Saturday...

Again, I'm here...seeking an avenue to complain and sort of venting my frustrations in an informal way...
I'm tired of studying what I am studying...Or rather, to clarify, I'm not regretting having chosen wat I'm studying now many years ago after graduating from JC....
but rather, I think I'm way ahead of most of the other, if not the vast majority of the other undergraduates in their final years in terms of mindset, expectations, experiences and the like...

Who can really understand how I think nowadays?
Who understands my concerns? My frustrations? My complaints? My thoughts? My memories?
Those who have trodden on a similar path as I have or who are even ahead of me (definitely I'm not the best) will perhaps understand how I feel...

School life is certainly not too suitable for me anymore...I can't get a strong sense of satisfaction from what I'm doing everydae....
And I MUST complain about something here....which I CANNOT stand in Singapore...
The conservative and narrow-minded way of thinking of many Asians and Singaporeans MUST change...
And people who have studied or worked in US must certainly agree with me on this...
To date, everytime I mention that I am a student in Singapore at networking events, I will not be taken seriously...
In US, it was different. Of course, not every American listened. But many do listen to me.
In Singapore, I lose all credibility the moment people realize that I am a student.
This must change. I will seek the change. I will influence the change. It's for the betterment of Singapore's society. Having an overly conservative mindset such as this will only stifle creativity amongst the bright minds of many students, undergraduates and the like.
It will do no good for Singapore's entrepreneurship push. It discourages students to want to share. It demotivates them. It lowers their self-belief.

Look at Mark Zuckerberg. At 23 today, CEO of FaceBook, valued at US$15billion. Michael Dell, dropout at college, co-founder and CEO of Dell, second largest PC company in the world. Many others.
Singapore? Who? Hello?
I applaud the local push for entrepreneurship, but I'm sorry, let's wake up to face reality. We are light years behind US. We have many things to learn, to implement, to execute. It will take perhaps even generations for the right mindset to re-evolve. The courage to explore, to try and fail and be encouraged, to startup, to challenge traditional ways of thinking, to challenge norms, to believe that age and experiences are not best benchmarks to measure one's potential and so on.

As a start, students could and should be given more credibility. As an investor, entrepreneur or just an educated person at networking events or the like, one should undertake the responsibility to evaluate whether a student's thoughts should be worth believing. I'm not saying that every students should be believed but rather, to take the proactive step of listening first and not brush us off so hastily.

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Can I influence the change in Singapore? Can I make a difference?
I don't know and I don't care. I will do it and I already do it through my actions and speech everyday to people. I hope I will be given the opportunity to do this on a larger scale, to make my thoughts heard, to let it resonate amongst wise and sensible leaders of Singapore.

Alright, that is my grouse.
I'm also tired of studying what I'm studying. I'm cut out for business, not engineering, period.
While I have been able to obtain pretty good grades in my first 2 years prior to NOC, I guess that is just my academic ability at work. NOC allowed me to realize my REAL strengths. And it has made me realize that engineering is great and noble but just something that I should leave to those who are much more talented than me in this field.

Don't get me wrong. I respect engineers A LOT. Without them, technological advances will not be possible. I just believe that I can make a greater and better difference to society and our world by being the bridge between engineers and commercialization.

Once I get the chance, I will do all that I can do realize my vision.

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There has been more sensational happenings for me the past week.

A professor contacted me requesting me to be featured in the Undergraduate brochure for the year 2008. I agreed of course. It is my pleasure and honor to do so.

I was interviewed briefly by the Straits Times earlier this week and featured on Wednesday.

Yesterday, I had the greatest privilege to meet up with the Head of Clean Energy from EDB and his team. Wonderful people! The news that we see and hear everyday about clean energy all came from them.
He's a very nice guy. Friendly, humorous, no airs at all, intelligent and doing great for Singapore. His team comprises very nice people too. But I felt bad that they had to stay till 7+pm just so that we could all interact.
The sharing of thoughts between like-minded people really made my day.

It was certainly my honor and pleasure meeting them again.

So, a few great happenings for me again this past week. Sensational.
There's sth else which I do not want to disclose here.

Anyhow, I am not allowing anything to make me arrogant or complacent. That is the first step to failure for any aspiring entrepreneur or person seeking success in life.
I am just genuinely grateful that I have been given all these opportunities.

I will return to society, to our community by contributing to Singapore in great ways in time to come.
Despite my earlier grouse, I meant no harm. I only mean well and it is indeed necessary for our nation to be able to progress in the many years to come.

So now, anyone feels that he or she really understands how I feel?
I jumped on the space shuttle that brought me ahead of where I should be presently. I will bring anyone who is interested on board.

Singapore requires us, its human capital, its assets.

For now, it's almost time for bed for me.
I am feeling better. Guess why?

No, it's not really cos of this blog post. It was due to the Stephen Chow movie I watched on channel 8 just now. Silly me?
No, it was just memories from young as I laughed while watching it.
I laughed again. =p

Goodnight all.

The tougher the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.
A long way to success, but I will persevere!
=)