Biomedical Engineering, Are you sure?

I was a little amused by the way I used to write back in my first few months of blogging. I didn't recall having such intriguing observations back then, when I had a Malaysian secondary school student mentality. I can't write in the those styles or reproduce those thoughts anymore. Writing is a way to present ourselves, and I've begun to realise its importance. A first class degree will only buy you a ticket to the arena, while the battle has just started. Victory shall not be the goal now, you should think of survival! Forgive me for my pessimism.

Meanwhile, I should use blogging for more practice.

It struck me again on the whole purpose of university education. Debates can go on, so I will not further elaborate. To be more specific, I would like to talk about why choosing a Biomedical Engineering degree is not a wise choice, for a typical cynical Asian mindset.

As most would say, we prioritize personal pride and money. We couldn't be blamed because the fact is, we were born in different conditions compared to the western. There is the lack of passion. I am not saying the passion to be rich or famous one day, its the passion to commit to what you believe in. At this point, you would correctly guessed that the Biomedical Engineering path requires a lot of passion!

The term biomedical engineering puzzled every single employer in the market. Engineering firms doubt that we learn maths or calculus, while bio-pharmaceutical companies question our biological knowledge. So, when they found out that we are not good at any specific field, we got kicked out from the job market. Same goes with graduate schools. Medicine faculty hesitated in allowing what they would thought of, denied undergraduates to re-enter medicine school; economist weren't convinced by the way we present our ideas. Hence, there were endless night of weeping over rejection emails which further demoralized and disapproved our believes in our competencies and abilities. Till now, the most valuable financial incentive you hope a degree will lead you to is in vain. You could even argue that investing 1 million ringgit in stock market brings you higher return and lower risk!

Consider a popular degree/career choice among us, medicine. It is so popular because many were convinced that it will lead to the two incentives I mentioned above, pride and money. Not to offend my fellow future doctor friends here, I fully agree to the fact that your career involves passion and sacrifice. However, we should look at the obvious. Your passion and commitment sacrifices fruit you with high pay, well acquaintance and respect. Who would appreciate the CT-scan or MRI if it is not the doctor who used them to treat your disease well? The public wouldn't recognise the researchers just as they wouldn't for the producers and directors behind the scene.

Revealing the truth, Biomedical Engineering degree is a research path. It takes more passion than greed and inspirations. It requires one to sacrifice, contributing silently to science. One could never see its reward or incentive. Perhaps one should follow the parent's advice: " Study medicine la!"

We weren't born in a developed country. Our basic income is inadequate to fully enjoy the luxury of technological advancements. We have lower living standards. Even a university education is considered being fortunate. We didn't come to contribute, we came for a trade.

There was this incident in my freshman year. Take note that I heard this conversation after one term of academic study. One day some medical students were revising for their mid-term test, one questioned: "What is a sternum?" ,  to my surprise none of them in the group knew. Pathetic is the fact that their government subsidised their tuition fees, cutting fees from £20 000 over to £3000. These students show no appreciation on their given advantage. A form 5, o-level student can simply give the answer: "That is a bone". What would be if thousands of rejected students back home had this chance?

I shall try my best to culture my passion. Life is unfair, accept the fact! For those of you who are still determined to be a bioengineer, you are warmly welcomed.

Modern tuition

A while ago, we sat down at the department's cafe whining about our pathetic life again. It always the topic, our hopeless career future. I mean, what for spending a million worth of money here studying and end up couldn't even get a decent job interview? Sighs...

So whether you believe in the high-tech toilet cleaning business or dreaming to become the next Warren Buffett, you've got to like this idea; Tuition teaching! We have to admit that in this academic results oriented Asia-Pacific region we came from, tuition is a big market. I am not going to discuss about my plans of starting a tuition enterprise here (or if I ever had any), but rather mesmerized by what my hk friends showed me that afternoon...

They said top-notch tuition teachers in Hong Kong can earn up to 10s of millions of hk dollars.

Then they showed me one of the top tuition sites in hong kong. Take a look at their teachers and the webpage below:

Wow... I thought they just got into a TVB website. I mean look at them, they are like tv stars! More shockingly, most of the classes are not conducted in real time.... you pay to go in a room to watch a recorded dvd!!

But the best part is, I like their teachers. The english tutor named Antonia below, she has got to be the prettiest teacher I can ever imagine, she totally a boy's fantasy! Well, too bad that you wouldn't really get to see her even if you attend her classes.. lol



Why don't we have that in Malaysia huh?

Our year 3 house

One fine day.... when I opened the door and stepped out of the house

I saw this sign. This is a bad sign which obviously means my current rented house have been sold. Since our rent contract was on a 6 months basis, we could get kicked out anytime.

So, before I got suddenly dragged out from my bed and throw to the roadside, I should write a little blog post for the house I stay in this year.

Since 3rd year is the final year for most people, we decided to make the last year homely. Hence we rented a 2 and a half  storey house.  

The entrance of the house, a stair that leads to the upper floors and a hallway to the kitchen.

Under the stairs, you would find a hidden toilet where many thought that its a store room, others wouldn't even notice its existence.

This is the kitchen. Big kitchen for big eaters.

The best thing is, we've got a backyard where we can have barbeques during summer! At least we hope so......

We got plants and herbs. You might notice that they are all dead now, not because of lack of care, but its winter dude.!

Climbing up the stairs you see a spiral stairs up the loft and a small mezzanine for physical workouts!

On the right is my room.

These furnitures were all bought from ikea.

Lastly, this is the loft, the 'guest' room

DeJaVu

Came back from the beautiful snowy mountains of Alpes and still waiting for the pictures.

Urgh.. Today I had it again, this feeling, and it started me pondering.
I am sure you had this feeling before: the sudden feeling of familiarity that this scene in your present time somehow seems to be occurred in the past. Sometimes you could even predict what the person is going to say, and you get goosebumps.

After all, I realised that those scenes were just in my memory, it didnt actually occurred in real life but it was in my dreams. It then brought me to the thought for a reason. When we sleep, although we lose consciousness, our brain is still working. Through billions of connections of neurons within the brain, it could generate unlimited amount of possibilities which sometimes we call dreams. But... most of the time we dont remember much of those dreams do we?

How many random scenes (dreams) do our brain generate every night? 10, 100, 1000 .. ? I actually believe that it is a huge number! What is then the probability that it actually coincides with real life? Statistically it is almost impossible. However, why do we still get it rather frequently? Is it the malfunction of the brain that it instantly links the present to the past memory? Or, do we believe our higher order cognitive ability in successfully predicting the most possible future out of infinite randomness....

Should I trust fate/destiny or agree with life is just pure random combination of events?


Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. Think more my friend! But beware, genius and crazy is separated by a very thin line !

2010

Its against the norm for a blogger not to post a blog about a new year. So here it is...

While others spend their time partying and countdown.... (even with skype nowadays) I was.... well doing the most lame thing you could do before you advance to a new decade. I bet you would never guess it, to save you time... I was
 well...

Playing cards! With 2 other friend of mine... whining things that guys would complain about..


The thing I thought about new year is that its like a new chapter for everybody. No matter how shit and bad it was the previous year, lets give life a new start, and a reset with new resolutions!

I am the one reluctant to accept a year had just passed like a blink of the eye. As I am now in 3rd year of University, I couldn't believe I am almost done with studying. I hate the fact that too much time was wasted in 2009 and I had achieved nothing significant. To count what I did, some was really cool, from visiting a few countries to the best thing I did in 2009, climbing mount Kinabalu and diving in the sea.

I believe by learning from past mistake is how we learn. Throwing away regrets, and take each of them as a lesson is the best way! I shall try my best to stick to this theory....

 Lets hope 2010 comes with more challenges and fun!! I wish everyone who read this emotional post till here, a very happy new year !

Well, as I said more challenges are coming up, I was in the stupid college the next day, rushing for my project report due on 11th Jan. The college was totally empty

Hmm.. Good start! Good start!

A better start ? I am going snowboarding in less than an hour time, hope I dont get owned by the slopes.

Happy 2010 again!