Recap: Week of 19 May

Well, it was a slightly more stressful week last week.. but nothing that I couldn't handle.. :)

The scheduled presentation at Prof K's seminar did not proceed as planned, as we spend the whole 1hour 45mins going through the slides of 2 graduating Masters students for their thesis presentation this coming Wednesday.. I am not complaining though as I had witness how, in my own personal opinion, academic guidance should be given..

And I must say there is a VAST difference in the way Prof K and Prof O guide their students.. Prof K scrutinizes every single slides and every single sentences of his students' slides, right down the remarks for the graphs and diagrams. He told them how and what to write so that the examiners would be able to grasp what the students are trying to convey instantly, and how to re-phrase certain sentences so that there will not be any wrong assumptions or false impressions that might affect their grading.. Where else Prof O would just allow his other students to point out the "short-comings" of the student presenting.. He barely speak more than 10mins..

So these are 2 different management styles, one is kinda like micromanaging while the other would just empower his students (to put it kindly).. but in my opinion, there should be a certain degree of micromanaging as students would need the full attention of their professor to help them through their Masters thesis defense presentation.. I would rather be scolded/criticized and have my thesis scrutinized thoroughly by my professor before the actual presentation, and in the end be well-prepared, then to be "machine-gunned" by the examiners during the real thing.. Thank goodness I chose the course that didn't require me to write a 100-150 page thesis.. ;)

As for my Japanese grammar mid-term last Friday, I think my chances of getting a passing grade is kinda slim.. 50-50.. :( :( Don't know why but my brain tends to freeze and go blank whenever I take a Japanese grammar exam.. It is not that I didn't study, in fact for this mid-term exam I did study, pretty hard too, but it is just a psychological mental block which I need to overcome.. :x Also, I take ages to come out with a coherent sentence using the words given.. My mind is full of ideas, but somehow I just can't string a proper sentence out fast enough.. Maybe it is because I tend to create the sentence in English first, then try to translate it into Japanese.. sometimes that sentence would be in Chinese, and I need to translate it into Japanese... so my mind is quite messy I think.. maybe that's why I have problem making a grammatically correct Japanese sentence as there are too many languages going through my mind.. :x Mmmm...

Anyway, let's see what my result will be this Friday.. hopefully I can still maintain my straight A grades this semester..