Got Business subjects in my study plan and now there’s peace at home. No more 💩 where it shouldn’t be. I haven’t added them for the next sem and I guess the 🤮 hairballs will stop after I do.
Still looking for cat-groomers, can’t find any around. There are plenty for dogs but none for cats. That’s probably because it’s a well established fact that dogs drool and Cats Rule 👑😼 #BossCat
Enjoying the study-free month to the fullest before I get back to the grind. That means, catching up on all the sleep that I know I’ll miss when the sem starts 😝
Stay safe and mask on... again 🤦♀️
love,
MoneyOverMen
So, could not see business subjects in the study plan due to admin issues. Cat has been very upset about it and threw a massive fit, refused to use the litterbox and puked all over the house until she was sick #BossCat
Not very convenient to cleanup, especially early in the morning on workdays. But I spoke to Stop 1 today and it should be sorted soon 🤓 Cat needs a bath. Since I am getting paid this week ( first payday of the year 🤑 ) looking for cat-groomers who don’t mind bossy clients mewing orders at them.
Hope things smooth out soon.
love,
MoneyOverMen
We made it! Got the 💌 today. Now Cat can study all about business and I’ll type away in peace. I think it’s too early to get her a graduation robe. Barry’s one will fit her perfectly though. I’ll get it next week 😝
For now, I have to select subjects, set up the time table and follow up on the credits from last semester. It’s not easy getting to Stop 1, given they only work 9-to-5. I have been trying for the past two days in work breaks and finally got through the queue today. Made me wonder how those overseas get help at odd hours 😳
Planning huge celebration this weekend, both me and Cat will snooze like there’s no tomorrow and eat the best frozen pizza, Money can afford 🍍🍕 🤪
Enjoy summer and beach on 🌊
love,
MoneyOverMen
1:59am, Singapore. Just finished keying in timetable preferences. I tried to tell myself that I will post something here either in the morning or afternoon, so to make it seem as if there's some variety. But who am I kidding, I am a night owl (as can be deduced from my last post) and gets everything done at night, so!
How's 2021 been for everyone? With the world being the mess that it is, I hope that you are safe and happy wherever you are. For those taking summer subjects/Feb intensive subjects, wishing you all the best! As mentioned in a previous post, I would be taking a Feb intensive breadth subject, and as the days loom by, I get a little more apprehensive each day on whether I am making the right decision. I should actually start preparing for it a little by reading up more about the topic, though I wonder how much of it I would understand... hahaha.
The year has been off to a slow, and then suddenly busy start for me. This week, I found myself caught up in a flurry of meetings, ranging from Academic Skills Partner ones, Orientation Challenge organizing committee meetings, as well as for Farrago Magazine (excited to be a reporter, yay!!), and things I have to do for the club I am in. Outside university, I have various meetings for my volunteer and paid job. I don't mind though-- I signed up for all these commitments, and I enjoy them. Besides these meetings, there were sufficient breaks in between for me as well. I managed to catch up with friends, and I'm especially looking forward to calling one of them tomorrow. I had an enjoyable family dinner today, and experimented with a curling iron (I vastly underestimated the time needed to use one effectively... whoops :( ). Tomorrow, I would be having a work meeting and going out with my family.
On the outside, this year seems to be going well-- and I am very grateful to the family and friends around me especially that allow me to be so, and I must learn not to take it for granted. But there were many times I caught myself wondering: what's next?
Many times I find myself recalling about a question that was asked to me during a job interview: what are your interests? Simple question, but I found myself stumped by it. Yes, I am interested about causes like mental health and education. I am passionate about the course I am studying for sure.
But I have never had any interests or hobbies I was really invested in. Some friends I know like drawing immensely and post their works online. Others have an entrepreneurial mindset and start their own business. Some others like extreme sports, and I have friends that have interests that are seemingly out of the mainstream but enjoy it nonetheless, like clocks.
Hopefully, this year, I would be able to find my interest, and pursue a project that I am keen about. Not for the sake of academics or portfolio, but just to find out more about myself and others around me. When reading all the news and as we get deeper and deeper into this pandemic, cliche as it sounds, it made me realize that life is fragile and I should make the most of it when I can.
I thought hard about blogging this as I was worried that it had nothing to do with the first year experience, plus I feel this post seems a little more solemn as compared to some others. But then again, being a first year is a journey of personal growth anyway-- and since this has been a thought I have been thinking about since the year started, I felt it would be good to share.
Okay I really should go and sleep now-- bye for now, and best of luck for 2021!
Still waiting for the offer letter for the Software with Business course, should be arriving anyday now 💌
It’s been a very happening week on personal front and while I huffed and puffed and pushed and shoved, Cat blissfully slept through it all, probably dreaming about leading teams on weekdays and chasing mice on weekends #BossCat
Work started this week and it’s good to be back! Am in training and soaking it all up like Spongebob 🤣 And now that I can’t attend virtual events in office hours, looking for the real after-work ones with actual people in them. Got a job, don’t want another one, just looking for pizza 🍕 and people 👫👭👫 Mostly pizza. Hope they order the one with pineapple. Doesn’t matter if it’s not on top 😝
Masks are finally off. Stay safe.
love,
MoneyOverMen
Holidays are over and everything that froze 🥶 last month is now comming back to life. I am moving from my holiday projects to attending virtual meetings and other stuff.
Expenses are through the roof, thanks to the sale season 😝 and I wish somebody started a super program where I could get super contribution for my rent, car repayments and myki fare! 🥺
I got new curtain and lampshade fabrics but they won’t be finished until mid year. There’s not going to be much room for anything else with my job and studies 🤣 Speaking of my job, I am set for a next week start and it looks like a smooth sailing atleast until April 🤞 Super excited! Not just because it’s a cool place to work, but also because I get to learn a lot about 💰 there.
Won’t bore you with that. Stay safe and hope it’s not Goodbye Gabba.
love,
MoneyOverMen
Happy New Year, y’all 💃 Donno how you guys celebrated yours, but I have a lot of quirky NY traditions that kept me busy. I change something that I use everyday in the New Year to mark the occasion. Much cheaper and more meaningful than partying. Also, I spend the NYE either working or reading.
This year I am updating the room décor, got my first art piece 😁 and now I’ll make a new lampshade and curtains to go with it 🤩 I wasn’t working or reading but got my project running that day 🥳 and I jotted down my new year resolutions.
Don’t have to worry about losing weight this year, the JobSeeker rate cut will make sure I don’t have an extra ounce to spare 😝 But I plan to keep using my supersuper account to save money. It’s a superannuation account that puts a certain % of your spending into your super fund. In short, you get super because you spend 🤣 No kidding, it’s real. I started last year on 1st Jan and now my super balance is $1500.
My contribution hasn’t been much but the point here is not how poor I am. Although it's a valid one, good on you for quick thinking 🤪 But I feel all pink cotton candy, glitter rainbows and fluffy clouds every time the balance goes up, even a tiny bit. Besides, I want to get into Investment Banking so I need to get my finance sorted. Who’s gonna trust a banker who can’t mind her own money 🧐
My other resolution - make sure Cat attends all her management lectures so she can successfully boss people around, not just in the neighborhood but the entire world 😾 #BossCat. Small goals but they'll pay in the long run. Now I just have to put them into action 😁
Stay safe and away from Sydney-siders.
love,
MoneyOverMen
In defence of this year, 2020 has been a year of growth, of opportunity and of experience. The year, like many other catastrophic world events, has humbled us and brought us together to remember the important elements of life. It has long been touted as the most important aspect to one’s life, and that is one’s health, so for godsake, wash your hands!!!
The world and life will continue to challenge us. As students we are not foreign to challenges and meeting them head on. There will be more restrictions, health warnings, mask-wearing and hand-washing, all done in the spirit of keeping us healthy and safe. So follow instructions and be a good citizen, we all need everyone to do the right thing.
As for studying in 2021, perhaps we may be back on campus in second semester, or we may not be. Keep your expectations about life and such things low. Keep positive about whichever mode we are privileged enough to learn. Who cares if Zoom university is the new norm, learn to be more grateful for your learning experiences. The tough stuff that we endured surely made us tougher.
Tips for a more enjoyable academic year
Have a glorious breakfast
Everyone knows how important it is to break the fast overnight, so try and wake up before your first morning lecture, with enough time to make a healthy breakfast and eat it mindfully. The same goes for preparing for lunch, with only half and hour often between the morning and the afternoon lecture period, create an easy to prepare meal before, so you can relax a little between your lecture.
Drafting and editing
The best essays, even ones that you have to write during exams, have been through a rigourous drafting process. Most of the best essays I’ve written, (H2A) have been edited and re-written at least three times. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not really.
The first essay is simply my personal thoughts about the topic with a few academic references thrown in for good measure. The second draft incorporates more relevant literature to support my key ideas, and the third and following drafts involve editing for relevance, sense and flow. I want my words to sing on the page! So, if you don’t already and want more from yourself next year, prepare to write several drafts of your essay.
Maintain your connections
The best experience is one that is shared. If you have a pet or a human being to share in your experiences as a student, it is better. Talk to your partner about your study to your family, a study buddy or your lecturer. Take advantage of the Zoom catch ups that lecturers offer and schedule appointments with them, to get better in your study and remain motivated. The same goes for participation, when I interacted with my fellow students, I developed perspective and got more out of my lectures. So, if you’re shy, try and work on becoming more confident in speaking up, you will only benefit. Also, when you’re shy and choose not to show yourself on the camera, it makes it incredibly difficult to interact with you. So attend that free Zoom art class and have more fun!
These are the three things I endeavoured to do throughout my first semester, and the proof was in my results. There were limited periods of high stress time and I learnt how to balance my need for perfection against the need to simply get things done.
Believing in yourself
This sounds corny and trite, but stick with me. It’s my last point. Believe in the best. Even just learn to believe in yourself more. I was gutted when I only just passed my first assignment, but I really tried to believe that I could do better. And I did.
When I felt frustrated, I had a cup on masala chai and on those cold mornings, I continued to participate in Zoom lectures and continue to plan, write and edit my essays. Even on days when I felt like giving up, I tried my hardest to believe in the best and just keep going. That’s when the tough get tougher.
So, when 2021 hits us, and it will (in three hours, from when I’m typing this blog), believe in yourself and a better world. Stay positive out there.
2:02am, Singapore. I've been meaning to post something here to wrap up the year-- just that in my last post it didn't seem like the best time to do so as it was really early on in the month. I was thinking of going to sleep after wrapping up work for today, but I know if I do so I would further procrastinate on this, and then it sorta defeats the purpose of this post anyways.
So before I begin!! Advanced Happy New Year to everyone, and idealistic as it may sound, may 2021 be a better year for all of us. This has been repeated many times but I'll just emphasize it again: it's a tough job being a student and trying to balance our academics and social life amiss a pandemic, especially considering the fact that many have commitments outside of being a student that can be physically and mentally draining. So I just wanted to say that I'm proud of all of us!
With the year coming to a close, I would like to share with everyone some key takeaways I had from this semester off the top of my head. For the record, I'm far from a model student myself, but I hope this may be useful to a future first year that may need it!
(Context: I'm studying Bachelor of Arts, so most of my assignments are in the form of an essay or report of some sort)
- It's okay to procrastinate! (within limits)
Yes, you read that right. I think I brought up this idea in one of my earlier posts as well. What I have learnt is that I'm typically most productive in the evenings, and I think it's because that's when the sense of urgency kicks in (usually between 8pm to 2am). There's also a sense of calmness and peace that I feel when doing work in the evenings-- towards the later part, when my entire family is asleep, and the only sounds that can be heard are the whirring fan and my typing. Even though I sometimes have morning tutorials, I don't mind sleeping late, waking up early and taking a nap midday. On the contrary, it helps my concentration better!
After learning that about myself, I try to schedule all the tasks that need the most brain power (lecture notes and recordings, writing out drafts for essays are some examples) in the evenings. That way, I leave things of lesser priority (organizing emails, arranging notes, clubs and activities commitments, and others outside of school such as household chores) in the day, and can afford to get through them at a slower pace (while squeezing in time to watch Tiktok and living the life of a sloth...)
I mean... so long as the work gets done at the end of the day, that's what matters to me :) Which brings me to my next point.
2. Don't plan more than five tasks per day (or whatever number you prefer) (excluding submissions period)
What I have learnt about myself is: on overenthusiastic days, I try to do beyond my to-do list and in the end produce quantity over quality (which... rarely happens to be honest). On under-enthusiastic days, ticking off the first task is hard. In which case, I try and remind myself the consequences that I will face later down the line-- one of which, a grumpy 4am Charlene.
So I set for myself the golden rule: whatever happens, just finish this list of 5 tasks. That's it. When they are done, how they are done, it doesn't matter: they have to be done with quality. Of course, the number varies from time to time, but I try to stick to a constant number.
And that really helped for me.
3. My two best friends this semester? Google Drive, and Typo notebooks.
I have never been an organized person. Before university, all my documents were a mess, and it was really difficult for me to find copies of things. Looking back, I think that had a negative impact on my learning. This semester, I forced myself to clear my computer regularly, and organize files using Google Drive into one big folder per module, and then subfolders for various things. My hard work paid off when I realized it got so much easier for me to find things, and I could make use of features like the comments feature to make notes for various things.
When taking notes for lectures, I feel that physically taking down notes for me really helped me remember things better (and it also gave me the freedom to make random doodles on the side of the page... hehehe). I particularly like Typo's notebooks (when they are on discount), as the cover pages are really aesthetic and the layout of the pages are really spacious. Alongside with colored sticky tabs, post-its and colored pens (different color for each module), can't explain why but it gives me an odd sense of satisfaction when reading them.
4. Zoom tutorials can be a lifesaver! (if you are shy like me)
Yes, Zoom tutorials are definitely not the norm pre-pandemic. I miss the face to face interactions with people in class, and maybe getting to know a few people better in the process.
But Zoom tutorials to me have opened up a world of opportunities as well. Not just the fact that I can roll out of bed 10minutes before class starts, but that it really helps in class participation for a shy person like myself.
Sometimes I want to say something in class, but I'm unsure and not sure how to speak up. As I have the freedom to turn off my camera, I can just unmute myself and say whatever I want with less inhibition that my facial expression will give it away. Should I need more time to think through things, the chat function is always there to help.
That being said, I want to work on my confidence next semester! As interacting with people face to face (eventually) and presenting my viewpoints in a large group is something I need to get used to.
5. Don't harbor any expectations.
As I progressed through the semester, I naturally had higher expectations of some modules as compared to others. Usually a combination of previous results, familiarity with the subject matter, amongst other factors. But that made me realize that I imposed much unnecessary stress on myself when there was absolutely no need to, and the modules that I didn't expect as highly from turned out to be just as good an experience. Maybe even better, given the lesser additional stress.
As cliche as it sounds, I tell myself (often unsuccessfully, I admit) that so long as I have given my best, that's enough. It's good to aim high, but sometimes it makes you lose sight of what's important.
It's 3:25am as I end this post. Before I end, I just want to end off by saying that it has been a great pleasure blogging here, and I hope my posts have brought a little sunshine :) It has been inspiring for me as well to read the works of the many other bloggers here too--thank you for sharing little snippets of your experience as well.
Here's to a better next semester! :))
Can’t wait for the New Year to start! But that’s me every year, looking for a reason to partyayy 😝 While the year has been trying, challenging and tough for most, I found it a lot more kinder to me than the previous ones.
Being unemployed for a while and struggling on NewStart, JobSeeker was a relief from having to count the crackers I eat in a day 🍞 Plus I started studies here, made new friends, found a new (totally awesome) job and of course, did some nerdy stuff 🤓
Sure, bad things have happened to me, like being stuck inside for half the year 😑 But then, I am always home for one reason or another. Failed in exams - yup, done that before. Lost my new job - again, nothing new. Stress, anxiety and messed up plans - why am I not surprised? 😒 Except for a new disease, 2020 hasn’t thrown anything new at me that I haven’t seen before 👀
But putting it all behind, I am really looking forward to 2021. There are good chances I’ll start on that same job again and it does sound like a keeper 😍 Like my friend said, will be interesting to see how I study full-time with full-time work 🙃
Oh, before I forget... the website is comming along fine. Got half of it done, realised there’s a lot more to do and the free hosting on Cloud is not as free as it looks 😅 Still on track for the NYE deadline 🤞
Stay safe and party on some more, see you in the new year.
love,
MoneyOverMen
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