Commenced and Commencing

Before I begin typing (talking) about the ceremony, I guess I should probably include some filler about some of the things that I’ve done (not much though) after the previous update and before the commencement. Hmm, but first I will need to recall if there’s anything worth mentioning. Maybe next time I should just make it a habit to just draft up a paragraph or two whenever there’s something actually filler worthy.

Ok, the events may not be in order but perhaps you wouldn’t be able to figure out properly anyway. Let’s see, I’ve finally bothered to locate one of the famed game shops in Singapore, which is rather hard to pinpoint since it does not have a website of any kind and being situated in an ulu shopping centre certainly doesn’t help much. As some forums have mentioned, the owner is indeed a really nice and friendly guy, even though it was my first visit there and for those who know me know that I’m not particularly good at interacting with unfamiliar people.

Since he does not have a price list readily available for me to refer to, nor does he paste price tags on his items, I could only sample by asking for the prices for some of the games. Based on the not very representative sample as well as some past information that I’ve seen in online discussions, I would say his prices are at least very competitive for a number of titles, but probably more worth if it’s for a day 1 release where most other shops will charge a little higher or certain special titles which have “fixed” pricing. Oh well, at least I found what I set out to look for, and that adds another source for consideration in the future. =) But I must say for those who live in that area, it is certainly the place to go to, since I haven’t heard of any other alternatives in that part of the island.

Other than that, I think I pretty much camped at home as usual. Putting in (some) effort into doing certain things does not necessarily reap any form of response or reward. Well, one may say I haven’t tried hard enough, which may be true, but sometimes having high failure rate after repeated tries is just simply demoralising. Ah well, what will come, will come right? Lol… Perhaps I should give it yet another shot soon. Well, if anything I managed to figure some new alternative release that surfaced more recently without much direct help. It did frustrate me for a while since such programs are supposed to be easy to use, even for non-tech savvy people but there I was struggling for a while. I figured out how it works in the end but I am certainly too lazy to write a guide on it. Perhaps this means I might fiddle around and start making combos again, or maybe not, since I am so lazy. =P

Ok, on to the main event. Commencement is supposedly a big event. Yeah well, a lot of people are probably involved in it (apart from the graduates). Lots of booths set up, helpers to check administrative issues, check attire, ushers “herding” people around and many more. Also one of the few times you get to see almost the entire cohort of faculty (ex-)students there though some were “late” graduates from other year(s) while some others are going to join next year’s ceremony. Personally, I think the ceremony is more for the parents than anyone else. Ok, maybe the vendors get to reap in some massive revenue and profits during this period too. And maybe for the teaching staff to see some of their favoured students graduating with some colours. But mainly, I think it’s for the parents to see their child(ren) up there on stage, wearing that academic dress. Maybe because I’m not yet a parent that’s why I can’t exactly feel the kind of feeling that every parent seems to yearn for.

Well, the biggest complaint I have is not that the ceremony is boring (yeah it is), but it’s the outfit that’s so warm. The aircon is merely sufficient to prevent me from sweating too much but generally it’s still warm and somewhat stuffy. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way at the end of the day, so I don’t think it’s a personal problem. Took some photos here and there, but not much since I don’t really like the camera (I attribute it partly due to childhood days) and the thing is it wasn’t exactly a joyous occasion that would make me smile from the bottom of my heart. Heh. I’m sure some of those pictures will hit a social network near you in time to come, which will increase my total photo count by a few percent probably.

As for the ceremony overall, the process was kind of dull, but at least I think the staff working to make sure things go smoothly did their job fairly well. Probably veterans at such events by now, which so many practice sessions every year. Lol. So, the mystery of the seat arrangement has been solved since it’s the most interesting thing to figure out while the whole lot of PhDs and Masters were taking their turns on the stage. The reception for parents is quite disappointing. Despite not being in the mood to eat (thanks for the warm outfit I had), it didn’t take much to figure the amount of food and drinks were scarily little to feed the number of people there and my session is already considered smaller than others since there was at least an entire row (meant for students I believe) left empty behind me. Oh, the traffic on the way back was also quite horrible, but I think that’s just the time of the day, not the fault of the commencement.

So in the end I did bother to type up some stuff before my birthday. Don’t think I covered very much. Now, when will the next update come? It’s partially dependent on my mood I think. But either way, tmr’s entry has already been decided. =D I think that’s all for now. An entry should be coming within the next 4 days. Might be travelling around a little bit for the next couple/few days. Take care and try to enjoy your commencement if you haven’t had yours!

It’s Over

Well, yesterday was yet another results release day and for me and many of my friends and acquaintances it probably meant their final academic results notification/release that they will be receiving. It has been a long journey, I mean the education journey, spanning for some 70%+ of our lifetime thus far for the guys, and an even larger percentage for the girls. So far, I haven’t seen anyone commenting/complaining about the results as it is probably a greater relief having finished another chapter in life peacefully and mostly within/near their targets/expectations. Hahaha.

As for me, I would say the outcome of the semester was somewhat at my expectations, though I had hoped a couple of modules to be slightly better than what I have right now. Then again, one of the modules did slightly better than I had expected. Lol, not that it really matters a lot to my CAP, nor will it make my transcript any nicer or worse significantly. Due to the school’s system of rounding CAP to 2 decimal places, I essentially have no change in my CAP though in reality it fell by a little bit. Again, it does not really matter but at least I managed to secure my Honours class for real. What’s left now I suppose, is to collect the graduation gown and attend the graduation ceremony and it will really be over.

On a side note, it seems that PSN servers in Asia went up a few days back, a coincidence that it coincides with the start of school holidays for many young students here. Great timing I suppose, though the PSN store still isn’t up yet, which means perhaps some of my plans may well be put off until later notice since I would prefer to observe the situation for a while before going back in. Haha, typical mentality I guess.

Other than that, I don’t suppose there’s really much else to update here. Things are as mundane as you can imagine. Lol, so I guess I’ll just fill this blog with more video game entries for the next several days. Haha. Oh well, hopefully there will be something more interesting next time. Hmm, that sounded a bit familiar. Heh.

p.s. 5/12 of the year is gone =(

A New Chapter Begins

Yay, exams are finally over, and I suppose that marks the end of my undergraduate life. Though technically I am not considered to have graduated yet, I don’t foresee myself failing any module this semester, only a matter of whether I am able to maintain my honours class.

Turns out the final paper I sat for didn’t require much on my help sheet, except for 1 part where I could copy certain workings without having to work them out from scratch again, but other than that, I suppose all the efforts put into writing the help sheet is otherwise, ‘wasted’. The paper isn’t that difficult, so hopefully I will do decently well, especially when that hall and my grades aren’t exactly good buddies. Hopefully this module will break the somewhat bad streak, and that will be a good way to end my undergraduate life! Lol.

Now that my education journey has ended, or at least I think so, that means I will have to embark on a new chapter in life, which mainly involves finding a job for now. At least that is of the highest priority. Of course, there are other things in life that I am ‘supposed’ to be going after too, but I suppose those are somewhat secondary in comparison. Not sure where it will bring me, but surely I have to go somewhere. I shall see where fate will bring me… Haha.

On a side note, I have drafted some 766 entries since the holidays of year 2 semester 1, excluding updates on my life like these. Hmm, that’s quite a lot actually, considering it’s only about 29 months (approx 870+ days). Lol, I guess I spent too much time on this little blog space. Perhaps it will change when I begin my life in society for real. We’ll see.

Let’s see, general elections here have been the talk of the town for the past 2 weeks or so, and probably will continue to be the topic for time being, since there will be things yet to be settled, and perhaps some kind of special announcements to be made. In the end, there’s some history made this time around, and it is a signal, be it to the ruling party, opposition parties as well as every citizen and how it goes from here would have to involve both the people as well as the administrative people. Hopefully, it will be a new chapter of better things to come, changes for the better, for real. That will certainly make a lot of people here more satisfied and what we will get is a much better place to live, work and relax in. Either way, I guess as a normal citizen, what I can do now is to see what the future will bring us, and respond accordingly.

For some kicks, I did get some random predictions on percentage results pretty close, and on a streak. Lolz, after that I got a little scared and not made an effort to guess so well and indeed it all went down the drain from there. Oh well, not that getting it right will net me any kind of prize or reward. Hahahaha. I guess I will be having some fun over the couple of days, meeting up with friends and then it’s back to my ‘normal’ life until end of the month I suppose, apart from any possible job interviews/opportunities I stumble upon. Will schedule the entries for the rest of the week either later at night (it’s 340am now!) or tmr morning or something. I need to sleep now. Lol, zombie later ~_~”