Go away

When a lecturer/tutor says that you should feel free to ask any questions, any questions at all, and he'll answer them, it's to tell you not to be afraid of clearing up your doubts. So, by all means, ask the question, even if it might sound stupid.

It is NOT however, the cue for you to:

• ask questions that you already know the answer to, just so that your prescence will be acknowledged
• ask questions that you already know the answer to, just to show that you've read ahead of the class
• ask questions about material that hasn't been covered in class, just to show that you know more than you're supposed to

He asked for questions on stuff that he covered IN class, not questions about stuff that he's only going to cover in 2 weeks time.

So if you understand everything, fine and good. Shut up. Help others who have difficulty. Or just drop the class. I'm not interested in how you think this class is so easy it's a joke, or about how you already covered all this in your high school or at the A levels/French Bac/IB or what not. Keep it to yourself.

Green Day

Went to catch Green Day's concert at Parc Jean Drapeau yesterday, and it was fantastic. They're really good live performers and can really play to the crowd. And Billie Joe, the band's frontman, invited 2 fans on stage to play the drums, the bass and the guitar; and at the end of it all, he let the guitarist keep his guitar! Being suah koo, law-abiding Singaporeans, me and my friend obeyed the no cameras allowed rule when actually they didn't check and lots of people brought their cameras along. So sorry, but got no photos to show. But anyway, the concert was a blast, and absolutely worth the C$53 that I paid for it. U2's coming down soon too, don't know how much that will cost, and don't even think we can get tickets, so probably not going to be able to catch them.

Anyway, my Singaporean friends have arrived, so at least I have some company now. Spent most of the weekend with one of them. I'm well aware of the need for me to meet new people and all that, but she's had a real torrid time getting here, so I've just been trying to help wherever I can.

School starts again tomorrow, I have some thoughts formulating at the back of my mind, but will leave the posting till they've become clearer.

Starting school

The 2nd day of school is over for me, and I've got a long weekend as its labour day on Monday. Have gone for lectures for all of the classes that I'll be taking this term, so I've kind of got a taste of what is to come. My lecturers all seem ok, and some have even decided to spend the entire first lecture going through course outlines, expectations and the lot. One advantage of having gone to JC is that I've been through the lecture-tutorial system before, so I have a rough idea of how things work. Those fresh out of high school are encountering this system for the first time, and they're unfamiliar with how it all works.

Anyway, I've only had one lecture each for my geography, physics and 2 maths courses, but the homework has already been set for them. After having gone through most of JC 1 without doing much work, I wasn't too keen on falling behind and having to play catch-up all over again, so I decided to be conscientious and have a look at all my assignments, and attempt those questions which I could complete. Ok, so I decided to be a kiasu Singaporean nerd/mugger. But catch-up is not a fun game to play, really. In JC 2 I slogged like hell, and I don't want to have to do it again. At least not right at the beginning of university.

So I go online to get a hold of my physics assignment, and find out that I need the textbook to complete it. I haven't bought the textbook yet, because I was waiting for the used book sale, which takes place next week. So I can either wait for the sale before attempting my work, or I can get the book new and pay $138.95 before tax for it. I decide to take a look at my other assignments first.

The lecturer for my MATH133 class already handed out 2 printed assignments, so I decide to take a look at those. Then I realise I have absolutely no clue what the questions are talking about. The prof didn't go through much in the first lecture, just a demonstration of how to use matrices, so I either need to get the textbook and read ahead, or I can wait till it's covered in the lectures. So, nevermind, I still got 1 more maths class, I decide to clear that one first. So I go online, log in to the website and try to get my homework. But it seems my prof has put in another authorisation page. And my ID and PIN don't seem to be able to get me in. So no-go there too. E-mail the prof asking for help, and then look at my last remaining option, geography. But the geography assignment hasn't been handed out yet, and the prof only gave us an outline of what needed to be done for it, so I'm stuck with no work that can be done.

This is so not helping me in my bid to be a conscientious student. Ah well, heading out now to get some textbooks so I can get started on some work. I know, I am such a guai kia, but no choice, parents spent too much sending me here, even though I'm paying PR fees, so must make the most of it. NS has made me a lot more aware of the responsibilty on my shoulders.