A Better Title

I was talking to my friend the other day and realized that a typical student is spending a total of about $11.31 an hour in NTU.

Assuming that a student takes 20 academic units in a semester, he will be spending a similar amount of time in school in hours weekly, i.e. 20 hours a week. This multiplied by the 13 weeks of school in a semester gives 20 * 13 = 260 hours.

Add about 10 hours of exams, and we’ll get a total of 260 + 10 = 270 hours every semester.

Taking an annual tuition fee of $6110 (for Singaporeans with tuition grant), it works out to be $6110 / 2 = $3055 per semester.

Dividing the tuition fee by the number of hours spent, we have $3055 / 270 = $11.31 / hour.

Which means that I’ve wasted $67.89 so far this semester. Crap.

Got to buck up more from now on.

I’m running out of money! I only have $110 to last me through till the first week of next month when my allowance comes in. At this rate I have to try to survive with the $2 chicken rice for lunch and dinner everyday.

Or, I can try and gamble it all out at an online casino. The only thing is that if I lose, I’ll end up eating grass and plain water for the rest of the month.

The thing about online casino is that there are simply too many of them! How am I to know which of the many choices are good and offer a higher bonus? How am I to know that I will definitely like the game experience, even after I’ve spent some real money into it?

Pro360.com provides an easy way to find out. It has a database of about 75 casinos, of which details such as the games available, the maximum bonus, international availability (important for those outside the US), and even ratings and reviews by editors and players. What’s more, players can get bonus just by signing up through the website.

Well, I was kidding about gambling all money I have left on an online casino. All I can say is that right now online gambling is out of the question for me as I don’t have too much money to start with. But when I’ve started earning and have some spare cash, I might want to try one of those online casinos.

It saves much of the trouble of having to dress up or paying $100 per entry just to go to a casino in Singapore (a.k.a. Integrated Resort).

It is a very common misconception that Indonesian Chinese are assumed to be filthy rich, with properties in the prime areas and a stash of money in the bank that can last them a few generations.

Unfortunately, I’m not one of those. I come from an average family and with my sister now in the university, finances are sometimes quite a problem.

It is sometimes tempting to do something and earn my own money.

Unfortunately, with my last semester in the university being filled with commitments such as the Final Year Project, on top of the core modules and the search for a job, it is not easy for me to add on other commitments such as a part-time job.

Giving tuition can bring in a lot of money (as compared to the time spent), but the same rule as above applies.

Robbing a bank can bring a HUGE amount of money, but I won’t do that simply because Singapore police is too smart it is illegal.

The last, and probably the best, choice that I have is to use my own blog to earn some extra pocket money. Here comes blog advertising into the picture. I’ve been doing this for a while, but I thought it wouldn’t harm to add on another one: Smorty.

By advertising on my own blog, I can earn at least USD 6 for a 15-min effort. Sounds good eh?

The money by itself is not much, but hey, money is still money, and even if it’s just enough to cover half the meals for a day, it’s still good enough.

I suppose it’s a win-win situation for both advertisers and bloggers. Advertisers get the buzz (and the links) they are aiming for, and bloggers get paid.

So if you’re looking for earning some extra pocket money, go and check out Smorty.