I have returned

2006-12-13 10:02 p.m.

“People of the Philippines, I have returned,”
General Douglas MacArthur.

Well yes, I have returned to the land of diary writing and shall post entries with a vengeance. This long hiatus probably exceeded the time I took a break from updating my site back in late 2003 and studied for my A Levels. So ok, firstly, welcome me back and welcome back those who subscribe to this site.

Ok—deep sigh—I’m trying to recollect they past weeks which has been a action pack and fast paced (in my view) round of working, researching and brain wrecking. Ok, first off, Political science modules and essays. Lectures for the former were getting extremely fun and yet challenging. Every week progressed from the jovial and humourous Dr. Peter Kerr, to the comprehensive Mr. Peter Lassman and to the organized Dr. Matthew Watson. Every week also saw me move from Ben’s class at the Maths building, to Valentina’s session at Winterbourne and finally Chris’ seminar at noon on Friday. Doesn’t sound packed full with work? Try this:

Pol Sci module 101. Great that it starts on a Monday and not a Friday. Really great that you have a lecturer who can crack jokes non stop. Not so great when you sometimes can’t catch Dr. Kerr’s points. Still there always the fall bak option—finding the books on the reading list. Sounds easy right? Wrong again. Book hunting in Birmingham University’s library is a nightmare. It’s either one; the books are on loan or two the books are there but never where it is stated. Ok, normal scenario at any library. However, this is for a tutorial/seminar in forty eight hours. Any mind you, one book can’t give you everything you need. Especially for the abstract ideas of ontology, structuralism/post structuralism, pluralism etc etc. Class wise is pretty alright where some more leaky holes are plugged and murky areas uncovered. Even so, this module is definitely the most challenging and boarders the realm of Philosophy and Sociology. And I thought I would escape the former by not choosing PPE as my degree….

Pol Sci 102 in direct contrast is pretty much a déjà vu of my A Level Literature Paper 1 or Paper 3. Call it more paper 1 since it’s roughly analyzing the work of classical political writers like Plato and Locke. Except that instead of three books it’s about more than twice that number. Mr. Peter Lassman reminds me much of Ms. Iris Champagne too. I mean the in depth comprehensive lecture he gives every Tuesday. But in contrast to Ms Champagne, he um isn’t that orgnaised in his delivery. Still, he’s a wonderful chap. So is Ben Taylor, my tutor for that module.

Pol Sci 107 was something that I assumed too much on. Political Economy must be roughly equal to economics right? Wrong. Absolutely wrong. To quote Yoda, “you must un-learn what you have learnt.” The concept of the invisible hand is one central concept that has more than it meets the eye. Even the simple idea of the market equilibrium is not that simple and general as it seems. But Dr. Watson makes your Tuesday afternoon less dreary with his lecture which is always organized and delivered clearly. And Chris, my tutor, always irons out any rough spots. The sad thing is I’m going to lose Dr. Watson next term to Warwick University. Nicholas, you’re lucky.

So in a nutshell, it’s book-heavy and challenging, but I won’t go to the point of complaining. The lecturers are great and the tutors too, despite the fact that they are only PhD students with their own massive research too. Back to the subject, the research here makes me think back to the work I did at IDSS (the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies). Whilist I have to dig through the maze of shelves here to secure one book, back at IDSS I could gather what I wanted in 1.5 seconds. Actually much thanks the Jean the librarian there. But the library staff here are equally good. Looking back at IDSS, I miss using stuff like Factiva.com and insert footnotes (over here we are asked the annoying Harvard System) and gathering thoughts from Claire and the others. Oh in stark contrast, research for one essay is much more than that back at IDSS. I’ve got pictures of my largest pile of books and photocopied stuff for one essay. Email me if you want to view it. Haha. But guess what? When I double space my work here, it come up to only around nine or ten pages. When I double space the work that I did at IDSS (I did that for fun), it came to about twenty pages. Oops.

Economics wise is an entirely different matter. Lectures on Monday and Tuesday keep me alive most of the time because there’s always some joke or something to discuss on. Dr. Jensen, as I gather, is sort of anti-John Sloman which isn’t wrong but I guess he and Mr. Gilbert Lee should meet one day. It was also one day when I stopped him after lecture to talk about the drawbacks of perfect competition. That was a rather interesting talk which as I just said, showed his disagreement with Sloman. Then on another instance I contested his point on Monopolies and threw him an rather um Sloman point which he considered. In any case, it was great to have these discussions rather then just take in everything he says. Class/Seminar wise, one memorable time I remember was when at least half of our class argued with Wei, our tutor, over a sort of “flawed” question we were tasked to do.

Economics 106 is another matter. One lecture is packed at 1700 on Tuesday where most students would rather be back in their rooms or at dinner rather than listening to mathematics sums. It’s no wonder Dr. Ercolani remarked “thank you for hanging in there” every time he ends. Mathematics, well maths teachers and teaching here is more step-by-step as compared to back home in Singapore where you arrive at the answer in a few steps. Here they will even explain the simplest problem which is well good as a revision sometimes but boring if you are just itching to try another challenging question. Still, Dr. Jackie Smith is a wonderful tutor who doesn’t mind any question you throw at her.

Economic 109, or rather a statistics based course again brings back déjà vu. It was perhaps half way through term when I finally realized the truth behind Mr. Chin Chee Kim (my JC maths tutor) words—“you’ll find mathematics an essential part of your future studying life.” Econs 109 brought me back to the world of frequency distribution, probability, random variables and hypothesis testing. Dr. Barassi is a great lecturer who while is firm, never fails to brighten up your Friday afternoon with some small joke or by playing a few pieces on the stage piano during the ten minute break. Ben or Rongsheng, the tutor is good in the sense in that he’ll really work out the whole question on the board for you. Even better still, he gives out the exact workings for the computer lab classes where I’m still half lost at. So Economics is mainly maths centred this year. Just as good, for part of it is needed should I try things like game theory later on.

Apart from work, I’ve filled up my little cosy room with quite a bit of stuff so much that i even have to place stuff directly on the bed mattress itself. The International Herald Tribune is probably the most common item in my room as somehow CNN and to a lesser extent BBC isn't that exciting to read. I’ve got tons of plastic bags in another corner and at least half a dozen pamphlets for take ways on my wall. Oh, mind you,take aways here are both expensive and take a long time to deliver. Oh yes, I placed a printed out sheet of three Bible verses on the wall next to my shelf. They are from Philippians 4:13, Mar 9:23 and Isaiah 40:30-31. It kinds of gives you inspiration to continue to work. Got that idea from looking at a past entry of Claire's.

Speaking of Claire, she’s such a caring friend. There was one time I caught the nasty “freshers flu (and cough” and could work at 100 percent. She gave me much advice on how to combat that irritating virus. That was a great help.

Social wise, I could have asked for a better lot of flat and block mates. If you read back to my first Sunday night dinner, that was only the beginning of many such lovely cooked meals at Flat 72. Following the sumptuous curry feast was Lagsana (many thanks the Rhys mom) with Garlic bread or Ciabatta. After that was Heather’s night (no not eating Heather as the joke went but casserole), followed by pasta night, then Stacey’s chicken and nuts (was it?) and Helen’s Bolognaise. Each meal was simply lovely and really all the credit goes to the girls who spent much effort over the stove. Sunday dinners were also filled with various bouts of laughter and crazy acts. There was a chilli powder/sauce tasting episode between Stacey and Paul where Paul “won.” (Inverted commas due to subjectivity), the watching of LOTR and making side and snide comments like “the hobbits are gay—no they’re not”. And oh yes the post it wall.

Let me explain a bit more about the post-it wall or rather should I called it the wall of our life thus far in Tennis Courts and Uni. It came up around the night we had Spaghetti Bolognaise and the night the Return of the King was shown on BBC 4. it contains snippets of even like “Stace walks into a lamppost”, (she did. Very long story), “Boiled Chicken” (Paul’s famous dish), “Who moved Broad Street?” ( such were the words uttered after Disney night). Many others which I can’t remember but really mark down the special moments we all went through.

In many ways, I have escaped from the world of hanging out and retreated. As in not heading out often, watching movies—that kind of stuff. Call it prioritizing first. True, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy but I couldn’t imagine me letting go of work for an outing. Then came Stacey’s Christmas card which said “don’t work too hard.” Ok, maybe I did. Shades of the Singaporean education and mindset of that. Oh yes, talking about Singapore, I really want to teach the guys and girls words like chiobu (heheh) and yandao and such. And really give them some authentic Singaporean food.

And speaking of Singapore, I shall touch on several things that have cropped up back home. Firstly, I understand that there was is internet outrage over some particular girls’ comment about some particular guys comment. The details are all well to known. To my British friends, it’s nothing to real remarkable interest. Enough has been said about it I guess and I only pity the tutor who had to counsel her for her actions. For I know he has better things to do than that.

Secondly, POTUS flew yet again to Singapore. Incidentally, he flew to Russia first, then Singapore. Official reason was that Moscow was a refueling stop over for Air Force One, and the meeting with Putin was unofficial. Very interesting given that they could have flow via Alaska or even across the Pole (like SIA does) to get fuel. Even more surprising since the VC-25 is suppose to be able to refuel in mid air as stated in so many web sites. So the excuse is weak. The real reason? Possibly to assure Putin of Russia’s confirmed entry into the WTO.

Why Singapore to deliver a key note address? Well the normal reasons of it being the centre of gravity of Southeast Asia and all. Good for both Bush and PM Lee. Uninteresting was the absence of any “protest” unlike the attempted one during the IMF summit. Oh I hear there was one outside NUS. One meaning one protestor.

Oh, Singapore is finally purchasing a Main Battle Tank. Yay! After all my wishing for the Republic to have a tank that can really pack a punch unlike a tiny SM-1. Interestingly, the word is that 66 Leopards will replace our 300 plus SM-1s. Again, that is the official word.

To the above point, I attribute part of it to the recent news of stricter guidelines on online diary writing or what is horribly known as blogging. This rule stems from Singapore so well you shall see the following words in some of my upcoming entries.

“The writer is expressing his own opinion here but is all true circumstances has not and did not intentionally mean what others may perceive his thoughts to be. At the very least, everyone’s view towards anything is subjective and open to a wider interpretation. He has attempted to note down all possible sides while still coming to a certain view point. Should his work be deemed to be strongly offensive and detrimental to the good of any society in any way, it will be in his best interest to solve the situation with little further contention.”

Anyway, onward to something on my 21st birthday and other more thought provoking entries.

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