Sunday, January 09, 2005
Think Real
Ohhh...
Holidays ending soon. How sad. Classes tentatively start on monday but as i've mentioned, nothing starts before the Chinese New Year starts. So, figuratively, i have another one more month of holidays. Man, i love my race.
Anyway, i had to come back to s'pore one week before classes to get the band recording done as well as the online bidding for the modules that i'm to take next semester. Yea, bidding, that's it. Well, basically, it starts where everyone has a certain amount of points to start with, which are accumulative, so the seniors who have been rather thrifty with their points previous sems, they'd pretty much be able to dominate the biddings and get whatever they want this sem. It's pretty unfair but hey, life goes on. You place your bets on the modules that you intend to take next semester, in accordance to how desperately you want them. So, instead of waking up really early in the morning and lining up in queues to sign up for the modules, we have this system, not on a first come first serve basis, which is not a really good thing. In exchange for the physicality of the more conventional methods, we in turn have to stare at the monitor all day to monitor our biddings, just in case we do not get oubidded by some stupid wet blankets who dumps his whole entire load into it. We end up being frustrated firstly because we don't have enough points, and secondly, we hate the modules that we had no choice but to take up because no one else wants them and they were the only ones with vacancies. Sucky eh.
So, thing is, while i was busy figuring whether i should take literature or sociology this sem, i was bombarded then again with a very-scary-fact. While i have made up my mind to pursue Life Sciences and while constantly purred by the fact that it's THE thing of the 21st century, i've come to a realisation that I Do Not Want To Do Life Science For Life!! Not that i'm giving up or anything, it's just that, with the amount of people graduating by the year 2008 and the amount of people doing biological sciences in the decades to come, i've realised that i might just fade into obscurity. Another face in the crowd. Nothing different, nothing unique. Moreover, i might fail the opportunity to make a difference in this world (sounds corny, but heck, i'm corny). And the worst thing is, i might/will end up working for peanuts. I will get the same measly pay same time of the month, every month, for the rest of my working life. It might be a stable paying job, but stable does not equals exponential. And without exponential growth, when then can i retire feeling that i've enough money to last my lifetime and my children's lifetime? Nobody on their deathbed has ever said that he wished he had spent more time studying or working. It just doesnt make sense. my parents have spent their last 30 years working their arses off at nonetheless high paying jobs, yet sad to say, they are still unable to afford their children's full education fees. And reality tells me that, history is going to repeat itself and i am going to have to face the same problem my parents have, if i go on running round and round in this rat race, chasing after a cheese that was never mine in the first place.
It's time to wake up and smell the roses. Who are we kidding? We work, primarily for money. We'll have to admit that. And if my time and effort does not pay off (literally), why should i stick to conventional methods of making money then? Do not let work come between you and money. It's time to think real.
