Moi ish gonna eat grass for 1 week. Sigh. So much for my analysis on Euro 2008. Not quite the seasoned punter yet. But don’t worry, all hope is not lost! Still got so many games to recoup my losses! =D (Gambler mentality zzz)
Who knew that Croatian reserves were so good? Who knew that Germany was so weak, only being able to score one measley goal against favourites-to-lose Austria. Sigh. If I don’t win money from the next few matches, i will really have to eat grass until next Monday. Sigh. Bo lui liao. And mr Myers Sim, Austria really cannot score one.
Imagine my jaw dropping in the middle of a bus ride as i see the news headlines flash past the screen while watching CNA on TV mobile. Couldn’t believe my eyes when i saw the 1-0 1-0 scoreline. Sigh.
Basically that killed the mood for additional spending i would have wanted to do this weekend. Maybe I’ll even skip Zohan. Sigh. Maybe I’m becoming the “compulsive gambler” aka Ksoh LOL. MUST WIN SOME MONEY!!!!! SOME!! ANY!!! 5 DOLLAR ALSO SONG!! sigh.
Got buy means got Hope. I call this the “commonfolk’s dream.”
tonight. France vs Italy. Holland vs Romania. Must recoup some losses!!!
***********
Apart from this, i still got other stuff to think about. Suddenly had this impulse to start looking for scholarships again. Given my family’s financial situation, chances are they will be able to support my education in a local varsity, with much difficulty. Can’t exactly see my family squeezing out another 1 to 2K a month, from their combined monthly income of less than 2.5 K. After all, they are getting old and they don’t have that much savings themselves. It’ll be unreasonable for them to fork out all this cash for my degree. Don’t think it’s worth it.
What with the Tiongapore and the foreign talent thingy? call me a stupid, whiny, lazy Singaporean if you want, but like all other locals, I fear competition from these so-called talents. I must admit, academically, they’re really the powerhouses. Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese scholars who could have gotten a place in Stanford if they wanted, (well some of them) all congregating in this world-ranked 30 plus University we call NUS.
Simply put, with all these tensais competing with locals for good honours, what are my chances? Being insecure is one thing, but knowing that you’re up against impossible odds, is another altogether. And we all know that your Honours is dependent on the performance of your cohort. If u do badly, but everyone else does worse, U still get your First class honours. Similarly, if u do fantastically well, and everyone else does better, you still end up with a shitty degree with shitty honours.
So i think it’s not really such a good investment, for my parents to pay for my education. For it is an investment that will fall flat. What are the odds of me surpassing all the Chinamen in a “siong” course such as ChEng in world-renowned NUS? What are the odds of me actually performing? having 4 As does not equate to you being up there with all the geniuses.
I seriously do not want my parents to pay for some fucking third class honours. Sigh. bank loans seriously dun make the cut. It’s still my family’s money at the end of the day. it’s a zero profit game. Who wants to play a zero-profit game if there was another way out?
So i ended up looking for scholarships again. Sigh. Hours and hours of navigating through a multitude of never ending, extensive and comprehensive online content that yet have nothing to do with whatever i’m looking for. Zzz.. maybe at the end, I will still LAN LAN SUCK THUMB and go do my degree in NUS. I feel that i am really starting to dread it, after so much consideration.
Had a short conversation with justine yesterday which sort of ended with her agreeing that chem eng in NUS will really be a drag and one must run to hell and back just to be able to scrap good passes. Moreover, with my kind of academic ability, all the more it is difficult to achieve good grades there.
Like i said before, i am not one to live in my comfort zone. Rather, i try to be pragmatic and i will not fight a war i know i will not win. I do not believe that i will not WIN. i KNOW that i will not win. So do’t tell me to “JUST GO FOR IT AND ALL WILL WORK OUT, SLOWLY.” I seriously do not believe in that. It’s just the way i function la, my working attitude. This kind of gamble would be much worse than betting a hundred bucks on Germany to win Austria by 2 goals or more.
I’m betting on the next 5 to ten years of my life. All stakes on my choice of study, my choice of schools. I do not want to regret like shaoting. neither do i want to lament/mope/ whine and then drop out. So why put all my parent’s money to bet on me, against impossible odds?
But Lymon, you have 4 As leh!!!
Wrong. I ONLY have 4 As. Nothing else to my name.
Seriously. What are the odds?
June 17, 2008 at 3:18 am
well, ultimately i think the chem e degree is really quite flexible as u can work in other sectors besides the engineering industry as well.. in fact quite a number of companies welcome engineers tru their doors to work in non-engineering fields.
but well in any case, first class honours are a given imba hard to achieve, regardless of whatever course you take. but i believe that getting a second-upper is something that is of reasonable standards to attain, esp if its lymongrass! i dont think the situation is such that you barely scraped through to excel in your Alvls! and a second-lower honours also doesnt mean that life is over as well.
The impt thing abt engineering is that its a professional degree that also opens doors to non-engineering sectors. and once u get your basic degree and get employed, the degree of your university doesnt matter so much anymore – it is your performance at work and the positions you hold that continue to build your resume to climb to better jobs in the future!
but if u don wan engineering, u can try accounting too, and accounting has an imba girl-guy ratio, like the opposite of engineering haha! we know lymon likes that kind of stuff
but anyway, most importantly, u should pick a course that u like.
well, still got one year.. u should go spam all the generic University scholarships and all the other scholarships outside.. sure can find one lymon!
June 17, 2008 at 12:29 pm
‘Like i said before, i am not one to live in my comfort zone. Rather, i try to be pragmatic and i will not fight a war i know i will not win.”
very contradicting sentences?
but anyways, a science degree is better than an arts degree, for reasons you know well enough. and since you’re not going for a professional degree like law, medicine etc, you are better off with an engineering degree than a very general science degree for it is more versatile.
find out more about chem eng modules before dropping it!
June 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm
i agree with justine.. Find out more about chem eng courses before u really changed your course.. True that chem eng courses deals very much with physics and everything but somehow I don’t think you would be facing physics throughout your 3/4 years of undergrad programme. If ultimately you think that you cannot see yourself doing it after graduating, then maybe u can try looking for other courses that you are really interested in? (a dream profession maybe?)
plus I don’t think that you would be unreasonable to use your parents money (if you mean cpf) since you would still have to return them after you graduate and start working in the society via your cpf.. So mayb if you are thinking of saving up for a future dream home or something like that, a bank loan might be better??
but who am i to say much? I am not in a position any much better than u.. hahas.. hope u make the right choice for urself and not for others..
June 18, 2008 at 3:32 am
hey. i’m so not a compulsive gambler lah! i do bet pretty often, but i only bet when i have the feel (so what if i get feels more often than the average guy) and can stay out when things feel shaky… don’t look to betting as a way to win money (though it’s nice when u do so)… it’s just some side entertainment to spice the tournament up
anyway, hope u can find what u’re looking for in ur uni life eh! my comments probably won’t lend too much weight, but i feel that gunning straight away for the very top (ie first class honours) is a very dangerous trap that can easily lead to disillusion… there’s nothing wrong with second lower/upper class honours. after all, that’s above average of an above-average cohort, which puts it at quite high above average? heck, a degree by itself shouldn’t be something to be scorned at. it’s still four years of good effort. imo the top honours at just something to reward urself, something extra earned along the way, not the endpoint in itself and target to be working towards all the time
for every person u find urself inadequate against, there’s probably another 3 or 4 guys u can find below ur level, so take comfort in that fact. if it’s something u like and can see urself doing and putting in the effort, the odds will be in ur favour. and when dealing with good odds, just whack!
(haha. so much crap coming from someone who know nuts about how uni work and stuff)
June 18, 2008 at 4:25 am
“for every person u find urself inadequate against, there’s probably another 3 or 4 guys u can find below ur level, so take comfort in that fact.”
This is insanely true. If there’s anything you can depend on, it’s human stupidity.
Have confidence, man. Balls and guts aren’t for show. Have a little more killer instinct (sha4 qi4), and you’re there.
Leave others floundering in your wake.
It’s never as difficult as you think it is.
June 18, 2008 at 1:33 pm
i still insist that 4As and a decent essay is all it takes to get you to the door of most scholarships. after that its up to you to convince them that you’re the one they’re looking for.
there are plenty around you who can offer advice and within yourself there is alot more you can offer. if you look around hard enough maybe you’ll realize that those walls are there to stop “those who don’t want it badly enough”. quit deliberating, act on what you think you can do. even if you fail at least you can boast that you failed trying.
June 20, 2008 at 5:42 pm
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