talkshop

The gist of the post is that I have been selected for an overseas program. 

I do not touch on academic stuff and happenings in NUS but this is rather special. Earlier in the semester, Alvin and Kaiwei persuaded me to apply for NOC again as they were also doing the same. For those in the dark, NOC is the NUS Overseas College program where chosen students are sent abroad with a 1 year high tech startup fulltime internship plus a part time study course that results in a Technopreneur minor upon completion of the whole exercise.

This is all very prestigious stuff as the locations are Silicon Valley, Biovalley, Sweden and Shanghai. Of course, Bangalore is in the works but it is meant for postgraduate candidates. And not to mention that you will study with the best and brightest in universities like Stanford, UPenn, KTH or Fudan.

But not all is rosy in the beginning. The wooing process took 3 separate tries. The first two exploded with in my face in 2nd interviews. It was crucial as you have only 20 minutes to convince your professors and faculty heads why you should go on this program. As much as I have prepared, I buckled under pressure and was forced to look at my own inadequacies.

At times, I wonder at my progress as a entrepreneur. Sometimes, the days are good and we march on. On others, we walk backwards and wonder what are we doing. I believe in investing time periodically and look at where are you currently. It helps to plot your success, failure and lessons more accurately. With NOC rejections, engineering workloads, responsibilities to organisational roles in Project:Senso and Hall, sometimes it is a lot to suck it all down.

But the third time was special alright. I am offered a position in Shanghai and there is a lot of work to be done to prepare myself and the papers involved.

Im a happy boy! 

Last Sunday, I finally caught up with Robin over msn. He just got back from the architecture studio. Not losing a heartbeat, I got him to go for supper with me over at Pasir Panjang, where the prata quality is definitely many times better than those flipped at Fong Seng’s.

We talked about our internships over the summer break. Its really cool to know that he had a lot of exposure while working at Kennel (a breakaway from DP Architects). With a measly pay of $xxx (I don’t have the liberty of talking about it..), he gets to work with big events like the Biennale 2006. The cardboard furniture was his baby actually and it is submitted for a design competition. Funky, ain’t that?

On to the lessons, we all know the importance of networking and how it can build bridges where it didn’t exist before. Still, a lot of us like to focus on networking in our own little zones of expertise. Seemingly, cross-discipline networking seems like a huge hurdle for anyone. After all, what could you ever say to someone who is foreign to you.

Lots of innovations come from cross-discipline creativity. Like how a patent attorney would need a blend of engineering and legal knowledge to do his job. And of course, you never know if this stranger might know someone you would love to meet.

So network where no one has networked before! 

The past week, I made a very silly mistake which caused a cosmetic horror on the X9. This is a lesson for those who wish to take more care in their vehicles or learn more about the dark side of vandalism.

My bike has ran out of fuel last week. No sweat, just find the nearest Shell station. I picked up the (what do you call it?) petrol injector and turned around to look at the prices. Im a price sensitive consumer, so bite me.

Turns out that some leftover fuel from the previous topup leaked onto my bike. Its not a waterfall but I guess it can be classified as a dripping splash. Which seems fine to me, after all water should be able to was it off. 

Theory: Oil floats on water, so petrol can be removed

Not really. After some education from friends, I noticed the next few bike washes always had some shiny residue. Looks like its going to be a "long term problem". Meanwhile some paint have dropped off but its just plastics. Heng ah.. I will pengsan if its the paintwork.

Rule of Thumb: Petrol stations are dangerous. Do not light a naked flame. Do not leave your engines on. Never ever place a nozzle over your vehicle without keeping one eye on it. Ok.. Don’t forget to keep the cashcard too.