Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Resolutions, schmezzolutions... again
Ofttimes I want to blog about something but was just too lazy to get around to doing it. Now that I'm in the mood, I suppose I'd better get around to writing about this ASAP. Also, all of you know how bloody verbose I can get.
Technically, I'm already an entire month too late to be making New Year's resolutions, but who the hell makes the rules anyway, eh? But first, let's take a look at how far along I've come since last April when I last checked on my 2007 resolutions:
Sorta expected. I just couldn't find somewhere to fit even more classes (or even self-teaching sessions) without some adverse effect on my studies... or wallet.
2. Run (and generally exercise) more (GREAT SUCCESS, IS NICE!)
Well... I definitely exercised more in comparison to 2006, though not by a very large margin.
At the Malay Mail Big Walk... Walking. Really quickly.
3. Be a good ______ (GREAT SUCCESS, IS NICE!)
This was just a catchall for the commitments I had in 2006:
4. Game less (HALF-HALF LA)
I probably still played the same amount of computer games in 2007 as I did in 2006. Even if I did play less, the extra time was probably filled with other things like downloading and watching Heroes, House, Lost, and an assortment of random movies.
5. Continue or rewrite my NaNoWriMo project (FAILED)
Gah! Not only did I spend 0 hours on writing fictional rubbish, I couldn't participate in last year's NaNoWriMo due to an extremely busy November.
6. Do well in my papers (EFFING FAILED!)
I'm pretty much particularly pissed about not pulling off this one. Out of the eight subjects I took last semester, I got 3 High Distinctions, 1 Distinction, and ! That's four subjects within the 60~69 mark range! Pissed, pissed, pissed, pissed.
7. Stick to all these resolutions (FAILED)
To my credit, at least I kept 2.5 out of 6 of the resolutions I made for 2007.
Nevertheless, I still think that 2007 had been the highlight of my life thus far. In the past year, I've done so much more with my life than I thought was possible (at least by my standards).
My 2004/5 in Singapore comes close by a margin.
In fact, whenever random people (especially aunties, they tend to be nosier than most) ask me about the activities I'm involved in, with great pride I'd roll the list off my tongue as though memorised - Student council, Nature Society, Choir, temple activities, and for a while, the performing arts club - and then go into expository mode, droning on and on about the amount of time I spent on each activity every week.
Self-satisfying ego masturbation, call it what you will, but it's moments like these that remind me why I burden myself with so much on my plate in the first place:To show ofSelf improvement. I believe that with everything I join, no matter how much or how little effort I put in, I'm living my life just that little bit fuller. Especially at this stage in life, when I'm merely a student without as much responsibilities as a full-fledged adult, I have more freedom to indulge in endeavours that interest me.
I may not be in a place to say this as I'm no paragon of a student (look at my results!), but I do have an advice to fellow students out there; if something (or for that matter, someone) tickles your fancy, do something about it right now! You may not have the chance or opportunity anymore once you're working-aged.
Carpe diem!
And at the end of the day, you can always brag about your successes to your friends or heck, even your children. Bwahahahaha! Until an even more successful person comes along...
Of course, that's no reason not to keep on trying to do good with your life, eh? With that in mind, as well as taking into account my failure to meet half my resolutions for 2007, I'm coming up with a relatively more achievable and realistic list for 2008.
1. Maintain a Distinction average
Truth to be told, I didn't put 100% into my studies last year (surprise surprise). I really got too caught up with my activities to the extent that I became disillusioned with my course (a Business degree, incidentally). I lost interest to put it simply. However, I discovered the simple reason for this; it's because I didn't go to enough classes to understand and appreciate the subjects I took. Not this year, though. I'll make it through simply because of the following equation:
Because I pay RM2,500 per subject in Monash (not taking into account miscellaneous fees) and have a total of 36 contact hours per semester (3 hours per week over 12 weeks of study), that makes up to RM69.40 per hour. This means that for every hour of class I skip, I'm wasting RM70!
So, the next time you decide to skip a class, think of the amount of money you're wasting. I will, and hopefully that will help me get better grades. A Distinction average is a realistic target, too.
2. Cut down on buying so much food
I don't drink much and I can't stand cigarette smoke; the only vice I have would probably be my expenditure on food, especially junk like chips, candy, chocolates and chicken (mmm... fast food). Yeah, I know I don't look it. The main reason why this resolution is here is not to protect my health but my finances.
3. Get myself a new laptop by year's end
I bought this desktop PC at the end of 2004; by the end of this year it'll be four years old, and probably time to retire this machine and move on to a more powerful, more portable one. Besides, I really really really want to play Fallout 3 when it comes out. Hopefully I'll earn or save up enough by the last quarter of the year. Nothing beats indulging in something with your own hard-earned cash.
And that's about it. I won't get too ahead of myself like I did last year. If there's something I learned, it's that coming up with too many resolutions defeats the purpose; because you already expect to fail at some of your goals, you might not try hard enough to achieve them. Hopefully, with just three I can concentrate better.
But that doesn't mean that adding more to the list in the future is out of the question either. Like I've said earlier; who the hell makes the rules about resolutions anyway, eh? Until next time, cheers, and have a happy Chinese New Year.
Pointless Fact of the Day:
A little plug for my choirmates Ian Chow and Tracy Wong. They released their joint album last month entitled "He Says / She Says":
A little blurb on the album:
"Ease yourself into a summery blend of soulful melodies and breezy folk-pop/rock. Without pessimism and affectation, Ian and Tracy, two Malaysian singers-songwriters, simply show the full range of their eclectic influences over the 13 songs from their debut album."
Yeah, that doesn't really shed a lot of light on the music available on the album. So take a listen to them at http://music.download.com/ianandtracy/! I especially like Bidadari. If anyone's interested in getting themselves a copy (RM20 for a limited time as opposed to RM25), you can inform me or you can get in touch with them directly on either of their blogs: Ian's / Tracy's
Support the Malaysian music industry! Buy the original.
Alternatively, sit in my car sometime and I'll let you listen to the CD.
Technically, I'm already an entire month too late to be making New Year's resolutions, but who the hell makes the rules anyway, eh? But first, let's take a look at how far along I've come since last April when I last checked on my 2007 resolutions:
- Pick up music
- Run (and generally exercise) more
- Be a good ______
- Game less
- Continue or rewrite my NaNoWriMo project
- Do well in my papers
- Stick to all these resolutions
Sorta expected. I just couldn't find somewhere to fit even more classes (or even self-teaching sessions) without some adverse effect on my studies... or wallet.
2. Run (and generally exercise) more (GREAT SUCCESS, IS NICE!)
Well... I definitely exercised more in comparison to 2006, though not by a very large margin.
At the Malay Mail Big Walk... Walking. Really quickly.3. Be a good ______ (GREAT SUCCESS, IS NICE!)
This was just a catchall for the commitments I had in 2006:
- SJBAYS/TQ - With a camp and an unpaid (it's charity!) emceeing gig, I would say that I've done well.
- YKLS - Became a member of the chamber choir, sang at the annual production, went to Jakarta for the Asian Choir Games and even found myself a significant other; definitely a great success!
The Young KL Singers at Move It!, our 2007 production.
You really do meet people in the choir. *Wink* - MUSA - The Monash Student Council had a rather bumpy, drama-filled rollercoaster ride of a year that would put The O.C. to shame. That was supposed to happen! Seriously.
- MNSM - I went from being the Nature Society's treasurer to being its president. And our membership ballooned by almost fourfold, and we had like four (or more?) successful activities last semester. Hell yeah!
In Pahang with elephants. - Family - I am still the child who does the most chores around the house. As far as I'm concerned, I'm all set.
4. Game less (HALF-HALF LA)
I probably still played the same amount of computer games in 2007 as I did in 2006. Even if I did play less, the extra time was probably filled with other things like downloading and watching Heroes, House, Lost, and an assortment of random movies.
5. Continue or rewrite my NaNoWriMo project (FAILED)
Gah! Not only did I spend 0 hours on writing fictional rubbish, I couldn't participate in last year's NaNoWriMo due to an extremely busy November.
6. Do well in my papers (EFFING FAILED!)
I'm pretty much particularly pissed about not pulling off this one. Out of the eight subjects I took last semester, I got 3 High Distinctions, 1 Distinction, and ! That's four subjects within the 60~69 mark range! Pissed, pissed, pissed, pissed.
7. Stick to all these resolutions (FAILED)
To my credit, at least I kept 2.5 out of 6 of the resolutions I made for 2007.
Nevertheless, I still think that 2007 had been the highlight of my life thus far. In the past year, I've done so much more with my life than I thought was possible (at least by my standards).
My 2004/5 in Singapore comes close by a margin.Self-satisfying ego masturbation, call it what you will, but it's moments like these that remind me why I burden myself with so much on my plate in the first place:
I may not be in a place to say this as I'm no paragon of a student (look at my results!), but I do have an advice to fellow students out there; if something (or for that matter, someone) tickles your fancy, do something about it right now! You may not have the chance or opportunity anymore once you're working-aged.
Carpe diem!And at the end of the day, you can always brag about your successes to your friends or heck, even your children. Bwahahahaha! Until an even more successful person comes along...
Of course, that's no reason not to keep on trying to do good with your life, eh? With that in mind, as well as taking into account my failure to meet half my resolutions for 2007, I'm coming up with a relatively more achievable and realistic list for 2008.
1. Maintain a Distinction average
Truth to be told, I didn't put 100% into my studies last year (surprise surprise). I really got too caught up with my activities to the extent that I became disillusioned with my course (a Business degree, incidentally). I lost interest to put it simply. However, I discovered the simple reason for this; it's because I didn't go to enough classes to understand and appreciate the subjects I took. Not this year, though. I'll make it through simply because of the following equation:
Because I pay RM2,500 per subject in Monash (not taking into account miscellaneous fees) and have a total of 36 contact hours per semester (3 hours per week over 12 weeks of study), that makes up to RM69.40 per hour. This means that for every hour of class I skip, I'm wasting RM70!So, the next time you decide to skip a class, think of the amount of money you're wasting. I will, and hopefully that will help me get better grades. A Distinction average is a realistic target, too.
2. Cut down on buying so much food
I don't drink much and I can't stand cigarette smoke; the only vice I have would probably be my expenditure on food, especially junk like chips, candy, chocolates and chicken (mmm... fast food). Yeah, I know I don't look it. The main reason why this resolution is here is not to protect my health but my finances.
3. Get myself a new laptop by year's end
I bought this desktop PC at the end of 2004; by the end of this year it'll be four years old, and probably time to retire this machine and move on to a more powerful, more portable one. Besides, I really really really want to play Fallout 3 when it comes out. Hopefully I'll earn or save up enough by the last quarter of the year. Nothing beats indulging in something with your own hard-earned cash.
And that's about it. I won't get too ahead of myself like I did last year. If there's something I learned, it's that coming up with too many resolutions defeats the purpose; because you already expect to fail at some of your goals, you might not try hard enough to achieve them. Hopefully, with just three I can concentrate better.
But that doesn't mean that adding more to the list in the future is out of the question either. Like I've said earlier; who the hell makes the rules about resolutions anyway, eh? Until next time, cheers, and have a happy Chinese New Year.
Pointless Fact of the Day:
A little plug for my choirmates Ian Chow and Tracy Wong. They released their joint album last month entitled "He Says / She Says":
A little blurb on the album:
"Ease yourself into a summery blend of soulful melodies and breezy folk-pop/rock. Without pessimism and affectation, Ian and Tracy, two Malaysian singers-songwriters, simply show the full range of their eclectic influences over the 13 songs from their debut album."
Yeah, that doesn't really shed a lot of light on the music available on the album. So take a listen to them at http://music.download.com/ianandtracy/! I especially like Bidadari. If anyone's interested in getting themselves a copy (RM20 for a limited time as opposed to RM25), you can inform me or you can get in touch with them directly on either of their blogs: Ian's / Tracy's
Support the Malaysian music industry! Buy the original.
Alternatively, sit in my car sometime and I'll let you listen to the CD.
