same day. Was kinda worried as I didn't really study it for most of the semester. That was also the reason I S/U-ed it (which means I only get 'S'-satisfactory or 'U'-unsatisfactory grades, but I clear my AUs.). I got my hands on some 'tips' from a friend who regularly attends Bobby's classes (that's the name of my tutor). It's not considered cheating coz Bobby actually tells us during seminar classes and lectures what he will ask in the exams. So anyway, the exam was way easier than I expected, and if I didn't S/U I bet I could get a B+ and above. Haha... but we never know, so I don't regret S/U-ing it.

Last paper was Aerospace Dynamics (it is not aerodymanics however, i'll be taking that next semester). I found it quite OK, the only question I didn't really complete was worth 7 marks. So hopefully I'll get my 'A'.

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Woke up early on Sunday (6 am) and took a cab to City Hall for my 10km run. The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon ("stanchart") is an annual running event. The main categories are a full marathon (42.195km), half marathon (21km) and 10km. Knowing that I won't be training much I chose to run the 10km when I registered.

When I reached the starting point it was almost time to start. Didn't get to stretch much before starting. One thing I'm glad of is that there weren't as many runners as the Sheares Bridge Run, so bottleneck situations didn't really occur (though I had to squeeze my way through sometimes). Each participant's timing was recorded by this chip that we tie onto our shoelaces. Didn't wear this year's official t-shirt (by adidas), because it was too wide at the sides. Guess they thought all runners have wide chests and "wings" (latissimus dorsi muscles, or "lats"). Bah. Need to train up and bulk up before I can wear it.

The run started off the usual way, from the esplanade running towards the sheares bridge/marina bay area. But instead of the usual route where we go up sheares bridge, this time we run towards the marina bay area where people usually go for a barbeque and/or steamboat meal. The first distance indicator was at the 2km point, and I was already quite tired. I guess I really need more training, coz by the time I reached only 4km I was thinking of stopping already. But I didn't stop lah... haha. Because I persuaded myself to at least reach the U-turn area or 5km.

Anyway I reached the U-turn/5km point but I still ran for another 1/2 km. Then I did it. I stopped running : ( and walked. Went passed a drink station and was still walking (somewhere in between the 5km and 6km points). I just couldn't bring myself to start running again; that is, until I saw...

... a photographer. Lol. What if he takes a photo of me walking in a 10km run! So embarassing! So paiseh! So there and then I started running again. Surprisingly I got into "the phase". "The phase" refers to the phase where people get into the proper running tempo and don't feel lethargic. This held me on from 6km all the way til 9 1/2 km, where I experienced stitches. I walked a bit loh... but then started running again soon. Saw the last bend at the Padang and started running faster. I clocked about 1 hour 6 minutes. I won't know the exact time (based on the chip) until they post it on the website. Not a very good timing, but I've improved. Certainly can run less than 1 hour next time. But then again I'm probably going to run the 1/2 marathon next year, so we'll see how things goes. ; )

All of my other friends ran the marathon (!). Yar, I got a bunch of crazy fit friends... haha. Anyway all of them experienced cramps along the way, which is definitely worse than stitches. Most marathoners were limping after the run and stairs were painful to ascend of descend. They clocked between 4 hours 20 minutes (Jonathan) and 5 hours + (including Sihan, a female coursemate of mine). KV collapsed in the end supposedly, and was brought to the first aiders tent. He said he had cramps only towards the last few 100 metres.

For pictures, route map, best timings etc., visit Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2006.