THE parents and THE youngest sister are back at home base =)

4:34am now...

Goodnight!

Blogging from Starbucks Yishun now, just before I start back up on my statistics revision. I really wish I got an exemption for statistics. I did all this in NYP Year 1, and I know I should do it again since I'm pretty rusty in statistics, but I really wish I didn't have to. Math is just a really painful subject for me. Not saying it's not useful knowledge, just saying that it's painful for me when I have to learn it *sigh* Guess no one said school was easy.

I spent the day studying at Ghit Hong's place... a good 7 hours! It's my 2nd day revising at his place actually, and it's great! =) I really appreciate how he's so sweet and totally alright about having me over (*wink* Ghit Hong, I never knew you read my blog until yesterday =P) I have no idea where else I would go to revise otherwise (maybe NYP library?). NUS, NTU, SMU and JC students are ALL having their exams now, so it's crowded everywhere! I'm thankful I have Ghit Hong's room ALL TO MYSELF! It's always raining when I'm over at his place, so the room is nice and cool without the need to turn on the air-condition or fan =) His mom never fails to make sure that my welfare is taken care of... I just hope I'm not making things inconvenient for her. I would be totally alright if she treated me invisible =P

Wondering why I don't just study at home?

... because my BED calls out to me LOUDER than my BOOKS!

Today was Ghit Hong's day off from work, so unlike the 1st day I was over, he was home all day =) Being the nice person he is, he surrendered his desktop and study table to me.... and he basically just sat on his bed, read and chilled out on his bed all afternoon. I would gladly have switched places with him!

Things went well as far as getting work done.... I mean, I'm making extremely slooooow progress and all, but at least I didn't get too distracted until towards the end, when we started watching a few episodes of Family Guy =P I was surprised he knew about Family Guy because hardly anyone I know in Singapore watches that. Anyways, it wasn't his fault that I got distracted (he kept reminding me that I should study), it was I who wanted a break from statistics =P

Seriously though, gosh.... I REALLY need to speed up with my revision. At this rate, I'll never finish going through everything before the exam =X Truth to tell, I'm really anxious about my exams.... I get 100 times more nervous about exams than I do about hosting an event on stage =S

Well, think I'm going to end it off here... time to start on my revision again. Can't wait for Starbucks to clear up, it's still really noisy and crowded at the moment. It should be less so by midnight, that's 2 hours from now... which is also when Khai Bin will be joining me for the night =) We'll be studying here ALL NIGHT LONG, keeping each other awake ^_^ If tonight goes well, I might do it again next week. My only worry.... this study schedule will DEFINITELY mess up my body clock real bad.

Family's on the plane now.... looking forward to seeing them in 26 hours...

*NEEDS TO STAY MOTIVATED TO GET THROUGH THIS EXAM PERIOD*

LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES! =)

While I was on my way home from training, Daniel texted me "hey, go open your e-mail later".

Since the deadline for our marketing project was yesterday (and he ONLY e-mails me about our project), I couldn't quite figure out what else he would e-mail me about.

When I finally got to my inbox, I saw under name "Daniel Ong Oon Wee" and under subject "tribute to the person who got my head stuck with this haha". I was like O_o? A tribute? To me?

I downloaded the song clip that was attached to the e-mail, and hit play. This was what I heard, and I want to share it with all of you =)


Can't Help Falling In Love.mp3


Daniel plays the guitar, and he has been for quite some time now. Initially, I wasn't sure if he played and recorded that, or if he just found it on the internet and downloaded it =P

So, I asked him.

Turns out it's his playing =) And I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying either because the quality of the recording is pretty bad... I have to turn my speakers all the way up to hear it play at a normal volume =P

Poor quality aside.... I still think it's SUPER DUPER cool! It's the sweetest thing anybody has done for me in a loooooong time! AND it's the first time someone ever paid tribute to me ^_^

Reports, DOWN! Presentations, DOWN! Projects, DOWN!

After 9 hours of wonderful quality sleep....

LET THE EXAM REVISIONS BEGIN! =)

Marketing: Nov. 24 (Tues)

Technology & World Change: Nov. 30 (Mon)

Management Science: Nov. 30 (Mon)

Management Accounting: Dec. 1 (Tue)

Introductory Statistic: Dec. 2 (Wed)

Dec. 2... 3pm... say "hello" to FREEDOM!

SHE IS SO CUTE!!!

Every time I see her, I just want to snuggle up in bed with her! She's like the PERFECT Teddy Bear!

Lesson From A Donkey

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL OF THE STORY #1:

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

MORAL OF THE STORY #2:

When you do something wrong and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you! =P

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY GHIT HONG!

Just got home from celebrating Ghit Hong's 21st birthday =D
It was a simple gathering... lunch at Vienna International Buffet at United Square, followed by a chill-out movie session at Terence's place =)

What's a birthday without pictures, right? Here goes....

People at the table on my right:
Kok Loong, Adrian, Wai Sheng, Terence, Birthday Boy Ghit Hong



People at the table on my left: Debbie, Wan Ting, Kok Loong



(Kok Loong sat right in front of me, so he's in both pictures =P)

After an unbelievably filling lunch... we ate from 12pm-3pm+. I was STUFFED! I'm really starting to not like buffets because I always end up overeating... and that's just not fun... or maybe I'm just greedy and lack self-discipline =X

Before we left Novena to head to Terence's place, I insisted (yes... insisted!) that we take pictures at the water features next to the restaurant. Everybody was reluctant to.... and Ghit Hong was like complaining about not wanting to as well... but I knew deep DEEP deep down, he really wants pictures of his 21st birthday.

Don't ask me how I knew that. He's just too shy to get everyone together... but trust me, he WANTED to =P So, I took the initiative to "help him out"....

A really nice Caucasian man (who was eating at the Pizza Hut next to where we were) came out and offered to take a group picture for us. He's SO sweet! ^_^


(Cassandra should be in the picture too, but she left early =/)

I took over the camera after that.... made everyone at lunch take 2 pictures with the Birthday Boy =P

Wai Sheng -
Haven't seen him for the longest time! I think that was the first time I saw him in 2009 =P





Terence -
He got really busy after NS started, it's been a while since I saw him too.





Kok Loong -
Still the same, no change =P





Adrian -
Still happily attached and going strong with his girlfriend =) They're so sweet!





Debbie & Wan Ting



Hey... what do you know? Ghit Hong isn't THAT much taller than I am =P



I swear... he definitely looks taller in real life.



THE GIRLS!



THE BOYS!



Picture-taking mission.... ACCOMPLISHED!

We ended up watching "Paranormal Activity" at Terence's place. I hate watching horror films! I've never really been a fan of scaring myself on a couch or in a theatre. Believe it or not... I realised that the last horror film I watched was Hollow Man. I just googled... and that movie is from year 2000! It's been 9 years since I last watched a horror film.... interesting!

Initially, everyone thought "Paranormal Activity" is a true story, and we were scared stiff for the first hour or so! In the middle of it, Terence, Ghit Hong and Siew Ying went on Google to find out if it's true. Turns out, it's not -___- We became less scared knowing that it's a directed movie with a chosen cast =P

We surprised Ghit Hong with a birthday cake at the end of the movie.... Strawberry Shortcake from Four Leaves bakery =)





Awwww..... look at how happy we made him ^_^




... but Happiness comes at a price! (on your 21st birthday at least) =P





Doing a very bad job cutting the birthday cake...





Jessica, our SIA Air Stewardess, couldn't stand his horrible cake-cutting skill... so, she took over after a while =P Moral of the story: PTIs cannot cut cake properly =X

Khai Bin came over to Terence's place after his class ended =) Check out his long rebonded hair! Looking like a REAL biker!




Ghit Hong turning 21 wasn't the only good news for the day...

Jessica announced to everyone that she is getting married THIS Saturday!!! ^_^ Talk about.... DOUBLE HAPPINESS!

My very first wedding invitation card!

Jessica and Zet are SIA Air Stewardess and Air Stewards... so having their ROM at Crowne Plaza Hotel CHANGI AIRPORT is really meaningful =)

I'm SO happy for her!!! =)

I can't imagine getting married at 21 to someone who is 30 though >_< ... but ignore me, this is just me being immature. I know if I find someone as GREAT as Zet... age wouldn't matter. (... he just can't be shorter than me, AND he can't be bald!)

L.O.V.E - It's a WONDERFUL phenomenon!

Hendry just uploaded more NEW photos on Facebook from the night we stayed back in school for our last TWC class in Week 12 =)

These are definitely goofy-er than the last ones I posted up =P




Oh yeeeeaaaahhhh...... who's the Queen? =D



Honestly, I didn't come up with the idea for that photo. They wanted to imitate some Mandarin movie poster or something like that.... so they were all like "Felicia! Sit here *points to chair* Put your hand on Chin Chuan's head.... don't smile." Honestly, it felt weird to not smile at the camera. Our brains are conditioned to think "see camera = must smile" =P I was literally surpressing my laughter for 10 seconds, that's how long we waited before the self-timer on the camera went off =P

This next picture was Chin Chuan's idea.... both of us are supposed to be cam-whoring with the DSLR. His hands started trembling because he had to hold it up in that position for 10 seconds... and a DSLR is NOT light.



I'm not sure if I was shock at the fact that they're holding guns OR that I'm really short =/

Am I short?... or am I short?

Those were some fun times! I should do that with my friends more often =) That way, by the time I graduate from SMU, I'll have enough funny pictures to fill a whole 12x12 scrapbook album =D


-


On a seperate note, I actually just got home from school. I know.... it's Saturday, why was I even in school, right? =S

Well, we had our VERY first (and probably the only) SMUBE 6th and 7th Executive Committee Joint Meeting this afternoon. Yup, it's official! Starting from January 1, 2010, I will be the Director for Artiste Management Team =)

Here's everyone else in the 7th Executive Committee:

Our top management team opening the meeting:

Chor Min (Vice-President), Amanda Voon (President), Micheal (Vice-President)

Everyone else in the meeting....

Some serious issues were discussed during the meeting. Issues concerning the future direction of the club. The 6th Ex-Co gave the 7th Ex-Co advice on what to look out for and expect based on their experience. SMUBE functions alot like a mini organization, so it's a really good way for me to learn how to work with people from so many different deparments, each with their own functions and responsibilities.

Honestly, as some of you may know because I've spoken to you about this over the last few months, deciding to run for Director of AMT wasn't the easiest decision for me to make. I had many reservations about joining the executive committee, and ended up talking about it to quite a number of people before arriving at my final decision.

Let's see... I sought Theodore's opinion (he's my career counsellor and adult friend), Nathaniel's opinion, Eileen's opinion, Guo Wen's opinion and Kevin's opinion. And as though they were in cahoots with one another, all of them encouraged me to give it a shot. Theodore didn't explicitly tell me what decision to make, but rather, he gave me a list of questions to think about. And he told me that after finding the answers to these questions, I would then be able to arrive easily at my decision.

1. Why did you join SMUBE?

2. Why are you even considering being a part of the Executive Committee?

3. Will the skills picked up from being Director of AMT be skills you need for the career you aspire to have? Do you see these skills as the building blocks to the skills you want to possess?

He also went on to share with me that while taking on ad-hoc projects prove that you are well-rounded and versatile, having a leadership position within a club demonstrates commitment and dedication, which are often characteristics employers look for. Having said that, taking on ad-hoc activities has its virtues nonetheless. So, in short, he advised me to just do what I enjoy doing =) As simple and intuitive as that may sound to you now, sometimes, we just need someone else to tell us that it's OK to follow our hearts <3>

I guess one of the main inhibitions I had about running for this position was the fear of not being able to meet up to the expectations of others. Being the Director of AMT means having to manage all the artistes in SMUBE. Essentially, SMUBE is ALL about our artistes, both DJs and hosts, hence I knew that all eyes would be on me. And that thought was pretty scary. PLUS it didn't help that I'm not doing so well in school this semester either... Management Science, Management Accounting and Introductory Statistics are courses I REALLY need to work at to understand =/ It's been a really stressful semester for me, lots of changes, emotional ups and downs, all that put together just makes having to make a decision that I would have to live with for 1 year all the more difficult.

After hours of soul-searching and reflection, I JUST KNEW THIS IS SOMETHING I HAVE TO DO. If not, I would probably end up regretting not doing it for the rest of my life. When I finally decided to run for the position, I came to realise that from Day 1 when I started considering all of this, I actually already had my answer. Weird, huh?

So, in early October, my mind was set.

That's when I started drawing up plans for AMT, thinking about the AMT structure I would like to have and coming up with my vision for the department. Identifying the problems faced by the department currently wasn't much of a challenge for me as being an Artiste Manager, DJ and Emcee for over a year has given me a pretty good idea of what are some of the changes I need to make. Of course, the hard part was coming up with solutions to mitigate these problems.

I have my vision for the club.

My plans to achieve my goals.

Desmond and Serene are the BEST seniors and mentors ANYBODY could ever ask for. (... the hand-holding ends on December 31, 2009)

Kevin is the only Deputy Director I could ever imagine myself working with.

2010 is DEFINITELY going to be an exciting journey of self-discovery, leadership and team-building for me =) I'm not sure what the road ahead lies, but according to Jordin Sparks, let's take it "one step at a time". (I LOVE THAT SONG!)

Note to self: Never underestimate the power of showing gratitude and complimenting others.

At the end of the meeting, Cindy (our outgoing Director for Campus Radio) came up to me and went "Felicia, I have something for you..." and gave me the sweetest thing EVER!

It EVEN has the name of my radio show printed on it - E-finiti!

"Where we snoop, to give you the scoop. Only on SMU Campus Radio."

She wrote a tiny little message at the back too....

"Queen of Ideas =D I *heart* Ur Voice

Awwww...... ^_^

H-E-A-R-T-B-R-E-A-K

What happens when you realise the missing piece you thought you found...

... is actually someone else's missing piece?

And it's now time to give it back.

I wish there was more I could do for her =(

Last Friday was my last Technology and World Change class for the semester!

Prof Pang decided to combine Week 12 and Week 13's lesson into 1 super long 6-hour seminar. He wanted to get through all the individual and group web-based presentations in one session. However, we ran over time (as expected), and ended up doing class from 5pm-12am!

We took a class picture at 12am!




If you click on the above picture, you'll see 00:00:00 on the digital clock =P

Oh, and the reason we're all in red and black is because Prof Pang told us that's the dress code for our presentation... not formal or semi-formal... but "anything BLACK and RED" =D

As tired as we all were, it was really fun! Definitely one of the classes I will remember even after I graduate from SMU =) Prof Pang had a point when he said "humans do not remember cyclical events, only unique events". He inspired me! I'm going to make a conscious effort to do something different/unique/fun EVERY day from now on!

Prof Pang ordered Canadian Pizza (... wished it was Pizza Hut or Timbre's) and Japanese bentos for dinner. AND he brought down 2 bottles of wine from his office for us. We ate, drank, laughed, and had loads of fun!

My web-based project group (with pizza and wine in hand):

Sundeep, Zhi Mian, ME, Jia Rong

And if you want to see our final project, here it is: www.furryclouds.com/watertechnology

We couldn't have done it without Andre's help and guidance!

While injecting fun into our final presentation day is a very unique approach, I could tell that some of my classmates had trouble enjoying themselves as they were too nervous about their presentations >_<

Honestly, stage fright is really one of the hardest fears to overcome, and it really puts some brilliant people at a disadvantage... I have witnessed it for myself. I have friends who are really intelligent, and they KNOW their stuff! But the minute they are up in front of the class presenting, they stutter, and that really affects their credibility and ability to engage the audience =( I believe that practice makes perfect though... so if you have stage fright, don't give up! Push yourself to keep speaking in public, it will get better =)

More class photos.... (taken with Hendry's digital SLR)

This is what a typical SMU seminar room looks like. We have ALL our classes in rooms like these.





See the girl with black hair on the bottom left? Guess who? =P

Pictures taken during the break.....

Prof Pang bought a new digital camera recently (the one he is using below), and it has an added in-built projector function.

We're all amazed by this new camera-projector function! Prof demonstrates it for us. He is truly an early adoptor of new technology. Check out the ceiling...

... the camera projects the photos it took. So from now on, you won't have a whole big group of people crowding around a small LCD screen to see the playback of the photo.

When class FINALLY ended, everyone rushed home because it was passed midnight.

I figured since I had to take a cab home anyways (with midnight charge), and it was already passed my curfew, I might as well hang out with my friends a little longer before going home ^_^ Singaporean attititude kicking in... just wanted to make the taxi fare more "worth it" =P

We stayed back to take random pictures....

Chin Chuan pretending to be a professinal photographer with Hendry's camera =P He's really cute! I can't stop laughing around him!

Hendry, President of SMUsaic! The REAL pro-photographer!

Hendry started taking pictures with his Rolleiflex camera. He paid $400 for this antique, and $600 repairing it =P

Pictures taken by this old boy....

ULTIMATE CLASS PARTICIPATION!





Chin Chuan huffs and puffs and blows the three little girls down!

No idea why Tommy Tien made that face =P WAIT! What am I doing back there? I look like I injured my arm....

I like this picture....

After exhausting all possible poses we could possibly think of in a seminar room, we headed to City Hall for supper at Macdonalds. Clearly the pizza and wine had long been digested =P The fun part came when we started going through "Kokology"! Surprisingly, the guys were more into it than the girls... but we all had a great time doing a little self-discovery and teasing.

THAT WAS AN AWESOME WAY TO END WEEK 12!

If you want to check out the other websites done by the other groups, here they are:

Photography
http://g6-photography.weebly.com/index.html

Weather Forecasting
http://www.wix.com/vaseMINE4/Weather-Forecasting-Home-Page

The Eye and Its Solutions
http://www.zhax.net/twc/

Energy Development
http://www.wix.com/twcproject/energy-development

Livestock Production
http://twcg6livestockproduction.weebly.com/

X-Rays
http://www.wix.com/twcxray/X-Rays

Online Piracy
http://www.newfu.info/

Development of Military Weapons
http://developmentofmilitarytechnology.webs.com/

Communication
http://thegabbers.weebly.com/

Rain rain gooo away....

Come again another day.

Felicia needs to get to school,

For she's as late for her project meeting as late can be! =S

I'm stuck at City Hall Starbucks again...

And it's pouring so hard outside it looks like we've been hit by a tsunami!