The last brick wall

Yes, we’re finally on the last lap. Less than a month to the As, and it seems like there was more than 200 days to the As. Well, reality hits hard, and we are always done in the 12 years of education. Haven’t been posting for a while, and I won’t post here till after my A’s, so I will try to make this worthwhile.

Got back prelims, hit my expectations. Surprisingly, I hit my expectations for every subject, even my Maths haha. Exact results will come on Friday, but I know where I stand. Could have enter the 80 marks range if I did a little better in Chemistry and Econs, but now I know my weak areas, no point thinking about it and go straight for the As. Getting a bit cocky now, since I’m slacking, which is the WORST thing to do. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I put in 110% for the prelims, maybe around 80%, but I improved a lot. Got an A in Geography, which I am super happy about, especially when I thought I flunked. Although I told myself to be more optimistic this year, I always think of the worst for my exams, such as fucking up Maths etc. Turns out, I’m doing much better than expected, so that’s a definite plus. I tell myself that I have come a long way since the CTs last year, so slacking now will just put all the effort I put since then into shame. I think I really improved a lot, from someone who shy away from academics to one doing relatively well now. I mean, I’m someone who got a GPA of 2.8 in Year A, but I still vividly remember a screwed up assembly where your projected score for the As has a high correlation with your GPA. Well, take that, cause I don’t see myself flunking in As. HAHA!

There’s only 1 week left in school, and I’m glad I get to leave the god-forsaken school. To be honest, I think I would have been much better off in another class, but that’s bullshit since people like Jiayu and Boon are still owning in academics. I always wanted to positive environment in school, something like what I see in Yong Sheng’s class, but what I see in my class is the exact opposite. If you have the passion in something, doing it would come natural. Ok, it’s 2 am now, so I may just be ranting. I’m dreading the last week of school, can’t you just give me a week off so that I can study in peace? Other than that, I’ve definitely met an awesome group of people.

Nearing to the end point, I kinda lose a little motivation here and there, but I recently gained 2 new insightful ones. One of them would be Steve Jobs. I reviewed one of his talks in Stanford and the famous quote still sticks in my mind. “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”, is something really applicable now. I sort of follow only the hungry part, but that quote teaches a lot of things. If you want something, you gotta do something unconventional. Now that he recently passed away, he definitely left a legacy behind him. I learnt of his death on my iPod Touch, how ironic. The years of work he left behind would be an inspiration to many, and his actions speak for himself. Never give up, and go for your dream. His passion for Apple was simply amazing, and he would be definitely missed.

My second inspiration now is SNSD’s Seohyun (lol?). My bias used to be Taeyeon, but it’s slowly shifting to Seohyun. I’m just awed at how someone could be so upright and disciplined. Actually, I think she would have been better off as a student, since the idol status is probably stopping her from doing a lot of things, such as pursuing her studies. However, she’s clever to use her idol status into good use and I’m so glad that she got to meet her idol UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In the short of 2 weeks of holiday where I spammed SNSD videos, I learnt how mature of a person she is despite her just being 20. Now, I would try to emulate her style (Kinda) and hopefully get into gear in time for the As.

Probably one of the crappy posts all time, but until then, I will continue to study hard, and of course, no regrets.

ok she’s officially my new bias >.<

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish – Steve Jobs @ Stanford 2005

Although I’m not really a fan of Apple products, you gotta admit that Steve Jobs is one of the most amazing person in the world. His talk in Stanford was only 20 minutes long, but it has taught me a lot about life. The other talk which has inspired me a lot is probably Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture”.

I won’t go through the details of the talk, but more of the lessons that I learnt after listening to the talk. Steve Jobs to me is a perfect example of a zero-to-hero. Dropped out of college, created and built up a company of net worth $2 billion dollars, got kicked out of his own company, didn’t give up and came back and Steve Job’s current wealth is probably higher than most countries’ GDP. One thing that struck me hard is the fact that he got kicked out Apple. How do you get kicked out of your own company. You took years to go to the top, and in a flash, it’s all gone and you’re rock bottom again. However, Steve Jobs came back stronger than before, and maybe these incidents are blessings in disguise.

It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

Nowadays, I’m getting affected by the small troubles in life, and we must realise that life never is a smooth journey. If it is, then what’s the point of it? You’re just stagnant there and unable to improve yourself. I always tell myself that you can only taste success after failure, and when you fail, you need to learn from it. I probably discussed about failure millions of time, and the most important thing is to pick yourself up after failure. And who knows? Failure can be the “one of the best things that ever happened”.

Another thing I learnt about, which Steve Jobs didn’t really cover much, but I really like, is about how you live your life. Our time is limited, so why waste it thinking about irrelevant stuff? Live your OWN life, do what you want and like to do. You only got a chance at life, so don’t limit yourself by boundaries. Live how you want to, and don’t be trapped by other’s thinking. I suppose other people’s opinions may bother you, but who cares? As long as you are happy, everything would be fine. Don’t sacrifice your own happiness for others, it’s not worth it. Sometimes, you just gotta trust that the future would be alright if you are living your life the right way. Here is one of the quotes from Randy Pausch:

It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

The last one I learnt is achieving your dreams. Put your words into action is another principle I would always tell myself. You only get to live your life once, so spend it well. For Steve Jobs, he dropped out of college and never looked back. That is what I really admire, the quality where he had absolutely no regrets. In life, you need to do everything the best, so that there will be never any regrets. If you have something you really want, translate that into your actions and try your best and have no regrets. Don’t ever compare yourself to others because it’s your best, and that is what matters the most.

I felt like I’m typing a transcript of my own speech, haha. I will follow this up with a reflection of my Term 1 in JC2. Until then, stay hungry, stay foolish.