Weekend.

This weekend was quite eventful. First of all I went to Shenzhen with my sister yesterday and this time round, we were mainly there to visit the two big bookshops, and we were not disappointed. We spent a lot of time in the bookstores (one is at 少年宫 while the other is at 科学馆), and it would be safe to say that we did not leave empty-handed! I bought about 150 RMB worth of books which should last long enough for me. A very filling though early dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant was a good way to round off the trip as well.

Went to watch I am Legend with Kate earlier and to be honest, it wasn’t the most fantastic Will Smith movie that I’ve ever watched. Let’s just say that I didn’t really appreciate having funny looking monster jumping around the place. That said, it was still a good evening out on a Sunday, and that puts me in a more relaxed mind for work tomorrow (not sure about that though, really).

Was getting a bit frustrated playing NBA 2008 on my PS3. There must be something about the game that I’m not exactly getting or understanding.

Off to sleep – see everyone tomorrow.

Alumni.

Did I ever mention before that I’m helping out with the NUS-HK Alumni in organizing something? Maybe I didn’t, but here goes. I am actually helping to organize this first Happy Hour for the NUS Alumni here in Hong Kong, and because it’s the first (or many many) time that we are organizing such an activity, I really would hope that people would turn up. So if you happen to be in Hong Kong around that period, do drop by!

Date: 10 January 2008 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm

Visit this page for more information. And if you are coming in, give me a call or drop me an email so that I can furnish you with more information!

Then perhaps now you may ask, why am I so keen in doing things for the alumni, and to a wider extent, to NUS, especially so when they screwed my last semester up for me and forced me to graduate with a Second Lower Honours? Well, I did moan about getting the second lower, and possibly moaning about never to want to have anything to do with NUS. But let’s face it, it’s a place that I spent 4 and a half precious years of my life in, and it is really difficult to detach myself from the place. Sure it wasn’t the best university to be in, but it was a place in which I feel I’ve grown and matured from. I find it only right to be proud of being from NUS, and I think there’s nothing wrong for me to be helping out in whatever way I could.

As I was trying to find some information about other overseas chapters of the NUS Alumni, I came across this old blog entry by Aaron Ng (renonwed for bashing NUS and the Student Union, apparently). In this blog Mr. Ng was blaming the lack of student involvement in University governance as the cause of NUS alumni not wanting to donate back to their alma mater. Given the numerous previously high-volume but mostly-inaccurate comments by him, I know I probably shouldn’t take him that seriously. But this is one post that I wasn’t impressed with. What makes Mr. Ng think that by having more “voice” in the university would make alumni wanting to donate back to the university? I wasn’t born when the “students in the 70s and 80s have more voice in the university” so I can’t prove to the accuracy of that, but would it really be because of the fact that the younger alumni are still having many financial concerns, that’s why they aren’t donating? Sure, some people may say that it doesn’t matter how much you donate to the University, it’s the thoughts that count. But for a graduate who is earning $2000 a month, trying to repay the tuition fee loan, and possibly having some other financial concerns here and there, donating money (to anyone really) is probably not on the high priority list.

What I’m appalled by the comments from Mr. Ng is that he’s using “little involvement in university governance” as a reason to think that graduates are not donating to NUS. And from what I’ve gathered from my time studying and working in universities, most often it’s the more senior graduates that have more special attachments to the university. The more recent ones probably aren’t that interested yet, especially in that 4 or 5 years after they graduate. But after a longer while in the working line, they will begin to remember more fondly of their times in university, and that’s when they will get more involved. I could be wrong here too, but I really don’t think involvement in university governance has anything to do with graduates not wanting to give back to the University.

Furthermore, from what I’ve been getting (or rather, not getting), I can see that the Alumni Relations Office is trying very hard to get in touch with the alumni, but to be honest, a newsletter every now and then is not exactly what you’d expect from the university. A lot of universities, especially those in the States, maintain highly regular contacts with their alumni through gatherings and newsletters. In my opinion, NUS is not doing enough yet to touch the alumni. I believe if more effort (and in particular, personal effort) is made, I see no reason why NUS graduates won’t want to give back to their alma mater.

Actually, if you ask me whether I love NUS or not, I probably will say “not to the extent that I’d devote my life to it”, but I’m grateful for the experience that I had in there. And I’m a believer that we should always be grateful for what is being provided unto us. Sure, every once in a while me and my friends will have a laugh about some of the things about NUS, complaining about the problems that we went through while we were there. But I would still gladly and proudly proclaim that I’m part of NUS, and it didn’t matter how much “voice” I actually had in the university governance.

So yup, if you are in Hong Kong around 10 January, join us for the Happy Hour! (Yup, that includes Mr. Ng too)

2008

Happy New Year! As did previous years, the start of the year means a look back at the last, and also do some end-of-year accounting of my wishlist last year, as well as looking forward to the next, and wishing for something new.

So yeap, let’s look at the top 10 most important things that happened to me for the past 12 months. Of course there are always going to be more than 10 things that were important to me, but then without trying to lost my tradition of having only 10 important things at annual reports, I’ll keep to 10.

10 – Voting for the first time in my life.
9 – Visiting Macau for the fist time in my life.
8 – Finding my first job at IVE(HW).
7 – Bought a whole series of new game consoles: NDS, Wii and PS3.
6 – Commencement 2007.
5 – Started my Masters course at City University
4 – Taiwan in July and August
3 – All those concerts: Justin x HKPO (Feb), Janice Vidal (Apr), Ayumi Hamasaki (Apr), Mayday (May in Hong Kong, Jul in Taipei), Jay Chou (Dec)
2 – Got my first professional certification: CompTIA Security+
1 – Finding my second and perhaps the more enjoyable one at HKBU.

After returning to Hong Kong for slightly more than a year, I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a very interesting experience. The people I got to meet, the things I got to do… they were all new experiences. As I was saying a few days ago, some people may think that the work that I’m doing are not helping my resume, but I beg to differ. While it’s true that I may not be getting experiences in business areas, but I’m very sure that other people are not able to get those unique experience that I’m having too.

Alright, let’s check last year’s wishlist and see how much I’ve gotten:

10 – A 60GB Playstation 3.
Success: It maynot be a 60GB one, but a 40GB one is good enough too.

9 – A new phone. I know my Vodafone 903SH is cool, but there are a few pretty good ones around too.
Success: As I’m writing, I’m watching Manchester United vs Birmingham on Now Sports 1 using my N95.

8 – A facelift for my house in Hong Kong. It is in a pretty bad shape and is in need of some good refurnishing.
Partial Success: I’ve been slowly adding and removing things to and from my house, but it isn’t exactly a total facelift.

7 – Find a job in Hong Kong as soon as possible. I’m getting desperate!
Success: Not one, but two! I didn’t go 2007 jobless!

6 – A new computer. The MacBook is cool, but I realise that the majority of this world still runs on Windows, and with the new Vista, it does seem quite a good idea to have a PC.
Success: This edition of the journal is brought to you by my Sony Vaio.

5 – Go Japan for holiday!
Partial Success: It wasn’t Japan, but Taiwan twice wasn’t bad I guess.

4 – Get to go for overseas working trips.
Failure: My jobs don’t require me to be really travelling, but I hope to get some overseas working trips in the coming year.

3 – Watch a musical or a play. It’s been a long time since I did something like that already.
Failure: Strictly speaking I really didn’t see a musical or a play, but I did go to the Hong Kong Coliseum a few times.

2 – Finding that special someone.
Failure: Still no luck. Not good.

1 – Continue to live my life to the max, expanding my social circle further and yet keeping some very close friends.
Partial Success: I think working full-time sometimes does make the expanding social circle part a bit difficult. But I’m working on it. Really.

Success rate for my 2007 wishlist was 55%, up from 40% last year. Not too bad, I suppose!

Then now for the wishlist of 2008!

10 – Learn driving and hopefully get a driver’s licence.
9 – Go Moscow for the Champions League final if Manchester United make it there, but if not, I would want to really go Japan or Korea.
8 – Really go watch a musical or a play.
7 – Finding that special someone.
6 – Continue the facelifting for my house in Hong Kong.
5 – Do well for my Masters course at CityU.
4 – A new HDTV set to get into the HD mood in Hong Kong
3 – Try to know more people in whatever I do: studies, work and perhaps with the NUS Alumni in Hong Kong.
2 – Pick up any of those languages that I’ve learned in the past again.
1 – Do something big and interesting at my job.

Anyway the last day of 2007 was quite a quiet one for me. I had to go to work, and it was a fairly busy day for me. After work, I headed to Michelle’s place for a mini gathering. A few of us had a good chat, a good laugh, and basically had quite a nice enjoyable time. After midnight, we headed out to Central for another round of drinks. As for today, me and my sis headed out for a round of shopping around. I finally managed to buy myself a long-sleeve t-shirt, and to round off an interesting day, we had steamboat at home!

So there it is, it’s a quiet start to 2008, but I hope this year would be a great one for me as well! Happy New Year!