Might be interesting to see how he works.
http://jackneojackneo.blogspot.com/

I said before that I hope to achieve ‘gay grades‘ this term. That was true, to a certain extent, but not enough. Not enough to become someone great at SMU, not enough to be even considered a top student. What I wanted is so close yet I know unattainable. It may be just a simple number but the effort considered to achieve that is incredibly titanic. Coupled with the prospect of 4 SMU core modules like QM, MA and Biz Law, improbable has became impossible.

But nevertheless, it is enough for me. Enough to achieve that dream of mine that I set out on when I retained a year in Secondary 3, enough for me to forget the student that I once was. I am grateful for my achievements and I definitely can’t forget the friends in SMU that has helped me along the way, to mould me into the person I am today.

I’ll still work as hard in my last semester, not for any result or anybody but to complete my journey thus far.

Thanks Stelly for always standing by me.

Thank you God for always keeping me in your mind.

This is basically what my job in army is about. See a short video here.

It’s in the mindef website so it’s basically non-classified. Anyone can view it. =)

Tomorrow, I’ll be wearing the green uniform called the No. 4 again, except that I can’t find my beret. I wonder where it went. Hope the chief clerk won’t bug me about that. It’s been 3 years since I kiwied my boots; they look awful. I think I need new ones, otherwise those bouts of foot rotting incident are sure to return. Anyway, it’ll be great if they would allow me to bring my laptop in camp. After all, I need to check my SMU emails every now and then. I wouldn’t want to miss out on our beloved SMU daily alerts.

Everytime I watch a Man Utd match, they either lose or draw. This time, 1-1 with Middlesborough.

Why do I have to switch on the tv last night? =(

I want, I want, I want this laptop bag…

At the beginning, there is the ministerial pay rise. Then, plastic bags are discouraged. Today, we get details about boosting Singapore’s growth using a West plus East plus strategy. Is it me or is there conspiracy here?

First, ministers will become richer. Cost of paying for plastic bags will be insignificant to them. Thus, they’ll buy more plastic bags when they go marketing. If they buy more plastic bags, they’ll keep more plastic bags in their homes right? But in our living districts, the neighborhood aunties and uncles will find the extra $0.10 per bag too much a burden to bear. How can our low-income parents afford to pay for his sons and daughters’ education, household expenses like electricity and rent, food and water, and still pay $0.10 per plastic bag when they go out to buy things that will keep the families alive? Thus, our HDB districts will start seeing a lack of plastic bags when everyone learn how to stuff their shopping items into their T-shirts. Oh my god, the puzzle is starting to unravel…

We all know that the East uses a lot of styrofoam in their food packagins and the West tends to like plastic packs. The West plus East plus strategy means that we should not only move from styrofoam to plastic in our food packings, we need to plus it into our everyday items! Soon, we’ll have plastic papers, plastic cars, plastic buildings and more! Look, even our money is going plastic! Demand goes up, prices of plastic goes up too. Current supply of plastic will not be enough. Thus, the country will call for a gathering of plastic bags, paying the contributor tons of money for their white-colored fairprice collection of bags. And who is to gain? The ministers who have the money to buy the plastic bags!

Hah! I bet the government didn’t think someone like me will find that out. But now that you know, keep all your plastic safe. I’ll be hiding from the policemen who’ll be knocking on my doors, taking away everything that is plastic to me.

The Shadow of the Wind

I pride myself as a reader; I am really proud of the hundreds of novels that I’ve read in my lifetime, discounting magazines, comics and newspapers and some of those novels have really impacted me. Titles like the Wheel of Time series, Time Traveller’s Wife, The Hummingbird’s Daughter and other idiosyncratic ones like Life of Pi and Kafka on the Shore have significantly impressed me with their heart-tugging emotion-twisting words. However, none has done it as greatly and deeply as The Shadow of the Wind. Please trust me when I say this book is incredible; It truly is.

A personal try at a sypnosis

This book is about a boy, Daniel, who grew up around books and was given one by his father as a rite of passage; a tradition passed down for generations. He chose it among a secret labyrinth of other important books (only known to a few, including his father) and the particular book he chose brings with it a heart-wrenching story of its author, Julian Carax. The book was titled Shadow of the Wind. I won’t give away the events that befell Julian but I will say this. It’s probably the most thrilling, romantic, erotic and emotional story you’ll ever read; almost as beautiful as the impossibly unmatchable Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare himself.

Now that I’ve praised the book to such heights, I would like to give a disclaimer. Please do not fault me if you bought the book and hated it. I have only had positive comments from readers of the book but I do know the meat and poison theory. All I ask is that you try out something that could make you believe in a love that is so powerful, it’ll change your life.

I’ll be having my International Economics examinations in 1 hour time so what better time to reflect on this SMU term?

I feel that this term has been rather slack for me. Despite the FYP commitment, time has been freed up a lot because of my absence from CCAs this term, namely SMUSIFE and SISS. Yeah, I’ve been participating a little bit still as an advisor, talking to clients and etc but still, the absence of responsibility meant so much to me. My time has now been moved from non-academic activities to pure relaxation and of course, studies.

I have placed so much emphasis on some subject like Strategic Brand Management and Architectural Analysis that I sort of neglect courses like Marketing Research (thanks Jiahuan and Ah Goh for picking up the pieces) and International Economics (thanks Ray, Jiahui, Yvonne and Reuben). I’ll be getting donuts for some of you all. =)

Anyway, I hope to achieve ‘gay grades‘ this term. (The term ‘gay grades’ are invented by my dear friend and IE groupmate, Ray Yap)

I pray that this will be the term that pushes me to a dream I’ve been striving to achieve. Is it possible? Of course. Probable? Not really. But I’ll definitely try for it; I won’t cry if I don’t get it though. After all, I am truly happy with my achievements. Many of my university peers don’t really know me. They think I’m a well brought-up boy from a wealthy family. Ho ho ho, truth is often more mysterious than fiction.

On the 13th of May, Stelly and I will be enjoying the Phantom of the Opera at the Esplanade Theatre and we’ll be sitting right in the stalls! It’s our first time being so up close to the stage and I hope that it’ll be a wonderful experience. In addition, I chose the last day of the show (hopefully they don’t extend it further); hopefully there’ll be some incredible appreciation ceremony or something. *keeping fingers crossed*

This is week 14, the week where we are supposed to study hard for our exams the following week. However, although I potentially have an average of 30% to lose in each exam, I really don’t feel like studying. I want to do things that I want to do, not things that I need to do. Last night, I slept at 5am just to complete some of my want-to-dos; today, I only spent 2 hours on the need-to-dos.

Even when I say this, I still want to get good grades for the exams. Am I asking for too much? I think so. But if you ask me, I’ll choose my want-to-dos anytime. As I was reading my MPW notes on the 4 aspects of motivation (thanks Jiahuan for the notes), which includes effort, persistence, direction and goals, I realized that I am deeply lacking in the area of effort and persistence for school work, despite my steadfast direction and goals towards a impressive academic record.

Maybe it’s time I graduate. Or maybe I just have to alter that direction and goal. If I do that right, I probably won’t think about school that much. Then I’ll be less stressed too. Hmm, I wonder what the working life will be like. In a way, it sort of relates to my personal dilemma of being an employee or entrepreneur. I mean, we heard it from friends, relatives, career talks and all. But I really wonder.. what the future holds for someone like me..

This year, the applications for Spain has surpassed Stella and my expectations. Now that we’ve gotten different locations for our exchange programmes, it’s a challenge to make things right. Both of us really want to go to Spain next term, and it’s up to Ying, Sudha and Isabelle to decide on our future. I pray for a miracle; this dream that could be fulfilled will be incredible!

GSR 8 has been very much part of my life since year 1 of SMU. I’ve always wanted to create a blog but procrastinated till now. But anyway, it is up and very much content-driven by the GSR8ers. The main objective of this blog is to allow us to always keep in contact during exchanges, work & travel programs or even after we graduate. Find us at http://gsr8.blogspot.com.