Learn to Embrace

Damn, everything just isn't going according to plan. I'm kind of unhappy with it definitely. But things just happen, thing that are not within control. So are we going to let it stay that way? Why not accept the things that happen to us, and embrace the opportunities present?

I find myself at fault too. But when everything goes wrong, we can't blame anyone but ourselves. If not, then who? Luck?

There are things that I try very hard for, because I want to cherish them. Sometimes I hold back, but the questions keep tugging and bombarding back at me. The more we do, the more failures we have. I'm not going to give up on anything.

I'm just going to stand by my own principles and do what I can. Embrace and maybe we can find more purpose in life.

'50 Things' from Ben Jones, MIT Admissions Blog

Just something I came across in my friend's facebook wall post. 50 Things that we should take note of when we enter MIT. I'm not entering MIT, but I think all these we can apply in our life no matter in school or outside school. Just to share (:

"50 Things"

Dear Class of 2010,
This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, I'll begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys won't be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi).
As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought I'd leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.
Here goes...

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.
2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.
4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.
5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.
6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.
7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since.
8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors.
9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.)
10. Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.
11. Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.
12. When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids.
13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.
14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.
15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.
16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.
17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.
18. Take risks.
19. Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.
20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.)
21. Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.
22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.
23. It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.
24. When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience."
25. Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience.
26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.
27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part.
28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.
29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off.
30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.
31. Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.
32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.
33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.
34. Ask for help. Often.
35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.
36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late.
37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.
38. On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being.
39. Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
40. Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.
41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.
42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.
43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.
44. Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught.
46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.
47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.
48. Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.
50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love.
Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.
-B

Can't wait to go back to school, and to ORD of course :D

8 Nov, HERE I COME~

Blink!

Finally, I have gotten hold of one of Malcolm Gladwell's book. And it's one of the titles that caught my eye when it was first in stock in the bookstore.

Having a great time reading and savouring it. His points about thin slicing, the first impressions we have are quite intriguing. I think all of us definitely have experiences that are similar to those written in the book. Haven't completed the book yet, but I think this book will get me reading over and over again..

The Script - For The First Time

She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart,
While I'm drinking Jack all alone in my local bar.
And we don't know how
How we got into this mad situation,
Only doing things out of frustration,

Tryna make it work,
But man these times are hard.

She needs me now but I cant seem to find the time.
I got a new job now on the unemployment line.
And we don't know how
How we got into this mess. Is it God's test?
Someone help us 'cause where doing our best.

Tryna make it work,
But man these times are hard.

But we're gonna start by drinking old cheap bottles of wine,
Sit talking up all night,
Saying things we havent for a while,
A while, yeah.

We're smiling but we're close to tears,
Even after all these years.
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time.

Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooooo (Ooo ooo)

She's in line at the door with her head held high,
Well I just lost my job, but didn't lose my pride,
And we both know how
How we're gonna make it work when it hurts,
When you pick yourself up you get kicked to the dirt.

Tryna make it work,
But man these times are hard.

But we're gonna start by drinking old cheap bottles of wine,
Sit talking up all night,
Doing things we haven't for a while,
A while, yeah.

We're smiling but we're close to tears,
Even after all these years.
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time.

Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooooo (Ooo ooo)

Yeah, drinking old cheap bottles of wine,
Sit talking up all night,
Saying things we haven't for a while.

We're smiling but we're close to tears,
Even after all these years.
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time.

Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
(Yeah, for the first time)
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
(Oh, for the first time)
Ooo ooo ooo ooo, ooo ooo, ooo ooo
(Yeah, For the first time)
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time.

Oh these times are hard.
Yeah they're making us crazy.
Don't give up on me baby.

Oh these times are hard.
Yeah they're making us crazy.
Don't give up on me baby.

Oh these times are hard.
Yeah they're making us crazy.
Don't give up on me baby.

Oh these times are hard.
Yeah they're making us crazy.
Don't give up on me baby.

Knowledge is Power

After today's SUTD's 'Masters of Technology and Design' lecture, I realised that I really really missed school! I want to go back to studying so much. I just got to wait 2 more months till I ORD. Yes, just 2 more months to freedom!

Today's lecture was enriching because it somewhat introduced me to what architecture can be. And indeed, it showed me the beautiful aspects of buildings. The speaker was Professor Fumihiko Maki, a renowned architect who won the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Although he is at old age of 82, I was impressed by hisinsight during the lecture in which he introduced his thoughts and ideas while designing the various academic institutions.

Few points that I could take away:
- 'A city is a big house, and house is a small city"

The intricate designs in a house and a city are somewhat similar in that city. I think whatever is needed in the house applies the same to a city, just that the city is more expansive in size and holds a larger population.

- Between 0 to 16metres of a building will determine the character of the building because most interaction between human beings occur in that range

 The usage of space is evident in Prof Maki's work. The way he used the horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines to contrast and allow people/residents to desire to work in the space available to them was very impressive. One example is Singapore's own Republic Polytechnic. Students make use of the space to occupy themselves with activities. These activities are what determine the character of a buidling or how successful architecture has excited education in the institute.

I really admire Professor Maki for being so strong in his heart for architecture. Even though he is 82 this year, he still contributes so much to the architectural world. Even now, he is involved in the rebuilding of Ground Zero - World Trade Center Tower 4. People like him can really devote themselves to their work and interest. I hope I can be like this, contributing to the world, leaving behind my footprints in others' memories. Likewise, I am going to remember the lecture that I had today.

I am really excited about the SUTD education. I can't wait to start, actually. After hearing what Prof Tom and Mr Ng have explained about how SUTD's education is going to produce the next future generation of students that will be different from the rest, I can't help but feel upbeat about what I will go through in SUTD. It is the only university that has really captured my attention, and the only one that really makes me want to enroll in it.

I just can't wait to go back to school again, to the environment where learning and interaction is so fun. I guess NS will help me cherish university education and impel me to do my best.

Complicated

Why is life so complicated? Before when we were younger, like during primary school days, our lives were so much simpler. There was nothing much to worry about and for what we did, the adults didn't really care.

But now, we complicate ourselves with matters that can seem simple on the outside but messy in the inside. Why do we have to complicate things when it can be so much simpler? Do we have to think so much about it? Are we all influenced to ask ourselves so many questions, which consequently cause ourselves to be paranoid and afraid to put one step forward.

Action still speaks louder than words. There are a few who can act rationally without thinking too much. These are the people who can think on the ground, cut the crap off the whole load of content, and just go straight to the point. And it is also the fact that they are able to do this, that they have this natural aura of leadership.

There is just too much baggage that we have to carry around in our lives. All our personal experiences whether happy or sad, can help us in growing up but we have to move on. By moving on, we should leave these history behind, but not totally. It has to be enough to start afresh and to tell yourself that it will not affect your future decisions.

I was told that there only exists a thin line for something. I am someone who seeks answers fervently, bashing through anything that comes into my way till I reach my destination. Having a thin line may mean that others can easily transcend into the boundaries. Thin or not, the line has to be absolute. Both parties will need to understand the absolute statuses and rights conferred on the side beyond the line. A thin line doesn't give answers. It merely gives space for doubts and misunderstandings to grow.

Was it something I said, or just my personality?

The colourful world of a kid...