Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
// for one more day //
Just read ' for one more day ' by mitch albom.
I had no idea this book was about life and death beforehand.
The protagonist in the story had wanted to seek death because he felt rather useless and hence guilty towards his ex-wife, daughter.
And most importantly, his mum.
He did not manage to see his mum one last time before her death as he went to play some baseball game.
He was in an accident when he miraculously saw his mother alive
I think that was his hallucination.
Anyway, during his hallucination, he spent a day with his mum.
That day, ironically his most meaningful day of his life, he:
1) discovered his mum secretly worked as a cleaner to support his education
2) found out his dad, whom he has admired so much, had another family
3) took a trip down memory lane about what his mum has done for him and what he did not do for her.
A touching, yet inspiring book.
Just read ' for one more day ' by mitch albom.
I had no idea this book was about life and death beforehand.
The protagonist in the story had wanted to seek death because he felt rather useless and hence guilty towards his ex-wife, daughter.
And most importantly, his mum.
He did not manage to see his mum one last time before her death as he went to play some baseball game.
He was in an accident when he miraculously saw his mother alive
I think that was his hallucination.
Anyway, during his hallucination, he spent a day with his mum.
That day, ironically his most meaningful day of his life, he:
1) discovered his mum secretly worked as a cleaner to support his education
2) found out his dad, whom he has admired so much, had another family
3) took a trip down memory lane about what his mum has done for him and what he did not do for her.
A touching, yet inspiring book.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
// one thing after another //
ok, now i'm officially taking a break from tutoring!
yes!
my tutees' exams have all ended and now what's left to do is to wait for their PSLE/E-O-Y results.
anyway, received an alarm bell from my psychology lecturer today.
exams are a month away.
i can't believe this sem is ending so soon.
i thought i had more time.
scary and relieved at the same time.
everything is getting tougher and i'm feeling the heat.
yr 1 sem 1 everything was relaxed and yr 1 sem 2 i was struggling.
yr 2 sem 1, well, time is just not enough.
in addition to tutorials, there's always something else, like reports, that we have to do.
one of my lab mates, a poly-direct entry student, commented that this sem was similar to his yr 3 in chemical engineering.
in other words, extremely busy and stressed.
another lab mate was reminiscing about yr 1 being a honeymoon yr.
and the truth is that things will get even more tough for the coming semesters.
everytime, i will just cringed when the lecturer says that the concepts he has just taught will be further elaborate on in yr 3/4.
it's like, i would be thinking: I can't even understand you now, how do you expect me to understand even more abstract stuff next time?
But as all things goes, I just hope a solution will surface when the time to face such problems arrives.
on a lighter note, i find psychology really fascinating.
i mean, other than memorising the theories and names of psychologists.
i really admire those psychologists who can stand up for their own beliefs.
to create a theory about human behaviour is indeed fascinating!
unlike what most people think, psychology is a science which theories have to be proven before being recognised.
as i understand it, a psychologist forms theories by observing humans/animals behaviour and also using his/her intuition and then prove it by doing experiments.
then the theory will be name after the psychologist.
and there would most likely be some other contradictory theories by some other psychologists.
hence they will need to argue for their stand.
psychology is also evolving.
theories that exist today can be obsolete tomorrow.
sounds like something i would like to do.
which reminds me that recently i heard from someone that her friend's daughter is earning a pathetic sum after graduating with a degree in psychology.
i really don't understand why psychology is so underrated sometimes.
especially when some branches of psychology have useful applications.
like organisational psychologists who can help to improve relationships among colleagues and increase productivity by creating a conducive working environment
like developmental psychologists who can help young children and mentally disabled children learn more effectively.
like criminal psychologists that helps to identify the profile of a criminal in order to solve cases.
anyway, the discrepancy is very wide, i have heard of organisational psychologists earning $10k/mth and psychologist-turned-counsellors earning $1.?k/mth.
the market for psychology graduates is just too small in sg and most tend to work in other fields.
but it is a different story in US.
perhaps the culture is just very different there.
Asian societies like ours value practical things like social standing and 'face' whereas they value things like human rights and freedom of speech.
ok, now i'm officially taking a break from tutoring!
yes!
my tutees' exams have all ended and now what's left to do is to wait for their PSLE/E-O-Y results.
anyway, received an alarm bell from my psychology lecturer today.
exams are a month away.
i can't believe this sem is ending so soon.
i thought i had more time.
scary and relieved at the same time.
everything is getting tougher and i'm feeling the heat.
yr 1 sem 1 everything was relaxed and yr 1 sem 2 i was struggling.
yr 2 sem 1, well, time is just not enough.
in addition to tutorials, there's always something else, like reports, that we have to do.
one of my lab mates, a poly-direct entry student, commented that this sem was similar to his yr 3 in chemical engineering.
in other words, extremely busy and stressed.
another lab mate was reminiscing about yr 1 being a honeymoon yr.
and the truth is that things will get even more tough for the coming semesters.
everytime, i will just cringed when the lecturer says that the concepts he has just taught will be further elaborate on in yr 3/4.
it's like, i would be thinking: I can't even understand you now, how do you expect me to understand even more abstract stuff next time?
But as all things goes, I just hope a solution will surface when the time to face such problems arrives.
on a lighter note, i find psychology really fascinating.
i mean, other than memorising the theories and names of psychologists.
i really admire those psychologists who can stand up for their own beliefs.
to create a theory about human behaviour is indeed fascinating!
unlike what most people think, psychology is a science which theories have to be proven before being recognised.
as i understand it, a psychologist forms theories by observing humans/animals behaviour and also using his/her intuition and then prove it by doing experiments.
then the theory will be name after the psychologist.
and there would most likely be some other contradictory theories by some other psychologists.
hence they will need to argue for their stand.
psychology is also evolving.
theories that exist today can be obsolete tomorrow.
sounds like something i would like to do.
which reminds me that recently i heard from someone that her friend's daughter is earning a pathetic sum after graduating with a degree in psychology.
i really don't understand why psychology is so underrated sometimes.
especially when some branches of psychology have useful applications.
like organisational psychologists who can help to improve relationships among colleagues and increase productivity by creating a conducive working environment
like developmental psychologists who can help young children and mentally disabled children learn more effectively.
like criminal psychologists that helps to identify the profile of a criminal in order to solve cases.
anyway, the discrepancy is very wide, i have heard of organisational psychologists earning $10k/mth and psychologist-turned-counsellors earning $1.?k/mth.
the market for psychology graduates is just too small in sg and most tend to work in other fields.
but it is a different story in US.
perhaps the culture is just very different there.
Asian societies like ours value practical things like social standing and 'face' whereas they value things like human rights and freedom of speech.
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