I've been back at university for about 5 weeks now and it's been a bit crazy.
I've been quite enjoying the modules that I am taking this term. Probably because I actually chose those modules. The ethics module is the one which I am enjoying the most at the moment, mainly because the lecture style is so different from what I am used to. Due to the small class size, classes are a lot more interactive and I also get to read children's books as part of the module, so that's pretty great. Not sure how well I will do in the assessment because there is almost no limit to what I can do for the creative piece and essay. I have been thinking quite a lot about what I want to do for the assessment and I do have a couple of ideas, so hopefully I can get working on it soon after I talk to the tutor about it.
Job applications have also been a massive part of my life at the moment. I am currently applying for jobs in the UK, mainly audit related ones but also trying out for music industry stuff as well. At the moment, I only have one application which has gone relatively well and I am now waiting to arrange a telephone interview with the company. I also submitted application for a data analyst job in a music-streaming service which is basically my dream job but I still haven't heard back from them in the past two weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed for that but my prospects do not look very good at the moment. I'll send them a follow up email soon and hope for the best. I really did not expect job applications to be so stressful but I guess that's the price I have to pay if I want to stay in the UK.
Music has taken a slight back seat in my life for now but I am still working on some stuff. I played a short set with my friend for a festival held at my university and it was quite fun although I did mess up the lyrics quite a bit. The crowd was basically non-existent when we started playing but slowly grew to a decent size towards the end. A complete stranger did walk up to us and complimented us which was brilliant. My Soundcloud page recently hit 500 total plays which is nice. I'm having a lot of fun making these monthly covers, so hopefully I will be able to keep it up. My next one will feature a couple more instruments than I usually have in my covers. A bit of experimentation on that one. Hope that turns out alright. In the meantime, enjoy my previous cover:
Till next time!
Monday 9 November 2015
Thursday 27 August 2015
Summer: Quick Update!
I have basically been neglecting this blog ever since I've returned to my homeland of Malaysia for the summer. Sorry for that! I have been pretty busy working on a few things this summer and I think they've been going along pretty decently so far.
First off, I've been spending the past 7 weeks interning in a pretty famous international professional services firm. Past me would have been ecstatic about this internship but in the past few years, I've grown quite a lot and I don't think that becoming an auditor is the road I want to take in life. This internship has only served to prove me right in that aspect to be perfectly honest. While the work itself can sometimes be interesting and challenging, I am finding it very hard to be motivated to work. To be fair, I have been able to see how what I'm learning in university translates to a workplace scenario. But, I just cannot see myself being the sort of person whose 9-5 job basically takes over his/her life. I honestly do not mind working everyday but not if it was for something that I do not care about. If anything, this internship has made me respect auditors even more. Doing a thankless job and living that lifestyle really can take a toll on a person.
The second thing that I've been working on is basically a job search. Ever since deciding that I didn't want to become a typical accountant or a banker early this year, I have been looking around for jobs within the music industry related to my degree. I have managed to contact an alumni of my university and have been talking about opportunities in the industry. It may not be the most promising but I believe that there is a way in somehow. I'm not as far along in this as I would like to be but it's still progress.
The third thing that I have been working on is my revived Soundcloud page (which you can check out HERE!). The current plan is to upload one cover every month which actually is not that frequent, so hopefully I'll be able to keep it up! Also, I have recently hit 300 total plays on my page! It isn't much but it's a start. Fingers crossed that this will become a mildly successful thing. Besides that, I may be involved in something new in the near future. Still just an idea at the moment but I have a good feeling about it so keep an eye out for that!
In the meantime, check out my favourite cover I've uploaded so far!
Peace out,
Jiun
First off, I've been spending the past 7 weeks interning in a pretty famous international professional services firm. Past me would have been ecstatic about this internship but in the past few years, I've grown quite a lot and I don't think that becoming an auditor is the road I want to take in life. This internship has only served to prove me right in that aspect to be perfectly honest. While the work itself can sometimes be interesting and challenging, I am finding it very hard to be motivated to work. To be fair, I have been able to see how what I'm learning in university translates to a workplace scenario. But, I just cannot see myself being the sort of person whose 9-5 job basically takes over his/her life. I honestly do not mind working everyday but not if it was for something that I do not care about. If anything, this internship has made me respect auditors even more. Doing a thankless job and living that lifestyle really can take a toll on a person.
The second thing that I've been working on is basically a job search. Ever since deciding that I didn't want to become a typical accountant or a banker early this year, I have been looking around for jobs within the music industry related to my degree. I have managed to contact an alumni of my university and have been talking about opportunities in the industry. It may not be the most promising but I believe that there is a way in somehow. I'm not as far along in this as I would like to be but it's still progress.
The third thing that I have been working on is my revived Soundcloud page (which you can check out HERE!). The current plan is to upload one cover every month which actually is not that frequent, so hopefully I'll be able to keep it up! Also, I have recently hit 300 total plays on my page! It isn't much but it's a start. Fingers crossed that this will become a mildly successful thing. Besides that, I may be involved in something new in the near future. Still just an idea at the moment but I have a good feeling about it so keep an eye out for that!
In the meantime, check out my favourite cover I've uploaded so far!
Peace out,
Jiun
Monday 29 June 2015
Week 40: Turning 21 and Going Home
It has been a pretty emotional week. I've been spending a lot of time with my friends who will be graduating in a few weeks time. I feel really sad that I only became close to them in the past few months. I wish that I had spent more time with them but, alas, it was not meant to be. I hope that we will still meet up next year. I'm sure we will find an excuse to.
Also, I turned 21 last Saturday. I basically spent the whole day in Coventry with my friends. First we went to a buffet and ate till we couldn't move. After that, we basically scouted around Coventry for bars to drink at. There was no crazy celebration or anything but I really enjoyed the company. It was a really fun day for me.
I'm flying home tomorrow and due to certain personal developments, now I have a lot of mixed feelings about going home. I am restraining from actually telling the world the problem because of the various implications that it could cause but I honestly hope that a day will come when I can be absolutely honest about the problem I am facing right now. But for now, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.
You probably won't see why it has been an emotional week for me just by reading this post and I am sorry about that but my hands are tied for now. Maybe one day I will write a post about it. Maybe.
Signing off,
YiJiun
P.S. I've uploaded a cover onto my Soundcloud channel which I will pop on here. Enjoy!
Tuesday 23 June 2015
Weeks 34 to 39: Exams, Croatia and Dressing Up
Hello readers! As is the norm this academic year, I have not been updating my blog as frequent as I'd like but here is my sort of monthly update.
Exams are finally over, although it actually did not take that long to get them over it. It was just because I had 9 exams crammed into a measly 2 weeks that it felt like an age. Not all of them went well to be honest, but that's just how it is I guess. There was one particular paper *Finance 1 cough* that was especially hard and I honestly thought that I was going to fail it but after the paper, it seemed like most people felt the same so I guess I won't fail? I mean, the university isn't going to let half the class fail a paper, right? Anyway, it's all done and over.
Practically immediately after my exams, I jetted off to Croatia with two high school friends. That was genuinely fun. It was a nice mix between hectic days and chill ones. Also, the length of the trip was just nice, as in I didn't feel sick and felt like going home at any point of the trip. The first place I visited was Pula which was a quaint little town near the seaside. It was an interesting place because historical buildings and monuments were just scattered around the place. The difference in the architecture of the different eras the place went through in the past was also pretty obvious. It was quite an experience. Didn't really do much there except go to the beach. I got a nice tan there which was a nice change from the cold English weather.
After a day of travelling, I finally reached Dubrovnik where most of the fun happened. On my first day in Dubrovnik, I visited the old town. After walking around for a bit, me and my friends went on a Game of Thrones tour of Dubrovnik which was basically the highlight of the whole trip for me. I'm a pretty big fan of the show and the books, so the tour was perfect for me. The tour guide was really lovely and was even an extra in the show which was cool. She took us around showing us landmarks that served as shooting locations for the show. She was an even bigger fan evidently, and was pretty knowledgeable about both the shows and the books. I was basically in awe the whole time and splashed out some moolah on GoT merchandise as an early birthday present to myself. After tour, I scaled the city walls and while the view was great, it was pretty tiring and slightly torturing because of the sun beating down on me.
The next day, I went with my friends on a kayaking excursion. Now that was an experience. It was open sea kayaking and we had to get to another island and back. Halfway, the sea decided to play up a bit and send some waves our way. I swear some of those waves were the height of my head. I nearly flipped over a few times. But I survived. And apparently I kayaked for about 10km which is an achievement in addition to me not being the last kayak in the group although I was left behind for some parts of the 'adventure',
Next stop was Split. The apartment we rented was actually inside Diocletian's Palace which is the main attraction of Split. That was a nice surprise because it made getting around and visiting landmarks so much easier. I made a point to visit most of the historical landmarks in the old town and that honestly did not take as long as I thought because all of them were clustered around the same spot (also the palace was not as big as it seemed on the map). It was a pretty chill 2-day stay there and I went back to England after that.
Now that I was back in England, I had another busy week surprisingly. I performed with Glee for an open day and also as part of the student arts festival but the highlight was Societies Awards where I got to dress up and act fancy for a night. It was probably the first time I wore a full suit ever since I came to the UK. Also, because I didn't have a bow tie and wanted to wear one to the awards, I learnt to make one out of a neck tie. Now, that's an achievement. Glee was not nominated for any awards but it was a fun night just hanging out with my peeps (the DJ was quite bad though). Also, it was held in the beautiful Stratford which was a plus.
I still have about a week or so to go before I go home to Malaysia (can't wait!!!!). I aim to record a few covers and sort out some career stuff in this short period of time, so hopefully that will go well. Also, I'll be celebrating my first overseas birthday! It will probably something small with some close friend who are still around university then. It will also be my 21st birthday and, people who know me knows that actually prefer having an intimate celebration, so that works out well for me.
Bye for now and I promise to post one last update before I fly back to Malaysia!
Exams are finally over, although it actually did not take that long to get them over it. It was just because I had 9 exams crammed into a measly 2 weeks that it felt like an age. Not all of them went well to be honest, but that's just how it is I guess. There was one particular paper *Finance 1 cough* that was especially hard and I honestly thought that I was going to fail it but after the paper, it seemed like most people felt the same so I guess I won't fail? I mean, the university isn't going to let half the class fail a paper, right? Anyway, it's all done and over.
Practically immediately after my exams, I jetted off to Croatia with two high school friends. That was genuinely fun. It was a nice mix between hectic days and chill ones. Also, the length of the trip was just nice, as in I didn't feel sick and felt like going home at any point of the trip. The first place I visited was Pula which was a quaint little town near the seaside. It was an interesting place because historical buildings and monuments were just scattered around the place. The difference in the architecture of the different eras the place went through in the past was also pretty obvious. It was quite an experience. Didn't really do much there except go to the beach. I got a nice tan there which was a nice change from the cold English weather.
 |
| Beach and sun in Pula!! |
After a day of travelling, I finally reached Dubrovnik where most of the fun happened. On my first day in Dubrovnik, I visited the old town. After walking around for a bit, me and my friends went on a Game of Thrones tour of Dubrovnik which was basically the highlight of the whole trip for me. I'm a pretty big fan of the show and the books, so the tour was perfect for me. The tour guide was really lovely and was even an extra in the show which was cool. She took us around showing us landmarks that served as shooting locations for the show. She was an even bigger fan evidently, and was pretty knowledgeable about both the shows and the books. I was basically in awe the whole time and splashed out some moolah on GoT merchandise as an early birthday present to myself. After tour, I scaled the city walls and while the view was great, it was pretty tiring and slightly torturing because of the sun beating down on me.
 |
| Pretty Dubrovnik |
 |
| The lovely GoT Tour guide |
The next day, I went with my friends on a kayaking excursion. Now that was an experience. It was open sea kayaking and we had to get to another island and back. Halfway, the sea decided to play up a bit and send some waves our way. I swear some of those waves were the height of my head. I nearly flipped over a few times. But I survived. And apparently I kayaked for about 10km which is an achievement in addition to me not being the last kayak in the group although I was left behind for some parts of the 'adventure',
Next stop was Split. The apartment we rented was actually inside Diocletian's Palace which is the main attraction of Split. That was a nice surprise because it made getting around and visiting landmarks so much easier. I made a point to visit most of the historical landmarks in the old town and that honestly did not take as long as I thought because all of them were clustered around the same spot (also the palace was not as big as it seemed on the map). It was a pretty chill 2-day stay there and I went back to England after that.
 |
| Just staying in an ancient palace, no biggie. |
I still have about a week or so to go before I go home to Malaysia (can't wait!!!!). I aim to record a few covers and sort out some career stuff in this short period of time, so hopefully that will go well. Also, I'll be celebrating my first overseas birthday! It will probably something small with some close friend who are still around university then. It will also be my 21st birthday and, people who know me knows that actually prefer having an intimate celebration, so that works out well for me.
Bye for now and I promise to post one last update before I fly back to Malaysia!
Sunday 10 May 2015
Weeks 25 to 33: Update
I really haven't been updating this blog very much lately. I would blame it on exam stress but fact is, I haven't been updating it even over Easter break. Anyway, here is a quick update of my life in the past two months.
1. Finally settled my internship for the summer break. I will be interning at PwC for about two months when I finally go back to Malaysia for the summer. Not exactly the dream but a good avenue to work on my social skills and gain working experience which hopefully will come in useful when I actually start applying for graduate jobs.
2. Visited London twice over the break and it was pretty nice seeing my cousin and getting to eat decent Asian food for once. Visited Greenwich. Pleasant place.
3. One of my childhood friends dropped by Coventry on her visit to the UK. I haven't seen her in ages so it was really nice to catch up with her.
4. Music-wise, nothing much happened. Despite plans to use my newly-acquired microphone to record some music over the break, there hasn't been much progress in that department. I did record a shitty demo of a song which I have recorded many times. The idea behind the demo was good, but execution wasn't there. Will have to work on that once exams are over.
5. On a different note, Malaysian Night happened. It was interesting to see songs I wrote being performed onstage by other people. One the songs went decently well (I'll just leave this here) while the other...let's just say it could have been better. The night, on a whole, could have went better. Let's just leave it at that.
6. Module registration for 3rd year opened a week ago and it was pretty stressful trying to login to the system but I managed to register for all the modules I wanted which is more than many other people can say. I have to say, I am pretty excited to take the modules next year mainly because I chose them myself and I made sure that there was a good balance of things that I want to learn and other stuff that could help my future career prospects. So I have that to look forward to next year.
7. Exams are only a couple weeks away. Pretty nervous. Study plans have not exactly gone to plan. Take today for an example. I was supposed to be in the library finishing up revision for a module but here I am writing this blog post. Hopefully I'll be able to at least get a bit of revision done later.
So that's about it. I have plans to revamp my Soundcloud page and start uploading covers more frequently. So look out for that. Youtube will come later. I will need to seriously up my game if I want to make it happen.
Bye for now! Hopefully my next post won't be too long away.
Signing off,
YiJiun
P.S. My love life has gone in an interesting direction. ;)
Saturday 7 March 2015
Weeks 19-24: Battered and Tired But Still Moving On
It's been some time, huh?
A lot has happened since the last time I updated this blog. Short update jobs-wise: everything has been a train wreck but I'm still applying for internships. Hopefully, I'll get one.
Academically, I think I'm doing alright. To be honest, the group project didn't really go as well as I hoped it would but it was still pretty much smooth sailing, so I don't have much to complain about.
I took part in Battle Of The Bands again this year. It didn't go as well as it did last year but really, last year is pretty hard to live up in terms of band-side success. I was working with a way smaller band and had to deal with considerable lack of guitar skills in the band and also the lack of drums. I had hoped to do better but it wasn't meant to be. The praise for the songwriting was a nice consolation though considering that I wrote two songs of the three-song set.
Next up, Masters of Show Choir! I have to say, it was an amazing experience to have taken part in this. The run up to the competition was pretty intense but still fun. It was so different to dikir last year. Everybody was just having fun and had a common goal. On the day of the competition itself, the team had so much fun that winning just wasn't a priority anymore. It was such a high that this past week just felt so bland.
Speaking of the past week, I went to karaoke night at the uni pub and it was actually pretty fun. I ended up onstage singing an alcohol-fuelled version of Shakira's Hips Don't Lie.
Now, I'm back to boring studying. I have a test and a presentation on the same day next week. Both are assessed which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully both of them will turn out alright.
Before I end this post, can I take a minute just to say, "How good is Kelly Clarkson's new album?" Honestly, it's not that great but still it's a solid album. Also, I'm such a huge fan that I don't really care.
Signing off,
YiJiun
A lot has happened since the last time I updated this blog. Short update jobs-wise: everything has been a train wreck but I'm still applying for internships. Hopefully, I'll get one.
Academically, I think I'm doing alright. To be honest, the group project didn't really go as well as I hoped it would but it was still pretty much smooth sailing, so I don't have much to complain about.
I took part in Battle Of The Bands again this year. It didn't go as well as it did last year but really, last year is pretty hard to live up in terms of band-side success. I was working with a way smaller band and had to deal with considerable lack of guitar skills in the band and also the lack of drums. I had hoped to do better but it wasn't meant to be. The praise for the songwriting was a nice consolation though considering that I wrote two songs of the three-song set.
Next up, Masters of Show Choir! I have to say, it was an amazing experience to have taken part in this. The run up to the competition was pretty intense but still fun. It was so different to dikir last year. Everybody was just having fun and had a common goal. On the day of the competition itself, the team had so much fun that winning just wasn't a priority anymore. It was such a high that this past week just felt so bland.
Speaking of the past week, I went to karaoke night at the uni pub and it was actually pretty fun. I ended up onstage singing an alcohol-fuelled version of Shakira's Hips Don't Lie.
Now, I'm back to boring studying. I have a test and a presentation on the same day next week. Both are assessed which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully both of them will turn out alright.
Before I end this post, can I take a minute just to say, "How good is Kelly Clarkson's new album?" Honestly, it's not that great but still it's a solid album. Also, I'm such a huge fan that I don't really care.
Signing off,
YiJiun
Sunday 25 January 2015
Week 12 to 18: Update
So I haven't exactly been updating this weekly....well, now I'm back!
First, I decided to count in the weeks that I spent in Malaysia for the Christmas break just so there's some sort of continuity and to avoid confusion when (if) I look back at this in future.
Next, the break which I took back in Malaysia was actually more eventful than I thought it would be. Of course, there was the hustle and bustle of moving all my stuff to the new house which wasn't even 100% ready when we moved in but it looked nice. My new room is now massive and I have tons of storage space which I don't need at the moment. It's nice that I don't have to share a room with my brother anymore (no more early mornings because of getting woken up by his alarm!).
Besides that, I visited the Johor Premium Outlets and Legoland with my siblings and my brother's friend (also my sister's lecturer). I actually enjoyed Legoland more than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be this boring kiddie park but there were some fun rides and shows. Also, they had the Star Wars exhibition when we visited, so that was pretty cool. The only downside to the trip was that the place we stayed at was a bit crappy. I wouldn't recommend staying at that hostel really. But, all in all, a pretty enjoyable trip.
Besides having fun, I also worked on job applications. But I wasn't very successful though. I crashed and burned at both phone interviews. The second one was slightly better than the first but still not very good. One thing I did realise though, I pressured myself so much to try to succeed but I didn't really want the jobs. The only thing that attracted me to those jobs were the fact that I would be able to stay in London and possibly get a job for when I graduate. Now, I'm focusing a bit more on applications in Malaysia and jobs in record labels or music companies.
Lately, besides trying to catch up on my work and balancing that with society stuff, I have also been thinking a lot on my future after I graduate. Do I want to work in Malaysia? Do I want to work in the UK? Do I want to work in a bank/audit firm? Do I want to work in a record company? It's so pressuring having the expectations of my parents not match my own. I completely understand why though, but still, I find it hard to make a decision which will give me a steady income in life.
In the end, I will be doing the job and I really should get something which I am at least vaguely interested in. Working in a bank is completely out. Not only am I not interested in finance, I didn't even like it when I did my internship in a bank. To be honest, I'm not even sure what auditors do but I have this prejudice against it and clearly just don't want to become an accountant. Would I like working in a record company? I don't know either, but I want to at least try.
Job seeking is hard. And I'm only looking for an internship. How nice would it be if I didn't have to worry about this while still in university? Sigh.
Signing off,
YiJiun
First, I decided to count in the weeks that I spent in Malaysia for the Christmas break just so there's some sort of continuity and to avoid confusion when (if) I look back at this in future.
Next, the break which I took back in Malaysia was actually more eventful than I thought it would be. Of course, there was the hustle and bustle of moving all my stuff to the new house which wasn't even 100% ready when we moved in but it looked nice. My new room is now massive and I have tons of storage space which I don't need at the moment. It's nice that I don't have to share a room with my brother anymore (no more early mornings because of getting woken up by his alarm!).
Besides that, I visited the Johor Premium Outlets and Legoland with my siblings and my brother's friend (also my sister's lecturer). I actually enjoyed Legoland more than I thought I would. I was expecting it to be this boring kiddie park but there were some fun rides and shows. Also, they had the Star Wars exhibition when we visited, so that was pretty cool. The only downside to the trip was that the place we stayed at was a bit crappy. I wouldn't recommend staying at that hostel really. But, all in all, a pretty enjoyable trip.
Besides having fun, I also worked on job applications. But I wasn't very successful though. I crashed and burned at both phone interviews. The second one was slightly better than the first but still not very good. One thing I did realise though, I pressured myself so much to try to succeed but I didn't really want the jobs. The only thing that attracted me to those jobs were the fact that I would be able to stay in London and possibly get a job for when I graduate. Now, I'm focusing a bit more on applications in Malaysia and jobs in record labels or music companies.
Lately, besides trying to catch up on my work and balancing that with society stuff, I have also been thinking a lot on my future after I graduate. Do I want to work in Malaysia? Do I want to work in the UK? Do I want to work in a bank/audit firm? Do I want to work in a record company? It's so pressuring having the expectations of my parents not match my own. I completely understand why though, but still, I find it hard to make a decision which will give me a steady income in life.
In the end, I will be doing the job and I really should get something which I am at least vaguely interested in. Working in a bank is completely out. Not only am I not interested in finance, I didn't even like it when I did my internship in a bank. To be honest, I'm not even sure what auditors do but I have this prejudice against it and clearly just don't want to become an accountant. Would I like working in a record company? I don't know either, but I want to at least try.
Job seeking is hard. And I'm only looking for an internship. How nice would it be if I didn't have to worry about this while still in university? Sigh.
Signing off,
YiJiun
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