LDS......the joy and pain.

Being in a long-distance relationship has never been easy.

party.. because I get very negative comments from people. I know that they do not mean to be harsh. They're just trying their best to bring 'reality' to me. They say:

"Long-distance relationship won't work."

"Don't say yes first. Got so many boys out there. Afterwards, you find a better one, how?"

..S.L thinking inside, there will be always boys who are better with the ones that we are with. That's why adultery happens. That's why when we think we found a 'better' one, without strong commitment, a relationship or a marriage tears apart. Anyway, there will be always boys who are worse than him. I say, there's only one unique person I won't want to let go.

"Out of sight, out of mind".

"Boyfriends are suppose to be there with their girlfriends..they're suppose to take care of them."

"So, what's next lah? Are you two gonna be like apart forever?" *sarcastic*

Sometimes, I keep quiet. I find that there's no point for me to argue with them because they're

so hard up on their opinions. Oh well, it's not like I ask for their opinion in the first place.

Well..I could have given up in this relationship.

But, I won't and I can't...

because I believe there is HOPE

.... LOVE

..................and FAITH in God who keeps us both together.

And it has been three years of joy and lil' misunderstanding along the way. :)

In the end of the day, what matters is God's purpose for us.

I'm not too keen to know what a few people say. They don't want to understand the situation.

They're just busy bodies.

However, I'm ever grateful for good friends, church friends and CG people who prayed for this relationship, and that we will grow together. It's truly a divine intervention that we're still together. I can't even imagine being this far apart for so long while I was in college. :)

Thanks for all your prayers and wonderful support. I cherish it alot.

Clinical..what?

Yes! I've been elected as the secretary for Clinical Psychology Interest Club. It gives me a twitch in the stomach when I think of my new responsibility.

"Siaw Lin, you're in Clinical Psychology Club!", I say to myself a couple of times.

Sometimes, I wonder what, in the world, am I doing in this club? Are you into clinical psychology? The stereotype here is that all students in Clinical Club are on their way of becoming clinical psychologists in future. That won't happen to me...because I can't picture myself dealing with people with abnormal behaviors everyday (although my dissociation skills are pretty strong).

Don't mistaken me. I'm not at all against Clinical Psychology. I love Biological Psychology and enjoy reading cognitive neuropsychology (yup, bombastic word). Cognitive neuropsychology studies the relationship between the neural system and human behavior. Psychologists in this field have a deep interest to know the effects of brain damage and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's on our behavior. It is a beautiful combination of medicine and psychology. Knowing how our brains work and things like plasticity direct my thoughts to our great Creator, who intelligently wired our brains to function well.

One of the credible universities that offer specialization for cognitive neuropsychology is University of California. The course may costs a bomb but I hope U.S is generous enough to give out scholarships to students like me. Apart from this, I was thinking if it is practical to take up a Master's degree right after graduate or work a couple of months? Gah. Anyway, I won't know if I qualify for a master's degree in clinical until I sit for GRE and get, at least, second-upper class degree.

Oh well..... thinking thinking thinking.

Life As A Student Tutor.

Yesterday marks the last day of my own tutorship at Peer Assisted Learning. It has been approximately 5 months, tutoring students who are at the same level as I am. I joined PAL as a tutor because I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a hands-on teaching experience and it will be a plus point in my C.V. in the future. :) Being a tutor for two semesters have given me a new perspective on teaching and facilitating small study groups. One of the lessons I learn is that teaching does not always have to be in a one-way, passive, spoon-feeding manner like what we usually have in high school. As Piaget says, we're all constructive learners, curious to experiment new things and solve problems on our own. This is the reason why I get students to pair-up, search for information on their own and present what they've learned to others. This is also known as the jigsaw approach.

Learning can be made fun

The old school way is reading from the textbook alone, which explains why students fall asleep in class. I tried something new in tutorial this semester. I gave quizzes, crossword puzzles and games to get them on their toes. Showed relevant videos clips from YouTube to get the students to broaden their knowledge on current debates from the States and beautiful animation that explains certain biological processes.

Because I am learning Educational Psychology this semester, I became more aware of which educational theories and principles I can apply to my method of teaching. You can say that my students were my 'guinea pigs'. *grins*. Over this semester, I find that jigsaw approach fits well for big groups of students- keeps them attentive and interested in the lesson.

About the job:

I can't deny this. The job is challenging because it requires constant revision and preparation from my part to teach others. I spent approximately two hours or more every week, preparing teaching materials and coming out with examples/analogies to elaborate on certain main points for a topic etc. Another two hours for each tutorial itself. In total, I have to sacrifice four-five hours each week, which means tighter studying schedule and less time for assignments and even sleep. And it can be quite discouraging because not all students are motivated to come for tutorials. There was poor attendance for the first half of tutorials. I was suppose to have 13 students, only four students would turn up each week. But, things got better. For the second half of tutorials, the attendance dramatically improved. We had seven regular attendees, which was great!

The fruit of the work:

The intrinsic motivation comes from knowing that students have improved throughout the semester. :) On the last day, all the students thanked me. A few came up and shook hands with me, showing their gratitude. What makes me happy is seeing them satisfied with what they have gained from these tutorials. Recently, I saw drastic improvement on their class test 2 on Biopsychology. From a single digit on class test 1, they've attain double digits on class test 2. (etc. Class test 1: 7.5/15, Class test 2: 15/20). I was surprised myself, so were they. :) And I wish them all the very best for the finals. To me, all of them have the potential to achieve whatever they want as long as they put in effort into it.

As for now, I plan to resign from this job. I won't have the capacity to tutor and finish my thesis simultaneously. I'm glad I've given tutoring a chance because this experience have taught me about real responsibility and persistence. So far, I've already achieved 4 goals in university, 1. maintaining my grades, 2. won best speaker award for research colloquium 3. be a PAL tutor. 4. and PSG mentor. And I'm about to reach my 5th goal next semester that is holding a secretary post in Clinical Psychology Interest Club :). Looking forward for the next challenge and new experience altogether. :)

A Note of Gratitude

Hi all,

So sorry for my absence. Been really busy with the assignments. I've just handed-in four assignments yesterday. It was very tiring for my group mates and myself. For the past few weeks, we've been spending long hours on the computer to find online journals and write research papers. It is a very challenging task. I find myself editing all the group assignments, making sure its parts are coherent with one another and there's minimal grammatical errors etc. As time goes by, the work load increases and lecturers are having higher expectations since we're at Year 2. They all expect quality work from us.

Okay. Let's push the academic to one side. Writing about it makes me feel saturated. Let's talk about something else k?

Like my 22nd B'day

I'm really thankful for those who made my 22nd B'day memorable and special. Thanks mum and dad for bringing me out to my favourite Japanese Buffet at Daidamon, Great Eastern Mall. Thank you, my bestie, Becky who sent more miniature stuffs all the way from Melbourne. Hey, it's been 15 years of good friendship! Thank you, Elisha for calling me and wishing me twice. We will celebrate our Birthdays together when you arrive home this coming May ya! Thanks to four cheeky friends: Matt, Evon, Ruth and Jeremy for the surprise mini party. I will remember it for a very long time. Thanks for the Ramli burger which became my only 22nd Birthday cake. Not kidding. :) Thanks to all who contributed to my Selangor Pewter Limited Edition Pumpkin Kettle and Nicholas Spark's Novel. Love them very much. A big thanks to my course mates, Jenny, Chin Looi, Nicole and Jennifer for the Italian Dinner at Midvalley and paying the bills. Thanks to all who posted Birthday wishes on my Facebook Wall and wrote a card to me.

I thank God for such great and supporting friends like you. Birthday will never be that special without each of you. I look forward for spending more time with you and allowing our friendships to grow and blossom.

God bless.

And I am counting down to my holidays.

Elisha's coming home really soon. Haven't seen him in two years! :P Feeling quite nervous to see him too. It will be so different once again.