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Friday, September 24, 2010
two more papers till end of prelims.
yesterday and today was a long break. talked with sam, astika, david and alison for some time at the sac after math. i found the math paper pretty much like paper 1- section A was doable (honestly, if i'm saying this, you shouldn't have had any problem with that) but section B just ruined everything, again. section A was surprisingly okay, really- although i kinda disappointed myself at that invNorm question where they gave you the probability inequality equation (could you call that an 'inequation'?) and i immediately thought "ah, one of the first questions they taught us how to do when we first learnt normal distribution. easy peasy." and i ended up stuck halfway realizing i didn't know what to do next, and felt silly. oh well! on the bright side, i actually managed to do the last question of section A- the one on differentiation, where you had to use the substitution they provided. credit goes to H2 Math Guide by Lois Chee- it really teaches some math topics well.
let me digress to studying subjects. i have a number of study guides/books- not all of which i spend an equal amount of time with- but this is because i find some teach some topics better than others. for math, you don't really want to stick with the Haese and Harris textbook that's listed on the IB school booklist by default; it is lengthy, thick and shaped very awkwardly. i dislike these fat books very much- you practically need to use one hand the whole time holding them open while you do a question there or annotate a page. the aforementioned H2 math guide teaches Vectors very well- it goes step-by-step, moving on smoothly from lines to planes. the book teaches differentiation decently as well. but there are some (minor) errors in the book, such as in the examples they provide- yet again, since i could find them, you probably will be able too, as well. the math study guide by CS Toh (who hasn't heard of this guy/(girl)?) imparts complex numbers and functions/inequalities in a clearer way, though, and more importantly some of the techniques specific to questions that come out in our IB math papers are taught inside there- about 3 or 4 of them, regarding complex numbers. gtg's notes on vectors are actually quite decent. haha, my ex tuition teacher had a good laugh when he found what gtg'd written; "by God's grace, i managed to prove that..." something along those lines, in the appendix of the paper.
i wanted to talk about econs, but wow, that's a long paragraph up there, maybe next time instead. one thing about econs paper 2- i find that reading the news and knowing what's going on in the world helps a lot regarding real-life examples (we all know how naresh loves them) and doing that gives you some sense of security before you go in and do the paper. the bad thing is time management, though- 40 minutes each question really pushes you to write fast. my hand stung after that paper.
i brought back my keyboard and mouse yesterday. haha, well i needed a break after all this- i think this is the hardest i've ever worked in my entire life, honestly. and i know it's not even that much. but i find quality > quantity A LOT regarding studying- really, it all boils down to finding the way you study best and sticking to that. some people- especially girls, i find- seem to relate better to graphical notes drawn with multicoloured markers. i tried that before- and failed horribly, because i am a stickler for neatness and perhaps perfection when it comes to notes :/ anyway, i found out no too long ago my 'optimal' way of studying is rephrasing and rewriting key points- of course, reading the whole chapter in detail first, referring to study guides now and then. painstaking, but it works for me! some people seem to like to listen to music while it works. i don't think it works very well for guys- haha, i remember what mr cheong said during the bio emergency briefing- girls are better suited to multitasking. i don't know how true that is but i am horribly, easily distracted by anything around in the immediate environment, and for that reason i don't often go out to study or listen to music while doing work. try that, guys! then you will be as awesome as me :D hehehe.
oh yes, i did say i brought back my keyboard and mouse. reconstructed my comp, played some games of sc2 with leeyang; we seem to be still quite a good team :D thaddeus joined in later and we had a good time. leeyang and i'd harass like mad while thaddeus macro'ed up and brought out the big guns later, and that usually got us the game. other times, things didn't go to well...our opponents'd counterattack and somehow i'd usually be the first guy they'd go for, and my base'd get utterly decimated. thankfully i usually migrated a drone somewhere else, then beg thad/ly to send me resources to start a new base, haha. other times that didn't work out and we lost. it was fun! all the more cause ly and i were on mic but thad was lazy to get his out. some time later i went back to 1v1 because they were both off- heck, i was really scared, platinum league is just crazy. i went on a losing streak (well, i've been away for so long!) and slowly, slowly, begain to win the occasional game here and there. eventually i kind of got a baneling bust order in my head and started winning consistently- even got the 5 solo hot streak :D okay so the baneling bust is a fairly cheesy, 'cheap' tactic but hey, you still need that bit of skill to pull it off. i felt sorry during one game where the losing fellow, after having the majority of his harvesting SCVs getting blown up by a few banelings of mine, started complaining how it was the 3rd time he was losing to the same build. i told him the answer wasn't hard- use double barracks to wall off. he said he'd had, when he'd hadn't- instead using a supply depot, which was why i busted in so easily. i tried to explain more, he ignored and left. so, with a wave of Nietzschean pride and fury i enveloped his base with an additional swarm of zerglings, and he left. and some how, some way, i am still in platinum league!
i received a little postcard from DSTA some days ago. it invites the recipient to a little morning tea and scholarship talk on the 2nd of october. i recall some classmates going for a DSTA talk before- maybe this is a second talk for the lesser plebians in the scholarly hierachy. they did, also, take careful notice to make sure that the card was made out to me- "For Greater Minds" is emblazoned on the front of the postcard. my mum saw it too, and though i said i didn't want to go, from the tone of her voice i knew that wasn't going to happen. she said it'd be a good experience since it was the first time i'd actually meet up with these people. i guessed so. the card said to RSVP to an email address. so i typed in the email address and title of the email...and accidentally pressed enter, sending the blank email to the person. well done stewart, spamming the first ever scholarship-offering person you've come into contact with. not the best start you could hope for. i sent a second email after that, saying i'd come and, well, was sorry for the spam. urggggh. anyway, free food!
tonight, i went out for a movie with a special person- the only woman i've held in my arms. yes, fine, it was my mum. her company was giving some treat to employees' families- so her friend and i went along with her. there was a nice buffet that started at 7pm- somehow, they expected to entertain ourselves till 9.30 when the movie started. the buffet was good, though- oven baked chicken with ham and cheese, braised beef (or was it pork? i do not know food well), sushi (they had corn sushi. that was weird), yummy sausages and yummier desserts. i love those little fruit tartlets that consist of a biscuit-y base, a custard filling and topped with fresh fruit like kiwi or strawberry, they're awesome :D anyway the buffet was at the top floor- they called it the 'Sky' level- which was quite funny since you could walk onto the roof and see other buildings towering way above you still, cause the top floor of the building was the 7th, which isn't all that tall. fortunately, the buffet was on the same level as 'the largest LAN gaming center in Singapore'- Colosseum, which apparently has 200 computers, sc2/dota/mw2 ready. i went in and watched a bit. some guy was using carriers- something i have never, ever seen in a single replay, ever. neither in pro or noob replays- i guess that means something. anyway i slowly started feeling like i should play, then felt stupid that i should pay for something i have at home, and went out. and went to coffee bean downstairs to grab a latte and read a book on the ipad.
the ipad's iBook store is really good- mostly because they have classics for download, which are mostly free since the copyrights for them expired tens of years ago. on the 'top downloads' list there was another free book called Dream Psychology- by Freud. i got it, wondering if it was another of those passing fads loaded with much alluring psychobabble that'd suck in the unsuspecting reader. my expectations were overturned- utterly. from what i gather, or remember, it's a condensation of Freud's work on psychoanalysis- i was in part interested in it cause last year and not too long ago i'd wiki'd Freud and much of his work, which is all very interesting. what i'd read before turned out to be an excellent primer to the book's contents- in some sense because Freud's vocabulary is varied, intense, strong- sometimes you can get lost trying to understand what he's trying to explain because his phrasing seems slightly convoluted, and with perhaps unnecessary interpositions within sentences. so having a basic understanding of Freud's work helped a lot- if not i'd be quite lost where i am in the book right now.
the contents of the book may, at some points, become painstakingly difficult to absorb because the pace Freud moves can be so draggy, if you will, at times. probably because he believed he was pioneering a new frontier of medical science- which is obviously nothing that can be taken with triviality. he carefully, deliberately defines many concepts that may seem unnecessary to; but i guess to remember, he'd come under so much criticism in his time and dream psychoanalysis had been all but treated with little regard by physicians in his era, and so Freud probably saw himself as the sole advocate for the case he was presenting- and so he took care to make it a solid one, leaving no stone unturned. right around page 64 or so, if i remember correctly, his tone suddenly seems to shift unexpectedly, and breezily, as he begins to expound eroticism in dreams. you'd think he'd be even more cautious around this subject, but it is at this point he seems to abandon treading lightly and just push his case forward. it is a fascinating read so far; i recommend it. i started Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte recently, too, but have only made it past a few pages; the protagonist seems intensely introspective so far, though. my mum's friend says it's a great book, and i am looking forward to reading it. i suppose this is what my free time's going to be spent on from now on, especially after marking days when my keyboard and mouse go on an indefinite holiday till after IB.
anyway, back to the movie. it was Wall Street, starring Shia LeBouf of Transformers fame. yes, a business-themed film- something i'd never voluntarily watch. the only thing it sparked in my mind was my dislike of the 'financial sector'- no biting thoughts here, i just...think there are better ways to contribute to society than pushing money around. i guess it still has to be done to some extent, though. in the past days, i've had a desire to watch The Dark Knight again- for the unaware, it's the batman film, the sequel to Batman Begins. i think the Joker is the best-conceived villian- ever, the only true psychotic. he just toys with so many minds in the film...and you never really know him, or what he wants. Alfred sums it up well:
Alfred Pennyworth: A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne: Then why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth: Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
i must watch it again by next week ><
and in response to ian: haha, well it just didn't seem to me that every question was that doable. i guess it's how you interpret it and draw parameters within which your essay's contents will float. maybe i didn't read the questions close enough, hehe.
ah, it's 2am! what happened to sleeping early.
9:53 AM
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