Wednesday, 14 July 2010

NUS O Week Ragers Look Here.

I was having a conversation with szehong, one of my psych camp group mates.. and i think i'm damn funny? hahaha.
Ok so we were talking about first impressions and how people can click with each other and hence become good friends. So i asked:

Me- "So do you think we clicked?'
Szehong- "Er.. half click"
( we didn't exactly talk much during camp, i was just asking this for fun)
Me- "What's half click? mouse spoil ah. "


hahahah isn't that funny!! I thought it was.

ANYWAY. some of you may know that I am going for Arts O Week which is from 31st-6th. I mean, fresh out of Psych Camp, just found out about O week, sure go ma.
Right now there is some brouhaha (YES finally used the word since encountering it in secondary school and thinking lolwtfisthisfunnyword. if you don't believe there's such a word, go here. about the whole registration issue-
Registration for O week was advertised as last Sat/Sun, and this coming Sat/Sun (have to go down to Heeren to personally hand in the form +money)

The thing is, after Saturday's registration, there were only 16 spots left for girls. And after Sunday's registration, ALL SPOTS for girls were filled, and the waiting list was FULL as well

"Vacancies for girls have been filled up. The waiting list for girls is already FULL. Therefore registration for girls is officially closed."


And the stupid thing is:

There are still 140 vacancies for guys.


lolololol. Like what?? The stupid thing is that there is obviously a larger ratio of girls:guys for FASS, so obviously there are much more girls wanting to go for this than guys. And i heard that they are trying to achieve a 1:1 ratio (or something similar) because SDU is a sponsor of the camp (That is the matchmaking agency btw) -_-

So right now there's an outrage on the tagboard of the O Week blog, with all the girls complaining about how they're denied a place. All 103 of them (that's how long the waiting list is) and more (those who didn't get on the waiting list).

Though I agree that it is unfair that they are denied a spot because of the committee wanting to achieve some unrealistic ratio, I think they are being really retarded too.

Though I agree that it is unfair that they are denied a spot because of the committee wanting to achieve some unrealistic ratio, I think they are being really retarded too.

"cookiejar: hello. so are there other orientations for us to join? like a university orientation for the rest of us? if not how are we supposed to know about bidding and getting around school? oh no.. "
"yah im more worried abt nt knowing how to go rd the campus, and how modules work.. "
"oh wow. so prob more than half of the cohort can't have the freshie experience. awesome work, admin ppl. "


Firstly, if you are so worried about your university education, why are you waiting till JULY to start to find out about these stuff when school starts in AUGUST? Information about modules and CORS bidding has been up all the while on the official NUS/FASS website, all you had to do was do a little searching.
Heck, there are even forums about this. (sorry lazy to link CORS official site, i think the forum link should contain the link)


Next, raging about how are you supposed to know how to get around school? Unless you do not open your mailbox for months, NUS did send a freshman package that included this thing called a MAP. Also, the NUS compound isn't a restricted area with guard dogs patrolling to keep out intruders. It is open to public ffs. You are free to go in and take a bus around school and walk around.

I mean sure, you won't be 'guided' as you may be at O week (i doubt they'll even have some sort of tour, probably incorporate it into a game like Amazing Race aroud school or like what Psych Camp did, some Photohunt thing) but with a map and a basic sense of direction, you should be able to orientate yourself right? And you have the whole 7 days of O week to go do this self -touring. So.. more than enough.

Lastly, what on earth is 'the freshie experience'? Guess what, the term 'freshman' refers to a student in his/her first year of school. You will be having the freshie experience for the next 365 days.
And if you're referring to 'a camp experience', there have been 21937 camps that have occurred such as Arts camp, psych camp, cac camp, hall camps, society camps, sports camp etc. If you really wanted to have 'a camp experience', you could have signed up for any of these.

So to sum it up, don't blame the camp admin for your lack of initiative. That basically summarizes everything.

One point i do agree on, however, is the weak advertising. My only hint about any camps were from the freshman package that came in june.. and half the camps advertised in the included brochures were over already (including hall camp!! oh fmlll if i had gone maybe i'd have gotten in)
What is with the staggered mail anyway? My friends received the freshman package like 1 month before me, and I have friends who received it one month after me. Does it occur to them that this causes the advertising to be rendered ineffective?

And for the Psych camp, it was only because of a moment of impulse that i decided to want to sign up for it and so I went to google for it. Otherwise I wouldn't have any idea when it was and when to register, etc

And of course for O week, I only first heard about it during Psych camp when my facils went 'are you going for o week?'. I didn't even know there was a camp!? I thought 2nd Aug I was supposed to go to school for idunnowhat reason. I never knew there was some camp or activities thing. The mail from NUS doesn't even mention it.

What can be done better is that NUS should work more closely with the different student groups in these, especially big camps like faculty camps. I mean, you can't expect the committees to have access to every single FASS' student's email/address, such info is only accessible by the school itself. So NUS should help them out with the advertising! I mean, you do want to have happy, 'orientated' students right?

Wow what a long post. I was really frustrated with those whiners on the tagboard of oweekblog, which was more or less the trigger for this long post. Welcome to the grownup world kiddos, no more spoonfeeding, noone to hold your hand. You want something, you go get it, or find out where to get it.

Truth is, I am worried about this too. Like, not knowing about anything unless you go find out about it. Like how university education is very independent, you have to approach professors on your own for your projects, you have to access information on your own.
I guess for those who didn't get into camp, this is a good wake-up call for them, the true immersion into university culture, the perfect orientation lesson.

Peace.

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Freebies Giveaway!

Ok I got a goody bag from Psych Camp that has like alot of coupons and vouchers.. but the thing is I probably won't use half of these. So I'm just going to list them out here, if you want them, tell me so I can pass it to you!! So that they won't go to waste.

All Dolled Up (@ http://alldolledup.oursecrethaven.com) - enjoy 10% off your total purchase! Valid till 31 July 10.

Paper Exploits (@ http://PaperExploits.wordpress.com) - use this code: "NUSFreshies" when ordering to receive 10% off the entire purchase! Valid till 31 October 10.

Frolick - One free topping.

The Hangout - $10 off for minimum $50 spent.

The Tea Party (@ Bukit Timah Rd.. Sixth Ave Centre.. ) - $5 Gift voucher

Red Dynasty Paintball Park - Free 50 Paintballs (worth $25.90) - Valid till 31st December 2010
(www.weplaypaintball.com)

Botak Jones - $5 Voucher (with minimum purchase of $30)

Chapter Two - $10 off all Hair Services - Valid till 30th June 2011

The Coffee Bean - $1 Off for Large Ice Blended Drink/Large Latte/ Breakfast Set/ Gourmet Sandwich. - Valid till 31st December 2010

The Big Dipper - $2 off a Big Dipper Tasty Creation - Valid till 31st August 2010


Want any of these?? Tell me asap!! Especially those that are expiring soon.

Friday, 9 July 2010

psych camp (after)

My average sleeping duration is 6-8 hours a day. In the past 3 nights, I slept a total of 6 hours.

Somehow I still feel fine? Quite odd. I expected myself to be zombiefied or something.

Anyway, I just came back from Psych Camp!! I really enjoyed myself even though I didn't really bond with my group much.. because i bonded with my group facilitators! (or OGLs, or mentors, or whatever name you call them by)

My group was a bunch of people who were rather shy /quiet , so it was kinda odd. There wasn't really anyone whom I could talk to either.. so it was weird. But luckily for me, I had awesome facilitators!!

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chong hui!!
she has this whiny highpitch voice that I always make fun of :p She is very fun to talk to (And bully) so it was great having her around! ahah. she's damn funny luh

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Germaine!!
When she laughs her face will scrunge up and her eyebrows cross abit so it's freaking hilarious! She makes random sounds also which are super funny. Very nice and fun to talk to too!

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Darren!
The only guy facil around... this joker is full of nonsense. I had a great time in lame-ness sparring with him.. we just talk alot of crap these few days. Basically making really bad lame jokes haha.
Super fun to have him around la.

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Guan Wei!
Ok she isn't a facil but she's the only person in group whom I could talk to. She's abit sporty (can see from her tan can't you?) and always seems damn mature la haha. she's a year older than me too.

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Hui Jun!!!
She was the one who called me up to tell me camp details.. initially sounded fierce(on the phone) but after getting to know her she's just this really sweet and pleasant girl! Very fun to talk to and disturb also haaha.
And she is one of the few people I know who actually have an 'eye smile'. It's this slight twinkle in your eyes when you are genuinely smiling. I think Roald Dahl or some author mentions this in one of his book.. like you can tell if a person is smiling genuinely by looking at his eyes.

And there is one more facil Liz, whom i talked to alot also (not as much as these) but she wasn't around on the last morning to take photos ahhhh.


Well that's all the photos I have now, because the rest are in other cameras ! Took like seriously a thousand photos.... and this video in which i was dancing!! I was quite surprised when i watched it because i never knew i was that decent haha. Did some arm/body wave and botting. I wanna see it again!! ahh.

The camp activities were pretty standard la. Like station games , amazing race, etc. The fun parts are the in-betweens - talking over meals, having supper together, staying up until 6.30AM on the last night.. etc (thanks chong/jun/liz for staying up with me :) would have been so boring if i had actually just gone to sleep rightaway)

The first night was quite jialat cos i went to bed at about 1, (after supper) and i was tossing in my bed till about 4+ la!! dam bad dunno why can't sleep. Brain just refused to switch off.
Second night I watched semis... damn sad la wth germany played so badly and spain played well.
And after that talk for awhile with chong/liz/guanwei then slept at 4+ too
And of course last night i was up till 630 am haha.

So in total i slept only about 6-10 hours? haha .

When I reached home i fell asleep for like.. 6 hours. Which is why I'm up now writing this.. but the accumulated fatigue is setting in again... think i need to sleep more.

Anyway, camp has helped prepare me alot for uni.. Now i know exactly what bidding is like and what modules i should take etc. Also , I'm more mentally prepared to mug like hell.. from what i heard Psych is hell alot of memorizing of the textbook. so... rawr - flexes brains-.

And of course,my lovely facils (Weiqin said i shouldn't call them seniors because the girls are actually my age or younger so it's odd. ) whom i genuinely hope to see around alot!!

Ok im really tirednow. time to catch up on lost sleep. hi dream land here i come