The grand plan.

Yes i do believe i have it. a plan for the next (at least 5) years or so. It all sounds a little bit crazy, and we know how plans can get derailed, but i've got the crux of it worked out. Whether it really happens of course is another matter altogether, but there's some hope at least.

5 years is a long time. and a lot of things can happen. but i'm pretty sure getting there is going to be one hell of a ride. As i've always used to say: "things change, people change, and we get on with our lives." which probably explains why when 1 phase ends and another begins, i just move on and don't look back - i've never really been big on sentimentality (though sometimes there's a sense of regret for this trait).

well whatever happens, we'll just have to wait and see. But i probably can guarantee this much - when the time comes to look back on this, i'll still be single. that's one thing i can safely bet on. haha.

Sticking Around for 1 more year

The results are OUT (well they've been out for a few days already but never got down to posting). And thankfully (not to mention amazingly), i am STAYING FOR 1 MORE YEAR!!! Yes, despite 26 projects / assignments and 7 modules (and 1 stinking exam i had given up all hope on), I have managed to do OMFG-i-can't-believe-it well (in my opinion. and i don't have very high standards). So, though it may be a little delayed, here's some shoutouts to all my proj groups:

CS3216: Ok i have 11 different group mates. I can't thank them all cos that would be a post by itself. But many props to Evo for his great skills with Monsters.

GEM2901: D and N, i swear the 3 of us were the most slack project group i've seen in my life. But its all good. the module was kinda useless anyway, so we've got it all done and that's all that matters.

NM3208: M, P & XL, good times with video production project. I still swear i look horrible in the MTV. the slap was damn hopeless (and probably as fake as everyone insists it is). But i still think the carebear-ripping trick was DAMN COOL.

NM3217: Ok so maybe there wasn't much group work here, but thanks to CS for providing me the ultimate client to work on for my projects.

NM5211: The girls of Mushroom Six. I still dunno why i went along with the idea. seriously. But its all good. It was crazy, it was fun, and i hope everyone got As out of the module. haha.

Internship: Of course where would i be now without it? totally amazing stuff. TOTALLY. if i hadn't done it, probably wouldn't have been crazy enough to do what i did last sem, which no one else should seriously try themselves unless they think they can handle it.

On another note, the level 4000 honours modules are totally not me. its all THEORY BASED (and everyone knows i hate theory). which leaves me with the question: ISM? or no ISM? If i do it i got a supervisor in mind and a topic (which very CONVENIENTLY builds on previous experience i have. which brings back what i've always said: "play the unfair advantage!"

I have no life and i must design...

... which is all fine and well except for 1 "small" detail: I HAVE NO AESTHETIC SENSE WHATSOEVER.

I mean, I can do graphics, publications, videos, games (and video games) and now websites. BUT its all technical. I'm half decent with photoshop, dreamweaver, indesign / freehand, premiere, after effects and maybe even maya, but creatively, i STINK.

(Oh did i mention that i'm pretty damn good with microsoft excel?)

so what advantage is there to being good technicallly if all the skills you have is what pretty much what anyone else can pick up? and when there's so many other people out there who are way better? Like this guy for example?

My only forseeable "gift" is that i pick up softwares pretty quickly (but that's just in comparison to some of my friends). it doesn't give me much of an advantage frankly.

The only reason why my skills have value is that in places where i operate, they haven't found someone who's better (and willing) to do it. Does that make me the cheap / convenient option? perhaps. can i live with that? maybe. does it stink? hell yeah.

I say again: I have no life and i must design - but if there's no ideas, what's there to design?

Crossroads

Well. you'd think that i'd write a shoutout post to everyone now that the sem is over. but frankly i'm just waiting at the moment - waiting for the day to know what happens next (READ: i'm waiting for results). When the results come around i'll know whether i'm staying or going. and while i'm pretty much fine with either outcome, the not-knowing-what-happens-next feeling is just plain annoying.

so about a week and a day from now, expect a post or 2 about what happens next...

Don't say its over....

Or perhaps it really is. but it doesn't feel like it somehow. Maybe its cos i still have assignments left to do. Or maybe also because i don't know if i'm leaving for sure.

But it was kinda sad that in my last week in NUS, i didn't see any of the people i came in with. The people who, for the last 4 years of my life had made it worth coming to school. Yes, i'm talking about the SWAPS / NUSPsyche gang. Apart from maybe Shaun O and YX, i haven't seen Farah and Karina, or even Shaun G and KimChar.

On another note, somehow it just seems that things for me never really aren't meant to work out. Which just proves i'm right i suppose. That there's really nothing there to begin with. I wonder if that night would be the last time. and maybe it is. but i'm glad the opportunities were there. it made everything a lot more bearable. It wasn't much of a goodbye i guess, but that's life. maybe its better this way.

To that one special person who made her final sem (and possibly mine as well) one for me to remember, i just want to say thanks. it may not have been much (or anything at all), but there really wasn't anything that you needed to do. you just had to be you. When the time comes round again i'll see you, but between now and then, study hard and get your stuff done. Its been one heckuva ride for you with everything that's been going on in your modules.

Just want to wish you good luck with whatever comes next. and that at the end of the day you'll find your happiness (God knows you deserve it). Take care of yourself, no matter how much you feel that you need to be there for other people.

Loner

Well. Today we finished filming for our MTV project. And yet somehow i just feel sian and depressed. Don't know why, but i just do.

The filming went well i thought, considering we shot only over 2 days. But i just feel down. Maybe its all the memories that i channeled to get the right mood. Or just the something disappointing that happened. But then again i shouldn't really be disappointed cos i shouldn't have expected anything in the first place.

Need to get out of this soon. Tomorrow's another day. With more filming to do.

Job Prospects

If you're wondering, no it's not that i've found a job (actually i've already got one more or less secured. Lesson: do an internship).

But no, this is more of what i should be doing i guess. Is it just me or have i been writing a lot of bullshit recently (like the stuff for my assignments - analysis etc etc). And the best part is that it looks believable.

Maybe i should become a spindoctor.

Halfway Mark

And so we're at the halfway mark of what might be my final semester. and of all my projects, let's see everything that will be finished by the end of next week (which is end of week 7):

1. NM3217 Web Critique
2. NM5211 Serious Games Report and Presentation
3. NM3208 Theatre Poster
4. NM3208 Web picture assignment
5. NM3550 Report
6. NM3550 Powerpoint + Presentation to internship applicants
7. NM3550 Journal
8. NM3217 Organisational Research
9. CS3216 Hello World App
10. CS3216 That's Bullsh*t App + Code Review
11. CS3216 QuoteTales App + Interface Review
12. NM3208 MTV Reverse Engineering
13. NM3208 My Valentine Photo Slideshow
14. CS3216 Application Seminar Presentation
15. GEM2901 Project 1

Faster than your average student

Well. Its week 4. and here's the assignments i've handed in so far:

1. Serious Games Report+ Presentation
2. Internship Report
3. Internship Journal
4. Internship powerpoint
5. Facebook Hello World App
6. Theatrical Poster
7. Web Page of Pictures
8. Web Critique
9. Facebook "That's Bullsh*t!" App

Only 15 more to go! wahahahaha

24 Assignments

Well. Its been 1 week into start of school. and somehow, i have this little tiny nagging feeling (but just a tiny one) that i'm taking too much on for my own good (then again i thought of it the same way in previous sems and i didn't drop dead and die then so go figure). Now that reader interest is piqued, here's chris' Hell Sem (yes upgraded from hell week) timetable / schedule:

1. CS3216: Developing Applications for Evolving platforms (READ: Facebook module) - 5 Assignments / projects

2. NM3208: Designing Content for New Media (READ: the VIDEO module) - 8 Assignments / projects

3. NM3217: Graphics and Publication Design (Read: the publishing module) - 6 Assignments / projects

4. GEM2901: Reporting Statistics in the Media (Read: the Tues night late-night GEM) - 2
projects

5. NM5211: Serious Games and Educational Technology (Read: the Level 5000 taken by a year 3) - 3 Assignments / Projects

6. NM3550 and INM3550 (Read: the Internship) - 1 report + 2 Powerpoints

7. Continued Work at SGGA (Read: post-internship clean-up)

Which brings grand total of assignments this semester to *cue drumroll* : 5 + 8 + 6 + 2+ 3 = 24!!! then again considering i'm taking 7 Modules worth of credit, that kinda makes sense in some weird twisted way....

So..... 24 / 7. While it probably shows my project / module workload amount, i sincerely hope it doesn't reflect my total working time.... wahahaha


(please be reminded of the fact that i have only 1 exam.... wahahahahaha)