Friday, December 14, 2001
One Small Step for Man
It's been a while since I last wrote. My excuse for the silence is that there have been too many parents around and at the end of the day, I'm either too tired or too crabby to sit down and write anything. The house doesn't seem very peaceful anymore. Many a morning, I have woken to the sound of scotchtape (sealing the boxes) or to one of my mom's friends on the phone. Not very quiet.
This morning, for some reason or other, I'm up before everyone else is. So I'm using this time to write this long overdue entry. In the last week, we've been questioned, thoroughly, about our future plans, personal and career wise. I have been told that my priorities now should be to have children and see them through school instead of my further education. As I explained to Greg, my supervisor, yesterday, I think to an extent, our parents are of the generation that believe that you should have a basic degree and go out and work. Postgraduate degrees are for people who have no personal lives and want to make a career out of being a student. Well, I'm still thinking about the Phd thing but I'll give myself some breathing space and time to save for it. If you recall, I once said that I had to live on $4.96 a week, well, it's because of this Phd idea. Based on a trainee teacher's salary, and after siphoning money for savings, parents, bills and necessities plus the Phd, I'll have something like $20 a month left. So, I can only go to the movies once every two weeks, and if I buy a cup of Pearl Tea, that's it... I have to forgo any other sort of entertainment that week. Well, it all sounds rather dramatic and I'm sure it's not going to come to that, but the financial situation will be that dire. Anyway, I disgress. Our parents have very definitive ideas about how we should lead our lives. The universal rationale behind that is they've been through life and know what should be done. I don't doubt their intentions and I don't doubt that in terms of life experiences, they know better. The problem is that we pretty much have our own ideas too and whilst advice is always welcome, it's our lives to lead and I guess our decisions to make, so yeah.
Anyway, I got my examiners reports back yesterday and the reports ranged from sarcastic and biting to encouraging and well, nice. :) I was told that a thesis on language should not have so many linguisitc errors. Well, I'm sorry....:) When you're writing in a hurry and when it's proofed in a hurry, there are bound to be "linguistic errors". Now that I've got it back, I've got work to do. To try and clean it up, according to the comments and correct the typos so that maybe, we can get it published, which will be cool and hopefully add to more career prospects.
As I write this, I'm multi tasking and filling in the form that will seal my fate for the next 3 or 4 years. I'm applying for the whole teaching schtick online. I've been advised to do that for a number of reasons that are mind numbing to go through. The online application form is equally mindnumbing. The questions are repetitive, they favour those who are educated in Singapore and make it plain hard for someone who has been educated both in SIngapore and overseas. I mean, I have two basic degrees, but it only has space for one. Granted, I'm one of the very few people who have two undergraduate degrees but still, they should make that sort of provision. And and and... I just found out that had I done my honours in Singapore and gotten the grades I got, I could apply for a scholarship post-hoc and get back pay of like $9000 or something like that. That could pay for my first year phd fees and Daniel's Playstation 2 and then some. I understand that the standard of overseas universities can vary from institution to institution, but they should at least invite us to apply. I resent the fact that I'm prejudiced against, just because I decided to go overseas to have a different educational experience. Humph, big time.
I've also been led to understand that as a graduate from NUS or NTU (the local Singapore unis), you are automatically given membership to the SDU (Social development Unit), I think it goes by another name now, but I'm not quite sure what. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, it's sort of like a place where you're supposed to meet people and hopefully the one you would like to spend the rest of your life with. It was an initiative set up when it was found that graduates in SIngapore weren't getting married and producing babies. haha. I'm told that they organise some great activities at very low costs and people just go to it because it's cheap. I'm told that the organisation has been abused by people who do have significant others, but want to enjoy the low costs of the activities. I don't see why they got thrown out. Well, anyhow, overseas graduates have to pay to join the SDU. Even though there is a stigma to it (being in the SDU), I still maintain that there is a certain amount of prejudice that goes on there.
Ok, my mom wants the phone line so I better upload this before she comes in and bugs me some more.
I have also decided that I don't have enough guts in me to take such a bold step and send off the online application to MOE. So I've saved it as a draft and well, hopefull later.
Later..
Ondine tossed this thought in at 07:42
0 thoughts...
0 thoughts...
" Far in the stillness, a cat languishes loudly"