BU Module / Course Review Fall Semester AY 12/13

I'm on exchange at Boston University this semester, and keeping to the tradition of doing module reviews every semester, I shall do one for BU as well!

If you have any questions, email them to atqhteo@gmail.com, or leave a comment below (email preferred).

The courses covered in this post (people in US call it 'course' instead of 'module'):

PS234/NE234 - Psychology of Learning
PS251 - Psychology of Personality
PS354 - Psychology and Criminal Justice
PH221 - Philosophy of Sport

Adventures in USA - Final Day

I'm at the airport now, munching on a grilled cheese sandwich and sipping my iced tea. I still have 2 hours before I have to enter the boarding area, so that's a lot of time to think and reflect lulz.

I'm still in a state of denial that I'm leaving. I can't believe I'm actually over and done with this chapter of my life. If I close my eyes I can still remember vividly the scene on the day I left Singapore, with all my loved ones at the airport sending me off, and my gf all teary-eyed, wrapped up in my arms.

And when I open them I see myself seated in front of the departure gates of Logan International Airport, getting ready to leave this chapter of my life behind me.

A question I got a lot from my friends here in the past week was "Are you sad? (that you're leaving)" And every single time, my response had been "YES I am DAMN sad! I wish I could stay for another semester.. that would be perfect."

Indeed, I think one semester is too short. It's like, you just begin to get acculturalised; you just begin to form bonds with people here; you just begin to settle in to the weather - and then you have to leave. And then you have to re-calibrate yourself back to your home country, and forget every fixed action pattern you have acquired in the previous 4 months. And then you have to accept the fact that you will not be seeing some friends for a very, very long time. Some probably never again.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="403"] Two dear American friends[/caption]

In the past week I met up with all those that mattered. I had meals with the friends I had made here, hung out and played cards, taboo, etc. And when the time came to say goodbye, I gave them the best hug I had to bid farewell. I wasn't too emotional, though I had a heavy heart. I was nowhere close to tears at any point of time of any goodbye, but my heart was making a frowny face.

My friends in Singapore were like, hey, look forward to meeting us! Don't be so sad! But I don't think they understand (besides bestie, who has gone for exchange as well and gone through the same thing). Emotions do not balance like an equation. Increasing positive emotions do not counterbalance and hence eliminate negative emotions. While I can look forward to meeting my loved ones again, it does not take anything away from the sadness of leaving my friends here.

I do look forward to seeing my gf again though. The sight of her suddenly breaking down and sobbing when I left will always be etched in the tablets of my memories. And then again just before I went through the departure gates. It made me realize how important I was to her. It wasn't that I didn't know before, it is more of it accentuated the point. It put it in the spotlight and highlighted it and screamed out at me to treasure what I had, that many desire. To have someone love you like that, it's truly a blessing.

When I see her again, I know exactly what I will do. My arms will invite her in, and she will fall into me and I will hold her. I will hold her with such conviction that she'll know how long I've waited to do that, how much I will hold on to her and not let go, how much I've missed having her in my arms. I can imagine how my body would relax and my heart would sigh as I bury my head in the nook of her neck and let her smell wash over me. I would embrace the feeling of comfort and familiarity that she brings.

Before all that. Before I get back to the harsh, humid, hot reality of Singapore, I still have a long journey. My flight to New York is at 3PM, and my flight from New York to Singapore is at 11pm. That's another 7 or so hours of waiting. I will make another blog entry then I think. And then it's a 12.5 hour flight to Dubai, a FOUR hour stopover, and then a 7 hour flight back to SG. So, it's another 33.5 hours before I return to Singapore. Holy shit that's long.

What am I doing in NUS?

This is going to be a rant about the disparities between BU’s and NUS’s academic  standards. They may be a bit disjointed because I’m just going to type whatever comes to mind.

Recently I’ve been hanging out with some Singaporeans here at BU and listening in on their conversations about their academic planning. Many of them are talking about ‘overloading’ so as to graduate earlier. Makes perfect sense, since school fees are really high here ($40k per  year, not including housing, food, etc). At the same time I scoff at it.

Why do I take issue with this? Well, in BU, the standard workload is 4 courses/modules per semester, versus the 5 modules in NUS. You would think that since there is one less per sem, the workload should be correspondingly heavier, right? No. It could be a poor snapshot of things, but from the courses I have taken this semester, the workload in one module here is LESS than one module in NUS. Considerably.

Let’s say I just got lucky and got the easy modules. Even if we overcompensate, the workload is going to be about the same as NUS, per module! Thus, when they ‘overload’ there, they are actually doing the standard NUS semester load of modules, and they get to graduate one YEAR earlier -_-

Are you kidding me?? One year?! That’s a LOT of time. I know for sure because this year, 2012, has been such a long and eventful year that I can’t even believe is only one year.

Back to the course/modules (I use these two terms interchangeably because they call it ‘courses’ in BU but ‘modules ‘ in NUS) issue. I find that some (not all) of the professors here are trying to help you get an A. Like they really try, and set the quizzes/tests really easy such that you don’t even have to study from the textbook, and I know one prof deliberately sets one or two questions from the TB as if to justify the existence of the TB in the syllabus.

I’m SO pissed by this. Like if you are not going to use the textbook much, DON’T include it in the syllabus?? I don’t know why I was so stupid to purchase all my textbooks and end up using less than 10% of them.  So yes, I only had to study from the lecture notes for my exams. In NUS? Hell no. You have to memorize the bulk of the textbook for most of the core modules (can’t speak for other electives and lv4000 mods)

Further examples to show how chillax it is here – Two (out of 4) of my professors ended up not finishing the syllabus due to time  constraints – and simply cut the material out of the exam. For example, if we were originally supposed to study chapter 1-10 for the finals, she only reached chapter 8, so she said 9 and 10 will not be in.

WHAT A JOKE. Let’s first address the root issue here – they fall behind because they don’t really plan out each lesson well? I find that the profs in BU (once again, I have to emphasize that when I say ‘the profs in BU’ I don’t’ mean to generalize to everyone, but it is a lot simpler to say than ‘the profs that I encounter in BU’) do not plan far ahead – half of my courses did NOT have a complete syllabus at the start of the semester, and only gradually shaped up the syllabus as the semester progressed.

And they don’t plan out each lesson too – for example in NUS the professor will aim to complete this topic in one lecture, and will pace himself/herself to really finish it. In BU? No, it’s kind of a play-by-ear thing, and the prof stops it whenever time runs out. I don’ t think they pace their lessons well and spend way too much time trying to answer questions (there’s a lot of question asking here in the US classroom lectures), and as a result lag behind in content covered.

Some people ask me why I am so chill here – no, it’s not because I only have to pass/fail. It’s because the content is so skimpy and little, what is there to really mug?? The absence of stress for me is not because I only need to pass – I don’t have that mentality, I have quite a lot of Asian pride and want to get As (trololol) – the absence of stress is because I don’t find the volume of content particularly challenging (vs in NUS, when I really have to study regularly)

So back to the lagging behind. So as a result of poor pacing, we seem to be stuck on the same topic for weeks (we spent like 2-3 weeks on Classical Conditioning alone and another 2-3 weeks on operant conditioning alone.. and it’s not even like in-depth coverage of the available theories it’s very surface and basic. ) and I just begin to switch off during lectures. And at the end of the semester, oh oops we can’t finish the syllabus ok nvm this is not tested.

Man, if I was paying $40k/year for this, I would be pissed.

So why am I pissed? Well I think it’s ridiculous how at the end of the day, when you graduate from BU, NUS or wherever, you still end up with the same thing, a college degree. Before you even start to argue that NUS is more prestigious or anything, refer to this table on employability of graduates from global universities.




BU is actually ranked #17 in the world. Where is NUS? #36. WTF.

So let me get this straight, I spend one extra year in university, slogging my guts out in a more stressful, competitive environment with a heavier workload, and I end up half as employable as those who study in BU? (fine, the ranking is an ordinal ranking and not an interval so #34 is not half as employable as #17 but you get my point) FML seriously.

Ok end of rant. I need to go do research for my project next semester, back in NUS. Hooray.

 

My Professor is a troll!

Context: My module Psychology of Learning has two mid-terms and one finals - all of which are MCQ (or so we are told). We had our first mid-term earlier in the semester which was 25 MCQ, and today was my second mid-term, which was supposed to be 25 MCQ too.

So at 3.30PM the professor walked into class and gave out the bubble form to shade our MCQs. As we filled in our details, he began writing some stuff on the board, and said "As you know, this mid term has 25 MCQs...' and he wrote '25 MCQ - 1 mark each'. Then he continued writing: "1 Essay - 4 marks'.

Murmurs and gasps of surprise/shock/disbelief echoed throughout the lecture room (yes it's kind of a room here, not a hall or theatre like in NUS). I heard a girl mutter 'can he do this??!' and others go 'omg' as the room was abuzz with a light chatter.

The professor kept a straight face and began handing out the papers, and said something along the lines of "If you have any questions, just raise your hand, like if the essay question is too difficult..." as he gave out the papers.

Personally, I was actually smirking inside and somehow felt confident because, well, NUS has prepared me well with MAINLY essay exams and it's only in the US here in Boston Uni that everything somehow is MCQ. I didn't doubt my smoking skills will trump the Americans.  Thus, in my mind, I wasn't thinking 'I am so screwed' but 'I may be screwed but these people are more screwed than me" LOL.

Naturally, when everyone got a copy of the exam paper we all flipped to search for this mysterious surprise essay question. When I saw it, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and came back down the other side.

"In more than one sentence, suggest how this course can be improved. Full marks will be given as long as your answer is clearly and sensibly written. (4 marks)"

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="210"] And below the question there was this image[/caption]

Ok fine there wasn't a trollface but walaoeh!!! So troll!

 

Oh, I got a 24/25 for the quiz (he let you check answers after you hand it in). Damn it silly single mistake. (oh, and +4m for the ESSAY question. Gave him a good three lines of feedback, including 'Professors should not give students heart attacks'.) (Ok fine I didn't write that)

 

False Confessions

Would you confess to a crime you didn't commit?

I watched a short film today in my Psychology and Criminal Justice class which really disturbed and annoyed me because of what transpired in it. It was a documentary on an actual criminal case in Norfolk, where four men separately confessed to a gang rape and murder which they didn't commit and were convicted to life sentence in prison without parole. How did it all happen?  Read on for the ridiculous story.

Amazing Poker Hand!!

I played some poker with some exchange friends today, no money involved, just all for fun. It was pretty fun as I ended up winning by quite a bit:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="336"] The red chips were the 2nd highest denomination. $1 green, $2 blues, $5 reds, $10 black[/caption]

Do you know Ahmad?

I am very bored and have a lot of free time. So this is what I do.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="384"] in case you missed it, my reply at the bottom says 'Nothing in JENeral'[/caption]













I know i know. I am the lameness ultimate x 99.

A Snowy Fantasy

One of my childhood dreams, just like probably every child, was to experience snow. Snow sounds like such a mystical, fairy-tale concept for me as I come from Singapore, a tropical island with only sun and rain. Snow only appears in TV shows and movies and dreams.

Last week, I got my first ever frosted breath. This is simply when you exhale and you see the misted/smoke thingy - once again, another mystical, fairy-tale concept that I always saw in TV shows and movies. I was happily playing with it like a little kid and my friend was shaking her head wondering how I could be four years older than her. But I didn't care. I was happy. I was fulfilling a fantasy.

Today, another one of those fantasies was fulfilled. I was walking to the gym after class, and the weather forecast predicted it to rain so I was holding an umbrella to shelter myself from the seemingly light drizzle. After a while, I noticed something odd about the rain - it wasn't falling like normal raindrops - it was.... floating sideways. And the raindrops appeared more like specks than drops of water.

After a few more meters of walking and when little ice specks landed on my jacket, I suddenly realized that IT WAS SNOWING!!!

My thoughts were verified when I saw some girls running somewhere and one exclaimed 'It's snowing!!!' capturing the same excitement I had in me. I took out my glove I had on to catch a snowflake - a mistake because the biting wind almost froze my hand and I had to keep it inside - but I continued admiring and gushing at the multiple snowflakes that began landing on my clothes.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="344"] A huge ass snowflake[/caption]

The next thing I did was to pull out my phone and post on Facebook - I think I was one of the first few to realize it was snowing because I was outdoors at that time. I was quite surprised to get quite a few likes on the simple status : "IT'S SNOWING!!!' I guess snow is just something magical for many of us - somewhat of a mystical entity that only appears once in a blue moon (i.e. if you travel elsewhere)

Snow is really beautiful. I don't know what it is about falling snowflakes, but it's the swirl of the snowflakes in the wind and the way they dance as they fall. It's nothing like rain which just takes a straight projectory down to earth - no, each snowflake swirls and twirls in the air for quite a while, carried by the wind currents, before it finally descends to the ground.

I was in the gym for the next 2-3 hours as it was snowing, and I didn't realize the extent of the snowfall until I came out :



And this was cute:





The streets were covered with snow, which made it quite slippery and scary to walk around, so I was shuffling slowly in my basketball shoes. I hope my Timberland boots do fine in walking (they're not proper winter boots). I was admiring the snow-covered streets/cars/trees/vegetation - everything basically. It was so beautiful. Words can't describe it.

This reminded me of another time when I was just left in awe - at the MBS Light Show. This was the same feeling. I just wanted to admire the beauty of the white landscape, and watch the helter skelter snowflakes begin their gradual descent to the ground.

I shall end this post with a picture of me happily basking in the snow. Ok I'm not really basking and I'm actually wincing abit because at that point of time a gust of strong wind was blowing at me and smashing little ice bits into my face lol.



Snow <3

 

EDIT:

I was posting on Facebook saying how I wanted to throw a snowball at someone for fun, and after chatting with some friends we decided to go out to play with snow! :D



We took many pictures which you can see on Facebook, and I really like how the snowflakes that were still falling were captured by my camera! Gives it a more snowy feel hehe.



Melody's a very nice friendly Californian girl who has cousins in Singapore and thinks Singlish is very cool LOL. She wants to learn my accent which is like whaaat. She built this little snowman and I brought some M&Ms which we used for the eyes and nose. She managed to apply the blush by smudging the red M&M! Clever!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576"] My ugly fail snowman haha. Must try again next time.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="432"] Pretty tree :D Everything with snow looks so pretty!![/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576"] The lovely people I went out with :D[/caption]

 

Halloween in the USA!

This year has marked a lot of firsts for me - first time staying in hall, first time going to the US... I won't make a list as it'll go on forever. It is also the first time I've attended a Halloween party! It wasn't my first time celebrating Halloween though, that was last year:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="423"] Halloween 2011: Went to USS with the gf, bestie, and gwynnaho[/caption]

Anyway, back to the present. This party was organized by a Singaporean girl studying full-time in BU (well technically 2, they are housemates), and I kinda got the invite last minute but WHO CARES at least I got to go right haha.

So we went to the costume shop, and when I laid eyes on this, I knew I HAD to get this costume:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="272"] Ghostface from Scream![/caption]

Now the first reaction from some people will be like 'boring!', 'overused!' , 'childish!', and I say I DONT'T CARE. You must understand one thing - Scream was my favourite childhood movie. Like really absolute favourite, the kind where people ask you 'Favourite Movie?' and I will SCREAM! (pun) (I didn't really scream.) And it's really childhood movie lor, 1996 was the first Scream!
I even wrote a review of the lastest (and probably last) of the franchise, Scream 4, over here.

Thus, to go as Ghostface can be said as one of my childhood dreams even? Though that's probably overstating it because I didn't really have an childhood dream of dressing up as anything at all haha. I did try to look around the shop a bit for other costumes but... nothing came close to this.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="319"] Check out her knife 'wound' on her neck![/caption]

The party was about 10-15 minutes walk from my dorm, but I took the train there because I wasn't sure how to get there. And guess what - I wore my costume all the way there and back, mask and all! It was pretty fun, like on the train I saw this old lady trying to sneak a photo of me from afar, and I turned to her and sportingly raised my knife to pose and she laughed heartedly. At that moment, I felt the joy that all mascots/costumed characters probably feel when their 'audience' responds to their playacting in their roles (e.g. at Disneyland)

When I came out of my dorm and was heading out I also walked past a group of Chinese girls who were slightly freaked then as I walked past them I turned my head slowly towards them it freaked them out even more haha.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="229"] Something like this. And I never knew cats could rotate their heads 180degrees[/caption]

So amusing random passerbys aside, I think the whole fun for me was taking pictures with other people. I'm not a get drunk and go crazy kinda person so I don't know what else I can do at a party hahaha. Besides catch up with long lost friends... but I didn't know most of the people there so it was semi-awkward.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="312"] A downside of my costume is I have to remove my mask to be identified haha.[/caption]

My friends who sportingly posed afraid were my favourite pictures:



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576"] BatGirl is afraid of Ghosface![/caption]

For more photos, you can head over to my Facebook album hereIt was a fun experience overall, but it further reinforces the fact that parties/clubbing isn't for me. I mean, I see most of what they were doing was just zi high (translation: force yourself to be high, and hope it perpetuates), which was kinda lame but I guess your judgement of lameness is impaired when you are intoxicated. Some examples are singing very loudly and doing outlandish actions to the songs. It can be fun I suppose... like singing along to a popular song. But I can only last that long before it gets old.

Sometimes I wish I was born with the gift of the gab instead of being smart and handsome (I'm kidding) (About the being smart and handsome part). I mean, someone who is a smooth talker can easily win over strangers even without being attractive (Of course, being attractive, you make people subconsciously like you more. Hey, proven in studies so all of you in denial, shhhh), can easily make more friends, etc.

Oh well. I should be glad I am born normal, with all my limbs intact, with normal intelligence, and can function normally. And I do already have some kickass friends. And blog readers.

Weird Psych Prof

I have a professor who is very... eccentric. She basically has a cynical world view and constantly ridicules certain research which she disagrees with. Her sense of humor is very dry... it's like.. I don't even know how to describe it. It's very in your face and you either love it or hate it. I just find her weird.

Here are some comments on her, taken from ratemyprofessor.com (something like our Modulereview.com)

She is very opinionated and at times "rude", but really she just has a dry sense of humor, which just makes class so much more enjoyable

She can has a strong personality that can seem rude, but it gives the class a neat perspective.

Incomprehensible lectures 1x/week and a movie on the other day of class which she more or less puts on to make a mockery of. Asks for opinions, and shoots them down immediately. Also instigates to get kids riled up and passionately speak their minds for inane reasons.

Hagen is one of the single most offensive teachers at BU - she makes claims she can't back up, she poisons her students with ideas that developmental theory and defense mechanisms don't exist

She ignores people with questions, often mutters unintelligibly, and goes off on endless tangents.

 

Yup, that's her. Ok the point of this blog post is to publish the email which she just sent us that epitomizes what I am talking about. The context is that today's lecture powerpoint slides were corrupted or something and no one could download them. We told her during class, and she said she'll look into it afterwards. So 5 minutes ago I received this email:

 

Well, Hagen, where is it?!? (yes she is talking to herself in third person)

Well, BU Faculty Link will not send you all an email with either version of the lecture. Blackboard will not
let me post the lecture either.

Perhaps, it is not meant to be.

Hmmm.

Maybe those Minnesota folks have super effective copyright protection. (she copied and pasted certain things from MMPI during lecture)

Will keep trying but will not email you with updates.

If it comes, it comes. If not, well, I've got jury duty, anyway.

 

"Will keep trying but will not email you with updates' lol wtf??!

Studying in USA is weird.

More thoughts in Boston

As of today, I've been in America for exactly 2 months. Exactly 2 months ago, I touched down at SFO (the airport in San Francisco), and walked out into the cold air, amazed and intrigued at how it could be so chilly outdoors. It's a totally different and new sensation... the closest I can describe it is standing in an airconditioned glasshouse in Singapore, with the sun shining in.

The first two weeks were probably the most eventful 2 weeks of my time here (possibly even of the year). You can check out my series of blogs by selecting the 'Adventures in USA' category, to see what I did. After that, I came to Boston, and school began. And well, school is school, even if I'm on exchange, it's going to be somewhat a grind.

I guess I will try to organize my thoughts more coherently with section headings.

Friends

Looking at how one of my friends is now, I wish I was a girl. It's a long story but basically if I was a girl I would be surrounded with a larger circle of Christian friends. Now, I recently stopped going for the 'cell group' which I had gone for several weeks, because I didn't like how it was run. It was far too basic and felt pointless, the questions were straightforward and merely primary school comprehension. The people seemed fake (they are probably genuine) and it made me cringe when they say some things.

One of the key friends I made was M. (Not even the first letter of his name. I'll reveal his identity when I leave la k abit paisei haha) He is just a nice, friendly guy who I had the luck of befriending and it led to an enjoyable birthday and further friends being made. Hope to hang out more with him and his friends. Have been doing that already.

My roommate is pretty cool too. Though his waking habits annoy the crap out of me (he's Muslim, so he wakes up at 5AM to pray and consequently wakes me up with his alarm) (he likes to snooze his alarms a lot in the morning when he wakes up after that 5AM prayer), he is a genuine nice and friendly guy overall. Apart from the waking part, he's pretty considerate and nice to talk to. Maybe talks abit too much for my hermit nature (HAHA oops) but it's more my fault than his - sometimes I just want to be alone and shut down you know. Turn off all stimuli. Just be alone. And do my thaaang.

A friend that I was close to at the start, C, is now off in her own world, with her newfound American friends. Good for her I guess, it's what she always wanted. She is rather unreliable (e.g. doesn't reply texts, cancels last minute, etc) so I guess it's good that I don't depend on her for my social support. She's let me down before. Once bitten, twice shy.

 

Weather

Looking back, I am really thankful for my caring and supportive aunty and mom back home. They pushed me to bring warm clothes, such as the thick sweater that I wear out now. I have NO IDEA what I would be doing if I only had my, as my gf calls it, 'Harry Potter' jacket.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="346"] This one[/caption]

This jacket is REALLY thin, and does close to nothing to keep me warm apart from being another layer. The thick one that I have keeps me reasonably warm. Oh, and the scarf, long johns, sweater vest, were all my mum/aunt's ideas too. THANK GOD I BROUGHT THEM.

Because, well, the weather is pretty crazy here. For perspective, in Singapore, the LOWEST temperature we typically have is like, 24-25 degrees Celsius. So for 23 years of my life, the lowest temperature that I'm accustomed to having is 25 degrees outdoors. Indoors, the air-conditioners typically stop at 18 degrees, so perhaps some random places are indeed colder.

In Boston, at least in the past weeks, the HIGHEST temperature we have is 18 degrees Celsius. That means in the day, it normally averages at about 10-15, depending on the day, and dips below 10 at night. Right now it's 8 degrees out.

And even when it rises 'high' during the day to about 15-18 degrees, it's usually pretty windy, perhaps due to it being Autumn/Fall. When I say pretty windy, I mean trees swaying kind of windy. I mean wind that makes you squint and maybe even look away because it's smashing your face kind of windy. I mean... ok you get the point. Not the light breezes that we get in Singapore.

I don't think I'll be used to the hot Singapore weather when I get back - I won't be used to not having a fan indoors and still feeling cold (My room windows are all closed and it's still pretty cold that I'm wearing a sweater (the HP one))

And I heard it's going to get colder.

Accomplishment Factor

I know many people have the mindset that 'I'm going to do XYZ in exchange! I'm going to have so much fun! Wheee!'

For me, I never really fantasized much before I came here, and just took it as another phase of life. I didn't have much concrete expectations, like 'oh I must see this and that' or 'oh I must make 189314 American friends'. I just came with the mindset 'ok, this is the SEP phase of my life. Let's see what happens'.

This is both good and bad I suppose. Good because I don't aim to do too many things that I can't complete. Bad because I have nothing much to do LOL.

I mean, I don't want to regret any part of my time spent here. I don't want to look back when I'm back in Singapore and think 'man, I should have done this, then'. I want to have no regrets. Accomplish all the things!

I guess that's why today, I spontaneously decided to go watch a movie. (Looper, was pretty good! Check it out if you haven't) Check THAT off my list. What else do I have on it?

1. Watch a Boston Celtics game  (NBA season hasn't begun)


2. Look at leaves changing color (not yet... though some have begun to change). Experience autumn!


3. See and touch snow (not within my control)


4. See the statue of liberty, go up the empire state building (after my semester)


5. Go to a party? (yes, shocker, I haven't been to one. Mainly because I don't exactly want to. But... we'll see if this gets done)


6. Watch a Red Sox game (may have missed my chance, season may be over. not sure)


7. I'm getting tired of thinking of items

Okayyy. I never know how to end my entries nowadays. Bazinga.

 

Birthday in the USA!

My 23rd birthday just passed, and... it went better than I expected! Well I had not expected much out of it in the first place, I'm not big on celebrations and parties and stuff so I just wanted a chillax card playing session. It was quite problematic actually, because it was the Columbus Day long weekend so many people were travelling and wasn't free on Friday, and because of some other stuff that's too complicated to explain.

I eventually managed to scrap together something, with like a 50% response rate lol. But it was SO much fun. To me, at least. Heh.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="446"] The plan was to play Texas Hold'Em! I bought this set of chips off Amazon[/caption]

BUT before this...

I have this friend Peter, a really nice friendly guy from Massachusetts who's Vietnamese/Thai, who I got to know over here in America. I had asked him to come for this poker thing, and he began to ask suspicious things:



I didn't want him to buy me cake la, like so paisei! I don't even know him thaaaat well, just bump into each other occasionally at the gym, play pingpong together.

That was a few days before my birthday. Then on the day itself:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="260"] That last line made me crack up seriously lol. 'It's for my homework' HAHAHA.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="352"] AND HE TURNS UP WITH A WHOLE CHEESECAKE FROM CHEESECAKE FACTORY[/caption]

LIKE OMG!?!

I would already have been pretty touched if he just got me some normal cheap fruit cake, given how he didn't really know anyone else there and we only just knew each other for over a month. But. He got a WHOLE cheesecake from the yummiest cheesecake place in the world!

Ok maybe not in the world but it was super delicious! Sorry for the lousy photo.

Ok, delicious yummy cheesecake aside. We devoured it quickly and ... on to the games!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="561"] Me explaining the game to them. I actually won quite a bit, then some people began to run out of money (chips) so I kept sponsoring them, then end up I wasn't the biggest winner lol.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="494"] We switched to Banana Scrabble after poker. It was really fun! It's something like speed Scrabble, you have to race to finish up your tiles.[/caption]

And after we finished playing, they're damn cute la they went to do this with the tiles:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="514"] awww[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="558"] Don't ask me why they wanted to carry me[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="545"] :D It was a fun night with awesome company. Thank God for how everything worked out after the initial hiccups :}[/caption]

The day ended off really well imo. I already had a decent day, spending the afternoon gymming + playing basketball and a bit of pingpong, and I returned to my dorm pretty tired physically, but still had to prepare for this gathering that I arranged. And it turned out splendid! It's like, everyone was nice and fun to talk to and have around. And I was winning. So. HA. ok the winning part is secondary.

I should sleep soon, it's like 2.30 AM here. Have a long day tomorrow, going to be meeting Singaporeans in Boston at some event, then I'm off to New York! Pray for my safety I'm genuinely scared I get robbed! Bye!

P.S. Oh we had a video too:



Just our random conversation as I was cutting the cake ... there's one funny part at 1:13 so you can skip to that.

[Dream] Neverending Stairs, Public Defaecation & Human Trafficking

My dreams are usually incoherent, jumpy, and disjointed (are these 3 actually synonyms? oops). However, the dream I had last night was surprisingly coherent and continuous. What made it more amazing was that I actually woke up halfway, went to the bathroom, went back to sleep and slipped right back into it.

 

It started out with a job interview I was going for. I had the address on hand but I had no idea how to get there, so I was using Maps to navigate, as I very often did so in the US. (I was in Singapore in the dream, as I realized at the end) I reached this school-like building (maybe it was a school, I can't remember) and started climbing up the stairs for some reason.

I reached the 7th floor (Yes, I remember distinctly it was the 7th, not the 6th or the 8th), and continued climbing the stairs. The weird thing was, after the 7th floor, the stairs started going downwards instead of up, so eventually I ended up back at the bottom. It was something like those neverending staircase illusions, just that it wasn't neverending - it brought me up and then back down.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="373"] Never-ending stairs[/caption]

 

 

 

I asked for directions several times, and the people I asked all said 'oh, just show your map to any truck driver, he'll know the place', because apparently the location of the job interview was quite obscure and normal people can't find it but truck drivers always go there so they know.

At this point, I believe I woke up to pee, but I really can't remember. It's like, when a dream becomes fused, you don't really remember where the beginning or the end was. It all becomes continuous.

---

I was making my way to the interview location, and I reached this small shop, and needed the toilet to shit. I told the storekeeper, who was an old man, and he said go ahead. I looked down and saw a toilet bowl right there in the open, and somehow for some weird reason, I didn't hesitate at all and I just pulled my pants down and sat on the toilet bowl right there in the open, and felt no shame whatsoever. WEIRD.



---

I arrived at the building of the interview finally, and some guards or something came down to escort me up the building. Then somehow I suddenly had a companion (I can't remember who, one of my friends) and she was with me too, going for the interview. We went all the way up to the HQ, and we were seated.

Then this person told us that he's passing us the newest model of the mobile phone, and we were to test it. He handed over this block of plastic to my friend, and when it became clearer I saw it was some old walkie talkie. At that point I started to realize it was all a sham.

My friend was told to press a button every time a light came on, otherwise she would be shocked by a little electric current. This is exactly like what I'm reading about in my Learning and Conditioning module!

After some time, we realized we were being held captive, and would be used as slaves for this experiment.

---

It is with great pity that I CAN'T REMEMBER what happened next, but I distinctly recall it was the most exciting - somehow, someway, I managed to escape from the place! It involved me outsmarting the guards or something but I really can't remember.

Then I went to meet Weiqin because we were supposed to go out I think. She said she needed to find her dad regarding something, and when I followed her back to the building I was at before, I realized her dad was the boss of that company!!

Me: "Weiqin, do you know what your dad does for work?"

Qin: "No I don't know I never asked, what?"

Me: "Nevermind, it's better not to know."

And she somehow didn't pester me and left it as that.

Now the thing is her dad still doesn't know that I had escaped yet, so when we walked up to him I saw a flash of recognition and surprise cross his eyes but he quickly suppressed and hid it as he spoke to Weiqin. We were asking for permission to go out of town or something, and he told us we had to rent a car so we could drive out.

The whole conversation was intense as I wasn't sure what he would do - on one hand he wanted to recapture me but I think he wanted to hide the nature of his job from weiqin so he didn't do so.

The dream ended with us walking off, and she was asking if I was sure I wanted to drive out of town, as it may be inconvenient for me to get back later. I then responded with something like 'Aiya, out of town is only like, to Hougang or something right? That's alright I can go home from there'

This made little sense but ok, dreams don't usually make sense. And yup that's all. I had a second vivid, long dream but I totally forgot that because I was exerting all my memory cells to remember this one.

 

Thematic Apperception Test

For one of my assignments, I was required to take an online Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which is basically a psychological test with psychodynamic origins - the gist of it is that you look at a picture, then you write a story based on what you've seen. The psychologist then analyzes what you have written, and gives you an interpretation - presumably because what you have written is a projection of your inner thoughts and desires.

You can try it out yourself if you wish, DON'T CONTINUE READING if you want to try it, because my story is below. Don't copy! haha. Just head on over to this website to try out the test first, just takes 10 minutes. http://www.utpsyc.org/TATintro/

Don't read on if you're going to try it, because it'll affect your answer! (It's the same picture)

Food in Boston

I have been raving about how good the food I'm eating here is, so now, I'm going to SHOW you exactly what I've been eating. Remember, this is part of my dining plan in the dormitory I'm staying in - AKA hall food! And it's buffet every single meal.

This series of pictures shows exactly what I ate throughout the day, from Monday - Sunday. Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_1768" align="alignleft" width="500"] Hard boiled eggs, hamburger patty, potato cubes, scrambled eggs, bacon, banana and a glass of milk.
What's on my plate is what I call the 'Breakfast Scramble'. They have these few dishes every morning, and I eat it almost everyday.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1770" align="alignleft" width="500"] Asian Salisbury Steak with Soba Noodle Saute[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1771" align="alignleft" width="500"] Honey Brine Roasted Chicken with long beans[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1772" align="alignleft" width="500"] Salad, fruits, and yoghurt. And a glass of chocolate milk out of the picture.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1773" align="alignleft" width="500"] Warren Burger - basically a cheeseburger with some special yummy sweet onion sauce that they add[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1774" align="alignleft" width="500"] Classic Mac & Cheese. Always long queues for this yummy dish. Topped off this meal with a glass of orange juice.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1775" align="alignleft" width="500"] BBQ Ribs with Potato Salad[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1776" align="alignleft" width="500"] Chicken Parmesan with Pasta. And you can see my plate of salad off-camera.. ok let me just show you everything:[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1777" align="alignleft" width="500"] Garden Salad, Apple Juice, and a Banana :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1778" align="alignleft" width="500"] Egg and Cheese Burrito[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1780" align="alignleft" width="500"] My complete breakfast for that day. Breakfast scramble and the burrito and milk[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1781" align="alignleft" width="500"] Buffalo Chicken Wrap with Tomatoes and Veg[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1782" align="alignleft" width="500"] Jerk Chicken (I don't know why it's called this) and salad and hard boiled eggs. With a glass of Orange Juice[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1783" align="alignleft" width="500"] Buffalo Wings and Tots (deep fried potato cubes). The hot sauce was wicked nice.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1784" align="alignleft" width="500"] Some coleslaw / salad thingy with cheese[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1785" align="alignleft" width="500"] My current favourite breakfast dish - Mushroom + Minced Meat + CHEESEEEE omelette[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1786" align="alignleft" width="500"] Buffalo Chicken (with some coleslaw)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="alignleft" width="500"] BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="alignleft" width="500"] Savory Peach Chicken (Gluten Free)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1789" align="alignleft" width="500"] My entire meal. That's an orange btw.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1790" align="alignleft" width="500"] Grilled Chicken with Peach Sauce + Some nice Pasta with Sliced Bratwurst sausages[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="alignleft" width="500"] Breakfast scramble, omelette, and pancakes with fruits :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="alignleft" width="500"] Vegan nuggets, Chipotle Glazed Pork Loin[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1793" align="alignleft" width="500"] LOBSTER MAINE (this was my first time eating lobster!! I've only eaten crab before this... it's not that nice but I guess rare things are more coveted)
comes with Baked Potato and Corn of the Cob.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1794" align="alignleft" width="500"] 1/4 Rotisserie Chicken (surrounded by random salad I threw in)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1795" align="alignleft" width="500"] Breakfast Scramble with Whole Wheat French Toast.
(They have other fruits besides bananas, such as apples, pears, oranges)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1796" align="alignleft" width="500"] Baked Fish with Assorted Salad[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="alignleft" width="500"] Mac & Cheese with Mushrooms and Minced Meat! Yummy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="alignleft" width="500"] Topped off with orange juice and, yes, banana again.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1799" align="alignleft" width="500"] Glazed Turkey with BBQ sauce, and Home Zone Taco. With a glass of milk[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1800" align="alignleft" width="500"] The dish on the left is one of my favourite desserts - mixed fruits (honeydew, pineapple,banana) smothered with yoghurt :)
On the right is some roasted chicken[/caption]

Grilled Cheese with Bacon (not sure what the red sauce is but it's nice), Portuguese Meatloaf with 'Chicken Nuggets' (They were more like popcorn chicken!)

[caption id="attachment_1805" align="alignleft" width="500"] A closer look at the yummy Portuguese Meatloaf[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1806" align="alignleft" width="500"] Breaded Pork Cutlet with Sauteed Spinach[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1807" align="alignleft" width="500"] Pepperoni Pizza + Chocolate Milk to complete the meal :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1808" align="alignleft" width="500"] Crispy Pork Cutlet with Potato Cubes[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1809" align="alignleft" width="500"] With my Warren Burger (I really like this, just had one :p)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1810" align="alignleft" width="337"] Pancakes smothered with mixed fruits. They were out of strawberries! :(([/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1811" align="alignleft" width="311"] Rotisserie Chicken with Cajun Style Rice and long beans[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1812" align="alignleft" width="266"] Roast Beef with Some yummy cream sauce pasta[/caption]

Wow... looking back, I'm also quite amazed that I ate such a large variety of food... IN JUST ONE WEEK. Unbelievable. I'm going to be so spoilt by this good food O.O