Sorry this post is going to be boring as I am uninspired to write at the moment… but just one piece of news:

ERN SHEONG WILL BE GETTING BAPTIZED TOMORROW!!!!

I remember many years ago seeing people get baptized in church and I wondered whether I would ever come to that stage in my walk with Christ. Fast forward years later and now I am getting baptized tomorrow! It means that I will be dedicating my life to living for Christ.

I want to thank many people, especially the City Harvest members in Singapore and KL who have helped me through so far, as well as a few close friends who have helped me get back on track in this Christian walk, and provided me with so much care and guidance to make me feel supported and encouraged. Not to mention my mum who whole-heartedly approved my decision to get baptized.

OK so Ern Sheong has gotten himself rid of that sales job with iZZi Wireless Broadband which required him to work all weekend and practically 9 hours a day in a shopping center trying to sell people one thousand ringgit broadband packages. (I actually got a promotion to booth supervisor, but when I realised that the basic pay did not change and the working hours were still that gruelling, I quit anyway =P)

Well I was enjoying my days off after 31st of March (the day I quit) and spent my days hanging out or sleeping late and getting up even later. Nothing in store for me. No plans to do anything. But then before the week was up my mum obtained for me an internship with her friend’s company, i.e. a telco company in Malaysia (no not Telekom, much smaller private company called Telshine Telecommunication) (Somehow it’s weird how things are always planned nicely before me. It just comes. I did not even have to search for both of the jobs I landed since coming back from Singapore. I have to thank God for that.)

I started my job on the 7th of April, and for the past week I have been following an engineer around the entire Klang Valley changing the gateway number for the dialer used to connect to the call server at Telshine (discounted call service). I went to the semiconductor factory StatsChipPac in Shah Alam, Gardenia in Shah Alam, Transwater Api in Bandar Sri Damansara, Aker Solutions at Wisma Hong Leong … bla bla bla so so many companies and so so many factories that I cannot remember anymore. But of course, the pay is lousy. But I can claim petrol and make money out of the petrol allowance! XD

This week I expect to be be driving out on my own to meet clients and do the required maintainance since I have learnt how to deal with most of the troubleshooting needed to fix faulty dialers and how to reprogramme the gateway via plugging in a handset.

Saturday went to the PIKOM PC Fair at KL Convention Centre and got myself a pair of SonicGear earphones for RM 45 (bad publicity for this company, but sorry have to announce it: Your earphones are lousy!!!). Got home and realised that the sound quality was way inferior to that of the original iPod’s =.=

Then I went to church later part of my Saturday and found out that there was some audition for dancers to perform in a special church musical production.

The weird thing about this was that I signed up for the audition:

ES: Hi, I would like to try out for the dance production.
Girl:  Sure, just fill in your particulars here on this form.

While I was filling up the form…

Girl: So, what kind of dance are you currently in? Hip hop?
ES: er…. uh…. ar…. no experience
Girl: It’s okay just come for the try-outs…

Thanks. Phew.

Sweat.

Sunday I was paid to go to a volunteer training session for the World Congress of IT happening this May. I was even given free lunch and three complimentary tea breaks. (There is such thing as a free lunch!) Well I signed up to volunteer for the event months ago (I blogged about it before) so here I was at the training session for one entire day along with 300 other people. Not bad, rather fun. (Paid RM 80 a day for volunteering, training days included) I was allocated to Sales (aka PR) and was posted at the KL Convention Center IT Exhibition during the conference (May 18-22, 2008). Maybe you guys can visit me there! And owh I was also very fortunate to make some great new friends there at the training… hi Aaron from Monash and Peng from APIIT!

Yeah so came back home, had dinner… and decided to drag my father to the DVD shop (whoops! shhhh. hope the police do not read my blog XD). Bought 6 DVDs and watched Step Up (yeah I know I am slow…) at night. Great movie. Makes me feel like dancing too! =) And the girl’s hot =P

So that sums up my week. Not to mention Cell Group, 2 birthday outings, and well, the sad part earlier in the week at Andrew’s wake. Rest in peace, bro.

OK now back to my “How Dell Does It” book before I retire to bed. I really respect and admire Dell.

Good night people. God Bless.

Ern Sheong Lin
No 21 Jalan BU 7/2 Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya, 47800
MYS

Doris Davis
Associate Provost
Admissions and Enrollment
Cornell University

Whoops… so it is Berkeley vs Cornell now… what a big headache…

Give me advice people!!!

OMG Berkeley vs Cornell???!!! Very hard to choose!!! Help!!!

E-mail came in at 5.11 am on Sunday morning, the day AFTER they were supposed to send out the e-mails.

March 28, 2008

Ern Sheong Lin
No. 21, Jalan BU 7/2
Petaling Jaya, 47800
MALAYSIA

Stanford ID#: 05522867

Dear Ern Sheong,

The Office of Undergraduate Admission regrets to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission to Stanford University. The overall quality of our applicant pool and relatively small size of our freshman class means that we disappoint the vast majority of our applicants each year. We acknowledge your strong interest in Stanford, which makes the task of sending you this news especially difficult.

To find answers to the most commonly asked questions about the admission process at Stanford, click here. I hope it will help address some of the questions you may have about our decision. Please be aware that we are not able to consider appeals to this decision.

Ern Sheong, you are a fine student with solid support from your teachers and advisors. I am confident that you will enjoy great success in your undergraduate education. I only wish we had room for everyone with talent and energy like yours.

We know this is disappointing news to receive; for that reason, and to be environmentally conscious, you will not be sent a paper copy of this letter by mail unless you instruct us otherwise. If you wish to request a copy of this letter by mail, you may do so here.

With best wishes for an outstanding undergraduate experience,
Richard H. Shaw
Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

So much for all the hype and that stupid Stanford campaign. Waited 25 hours for their e-mail only to receive a notice of rejection. All this even though I applied for Early Action and shown great interest in Stanford.

Somehow I knew that this could happen and surprisingly I am not so affected by this. In fact, I feel perfectly alright, thanks to the peace that God has given me.

I remember debating  in my mind for months whether Stanford or MIT would be better for me. But God has other things in mind. Now I don’t have to bother about that debate anymore. Neither accepted me.

I want to thank all the people who gave me encouragement =) I’m perfectly fine, though I thought I deserved to get in after an average of 5 drafts per every essay submitted to Stanford, for a total of about 6 essays. And I did show my passion to study in Stanford.

And don’t let the fact that Ern Sheong did not get into Stanford affect your dreams of going to Stanford or any other prestigious university. In the game of admissions, the best man or woman does not always emerge as the winner. There are innumerable and unpredictable factors which can affect the final admission decision. Continue to dream big, think big, and realize that by not applying at all, the chances of you entering any of these great universities is ZERO. So always apply and give it a shot.

Not giving up on Stanford yet. I’ll do my Masters there, God willing. Stanford remains as my DREAM SCHOOL.

Quoted from MercunyNews.com:

Stanford University announced Thursday that less than one in 10 applicants have been offered admission beginning in the fall for the class of 2012.

A total of 2,400 students were offered admission to Stanford as freshman out of more than 25,000 applicants, the largest number in Stanford’s history.

“The competition for admission to Stanford this year was unprecedented,” Stanford Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard Shaw said. “Because of the large number of applicants, we were able to admit just 9.5 percent, the lowest admission rate in Stanford’s 117-year history. As expected, the academic strengths, talent and impact outside the classroom of this group is astonishing. They are distinguished on a global scale.”

I am still waiting for that e-mail. >.<

Bumped into this in Hazwani’s blog. Looks like most of us (me especially) do not read the New Straits Times =.=

Yes we have all heard about this guy with 20 A1s and 1 A2.

But A DJian has scored 15A1s and became Selangor’s top student! Congratulations to Chow May Suen! (Puan Yap’s daughter) May Suen is now officially the DJian with the most number of A1s in SMKDJ’s history! Congrats again!

Good time management the secret of her SPM success

PETALING JAYA: Good time management - that was the secret of Chow May Suen’s success when she was announced as Selangor’s top student in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.

The 18-year-old student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Damansara Jaya scored 15 A1s.

“There was never any special formula, I just managed my time well - for studying and co-curricular activities,” she said..

Chow, who wants to major in pediatrics, is currently pursuing her A-Levels at Taylor’s College in Subang Jaya.

Her mother Yap Swee Pek, 46, who is teaching chemistry at her daughter’s former school, called Chow “very hardworking”.

-NST March 13th 2008

Friday, March 7th was the day the Singapore A-Level results were released. I came down to Singapore to collect the results, and stayed overnight at my aunt’s place. Saturday, I went to City Harvest Church Singapore @ Jurong West for the 3.30 pm service to meet up with my previous cell group friends (and also to visit CHC Singapore).

As usual, the presence of God was strong there and the worship was electrifying. But this is not why I blogged today.

Somehow, during that very service, by coincidence or by God’s divine plan for me, CHC was publicizing the City Harvest Bible Training Center School of Theology (CHBTC SOT) Advanced Certificate of Theology course, and they even made a video explaining the significance of going to Bible School and the importance of being equipped for God’s ministry. At first, I did not think much of it. (My earlier desire to go to Bible School was met with fierce opposition from my mum, thus I gave in) But as the service proceeded, I felt a very strong (and unmistakable) conviction in my heart that God wanted me to attend SOT. The video shown seemed to speak to me and it increased my desire to attend SOT this year.

I saw the dates on the flyer: 4th April until 24th August 2008 (5 months). The timing was so good. No clashes with any studies (if I were to go to the US to pursue further studies), and going to SOT was anytime better than my 6-7 day a week job manning a booth at Giant Kelana Jaya working 9 hours a day selling some stupid wireless broadband. I also have enough savings from my previous paychecks to pay for the fees needed to attend the course (SGD 1250) on my own.

Most of all, I wanted to be equipped for God’s marketplace ministry before I leave for university. Not that I would become a Pastor (although if God calls who am I to say no), but I am more geared to be a businessman or entrepreneur who is also preaching the gospel and spreading God’s word around in the realm of business.

Pastor Kong called to the stage two former Bible School graduates and asked them how they were doing. They were actually not in full-time ministry but they were impacting the realm of business in their own way having been equipped by SOT in their earlier years. I believe that I can also serve God in the realm of business or to serve God better in church, but now I do not have any idea of how I can do such a thing without the proper training. Hence I have no doubt that going to SOT will give me a set of tools that I can work with to build God’s kingdom here on earth, while also pursuing my dreams of setting up a business in the future.

At the end of the service, Pastor Kong asked all who felt the calling of God to go to Bible School someday (he didn’t say this year) and to serve Him in ministry, be it full-time or marketplace, to stand up. I don’t know. I just had the urge to stand up. And so I stood with many others. Pastor Kong then asked those who were sitting to stretch out their hands to us and pray for us.

When I reached home from Singapore, I told my parents about it. But the first word that came out from my mum’s mouth was a resounding NO. She cited accommodation problems, and also said that there were many things to be done in Malaysia. What things, mum? What is so good about working until 11 pm daily at Giant KJ? What is left to learn by staying here for the next few more months while waiting for university? You just don’t want me to leave home again right? (I am her only child)

“Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18: 29-30)

Come on, mum. Please allow your son to discover his destiny and to be prepared for God’s work. I want to embark on an unforgettable adventure of serving God better. And I would love you no less too. I was called. This is not my own personal desire. It is God’s. Please say YES. The deadline is this Friday.

Update: Perhaps the timing is not right. The NO is as strong as ever. I give up trying to convince my parents. Yes, the call was unmistakable, but the timing might not be right now. I will have to wait until after university I suppose. I have to learn to trust God’s timing. May God open up a path for me.

I would like to extend my congratulations to all from National Junior College who did exceptionally well in the previous 2007 Singapore-Cambridge A Level Examinations! Kudos especially to Yoon Ji Wei, Navin Brian Ramakrishna, and Doan Duc Huy for being the top three students in National Junior College. They scored straight Distinctions in all subjects taken, including Project Work and H3 subjects. Also kudos to Tan Shao Min for clinching the Institute of Physics Gold Medal awarded to top Physics students in the nation. My congratulations also goes out to Mohd Faisal Johandi, former Council President, for becoming the top Malay student in National JC.

I would also like to congratulate all for putting up their best effort in the examinations. National Junior College did well too, although I do not have the exact numbers.

Sometimes people here like to think that with stellar A Level results one can conquer anything and become extremely successful out there. In Singapore, people slight others with less than stellar results. Sad but true.

But never let yourself be judged by a piece of paper called the “Results Slip.” Cliche as it might sound, life is more than academics. Failure has to be treated with more respect here. People don’t like to take risks here. If they do, they are all too calculated. If you failed to live up to your own expectations, do not worry. The beauty of life is that we are meant to fail again and again whilst being given the future chance to stand up again victorious, even if it might not be in the A Levels examination again. There is always something larger to conquer out there.

As Micheal Jordan once said,”I’ve missed more than 9000 shots. I’ve lost almost 300 games. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” You might have missed a bit now, but that miss is going to make you aim much better in the future, and win you more games in the future. If you scored a perfect shot now, well good for you! But don’t be complacent and always seek to improve your game, or today’s missers will overtake you and trump you.

Congratulations to all once again!

Thus ends the perfect straight A streak that Ern Sheong has been enjoying in the UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations.

First the good part:

H2 Mathematics A
H2 Physics A
H2 Chemistry A
H1 Economics A

Now, the not so good part:

H1 General Paper B (this is an English language subject)
H3 MOE Mathematics Merit
H3 NTU Contemporary Physics Pass
(The best results possible for H3 is Distinction, followed by Merit and Pass. For the uninformed, H3 replaced Singapore’s Special Papers this year and it covers an extended range of university level topics. H3 is an optional paper.)

Also, another set-back from a past result:

Project Work B

When they announced the list of 20 top scorers in National Junior College, I found that I was not so surprised that I did not make it into the list.

In fact, throughout the journey to National Junior College, Singapore from Malaysia, my heart did not beat faster than usual. Everything was… calm.

When I saw the results, I went,”Oh… like that ar… OK la.”

Just like that. To say that I was not disappointed is a little bit of an understatement. But somehow it was… OK.

Ern Sheong, just another run-of-the-mill student in a super-competitive NJC. He never did top anything in the intensely competitive National Junior College for two years, so why expect so stellar results anyway.

But praise God for all his blessings. I saw some girls crying and sobbing around the school, most probably because of not too good results. And I was ashamed of myself for not being thankful enough for His wonderful blessings. Thank You, Lord.

Also, I want to take this opportunity to thank the teachers who have cared for me so selflessly in NJC. First is Ms Ong An Dian, my General Paper teacher, who is a very caring, patient and encouraging teacher. She has been so kind to write me a teacher recommendation and send it to the seven US universities as requested. She gave me a lot of GP guidance, and although I did not score an A for her this time, her lessons have somewhat improved my argumentative writing and command of written English. She seemed to me like a good friend and a friendly face in school always. I would like to thank her for being there for her students and for me when I needed someone nice to talk to. She is one teacher whom I can call friend.

Second is Ms Khoo Bee Chan, my form teacher who also helped me write a teacher recommendation for US Universities, and she also kindly sent the recommendations to the respective universities as requested. She has been very helpful in helping me out with a lot of admin stuff needed to make the US application work, and I would also like to thank her for all her guidance in Physics. I am frequently amazed that she can repeat things to students so many many many times without getting impatient or frustrated at all. Amazing. So unlike the impatient me.

Third is Ms Darshini, my Chemistry teacher, whom I want to thank for having faith in me despite scoring an E (my first fail in an exam in my life omg!) in a term exam on my first year in JC. Somehow with her guidance I managed to pull myself back together and dramatically improve my Chemistry results (I went from E to A in the next exam). Thank you so much. Not to mention also Ms Ling who taught me Mathematics, for being one very compelling Mathematics teacher, in the sense that she made me always want to score higher and higher in Maths (but perhaps it was also competition and kiasuness as well).

Also kudos to Mr Lee who taught me Economics. This was one subject where I always scored a C in JC. But with his very catchy mind-map method, I was able to enjoy Economics and not dread it. I also want to thank him for marking my continuous string of optional assignments (I bombarded him with a lot a lot). Yes, and also a big thank you to Mr Gilbert Lee (another Mr Lee) for making me see that Economics is “kacang” and so easy to score.

A BIG THANK YOU also goes to Ms Sharon Phua for awarding me with a College Values SPECIAL Award which she specially concocted for me because she noticed that I nominated quite a number of people for the usual termly College Values Award. She wrote a laminated Letter (or rather she compiled a Letter which included testimonials from some teachers and students), specially prepared a laminated beautiful certificate and subsequently presented them to me in front of the J2 cohort days before the A level examinations. I am so grateful for such an Award.

Yes, and also so many many other teachers who have touched my life here in one way or another. Mr Nick Chan my research teacher-mentor who encouraged me to spring back from a lack of research results to end up obtaining the Gold Medal in the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair 2007. Mr Teo for working with me on the Student Council Investure and the Leadership Symposium logistics, and for being one very very nice person to work with. Ms Chua for being such a caring Council teacher to all the Councillors. And oh… I can go on and on…

And yes also to my Singaporean friends and ASEAN Scholar buddies who have constantly encouraged me all the time and have given me a tremendous time of fun during these two hectic years in Singapore. Thank you for helping me enjoy my JC life, really. The two years were really about the people, i.e. you, my friends and my teachers (not to mention my City Harvest Singapore friends and cell group leaders Hui Zhen and Eva!)

God bless all you readers. It is time to look forward now. If you have yet to take Singapore’s A-Level Examinations and are going to, DO YOUR VERY BEST. Nothing else matters. JUST DO YOUR BEST.

I know I did do my very best. Maybe that’s why I am already over the little disappointment today. Cheers.

Salesman for iZZi wireless broadband, introduced to me by Victor Tham (thanks Victor!) who is working near the iZZi booth in Giant Kelana Jaya where he is works as a Streamyx sales rep.

Pays RM 1500 per month with commission of RM 50 per sales. Long working hours with one weekday off per week. Yes, it means that I have to work weekends. No more slacking and chilling! Minimum commitment is 3 months. If this job really suits me and sales are good, I would consider staying on until it is time to enter university

I am not scared of long hours or hard work outdoors in the city center approaching random people (had a lot of exposure to that through Scouts and community service), but my main concern is that I would not be able to attend church and cell group and other stuff given my long working schedule as a salesperson for Malaysia’s new wireless broadband. (more info at www.izzi.com.my)

I think God has opened a door for me to this job (The job came to me, I did not search for it) and I believe that He would also help me plan my schedule very nicely. Time to say goodbye to the comfort zone of doing nothing all day long at home!

Well this took place in March 2007.

Sasha and I underwent a 6-month research attachment in the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Singapore in 2006 which culminated in a project which we used to compete in the Singapore Science and Engineering 2007 in March 2007. Many thanks to our mentor Dr Dennis Tan who was our mentor. We managed to clich the Gold medal in what must have been the most surprising moment in my life.

14 Gold awards were given out of the 330 research projects competing. Awards were announced by sticking labels on winners’ posters. After 13 Gold awards had been given out, I thought that was it. We did not win anything at all. No GOLD anymore…

But suddenly the Results Official walked right up to my booth, stood on my chair… and pasted the yellow GOLD label on my research poster. I stood there dumbfounded, jaw on the floor, and could not believe my eyes. Praise the Lord!

Sasha and I

The Gold Label

I always wanted to enter management, perhaps in the management of an already established company, MNC, etc. My Prefect experience has given me lots of fun, I really think that management is my thing, my strength.

But over the past few months I have been drawn to the prospect of starting my own company in an undetermined field. Maybe it is a dream from God or maybe it’s just my desire, but I really feel very strongly about this. Every time I pick up a book about great businesses like HP, Dell, Starbucks, Apple, etc., I would feel so excited and enthusiastic and try to pick up a management strategy or two to be applied in the future. Sometimes, I already find myself thinking about what name I should give my company. (Lin Inc. or something, what a joke!)

Thus, my goal for a university education now is just to explore avenues for a new business venture instead of for a job in itself.

Pros:
1) Money was never in the equation, but if the company takes off, I could stand to earn more than a conventional fixed pay job. But I am never into this for the money. No passion, no progress. People who start companies for the money are bound to fail.
2) I love management and interacting with people, and managing a company would be a great excitement for me. I would be so fired up about the company in the way that I was so “on” about the Prefects’ Board last time.
3) It’s fun?
4) Whoops, how come I am so short of pros?

Cons:
1) You fail, you can’t even feed yourself. And failure is commonplace in such ventures.
2) It’s a cruel competition out there.
3) At the start, I would not be earning much even as everyone else gets a good fixed pay check to support themselves.
4) A LOT of hard work and slogging to get the company off the ground. Even more to ensure that it survives beyond my lifetime.
5) Even in Singapore, and Malaysia, entrepreneurship and ventures in innovation have not been known to flourish and thrive given the risk-averse society and environment. (but I do want to come back to either one of these two countries to set up a business)
6) There are too many reasons to fail.

My goal: To establish a company which would survive beyond my lifetime, to grow a multi-billion dollar company and be one of the greatest companies on the planet. (I am rather sick of the fact that many of the known and large companies have their origins in the United States)

What an audacious dream.

SPM is long over and it is now time to move on. I was lucky enough to be posted to Hwa Chong Institution Boarding, and hopefully I would end up in Hwa Chong Institution itself! School posting has not been done, so it’s a matter of keeping my fingers crossed! Thank God for His wonderful blessings!

Why did I accept the ASEAN Scholarship? I have been thinking about this matter for many many months. Why go to Singapore when I can easily have done A Levels in Malaysia for a shorter duration and thus saving time?

Answer: It’s really time to break away from the comfort zone and push myself to the limits! In my opinion, being in Singapore will give me more drive and zeal for what is to come, and even learn more and meet new friends along the way! The educaton there is superb, provided that the school is good. I trust that God has His plans for me, and no matter what, He has nothing but the best for me, even if it goes against my expectations! So in the next few months, I’ll see what happens! Hopefully this will be a great eye-opener for me.

Well, gotta go packing!!! Leaving in a few days!!