I think my 2 years in the army and 9 months of slacking have killed my brain. I seem to be taking a looong time to absorb information. The worst part of it all is that in this sem, the courses im doing are mostly writing stuff. Lets see what im doing.

Writing the Essay: Yup i guess the course pretty much says what we do during class. We write essays. I feel like im back in secondary school where we have to write short stories. BUT imagine this in an environment with kids with amazing vocabulary and expressions. OMG... this class is such a pain to go through. Every lesson, i just sit there praying i don't have to speak. I don't want to sound stupid. We spend every lesson analyzing(with a Z) text and criticizing them. Ok i spend my whole life doing Science and Math. In JC i was a triple science student. I dropped history when i was sec 3. Another words, i don't analyze text. I read them and take them as FACTS. So i really have nothing to say when im reading a poem or a short story, let alone reading the essay belonging to the person sitting beside me who wrote about him cheating on his girlfriend by sleeping with his best friend. omg... a 17 year old... And i was suppose to give comments about his DESCRIPTIVE RICH essay. faint... Hope i can get a B in this class...

Asian American Studies: Very interesting learning about the history of Asians in America. Except there is soooo much to read. And i have to write a paper to hand in next week. A paper consist of a thesis and evidence and explanation. I was like ok.. i don't know what a paper is. What do you expect from a triple science student?! Throw me a periodic table and some chemicals and i will make things happen for you, not give me a tonne of books and ask me to come out with a THESIS. What is that anyway... So anyway i went up to my teacher also known as a preceptor.(I know.. what's that... im like is that a kind of robot from transformer? "Im a preceptor! Surrender to me, Decepticon! Megatron too!") I told her "i have no idea what a paper is." And she replied "Didn't you hear the question? Just write. Write alot. Understand?" Im like "aaa NO." And she replied "Just write. See you next week." FAINT... I hope i at least get like a C for this paper... and its GRADED. sigh... Should have done a chemistry major or something... my room mate is having trouble remembering the formula of acids like HCl and HNO3... sigh...

Intro to Media Criticism: My favourite class! This class is sooo fun. We learn about how the media uses certain tricks and we watch clips and advertisements and evaluate why they do what they do. It is really interesting. My first assignment which i did in the first week was to watch the old version of romeo and juliet and the new one with leonardo dicaprio and evaluate which one should a freshman class watch. And for my current big assignment, i have to choose a contemporary tv show and write how they portray certain values in society. ARGH!!! I KNOW! Its like a fun assignment for a tv freak like me!

Calculus: Speechless. After 4 weeks of limits, we finally start learning how to do differentiation. This class is known as my catch up on reading/facebook/pon if needed to catch up on homework class. I gave up trying to look like im paying attention. A free A!

And besides these 4 classes which im taking for credits, im taking 2 other language classes which takes place once a week. So for an hour weekly, i will learn how to speak cantonese: Ngoh kiu derrick! Ne mat meng? & spanish: Me llamo derrick! Como se llamas? Its really fun and stressfree because there is no homework!

And thats pretty much school. From mon to thurs, mostly packed with lessons and homework. Then on friday, my weekend starts!

Btw, i was saying "my name is derrick. What's your's?" Hehe... drop me a msg and tell me how you guys are doing. Haven't talked to so many of you guys for a looong time.
Signing out - 9/28/2008 05:22:00 AM

My goodness. I just realised i have been in New York for a month. Time pass so fast...

Ok back track a little.

I remember on my first day, it was so crazy. The cab driver dropped me off like 25 meters away from my apartment and threw all up baggage and stuff onto the sidewalk and drove us. I stared at it and was like "ok i need at least 2 people to help me carry all this stuff into the apartment. I could see the apartment, but i couldn't just leave all my things on the sidewalk and run into the apartment and ask for help. So i decided to ask the "friendly" people of New York to help me look after my stuff while i run to ask for help. Well just like Singapore, people are just too busy to stop for a minute and help a poor asian kid. After being rejected for about 5 times, a kind lady decided to help me. Thank God.. so i finally got someone to help me bring all my stuff into my room. It was crazy! Taking a 3 hour bus ride from Philly to NYC chinatown, then finding a cab and driving through the crazy streets of NY to finally reach my apartment at Union Square which is flooded with people.

Then it was welcome week. And welcome week was awesome. The university planned a lot of events which were really fun and some really weird.

The fun ones:

1) Hypnosis show. omg.. people... hypnotism is REAL. I am a true believer. This guy got normal people and i know they are normal because some of them are my friends, to forget a certain number exist, to think they are werewolves, and actually think a belt is a snake. Its bloody creepy but super hilarious at the same time. That was by far the best show i have ever been to in my life. Its amazing.

2) Comedy Night. 2 comedians were invited to do stand up comedy. One of them was from Last Comic Standing. Those of you who have starworld should know this show since they flood the schedule with that show. She was HILARIOUS. but then the next guy came along and no one has ever heard of him and he kept us in the auditorium for like an hour plus. He is funny but not funny enough to keep me in there for an hour. Felt liking throwing a tennis ball at him when he started talking abt politics at 12am.

3) US OPEN. Yes people i was at the US open and i managed to catch the history making Ivanovic match. Yup the match that seed no.1 for woman lost to an unknown girl who is ranked like 188 or something. And i was there cheering for the underdog! It was such a cool experience.

4) Daves and Buster. Just imagine a really nice arcade that is all colorful and pretty. And then imagine not having to pay a cent to play all the games.

5) FREE FOOD! There was free food everywhere we went!

The weird:

1) Rocky Horror Show. Apparently this is some cult movie abt transvestites. And honestly, i was abit creeped out BUT i did enjoy myself. Firstly, everyone was dressing up as trannies. Guys n girls were wearing skirts and fishnet stockings and make up and ok... thinking abt it just makes me sick. Then throughout the movie, people kept shouting comments. Its apparently all planned so the comments blend in really well with the movie, making it super hilarious at times, and at others, im just trying to figure out what they are saying. Then suddenly out of nowhere, people started throwing toilet paper rolls around and rice and water. And there was this part of the movie where everyone got up and dance to the music. It was WEIRD... not to mention the show started off with a weird program of who can fake the best orgasm. *shake head* i know... i didnt know whether to laugh or to cry.

2) The crazy people of New york. Or should i say there are many crazy people in New York. This weird guy came up to me at the subway and said "You are gay right? Love the way ya standing! Keep it up!" Apparently standing cross legged is a gay thing here... Not to mention all the wierd homeless people asking for change and all the crazy performance around the parks, especially at union square where i live.

3) The stupid skit they make us put up to sing our school song... omg yes... stern the biz school has a stupid school song and we had to sing it in different genres... Making biz school kids do drama stuff and sing is not a good idea. There is a reason why they are in stern and not in tisch, the famous school of film in NYU. (btw there is a strong rivalry between the 2 schools)

Tisch kid: You stern people are so boring. All you think about is making money and losing your soul. I don't understand why you guys will study something so boring.

Stern kid: Well i don't understand why you tisch kids would pay so much for college to graduate and fight for a few open jobs.

So they can say whatever they want... in the end, its the stern kid that make it in life. :D

I guess that sums up welcome week. Go to my facebook album to view all the pictures i have taken in NYC.
Signing out - 9/25/2008 02:25:00 AM

Woohoo! I finally figured out how to use the wifi in NYU. You would think that NYU being one of the richest school in the world would be super high tech. Well, it isn't. I don't even have wireless in my dorm. Totally ridiculous. SO ANYWAY because now i finally figured out how to use the secured wifi in school and using the laptop in most of my classes, expect me to blog more, especially on Mon & Wed when i got calculus class which is soooooooo boring. Ok back to my tv shows. I just spend all my time here doing my homework or watching TV. TV!!!!
Signing out - 9/18/2008 08:45:00 AM

I think my 2 years in the army and 9 months of slacking have killed my brain. I seem to be taking a looong time to absorb information. The worst part of it all is that in this sem, the courses im doing are mostly writing stuff. Lets see what im doing.

Writing the Essay: Yup i guess the course pretty much says what we do during class. We write essays. I feel like im back in secondary school where we have to write short stories. BUT imagine this in an environment with kids with amazing vocabulary and expressions. OMG... this class is such a pain to go through. Every lesson, i just sit there praying i don't have to speak. I don't want to sound stupid. We spend every lesson analyzing(with a Z) text and criticizing them. Ok i spend my whole life doing Science and Math. In JC i was a triple science student. I dropped history when i was sec 3. Another words, i don't analyze text. I read them and take them as FACTS. So i really have nothing to say when im reading a poem or a short story, let alone reading the essay belonging to the person sitting beside me who wrote about him cheating on his girlfriend by sleeping with his best friend. omg... a 17 year old... And i was suppose to give comments about his DESCRIPTIVE RICH essay. faint... Hope i can get a B in this class...

Asian American Studies: Very interesting learning about the history of Asians in America. Except there is soooo much to read. And i have to write a paper to hand in next week. A paper consist of a thesis and evidence and explanation. I was like ok.. i don't know what a paper is. What do you expect from a triple science student?! Throw me a periodic table and some chemicals and i will make things happen for you, not give me a tonne of books and ask me to come out with a THESIS. What is that anyway... So anyway i went up to my teacher also known as a preceptor.(I know.. what's that... im like is that a kind of robot from transformer? "Im a preceptor! Surrender to me, Decepticon! Megatron too!") I told her "i have no idea what a paper is." And she replied "Didn't you hear the question? Just write. Write alot. Understand?" Im like "aaa NO." And she replied "Just write. See you next week." FAINT... I hope i at least get like a C for this paper... and its GRADED. sigh... Should have done a chemistry major or something... my room mate is having trouble remembering the formula of acids like HCl and HNO3... sigh...

Intro to Media Criticism: My favourite class! This class is sooo fun. We learn about how the media uses certain tricks and we watch clips and advertisements and evaluate why they do what they do. It is really interesting. My first assignment which i did in the first week was to watch the old version of romeo and juliet and the new one with leonardo dicaprio and evaluate which one should a freshman class watch. And for my current big assignment, i have to choose a contemporary tv show and write how they portray certain values in society. ARGH!!! I KNOW! Its like a fun assignment for a tv freak like me!

Calculus: Speechless. After 4 weeks of limits, we finally start learning how to do differentiation. This class is known as my catch up on reading/facebook/pon if needed to catch up on homework class. I gave up trying to look like im paying attention. A free A!

And besides these 4 classes which im taking for credits, im taking 2 other language classes which takes place once a week. So for an hour weekly, i will learn how to speak cantonese: Ngoh kiu derrick! Ne mat meng? & spanish: Me llamo derrick! Como se llamas? Its really fun and stressfree because there is no homework!

And thats pretty much school. From mon to thurs, mostly packed with lessons and homework. Then on friday, my weekend starts!

Btw, i was saying "my name is derrick. What's your's?" Hehe... drop me a msg and tell me how you guys are doing. Haven't talked to so many of you guys for a looong time.

My goodness. I just realised i have been in New York for a month. Time pass so fast...

Ok back track a little.

I remember on my first day, it was so crazy. The cab driver dropped me off like 25 meters away from my apartment and threw all up baggage and stuff onto the sidewalk and drove us. I stared at it and was like "ok i need at least 2 people to help me carry all this stuff into the apartment. I could see the apartment, but i couldn't just leave all my things on the sidewalk and run into the apartment and ask for help. So i decided to ask the "friendly" people of New York to help me look after my stuff while i run to ask for help. Well just like Singapore, people are just too busy to stop for a minute and help a poor asian kid. After being rejected for about 5 times, a kind lady decided to help me. Thank God.. so i finally got someone to help me bring all my stuff into my room. It was crazy! Taking a 3 hour bus ride from Philly to NYC chinatown, then finding a cab and driving through the crazy streets of NY to finally reach my apartment at Union Square which is flooded with people.

Then it was welcome week. And welcome week was awesome. The university planned a lot of events which were really fun and some really weird.

The fun ones:

1) Hypnosis show. omg.. people... hypnotism is REAL. I am a true believer. This guy got normal people and i know they are normal because some of them are my friends, to forget a certain number exist, to think they are werewolves, and actually think a belt is a snake. Its bloody creepy but super hilarious at the same time. That was by far the best show i have ever been to in my life. Its amazing.

2) Comedy Night. 2 comedians were invited to do stand up comedy. One of them was from Last Comic Standing. Those of you who have starworld should know this show since they flood the schedule with that show. She was HILARIOUS. but then the next guy came along and no one has ever heard of him and he kept us in the auditorium for like an hour plus. He is funny but not funny enough to keep me in there for an hour. Felt liking throwing a tennis ball at him when he started talking abt politics at 12am.

3) US OPEN. Yes people i was at the US open and i managed to catch the history making Ivanovic match. Yup the match that seed no.1 for woman lost to an unknown girl who is ranked like 188 or something. And i was there cheering for the underdog! It was such a cool experience.

4) Daves and Buster. Just imagine a really nice arcade that is all colorful and pretty. And then imagine not having to pay a cent to play all the games.

5) FREE FOOD! There was free food everywhere we went!

The weird:

1) Rocky Horror Show. Apparently this is some cult movie abt transvestites. And honestly, i was abit creeped out BUT i did enjoy myself. Firstly, everyone was dressing up as trannies. Guys n girls were wearing skirts and fishnet stockings and make up and ok... thinking abt it just makes me sick. Then throughout the movie, people kept shouting comments. Its apparently all planned so the comments blend in really well with the movie, making it super hilarious at times, and at others, im just trying to figure out what they are saying. Then suddenly out of nowhere, people started throwing toilet paper rolls around and rice and water. And there was this part of the movie where everyone got up and dance to the music. It was WEIRD... not to mention the show started off with a weird program of who can fake the best orgasm. *shake head* i know... i didnt know whether to laugh or to cry.

2) The crazy people of New york. Or should i say there are many crazy people in New York. This weird guy came up to me at the subway and said "You are gay right? Love the way ya standing! Keep it up!" Apparently standing cross legged is a gay thing here... Not to mention all the wierd homeless people asking for change and all the crazy performance around the parks, especially at union square where i live.

3) The stupid skit they make us put up to sing our school song... omg yes... stern the biz school has a stupid school song and we had to sing it in different genres... Making biz school kids do drama stuff and sing is not a good idea. There is a reason why they are in stern and not in tisch, the famous school of film in NYU. (btw there is a strong rivalry between the 2 schools)

Tisch kid: You stern people are so boring. All you think about is making money and losing your soul. I don't understand why you guys will study something so boring.

Stern kid: Well i don't understand why you tisch kids would pay so much for college to graduate and fight for a few open jobs.

So they can say whatever they want... in the end, its the stern kid that make it in life. :D

I guess that sums up welcome week. Go to my facebook album to view all the pictures i have taken in NYC.

Woohoo! I finally figured out how to use the wifi in NYU. You would think that NYU being one of the richest school in the world would be super high tech. Well, it isn't. I don't even have wireless in my dorm. Totally ridiculous. SO ANYWAY because now i finally figured out how to use the secured wifi in school and using the laptop in most of my classes, expect me to blog more, especially on Mon & Wed when i got calculus class which is soooooooo boring. Ok back to my tv shows. I just spend all my time here doing my homework or watching TV. TV!!!!