Randomness of Randomness

Last Saturday, I got a phone call from the school office. The lady told me that NTU is holding a convocation dinner to end off the year and invited me to join. The main reason was that the Tan Chin Tuan Foundation, who gave me a scholarship for my final year of university, would be gracing the event and the school felt it would be a good chance for them to meet us (myself and the other scholars) and for us to show our appreciation to the foundation...

so anyway, I figured it would be quite a cool networking opportunity and besides I didn't have anything lined up that evening... so I agreed... the lady told me before hanging up that it wasn't too formal and that dress code is similar to the Convocation ceremony itself (meaning collared, long sleeve blouse with slacks or skirt)

Fast forward to Monday evening 6.30pm... I arrive in the auditorium foyer where the dinner was to be held, only to see real extravagent decor in the foyer, a stage set up, plus about 20 tables for formal and served dining.. and guess what.. the stage front said "Guest of Honour: President SR Nathan and Mrs. Nathan"

and in case you are wondering, that happens to the President of Singapore and his wife!!!

as the evening went on and more guests started arriving, it was quite amazing to realise that this is an annual NTU stakeholders dinner, bringing together the deans and vice dean of faculties, management of the various NTU offices, management of various foundations and organisations that have supported, sponsored for funded NTU in any way, the NTU board of trustees and so on... very high level indeed...

and aside from myself and another guy who were Tan Chin Tuan scholars, the only other students were the Lee Kuan Yew scholars, the top students in each faculty of study... they got the privilege of speaking with the President himself..

It's kind of hard to describe how I felt.. but I was glad to gave exchanged a few namecards with some key people that day, to enjoy a 4 course dinner served by hotel catering, to enjoy some really cool performances (aerial display, electric violin and rhythmic gymnastics performance, choir performance, to share a lot about AIESEC, to learn how a Foundation works, to learn how university corporate development works..

amazing how a random opportunity can turn up so much... :)

Next stop: Turkey!

Leaving for Istanbul in 2 weeks!

Another book review

Yesterday was Saturday... after settling some AIESEC stuff in meeting, I got really restless in the room in SMU... so cold and so bright... just made me wanna get out of there into some light or temperature that was more natural...

anyway, so I headed to the nearest book store, hunted around for something good to read and bought this book

"the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon

the book has been around for quite a long time now so I won't be surprised if most of you have already read it...

But for those who haven't, definitely a book I would recommend, simply because of how uniquely and differently the story is told... it's written in 1st person perspective, by a 15 year old boy who is autistic.. he struggles with emotions and deeper meanings, and he thrives with rules, processes, logic, math and literal meaning...

I think the story's very real and Mark Haddon did a great job of getting the reader to sink into the world of an autistic child... it's a point of view that that most of us never consider so reading this book definitely challenges one's views...

by the way, Mark Haddon has another book titled "A Spot of Bother"... I'm thinking to get hold of that one as well...

And like I was telling Pui, I do think I need to read slower... cos now I am out of books to read again...

Graduated!

I know I still owe an update from Taiwan... and I promise I will post more photos... but in the meantime...

with the AIESECers from NTU

Diana, me and Nicholas

Someone commented that the graduation robes make us look like wizards and witches from Harry Potter... I still have my robe... so perhaps will take one with a chopstick/make-do wand :)

Feels kind of cheated to spend 4 years of life working so hard to get this piece of paper... at least the transcript says "Completed the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) (First Class) with a Minor in Business" oh well...

Congratulations to class of 2007... at last we are out of university!

Fun in Taidong (East of Taiwan)

the very tasty 黑松羊肉炉 we had for lunch...

米台目- type of noodles... served with superb chilli sauce!

Road Trip with our own rented car

Admiring the wonders of nature at 小野柳

Breathtaking scenary at 三仙台

the view from about 100m above sea level.. while we attempted to climb the mountainside (via man-made steps) to see 八仙洞

Updates long overdue

Been a while since my last posting... major stuff that happened since then? definitely my trip to Taiwan. was chairing their SNCF followed by a short holiday in Taidong and Taipei...

I owe photos and a description of the entire experience.. but somehow I am finding it hard to organise everything into a blog posting...

you know... it's the kind of feeling where you know you've been through some really amazing experiences across 12 days... lots of memories and flashbacks of great moments, great conversations, great people.... learnt so much about myself and another country... admired so much scenary... enjoyed such great company of friends...

to type it all out... at this point... that somehow seems to be spoiling the moment... I think I wanna enjoy the moments, in their original random and chaotic order in my head for a while more before organising them into a post..

but till then, I am doing very well... back in Singapore and hyped up about what's more to come... :)