5th year

I realise there is so much i do not know. the more i inquire the more i realise that just scratching the surface of this insurmountable pyramid is a slow but sure way to tackling this whole entity of knowledge.

Expectations of the 3rd years have increased after meeting many that are really just bright and burning to learn. But i fear that my expectation become too high, and i communicate too much information, or that i demand too much.

A doctor, english for the latin doctoris which means teacher. And a good teacher has higher expectations of what the students can delvier, but not too high such that the students give up and not spur forwards. Motivation is key, but how do you keep people striving, hungry for more? is it to just keep having passion to deliver experience and knowledge? or is there someway else to keep the light burning, the attention undiverted, in this vast distractable world.

how education impedes creativity

watched a TED talk about just this topic and got me thinking to write it up.

Our current formal education with whichever part of the world has been developed by people at the epitome of acadamia. This has resulted in us modelling the peak of education is that you end up as some professor in the Uni. Little did we realise that the end point is not the same for everyone. What happened to the rest of the professions, be it skilled labourers and also people in the Arts.

Arts have been relegated to a lowly rank in our education since the start of industrialisation to give way to mathematics and science. This has led us to prosper, but also lead to the loss of creativity. We end up wanting to be ahead of others, end up fear failure. Fearing failure is the biggest flaw in the current education. With the fear of failure, there is no room for experimentation, for imagination, for we dare not take the step that is not certain, not definite.

Creativity stems from this willingness to take risks, and to accept failure as a possible outcome and learning through it. Innovation is but a win after the many losses.

So accept the fear of failure, but strive to take risks for innovation, for we cant stay stagnant anymore.

How i worry about Singapore's future

Today i met my 小姑 my dad's youngest sister, she was nice to come visit my place as dad's youngest cousin from Malacca is staying at my place for my cousin's wedding tmr.

She is a teacher in Singapore for the past 4 decades and what i heard instilled fear in me with regards to the prospects of Singapore's future. the problems can be summarised as follows, and can be considered general sweeping statements:

1. children these days are too pampered by their parents: they are no longer 'hungry' for success as parents provide them with cars, money, houses easily. This lack of 'hunger' has led to students not having the right attitude towards teachers
2. teachers of the newer generation no longer maintain the line between students and teachers. a likely cause for the teacher love fiascos, molests. Teachers start having physical contact with students even in conversations.

What this means for the future of Singapore:

1. the pampering and the lack of boundaries leads to lack of motivation. Students used to fear punishment by teachers, and the fear motivated them to study. I am not denying other forms of motivation. But it's so much harder to motivate students other ways.
2. Foreign students that come in are going to or rather already have superseded the locals. It's always the 'hungry' that will fight harder, and with other variables kept the same, the one that fights harder usually gets the prize.

i do not have a solution. But the way things are, if left to carry on. Will lead to the downfall of Singapore. The generation pampered, raised by maids.

My dad's studetns who came to visit

Here are pics of dad's students who came to visit my house.

Back in Singapore, the year is done

This year ended not so nicely. not as i expected. i borderlined my GP and Psych OSCE exam. So i had to sit for supps (supplementary paper). That in turn caused me to cut short my Sydney trip with the darling short and fly back 1 day earlier to study. Thank goodness and God that i have such a caring gf to support me as i studied.

Well out of the 4 stations, 3 went well. 1 was dementia ddx. and it was hard to assess the simulated patient as she kept trying to divert ur attention away.

anyways. back in Singapore now. playing with film =) started using mum's old 35mm film slr. it was the first Nikon to do TTL metering the FG 20 =) lol. may play with mum's old medium format twin reflex camera. it's a Yashica D. the lenses are a bit tarnished though will try cleaning it up first. Just learnt that it uses 120 film. and prob only can get it in peninsula plaza.

meanwhile go check out my latest Sydney shots =)

exams are looming.

exams are in like 17days. and i am just starting to study properly. was studying, but somehow doesnt stick in the head.

I noticed that i havent spent much time reading news recently, and it was reflected when i had a convo with some new people i met. Feels abit sad to be in the dunno rather than in the know.

I had fun so far this year. all the intensive knowledge acquiring and all the interesting people i met along the way.

I'm probably flying back Singapore 10 Dec, because i have to spend sometime on the photography club and some time with the GF =) before we head back to humidity.

good luck to studying guys. and remember to take breaks and eat chocolate.

That's Life

IT's been so long since i last updated. i apologise for the long long hiatus. HAd been preoccupied with little studying and a lot of photography.

here are some photos that i previously promised

Cheryl's Birthday




The Naked truth (Melbourne Spring Fashion Week)



And on a side note, I got elected as The Monash Caulfield Photography Club President =)
Really happy about it, but a little stressed, as exams are starting 12 NOV! Thank goodness the club doesnt need that much attention now.

here's the club website
and our sister club at clayton

back to studying now =) GP rotation sure is good for studying =)

And i realise something is wrong

Think for the past few weeks i have got my priorities wrong. Been putting photography way ahead of my studies. Resulting in me doing only mediocre =( Did well for my psych assignment though.

I wan tto do better than jsut mediocre! i promise to study harder for GP and VIA. at least 3-4 hours of work a day =)

Photography, wat have i done with u? Shot so many things and events. Shot 3 Fashion parades/runways/events. Then shot Andrew's 24th birthday and Cheryl Seow's 21st birthday. The editing of the photos is the real killer. Finished with the fashion stuff ,but not the birthdays.

Will upload all my photos soon. The Naked Truth event was really interesting and i got to shoot models in elaborate sets! Resulting in prob the best shots in my life man!

Had an aunt that had a recent Stent for Carotid (artery in her neck) stenosis and also one put in her MCA (artery in her head). She's doing much better now, but on the 24th September, she's going to go for the same thing again but on her right side this time. Hope everythign goes well!

Saturday i am organising a shoot. And i hope things go well. A druggie shoot. Weather looks good on Saturday so far.

I got to bark up with my studies. For sure for sure, i will.

My life recently =)

Sorry that i havent been blogging lately. jsut not much has been happening to talk about.

I am currently on community psychiatry. where psych recovery clinicans see patients arfter they are discharged from hospital. it's an intersting system that i think singapore can implement if it has not done so.

been playing more badminton lately. and i hope i get some training from Melissa at the end of the year if i can afford the time. hope i can get better so i can at least make my gf run the court to chase my shots.

photography has been so so. finally developed the shots from Werribee mansion and park. turned out really pretty go see =) i finally got a battery grip for my d80 and it looks quite pro with it and can supposedly last 5000 shots lol. may get a 16Gb card soon. MSY a computer store in my area selss stuff real cheap.

lastly. i am organinsing a druggie shot with a few of my friends, hope it can work out. but it is currently clashing with my possible shoot for Stylemelbourne.com for Melbourne spring fashion week. OR can clash with a possible arrival of Becky's parents and her brother =( i went on a sleep study and found ou t that i can have 4 REM sleep cycles in 7 hours of uncomfortable leads on my face and ear phone in my ears. So that show i sleep pretty well. peace =)

The tide comes and goes

i refer to the photography aspects of my life.

lost the job at the nightclub to a mroe experienced phtoographer. and got an assignment from a online fashion site: stylemelbourne.

so life goes on. i'm currently doing psych at Frankston hospital. really fun i think lol.

And so a new chapter begins

i've got a new website =) it's http://www.kerfern.com for my photography. have a look and leave some comments =)

tmr will be start of a new semester. starting with psych. and 2 full days of lecture from 0830 to 5 pm

had a good holiday =)

1. got a photography job where i shoot clubs every friday and get $100 for it.
2. shot a lot of shoots with victor =)
3. played DOTA and CS lol
4. learnt how to play majong properly
5. dinners with friends
6. had KTV with friends =)
7. missed my Becky who went back to sg

at least i had a great time. now it's time to start work again.

Sway, as in bad luck =(

yesterday went back to the area where i did my model shoot on friday. Was shooting 2 friends when i left my equipment unattended. And i wasnt there for probably 15 mins. i was just about 10-20 metres away but it was a blind corner where i left my lenses.

They were stolen by a guy, without us knowing. And i found out only later when i went back to my camera bag. The damage? 2 lenses, Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 cost about $1000, and a nikon 50mm F/1.8 about $200. =(

what more? My friend accidentally bumped my flash and it landed on the floor and is not working liao =( sending it to repair in <1 hour's time.

hope my life gets as bad as this. and not any worse.

meanwhile. i'm uploading photos to flickr from my model shoot. they are pretty decent. though as my darling says, they lack the x-factor, like thos in magazines. and i think it's the composition and directing of models which i have to brush up on.