Winnie Said

Guess what Winnie Said?

Winnie said that shopping malls in Singapore are the same everywhere.
Tampines Mall, Plaza Sing, they have the same restaurants like the fast food chains and restaurants like Swensons.

Winnie said that Singapore changed so much. Even though Ion feels luxurious, but it’s still the same as the rest of the malls.

Winnie said that the Singapore has lost its soul.

Winnie feels no attachment to Singapore, whatever she knows from her childhood is no longer here.

Winnie remarked that the Double Bay restaurant concept is really nice.

Winnie said that she comes back to Singapore once a year.

Winnie told her family that she love her life in Beijing. She has friends and a life waiting for her there.

Winnie’s family wish she would have miss the family and Singapore more.

Winnie left Singapore ten years ago. She had a farewell party with her friends from NAFA.

Winnie’s friend ask her, “So when are you going to come back?”

Winnie replied, “I’m not sure, it’s like trekking in a thick forest, you don’t know where the end”

Winnie’s friend was in Beijing ten years later. He emailed her asking if she’s still in the city. He would like to meet her while he is here for a business conference.

Winnie pushed away all her schedule so she could catch up with this good friend.

Winnie met him, they hugged. He said, “It’s been ten years!”

Styke alighted the bus.

—– End. —–

Winnie was talking so loud that everyone on board the bus can hear her.

Uni Woes: Course Bidding

All SMU students are required to go through course bidding before the start of every semester. This procedure is practiced by all three local universities in Singapore. While there are slight differences among the bidding procedures between the institutions, they all serve the same purpose – freedom for the students to plan their own schedule.

What is said is that bidding offers greater flexibility for students to plan out their study life. One would supposedly be in control of the factors that determines his or her study life. They are namely, lesson time, number of study days, choice of course instructor and number of modules (or can be taken as work load).

The choice of instructor plays a critical role in determining the bids offered for a particular class. In SMU, different instructors have different grading styles. To put it simply, you maybe taking the same module, but your assignments, quizzes, tests and examination are different from another student who took the module under a different instructor. This factor alone makes bidding a more complicated process for many students.

In addition, as the programmes in SMU are mainly dominated by projects and presentations, most students would want to bid modules with their friends – people they trust to work with. Although this isn’t as important as my choice of instructor (hence not listed above), I would always try to bid with friends that i can work with.

Okay, I just want to rant so hear me out.

However, i’m bumped when it comes to bidding… Firstly, why do i have to go through the hassle of planning my own schedule when i’m already paying for my tuition fees. Why isn’t the planning done by the school administration? Life would definitely be so much easier when the modules to be taken are planned out properly. There would be no need to read the course outlines by each professor, looking up the previous bidding price of modules, going through lists of exam dates and lesson timings.

Well if you look at the bigger picture, course bidding is part and parcel of independent study. Making choices and accepting the consequences is part of the transition into adulthood. And perhaps, the lesson to take away is that life is all about maintaining a fine balance, similar to course bidding. You can’t have the best of everything in life. Similarly, you wouldn’t have enough e$ to bid the best instructor, and get the best time slots and the most popular modules at the same time.

iOS 4 Multitasking

iOS 4 is Apple’s latest version of operating system for its line of mobile devices namely, iPod touch, iPhone and iPad.

Among the many features included, the prominent ones are multitasking capability, folders, integrated mailbox and ability to customize the home screen.

Finally users can distinguish their devices by customizing their home screen. While much more can be done to improve customizing features of iOS, the ability to change wallpaper gives a fresher look for the system. Also, gone are the days where you have to flip through pages of apps, they can now be sorted in easily accessible folders.

While the multitasking function is a definitely welcomed and much needed function for all smart phones, its potential has yet to be fulfilled at this state.

Like all great operating systems, the success of it greatly depends on the applications that supports the system. In the case of iOS 4, sure there are millions of apps for it, but in terms of multitasking capability, only a handful of them have utilized the new APIs. Many of the games, and music-playing apps still do not fully support multitasking. For instance, you would have to reload the game or the music gets turned off once the app is switched.

Consequently, many of the current apps are rather unstable ever since I upgraded to iOS 4.

On a lighter note, I’ve observed that the standby time seems to have improved slightly. While he is no iPhone developer, a friend of mine theorized that it is the ability to kill the apps running in the background that is extending the standby time of the phone.