what does MLIA mean?

http://mylifeisaverage.com/

Last night I was at a school sporting event where the ref made a terrible call. Amid all the boos and jeers i heard someone yell "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the crotch of you, and may your arms be to short to scratch!" MLIA

Yesterday, I read a bumper sticker that said "buckle up; it makes it harder for the aliens to abduct you from your car". Needless to say this sticker will single handedly make the roads much safer. MLIA\

Today in my middle school while me and a friend were walking to class, a boy with a red shirt and blue overalls passed by us with his I Touch, which had a Super Mario Bros. soundboard app on it, walking to the theme song while making jump noises. We then proceeded to follow him straight to his homeroom, which he played the victory theme while cheering. I must make friends with this boy. MLIA

the new emergency number!

Have you ever thought that 999 was too difficult to remember?
Well try this!

Watch the YouTube video!

It's from the British comedy, The IT Crowd.
Absolutely hilarious!
A pity that video embedding was disabled by the uploader.

I've lost count of how many times I've watched this, this jingle is curiously addictive.






0118 999 88199 9119 725.... 3...

That's...

oh one one eight
nine nine nine
eight eight one nine nine
nine one one nine
seven two five...
three...

Brit humour aside,
Thank you, Shi Jia, for the great dinner we had tonight! :D

the science of fashion.

http://news.cnet.com/Geek-designer-wears-tech-well/2100-1041_3-6030370.html

Hitler rants about the Nikon D3X

A video from 2008 that I just found. Late, yes, but still very entertaining. :D

Sometimes, geniuses feel embarassed too.

I like this guy's style of writing! (and Stephen Hawking's honesty, too.)

Stephen Hawking: Time Travel Will Happen

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20003949-71.html

some eye candy (or eye-cheesecake) for everyone!

I'll be in Japan to catch the sakura season from tomorrow till the 21st, so it would be more considerate for me to (at least) leave a nice post (plus new pics on Flickr) behind while I go on a blogging hiatus.

Will take lots of pictures of the sakura in Japan! :D Gonna spend my monthly salary on a fast nikkor lens there. It may sound ridiculous, but hey, fast lenses are gonna be useful for lots of situations. Including my future money making scheme to recoup my investment. heh heh heh.

Thank you for the New York Cheesecake, Nina! Your bro is really a talented baker. :D

And Adrian... You better get well before I get back.

Hehe.

Looking foward to meet everyone again!

don't take life too seriously, and you'll feel happier!

1st April 2010 was a memorable day. I've always enjoyed watching people play pranks on others. But with so much time to spare during the early office hours, malicious thoughts just kept brewing in my head.



Try this as a prank when you're free.



Write "Happy April Fools' Day!" on a post it note.

Paste the note over someone's optical mouse. (the part where there's this red light beaming at you)



The optical mouse will be fooled into thinking that the user of the mouse is not moving the mouse, since the laser and paper won't be moving relative to each other. hehe.

the list of work to complete in the office never ends.

So why bother to work till the sun goes down?

You can always do it tomorrow. Or the day after. etc.

It's demoralising, but honestly, WORK NEVER ENDS!
(unless you tender your resignation, of course.)

I got lost on my way to Centrepoint today to meet my parents for dinner. Sigh. I have absolutely no sense of direction. Being on unfamiliar territory didn't help me find my way either. (I'm a stranger to Orchard)

While my dad was expressing his absolute incredulity at my lack of a congenital Global Positioning System over the phone, I looked upon the sky in utter exasperation.
And I saw a huge rainbow! (I'm serious!) Indeed, there's always a bright side to things... Most of the time. Yup. I still found my way to Centrepoint, although my parents are now extremely reluctant to let me study in a foreign country. Or even wander around in it.

Guess I won't be able to explore Japan by myself over the next 2 weeks. Hmm. I don't have the guts to either, since simple Japanese greetings won't help me to find my way back to safety. :P

The Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-S lens I want is going for $839.90 at the Nikon shop in Centrepoint, and around US$300 (!!) on B&H's site. And no, I didn't have S$10,000 notes hanging out tantalizingly from my pockets when I asked the salesman for the price. Wonder how much it costs in Japan.

Happy April Fools' Day, everyone! :D 3 is the new Pi!

o...kay?

For some reason, the counter for this blog has leaped again. In a mere few hours.

coolSTYLE has a point there. Indeed, the Gemini in me just makes me get bored of many things really quickly. Whoever you are...

I'm guessing that coolSTYLE:
1) likes cynicism?
2) has a dark sense of humour, somewhere, somehow.
3) is someone I've talked to before in real life.
4) is a guy.

Welcome to my blog, and tell me if my conjectures are right! :D (and also who you are. hehe.)

ok, wild guesses aside, I really like what 巫启贤 (Wu Qi Xian) said about the lyrics to one of his songs. I forgot which. But he said,
先要有勇气，才能够许下承诺。
(you gotta have courage before you can make a promise. Something like that.)
That's how he remembers the lyrics to that song. Very meaningful, huh.

I guess I'm leaving Abraham alone.

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
Abraham Lincoln

Here's another one.

Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived.
Sidney Sheldon

multitasking

I wish that I had two brains, or was born a savant.

Just so that I can watch my detective-themed dramas while reading a story book, or read two pages of 2 different books at the same time.

It's going to be double the fun.

Even if my brain were a computer processor, Moore's Law can't possibly be applicable to it. Or could it?

Nevermind. Let's just hope that reality is just a really persistent illusion.

something's holding me back.

it's definitely not the contract.

With my parents nagging at me to leave this company (almost) every day, plus the crazy workload these days, it's quite tempting to.

I really want to try becoming a photographer. Even if I'll have to start with free projects.

I'll feel terrible for leaving so much work behind, though.

Maybe responsibility is keeping me from leaving. Hmmm.

I guess I'll stick to this job until it gets horribly unbearable. :)




Digressing... My blog's hit counter jumped by 46 hits in 3 days. I wonder who's reading this?

Impulse and Fun

There are alot of things which I do on impulse. For fun. For the heck of it.

Why take life so seriously? Switch on the lights and brighten up!

Talking about lights, my eco-friendly colleague Annie just reminded us that it's Earth hour from 8-9pm tomorrow! :D Get in touch with your dark side during that hour.

Was watching Little Britain after I was done with the scholarship applications. Emily Howard the transvestite stole a dress and got interrogated in the police station by a really stern police officer...

Policeman: Name?
Emily Howard: (smiling flirtatiously, talking in a girly voice) Emily Howard.
Policeman: (skeptical look)
Emily Howard: (deep manly voice) oh all right. It's Eddie Howard.
Policeman: (writes down details in the form) Sex?
Emily Howard: (blushing) oh no, we've just met! (giggles like a girl) [LOL isn't Emily Howard super qian bian?]
Policeman: -_-..... Marital status?
Emily Howard: (girly voice) oh I've got plenty of suitors but...
Policeman: (skeptical look again)
Emily Howard: (manly voice) all right all right. I've got a wife and three kids.

LOL!

one good deed a day

makes the world around you a much, much happier place. :D


Remember those anti-piracy videos you're *always* forced to watch before a movie?
Here's a parody of it! Super funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d82Lq2rVB_4

Are we really that dumb?

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

- Bill Watterson

Nice one!!

the drawback of efficiency in the workplace

If you work swiftly, your superior is gonna be a real happy person.

Your superior would (naturally) delegate more work to you.

But that's likely to make you one severely overworked person.

So, how efficient should you be to avoid burning out?


A big chunk of a pay increment would be nice, though. :D

the unspoken words

how someone says goodbye to you seems to say a lot about how they really think of you.

as a friend or an acquaintance.

maybe I read too much into these stuff. :b

the joy of sharing!

Understanding introverts: (we are not aloof! :D )

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/2696/


How Six Songs Collide - by Norwegian Recycling



One of the best mash-ups I've heard in my life. You can download the song (and many other great mash-ups!) at http://norwegianrecycling.multiply.com/music. Soul of Fireflies is pretty interesting too.

Thanks for all the nice stuff you've shared with me! :D

a tough choice

Is it better to love, or to be loved?

I think that love should be a two way street.

And I hope that none of my friends would ever have to make an important life decision while considering this question.

it all seems to even out.

With all the cash that I've uncontrollably spent on technology, it is a weird feeling indeed to realise that technology can save me loads of money too. hmm...

I laughed my diaphragm into oblivion a while ago while chatting to constructionworker and alternating current on msn. I have no idea why I am easily amused (and that's a good thing, it makes life much more fun-filled!), but moments like those really make me feel like a kid again.

Without a care in the world. Ahhh.

dilemmas.

imagine yourself as a shepherd, and you have a black sheep in your farm of white sheep.

the black sheep seems to be giving you many problems.

but you don't have any qualms about keeping the other white sheep.

you want to get rid of the black sheep.

do you:

1) tell all the other white sheep to stay away from the black sheep, or

2) tell the black sheep to go away?

recently, the shepherd chose the first option and stuck to it. And sometimes, we do pity the black sheep. Sigh.

Mummy bought a bottle of silver nail polish for me today. I intended to paint it over the damaged areas on the reflector panel of my crumpler bag. (I decided on this after a few failed attempts with a $4 silver fabric pen. #$%^$#%!!!)

But it turned out to be a translucent nail polish.

To save this new resource from wastage, the white sheep decided to paint her nails silver. Heh heh. The last time I coloured my nails was when I was five?? :D

Had a great start to my day in the office today. Constructionworker welcomed me back with a joke. (or rather, a re-enactment of an earlier conversation.)

alternating current: (looking at the policy template) Who's lily?

constructionworker : Oh, the trainer.

alternating current: What? The traitor?

:D HILARIOUS!!!

By the way, the IT fair is on right now in Suntec Convention Hall. I checked the Nikon booth out this afternoon, only to find out that they don't sell any lenses at the fair. The salesman told me to go to either lucky plaza or the Fuji Xerox Tower to purchase lenses directly from Nikon. Hmm. Isn't it weird that everyone is so concerned with camera bodies? I want to check out the price of a Nikkor 50mm f1.4D lens. So do give me an sms if you see this lens around. Thanks! :D

having fun with the kit lens.

Shijia Outing No.2: Aston's Express in Bedok.

Food for thought...

and for drooling.

They offer pretty good food for under $10 per person. Not bad at all. :D

Yep, it's the IR. (Streaks of light! Yay!)

Taken at an area outside the Singapore Flyer after my family's reunion dinner this year.

Light Painting: my first try at this! It's quite fun.

Just find a light source and a very dark room.

Increase your shutter speed... up to a couple of seconds.

Increase the f-number to deepen the depth of field. Set the camera to manual focus/disable auto-focus. (the camera has trouble focusing on stuff in the dark)

Then, press the shutter release button.

Swish your light source in front of your camera until you hear the mirror in the camera slap down. And ta dahh! You get something like this. For this picture, I used the iPhone menu as the light source... Which explains the presence of the numerous little colourful squares!

Unfortunately, (?) you can see the fan in my room on the left side of this picture. :P So remember to point your camera towards an empty wall if you don't want stuff other than the light to be in the picture!

ice lemon tea

happy days: hippo and the sesame street guy.

Precious Moments: Friends write from the start.

nikon? Hmmm.

macro: a little bee on my mum's sunflower.

You... are... The Only Exception.

(just heard that Paramore song on MTV. Pun intended.)

Clearly, this was not taken with the D90.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Adrian's new workstation on Tuesday. :D

(taken with my iPhone. Why are there vertical streaks in the picture? It may be due to the flickering fluorescent lights in my office. )

Going for the National Infocomm Scholarship talk tomorrow. And I'm going to have lots of work to chiong in the office tomorrow, too. I'm kinda too lazy to write essays for scholarship applications after I come back from work. Sigh. Must press on.

NUS open house on Sunday.

Learning to bake a shepherd's pie at Nina's house on Sunday too. :D Thank you Nina!

And yup. I just uploaded new pictures on flickr.

ok this is very late but.....

Just posted our previous shijia outing pics on flickr.

In case you don't remember the URL... (which is most probably the case!)

It's
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkphoton/

Didn't manage to post all the pics we took, because I'm a lazy scrooge who won't pay US$20 for a pro account, and I haven't optimised the file sizes of the pics. Heh heh heh.

And I apologise for any weird yellowish/grayish colour casts in the pics. Haven't got the time to photoshop them all yet. :|

Looking foward to our gathering this Sunday? :D
and the NTU talk this Saturday! :D

thinking when you don't want to.

Paiseh ah. Haven't been updating due to my new job. :P

As the days go by, I've been getting weirder and more horrifying nightmares every night.

From dreaming of my parent's petrified faces when they see my A level results to dreams of random people.

Uncertainty is worrying. And driving me crazy.

Must remember dad's words. "Whatever it is, you must live with it... Aiya anyway A levels not very important one la. Just study what you like."

I'm hoping it's NUS for me, I have nothing against NTU except that it's a 2+++hour public transport journey from my home!



I thought that walking/jogging for 1 hour at the gym every day could make me sleep better, but nooooo... Physical exhaustion doesn't eliminate weird dreams.




CNY was generally boring, as usual. But I realised that I like to see kids playing happily. :D Or kids *beaming* at the mention of pizza for lunch. Super cute! I miss the innocence we all once had. Don't you? The times when we never understood or heard of politics.

Didn't take many pics during CNY. My pot of flowers got thrown away, though, because it was completely infested with aphids. Haiyar. 1 month of gardening effort!

For some reason, many things have fallen nicely into place so far. I can only hope that this sense of order (probably imposed upon my life by an extremely kind higher being, thank you! :D) will persist.

I mean, a national infocomm scholarship with 1 year at Carnegie Mellon doing game design (whoohooooo!!!) would be fantastic! Plus 3 years at NUS doing electrical and electronics engineering. Heh heh.

Talking about game design... I finally got to setting up my Xbox in my room yesterday, so Shijia can have loads of fun this Sunday.

We must enjoy our lives while we can! :D

Mum and Dad are right. The workplace IS full of idiots.

"All truth passes through three stages:
first, it is ridiculed;
next it is violently attacked;
finally, it is held to be self-evident."
- Schopenhauer

So I may have only spent two days in this company,

but there are, indeed, many inefficient operating procedures...

and dangerous ones, too.

I pointed them out to the inexperienced, unreceptive trainer. She didn't listen. She didn't care for the welfare of the company either. She simply puts on a fake front, pretending to be concerned for customers, and then grumbling about them afterwards.

Can we call that honesty? The world may be a stage, but feigning concern an assault to your integrity.

Can't stand being mentored by morons...

Anyway, I won't be seeing this moron ever again. You thought that all I did was irritate you with a cornucopia of questions. :) I'm 18, and I'm inexperienced at work. But I'm pretty good at surreptitiously manipulating and sabotaging my enemies without them even realising it. You had a low threshold, I saw through your vulnerabilities easily.

(but seriously, I broke down out of frustration with your nonsense. Worst person I've ever dealt with, man. Gotta learn to control my temper better.)

You've offended the wrong person. So watch out for your rice bowl. Moron!

I'm moving on to better things.

You, remember to stay single!

Vacation pics!

Love my camera... :)

Now for the less mushy stuff.

This pic above is of a very luxurious-looking golf course at Monterey Bay (for the rich!) which I visited during my trip to the US in December. Love the tree! And the lake in the background! :D Don't think I can afford a golf membership there, though. hehe.



This was taken when we were just about to leave the Grand Canyon. (Ironically, the nicer pics I took there weren't of the Grand Canyon itself...) The skies there were cloudless. And the sunset was so beautiful. Sniff...

Ok these pics I've uploaded here are really taking up loads of space, so I've uploaded the rest on Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkphoton/

Hope you enjoyed the photos! :D

These are the days...

When I wish that I was born a guy.

Sigh. I hate cramps.

Will be updating when my cramps are gone for good. :D

By Request!

First of all, sorry for not updating for nearly a month. Lazy, lah. :P


In case you're wondering how I'm spending most of my time... Well, I've rented the first season of The Mentalist ( :D yay!) and I've enjoyed almost every minute of it! Patrick Jane is the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes, in my opinion. :P





Other than lazing around with my Patapon 2 PSP game and watching DVDs, my long period of mental shutdown also includes running on the treadmill once a week and following my mum out to do some shopping. And of course, cable TV! :D





Really, I'm just waiting for some job offers/interviews to roll in now.





By the way, here are some pics from our latest shijia dinner! There are 60 pics in total, and I think I sent about 5 pics to each of you. But the emails to Jael and Julia bounced back. :( I must have made your mailboxes explode. Sorry... :(





Like Jael said, we should set up a blog to post shijia pics only. Hehe :)

I did the Jacob.

Watched The Pink Panther 2 movie on TV last night with my dad. Alot more hilarious than I expected!

Aishwarya Rai: Excuse me, may I disturb you?

Inspector Cruzo (i.e. Steve Martin, looking stunned by the beauty): Oh yes! Please disturb me.

HAHA!

Also went to watch New Moon with Bahiah and Nina last Thursday. It wasn't a great movie... but the Jacob parts really made it worth our $7.50. Plus I haven't met the both of you in a very long time... :( Jacob's scenes were mostly hilarious, except for the parts when he was fighting with Edward over Bella. :O

Remember how much better Jacob looked after he cut his hair short in the movie?

Yesterday, I did the Jacob too. :D

Before: The unkempt hair of Jacob. Wasn't cut at all since October. GAH!

After: Transformation to a werewolf. It's in my genes.

(Ok, there are no vampires and werewolves in this world. )

I like my new hair! It's great for sloths like me; it doesn't require combing in the morning. :P

Now for some pictures I've shot over the weeks. I LOVE MY D90! And photoshop too. :D

Uploading more pics after a game of Sushido. :D

Theories don't always apply in our lives.

Just flipped through this week's papers, and discovered that Nikon is still selling the D90 kit with the 18-105mm lens (and a few other free gifts which I don't need, other than the rather nice 8gb card... hehe.) at $1988.
(Audiohouse seems to be offering more attractive free gifts at that price, though.)

STILL!
NOOOOOOOO!!!
WHY???

I thought change made the world go round.

Nikon just stopped my world from revolving for a millisecond. :P

That almost made me fly off tangentially.
(don't forget your circular motion, physics student.)

I thought the US dollar just depreciated against the Sing dollar. Why aren't our US imports cheaper? Why? Why is this so reminiscent of econs? :O
(it's ok if you forgot the exchange rate policies, though.)

8 more days, 1 week and a day has never felt like eternity.

On an even sadder note, my dad brought me into a Sony shop yesterday afternoon, and we were stunned by the prices (and arm-muscle-unfriendly sizes) of the alpha lenses. Especially those macro/wide angles I've been eyeing. Doubt the Nikkor ones would differ much from the alphas, then. Sigh. Rich man's hobby, huh. Guess I'll have to work hard for them! :)

On a happier note, my dad's new iphone casing matches mine. :D Mine's metallic pink; his is a very shiny silver. My mum's iphone now has a mirror-like screen protector! :D :D :D

And on an even happier note, Jael's new blog is now open! With 37 new captivating pictures of her cousin's wedding yesterday in her first post, you'll be shocked to know that she took them all with her sony ericsson phone. :) No kidding.

Hai. I'm pretty much in holiday/gaming/leisure reading mode already. Shall load my Michael Buble CD into my phone, and revise chemistry again.

Our much deserved break has never been so tantalizingly near.

I just hope that my A level results will be good enough to allow me to enter the electrical/electronics engineering course at NUS. I'll be delighted, really. :D

Be still, my beating geek heart.

This is quite funny! =D
Getting my D90 on 30th Nov, after the physics MCQ paper which marks the commencement of freedom!

funny

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness."

by Woody Allen

now that's interesting.

Many quantum physicists believe your angry vibration can be felt in a larger universal energy field—thereby attracting negative circumstances. A well-known quantum physics expert, Lynne McTaggert, wrote about a study she witnessed where a happy person sent out loving energetic thoughts to an angry person, which then successfully calmed this angry person's temper.

from Oprah's website. :D cool huh.

Let's do this!

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK???!

15 days to our first A level paper! YAY!

Despite having failed prelim math (S, damn sad), and crying over it (and physics, who else but me could have made so many careless mistakes in paper 3?) for 2 days a loongg time ago, I've slogged my guts out over the revision packages after prelims, and I'M READY TO ROCK!!! :D

I'm only blogging today because I just finished the NJC 09 physics prelim paper this morning. Yay! I fell asleep, sprawled unglamourously on my bed at 1am last night, just as I had 1 more question left to finish paper 3. My dad said he came in at 3am to find me, this dead log, heavily asleep on the bed, with study lamp in my room turned on. hahaha :D He nearly scolded me for studying late again. For some reason, the hc teddy gives me motivation to study. We got it on graduation night from Mr How, under the nerve-wrecking glare of the stagelights, in front of the whole of the Athena faculty. Stage fright!


We all slogged for 2 years in this JC for you, bearbear. You better have some kind of supernatural powers which can increase our intelligence. :D




It has soft, curly fur, and dons the hwachong PE attire, minus the black school shorts with elastic bands of unusually high spring constants. Yes, it's made of the same uncomfortable dryfit material which we hate... But at least it keeps bearbear warm in case its homeostasis system breaks down. :)
Hey... stop trying to hug your computer screen!

Goodness, I haven't visited my blog since... I forgot. I was really happy to see Mrs Foo's comment on my September post! Oh man... Mrs Foo. You made the comment on 2nd October and I just saw it today. Paiseh. >.<>

Hello Mrs Foo! :D I miss you! I'll come back to visit TKGS after my A levels, hope you'll still be in school when I'm back, haha. :) Did you find my blog via Mr Yong's blog? hehe. :P

So, after all, it's byebye to hc diploma, no thanks to my math and physics. And my horrible GP. (sigh) After all the effort I put in for prelims, and all the time which has passed, I'm over the initial period of severe disappointment. :D

Miss Lim (GP tuition teacher) returned us our most recent compre yesterday, and I was also pleasantly surprised to see that I got 32/50. 6/8 for AQ. 11/15 for language. Seriously, I have NEVER scored >28 for a compre, >5 for an AQ, and >8 for language since I came to jc. Heehee. My English isn't THAT bad after all lor. Recently Jen and Shu Hui got 5 for their AQ, if I recall correctly! Seeing the fruits of your labour is really encouraging! Although Weilun meant to be sarcastic when he said "wah, you so lucky" in response to Ms Lim when she told him that I first met her 4 years back on a Europe trip, he has truly spoken words of wisdom. hahaha :P hc's method of teaching GP simply doesn't work for me. Sigh.

Nevermind, on to happier things, like graduation night photos! :) Not that I like camwhoring, but this is the last chance this year to catch some photos with my friends. :(

Mr Remedios, thank you for your patience, tic-tacs, colourful spring, brute force/iteration method for radioactive decay, and of course, the SuperStuds. (in other words, supervised study sessions)

Poon, who covered his head with a black bag after shouting HWACHONGGGG really loudly after we sang the school song. Go Poon! We love your antics. :D

Going clockwise, it's Shu Hui, Jen, Me, Lina. With photobombers Wilson and Nic Tan at the back, and Kennsiang's peace sign. Thanks Kennsiang, I think the world has enough terrorists, we don't need any more photobombers.

Shu Hui pointing at Wayne. Wayne goes "Noooo dun take photo of me!".

Shuhui and a suicidal Wayne. Nooo Shuhui don't shoot!

Jen and Shuhui have been studying with me all this while, so here's a little tribute to them.

(Jen I don't have a photo with you :( )

Shuhui is against photobombers.

And now for people from 08S6C to look out for in the headlines in 10-20 years. Hmmm. I smell talent hunters.

Chuan Khim.

Something has happened!

Xinyi's IQ increases by 10!

Talking about living in the moment...

Jun Lin.

Something has happened!

Xinyi's IQ has increased by 10!

And... my dear BBI/Centad/SSEF groupmate!

(pity Lu Theng is in Artemis... could've gotten a group photo.)

Without you, we wouldn't have had all those really good marketing strategies.

Presenting the future psychologist/successful businesswoman,

Jiang Ying! Trying to be funny arh. :)

If you're a 4 H2 PCME student like the overworked me, it's 36 days to the END of the A levels! You've only got to slog for another month! :D

On a bleaker note, the price of a Nikon D90 with a 18-105mm kit lens is STILL $1988 after nearly 3 months. Cheap DSLR, sadly, still remains an oxymoron. Guess I'll have to make do with that price. When I buy it, the first person I'll take a photo with is Nina! Because we're both not the camwhoring kind, we haven't taken a photo together yet!!! hahaha!!! >_<

I wonder if entering the NUS course for electrical and electronics engineering will be the right choice for me...? Mmmmph. Too complex an issue for my feeble and immature 18 year old brain. What's all the talk about this course being easy to get in, and difficult to score in? I just want to be in the team of techies creating the next coolest invention, and be happy while I'm at it.

A simple dream which seems so difficult to achieve.

Okie. In the meantime, I have to pia the chemistry prelim papers for tomorrow. The +20 intelligence I received on grad day is still coursing through my neural network. Ah.

If you feel stressed, remember that gorging yourself is NOT the right thing to do.

Even if you look cute while doing it.

36 days to freedom! Persevere. :D

time to catch your breath

Love Story meets Viva La Vida

The title may sound weird, but the music doesn't. :D

Also, some eyecandy for you!

YES! They're all cupcakes!! :D

Jiayou everyone! One week and 2 more days to go. :) We'll get through this soon.

Rethinking my life

It's odd that I don't feel very stressed out now, even though the prelims start tomorrow.
Yikes!

In fact, I felt much much much more stressed a few weeks back. Weird huh.
Suddenly, I lost my hopes of going overseas to pursue a degree in engineering. Just can't imagine how badly I'd fare at being independent. And I feel too lazy to apply for overseas unis. In fact, now I kinda don't care if I can't get the hc diploma. I'd be happy to enter NUS. :)
Is this laziness??

The past few days haven't been extremely productive. (only start revising each day from 1pm to 7pm. Then it's TV all the way until 12mn.)Wonder if the last minute chiong syndrome in me will ever surface. :/

Yesterday night, I had a terrible nightmare. I downloaded some RPG game from the Apple appstore, only to discover later that it was a trojan in disguise. It took over the entire OS of my iPhone and wiped out all my data. It took me a long while to get over the panic, and finally attempt to delete the app from my phone. Miraculously, the simple solution worked. And I woke up. PHEW! Definitely one of the worst dreams I've had. (I rarely dream.)

Oh yes... I am currently extremely sick of studying. SIGH.
Thankfully, we only have 3 more months to go.
And all I can think of is the day when we finish our A levels.
After that, I can:

-release 1000 mealworms in the Principal's office.
(just kidding)

-Meet up with Shijia and friends! :D
-eat at holy grill again
-Visit TKGS teachers
-bake for friends

-Buy a DSLR
-Learn driving (very important :D )
-jog for an hour every day. I think I'm becoming a mobile lump of lard; sitting at home all day mugging.
-Learn to read Japanese

-finish knitting scarves for my family
-US trip! Yay! My mum's friend and her daughter are going on the same trip too. :D

-finish reading the quantum and the lotus.
-finish reading a brief history of time
-finish reading the 3rd eragon trilogy. (embarassing, I know.)

Ah. I feel more motivated to mug now. :D
Keep the holidays in mind, everybody!
And good luck for the prelims!

Movie outing!

Had a very fun movie outing with Nina today at Century Square. After countless days of toiling our brains away in school, the free periods of our frenetic timetables finally coincided. :D

We watched the 5pm Up movie after lunch at Tampines One. Most of the food there is pretty expensive though.

Watching it in 2-D (not 3D, it makes us dizzy) may have removed the physical element of depth from the movie, but some of the scenes and quotes have definitely struck a deep chord within us.

I remember the rotund boy scout talking about his dad, and how they spent their free time counting how many blue or red cars they spotted on the road. The old man looked disgruntled as he reluctantly listened to the little boy's incessant boring chatter; but his heart immediately softened when the boy mused that "it's the boring stuff that you'll remember.".

Thinking back, I realised that the little boy is right. Whenever memories of TKGS flood my mind, the ones which I remember most vividly are the days when we returned to the school library during the study break to mug for the O levels. Those were the days when I was, oddly, happy amidst all the stress which the impending O levels was imposing upon us.

Maybe it was because we had superb teachers like Ms Yeo, Mrs Chan, Ms Tee, Mrs Pang, and Mrs Foo, Mr Peh, and Mrs Irene Tan who helped us to understand our work well. Maybe the O levels are way easier than the A levels. (definitely!)

Maybe it was how we came together, helping each other solve crazy questions. Maybe it was how we challenged each other to the Impossible Quiz, or checked out interesting books like "Mad About Physics" in the TKGS library when we got bored of studying.

I'm sure I bored you as much as the little boy bored the old man, but these are the stuff I'll remember for life.

Ah. I miss those blissful days in tkgs.

I received the results of the PSC psychometric assessment today, and I was stunned by its accuracy. (okay, except for jen's twin's report which astonishingly said that he's 'cool' and 'humble'. Once you tell others how humble you are, you lose your humility!) I was never an extrovert, but many incidences which I've witnessed in JC have made me more introverted. I have shut nearly all my doors of trust to others, and I silently think about agendas people around me may be having. And I've learnt to only fully trust and confide in true friends.

On a lighter note, the report also said that I am unable to work methodically (hehe), and that I can't stand boring work. My thoughts are also "somewhat disorganized". The joke of the year is the part where it said, "you are generally more easygoing than most people are when facing delays in assignments". hee... ;)


Back then, strong bonds of friendship kept us going.
Right now, some of these bonds may have faded;
but some remain, and have become stronger than before.

That will keep us advancing in this crazy race.

3 months is all we need to get through to reach our goal of freedom.
Don't give up, my friends! :D

So THAT'S how you kill gummy bears...

the end of our BBI presentation, but only the start to Ambi's journey into the world.

I'm not boasting here... but my group has definitely done extremely well for BBI. From our pitch to the way we answered the questions which were unforgivingly shot at us... We were very sure that we put in our very best and gave it our all on the 10th of July. Thank you to Mrs Tan and Mr Tan for their praises; we are very happy that our effort has been recognised.

We may not have entered the grand finals, although we were pretty confident of it yesterday. But oh well. Things happen. We felt like we let Mr Terry Goh down. We promised him that we would win. I may not have cried yesterday, but I cried quietly for a while when I reached home and told my parents about BBI. In fact, my eyes well up whenever I think of the judging results on Friday, as I am now. It really hurts to know that you have done your best, that there are many people who believe in your product and team, that you actually have a good chance of presenting your business plan to the J1 cohort.

Our team joined Best Business Idea for a different reason. We wanted to make Ambi known to the whole school.

You can call winning BBI a by product of the competition, because the transformation we have undergone is priceless. From the introverted people Mr Tan once saw... to confident presenters on Friday. (hehe now I'm not going to talk like I'm pitching, though.) But winning, or at least qualifying for the Grand Finals, would have been the ultimate way for us to know that our efforts have been recognised.

They should have told us earlier that the judges were looking for products which could earn profits quickly (for Singapore)... The name of the competition has been made a misnomer ever since the judges gave their summative comments.

Nevermind... Lesson learnt: If you want to win, then before joining a serious competition like BBI which requires a hell lot of hard work over a long period of time, ascertain the background info of the judges, and also be very sure of the judging criteria.

Hehe. Hope you read that, juniors!

We were also quite depressed when we heard that the judges barely read our business plan. That was the product of months of hard work... now gone to waste.

Lesson Learnt: If you ever become a superior, take the effort to read the proposals your subordinates have submitted to you. Show your appreciation for their effort; everyone cheers up when they know that their efforts have been recognised.

You once told me that after years of training and injuries, there's the desire to end it well; but one wrong step shatters it all. For us, those were sleepless nights, numerous painful scoldings from our parents, endless editing of our report and powerpoint, and numerous speech practices. We, too, wanted to end it well. But we don't know what shattered it all. Did we take a wrong step? Or did the judges make the wrong decisions? I'd like to believe in the latter (hehe Mr Goh...), but not knowing the exact cause of our predicament hurts the most. We want to improve, but if you can't tell us how to, I'd resolve to believing that you guys weren't a credible bunch.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hahaha ok I shall put an end to BBI; to all that remorse, regret, and sadness. Let's just say that the people we have met, how we improved as a group; and also as individuals, are just priceless.

(The skills we have acquired will allow us to get jobs which pay so well that we can afford to visit the Silicon Valley 10 times a year. :D Skills are priceless!)

hehe I always have this feeling that I'll be really rich in the future. :) muahahahahahaa... Or have I confused my feelings with my daydreaming?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
YES! On to happier things!

Ambi Inc. returned Ambi to the NUS SRL after BBI, and guess what we saw...

YES!!! IT'S THE S$6000 SOFT TOY, Paro from Japan!

AHHHH SO CUTE RIGHT!!! Bet you jumped out of your chair to get a closer look. We couldn't contain our excitement either.

A robotic seal, it's built to comfort/calm the elderly and children. Some homes for the elderly in Singapore are using Paro, for your info. :D

Doesn't it have such long eyelashes? Haha :D It purrs a bit when you touch its whiskers. (or whatever you call that) I forgot how many touch sensors it contains; but there sure are a LOT of them in there. And they're really responsive. Paro responds to you regardless of where you touch it.

The sound localization is just OMG!!! I tried snapping about 1 metre away, and Paro turned to me! IT TURNED TO ME!!! IMMEDIATELY!!! The microphones are cleverly hidden in its nostrils. This piece of technology is DEFINITELY worth the 6k. The lab will be using it for psychology tests on the elderly and children.

You may be wondering about the pink pacifier. It's a stroke of genius... Well. It's a charger! Plug the pacifier into Paro's mouth, link the other end of the pacifier to the mains, and paro starts charging! Paro actually sleeps (with its eyes closed!) while charging, and wakes up when you provoke it. It even bats its luscious eyelashes gracefully before groggily waking up. How cute is that! :D Like a little baby.

1

2

3

everybody say: AWHHHH............

Yup, we later headed to this shopping mall in Boon Lay interchange to buy gifts for our teachers and mentors. And also to buy Japanese schoolbags which we have been eyeing on since June. :D Didn't manage to haggle much of the price off, though. Yay now we have the same schoolbag with different designs. :D Plus, we now look more studious with double strap backpacks. We're well on our way to mugging sessions and straight As!

Oh. I was considering whether to join the NUS Start-Up business competition next year. The grand prize is 10k! But you must have a working model of the product. Which translates into many hours in the SRL after the A levels..... We're not giving up on Ambi.

ooh, interesting

This is so weird that I have to blog about it right now.

I just synced Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' and Linkin Park's 'New Divide' into my iPhone.

When I turned on the radio, the Muttons were playing their hilarious 'complete my mutton' game. They then played 'Black or White'

And then, they played 'New Divide'.

hehe back to the economic growth notes. :D

da jia jia you!

what went wrong?

The camera's stare is fiercer than that of the audience.
At least for me. :P

xinyi finds me scary. BOOOOOO!

ok, maaaybe she prefers DSLRs and considers me, a technological fossil, as a highly uncouth contraption. sigh.....

Yes, I practised my pitch for 4 hours. But I screwed up my BBI 1minute pitch today during video taking. (Mrs Tan: you need to practise more. Not enough zeal.) SIGH. I'm not a drama mama, I'm one of ambi's mama. Sorry Jiang Ying and Lu Theng. If we don't get into the grand finals, it's my fault. Hai. But thank you for being so understanding all the time. :) The both of you are some of the BEST people I've worked with. I love my centad group so much that I want to start a fanclub for it. :D Don't worry, I will improve on my pitching. Silicon Valley. (stares dreamily into the distance)

And thanks for the chocs Jeannie! Haha they really brightened up my day.

Mum was so nice, she offered to help me video my pitching on a camera and offered me tips, such as "Believe you are Obama when you're pitching!". Nod nod. I'll try to! :D

Sigh, today was a bad day. Maybe lao tian ye wants me to pay back for the birthday luck he gave me 2 weeks ago. It's wearing out. Or maybe I'm starting to break under pressure.

I woke up today to find my mouth ulcer not hurting. (whee!) My morning began with a hearty breakfast, and promptly ended with a debilitating stomachache. Gah!

Took a cab to NUS (stomachache emergency delayed me) which cost $17. Ouch!

Spent some time at the new SRL. Nice place! Panda-eyed Hewei grants his mentees permission to transport their brainchild, Ambi, to HCI. Mentees oblige to bringing Ambi back to NUS at first, but later bargain with their mentor after a second thought. Mentee Chong claimed that Mentor Lim allegedly blushed during the bargaining event. Only the accused would know why. Mentee Lim remains clueless as usual. Hee!

(oh! we saw hewei without his specs for a while today. his specs seem to make his eyes look smaller. hmm. :/ is he wearing inverted magnifying glasses? )

Mentee Chong lugs along the blazers and bags, while Mentee Lim tries to handle the brainchild with care on their way to the bus stop. They later board the NUS internal bus and have an entertaining chat about guys, until Mentee Chong claims that she hates guys-who don't reply to SMSes they're supposed to reply to. Mentee Lim nods fervently in agreement, until she notices a lone male student sitting next to her (and in front of Mentee Chong) quietly laughing to himself. Mentee Chong's face turns pale for a moment, and she covers her mouth in shock. Both mentees subsequently became entangled in a longgggg moment of mirth. Ah, the good times we've had in NUS.

Ok, Mentee Lim will now stop writing in 3rd person and get to the point.

.

There, a point!


(waits for laughter, and hears none.)

.....Right! The point is that my arms and my left lower back are aching like hell. Sob. I can't even tolerate physical activities like that. Sob. Or is Ambi really that heavy? Hope Lu theng isn't experiencing aches. I think I won't be able to fit into my long-sleeved tops anymore, because my arm muscles are getting huge. Awh man. Is it possible to reduce those muscles? Ok I should stop talking about my insecurities. Buy me a lock!

Anyway, today... I felt like I have never done anything properly all my life, and I can't see anything through to completion. That feeling of despair is indescribably horrible for perfectionists. I didn't pitch well, I haven't started on chem revision, and I'm not done with my math revision. Damn, I didn't set my priorities right. My time management is... uhhh, what's time?

Dad was slightly angry at me for not opening the door quickly when he came home today; I was stoning in front of the TV, thinking about my pathetic state, and completely oblivious to the formidable loads of bags in his 48-year old arms. It would've been a hilarious incident on a normal day, but today, it made me feel absolutely worthless to society, and I started crying midway through my dinner. Why do I even exist? Hey, I'm of no use to anyone. I'm a letdown.

I tried to hold it back at first, but my tears decided to obey gravity, and they all poured out. Dad got pissed when my mum put the blame on him. Heh.

I attempted to practice more Poisson distribution questions, but my mind was a blur. Chatting to Edha online really made me feel better. Sometimes you need a good friend (who is online) to share everything with. It's difficult to talk when you're all choked up in tears and suffocating in stress. A problem shared is a problem halved, indeed.

In my entire academic life, in my ostensibly nerdy (please look at me) existence, I have never cried so many times in one year, because I don't cry easily. JC2 broke the record; give me a trophy for it! Sometimes I wonder why I was so eager to enter hwachong ever since I was a pimply sec1. But heck, it has been a tumultuous time in JC, and it's going to be over soon, for good riddance. And... centad and BBI have made it-dare I say?-the best experience I've ever had.

Still miss tkgs, though. Mrs Chan... my favourite chem teacher. Ms Yeo and Mrs Pang, the dedicated cute masters of math. Ms Tee and Mr Yong, for their highly entertaining physics classes. My sec 4 SS teacher. And our favourite tkgs teacher of all: Mdm Seah! :D

Edha, thanks for this video! It instantly ended my 2 hour session of crying.
It's amazing. Watch it to believe it.

oooh Benny Lava...

A little old Bollywood did the trick. Way to go Edha. Good luck for your Friday event. ;) Chem engineering and Electrical/Electronics Engineering results in harmonic resonance. Trust your instincts. :)
I'm back on my track to MIT! I mean doing ok for BT2. (not very confident, hehe)
That is, after I get some sleep tonight. Don't worry Mentor Lim. Ambi isn't giving me any nightmares.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Think it, and you will be it.

and that's why I love Japan TV

whee! I'm legal! Uhh. So I can't do illegal stuff?

Thank you to...

Nina for your lunch invitation today. hehe.

Jen for sending me your sms at 11.04pm. hahaha...

Jael and Shu Hui for sending their birthday melodies over at 12 midnight exactly. So qiao ah. You both sent the birthday song to me at the same time!

Chun Ling for your heartwarming sms... Oh, the heartburn!

Chuan Khim for his birthday wishes over msn.

(yep, in chronological order again! Don't you just love it?)
(on a sidenote, I'm really doubtful about the MIT thing. I'm not really up to it...)

Jael, don't worry about not being the first to sing the birthday song to me k! Sometimes life whizzes by at the speed of light, and we have to take into account the effects of time dilation.

Man... what am I talking about?

What do I want for my birthday? A sony alpha 700 dslr.
But I've decided to work after the A levels to finance the astronomical expenses of my newfound interest.
AIM: Earn 2000 bucks in 2 months, spend a maximum of $1500 on the fancy encapsulated techno-surrounded pentaprism and its peripherals! Save the other $500.

What do I really want for my birthday?
My family and friends... You know who you are. :D
All of you are worth so much to me that if I ever decided to sell you all off for money, it'd cause a really bad inflation, when consumption starts to increase, and AD increases, and the AD curve shifts right, bla bla bla econs bla bla you get the idea.

My parents bought a cake today too. awh. >_<

To many, I look like a secondary school child.
But you all definitely made me feel like an 18 year old today.

Thank you - for being part of my life.


**Update**
Thank you Shu Hui for your ultra cute birthday card! :D

interlude

Originally wanted to continue with my previous grandmother story post about what happened at Robopreneur on Friday... But well, I'm not that old yet. I shall continue with that post on another day. :P

stoned/played taptap revenge 2 (online!) for the whole day today.

Before you scold me for slacking, I just want to say that I have still been very hardworking... at the cellular level. (8km on exercise bike! :D )

Ahh. Jokes aside, I felt like a lousy friend on Sunday.
I couldn't give you many inspiring examples, because I've received undivided attention from my parents since I was born. (which isn't as great as you all think, honestly.) I don't know how it feels to be neglected while your sibling basks in parental attention, but everything you said conveyed all those foreign feelings to me. Now, I understand. And I appreciate.

Seeing you sad almost made me cry, because I just came to realise how helpless you felt all these years.


Don't work hard for your parents. Everything you're doing now - tell yourself that it's for your future, not theirs.

I hope that helps you to get by these few years. And remember this: if you ever feel sad or just sick of everything, the fire-proof wooden doors of my house will always be open for you! =)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh yes. I've noticed how people stare at me when I'm wearing my uniform. When it was the iconic TKGS uniform, people stared for (mainly) 2 reasons:

1) The emerald green works up some pyrotechnics in your eyes. Ouch, it prickles. (or even pickles, given the intense greenish-ness)
2) They recognise the tkgs uniform, and used to be tkgians.
(yes. The auntie selling the famous rice dumpling soup in Bedok was a tkgian!)

But when it's the hc uniform, they stare because
1) "is that nyjc/vjc/hci? They all look the same hor?"
2) They think hc is a top school, and they are waiting for me to commit some crime. (or something along that line, like punching a bus driver maybe?) Does the local press pay people who provide them with fodder for top news stories?
3) Uhhh. I don't know. It's nicer than the tkgs uniform? (albeit less comfortable)

I especially hate how some people change their perception of us with a glance at our uniform. No, it isn't a secret agent suit which can enhance my capabilities. It simply tells you about the school I belong to. Don't start having high expectations of me, because I'm just an another student; another mere mortal standing near you.

Uniforms: They cause people to have non-uniform opinions about students.
The irony.

robopreneur : educator's symposium

long story... I shall type out the events in a chronological order, the way Mr Yong likes our physics files.



Don't read this if you hate grandmother stories. It's gonna be the grandmother of all my posts. I'm writing this for my team. (including hewei! well, you never know who reads your blog, do you?) Although I don't like toiling away at the NUS SRL very much, the thought that we most probably won't be going back anytime soon makes me sad. For now, we'll have to focus on



This post is for us to reminisce about everything we went through this week, lest we forget about our hilarious experiences. It's funny how 4 complete strangers came together for this project. And how good our team dynamics are! :D





Woke up in the morning to find my forearms dotted wildly with tiny bumps (which were not red. just looked normal) which made me bear resemblance to a patient with a STD. Freaked out for 10 seconds or so, and then proceeded with life. Maybe my skin is sensitive to Ambi's dusty exterior.



Lugged Ambi out of daddy's car as I stepped into school, focusing my eyes on the path ahead and dodging the curious gazes of everyone else. No, it's NOT my birthday.



Plopped Ambi gently down next to the class bench and sat next to her, turning on her switch with much trepidation to check if she was fine. Discovered (with great horror) that her head was stationary when she mouthed her pre-programmed phrases. Freak out (yet again) when I can't find the wire that leads to her head servo. Nicole, pea, jen, and shuhui come along and play with Ambi, offering their condolences. (remember? Ambi got paralysed...and it's all my fault) Ex-crush ignores Ambi, but who cares about him anyway, when Hewei will be with us soon to bring Ambi back to life? :D



After assembly, we carried Ambi down the canteen, walking by the cleaner uncle who enthusiastically asked us "你们要拿去丢掉的啊？".

(translation: Are you all gonna throw that thing away?)

I cursed him in my mind and mentally rolled my eyes, forcing a laugh.



Dr Lim took a picture of us with his dSLR, and commented that the "educated" word on her shirt was very dirty. -_- Sigh... Like hewei mentioned in his ppt, people who are much older than you don't take you seriously.



ok. You must be getting bored by this point, because I am. Let's skip to the exciting bits!





When we got to the AaHa! Room in Admiralty Secondary, I discovered that the laptop they were using there only has the old 2003 powerpoint installed. Our powerpoint was saved as .pptx, the 2007 ppt version. And I had to edit it.



CRAP! IT'S THE GAZILLIONTH TIME I FORGOT ABOUT THIS.



We frantically called our mentor (who still had a sore throat) to come down with his laptop, ASAP. At that moment, lutheng found out that Ambi's head servo wire came loose. And it was stuck in an inaccessible location. Sigh. I smsed this update to hewei, who promptly replied "Jus relax".



SIGH...

The 3 Princesses of Serendip

are none other than lutheng, jiangying, and yours truly.

*ecstatic wail*

BBI FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!

Just when we got over the loss of our place in the finals yesterday, we had the serendipity of receiving Mr William Tan's SMS today morning at 8.03am.

ahhh!!!!!!!!!

Hehe random post. I'm typing this in the fishtank at 8.30am while I pon PE (volleyball).
Actually I came here for the aircon. :P

Hmm technically I didn't pon it, since I went to get my attendance marked already. And I did go to play volleyball with the effervescent Nicole for a while. :D Or should I have said evil? She whacked the ball into shuhui's head. A moment later, one of her massive spherical projects sliced through the air, missing jingbin's cranium by an inch.

Nina... hahaha I shall not mention anything about you. ;D Take care of yourself and your *cough*!

(pun intended)

k shall get on with my mundane school life. bye to slacking. =)

sick in the head

Was down with food poisoning since Monday night. The nausea/stomach hyperacidity/general sian-ness persisted till Tuesday afternoon.

bleaurgh.

All my grand mugging plans blighted by an unfortunate choice of dish for lunch on Monday.

Currently, I'm forcing myself to fight off the powerful drowsiness induced upon me by all that medication. My mind feels heavy and it's gravitating towards my bed.

Nooooo... resist bedroom gravitational field!

Resistance is futile...
if <1 ohm

and this is genius. haha
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/jewelry/a38d/

now you know.

What happened today morning was... unexpected.
It's not the most pleasant thing in the world to hand your (crikey!!) a present.
Mildly nerve-wrecking. And very telling indeed.
Oblivious as he may have been in the past, I'm sure what happened today has already elucidated the truth.
Way to go. (charges into wall, slumps into a lifeless heap)
Nevertheless, I'm still grateful for the arranged opportunity. HAHA!
And really. Thanks to Shu Hui for preparing everything!

I seriously doubt if the 'truth' on my part will be reciprocated in the future. You know how the truth can strike fear in us. (especially in sprinters. whahaaha) Anyway, I shall no longer pursue the matter even if this thing goes my way. Currently, I only have eyes for... the A levels, of course. (What were you thinking, you filthy-minded --- blog reader!) NO DISTRACTIONS!


Nina and I have shared much with each other over the long weekend. :) Sorry, can't share them here. But Nina's heartfelt words on Friday almost made me cry la. Never knew my sms would make you cry more. Hehe.
You will never know how much a simple act of kindness means to your friend.

Julia and I have had a pseudo-intellectual discussion about religion/politics/the AWARE organisation/homosexuality/terrorism over msn over 30 mins ago. Haha it's always great to have such discussions with you! =D Next shijia meeting ok! (:
You will never know all the right answers in life.

Jen can't wait to know what's going on! Patience, my friend!
You will never know what's going on until this Wednesday!

hee. :D

in search of the truth

Remember the times in primary school? Social connections were formed and broken with such ease back then.

"I don't friend you."
"I friend you!"

We were blunt. And very straightfoward. There wasn't a spectrum, only two discrete colours named black and white.

Looking back, I suddenly appreciate how direct we were to each other in the past. Now that we're young adults, we've come to understand social mores, and we've accepted them. Yes, they are a way of life. But I hate some of these unspoken rules. I hate how we sometimes compel ourselves and pretend to be friendly; how some are willing to change their behaviour simply to fit into a group, and how others... forcefully forge friendships to up their popularity index.


Spending time with Shijia on Good Friday, studying and chatting with Nina, talking to my close friends...

These quality moments remind me that apart from our families, there do exist people whom we can be absolutely honest with. They are the true friends we can trust for the rest of our time on this bluish-green sphere. Mortal angels who lift our spirits from the seemingly inescapable depths of depression.

All of you have brought shame upon the shallow minded, and shone light upon the world.
Your light made everything as simple as they could get, but not any simpler. You showed me what truth really means.

(hmm, my blog's poster boy would've liked you.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Okay. End of post, end of escapism... But before I end,

Thank you for your honesty.

Through the Years

Stand By Me

it's a nice song =)

no idea why the judges have to nitpick about him always closing his eyes - that's insignificant in comparison to the way he can contort his vocals... beautifully.

Heaven

Note the background singer sobbing a tad bit at around 0.32. Omg...

Here's a flashback.

=) hope you enjoyed this post.

so many great inventions from just one guy

Was watching a video about Wiimote hacks made by this Johnny Lee, a graduate student at the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.



http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/johnny_lee.html

That's his profile page.
(on a side note, http://www.ted.com/ is a great website to visit for highly interesting talks about various topics... useful for GP. May I suggest that we pon GP to watch videos on TED??? =D )

Ah, if only.

If that demonstration cum manifestation of his intellect and creativity hasn't astounded you yet, take this!

ownage! =O

And some chim RFID locating technology which my feeble mind can not yet comprehend.


His blog, http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/ , (hahaha love the name) gave a brief mention of Sensitive Object, a French company specializing in the use of microphones to detect touches on any object. In fact, their technology can even locate the touch and detect dragging with more microphones. To my surprise, it wasn't done by sound localization. (!!!!!) The microphones are calibrated to recognise how touching a certain part of the object sounds like. This means that it will match the sound created by your touch to one of those in its memory, and then determine where you touched the object.

Woahhh! It's shockingly similar to the speech recognition software we dabbled with while we were building Ambi. Who would have thought?!

All these stuff inspire me to major in electrical/electronics engineering in university. =D

K. I've been watching TED till 4pm. This is bad. =P

Off to finish my tutorials! =)