What did you do today?

[Pictor]

It's okay, Waterloo guys are messed up in the head.

Too much cooping up in their rooms and doing nerdy loner things while still thinking they're better than everyone else.

OF COURSE I'M NOT JUST SAYING THIS BECAUSE I GOT REJECTED FROM WATERLOO.

[marcien]

... and ignoring school rules and whatnot, i stayed overnight in school to finish up an assignment.


so sleepy. so hungry.



some days ago, my best friend's girlfriend broke up with him through a sms. after four years of relationship. he's sad, to say the least. i dunno what to feel for him. i know i just feel like hugging and holding him. uuuuu...

from what i know, even though she was the one who asked him out, she wasn't serious about him much. and i knew that he learned to love her over the four years, and was always faithful. it's kinda unfair to him.

the real is pretty scary right? *keima-mode*

[AYC]

It's finals week... again.

This is what happens when your school is on the quarter system (vs. semesters). 3x the midterms, 3x the class registrations, 3x the finals, and most importantly, 3x the pain. Which would be awesome.

If I was a masochist, that is. Ow.

[SavviG]

Something came out for work, Neo, work related social website that is like Facebook but less. Interesting site. I'm not sure if I ever use it at it's full potential.

It has a horrible forum which is not grouped in categories. A pain to go through the long list of threads that range from work related discussions to cat food (yes someone at work posted about cat food).

Oh, the points system, it does nothing. mega cool.

~~

Anways, Friday! I can sleep in longer! "zzzZZZ"

[Johker]

So today I found out that a few of my schoolmates want to transfer to polytechnics. They've even sent out their appeal letters already.

It's really demoralizing, to say the least. It's got me thinking. Now I'm not sure if I've made the right choice in going to a junior college.

I've actually always been really keen in learning animation. Each time someone asks me which course I'm aiming for in University, I tell them digital animation, and they'll just give me this weird look and ask "Shouldn't you go to a poly for that?" Some even say "What? You won't get a job with that." Woahh, way to be tactful.

I went to a JC because I thought I could study hard, get the University course of my choice, eventually get a degree and a job in something I had a passion for. That's the best case scenario. But now I don't know anymore. Will I even be able to get a job with a degree in digital animation? Should I have went to a poly in the first place since I knew what I wanted?

I'm probably being too naive, and wrong about my passion.

Or maybe I'm thinking too much about my future.

Or maybe I haven't thought enough about my future.

ughhh. imsuchanidiot

[Pictor]

I went to a JC because I thought I could study hard, get the University course of my choice, eventually get a degree and a job in something I had a passion for. That's the best case scenario. But now I don't know anymore. Will I even be able to get a job with a degree in digital animation? Should I have went to a poly in the first place since I knew what I wanted?

Then simply don't think that much. And most importantly, don't doubt yourself. If you've got a reasonable road planned out ahead, then follow it. Stick it out, do the hard work it takes, and make that best case scenario the only case scenario. Human resolve is a tenacious thing. Never second guess yourself when it comes to doing something you love, or else you might end up making a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life.

When it all comes down to it, a college degree is just a paper receipt proving how much money you've shoved down the drain. With technical courses like animation, what wows the scene is your portfolio. Absorb all the information you can. It's an industry that, simply in terms of sheer skill and talent alone, demands you be the best of the best. So do what it takes. If you don't get lazy, and you push as hard as you can, you'll always make it somehow.

[marcien]

yea jc peeps tend to do that in first year because they go, wtf am i doing here studying unrelated science/maths/humanities again?

as an animation student, i will honestly say that there are times i would doubt being here. i would think: won't i be much happier studying child psychology? (i like kids, and i like studying mental disorders)

still, i don't regret coming here. i had a lot of fun and i think i grew up quite a bit with all of the shit i have been through. i have had lots of sleepless nights (which cannot be avoided by uni students), groupwork issues (kuailan retarded ppl are everywhere), lecturer problems (training for real-life clients man), software crashing (flash DAMMIT. and zbrush crashed on me 5 times consecutively yesterday), and most annoyingly, LACK OF MOTIVATION.

so here comes the small font:

• you have to draw/paint the same character over and over again, consistent lineart and anatomy and all.
• you will be working on story that is not yours, a concept you didn't come up with, a character you didn't create.
• your lecturers/clients' specs, are hardly the same as your working style.
• your artwork will definitely be insulted.

yeps, that. definitely not easy. there was a quote by walt disney that says "all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them". i say it's bullshit. it's not courage you need, it's endurance. someone must have misquoted him.

(and if you want to stay in this field, [1] quit jc now, go nyp, then go to SIT digipen (my school) for your BFA. [2] finish your jc, go to NTU's ADM.)



today what i did:


ehh, lemme emphasize, i did this over the past few days/weeks. this screen is taken today though, of my progress so far.

[SavviG]

@Martia, that 3D model looks amazing already!


I can't do 3D for the life of *kept on going* *shot*

*crawls in*

Sounds pretty cool doing animation/3D. I've seen some great ones at Uni's final year project expo.

[Sentrovasi]

Honestly, either way is fine. I'm from JC and I know for a fact that you can do anything you want from there. At the same time, though, I cannot discount the fact that poly is probably a lot more conducive if you're dead set on doing what you want to do.

One thing that JC does is let you reevaluate yourself. It also gives you a lot more choice if you realize after the few years that it's not your cup of tea. From my experience (I spent a lot of time in NS interacting with all kinds of people, even if not personally), JC can be a bad choice for you if you can't cope with studying these unrelated subjects for that many years. A JC certificate without the requisite grades will not be as impressive in your portfolio (assuming that you're certain you can do well in the poly course of your choice).

Otherwise, though, it depends on your JC. A good JC will give you the choices in extra-curricular activities (and I'm not just talking about CCA) as well as other like-minded people (in clubs and stuff, also perhaps pro bono events or sabbatical courses) which will allow you to expand your portfolio while working on your As.

To put it simply, the value of a JC cert is that you have a much wider range of options if you can afford to put in the effort. Also, you do get a wide range of activities to pursue while studying if you go to the right JCs. On the other hand, a Polytechnic gives you the benefit of studying what you want to study early on, at the cost of not having as impressive a piece of paper after you graduate. You get a better portfolio, possibly, but keep in mind this isn't something you can't do on your own, either way. If you're not sure you can do well in JC as compared to Poly, however, it'd be better for you to stick to what you know you can do, in my opinion. A good diploma is better than middling A-level grades. Holding a diploma doesn't mean you can't go to university, yanno. For one, you can apply to NTU's ADM with a polytechnic diploma. Didn't check any others, but yeah.

... That's not to say I'm encouraging you to go to a polytechnic. You know yourself best.

[marcien]

uhuhuuhuuhuhu. anyone recognise the patterns on the collar?

[Sentrovasi]

Lol. It reminds me of Zekrom and Reshiram.

[SavviG]

Lol. It reminds me of Zekrom and Reshiram.

I believe they are! : D

And Zekrom should infact have arms aswell. XD

[Pasonia]

This is replying to Johker's post.

For me it's a lot simpler.

I made the wrong choice taking a bet that I will be able to work things out even with just a combined science (physics/chem) combo. I mean, I've done A Maths and E Maths, and Physics is the only thing I didn't get a full one though. So I can scrape through it.

Not.

As I painfully found out, I quickly got demoralised working in JC, yet I also didn't have the courage to pull myself out of JC because I was worried of my father giving me "the eye"; my half-sister was an overachiever in school who got through with straight As, so I sort of applied pressure to myself to succeed.

Demoralised, frightened, and totally helpless, I eventually just managed to scrape through my JC with 3 E's.

The bright side is, I realised that if I am truly happy with what I am doing (and this I can't emphasise further) I can actually do well. I mean, lookit everybody getting As for their core subjects and D4s or E5s for their General Paper; I did it the other way around, getting an A2 for GP and tanking everything else.

I went to Army, and I sought my opinions from a lot of people. I remember vividly it was a guy I was on duty with (not same unit technically, but we do the same duty) whose name I don't remember, who gave me this advice in the midst of chit-chat about random bs.

"Once out of NS, you better make sure you be getting an education you want."

At that time I was undecided between trying for Digipen or going back for poly, even though at the start I did tell my parents I'll be looping around to poly to finish my tertiary education properly.

"I mean, well," I said when I was looking at my table of drawings (I had a folder which I always bring to duty, and I draw in my down time there).
"You like drawing? Why not consider digital arts or stuff like that?"
"Well... I didn't see myself becoming a visual artist, you know, even though my dad's NAFA and all. I want to do something that will, when I work, challenge me everyday in a technical manner. I like computers and stuff a whole heck lot more than I do with drawing, to be honest."
"Then IT?"
"Nah, I mean, well, IT is rather dead in the sense that it looks stale. I want to do games programming because I can create fun for others... I'll probably study for it."

Having heard martia talk about DET even before I entered NS influenced that decision (you could say martia kind of planted weird ideas in my head XD). And funnily, what martia is uncomfortable about not working with your own idea entirely, is what I am okay with, because I've always been the kind of guy to enhance and develop new stuff out of existing material (which is why I dig fanfiction more than original fiction), so I have a different sort of comfort zone there.

It doesn't hurt to listen to a lot of opinions before you make any sort of choice. But ultimately you must ask yourself where you see yourself going towards; engineering for F1 vehicles, or developing breakthrough medicine like REAL life elixirs?

Once you're clear, the path is there waiting for you, especially if you're Singaporean it's much clearer (and convenient... compared to people in larger countries who may have to make very large accommodation sacrifices to do what they want to).

The remaining matter is to walk through it with conviction and a will to do your best.

[marcien]

Lol. It reminds me of Zekrom and Reshiram.

I believe they are! : D

And Zekrom should infact have arms aswell. XD

correct!! zekrom and reshiram!! i didn't add in zekrom's arms, because it would look too jarring design-wise, when compared to reshiram


skype is awesome. i get to catch up with my friend in australia!! XDD

(and i also got to hear savvi's sexy voice. ufufufuufufu)

[SavviG]

Skyping in 4 corners of the world!

Martia is a night owl XD

ufufufufu....

[MotMithra]

My friend made another friend and me watch Repo! The Genetic Opera the other day. o A o It was pretty bloody, but pretty good.
Now I'm addicted to the soundtrack.

I'm on spring break... Haven't actually done anything productive. I have a pretty bad case of both writer's block and art block... xD;;

[AYC]

ECS 40 - Introduction to Software Development and Object-Oriented Programming: The logical extension of ECS30 into the realm of C++, this is generally considered a weeder class for the CS department. Students in ECS40 learn about all sorts of object-oriented tomfoolery like inheritance and polymorphism. If taught by a certain professor, they can expect to make programs with mountains of weird, abstract classes to solve whatever ridiculous task he came up with that particular quarter. You won't sleep much and when you do, you'll have nightmares.

They weren't kidding about the nightmares. And it didn't help either that I came down with a fever last night, because I was practically hallucinating about being boxed in by colorful squares. It's actually quite funny, if not for the fact that my stomach is still reeling from the trippiness - though I'm not sure if it's from that, or the fact that I'm still sick. Oh man.

SOS! SOS! My ship is sinking.

[Pictor]

Hey, I love OOP! It's not hard at all!

I think I might be able to help out if the problems aren't too hard. I tutored my whole floor on the subject last year,

[marcien]

... and who is this?!!




(excuse my shit ass render)

[Pictor]

The next Pokemon should take place in the past. Turn of the century, maybe.

Pokeballs will be crude wooden contraptions.

Your Pokedex is a notebook/ sketchpad.