Saturday, July 10, 2010

How my life is

Hi everyone! I just stumbled upon our class blog again and wow the new background looks great! More polished interface, nice :)

Well, I'm currently waiting for my final year in NUS to start. Pretty excited to choose my final year project, or maybe propose one. I have prepared a list of profs whom I feel would make good supervisors, and would want to work on something related to geotechnical engineering. Just for information, geotechnical engineering covers topics such as
  • Soil mechanics (how soil behaves when subjected to loads)
  • Foundations for structures
  • Stability of slopes
  • Excavations (digging soil and preventing its collapse)
  • Embankments (placing soil in mounds)
  • Groundwater movement (this is very important)
  • Tunneling
I'm also doing an internship in an engineering consultant firm now. It's a small firm that specializes in handling the approval processes for construction projects. The internship lasts 12 weeks and so far, during the first 9 weeks, I am happy with what I have learnt. Hopefully I can make the last 3 weeks enriching too :)

My future plans are to start off working as an engineer. It's mainly because it does interest me and I want to learn the civil engineering trade and become good at it. But it will probably take many many years to become good, and a lot probably depends on fate as well. Is there a lot of money in civil engineering? Well, yes and no. It's a highly cyclical field, that is manipulated by governments to control the economy, so timing, luck and connections matter. It is a very diverse field, and so one could probably find a niche if one looks hard enough. And it's true, even small projects are usually in the millions of dollars, but the slices of the pie are greatly skewed, and it depends on which part of the pie you are getting.

Again, many thanks to Mun Thye for keeping this blog alive with his amusing posts. It would be nice to read anyone else's updates about their lives too!

Monday, May 10, 2010

May 2010! An Update! Woo Wee!

Huzzah huzzah, it’s the month of May, and like always, this place is deader than a door nail. Man, each time I write anything here, I keep asking myself: is it really worth the effort to keep this place running at all? I mean, I have no idea how many people actually come here to read whatever is posted (I know how many people actually post here: try one), and this casts serious doubt to whether it is necessary for me to actually keep trying to resurrect this place once every few months just to keep things a little more fresh than the deadness and desolation that seems to have permeated through this place.

Anyway, half a year is almost gone for the year 2010, almost only since it is just the beginning of May. To be technical about it of course, at most one third of the year is gone, but I suppose by the time anyone notices this post, it would probably be June and thus the statement is justified. Okay, that’s enough rambling on the date issue—​​bigger fish to fry.

I suppose with each passing month/​year, everyone drifts ever further away from each other. This is the law of how things work, and there’s really nothing anyone can do about it. The concept of a ‘class’ back in school is in many ways an artificial grouping induced by educators with the sole purpose of allowing a better management of both material and human resources by providing a self-identifiable group for people to be involved with, thus creating the microcosms that are necessary in the maintenance of peace and the veneer of cooperation. So, in view of that highly unsubstantiated allegation, it is most natural that at the end of a decade or so, all of us have dispersed away from that artificial grouping to seek out new groups to belong to, both artificial and natural.

But enough of speculation! I know that it is a fruitless exercise to keep talking here, but I suppose as the resident noise maker, it is my duty (and perhaps even right!) to keep saying things here ever so often on the off chance that folks who drop by will have something new to feast their eyes on, thus ensuring that they will keep coming back once every bunch of months just to see if they are lucky enough to find that I have posted something new. Again, I apologise for the general digression.

So how’s life? A most standard question in the age of self-identity complications. Why do I claim self-identity complications here? Most of us are at the age that borders between the molly-coddled past of the education system and the harsh realities that make up the working life. And among the myriad of options and paths to choose from comes the entire issue of what the self is. While many believe that there is a certain permanent persona that remains at the core of all that one does, I believe that the self is an evolving concept that is wholly context and environmentally sensitive. The only consistent thing in the universe is the law of change—​change is the only thing that is ever present, and any other form of permanence is either an illusion or a delusion. But of course, I digress once more. The answer to the standard question is perhaps something that is more important than the metaphysical babble that I am positing here, and so the answer is here: life is good. Hiccups along the way, and minor obstacles abound, but nothing truly lethal—​as they say, what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger, and I suppose for most people, this is how their lives are right now.

Enough of the talk from me! Dear Fellow Classmate Who Chances Upon This Post, how is your life?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The 2010 Post

Hello 02S35, how's the silence treating you all? It has been a couple of months since anyone wrote anything here, and I suppose it is just second nature of me to just pen a few words here as and when I realise that it is sinking down my pile of blogs from the general lack of use.

I wonder how many folks are still reading this. Even activity on Facebook is not very great, but I suppose we all know that already, after all, we're known to be reticent.

Maybe some of you might realise that I am not on MSN these days. That is a partial truth, since I have been staying away from many forms of communications for the last few months. Something about wanting to be away from people for a while, while trying to recover from the various things that life throws at me.

So, how's everyone these days? Maybe ten more years from now, when some of us might be married with children, we might once again meet up and talk about the good old times when we were a part of the same class, tormenting/tormented by the same teachers that we had grown to love/hate, and about the crazy things that we did/witnessed.

And maybe in that ten years, I would be a much different person from who I was.

Here's to a good year ahead. Cheers.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Soliloquy

And soon another year will pass once again, and the group of us that were fatefully bound in our common destiny as being a part of a strange class back in 2002/2003 will be one more year apart from each other as compared to the past. The artificial means that have been tried to keep us in contact with each other are merely a stop gap measure to maintain linkages among a group of people who prize individuality over collective mutiny; there is little left for us to mutiny against, and even less of a thread of connection to once again be with each other to reminisce about those who once oppressed or bolstered us.

But among the disheartening note lies that small beacon of light that shines from a distance that at times remind us of our heritage. That beacon is the silent yet tenuous thread of fate that we share with each other. This thread requires a struggle to maintain, a struggle that we have mostly tried from a group level. Forming committees just to ensure that contact is kept is just a silly proposition, but it is hard to say that some form maintenance is hardly necessary. We are judged by the world around by the company we keep, and sometimes even on the people whom we know.

So as I pen these few weakly linked thoughts, I sometimes hope that perhaps one day we will all meet again and cherish the moments that were when we were in His Excellency EY's turtorial class, and to share with each other what the future bodes. But these are just mere dreams of a scholarly mind; people have lives to lead and they grow ever increasingly apart from the divergence of life paths.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Call for Class Gathering!

Hi folks. If you've not been paying much attention to facebook, you ought to do so now. We are currently in the process of determining when is the best time for a class gathering this year. Check out the class facebook group and contribute to the discussion board.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

An update

Hey everyone! Wow Mun Thye's post was funny and it made me decide to post something here ;)
Well I am now in the midst of preparing for my exams which are on from next week. I have also been up to other things including trying to learn about gardening and farming, and trying to learn about better and more visual ways to present large amounts of data and statistics.

My semester has been exciting so far as I took a third year geography module about natural resources and was throughly enriched by the breadth and depth of perspectives touched on by the module. It has been a difficult module, but the lecturer has been excellent and I am greatly interested in the topic :) I've hardly felt such in any engineering module so far. Maybe next year... Thanks to Ching Hwa for showing me that taking upper year modules can be a lot more enriching!

It was great to bump into Boon Kai a few times and go on a trip to KL with Sadu in these few months :) I hope all you other guys and gals are doing well, with work/school and with your personal lives! It would be great to hear how you've been.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Annual Solo by Me

Alright, it's time for the annual solo by me. I know that most folks don't even bother reading this, and the last thing that people are probably interested in are the photos. Heck, I'd admit that even I don't really read this blog that much, since almost no one actually posts anything here.

So, it is winter over here in the northern hemisphere in the United States. Life's not too bad now, with so many things to think/worry about, like writing more code, writing more papers, proving more theorems, among other things. And yes, the rumours that many of you have heard for so long are true, I am in a relationship with an awesome girl. I will… leave it as that. Heheheh…

Hopefully other folks will write something on this forsaken blog other than me, because truth be told, it gets really boring after a while when I'm the only one speaking.

Heh, but who am I kidding? I'm the only poor sod who will maintain this anyway. So, until the next update from me I guess.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

02S35@Marche



Sorry for the long wait..
Rest of photos on facebook!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Photos!

CHEH! I was one of those who got excited by the post lo..

waiting for the Powerpuff girl + Mojojojo pic hahahaha

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Photos

Ok don't get excited by the title, I haven't really gotten down to uploading the photos.

But I promise I'll do it by this week!

Back to work heh.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

"Real World" Updates

Without sounding like the pompous ass that I make myself out to be, here are some semi-visceral updates:
  1. A new facebook group has been created for our class (VJC02S35). Entry is by invitation only, but it shouldn't be hard if you are indeed a member of 02S35.
  2. I've gotten BK to dig up our old class logos, and have updated both the blog and the facebook group with them.
Hopefully with all these updates, we can be a little more frequent with our updates, because honestly, I'm getting tired of talking to myself here.

That all said and done, the blog will still be a primary source of information on the latest happenings, with the facebook group being used as the supplementary.

Peace out.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

FIRST POST!

wahahaha I gotta hand it to munthye for keeping this upp.. I didnt even remember there was this!

and yea.. we ARE really a class of silences lol.. look at the posts.. =) ok, now to wait for melissa to post up the photos..

P.s. google rocks

Monday, May 26, 2008

Annual Gathering(?)

It is summer, school's out and people are streaming back from the places that they were throughout the year. Yes, the time has come for the annual let's-try-to-get-everyone-to-meet-up time.

Post ideas/schedules here.

Heh, if there's no response at all within 2 weeks of this post, I guess that it is a safe guess that no one is interested in any gathering at this time.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Breaking the Silence Once More

Alright, lemme fire the next salvo then. Who's going to be around during summer this year? Anyone up for any gathering/meet-up etc?

Not sure if anyone will actually read this, but since I'm giving a good 3-month notice, I think that we are in good shape in reaching out to folks [I guess].

Friday, January 04, 2008

Happy New Year

In case anyone actually cares, have a wonderful new year.

Meanwhile, I am trying to come up with a good reason to extricate myself out of this rather dead blog.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

No Updates in Email Since No One Gives A Shit.

Since the emails are not forthcoming, I'm gonna throw my hands up and surrender from this stupid and futile job.

Why do I even care is one thing that I cannot comprehend...

Bleah.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Updating of the old class list

Okay, I'm going to sound like a real retard by saying all these, but I think that it'd be nice if folks can send me updated contact information. Useful things include:
  1. Current email address
  2. MSN/AIM/Yahoo!/Jabber/whatever link
  3. Primary Singapore contact number
  4. Other contact number (please state location like country/office etc)
  5. Any other information that you'd like to share with other folks
I'll try to put together an updated class list as soon as I possibly can. For folks that anyone knows who doesn't exist on this blog, please help to contact the said personnel to send the updated information to me.

Send replies to the usual addresses. I originally left my email here, but the spammers are coming for me yet again.

To the spammers: fsck you and go fsck.ext2 or something. *growls*

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Where I am now..

Hi all,

Thanks the laptop for the very consistent 'checks' on us your fellow classmates.. so i've decided to reply in a new post, rather than append as a comment.

Well maybe i be the first to answer your question, or rather, interest. : )

Yes, everyone is busy with their lives nowadays and i'm not too different. I'm currently working at Citi (the private banking sector of Citi, formerly known as Citigroup), as a summer intern, and i'm having a great time there. Great colleagues, great jobscope, and great experience thus far. The internship is actually not part of my studies, it's more of a part time job i shd say, got to know an ex prof and i was brought there to do some web design for them, plus lots of chapalan jobs. This job ends 31 jul, where i wud have a good 2 weeks to relac jack before embracing the second year in Electrical Engin (NUS).

On top of that, i'd be interviewed for a possible attempt in DDP for Engin and BBA. That'd keep me as a student for the next good 4 years, in which i think eventually i might tend towards the business side, rather than the Engin side. Engin is too technical for me these days. ; )

As a cca i have my soon-to-be one year old online tuition agency which isn't quite working out. Thinking of shutting it down come september. If you can, visit it before it does go into history.. : ) (DeLite Student Help Community)

Otherwise life's pretty stale but stable for me, no girlfriend(s), no much post work activities, just all the usual weekly runs and occasional bowling. Probably mr mak before u leave for the states again meetup for a drink, food or sth!

Yeap, that wraps up for me. Hope fully this triggers a chain reaction of replies to this interesting question! : )

Take care!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Where's Everyone Now?

Hi folks, I know everyone's busy with their lives, but what interests me is this simple question: Where's everyone now? We all know that our current situation can be split among a few categories, namely
  1. graduates (local)
  2. graduates (overseas)
  3. second years (local)
  4. second years (overseas)
So the curious thing is, where's everyone now? And what plans are there?

And no, this is not an attempt at doing social engineering—it's cool to know where all our old classmates are every now and then.

Cheers and take care all!

(=

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

26th May 2007 Lunch

Hi everyone,

Here are the details of the lunch meeting on this coming saturday.

26th May 2007
Marina Square Jack's Place 12pm

Alternatively, some of us will be meeting at city hall mrt control station at 1145

See ya all on sat!

qingyao

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Touch Down!

Okay peepz, I'm safe and sound in Singapore now; just need to wait for the airline to actually find my luggage.

So, we can all meet up really soon. I think that some of the other dudes and dudettes are also in town now. Please reply to this email to arrange for meet-ups.

(=

Monday, April 30, 2007

Thanks The Laptop

Hi all,

Just wanna express heartfelt thanks to The Laptop for his efforts in coordinating and maintaining this blog of wonders. : )

Hope everyone's been doing fine! Any chances of meetup anytime in the summers?

BK

Sunday, April 29, 2007

It's Finally Done!

Blogger's successfully converted our blog.

Please all, re-accept the invitations~!

Sorry once again for the inconvenience.

The invitations are sent to the original addresses that were on file with blogger. For the few people whom I know updated addresses for, I've redirected the invitations to them instead.

This should take a little while for everyone to put together properly.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Upgrade...

Hi all, if you've not checked your email (but are checking this blog), please do so now.

It contains some hints with regards to the upgrading of this blog on the last day of February.

Cheerio~

Friday, January 12, 2007

How's everyone?

How's everyone? Are you all fine? Is life treating you all well?

I hope everyone's fine, and have a safe year ahead.

:-)

Friday, December 15, 2006

Another season is over

And so it came to pass, Fall, where sweet winds and chilly rains come and go. Out here, in the wilderness far away from home, I await the day where I get to return to where I had came from. T'is but another season or two to pass, before I have the opportunity to take a trip back to my hometown.

A home away from home, that's where I am now. Where people are cordial and friendly, yet seem distant at times. Nostalgia hits when I see old photographs of people and places that I've met and once been to; I dream of the past, where life was simpler, more jovial, and the people were more familiar. I look forward to the future, where the lightness of day beckons, and the coolness of night heralds. Sitting alone once again in my room, thinking of the words to put on the blog, I can't help but think of the times where I was once part of a great class, 02S35.

Though spread far and wide through the world, we all shared a common past, a common history, a moment in time. A time where Fate brought us a chance encounter that altered our viewpoints, that altered our lives, that altered our reality. A time where we were still together.

In the silence of the moonless night, I sit, and wonder, yearning for a day where we will all meet up once more, to chit and to chat, and to talk of the good days that were past.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Hello from the States

Hi all. Am in the States and am safe and sound (somewhat). I guess that's all I will say now.

Take care~