Dear 17-year-old yokaz, …

If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self a thing or two, what would it / they be?  I got this idea from a discussion forum I occasionally lurk in, and here’s a list of things I came up with:

- I know you don’t have the faintest clue what you want to study at university; that in itself is perfectly normal. But, for crying out loud don’t waste your time doing a pseudo-science like geology..

- For that matter, why the f**k did you not continue with maths or economics?

- Get disposable contacts asap. You’re gonna have trouble making friends with a crappy eyesight like that. And take better care of your eyes.

- Go out and talk to girls more. You’ll be surprised how well you get along with some of them.

- Don’t look down on your classmates who talk about hitting it big. True, you can probably lead a happy life without much money, but having money will make you even happier.

After I finished writing, I realized I can easily incorporate some of them into my life NOW.  It really is never too late to start, I suppose. All told, I’m enjoying my life.

Say my name..

Girls’ names have a huge effect on their affinity for math and physics. From the Guardian:

Parents are being warned to think long and hard when choosing names for their babies as research has discovered that girls who are given very feminine names, such as Anna, Emma or Elizabeth, are less likely to study maths or physics after the age of 16, a remarkable study has found.

Both subjects, which are traditionally seen as predominantly male, are far more popular among girls with names such as Abigail, Lauren and Ashley, which have been judged as less feminine in a linguistic test. The effect is so strong that parents can set twin daughters off on completely different career paths simply by calling them Isabella and Alex, names at either end of the spectrum.

Hmm, I wonder if this phenomenon carrys over to non-English names, or to people with English nicknames as do many Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporeans, etc.

p.s. Always good to see you, Shuhui. You did look fabulous today

Life’s too short for the wrong job

[jobsintown.de]

Blooming London

The weather here’s been great for the past few weeks, and all that’s left till I graduate this June are 5 exams and a project. It feels a little strange I won’t have to go to any more lectures, not to mention put up with South Ken’s food scene (or lack thereof). In retrospect, I’m not sure whether studying Chemistry & Management, or for that matter choosing to come to IC, was the best possible decision. And I’ll never know, of course, as I’ll never re-live my life as a clueless kid and thus I have nothing against which I can compare my present life. Whoever said “there’s no right or wrong choice per se, only how you make of it” wasn’t kidding.  Does this mean there’s no point whatsoever in deliberating, for example, one’s career move? Maybe, then again maybe not.

Ain’t no Golgo 13 deal

A woman in the UK implores her lover to hire a hitman to assissinate her ex-lover of 20 years who dumped her. Turns out the hitman is an undercover cop and – this is hilarious – the said ex-lover is my Marketing lecturer at college.

Read it here.