Exam Results

Well the results were out quite some time and I must say I'm satisfied with mine. And without further ado, here are my results:

MAS 212 Calculus IV A

MAS 315 Probability and Statistics II A-

MAS 317 Data Analysis A-

MAS 371 Game Theory A

HW112a Academic Writing B+

MPS 811 & MPS 812 P

It's great I managed to improve my GPA! And this gives me great confidence as I embark on another journey into the great unknown! :-)

Exam Results

It's here again! The time of the year when all your semester's work boils down to. To check or not to check, that's probably the most important question for tonight (or more accurately, tomorrow morning). For some, the need to know will prove irresistible and succumb to clicking on the dreaded link. Others will appear offline in order to stave off the incessant questions about their results and resolve to put off the unenviable task of finding out their results. Wherever you lean on, tonight will prove to be a busy one for NTU students and I wager that the server may crash. I won't say too much on my predictions although I'm just hoping to maintain. It would put my mind at ease when I go overseas in September.

On another note, I've been spending quite a bit as I met friends whom I've not met for a long time. The time spent with them was invaluable and I cherish every moment of them. I hope to continue meeting up with friends during the holidays before embarking on my attachment with MOE. Lots of thing still to take care off before I can fly off to the land of Maple leaves.

Knowing thyself

One of those questions that struck me is whether I truly know myself. Without sounding too philosophical, I believe trying to understand oneself is an extremely difficult thing to do. While we may bring up our defences, wear a facade and pretend to the whole world when other people ask what we really want, there is no such need when you ask that question to yourself. What are my goals? What do I want to accomplish? These are questions which only you yourself hold the answers. No one else can answer these questions. As we sometimes go about listlessly in life, is this what we really want to do? Life is short and what our soul hungers for is a fundamental need that we more often than not fail to acknowledge. Of course, these questions don't come out of the blue. All these came out when I started reading this book by Tom Morris called "True Success". It's an interesting read and for those who have not step into the world of self-improvement, it's a great introduction to the genre. There are plenty of quotes for the quote-hungry, but the more important take home messages, in my opinion, are not the quotes but the questions and salient points that are laid bare in this book. I would love to meet the author as he seems to be a person who is passionate in education which I'm hoping to share in just a few years time. Energy and enthusiasm are the fuel to life. All thing flow continuously and compartmentalizing may not always be the best method. Just some of the things that I've picked up. Will try to complete reading the book by th end of this week. :-)

Some Magic Fun

Today was a day when I indulged in a little fantasy fun. Being a planeswalker, able to transcend time and space. Harnessing energy from nature and using this energy to summon spells and creatures from another plane. Hurling bolts of lightning and fire at my foes are just some of my hobbies. Researching into new and improved ways of summoning creatures and equipping them with powerful artifacts of war. The stench of death and charred bodies is never a step away. Goblins, merfolks, elves and of course humans, are just some of the beings I meet along the way. They can help me or stand in my way. If it's the latter, there are just a thousand ways of decimating them. Anyway, that was how I spent my day together with like-minded friends aloy, timo and jq. Definitely a fun experience that I've not experienced for a long time and a much enjoyable one too. Brings back childhood memories yet they were not that far away. Must be feeling my age haha.

Words

Words have powerful meaning. Alliteration helps one to remember complicated theories. Words help to reinforce beliefs. They serve to reorganize haphazard thoughts into nice little compartmentalised and manageable blocks. I've found that writing down my thought is a useful way of clearing the mind. There are many times when I've read something and thought I fully understood. Unfortunately, when push came to shove, at the most crucial point, I'm unable to translate what I've read into coherent-sounding words. At these moments, I find writing the key points down an essential aid to my understanding. These applies to many things including revising for the exams. Summarizing the large chunks of the tome we call a textbook can at times be daunting. However, through practice and taking small, baby steps, It is definitely possible. The first attempt may not produce the desired result, often leading to the copying of the whole textbook. But the decisions that you have to make, whether to add this part or not, will help in your decision-making skills. It keeps you thinking and inadvertantly cementing the information into our CPU. While I wouldn't recommend trying to burn your textbook and drinking the remains (it never works as far as I'm concern), memorizing some key theorems are sometimes better than trying to understand the abstract concepts that lead to the formation of those theorems in the first place.
On a side note, I've started on my revision of the Japanese language. It's tough to restart my learning, but since I've some background on it, it's getting easier as my grey matter sought to find the keys to unlock the language puzzle. Till next time, write down your thoughts to better understand them! :-)

Time for a change

I have decided and you have probably noticed. Changes have to be made and it may very well begin with my blog. Long it has been that my blog boasted none of the qualities that will interest myself into blogging. Plain, dark and more recently bright colours were the mainstay of my blog design. In an effort to spruce up my blog (and hopefully self-induce myself to blog more), I have decided on an anime-themed blogskin. Hope everyone who bothers to visit will like the new look.

In case anyone was wondering, the anime is called D-Greyman and it's a smashing anime to watch. Contrary to popular beliefs, there are valuable lessons to be learnt from watching anime which may range from anything like friendships to love to courage.

Anyway, it took me quite a bit of time to figure out how to customize everything to my liking. Personally, I'm not too good with programming and would rather prefer everything to be done in 1 click. As such, I saw that little bit of time after my examinations as a perfect opportunity to learn some new skills. I'm sure those skilled at web design would probably laugh at me and given that the design wasn't something I came out with, the job looked simple. However, it still took me quite some time to identify which parts to edit and how to insert in my own words. After the better part of the hour, I finally figured out some of the codes. The result is as shown. It ain't perfect but at least it's something. :-)

On a side note...Kudos to Chelsea who won the Premier League in emphatic fashion. Will look forward to the transfer window and hopefully those American owners would no longer be in charge. Wouldn't mind if RB left for Juventus. While not forgetting all he has contributed, it just seems that he has already brought the Reds as far as he could possibly do.
Sayonara Rafael Benitez!