Capturing Happy Moments Through The Lens

It is Finally Finished..

I have officially/unofficially guaduated from Singapore Polytechnic.. ok this might sound confusing.. haha.. i have finish my last paper in Singapore poly just hours ago.. so as of now.. i have no more business with SP.. i'm done.. its over.. now i have to wait to put on that robe and the square hat.. to say i'm officially a guaduate..haha.. as promised.. i'll bring to you readers an emo post..

so take your popcorn and soda.. it might be a long long post.. i think..haha.. if i dont get sleepy.. and give up typing more..haha..

like most average students poly life starts after a couple months break after the o levels.. which i felt is nothing compared to the stress a had to endure in poly.. so after olevels.. we get our o'level results.. its like the ride of passage.. almost everyone has gone through this path..

and then we see that number called L1B4.. and off we went to apply for our courses in poly.. i got into my fourth choice Bioelectronics.. during that time, i seriously did not cared much about what course i went into..

i was working at that time and did not have the energy to bother about it.. what i thought was.. i already have a place in poly.. so its better then not having a place at all right.. i think most of you guys would have thought that way.. i just i was too young and inmature then to think about my future..

and so poly begins.. 06/07 was my first year in Singapore poly.. its was a totally different experience.. there were no longer teachers.. they were called lecturers.. and there were no homework.. they were called tutorials.. its was interesting.. we had laptops.. which i earnestly carried around for the first few weeks of school.. but soon felt it was a burden to carry around..

the way things a done in poly is different i should say.. nothing is compusary.. so you did not really have to go for classes.. or for that matter go to school.. the lecturers will not come to you and say.. you have not been turning up for classes and all.. they treated us as adults.. we are tertiary students so we pay adult fare for transport while the JC peeps get the take bus for 45cents..

so class started.. making new friends and joining ccas which i only turn up once and never came again.. not compulsary remember..haha..
and so we had our very first class project.. called charater developement.. which apparently useless.. i learnt nothing.. we just went to this old folks home and sang a few songs and it was it.. so i guess nothing pretty much came out of it.. what i got was a pityful B grade..

and there was this other module called IDEAs which i got C.. my 1 and only C for the whole of my poly life.. it was a black sheep.. i hated that module to the core.. and i'm still hating it..
i also went for a overnight cycling event in year one..

and that pretty much wraps up my poly life in year 1.. i say i have a boring year 1 experience.. i was studying most of the time from what i remember, doing tutorials and being attentive in class.. model student??haha.. i doubt so..haha.. oh well.. its over.. haha..

moving on to year 2.. year two was a little more fulfilling..
i went for an event held by school of CLS.. its was called food and hertiage tour.. well it was not really a tour to start with.. it was more like a competition..haha.. its was fun.. to get to move around some of the hertiage of Singapore in a different way..

walking around in that ugly orange shirt was a pain..haha.. but it was all fun.. we went again the following year.. just to get the goody bag..haha.. it was a little lame but what the hell..haha.. it was all fun..haha..
we had another event called diploma day.. we had to go to chek jawa in pulau ubin to do some mangrove planting..haha.. we still dont have our diploma day shirt.. damn..haha..

i think that heading there i did more of taking photos then planting mangrove.. what i felt was we were just there to show face..haha.. did nothing really constructive.. time was short and it was more about sight seeing for me..haha.. i walked off with a couple of great photos and it was over..haha..
a picture of chek jawa..
ok.. this is interesting.. SP Hockey.. i must say i had one hell of a time there.. learning a new sport and all.. why i say interesting.. oh ya.. i joined them in year 2.. cos it was jian ming who ask me to join and in the end he mia himself..haha.. i carry on with them, made some friends and played..

i believe that i have said what i wanted to say the other time i blog about hockey when it officially came to a close.. so i'll keep it short here..
a picture of all the year 3 hockey members.. no regrets for not playing for them in year 3.. i would just say i'm not good enough..but i did manage to take a whole lots of photos..
Poly 50.. 50 rounds around some parts of the school.. we ran and ran and ran.. came in 18 position.. haha.. its not as difficult as you think it was.. cos you just the only run 200m before you were able to rest.. but its a long run..haha.. it was fun.. totally enjoyed that experience..
snow snow snow.. i made my very first snowman...

during the year 2 long vaccation, all of the year 2 students had to do Industry training program of ITP for short.. i made an extreme decision to head overseas for attachment.. and to the country to whom i understand the language but do not really speak.. China.. why did i go?? most people would be wondering..

this is how it started.. with no thoughts about going to that place at all.. on the night before the last day of submittion for the OITP.. my classmates and i had a conversation on msn... we were chatting and chatting.. when suddenly daniel asked.. why i dont want to go.. then it all started..

and finally i said this 'si wei go i go' well.. from what i understand he was still pending whether to go or not.. so i took a gamble.. and lost.. haha.. then it was like confirm or not.. then he say he go.. holy mama..haha.. i had to wake my mama up to sign the form.. my mama was like all blur.. huh?? go overseas for attachment.. must pay money??haha.. it was a shock for her..

anyway i went, along with some of my classmates.. for 8 weeks away from home.. it was an experience i'll never forget.. i like the snow.. i like the snow..haha.. and the weather over there was simply wonderful..haha..
a group photo.. of all the SP students who went..

snow snow snow.. haha.. i walked away with about 4000 photos during my 8 weeks there.. it was fun.. snap snap snap..haha..

year 2 ended.. a stressful year.. my results were near perfect making it all worst.. i had to study even harder..
year 3.. i say.. year 3 was the best time of my life in poly minus the study and projects part.. i took an elective in photograpy.. i loved that module.. cos i love photography.. i manage to learn quite a few things but nothing solid.. cos the course was design so that any one with no photography backgound at all can join..

i did something which i never will do for casual photography... i had a theme.. something to focus on.. it was really interesting.. i felt it push me to take better shots.. and i dare say i'm a better photographer after i finish this module.. and my grade for that module.. you would guess it distintion..
this is one of the shots i took for my assignment theme "the decisive moment" / black is beautiful.. so photos have to be in black and white.. i spend about 45 mins under the hot afternoon sun at botenic gardens just for this shot.. i say its worth it.. will composed and it fit the theme..
well, we headed to sentosa a couple of times this year finally.. cos most of the time it was all talk no action..haha.. so we finally went.. even though it was just a small group of us, we had fun.. i believe that we will still have many of such outings in time to come.. having said that, nothing is certain..
went there got sunburn.. haha.. sometimes i ask myself why i do that.. let myself suffer sunburn..haha..but i say its worth it.. gettting to hang out with a bunch of really cool people..
i want to go there again.. haha.. sunburn nevermind..haha..

apparently we are having plans to head to taiwan.. i dont know if it will come to reality.. but i really hope it will.. air tickets price faster drop..haha.. a last overseas trip with my polymates before we all head our seperate ways..

i know i'm not going to see some of my classmates already.. its quite saddening.. 3 years of friendship.. 3 year being in the same class it comes to this.. well, i'm not a person who hangs on to the negative.. i know i made some really great friends from class and my cca..and thats all that matters..
i headed to malaysia with some strangers.. haha.. not really so to speak.. but ya.. i was my first overseas trip for holiday with my friends.. it was really fun.. really really fun.. i spend 3 days on the beach playing snorkelling and all.. made friends with everyone and memories i'll never forget..

playing the banana boat... snorkelling... and the 8 hours bus ride..haha..
well.. and of cos with the good stuff comes the bad.. not really bad.. but not very nice.. i dont know how should i pen down the words..

well i met this girl during OITP, not really met i would say.. i would rather put it as come to know of this girl..

then i got to know her better after a few gatherings.. and the redang trip.. i knew i was fond of her.. but i dont know how to tell her.. i'll just have to say i'm not very good at this kind of stuff.. i was fortunate, i have some friends who were there for me..

and so one fine day, i finally decided to tell her how i felt.. somehow i knew that it was not turning my way, but well.. i dont want to live with regerts and all.. so.. ya..

but i'll just have to put it as we are not meant to be, no hard feelings.. she's now happy attached.. and i have no regerts what so ever.. lost a partner, gain a really good friend..

if you are reading this, dont have to feel sorry.. i truely understand your predicament.. i wish you all the best in whatever you do... =)

love is something so profound.. something i'll take a life time to understand.. something that books cant explain.. something that i dont have an explaination for.. love love love..
this is a thermal image.. from a thermal camera.. its really cool.. but it will set you back about $10k.. haha.. i got to play with this medical camera during one of my modules..haha.. it was bigger then my dslr and of cos heavier..haha.. picture quality.. poor..haha.. cant tell who is who..haha.. but this photo is really memorable.. i dont think anyone would be about to have a thermal image group photo.. unless you have filty rich to go get one.. fancy getting a camera wher you cant even tell who is who yet costing so much.. haha..
accadamic award.. my first award in poly.. it was an experiece i'll never forget.. going to the stage and receive the award.. i'm truely hoping to receive the COM when i guaduate.. i want to make my teachers and family proud..
The Chocolatier
this is where i had my part time job through out my poly life.. 3 years, i was there.. sad to say, i'm leaving.. i have not officially told my boss yet.. its kind of hard when you have such a wonderful boss..

some of the people here i knew for a longer time the my poly mates.. i treasure my time there.. life's never meant to hold still.. people move on.. change is good.. what i have learnt and took away from working there is more then the $6 an hour i get.. if i could do this all over again, i'll still go back to the same company to work..
SP INNOVEX week.. i hated this.. a total waste of my time.. the biggest regert of my life in poly.. i should not have played to nice guy, we should not have played the nice guy.. who's suffering in the end, the nice guys.. thanks for nothing.. if only i stick to what i actually wanted i think i would have made it to distintion panel..

FYP sux.. nothing gain from that.. a total waste of my time, i learnt nothing.. i saw the true colours of some.. interesting.. i like observing people.. and i gather a lot from that.. anyway its over.. if i get a bloody b+ or b for fyp i understand and it will serve as a reminder.. for me to me firm on what my brain tells me.. my brain is on of the most power part of my body.. it tells me what to do.. it tells me right from wrong.. it tells me how to do things.. my brain is vey importent to me.. without my brain, i'll be nothing.. thank God for giving me a brain better then most people, and forgive me for being aloof at times.. cos my brain is a little better the others.. forgive me..
counting down the the new year at chinatown with some of my friends was really fun.. hahahaha.. we headed down to chinatown after reunion dinner to soak up to atmosphere of the chinese new year spirit..

it was really crowded.. and for the first time in my life i had to quee up to use to boys toilet.. haha.. i thought that only happen for the girls toilet..haha..

we headed to the streets of chinatown.. i fondly remember the last time i when to chinatown when i was pretty much younger.. the atmosphere there was similar.. it was fun.. being with friends, making a whole lot of noise, pushing around in the crowd.. i'll head there again.. even though its so crowded..

we did something really dumb there as well..haha.. i mean dumb funny..haha.. i bought a box of bomb packs and we found that we have nothing better to and so we passed the bomb packs around each other to see who will get it when it exploded..haha.. it was really funny.. worst the location we where playing at.. an overhead bridge at outrum part mrt station..haha.. we had no where to go la.. it was raining.. and we needed to catch the last train home so.. playing near the mrt station was a good idea..haha.. a bit wasted the video we record was not saved or not i'll be laughing to myself if i saw that video at home..haha..
ok.. here comes the really really shocking part.. i bet no one will ever think that this will happen to me.. what you see here is regular pannadol..

and this is a painkiller from the doctor..
something to kill the pain within.. which was not physical..
and this is something called a tranquilizer..

A tranquilizer is a drug that induces tranquillity in an individual.
Tranquillity (also spelled tranquility^[1][2] or called equanimity) is the quality of calm experienced in places with mainly natural features and activities, free from disturbance from man-made areas.

from wikipedia..

ok.. now that you know what a tranquilizer is you should get the drift about where this is heading..

as you all know exams in poly is vey stressful, for me in particular.. i had to get straight As to maintain my GPA.. i believe that what happen was not something that happen because of this exam but its accumulated from all the stress a had to endure during my poly life.. its something not very glamourous to talk about..

so about 2 to 3 weeks back, i started to study for my final exams in poly.. exams are stressful, adding to that having to get straight A and on top of that its my final exams and i know if i screw it up my 3 years in poly is wasted.. furthermore i think my FYP is screwed.. getting A for that is not likely from my point of view or at least i think i dont deserve A.. and thats 8 freaking credits..

so a week before the exam, i started t up the pace of my revison.. and stay home to study.. things i felt did not went well fomr that point of time.. i was having trouble sleeping.. it went on for days.. and finally sunday a day before my first paper.. i realise something was wrong.. something was wrong with my body.. it was not functioning right.. still i had to study..

and come monday i woke up with a headache.. it was not the first time i had this kind of headache.. it was due to stress.. but this time is was different.. i expected the headache to go off later in the day, but no.. it went on and on and on.. even when i took my exam..i could not really think properly.. my thought process was bad.. i could only remember what i have studied, other then that my mind was blank.. i mean literally.. i could not think of anything else.. and so things that i have not made effort to memorise was not in my brain at that point of time..

i manage to complete the paper, but think i should be able to get a overall A for that module.. i hope.. and i went back after the exam.. had dinner and i felt a slight easing of the pain in my head.. so off to bed.... early..

the next morning.. i woke up at approximately 0630 to have some water and that it came.. the tsunami of headaches.. its was a pounding pain in the right side of my head.. something so immences.. something which i never want to feel again.. i told my mom about it and she gave me some pannandol to take.. but still the pain did not went away, my mom was beside me the whole time.. she massaged my head and made sure i was feeling good, which i was apparently not.. the pain was so bad i could not sleep.. it was scarry..

my mom figured that it was stress.. i knew it was.. and due to the lack of good rest plus putting my brain to overdrive to complete my revision.. i stayed a home for 4 straight days to study the previous week.. so my mon told me not to study and rest.. she said you dont study.. rest.. at that point of time tears role down.. not because of the pain, but because of the burden i had to bare.. i knew i was carrying the weight of my family on me.. all hopes are pinned on me.. even though my parents dont say it or physically expressed it i know it.. cos my brother is not very smart so it is going to be a problem for him in futher once my parents stopped working..

the burden was on me to do well for poly and enter uni get a degree and get a well paying job.. i know all this.. i'd say i'm a little more muture about this kind of stuff then most people my age.. so when the thought of not studying for that day and not being able to do well for my exams, not being able to take care of my family in future overwhelmed me, i simply just teared.. i cant contain it.. what made matters worst was my paper on wednesday was the most difficult paper. cos i will need to score over 80 marks for that paper alone to get A.. so the stress was extreme.. and worst i could not study..

so i rested on my bed until about 11am.. i got up.. and simply did not have to mood to do anything.. the pain was still in my head only milder.. but it was there.. i tried to study but could not concentrate.. my mom called and told me the doctor prescribed some painkillers and a tranquilizer for me.. she told me not to study.. and rest.. i tried resting, but i could not i had to study.. my mom also told me health is more importent.. but at the back of my head i was thinking otherwise.. i know health is importent no doubt about it.. but doing well for poly out weighs the benefit of health.. to know that i will suffer in further and my family will suffer, i had to push on to study.. i had no choice i will say..

well the tranqulizer was given as the doctor said i needed to sleep and relax.. and as i have mention what a tranqulizer is, it to let me relax and remove the stress.. i did not take that in the end.. i just have 1 pain killer.. to kill the pain..

this episode of my life is over, its something i will remember that i'm not all mighty.. i will fall.. and i have fell this time to the mightier powers of stress.. i hope that this does not happen to me again.. an experience i'll never want to relive... stress stay away from me.. stay far far away..
a close up photo.. of the tranquilizer.. anyway i have ended my exams and i felt i did pretty good.. results will be released on the 18 of march.. till then..

now for some of the tools which followed my through my time in poly..

this correction pen have been with me for 4 years.. its still not finish.. some of my secondary school classmates might remember me with this..haha.. but yup its 4 years.. 3 years it was with me to correct my mistakes when i was preparing my notes for exam..haha..
this colourful highlighter.. something that was given to us in secondary school for national day.. very useful for exam notes..
and this.. diary.. i dont use it as a diary la.. just for rough paper.. and planning my study schedule..
this is something which i never really used until poly started.. i had in when i was in sec 2.. and it is still operating well after so long.. the only thing i did not like was the ink was so expensive..haha..
i shall end off here.. its not really as emo as expected, cos i'm simply too happy that exams are over.. for updates about my future.. that will come in future..haha... a cute picture of me to end off..haha.. omg.. this post took a very very long time from finding photos to typing.. a grand total of about 5 hours of me time.. but i'm free..haha..

oh ya.. my blog is really really running out of space.. help help..haha..

i'm going to miss my poly and my mates.. the memories will remain etched( Deep reactive ion etching) deep in my heart with passivation.. haha.. this is a joke you will understand if you studied wafer fabrication..haha.. but still memories and friendships i've nutured over the 3 years i'll never forget.. friends, let keep in contact.. well, i'll not to sort of person that will chat you up for no random reasons.. so please do chat with me..

to finally end off.. thank you all for making my life in poly such a special one.. without you, poly would just be another phase in my life.. it is you my friends who made my time in poly more fulfilling and i believe it made me a better person..

to my friends furthering studies , i wish you the best and may you get good grades..
to those heading to the army, enjoy your time there.. dont hate it..
to all.. treasure the moments..

Godspeed..

"the only easy day was yesterday" remember this..

take care my friends..

posted by Joel Kho @ 23:31