5 October 2014
Whew, lately I’ve been so busy again, especially during the Recess Week, and hence I rarely had time to write my blog. Nevertheless, I did a lot of things in these two weeks, from having my Surface back, finishing Techcomm experiment, joining NTUC Income Race On 2014, being in “LSC” at NTUBS MR, until doing Spring Cleaning.
Week 7
On Monday, I gave my Surface to the courier dispatched by Microsoft for checking whether it will be eligible for replacement or not. After that I rushed to CZ2002 make-up tutorial in which I was quite blur inside. After that I went for lunch and then for CZ2004 lab where we were given the next assignment. I then went back for a nap before going to Can 1, having dinner together with my subcoms and fellow MCs, preparing for Dharma Class 2. This time, it was quite a good experience since my subcoms put effort in helping me out. After the event I was just like “work first, relax later” while the others are relaxing with Metta’s refreshment. Well, as pointed out by Ivan, I should involve everyone in working; and if everyone is relaxing, then just join them, although this will make us go back late. Nevertheless, the event went well and the clean-up was quickly done.
Tuesday, I woke up early morning to start my journey to Indonesian embassy. The journey went well since I’ve planned the route quite okay, and along the way I met Rizky Wirawan who are going to work.In Redhill MRT station there are 2 bus stops opposite each other and I did not indicate which bus stop is the correct one. I actually went go and forth twice just to find the correct bus stop. I then took the bus and alight near the embassy, which is still quite far from the bus stop. Luckily I had GPS and mobile data to show the location of the embassy. Arriving there, 0830, it was not open yet. We were queuing in front of the security post until 0900 when the embassy opened. After obtaining visitor pass, I went to the indicated place for renewing my passport. Being kiasu, I’ve printed the form, photocopied the documents needed, and filled in almost all of the fields. Seeing the examples there, I then quickly fill and take the queue number because I’ve read somewhere that the queue can be so deadly long. I then went for photocopying my Student Pass as I forget to do so for the back part. Well, the cost was 50 cents, which was so expensive (and then imagine converting it to Rupiah, it will be much more expensive). I then rushed back to the waiting room, relieved as they were just about to call my number. The process went quick: submitting documents, paying the fees, and then taking photos and signing the passport. After that, I’m finished my business at Indonesia, (and it was not even 10am) let’s went back to Singapore :)
Going back, I reached NTU around 11am and had a rest, then lunch before going to Techcomm meeting. In this meeting, which lasted until 5pm, we’ve drafted our Introduction as well as finishing a tutorial assignment. Finished, I went to ICUR-URECA conference, for free dinner and then a session, about how is it like to be a researcher, before meeting my friends at CEC AGM & Investiture, which was so informal compared to NTUBS one. They had free food too but I did not take any since I’m full already.
Wednesday, there was early morning lab on CZ2005 Operating Systems where I was quite confused on what to do as the lab manual was not clear enough and the TA did not explain anything. After exploring the stuffs with my friends, Joshua figured it out and after some times, we’re done! Aristo imbaa m(_ _)m. Going back I took some rest first before having lunch and then going for techcomm tutorial. The rest of the day went quite productive, focusing most on techcomm report and URECA works.
Thursday, I woke up quite late and went to CZ2003 tutorial, unprepared and was blur inside. After that, I went to BU8301 lecture and then tutorial which was content-heavy as usual. I then went back to my room, meeting my techcomm group for doing experiment at Yunnan Garden, which lasted until around 7pm. I rushed my dinner and then enjoyed my part-time work where I was so productive inside since I did my recording and my URECA there too.
Friday, we had a full-day techcomm meeting conducting the experiment in my room, using it as obstacles and turning on Wi-Fi as interfering signal. Around 10am, I got a call and my Surface was ready for collection and he’s coming to the meeting point. Well, I was so glad that I received back my Surface, and the condition was new as there was no dent at the sides :) Back to techcomm, we postponed the 2 final experiment to afternoon since some of us had class. After class, the experiment was quickly done although many of anomalies were observed.
On Saturday, I woke up early for joining NTUC Income Race On 2014, which is an amazing race around Singapore, mostly on Marina Bay area. We went to SMU as starting point, collecting T-shirt, some goodies, and iPad for navigation around the race. In the race, our iPad spoiled as it load super slowly. Finally we used our phone and downloaded the app that they use for this race. We’ve played station games, encountered trivia questions and tasks, and we went back to the starting point for free lunch! Although we did not win, we had a lot of fun and free food :) After returning the spoiled iPad, we received a free movie ticket for each of us. We then took pictures at the photo-booth before going back to NTU. At the night, I prepared my resume (by completing my LinkedIn profile and generating a resume) to submit it to indo2sv.com, a mentoring program for summer internship at Silicon Valley for Indonesian university student (ambiguous, is it for student at Indonesian university or Indonesian student at university level :P )
Sunday, it was the first day of NTUBS Management Retreat. We gathered early in the morning at Boon Lay before going to Aljunied by MRT and then walked to Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF). Here, we played some games and had introduction to MR and Buddhist Etiquette first before having lunch. After lunch, we had MC meeting session 1, where we started with calendar setting for the rest of sem 1 and then sem 2; then updates from VP Dharma, DP, Publication, and Fellowship. Then we had Introduction to Buddhism (history of Buddhism and NTUBS) by Bro Hong Seng; song singing session by seniors and alumni. After dinner, in which the term “LSC” [Lip Service Club] was coined by Raymond, we continued with sharing session by seniors and ended the day with dharma discussion. I slept at 11pm this day (it was so long ago that I sleep at this time).
Recess Week
I woke up by Evando’s alarm around 0630 and went for shower. Then we had breakfast, in which the official positions of LSC are established (and hence can be officially a club already :P ), and then meeting with Ven Chuan Guan where he shared about Buddhist youth in Singapore. We continued with a meeting session, where the rest of MCs (except PR & Orientation) updates each other about what have they done and what they will do. After lunch, we had a short song singing session before meeting with Dr Ang Beng Choo. We had free and easy time after that where we helped Crystal doing the identity for Committee Day before we had dinner. We had leadership workshop by Bro Wai Sun, which are more like preparation for work life, and then we continued on with helping Crystal. After doing what I normally do, putting the beads with same color together, I went on to follow my imagination and build some images from the beads. But before it was done, accident happens and I’m demotivated and decided to went straight to sleep. :(
I woke up another day on 0630 by Evando’s alarm again. Same as yesterday, I had shower and then breakfast. After that, we had a meeting with Ven Rathanasara on how to be a Buddhist leader. Next, we continued our MC meeting. After lunch, we actually had a nap session, before resuming the MC meeting. After finishing the meeting, each of us were given a piece of paper containing question that will be used for public speaking workshop at the night. Now, I’m getting nervous as I had no idea on what to answer that will take up 3 minutes including another 2 for QnA. At the workshop, I actually went to toilet for 5 times before having me as the last person to speak. Well, as per normal, I focused too much on remembering the content, and although I took up the full 3 minutes, I stopped quite a number of times. Besides that, I had minor problems elsewhere. After this, we had supper, which includes the best part of MR, eating Oreo with Milo :) Next, they had business in backing up the emails and registering for IVDC. After that, I felt tired and went to sleep quite early.
I was annoyed by Raymond’s alarm as he set it up at 0600. I actually went up and turned it off since it was super annoying. Around 0650, I was finally woken up by my own alarm and had shower. After that, it was 0715 but all of them are still asleep. I assumed that they are so tired and maybe the program flow had changed since the PIC is also still asleep :P I woken them around 0740 (since I was also hungry and needed breakfast already :P ) and was speechless when asked why I did not wake them up earlier. After we had breakfast, [Jeff & HH left] we went on to temple tours, starting at Vimalakirti Buddhist Centre, in which a staff showed comprehensively about the temple; then Amitabha Buddhist Centre, and ended with Buddhist Library, which is closed. We cleaned up the place before going for lunch at Rice House [Evando, Su Ann, Crystal, Raymond left], a vegetarian shop located near Foo Hai Chan Monastery. I’ve been into that shop before during CNS 2014 Temple Tour (around May) and ended MR with karaoke at Katong Shopping Centre, where we [only me, Ivan, Andy, Si Hui, Thiri, Chun Wah] sung crazily from 4 to 7pm. We [me, Ivan, Andy, CW] took taxi back to NTU, putting back the items directly at NYH and went for dinner [me, Ivan, CW]. Back at my room, I was so tired but still changed my bedsheet and did my laundry.
On Thursday, I had meeting with my URECA supervisor, Ms Xu Yi from 1030 to around 1130. After lunch, I went back and started to do CZ2004 Assignment 2. Then, I went to Indonesian embassy to collect back my passport. There, since the process was so quick, I had ice cendhol at the canteen but it was quite disappointing comparing the price and quality, the one I had in Canteen B was far better than this one. Going back, I continued doing the assignments and ended the day with part-time work which is filled with Codeforces gym.
On Friday, I had my hair cut with Chun Wah. This day was mostly for finishing CZ2004 assignment and HW0210 result part. In the afternoon, I went swimming at SRC after quite some time I didn’t swim. I managed to achieve 2,000m in around 1 hour. After dinner, I went back to work and then I was quite surprised when the Legend of Korra Book 4 was released! I watched it directly to end the day.
Saturday was quite a big day for me. It was NTUBS Spring Cleaning, although it was not Spring. Although I had some rough idea on how to manage people to make it more efficient, there were still some time of people confused what to do, including me. It started at 9am and everything was mostly done before we had a break on 1pm. After lunch, we resumed work and everything was done by 3pm, as expected :) This cleaning resulted in throwing out a lot of stuffs including the old leftover of Prajna and Pattra. I was tired, but still managed to come up with the draft of cabinet list before dinner. After dinner, I watched Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and was so amazed on the graphics. I’m taking Computer Graphics and Visualization this semester and realized how good the graphics in the movie is. I also wondered how long it took for rendering the whole details of the movie. Besides that, I’m amazed on the concepts of arcade games are connected on each other and the characters are alive and can freely go to another place when the game arcade is closed at night.
On Sunday, I went to Buddhist Fellowship Sunday Service and met Andhi, Agung, Jessica, and Marshal. This day, the talk was about Dhamma Vandana. Although the meditation session was quite annoying since the instructions came very often and we hardly have quiet time, I can focused well on the meditation object. The talk itself explained Dhamma Vandana, which was not so interesting since it was quite short. After the service, I went back and had a rest before watching Magic Kaito 1412, an anime which was just started. Oh no, now I’m following 2 ongoing anime series (if you count Korra as anime :P).
The weeks had been a busy one although I knew that I’ve done a lot of things during these two weeks. I hope I can survive in the following weeks as more events, assignments, quizzes, and contests are going to surface. :D
Subject to change are all things. Strive on with diligence.
— Buddha’s last words