Now or Never

got the results for my last semester few days ago.

nothing impressive, but i am more than happy about what i achieved.

by far the best sem in all four years, perhaps exclude the one i spent in shanghai.

A-'s for my 4 graded modules (FYP, SDP, EG, HR) and S's for 2 S/U arts modules (GEM: understanding globalisation, JS: global city tokyo).

attained a 2nd lower for bachelor, just as expected.

nonetheless, i m happy the last semester went extremely well for me -- a real good ending.

 

it was an exceedingly packed semester with lots of group projects.

made a point of proving my capability of multitasking. a goal to pull myself through the last days in school.

so i took 6 modules, a few activities -- yoga, salsa, archery and a physical fitness activity (cannot remember the name) and at the same time, looking for a job.

i kept myself occupied at any point in time and really enjoyed every moment.

 

fyp depends highly on self-disciplined. it could be done in time partly because i just hate things to be stagnant for too long. i m grateful that i did most of the work in december holidays and thankful for a responsible supervisor, Dr. Chai KH, who helped me keep track of my progress. made a lot of promise to him in the early days to stick to my timetable, so i thought i'd better not lose his trust in me.

 

sdp was the project that took the longest time to finish. fortunately we managed to hang on and stay motivated throughout the last year. the momentum is kept the whole time. compliments from one of the company's directors was the best appreciation i needed for all the effort. surprisingly i managed to participate actively in all meetings.

 

hr was the best module i had in all 4 years. the lecturer was best. i learnt a lot of useful knowledge from the module and from her. all project meetings were fun. at the same time, we received outstanding compliments from lecturer. she thought my role as Betty was funny!

 

eg was the only module i attended less than 25% of all lectures and tutorials. though preparation for the presentation was 'kelam kabut', but it turned out to be quite smooth. felt extremely stressed days before the final exam. fortunately last minute mugging worked.

 

globalisation has been a topic that i am interested in since i came back from shanghai, especially after i started reading the book The World is Flat. gained a lot of knowledge from the gem module, though most of the times the lecturer was asking questions that demanded no straight forward answers. in addition to sharing the extensive knowledge he has, he introduced different ways to analyse things that have been happening around us. this module just satisfy my curiosity about the world.

 

global city tokyo was not in my list initially ( i wanted to do personal finance). this module overlaps with my gem in certain areas. i could transfer what i learnt in that gem module to be applied here. mainly, i gained a lot of knowledge and understanding of the Japanese country and its culture. the module left me feeling of awe sometimes.

 

hooked on yoga. i especially need the sessions to help me relax because of my hectic schedule. i really love them.

 

salsa was fun! after every yoga session, i had to rush to Suntec for salsa lesson. it was another enjoyable and memorable time i had. may consider joining the lessons once work starts in july.

 

had always wanted to try archery. and i gave it a shot in the last days of my university life. dont think i get to play this when i go to work. it is more difficult than i thought. my hands get bruised and ached after training. now i know some basics about archery.

 

shall not talk about the other physical fitness activity. because the mpsh halls were under renovation for months, missed a lot of lessons. cant even remember the name of the activity...

 

job hunting took up a lot of my time. had to prepare resume, tailor my cover letter to every post i applied and read the recruit section of every saturday's newspaper. attended some interviews and an assessment center. all those needed time for preparation and self-motivation. managed to secure a job before i came home for holidays.

 

used to feel stressed easily when i had to deal with many tasks at the same time. that is the reason i challenged myself to multitask last semester. things turned out well and i am really happy for myself.

Oh brother I can't, I can't get through
I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do
Oh brother I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you
You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that's never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?
Tell me how do you feel?
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak
And they're talking it to me

So you take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or a write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that's never been done
Do something that's never been done

So you don't know were you're going, and you wanna talk
And you feel like you're going where you've been before
You tell anyone who'll listen but you feel ignored
Nothing's really making any sense at all
Let's talk, let's ta-a-alk
Let's talk, let's ta-a-alk

taking a moment off my work, i decided to start dreaming about what my happy life would be.

reminded of my happy times, with a close, old malaysian friend in china, trying various foods at different restaurants.

she is graduating soon, at the same time as me, and will go back home to work as a doctor.

unfortunately, i'll have to stay in singapore for at least 3 years or more.

else, it would be good for the few of us, very close friends, who would have enough spending power by then to try different food at different restaurants. sounds really good.

hopefully when i am working, i will have a gang of food-loving friends. and we'll make our day by trying delicious dishes from restaurants to restaurants. =)

last week, i came back from a celebration of CNY at home to start this immensely busy month.

signed the AIESEC contract. if there is no interesting job offer within these months, i m going for an overseas internship in the name of a management trainee.

havent decided which country to go; yet to see their database of positions available.

kicked start this month with two exhaustive days of pre-employment orientation at TECHSemiconductor. i m paid to have a sense of the working environment in the company, after having gone through the challenging interview (mentioned in my previous blog).

it was definitely more than just sitting beside my buddy, a senior planning engineer, whole day and observe what she was doing. at the same time, she was assessing my fit for her department. at the end of the two days, i had to give feedback on the orientation, the image about the company i got and how i think i can fit into it. i woke up early in the morning, 5.30am and 6am respectively, and dragged my tired body and soul to be back in my room by 8pm. And continued to do my school work as much as i could.

on the weekends, Sat and Sun, i attended full-day preparation seminars for AIESEC internship programme where there were insightful talks (they invited reputable speakers: Marketing guru Hermawan Kartajaya, NTU Assoc Dean prof Hooi, NTU Biz Sch Assoc prof Wan) which ended with a panel discussion chaired by, women of the year, Ms Claire Chiang (very charming lady). AIESEC alumni, Mr Peter Tay, was there to give insights about recruitment trend. Other alumni who went for the programme shared with us their experience of AIESEC activities and cultural exchange in foreign lands.

design project presentation to the company's boss, from US, soon.

going for Maersk aptitude test mid-March.

four project reports due end of this month for modules: IE4100R (final year project), GEK1041 (a 2000 words essay on a globalisation topic), EG1415 (a 20-page group project), HR2002 (group project on human resource issues with high expectations from lecturer).

the other two group project reports would due early April (design project and a project on a region in Japan), and some presentations in April also.

i m not done with AIESEC yet, need to pass an at least 4 hr system test.

 

never never never this busy in my life.

 

spent about 3.5 hours at a semiconductor company this afternoon for the interview

it was by far the most challenging interview i have had

 

the first hour or so was spent on a test on logic

it reminded me of my exam stress

i took in the the hr department, just beside the cubicles

occasional but nobody-answer long phone rings and chatting of the people among themselves almost torn my tiny brain apart

the brain-teasing questions made me almost give up on them

in the end, the result was 4 wrongs out of the 25 questions

 

following this was the interview with the manager ... the essence of this interview

some of the questions he asked me (well, they were more of statements than questions), which took me quite some effort to answer:

1. Honestly, one glance at your resume tells me that you will leave within one year...

2. Let me tell you about all the positions and why you are not suitable for them. Correct me if i am wrong...

3. You see, this year we have real good candidates: there are 30 to 50 good ones to 5 positions...

4. (after i told him my academic results are not impressive) Those are very technical positions...

(will add on when i can recall more)

 

somehow I survived it and was asked to wait for a few minutes before i had to go through another interview by the manager's superior

another round of grilling started...

 

until now i still have not recover from the shock

spent whole morning researching about AIESEC and preparing for the interview at 2pm

it was held at SMU, Lee Kong Chian School of Business

I reached there early, more than an hour before my interview began

SMU has a lot of technology infrastructure: the students have to tap their card at the entrance to enter

while I went in through a lane set aside for the visitors

I did not tour around the school, just stayed in one of the lecture theatres that was being used as a 'waiting room' for us

it was a small LT that can fit in less than a hundred people with seats arranged in U-shaped around the lecture platform

the interview was held in seminar rooms which were always locked from the inside unless one taps a card from the outside

 

overall, the interview was ok

after the interview, my mind was totally blank (not sure if this is a good sign)

now that I think back, I probably said too much things

hope that would not weakened my profile

 

nonetheless, straight after the interview, i joined my friends for ktv until 9.20pm

followed by dinner and chatting

they have graduated from school

from the way they talked about their work, it sounded like work is mundane and routine

which makes me worry -- i lose interest in those easily

when i reached my room, it was already 11 something

can hardly open my eyes

 

tired so.

some comment on my salsa lesson on Friday: very enjoyable, lots of fun!

even though it was only my second lesson, i have begun to like this 'gentlemen dance'.

since this dance is led by the guy, all i have to do is what he wants me to -- turn, switch places, etc.

u will be amazed by how many turns i was (being forced) to make in a single song that night.

being just the second lesson, we have learnt only that few moves (the turning) and have to repeat doing that nonstop throughout a song.

i dont get much of such opportunities and probably this is why i find it very fun.