RANDOMNESS

Yesterday, I was thinking about a topic for my blog. I'd even asked EJ, and he kept throwing random topics at me like: fashion, love, parents, pets, snow, snowfall, winter, Christmas, AIDS etc.
Errrr.....Fashion? NO WAY! Neha's not a fashion freak, neither does she care what today's vogue fashion is. She just likes wearing cloths, accessories that make her feel comfortable and that is somewhat fashionable to her.
Love? ummm.....NO, THANK YOU! I have to cool my anger off first. Grrrr....
Parents? well...no need to elaborate on this.
Pets? YUCK! I've never had pets, I don't have one, and I will never have one in the future, EVER.
Snow? Hasn't snowed here in Hershey/Hummelstown since I've been here....
Snowfall? I've seen too many. I don't think people would be in interested in reading about 'snowfalls'...
Winter? bbbrrrrrrrr...cold! By the way, did you know that Winter season will start on December 21st?
Christmas? what about it...? I'm not gonna waste time writing blogs about Christmas. I mean don't people already know the history and the traditions? I don't think readers would waste time reading the same knowledge they already posses in their brains.
AIDS? hmm...no. I would need to do some extensive research about it, which I DON'T want to do so as it would kill my time of goofing around and watching crappy Bollywood movies.

So these were some of the ideas that EJ kept throwing at me, but they were too general. I can't elaborate on them unless I have profound knowledge about them, and I really don't ! :(

So, since this topic is about randomness, here are some of the activities that took place in my life after the 11th (last day of my exam)

• I came back home for the winter holidays! yey!
  
• We celebrated Anup's b'day yesterday. The cake was yummy! :)
• I'll be watching 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. I'm not too keen on watching remakes, but I haven't seen the old one, and plus it's a Sci-Fi movie with special effects. The x-factor in the movie: Reeveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss! :)
• Yesterday, I made 'Dhokla' for the 1st time, and I forgot to put the lemon drop in it, but it wasn't bad ;)
• Decorating the Christmas tree is fun, it's not wholly done yet....
• umm....so many more things happened, like dad bored me to death when he talked about memory, RAM, hard disk....etc etc etc.....oh lord!
• People have forgotten me, they don't care about me. They come online but leave no scraps, no email to even ask about my well-being or how I've been all these times, not even an offline msg....yea, I feel loved :(
• I had an awesome argument with Sajed bhayia about what I should call him. He said I should call him "Bhai", while my argument was that I will stick with calling him "Bhayia" as he's older than me...Sajed BHAYIA, it was fun arguing with u about this healthy topic!!!...lol...
• I missed the opportunity to talk with my grandpa yesterday night when he called...I was dozing off...

So these were some of the 'things' that happened in my life since 12th until now...

Next topic?...I DON'T KNOW! :(
Suggestions are welcomed with love and open arms! :)

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BLOGGER'S LAST REMARKS/ P.S.

• I wrote this blog informally, so try to skip the mistakes and overlook the informality of the blog! :)
• My parents will be moving to Philadelphia in June...there are advantages and disadvantages to this....
• I HATE REMAKES OF MOVIES...GRRRRRRRRRRRR!
• Thanx to E.J. for helping me out, i think i haven't this enough! lol....
• I haven't edited this post (again) as my mom is yelling at me to get off the laptop and...umm...do whatever is done in the morning!...lol...
• I was thinking about writing an E-BLOOK. don't know what it means? No worries me amigos, you will soon get to find out ;)
  
• last but not least, ADIOZ AMIGOZ! :D
  

pic 'chor'

Okie, so those of you who don't understand what the title means, let me explain it to you with pleasure.

• pic = picture
• chor in Hindi means someone who steals, or simply put it, a thief

I hope everyone has got that prerequisite concept before I indulge myself to move on, otherwise....

So, you may be wondering "Who is this pic 'chor? Am I right? RIGHT-O!

He's none other than...never mind! I'll just give him a fictitious name, or rather an initial. So let's say he's WS, shall we? Some facts about WS should be known if you want to read this blog topic any further. Those are:

• He lives in...umm...somewhere far from Toronto.
  
• He's doing his higher studies in...ummm....in some university/college/institution wherever he lives.
• He's not just some person I randomly met online.
  
• We've known each other, let's say for 2 years, before we even met online and became friends and have been friends for more than 1 year.
• Last not not least, he's an idiot!

So, as we're friends, we do tend to keep in touch through emails, chats, and sometimes phone calls (rare occasion though). So, I was really missing my buddy, WS, who studies so much that he doesn't even have time to email me (yes I know, very heart-breaking). As I missed him, I had no other choice but to email him (yes, I could've text messaged him, but it costs me money to send text messages you know, and I'm very cheap like that)
So I emailed him yesterday, I believe, to ask him to send me some 'good' pictures of him, and threatened him that if he doesn't send me some good pics of himself, then he shouldn't even bother talking to me.

After waking up in the morning today, I logged onto Gtalk, and guess what happened?...
I had received an offline message from WS saying:

tell me when ur online...

looking pretty in that pic

As soon as I read that, here was the expression on my face:
Oh, and he was referring to my display picture on Gtalk. Those of you who are not familiar with Gtalk, let me show a picture of it which I just saved directly from Google's Gtalk website.


Okie, so as you can see, the display picture of the person sending the message is shown every time he/she sends a message. I don't wanna explain the whole process, so if you use Gtalk, then you know what I'm talking about, and if you don't use Gtalk then all you need to know is....just see the picture, and it will be pretty much self-explanatory.

Alright, let me get back to my WS story. Where was I?.......Oh yes, my reaction after reading WS's offline message was: and I wanted to him, but alas...

Let me tell you what followed after that.
Neha: what is this?
no email?
WS: for what?
Neha: nothing
WS: so how r u?
is that gal in the pic u?
Neha: nah...it's some1 else
why do u keep stealing my pics?

Do you know what he replied?
He burst out singing 'kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai' That followed many more 'romantic' Hindi songs like...never mind, I shouldn't tell anyone this because I know WS will probably kill mebut he also has a heart of gold so he will forgive me, right WS?


Anyways, my point was that he right-clicked on my display picture on Gtalk and set it as his. And how strange it is to see one's picture as someone else's display picture, and that too the same one, especially on Gtalk where the message sent is accompanied by the display pic...

So, WS 'steals' my display picture and sets it as his own display pic, and doesn't send me any pictures of himself. I HATE HIM! I do want to see some pictures of him as I haven't seen him for the past 3 years. Pictures are good when you don't get to see those people so often, I'm sure many of you know that. I do have some pictures of him, but they're not really the kind of pics of him that are, how shall I put it, 'good'. Some are blue, some are red, some are black and white, and some are so blurry, taken by his cell phone camera, that I can't even tell whether it's him or not.

I just hope that he gives me a chance to steal his display pic, so that I can be his pic "chor" someday

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BLOGGER'S LAST REMARKS/P.S.

• RIP: those who were the victims of the brutal carnage in the city of India's financial capital, Mumbai.
• Exams start from next week. One word: ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
• Oh yea, the Yahoo! emoticons? hehehehehe...I'm not telling!...hehehehehe...
• I've not edited this post as I've not even re-read it, so...if you find any errors, i'm sorry, it was due to me dozing off cuz I'm tired and i wanna go to sleep...
• YUVVRAAJ is a good movie ...it's what I call a good movie, unlike most of crappy ones that have come out this year!

Measurement of Students' Intelligence - Part 2

So, here I am, writing where I had left everyone, whoever read the first part, hanging or confused for the most part.

**NOTE: Part 1 can be be read here http://neham18.blogspot.com/2008/10/measurement-of-students-intelligence.html or if your viewing my home page, http://neham18.blogspot.com/, then just scroll down until u see part 1**

How did the last post relate to the measurement of intelligence? Let me start off by elaborating on Multiple Choice questions.

A,B,C,D or E: only one is the right answer. There are no two opinions about the correct answer, the answer is there, and only one is the correct answer.

Let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Multiple Choice questions form Neha's perspective.

ADVANTAGES
1. From Psychology: 'recall' vs. 'recognize'. The choices given are easier to 'recognize' rather than having to 'recall' the answer. As soon as you see the choices, you're able to 'recognize' the answer, and BAM, you know that's the one. Whereas, in Open-ended question, you have to 'recall' and then continue from there.
2. You don't have to write as much as ones in open-ended questions.
3. If there are 5 options, and you don't know the answer, then you still have the option of guessing the answer which means that you would have a 20% chance of getting the right answer.
4. Easier for the Examiner to correct. Either machine or the teacher/professor himself/herself corrects it.
5. Alright, I can't come up with anymore.

DISADVANTAGES
1. Some options could be confusing.
2. Multiple options could lead to even more confusion
3. In a mathematical question, you may have the right formula, follow the right steps, but you might 'accidentally' mess up somewhere. But, as we all know how we can mess up on a math problem, so there you go, you will the wrong answer and not even get partial marks, as you would in an open-ended question.
4. In spite of knowing the answer, you may 'accidentally' circle the wrong option (yea, we've all done that at least, and Neha's no exception!)
5. Hmm....I can't think of any more disadvantages.

So, are Multiple choice a really a good way to measure our intelligence and whatever we have studied? Ditto for open ended questions, or any type of questionnaire.

We study our asses off, and get the content in our head, yet with these testing approaches, there are infinite ways to make mistakes which results in low marks. And these marks, in the end, do determine our standards of intelligence. Why? BECAUSE THIS IS A MATERIALISTIC WORLD AND IT SUCKS! :)

So, too bad for those of us who hate exams, tests, quizzes, assignments etc. Do you have a better way of testing your intelligence? Please, if you do, then be by guest! YOU'LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY (but please also mention my name in your famous interviews that I was the one who encouraged you to come up with a new method of measuring human intelligence). I would love to see some changes!

At the end of the day, we have to keep coping with the inevitable harsh realities that we face and go through in life! So, I end this blog by leaving a remark that one of my friend, Ruth, says: STICK IT UP YOUR ASS AND DEAL WITH IT! :)

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BLOGGER'S LAST REMARKS/P.S.

• I was taking a break from studying Operations Management, and as I don't wanna be addicted to the internet (mainly Orkut), so I've decided to do something rather than surfing Orkut and poking into people's profiles! lol...thus I finished this post as I didn't wanna keep it in wait line, plus i really didn't feel like thinking more on this 'boring' topic!...lol....
• I don't know whether I've made any sense in this blog or not! but whatever....
• Lately my INTERNET EXPLORER has been crashing, and it pisses me off!
• Rab Ne Bana De Jodi's songs are great! All are great. I've been listening to "haule haule" and "dance pe chance"...
• YESTERDAY (Nov 14-Nov15) WAS ONE OF THE WORST DAY/NIGHT EVER!
• I swore too much and pissed some1 off, not just cuz of me swearing, but for other reasons....i hope that person forgives me :(
• Oh and, i can't believe i'm saying this but, I LOVE READING! :)
• P.P.S. there might be a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes cuz i haven't re-read this post. I just wanted to get it done with...lol...so please don't mind the mistakes, just try to get the essence of the post! :)

Desperate in Love?

She texted him, "missing u 2 much rite now :("

After texting him, she logged onto the laptop and started surfing the internet. All of a sudden, after half an hour or so, a chatting window with the mesaage "hi..." had popped up. IT WAS HIM!
She felt ecstatic with joy and an instant smile took place over her straight face, and she replied, "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! :) how r u?"

"fine" was the reply from him.

*PAUSE for 2 minutes*

No IM (Instant Message) from either of them. She was just staring at his IM window, waiting for him to type something.

"so how r u?..." he finally had said something at last.

"fine...just missing u alot :(" she replied instantly, ignoring others who had IMed her

"yea....seemed quite desperate....so had 2 come online 2 see u...." she had no idea what he was thinkig when he said this. Neither could she see his expression as he sat on his chair, somewhere in his room in front of his computer.

Did he really mean this? "DESPERATE"?

Her eyebrows had contracted together and her nose was flaring. Was it anger or was it confusion?

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Blogger's Last Remarks/P.S.

• IMed = "Instant Message"ed
• If you read this(or any other posts), PLEASE do leave a comment, either here or in orkut scrapbook or facebook wall, OR if u find me online(which u can most of the times), then please let me know of ur opinion. How would i know whether a post was boring or not? if i don't know how i'm doing, then how can i improve? or if i'm doing bad, then i will stop writing blogs....so PLEASE, it's my humble request, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, leave a comment. YOUR OPINIONS AND FEEDBACKS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED! :) THANK YOU! :)
• "Measurement of Student's Intelligence - Part 2" is in the process of being typed up! it will be out shortly....maybe after I get my Econ grades back(I'm not sure when, but definitely before this Friday)....*crossing my fingers and praying for a decent grade*

Measurement of Students' Intelligence - Part 1

I just found out my FIN300 (Introduction to Managerial Finance) mid-term grade on Monday. I had given the exam last Wednesday, for which I should've been studying rather than thinking to write my blog creatively (oh, by the way, thank you everyone for giving me positive feedback :))

I also found out my MGT402 (Management Economics) grades today. How much I got? Well, let's just say much, much, much better grade than Finance for sure!!!

Here's the thing, in MGT402 there's a lot of derivation and calculations. Of course, calculation is an integral part of Finance as well, but if the right formulas are used with the input of right number then there are less chances of getting the answer wrong. But, in MGT402, BASIC CALCULUS comes in the picture. Now, it's not like I hate math...NO, NO, NO!...Oh good God, I LOVE MATH, especially Algebra. But in Algebra, if one variable gets messed up, the whole equation is messed up, and you end up solving it incorrectly just to get a different answer than the right one! Yea, most of us do that, I'm damn sure! There are gazillion ways to make mistakes when solving a mathematical problem!

There could be many reasons why these mistakes take place. Here are some:
1. Not thinking properly
2. Exaggeration on "Overly-thinking" (hahahaa!...try stressing your brain to get this reason in your head!...)
3. Tangent topic taking place in the mind...(seems reasonable)
4. Background music is being played in your head (don't think this doesn't happen, because IT DOES HAPPEN, and don't deny it!)
5. Too nervous about the test/exam/quiz....
6. Not having memorized the formula properly
7. Um...let's see....Oh, I can't come up with any more because I just had an exam yesterday and I'm still not over the fact that it didn't go too well :(
NO WAIT, here's the ultimate reason: YOU DIDN'T STUDY PROPERLY, or just simply DIDN'T STUDY AT ALL!! Yes, this seem the most reasonable!

So, these COULD be the reasons for making mistakes, amidst others. So, in Finance, it's easy to get the numbers confused which in turn could get your screwed up, but in MGT402, it's worse because you have to know the formula and sometimes derive the formula to get another formula or combine formulas to get one formula and then find the answer and then also explain the answer(in the short-answer questions)! IT'S CALLED MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS. Economics and numbers play a very important role in this subject because we the students, so-called 'potential future managers', have to learn how to apply principles of Economics and understand numbers, let's simply say, 'to become a good manager'.

Well, let me not get carried away on a tangent topic explaining about MGT402.

Coming back to the topic...

I had studied well for the MGT402 and could've studied better for FIN300. It's not like I didn't study, I just didn't study "enough".

Now, the prof of FIN300 had posted the mid-term from last semester online, along with the answer key (multiple-choice, of course), for us so that we can practice from that and get an idea about the up-coming mid-term(20 multiple-choice questions). Well, Neha spent hours to solve each and every problem in that "mock mid-term".
Neha's tactics to solve a 'mock test' with answers provided:
1. Read the question.
2. Take some time to process the question in the mind
3. Underline the important information, along with what the question is really asking for
4. Stress brain: "Hmmm.....How do I solve this?"
5. Solve the problem with the best of your knowledge and get an answer
6. Check your answer with the Answer Key.
7. Now, after checking the answer, 1 of the following possible situation takes place:
(a.) if you get the 'right' answer, your reactions could vary here. Usually, content feeling arises. Neha throws her hand in the air, waves and dances like an idiot on the spot in happiness and grins to herself....
(b.) if you get the 'wrong' answer, then depending on the person the reactions could vary here as well. Most of us get upset, confused, or angry! Neha curses: &!*#^%)#$&*\#%....hahahha....No, I'm just kidding, I don't curse(not yet, anyways).

8. If in step 7, (a) took place, then move on to solve the next question. But, if in step 7, (b) took place, then you either try again to solve the problem, or curse after trying to solve the problem several times. If the latter one takes place, then some of us just leave that question with curses it deserves, while others feel like (sometimes Neha as well) 'killing' the question. But it's impossible to kill/destroy something that is intangible, which results in 'inflation' of frustration and a rise to BP level!

Neha tries again to solve the problem, and after a several attempts if I don't get the right answer, then I just skip it and move on to the next question and come back to the skipped questions to 'try' to solve them later at the end!

WOW! 8 simple steps! Pshh! SIMPLE, right?

Don't get excited, this is just a simple 'mock test' method that I use. I'm pretty sure it varies with others.

Okie, so this was my tactic of solving the problem. After the whole night of practice (more frequent breaks in between than studies, of course), I had got 22/30 questions right and had understood all those 22 questions. What about the rest? WHO GIVES A F*CK! I had solved 22 out 30 on my own. My opportunity cost, of course, was sleep!

Well, actually I had looked up on the Discussion Board online and there were a lot of students who participated in that discussion asking questions, solving(most of them tried to explain it properly but had failed as it was the wrong approach, or had the right formula but didn't get the right answer), correcting others, etc! I looked at the discussion board to find the ones that I couldn't do on my own, and I had found most of my missed question there, out of which most of the questions beinng asked didn't have a 'proper' reply. So it got me even more frustrated. But anyways, I was content with myself that I had understood and solved 22 out of 30 questions. I was pretty confident about the test. I just had wished that I had 1 more day to study more in details from the notes and to read the chapters from the 'fat and expensive' textbook.

Anyways, Exam in the morning. Some familiar questions (with numbers changed around, of course) and some out of the blue(didn't have any idea what to do, or how to solve or even where to start), so I had skipped and at the end just guessed and circled any of the option, either A, B, C, D, or E....)

Exam over. YEY! 1.5 hours just flew by like a wind...woooooooossssshhhhhhhhh!

Came back to my room, and slept! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! :D

So how does all this relate to 'Measurement of Students' Intelligence'?

(A, B, C, D, or E : MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS!)

Read the next blog, "Measurement of Students' Intelligence - Part 2" later this week to find out how! :)

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Blogger's Last Remarks/P.S.

• Sorry for the BIG blog. It's very necessary to explain things on this EXTENSIVE subject. If you still haven't figured out the 'main' idea of this topic, then just wait for the upcoming one, it will be very clear then. Until then, just enjoy reading about Neha's misery and steps in solving a 'mock exam' :P
  


• Neha's exhausted and dreaded by writing all the steps! Phewwwwww! :-s
  


• While we're on the topic of Exams....YEY! no more exams, until a week after! :) oh no....boo-hooo! i better study for this one! **worried**
  


• Haven't been able to watch any new movies this month :(
  


• Missing Rashi, haven't talked to her for the longest time! :(
  


• Missing Anup too much these days, my poor bro! :(
  


• Also missing Hubby :( (don't ask who he is cuz I'm not telling! :D hehehehe! )
  


• Why do I miss so many people all at once? **confused**
  


• JAI BAJRANG BALI! :)

A 'disease' called "ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET"

Just the other day when I was supposed to be studying for my Finance mid-term, which will take place on Wednesday, as usual I came online, checked orkut, facebook and then was just bored! To kill the boredom, i started 'surfing' the Internet again(Orkut, Youtube, Facecbook, Yahoo! Games, along with Hi5, Myspace, etc.) Why was I bored when I should've been studying for one of the 'toughest' mid-terms?
The answer: I'M ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET!

Yea, I know I'm addicted to the Internet. I've tried controlling it, but ever since I've got my laptop(around 15 months ago), I haven't been able to control it. In fact, it just got worse! Dad had been warning me of this, but I was too busy in the 'busy'ness of the Internet to notice his predictions!
ALAS! I wish there was a cure for this 'disease' called "ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET"

I'm pretty sure there are many out there who are diagnosed with this 'disease'. Now, there's no need to go to a doctor and waste money to get a checkup whether you have this 'disease' or not. One can easily figure this out by himself/herself or be told by others, like parents, siblings or friends.

Yes, there are many articles on the Internet about Internet addiction, even Wikipedia (duh!) has a page on, the so-called "ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET" 'disease'. From my perspective, Wiki has classified it in a 'general' category, and there's a specific name, called, "Internet Addiction Disorder", in short: IAD. Do take a look if you wish to read and have nothing else to do! :-)

In spite of all the articles and blogs about the Internet addiction problem/disorder, or as I call it "Disease"(hahaha!), there seems to be no cure. There might be some 'Tips', 'Preventions', or even so-called 'Treatment', but do all these really help? I've read one article about controlling the Internet, didn't help me at all, therefore, I stopped reading any articles related to 'Tips to control Internet addiction." Here's my remark for these related articles: BULLSH*T! (BS! for short)

So, as we cope with the so called "IAD", as I would say, "A 'disease' called 'ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET,'" I would like to take some time to welcome the newcomers in this category, "WELCOME", and If you are already in it, please slap yourselves and get back to work, i.e. being addicted!!!!

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Blogger's Last Remarks/P.S.

• My 1st REAL post in blog after around 9 months (hahahhahaa....9 months! :P lol! )
• Also take some time to read the 'Useless Knowledge' section. It's useless, as the title suggests, but also interseting to read!
• I don't like studying for FIN300 mid-term, which I have on Wedneday! :(
• Neha's also addicted to water! no cure for that as well! hahahaha! :P lol....DRINK AS MUCH WATER AS YOU CAN! IT'S THE BEST DRINK EVER, AND MY FAV! :)

hmmm...just testing!.....