Tag Archives: graduation

Counting down

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2022 is coming to an end. It’s time for a quick summary. Or, this isn’t really a summary, but a recap, because there’s no content on this site to summarize in 2022.

At the start of 2022, the most amazing in tennis happened — Rafa won the Australian Open. He went on to win his 14th French title. Sure, tennis fans all enjoyed the joy of his victory. But every time Rafa wins a title, people are asking if it would be his last. As Rafa makes history, his day of retirement is on the countdown. Speaking of retirement, Roger announced his retirement three months ago. Before that, everyone thought he’s going to play professionally one last time. But he didn’t. So, again, you never know when’s the last time certain good things happen.

I’ve advanced to M3 in 2022, and only one more semester to go. So my MDS life is also counting down. My second last post was about MDS being a long vacation I’m enjoying. Sadly, with graduation approaching, works are beginning to pile up, making student life no longer a source of pleasure but pressure. An interesting fact I was reminded of is that this is my eighth year studying at HKU, making HKU to surpass LSC as the school I’ve been in the longest time. But right now, I really don’t want to stay any longer.

Another thing that I hope is on the countdown is Covid. Sure, many places around the world have resumed to normal, but not in HK. In fact, I doubt that HK will ever become “normal” again. But at least let’s hope that we don’t have to wear a mask, do PCR/RAT, lose our confidentiality, etc. all the time.

So, there you have it. A list of things to countdown: Rafa, MDS life, Covid, and 2022 itself. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Let’s not hope that this site is also on the countdown.

12-12-12, graduation

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It’s Dec 12, 2012, or short for 12-12-12. This site has quite a history in reporting repeating-digit dates. On Mar 3, 2003, I wrote:

“So today is 03-03-03, very interesting…”

And on Apr 4, 2004, I wrote:

“I said last year that I would be expecting April 4, 2004 because it is of a special and wonderful number… So, i am expecting May 5 next year.”

Those were the earliest days I started to pay attention to the bits and pieces of my life. Up to this moment, I still have no idea what these repeating digits have to do with my life — perhaps none. But some says 12-12-12 will be the last repeating-digit date we’ll see in our entire life — i.e. assuming we don’t live until 1-1-2101 (01-01-01), but who knows? — so this day is kind of special.

Today I’d like to talk about graduation. We had our graduation ceremony last Wednesday. If Christmas is a festive season for all, November to January should be a festive season for graduates. It’s also a period I hate, as a graduate myself. Why? I hate seeing big groups of people doing stupid things. Whenever I go to those “sacred” places for taking graduation photos, I’m often pissed by the fact that so many people are there taking photos as well. You cannot but include them in the background, as if you’re a collective self in harmony all celebrating the joy of graduation together. If you really want to exclude them, perhaps the only thing you can do is get an ultra fast lens and take a close up of yourself so that everyone is blurred beyond the shallow depth of field.

Well, so I’m pleased to have taken pictures in my favourite scene at HKU, Eliot Hall, ahead of anyone else. I like Eliot Hall more than I like the MB (that’s why the committee photo of The Apollonian was taken there). But apart from that experience, taking graduation photo is a pain in the ass.

And then there was the graduation ceremony. As much as a wedding ceremony does not signify the whole marriage (it’s just the beginning), graduation moments (photo taking, the ceremony) do not signify graduation itself. I graduated five months ago already, as I received my final exam results and my temporary certificate. I have already celebrated back then, so why all the fuss? Taking photos in grad gown? Attending the ceremony, and taking even more photos there? Graduation means we’ve finished a long long journey of learning, during which we mature and learn to do things with sophistication. Dressed in graduation gown and taking group photos with a noisy crowd, often in stupid poses, is an insult to the identity we’ve earned, a damage to recognition we’ve gained. No matter what, I’m a person who enjoys privacy, so I’m not going to join my fellows celebrating crazily for graduation. I’m glad I graduated, that’s it.

Not too long ago I read a quote on facebook: Finally I graduated. I have to thank my family and friends, and whoever invented wikipedia and copy & paste. Did I require that for graduation? I’m glad I didn’t. To all those graduates who refused to be mediocre, you have my most sincere respect. Congratulations!

Last times

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It’s the end of August. This summer has meant a lot to me, with different things to treasure at different times. First it was the end of exams; then we got our results to find out we’ve finally graduated; then I began job hunting and finally succeeded. And between each milestone I was lucky to be able to enjoy this very last summer vacation with my loved ones. Yes, this summer has been a happy one, and so it’s natural that I feel some sadness when this summer is nearly over. In particular, I’m leaving Lee Shau Kee, a place I’ve called home for the past five years.

Indeed, a lot has happened throughout my five-year hall life. I’m never a sentimental person, but right now I’d really like to list my most treasured memories in this hall (in random order):

  • P&P Subcom
  • Play hard and work hard with dental friends
  • Living in single room
  • Sharing a double room with James
  • Love stories?
  • Quiet moments alone (with wine)
  • Dinners alone (Fusion / Pizza Hut + Mcwings takeaway)
  • Things I don’t remember right now but nevertheless still treasure

You may think that there aren’t too much memories. Sorry, I’m not the kind of person who would write a piece of shit facebook note and tag every one and say how much I treasure them. No, every bone in my body says that’s not the way I treasure things. The (fox in the) Little Prince says “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”. I concur. How I describe memories in text is not important; it’s how I remember them that’s important.

But of course, the goal of this site is to describe my thoughts in plain text. That’s why I’ll briefly tell what I’ve done in the last two days prior to my leaving:

Packing, packing, packing
I spent quite a lot of time packing. I’ve finished just now: 8 boxes and 4 red-white-blue bags; these are five-year-worth of memories. And I also gave out quite a lot of stuff, and made a little contribution in promoting oral health.

 

Dinner at Fusion
One doesn’t usually graduate alone; Cathy is moving out too. That’s why we celebrated our last days at Memo’s. Originally we wanted to go to Safety Stop once more. Unfortunately for some reason it didn’t open on Sunday; the same was true for 糖痴豆. We ended up going to 甜品堂, which was still good, albeit meaning less to us. We also had a last late night walk in the campus, which we’ve always enjoyed.

 

Dinner at Fusion
Of course, a large part of my hall life is related to Fusion. That’s why it’s natural that I’d like to spend my last dinner at Fusion. It didn’t disappoint me — my favourite dish, seafood paella, was there. For one moment I thought I should say a proper goodbye to them; but I just couldn’t. That’s not me. I should always remember my gratitude to them, because their food has really cheered me up a lot during the darkest days in my life. I hope when I come back some day, it’ll still be there.

The beginning of the end

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It’s Aug 1. Technically my life as a HKU student is officially over — my student ID has expired, I pay double hall fee for this month, … But there’s a saying that you’re not graduated until you get a job (no, there’s not), so let’s just think I’m a student enjoying my last days in university, and in hall (I’ll be leaving on 29/8).

In fact, I think I’ll really miss my days in this hall. Despite less participation in everything for the past two years, I still have strong emotional attachment to the values of this hall, the values I helped create and shape. When I tidy things up, I often look at the wide range of items I designed, and they did cover a lot of things — booklets, posters, web page, lanyard, booth, … I think when you meet a group of people who really share the same values as you do, you’ll be really motivated to do things and contribute to a community. That’s what I did before. That passion somehow vanished at some point in history, but at least I know that it existed.

Talking about what I treasure at this hall, apart from my amateur career in design, I must also mention the group of dental students. I love the way we supported each other. It was good to know that whenever you need help, help is there. I am most grateful for having senior mentors here, and so I extended this good tradition to the lower years, and met a group of great friends in that process. Sadly, with my leaving, as well as some fourth-years, this dental group may disintegrate soon. I hope that the remaining ones will not be too lonely.

Btw, one more album to share. Enjoy.

120717 West Kowloon Promenade

Call me doctor :)

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“It’s a moral responsibility.”

OK, I have to admit that I’m quite excited about my latest status that I have to write one more piece on that. In addition, this is a totally new site, so it’s understandable that I’d like to write more. Well, life after graduation is not simple at all. After we got the exciting results yesterday, we went to the Dean’s Reception, which served champagne. I got one of the cocks and asked Cathy to kindly keep that. Well, she’s a better collector than I am.

And afterwards there was a perio lecture to attend. No one intended to go initially, but then they said they’d give out a $1,000+ electric toothbrush, so why not?

Originally I thought there’d be no surprise yesterday — I would pass, so would everyone. Some surprises did surface, but let’s just talk about the happy surprise. Well, I’m honoured to pass with honours, which I didn’t really expect (I mean, we weren’t told how well we did in exams for the past five years). And of course I feel happy for everyone else who spent my BDS life with me, in one way or another.

And then we’ll have to register for many things (at least three). 1) Register with the dental council; 2) get x-ray licenses; 3) get insured by MPS. And thanks to bureaucracy, they will in no way be done under one roof (unlike Apple’s services). And everything needs to be paid, in cheque, which is very annoying. If we’re truly to contribute to the industry, the first thing should be to fight for more convenience for dentists. Why isn’t a place that can help dentists get what they need from all parties? And, before we expect that, let’s talk something more fundamental. Henry Ho was right — no one at the faculty tells us what to do after we get the temporary certificate. All things we heard are rumours. So..

*   *   *

And then I have something about this site to talk about (since it got a new design, and a new system). The first thing you’ll notice is the term “theone”. Well, it’s our new codename, “the one”. I have no intention to associate this site with Big Lau’s mall. I just hope to emphasize that this site is “the one” we’ve been waiting for, after all these years. And I want to show my passion for blogging. This blog is not going to be temporary, not to be abandoned. Instead I’ll keep blogging and blogging.

The reason that I’m so into this is because after more than nine years of blogging, I sense the moral responsibilities bloggers hold. Whatever you write, whatever you publish, someone must read that and get a certain message. And in the age of mobile cyberspace, information flow is so fast that people start to take whatever they’re told without ever digesting the information, differentiating right from wrong. What we write may have a lasting impact on individuals or even the wider community. So we must continue to write, but in a cautious manner. One thing that struck me a lot happened when I exchanged email with some lower year dental students. “‘[email protected]’? Are you from LSC?” He asked. I didn’t expect my site is so well-known among LSC, that even a guy four years younger heard of it. And because of this, I know I must continue to do this, with more studiousness and attention than ever. It’s a right thing to do to blog things right.

Please accept my apology that this article is a bit unorganized. It’s been a long time that I haven’t written so much. Maybe a short summary for today? 1) I love my blog; 2) call me doctor; 3) both being a blogger and a dentist mean great moral responsibility.