I’m typing in this entry with heavy eyes. The reason being that I have not slept since yesterday! I’ve been working hard on my school assignment.

The past week has been a very tough week. We basically had two PBL subjects. If you don’t know what is PBL, let me give you a brief walkthrough.

PBL stands for problem-based learning. A PBL subject basically is about solving problems, real life problems humans like you and me encounter. PBL subjects are not like our typical subjects we’ve been taught in secondary school. In a PBL class, we are given a problem and then we would have to research on the internet or library to find a solution. There’s no usual spoon feeding from teachers.

Imagine having 2 PBL assignments due within the same week and they are only a day apart. The thing about PBL is that it requires a lot of time and individual researching and self study.

I’ll just get straight to the point. We pretty much did quite well for our first PBL assignment on Monday which was a subject called Business Integrated Technologies.  A second PBL assignment for Distributed Systems and Connectivity is due on Wednesday.

Mind you it is a programming subject. It’s not easy. We were too focused on Business Integrated Technologies to the point that we didn’t have enough time for Distributed Systems and Connectivity.

My groups and I finished our presentation and in my opinion, it went horrible. Basically we are suppose to design an application based on distributed systems.

I didn’t have time to complete my application and most of the functions are not working. Thus, I was standing infront of the class and talking like a fool without sleep and groggy.

My teacher asked whether if she gave us another day, will I be able to complete it?

That question seems to signify that I did not manage to complete to even hit the passing criteria and she’s considering giving me a second chance.

I shall not continue my blabber about how it’s tough for polytechnic students to enter into local university.

All I’m saying is that I’m upset.

I have always ponder if there is a flaw with Singapore’s education system. Do you think we study too much and did not have ample chance to apply what we have learn to real life settings? That is how I feel.

I had an opportunity lately to apply knowledge I picked up in school into real life settings. Recently, a good friend of mine that goes by the name of Kamelia, hey kamelia! a shout for you, you can check her online portfolio here and her blog here and her twitter here and her tumblr here. I’ll stop, I guess there’s no need to post her facebook profile or myspace profile or her address hah!

As I was saying, we decided to open a little business venture. Hey, don’t look down on us, everyone start small somewhere. I’ll release more information about this when we have finalized things. I’m glad I’m doing something useful in my life at this age.

Since I’m in Information Technology, I learn about computers including managing of databases. I managed to apply what I learned in school into this little business venture by drawing the database schema, normalized it into it’s third form and initialized it. Basically, I created a database which will store our customer and their order’s information.

The database is hosted off a server. I’m accessing it via HeidiSQL. In my opinion, this is better than keeping our records in a Microsoft Excel document and emailing each other to keep ourselves updated.

Hence, I feel happy that I did learn something useful after all in school.

On a side note, I am elated that I finally managed to upgrade my Macbook and my iMac to the lastest installment of the Mac OS X. Mac OS X Snow Leopard, 10.6.X and being a makeup enthusiast myself, I finally managed to grab my first makeup item from the famous MAC Cosmetics.

School has been amazing. I prefer my new class so much more. Lastly, I finally managed to give my blog a much needed new look!

What made you happy today?

How many of you are actually happy in the course that you’re in? Did you get to choose what you wanted to study?

I’m in Information Technology. It’s about programming. You write codes and make programs on computer work. After I got my O Level results, I didn’t have much choice what I wanted to study. I wanted to apply to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts but my parents didn’t allow. I wanted to study Aerospace Technology at Singapore Polytechnic but my score wasn’t good enough. I needed to minus of another 3 more points.

My mum told me, the business, information technology and the engineering sector are the strongest. As in the demand for people is always there. I’m sure everyone wants to be employed once they are graduated from school.

I think my future is screwed. I don’t wanna drag  myself out of bed each morning to work as a computer engineer. Truthfully, I don’t even like studying information technology. But I do not have a choice.  This might sound mean but I’m sure the best interest is captured at her heart. My mum only allowed me to choose courses from Business, Information Technology and Engineering while I was applying for polytechnic. It’s because, as I’ve mentioned above, the demand is strong.

At that point of time, I was still 16, I was naive, I knew nothing about Business. I was like, “Well, I’m not going for Business, I don’t wanna sell things. I’m not going for Engineering either. Pure Physics in high school was terrible!” I was then left with information technology. So here I am today. A student in Temasek Polytechnic taking Information Technology.

I took Sociology and a Psychology elective in Temasek Polytechnic. I love it a lot. It really inspired me to be a Psychologist or a Sociologist. But I do like Sociology more than Psychology. I’ve checked with National University of Singapore that any students from any diploma can enter into their Psychology or Sociology course.

I don’t like studying in Information Technology. I do not know what to become in the future. I don’t know what I want to work as. Even though I like Sociology, what jobs are waiting for me when I graduate? I want to be a virologist too but at this point of time, it’s too late. I should have taken Biology in high school.

I do know that I don’t want to work a 9am to 5pm job in front of the computer everyday.

My mum told said that I can study whatever I wanna study after I have completed my diploma in Information Technology. The reason being is that, let’s say I’m studying psychology and I can’t find a job well at least I have a diploma in Information Technology and I can find a job in the IT area. Look at the world today people. Open your eyes bigger, even though I really can’t since I’m Asian. You get measly pay with a diploma. I’m not gonna use that as my backup plan in case the current sector I’m in was hit badly with retrenchment! I wanna go for at least a degree.

I’m 18 now, 2nd year in polytechnic. I’ll be completing my diploma when I’m about 20. 2 years of NS, I’ll be 22. 4 years in University, I’ll be 26. That marks the end of my backup plan.  I wanna work as a psychology that means another 4 years in university to get my psychology degree. I’ll be 30 by then. I’m sure everyone wants to go for a PhD. I think it’s about 7 years. I’ll be 37 when I’m done with my education.

Great world I’m living in.

I’m worried about my future

But yet again, how many of us actually manage achieve your ambitions?