4th Estate

Our upstarting from rags (and hopefully to riches) Social Sciences publication team had our first meet up today to discuss very rogue plans on commencing something like a faculty newsletter, and it was personally very exciting. SMU's publication stint is fascinating in that it boasts such a colourful history despite its rather young age.

But anyway, I guess Blue and Gold has fizzled out primarily because you simply can't generalise campus issues over the faculty-diverse and rather generally apathetic population here without being stretched thin, and that's where I think a specifically Social Sciences-run publication will work.

Especially Social Sciences! There is so, so much potential. There's nothing much to disclose now, especially so as not to disappoint.



Anyway, other than a miserable half-attempt at pretending not to brag about my IPPT conquests, school's reopened and I haven't said much since.

I think, as the university years roll along, I will get happily lonelier around these halls and walls that used to surround as well as represent much laughter and social activity I've had with friends who've made freshman year truly memorable.

We go through inevitable phases and this year is our time. We own the school now - the seniors have stepped aside, moved on, and the year 2s are running excos through a wide array of organisations, groups and societies. The other inevitable phase, I'd suppose, is to move on from the wide-eyed wonder of finally being a university student around other fellas only too eager to soak up the effervescent foray into what seemed like a neverending spiral of novelty and excitement, into being... well, the unsmiling, no-nonsense I-dunno-he-year-3-or-year-4-the-very-old-one-lah. Just kidding. Right now, it only seems too taboo to even have thought that the seasons would've went on forever during those times, but who would've blamed most of us?

So anyway, while I'm going to classes mostly alone (and sitting also mostly alone because I'm not of the friendly variety), I'm actually happier this way. I won't even go as far as to say that gone were the days of being eager and patronising, because for me personally it has evolved from wanting to know more friends into trying to painfully maintain your hi-bye ones instead. The year 1 bubble's burst and now I'm settled. It's very personal, but I'm lucky enough to be pursuing Psychology, which is something that is continuously self-preserving and self-generating in terms of interest, energy, curiosity and passion, and maybe I can't say the same for others where a social life needs to be intact to compensate for the painfully exciting and numerically-decorated modules they are wading through now. Especially when it gets more beautifully profound as the years promise to carry them forth on the wings of intense knowledge. Hmm.

So as it is, as I perceive it, classmates (I'd better specify them to be my Psychology ones) aren't casual friends anymore, but passion-driven counterparts and friendly semi-rivals instead, both friend and challenger in this knowledge quest.

I think I'm dangerously making my undergraduate sophomore experience seem like an incredibly noble adventure.

I guess part of the equation for making me work is making me feel like I'm privileged to be where I am. Versus the crappy Social Science Research Methods module in the unbecoming class room crammed together with a bunch of freshmen, Design, Measurement & Analysis in the professional setting of a seminar room definitely feels like a privilege.




If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of loan payments.

Audio Candy:
Alexisonfire - This Could Be Anywhere In The World