I am blessed

I was reflecting on the bus earlier and I realized that in the recent few months, I've been blessed a lot. I think it is important that we acknowledge our blessings, so that when bad things occur, we can think back to the good things and not feel so down.

1) Got an internship

About a month ago, I applied for a research internship at Police Psychological Services Division (PPSD) (Under Singapore Police Force) in response to an email blast that we received. At that point of time, it was more of a 'I-have-nothing-to-do-so-why-not' thing.

I got past the first cut of resume/grades and got invited for a group interview, which I decided to go for just for the exposure of what it's like to be in a group interview. There were 12 of us in total, and only 4 would be selected ( I didn't know this then). Thus I went for it, with some minor preparation, gave honest answers, and didn't expect much.

Somehow, I got selected! I'm not sure what I can learn here apart from doing research, though I'm hoping to get as much out of this as possible.

2) Got great fellow interns



What makes a boring job fun? Great colleagues. The bunch of 6 other interns are easy to talk to, interesting, and fun to have around. That makes work 12398x more interesting. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be stuck with a bunch of quiet, boring people for 10 weeks. Would have been torture.

3) Got a nice supervisor



I'm not sure what to make of this at this point of time. My supervisor is young (1 year older than me), easy to talk to, approachable, and fun. This makes interaction a joy. However, she is also the most inexperienced of the perm staff, which means my exposure to actual work may be limited. I think if I want to get more exposure, I'm going to have to fight for it myself, and not rely on her for it. We'll see.

4) Got an HT supervisor

After talking to a few friends, I realized how fortunate I was to have secured my honors thesis supervisor so early and easily (last year, Dec). I didn't have to write 2 page proposals, email the prof consistently, pass an interview, I didn't even have to provide a (list of) topic! I just asked via email, and was accepted immediately, with my prof supplying the topics for me. Furthermore, I heard that my prof is apparently 'hot property' and many people wanted him as supervisor lol.

I really have no idea why this worked out this way for me. I was kinda in the right place at the right time (he wanted someone to work on this follow up study, which I did for my IRP). Really must thank God for this neat arrangement.

NUS AY 12/13 Semester 2 Module Review

Once again, I’m going to review the modules that I took this semester. 
If you have any questions, please send it to my email  atqhteo@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.

The modules covered in this post:

PC1323/GEK1510 (Great Ideas in Contemporary Physics)

GEM2901 (Reporting Statistics in the Media)
PL4207 (Social Psychology: Theories and Methods)

LSM1303 (Animal Behavior)
PL3231 (Independent Research Project)

I’ll answer 5 questions for each: What is it about? How’s the workload? How difficult is it? Any miscellaneous tips? Should you take it?

If you want to see previous reviews for

• PC1325/GEK1508, MKT1003X, PL3252, PL3234, PH2211, click this link.
• GEK1519, SE1101E, PL3236, PL3233, PL3240, click this link.
• PL1101E, NM1101E, PH1102E, LAF1201, PL2131, click this link.
• For PL2132, PL3232, SSB2216 , PL3235, PH2110, click this link.

Do note that modules do vary across semesters, depending on which professor is taking it, so I will include the name of the professor for your benefit.

Fitness Journal #12 - Reboot

Wow the last fitness journal was so long ago. Anyway I'm back! With more personal updates that noone will read besides myself.

I did gym quite a bit in the US but for some reasons didn't really make much progress. Then I stopped by gym sessions last year during Thanksgiving period, and didn't gym again till February this year. After not gymming for so long, my muscles were all weak again and I had to start from scratch in progressing my lifts :(

Anyway, it's been about 2 months since then, and I've been trying to regain my original weight of 68kg (I actually dropped to below 66kg. The horrors!), and now being fairly close (67.7 for over a week) I'm going to stop trying, and start bulking! The goal is to get rid of my tummy heh. Cardio and diet here I come! Target weight is 65kg before I start eating more again.

As for my weights, here are my improvements: (First number was what I started at)

Bench Press : 45kg -> 55kg

Machine Flies: 27kg -> 41kg

Hammer Curls: 8kg -> 12kg

Forearm Swinging Curls: 10kg -> 12kg

Squats : 40kg -> 45kg (barely did this, will prob do it more since I want more cardio)

Shoulder Press : 22.5kg -> 37.5kg 

Deadlift - 50kg - 65kg - 50kg (I started doing just 1x5, but now I'm switching to a 3x5 routine)

I really want to get my bench press up, with the target weight being my body weight. Will take a while more though, I think I'll take another 2-3 weeks to bring it above 60kg. As for Squats, I think I'll start doing them every session if the gym permits.. I hate waiting for machines and the Squat rack where I go always seems occupied. If have to wait too long I won't.

I have some photos taken too, but I will post them together when I hit 65kg heh. Ok bye