update

I took the GRE Saturday and did relatively well; a 580 on the verbal and a 780 on the math, which is more than I was aiming for so i'm real happy. I'll find out my essay scores in the next couple of weeks. I sent my scores to 4 economics PhD programs, Syracuse, Illinois, California-Irvine and Kentucky, though right now CA-Irvine is my top choice because they have a public policy concentration and a transportation concentration, both of which I am very interested in. Syracuse has an urban concentration too and so does Illinois and both are better ranked schools but they don't specialize in transportation and public policy as heavily as Irvine does although a plus for Illinois is their strong Urban Planning program that I am still kind of interested in. Kentucky is a safety and has a concentration in Health Economics which might be interesting too. Now it's on to applying to these schools and hoping to hear positive feedback, especially about funding. I may still send my scores to other schools as I check out their programs.

This week is still a busy one. I have a presentation to complete before I head to Missouri State this Saturday to present. Also, I had a Money and Banking test today and have Econometrics homework to finish, not to mention, a mock interview to schedule sometime between now and the end of the semester for my portfolio assessment class and a 6-7 page paper for the same class also. Busy work like that is most often not my favorite.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner which will be a nice break. I'll be using the time to catch up on assignments, studying for finals and things like that. It's about a month til I head home which will probably be the highlight of my semester, maybe year. It'll be good to be home for a while where I have access to food, friends, family and fun.

Next semester may not turn out to be an easy one if this PhD route is to be taken seriously. I'm still short on math classes and will have to bulk up on those if I choose to pursue a PhD in Econ. As of now, I am signed up for differential equations and may be taking Linear Algebra too. At the very least, I only have 12 hours of class a week so that may serve as a consolation.

I'd like to have time to blog about things I read online in the news about Malaysia again but I don't seem to have the time anymore. Hopefully, during the breaks I'll be able to return to writing again.

update

There are big dates coming up which will keep me on my toes the next couple of weeks. I am taking the GRE this Saturday, Nov 7th in Lee's Summit. I've been doing a fair amount of prep for it (I say prep and not studying because it is hard to consider the GRE as any sort of learning experience) although I could and should be doing more. I hope to work more on it this week running up to Saturday.

The week after, Nov 14th, I will be travelling to Missouri State to present at a math conference about "my" research on a first derivative test for relative maximum and minimums in 3D space to replace the second derivative test currently in use. It sounds glorified but really I made none of this discovery, it's more of my professor's work than it is mine so I hold no claim to it. It is interesting stuff though that took a while to understand and test.

After that, it is one more week of school and then thanksgiving break which I am ready for. The problem with fall semester is that we go forever before we get an actual break. The final date I am really really ready for is Dec 11th when I fly out home. It's been about 16 months since I last was home and I am ready for some food, family and friends. I have a feeling 1 month will fly by too quickly.

The plans after I graduate are still up in the air. The simple options are to go home or to stay here. I guess the GRE will play a role in the decision, but I'll be keeping my options open. If I stay, it will probably only be to continue on in graduate school, either getting a Masters in Economics or Urban Planning or a PhD in Economics although little research has been done on graduate schools.

I'm staying busy in school, now more so with work than school although this week will be the week of shifting gears. My big program with the Ellis complex, Oksoberfest is over, and went over well, about 350 people showed up. I'll be taking a break from all that now and probably won't have big plans in store the rest of the school year for housing stuff. It's time for the newbies to take over.

I guess that's the update for now.

time, existence, the infinite

I feel like I'm at a very philosophical point in life. Bear in mind, I am capable of making just about every pointless instance in my life some kind of mind bearing complexity but nevertheless, I feel like this moment in time is heavy and contains weight, that the decisions I make within these immediate moments of time bring definition to my existence on this planet.

Foundational to this is an idea I do not necessarily embrace but that seems to dictate much of my life, the idea that action determines value; what I mean is that what we do determines the worth of our lives. I guess that this derives from the fact that I've never viewed idleness as a virtue. While humans prove to be creatures of leisure, the idea that the epitome of life is that of pure inaction runs contrary to everything I've processed as valuable over the course of my two decade long life. And while I do not believe that we derive our self identity from the way we live our lives, there shouldn't be dispute about the relationship between the output of our lives (work and activity) and the input of our lives (purpose and identity).

Life has until this point, taken a natural progression. Education has been an inevitable process for me til now. But where does "now" take me? The natural progression comes to a halt. I wish I had the answer but I don't. I fall back on the relationship i discussed above, that what I do is key to who I am and as a conscious and free being, I play some role in dictating who I want to be, which explains the heaviness of these times. The choices before me are not solely career choices but personal ones. I need to make a conscious decision that may very well define my being and meaning for the rest of my life. And from these decisions I may or may not be deriving value and worth, happiness and satisfaction.

I take refuge in my faith in a higher being. The inadequacies that I face, I believe (or at least hope) are universal. The struggles I face, also universal. All men want more and want to be more but clearly cannot achieve such infinite abstractions within the realm of finite being, and I am but one of many trying to inject infinite meaning into what seems like a minuscule and limit bounded existence. While many may disagree, I hold to the idea that the chase for infinite meaning, for life larger than life is only possible beyond the realm of life and existence. I take refuge in the metaphysical, that the supreme being knows best and will create this infinite meaning for my life during these heavy times.

much needed update

It's been too long since I've updated. At first it was a lack of information to report but slowly it became not enough time to report.

I've been really busy the last week and a half or so with school work. I have to put a regular amount of time into my math class, and have had a lot of work to finish for econometrics. On top of that, I'm trying to study for the GRE which I will sit for on Nov 7th, so finding time to do all of that is quite daunting but doable. My last two days have been planned out hourly to get things accomplish and though it is tiring it's productive and I can sleep well with productivity in place.

Oksoberfest, the big Ellis Housing event is next week and I'm also coordinating that, though it has taken a back seat this week to classes and academics. It should be a big thing next week though. Halloween decorating on the floor should be starting soon, and I take my decorating seriously so that will be another thing to add into the agenda for the next week or so.

Really everything is going well. My housing responsibilities are going real well. The staff I work with this year is awesome and so is my floor. Some classes are hard and others are a breeze but they balance out and keep me busy. I am ready for Christmas break though. The weather here has been back and forth between perfect and cold but by Christmas, it'll be straight cold and I'll be more than ready for good ol' tropical weather.

update

I've managed to keep very busy one month into the semester. Classes are alright; tests and assignments are starting to kick in so I've spent a lot of time on school stuff. I just took a Money & Banking test today and have a couple of assignments due in Econometrics and Portfolio Assessment.

Housing stuff is starting to unwind. I have an all campus ping pong tournament next week to see through and then I should have a break from programming in the halls for a while. I've been more busy with that than school work but the tides are changing pretty fast.

Other than that, sadly there isn't much new to report. Things are going well, the temperatures are starting to drop (today is the first day of fall) and the world continues to turn on its axis.

much needed update

I've taken a long break from blogging mostly because of my crazy schedule so far but partly because of me being lazy. I'm on duty this weekend, and since Monday is Labor Day the building is quiet so I figure it's about time I send an update out.

First of all, my vacation in DC at the beginning of August was great. There's so much to see in the city that it was hard to be bored the four days I was there. The pictures speak for themselves and I'll out more up soon.

After DC, I came back and moved in for CA Training for about two weeks, then we had the residents move in and classes got underway. I'm on the all-guys floor this year, the only one on campus, and it's been pretty cool so far. My staff team has been cool too so I can't complain.

I've been busy with classes since I'm in a GRE Prep course that runs 4 hours a week til September 16th which adds to my course load, but once that class ends in two weeks I'll have a lot more free time.

Also, I've been spending a lot of time programming for the hall, we have a big all campus ping pong tournament coming up and my hall is putting on an "Olympics" event too. On top of that I manage the hall's front desk and am starting up the hall improvements committee too. Once October rolls around though, all programming will be done with, the desk will be running itself and hall improvements will have wrapped up its purchases for the semester so life should take on a more easy feel.

I guess that's it for now.

Washington DC part 2

Capitol Hill



Inside the dome...




Supreme Court..Library of Congress

washington DC part 1

Finally getting round to posting pictures from my trip to DC. I'm working backwards so here's the sites from the last day of my trip.

The Washington Monument Korean War Memorial
Lincoln Memorial




Vietnam Memorial




World War II Memorial





American History Museum
Art Museum

Pakatan and Selangor

I have a little under an hour of down time in between stuff at training and I guess I could update about my DC trip or CA training but I think I'd rather comment on Dr Mahathir's prediciton of the future of Pakatan Rakyat rule in Selangor. He claims that the open disagreements between PAS and DAP concerning alcohol sale among other things are a sign of crumbling times among the coalition.

Here's the thing, one of the many reasons why BN failed in the last election was the lack of transparency and openness within it, including openness in discussion among component parties like MCA, MIC and UMNO. The people became wary of the amount of secrecy that took place when each party negotiated with the other behind closed doors hidden from the people, a scenario with plenty of incentive for untrustworthy practices.

I say I'm glad we now have a coalition government that is open about squabbles and disagreements. If they appeared to have everything in common and nothing in dispute then they would be a single party, not a coalition of parties. Squabbles and disagreeements are part and parcel of our democratic process of government. Of course, the open disagreements between DAP and PAS will eventually have to come to a resolve if Pakatan Rakyat is to remain relevant and cohesive, but the existence of differences is part and parcel of coalition governance and as long as such clashes are always resolved, there is nothing wrong with the open processes that precedes it.

As citizens of Malaysia, we need to grow comfortable with this new political landscape which is contrastingly different from BN's philosophy of a "united front" but "fractured behind." With the increasing use of media to disseminate information, secrecy is a non-option and transparency and honesty is the only option. It's high time we all got used to it, even Dr. M.

Letter to TheStar: End Sugar Subsidy

As CAP of Penang makes clear, Malaysians consume too much sugar and it's killing us. It is quite sickening to think that our diet consists of 26 teaspoons of sugar, more than double the recommended daily intake by the World Health Organization.

The problem is that current government policy provides incentive for our people to consume more sugar than they should. The fact that our country subsidizes the price of sugar to keep it low is not a wise one simply because there is little nutritional value to it and thus little need to keep it affordable for the Malaysian public.We spend that money on sugar and then have to turn around and pour some more money into our health system to treat the diseases brought about by our policy on sugar. The same can be said about price controls on cooking oil, condensed milk and salt, three other over consumed food items among Malaysians. If at all such subsidies should be allocated towards fresh vegetables and fruit instead although I am of the opinion that the best solution is to stay out of skewing market as much as possible.

Economists have long held the position that blanket subsidies like what we have are inefficient as they are costly and not as effective in achieving their purpose of affordability for the poor. Instead, as we clearly see, they skew the decisions of all households in the country in a negative way. Let the prices of sugar, oil and condensed milk float so that the average Malaysians keep their consumption in check and diabetes at bay. Then use that money saved to provide the needed aid specifically to the poor who need it most so that they aren't filling up on cheap sugar and oil but on the needed nutritional diet they should have.

fried rice, roti canai and chicken rendang

The last couple of cooking ventures for the summer:
Seafood Fried Rice Roti Canai with Daal
Chicken Rendang and Stir Fried Snap Beans and Carrots

update

Not much new to report. Hours have been scarce at work no thanks to camps cancelling because of the economy. I lost 6 hours this week bringing my total hours lost to 12. Hopefully I'll be able to gain hours here and there to make up for it but the summer is almost over and we have only 1 more camp coming in so that seems unlikely. I guess that's the biggest disappointment of the summer. I was hoping for more hours of work than I got so I spend a lot more idle time just sitting around then I'd intended but oh well.

I'm going to start packing and moving stuff back over to Ellis over the next couple of days. Move in is set for August 5th, but I'll be in Washington DC from August 1st to the 4th meeting up with Andrew so I really don't want to rush the day after I get back.

Apart from that, I have one paper for my Urban Economics class to complete and I've begun working on bulletin boards, door decs and the other stuff for my floor for next year but really there's not too much to worry about. I'm contemplating a trip to Chicago but I don't know yet. It'll cost more money and it's pretty rushed with the 2 weeks I have left to come up with something so more than likely that isn't going to happen

summer readings

I don't have as impressive a summer collection of readings this year because I spent much of the beginning of my summer reading assigned chapters of Urban Economics textbooks which would probably not be of interest to the lay man. I did however read one book at the beginning of the summer, The Joke by Milan Kundera which centres around the theme of guilt in communism society. It was an assigned reading for my communism class last semester which we never got to so I figured I'd read it over the summer.

I just started reading another book that I've tried reading in the past but got lazy to concentrate on. The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy was one of three most important influences to the life of Mahatma Ghandi and focuses on as wikipedia explains "a new organization for society based on a literal Christian interpretation" especially the issue of nonviolent resistance.

Apart from that I've been reading academic papers from journals about urban development and public transportation as research for a paper I need to write for my class. No guarantee that I'll get to expand my reading list by the end of the summer although I am wanting to read Lost in Meritocracy by Walter Kirn but that can wait til later when the price of the book drops.

science and math in english

I've never been ecstatic about claims that I am a closeted DAP supporter because I guess it is more self flattering to think of myself as having a politically independent mind, that isn't aligned to any majority set of ideas and fundamentals but when I read Tony Pua's posting I realized that there is no denying that on many levels my beliefs stand close to theirs.

I've been meaning to post my opinion on the whole PPSMI issue for a while now and now that Tony Pua has made his ideas public, I kind of wish I had published a post earlier, just to beat him to the chase (and establish that my ideas are indeed mine and not copies of his) but I guess it's too late now and I'll just have to settle with being a Tony Pua copycat.

As I posted before here (and here in edited form), we cannot and should not ignore the language disparity within the nation. There are thousands of Malaysians that already speak good English and find the current TESL method inadequate because they live in an atmosphere where English isn't a second language to them but a first language. These kids have had no problem with learning Science and Math in English and have probably benefited from the policy. This is great news for Malaysia, as these students will grow up and find it easy to engage in scientific research with the rest of the academic community internationally.

While I recognize the pressing need to address the problems rural Malaysia faces with this policy, (at times I almost agree with the nationwide reversion just for their sake) it would be sad to see many of our leading students lose their edge because of the reversion of this policy. I am in full agreement with Tony Pua that some schools should be allowed to maintain the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English if the schools have already been successful in implementing the policy. Why fix what isn't broke, right? The many schools that are struggling to cope with getting teachers proficient in English can revert back to BM, but those who have the teachers to continue the policy should be allowed to continue.

I give credit to Tony Pua for his idea of including PIBGs in making the decision of English or BM in schools. Sure it will probably result in some polarizing opinions but parents should have a greater say in the education of their children. The final decision of each individual can lie with the ministry/school administrators but PIBGs should at the very least be allowed to voice their opinion on the matter.

At the end of the day, I am not losing too much sleep over the decision other than the fact that the whole ordeal has wasted a lot of money (training teachers, buying software and hardware to facilitate teaching, etc). I grew up in an all BM environment and sure it was a little tricky at first in my science and math classes in college, but they really are universal languages of their own that aren't too impossible to adapt to. Of course they put the brakes on efforts to improve the proficiency of English of an entire generation but I do have faith in some of the new policies in place to improve English (rehiring retired English teachers being my favorite, those old style English teachers may be old fashioned but they do speak good English and many teach well). So hopefully we don't fall too far behind with the whole 180 policy change.

comments on education

I've written in to newspapers again to comment about the change in policy regarding English. I'm just gonna copy and paste what I wrote below:

While I am in full agreement with the government's new effort to promote proficiency in the English Language, the increase in hours dedicated to the language leaves me concerned about students in out school who already find the teaching of English in schools too easy and not challenging. We need to recognize that because of our colonial past, there is a large disparity in language proficiency across the nation. While many today urban children grow up speaking English as a first language, at the same time there are countless households where English is a foreign language to the family. As one who grew up in and English speaking home, I found many English classes painfully slow and too easy. By increasing time dedicated to teaching English in schools we are definitely helping those not fluent in the language, but I feel for those who come from English speaking homes. Will they be left with longer hours at school where they are bored, unmotivated and unchallenged?

I believe the answer to this problem is to develop classes of "Higher English" for those with a better hold of the language. They should not be held behind in schools but challenged to gain an even better grasp of English and communication through analysis of more complex pieces of literature, higher levels of writing and composition as well as debate and critical thinking. By expanding the English syllabus in schools we are running the risk of taking away learning opportunities from students who already find the current teaching of English too easy for them. By diversifying the different levels of English we teach in schools, we stand to gain from improving everyone's use of the language, not just those who are learning it as a second language. Raising all boats and not some is key to the development of this nation.