Saturday, May 31, 2008

Michelle Kwan 2004 Nationals Long Program -

------ Friday, May 30, 2008

little funnies to make studying that bit less boring and a lil bit more entertaining:
(and surprisingly it comes in the form of an example raised in accounting theory)

i thank my lucky stars that i managed to get a copy of yv's old notes. without it, i'll be dead meat for AT - just go to the exam hall and wait to be deboned and picked clean, then coming out totally burnt.
the notes, compiled by her project groupmates, is littered with funny examples here and there. dunoe if they were from JJ or they themselves came up with it but it makes the reading a bit more entertaining.

am on the topic of positive accounting theory (PAT), which in essence is the study of accountants' behaviour, why they choose certain policies and the economic consequences they have. basically it is a scientific approach - develop hypotheses, test them and those that are proven evolve to become the theory.

one criticism of PAT is thus that the theory is value laden and involves the judgment of the person who came up with the hypotheses in the first place. this example is then given:

for example, if you were writing a thesis now, and you choose to come up with the hypothesis that says all girls are hot. then you look to your left, and you see a hot girl, so you tick a yes! Is your hypothesis correct?? then you look to your right... ANOTHER HOT girl. then you look at the whole class.. full of hot girls! so, is your theory correct? so tell me, how big should your sample size be before you are satisfied that your theory is correct? who are you to decide how big your sample size should be? is that not a judgment call u make?

it's the same with W&Z [defenders of PAT) and PAT because they get to decide the significance level at which they are willing to accept results thus they can skew research findings based on acceptability criteria which they set themselves.


HMMMM point taken much more clearly than foraging through a 30-page article!


------ Wednesday, May 28, 2008

You mean to me what I mean to you
And together baby, there is nothing we won't do
'Cause if I've got you, I don't need money
I don't need cars, girl you're my all, and

Oh, I'm into you
And girl, no one else would do
'Cause with every kiss and every hug
You make me fall in love
And now I know I can't be the only one
I bet there's hearts all over the world tonight
With the love of their life who feel what I feel when I'm
With you.........

one of those cute songs to be playing on loop on my player, especially since David Archuleta sang it for his self-selected 2nd song during his Top 3 round. i remember Simon Cowell described it as "i applaud you that you didn't do a ballad which i would have expected, however it was a little bit like a chihuahua trying to be a tiger". lol. which isn't entirely wrong actually but i enjoyed that performance nonetheless. he looked so real and so cute (though he's like born in 1990!).


and actually, it's been like over half a year since i first heard Micky Green's "Oh" but till now, it still gets very high playtime on my playlist. the song (and the singer for that matter) is totally not known here in sg, i first heard her on oui fm and i totally dig the rhythm of the song and i still don't get tired of listening to it.
michaela gehr­mann (aka micky green) is an australian singer currently based in paris for the record.


------ Tuesday, May 27, 2008

je voudrais poster en français mais je suis en train d'étudier pour mes examens (de comptabilité). donc je suis assez occupé et ça prend du temps pour écrire en français. alors ce post est en anglais!

(i would like to post in french but i am studying for my exams (of accountancy). thus i am quite busy and it take time to write in french. this post is in english!)


witnessed in class today:
we are still learning more on passe compose (past tense) and imparfait (imperfect tense).
in french, the conjugation for imperfect tense and past tense is very different. for eg, for imparfait: i was eating an apple --> je mangais une pomme. for past tense: i ate an apple --> j'ai mangé une pomme.
it's easy when it's in english cos we've been speaking the language all our life but when it comes to french, it's confusing when to use imperfect tense and when to use past tense cos both are correct and it's a manner of how it makes the text smoother.

like... in english, u can't write a story using only past tense. neither can u write a story only using imperfect tense. there has to be a balance. and sometimes, that balance is subjective. past tense is like for specific actions while imperfect is like for describing a scenario. (of cos, it is more complicated than that).

for eg- It was raining (imparfait). there were a lot of cars (imparfait). julie was driving slowly (imparfait). suddenly, there was an accident (passe compose).

u see, in engish, u can say- It rained. there were a lot of cars. julie drove slowly. suddenly, there was an accident. (all past tense) - and get away with it.
and if u noticed, the eg given above where there's a mixture of imparfait and passe compose is actually exactly how it will be like if i try to make the scenario in all imperfect tense.
eg. there was an accident:
passe compose: il y a eu un accident.
imparfait: il y avait un accident.
in english, it will still be "there was an accident". but for that sentence above, if the accident is an impt event in the storyline, we have to use passe compose and not imparfait.

ehhh i'm sorry for confusing everyone hahaha.


anyways. angelo was trying to tell us that most stories end with imparfait cos it makes the story end nicer. he used the example of a cowboy movie.

angelo: the story doesn't end like this ah.
(makes action of cowboy shooting at something).
angelo: it's always like this.
(makes action of cowboy shooting, then to our huge bemusement, makes a horsey-riding-into-the-sunset action).

omg we howled with laughter.
but the point was taken.


------ Friday, May 23, 2008

it's a mark of how far we've come- how we do projects.

afa
- scope of project: choose a financial institution, see how it is impacted by the subprime crisis and the quality of its disclosures.
- effective time taken to do the project: discounting the time taken to split the work up and write our parts individually, abt 1 week to pull everything together.

aa proj 1
- scope: present and critique on a research paper
- effective time taken to do the project: 2 days ( abt 3 hours each time)

aa proj 2
- scope: research on improving professional judgement and ethics, plus an interview with a subject practitioner.
- effective time taken to do the project: less than 3 full days.


this week was crazy..


but no complains, we are champions of europe again! we'll never die!


------ Wednesday, May 21, 2008

i think.... the final gdp presentation didn't go well. but oh well, i recently saw one phrase that says-

garde, au sein du malheur, l'espérance et la foi.

keep, in the midst of unhappiness/misfortune, hope and faith.

keep faith.


------ Tuesday, May 20, 2008

yuhui this is just for u!

aiyah i blog in french cos it gives me an opportunity to practise some french, which is something that is not easy to do in SG. i have some friends who read it and sometimes, they correct my sentences for me heh.

but at the risk of leaving out my friends, i will do english translations too la ok?

the previous post:

"sometimes i think.. i am the problem. maybe it really begins with me.
my french classes are more and more difficult. i always have fun for sure, but it is confusing from time to time. especially since i have a lot of projects and readings to do and my exams are approaching.
conclusion: i should be doing anything except to post on a blog..."


------ Sunday, May 18, 2008

parfois, je pense.. peut-être je suis le problème. peut-être il vraiment commence par moi.
alors.. mes cours française sont de plus en plus difficile. je m'amuse toujours bien sûr, mais il est déroutant de temps en temps. Particulièrement puisque j'ai beaucoup de projets et lectures à faire et mes examens sont près..

conclusion: je devrais faire tout sauf poster sur un blog..........


------ Wednesday, May 14, 2008

feel like doing a random update before i plunge myself into the world of afa again.



taken during a random AA class (adv audit, not alcoholics anonymous).. when leonard starts to sms in class, u know the class is really boring. in a twisted turn of events thou, jem seems to enjoy the class.


pearlyn is amused at the large lollipop in watson's during a walkabout during a break thru AT class.


3 jugs (acutally, 4) of poison on a week 16 mambo


from poison to purity... meet my new baby cousin- charlotte. this is her at her 1-month-old celebration. her eyes are huuuge for a 1 month old baby!


awwww nathaniel kor kor and charlotte mei mei, the 2 babies of our family and the apples of everyone's eyes.


little devil at mother's day lunch! that nite, utd won the epl title!


the 2 grannies at mothers' day lunch


3 generations make a happy family =)


at the break during AT class today, tze hern and i decided to talk a walk... to the national museum of singapore next door (the perks of your sch being in a cultural district). and i saw an old friend from florence... DAVID! waaaaaaaaay cool.. david standing at 8.5m tall this time! i was so excited to see him!


and with beautiful intricate design all over him this time, instead of the customary bird droppings.. beautiful!


AND he's been working out in the gym! check out those taut new butt muscles!!!!
someone call the fire department, he's too hot!


now you know what intense readings of the theories of accounting and financial standards can drive one to do................


------ Tuesday, May 13, 2008

someone has promised me kopi peng in return and i'm a total sucker for coffee and anything to do with caffeine hence i'm doing this-

Ever went to streetdirectory.com to look for directions (until the maps got taken off)?
Ever googled or went to websites to look for nice places to eat?
Ever tried to check where the nearest starbucks/kfc/mcd's is?
Ever wondered where is good to have a drink/eat sushi/play football?
Ever liked to leave comments on how good/bad a place is?
Ever got sick trying to toggle between tabs trying to do all of the above at once?
Fret no more. Gothere.sg --> here, u can do everything on the same website. good stuff.



now see if u can tell who promised me kopi peng =)


------ Monday, May 12, 2008

our school has released its employment survey and within hours, i've had at least 3 people asking me about it and if i've gotten a job. and i'm not even on msn that often nowadays. the answer's no. no i haven't got a job and yes, i think the survey is skewed. and no, i'm not that biased.


------

league champions again!
this time, by the jjb stadium. bumpy pitch but good result, really can't ask for more. i think it has got to be scripted somehow somewhere, that paul scholes scored the goal that took us to the champions league final, and ryan giggs scored the one that won us the league. i really wouldn't be surprised if gary neville comes on as a sub in moscow and score the goal that wins it for us lol.
this is vintage and class, at its absolute best.


------ Friday, May 09, 2008

this week ended on wed 7pm for me actually. yeah after the end of the monstrous AT presentation on the theory of accounting conservatism. which took 1.5 hours (think jj talked for 1 hr while we talked for maybe slightly over half an hour). it must be my longest project presentation ever. we started at around 5.20pm and i think by 5.45pm half the class was lost (i spotted someone sleeping by 5.30pm), by 6pm most of the class was lost and by 6.15pm, no one understood what jj was going on about anymore. even me the presenter.

i was quite apprehensive about the presentation because i felt that i only understood about 70% of what we were supposed to read before the presentation began. i really felt that it was a very tough presentation man, esp with all the econometrics models talked about. granted, jj said he doesn't expect us to understand the econometrics models but u know, it's a downright shitty feeling when u go into a presentation only 70% sure of what u are talking about. jj told us he would step in to explain the models and boy, did he ever. 1 hr worth of explanations man. i was completely shagged out by the time our presentation was over. it was super super super exhausting.

but i think we did okay in the end. fingers crossed.

and the amt of enthusiasm i could muster on thurs to try to read yet more articles was zilch and i spent the whole afternoon indulging in a spot of lying motionlessly on my couch and taking things slow. so during class in the evening..

angelo: jiahui, qu'est-ce que tu a fait aujourd'hui? (what did u do today?)
me: ehhhhh j'ai beaucoup dormi. (i slept a lot)
angelo: tu a de la chance! (you are lucky)
me: (guilty smile) uhm j'ai eu une long journée hier. (i had a long day yesterday)

i could feel all the tired eyes looking at me, wishing they could sleep a day away too.


------ Tuesday, May 06, 2008

ça fait longtemps.. mon ecole française a une semaine de vacances donc j'ai senti comme ça aussi haha. bon je suis à niveau e5 maintenant! plus que 1 niveau et je finirai le niveau élémentaire! je peux le faire!

ah oui, charles est en l'Asie maintenant! hier soir, nous avons rencontré à Loof avec beaucoup d'amis. l'ambiance à loof est pas mal, assez bonne en fait.. nous avons célébré son anniversaire aussi, c'était super. mais j'ai dépensé pas mal d'argent.. mais ce n'est pas grave. il est un cher ami!

alors je suis très fatiguée et je voudrais me coucher... mais il y a beaucoup de choses à faire.. :(
hein je vais essayer le faire maintenant...............


------ Thursday, May 01, 2008

Cos United Are Going To Moscow

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