Yet another cycling event

I came across this night cycling event organised by NUS Muslim Society. It is intentionally held on the very 1st day of the Muslim New Year as a way to promote awareness of the Muslim culture.

The start of the New Year for Muslims is observed on the first day of Muharram,
the first month of the Islamic calendar. Also known as Maal Hijrah, the occasion
is celebrated on a moderate scale. Muslims usher in the eventful day by reciting
Koranic verses and holding special prayers and sermons at public halls and
mosques. In Malaysia, a ""Tokoh Ma'al Hijrah"" is awarded to a Muslim
personality to honour their contribution to Islam.

quoted from http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2766714-awal_muharram_kuala_lumpur-i?action=describe

One thing I do not understand is that why does anyone has to pay $4 (if you have your own bicycle, additional $10 for bicycle rental if you aren't bringing your own) to join this event. If I'm going purely as someone interested in cycling, there's no reason for me to pay $4 because they are not giving out any goodie bags or whatnot for the event. I can just cycle down to East Coast on any night at no cost at all. Unless they're providing water and refreshments at checkpoints along their pre-planned route (but nothing of the sort is mentioned), I really see no reason to pay for joining this activity.

Maybe the $4 goes into education about the Muslim calendar. Well, I can easily consult my relatives in Malaysia if I have any questions regarding the Muslim culture for free. I wonder who would be willing to pay to go for this night cycling trip. It's not like the Cyclohunt organised by NUS Rovers Club, whereby a competition is involved and prizes are awarded to the winners. Maybe I sound quite mercenary when I make such a statement, but I believe people who cycle out of passion do not see the point in paying (beynod the cost of the biclcye) to go cycling.

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HR0002: Managing Hamster Relations

Of late, I've been leaving my house right early in the morning and returning late at night, somewhat like a typical 8-5 worker (occassional OT included). That leaves me very little time to interact with little Furball. Although hamsters are probably one of the many pets that require the lowest maintenance, I still think that it is rather important to spend some time with them everyday.

Blame it on my poor time management skills, but I feel that Furball is beginning to miss me more and more these days. Before I leave my house in the morning, I can only afford the time to feed my hamster, maybe stroke it's little head a few times, and off I go to school (sounds like some primary school kid). When I return home late at night, which is very often, I'm too tired to do anything else except to bathe and collaspe onto my bed. Otherwise, I'll be too caught up with work (usually something I'm rushing to complete due to my habit of procrasination). Either way, it means I don't play with my hamster at night most of the time.

Hamsters are not exactly intelligent creatures, but as a pet, they do require some love and care. I do feel that Furball is able to recognise and distinguish me from my other family members, though probably because I'm the only one taking care of it, and that it misses me when I neglect it for some time and will thus try to look for me (by staring out of its cage), or get my attention (by biting the cage). I feel bad when I realise I've not been giving any attention to my hamster for some time.

At any rate, hamsters are easier to get along with than humans. In fact, I turn to Furball to relieve myself from headaches caused by problems from human relations. Just letting it run all over my hands is good enough to make me forget all the worries that had accumulated over the day. There's nothing like a hamster to brighten things up.

During my HR tutorial last Thursday, we were told do a little activity as follows: read a passage and rank the characters inside in order of who you like the most to the least.

This is the passage:

A ship sank in a storm. 5 survivors scrambled aboard 2 lifeboats: a sailor, a
girl and an old man in 1 boat; the girl's fiance and his best friend in the 2nd.

That evening the storm continued, and the 2 boats separated. The 1 with
the sailor, girl and the old man washed ashore on an island and was wrecked. The
girl searched all night in vain for the other boat or any sign of her fiance.

The next day, the weather cleared, and still the girl could not locate
her fiance. In the distance she saw another island. Hoping to find her fiance,
she begged the sailor to repair the boat and row her to the other island. The
sailor agreed, on condition that she sleep with him that night.

Distraught, she went to the old man for advice. "I can't tell you what's
right or wrong for you," he said. "Look into your heart and follow it." Confused
but desperate, she agreed to the sailor's condition.

The next morning
the sailor fixed the boat and rowed to the other island. Jumping out of the
boat, she ran up the beach into the arms of her fiance. Then she deicded to tell
him about the previous night. In a rage, he pushed her aside and said, "Get away
from me! I don't want to you again!" Weeping, she started to walk slowly down
the beach.

Her fiance's best friend saw her and went to her , put his
arm around her, and said, "I can tell that you 2 have had a fight. "I'll try to
patch it up, but in the meantime I'll take care of you."

The class was split into groups to discuss their choices, as well as to reach a final group ranking. There was 2 girls and 5 guys (including me) in my group. In general, the guys felt that the sailor and the fiance were at the bottom of the list, and that the girl and the old man were ranked on top, leaving the best friend in the middle. However, the girls placed best friend at the very top and the girl last.

What the girls felt was that the girl was immoral to sleep with the sailor in exchange for a favour, while the best friend was very kind to show comfort when she was upset. On the other hand, guys felt that the girl showed true love and her actions were justifiable to say the least. The best friend is believed to have possible ulterior motives for his kind words and was therefore ranked in the middle.

My HR tutor personally ranked the old man last, because she found the advice given by the old man to be totally useless. "To follow your heart" is just beating around the bush and doesn't solve the issue in any way. "Would you work for someone who gives such advice?" she asked.

If you ask me, the advice given by the old man is the best advice he could ever give. Only the girl would know to what extent is she willing to sacrifice for her fiance. Shouldn't one's heart know what's best?

Anyway, it seems to me that the advice was thought to be useless, because nobody knows how to "look into your heart and follow it". From my personal experience, listening to my heart is much better than listening to what others say. Maybe it sounds abstract, but no harm giving it a shot. The next time you're confused, look at a huge empty space (the sky, the horizon, the sea.....whichever is more convenient), take a deep breath and clear all thoughts out of your mind. The very 1st thing that comes back into your mind, is what your heart has to say.

The star in the night sky

There was a little boy who grew up in the urban city. Unlike the typical child that grew up in the urban areas, this little boy loved to stare at the clear night sky, admiring the beauty of the stars and the moon. Every night, just before he went to bed, he would look out of his window searching for the heavenly bodies that illuminated the entire sky after the sun has set.

The little boy would sometimes go out into an empty field near his home to get a better and unobstructed view of the night sky. He slowly learned to identify some of the stars, the very first being Orion because of its very unique and yet simple constellation.

Years passed, and the little boy eventually grew into a fine young man. His love for the beauty of the stars, dotting the night sky with their glow, never waned. He would still look at the all stars in his view with wonder, sometimes squinting to identify the colour with which each star is glowing.

One night, the young man found a star that he had never noticed before. He felt rather puzzled, for this particular star was rather outstanding. Although it was clustered together among the others, this star shone more brightly than the others. As he looked at the star each night, its colour seemed to be different, and the colour he saw reflected his mood and feelings earlier that day. Though the young man could not explain why he had not seen the star previously, he was delighted to make such a find.

Intrigued by its unique glow, the young man began to look out for the star every night, trying to identify its colour and comparing it to his mood on that day. He started to think that this star had appeared especially for him, and that its brillance and beauty were only meant for him. The time spent by the young man on staring at the night sky gradually increased. There were times when he went to bed, grudgingly, only because a huge cloud floated along and denied his view. Each night, he would stand in front of his window without fail, regardless of how tired he was and how much his body yearned to sleep. During the nights when the sky was cloudy, the young man would feel very upset at not able to see "his special star".

Nearing the end of the year, when the monsoon came, the clouds took up permanent residence in the sky . Night after night, they hung over the young man's home , covering every square centimetre and blocking out every visible trace of the stars and moon. Night after night, the young man became more and more unhappy at not being able to see "his special star". He missed it so badly, that sometimes he would stay up through the night until dawn broke, hoping that the clouds will dissipate away. However, the clouds never disappeared, and the young man would then retire to his bed feeling extremely sad and disappointed.

This cycle of futile waiting and going to bed in disappointment carried on for weeks. However, the young man refused to give up. There were occassions when the sky was only partially covered by clouds. During those nights, the young man would scrutinise every uncovered area of the sky at every opportunity. Every time he did so, he would end up feeling worse than before, because he was unable to find "his special star".

Suddenly on one night, the sky became cloudless again. The young man was overjoyed when he noticed this change, and his heart started to beat very hard in anticipation of being able to see the star that he yearned for so long. He ran out into the field again, sweeping the sky from east to west, north to south, eager to find the familiar beauty that once shone on him. However, the star was nowhere to be found. Although the young man could still vividly recall the location of the star relative to the other constellations, it simply could not be found anymore. It was as though the star had stopped shining.

For the subsequent nights, the sky remained cloudless at night, but the star was never found. The eager anticipation that had replaced his disappointment vanished, and the young man was crestfallen once more.

One night, as the young man resumed his usual practice of looking out for the special star, he suddenly wondered why he was feeling sad. He remembered that as a little boy, he used to be happy just to be able to look at the stars in the sky on a cloudless night. It was the exact opposite of how he felt now as he stared into the sky. The young man began to miss the days when he was happy. He wanted very badly to go back to the time when he could smile.

After pondering for some time, realisation dawned upon the young man. He recalled that when he was younger, the very fact that the clouds were not around the obstruct the view of the night sky was something worth being happy about, for cloudless night skies are quite rare on a tropical island. The sight of all the stars, each shining in their own places, was a picture to behold. By constantly looking out for that special one star, he had neglected the beauty of the others. The magnificence of the whole night sky was forgotten.

Having realised this, the young man looked up at the sky again. That special star was still nowhere to be seen. However, the young man was not overwhelmed with disappointment this time. Instead, a smile gradually formed on his face.

Tengkia Times

Food Review

Seems like it was only yesterday when I last did my food review. Oh yes, it was indeed only yesterday when I last did a food review. Alright, my current life is centred all around food. But as the Chinese saying goes, "It is (good) fortune to be able to eat (good food)". Let's just say I've been pampering myself a little lately.

I've eaten soft-shell crab 4 times, since the start of the year 2005. It's only the 3rd week of the year, so that makes 4 times in 3 weeks. Maybe I'm trying to find out what is the amount of cholestrol I can take before my health starts to deteriorate. Maybe I'm loaded with money but have nowhere to spend it. These are not of concern here. Today, we just talk about soft-shell crab.

Soft-shell crab, as far as I'm concerned, is the only shelled-seafood that one can happily consume without going through the hassle of having de-shell it. Even the eyes of the crab enter the digestive system with the rest of its body. It is served deep fried, mostly in places selling Japanese food, but of late, more and more restaurants (Japanese or not) are including this item in their menu. I'll be looking into various aspects of this delicacy sold at the 4 different venues where I tried them.

1. Sakae Sushi
Cost: $6.90
Serving: 2-3 pax. The cucumber shreds that come along with it are just garnishings. Can be eaten with soya sauce or wasabi provided.
Nicely fried, not too oily, reasonable value for money.

2. Nooch Bar
Cost: $10.00
Serving: 2-3 pax. Nothing but crap.....I mean crab.
Comes with a special sweet sauce.
Tastes too salty for my liking. A little too oily but there's paper placed beneath the crab to absorb excess oil. Quite costly too.

3. Jap food stall at NUS science canteen
Cost: $5.00
Serving: 1. It's a main course that comes with rice, potato cubes mixed with a little mayonnaise, miso soup, a slice of watermelon and a cup of green tea.
There's also all-you-can-take-mayonnaise to go along with your soft-shell crab.
It's simply cruel beyond words to separate mayonnaise from soft-shell crab. Very cheap, since it's located in NUS. Guaranteed to satify.

4. Cafe Cartel
Cost: $16.70
Serving 1. Like the Jap food stall above, this is a main course. Comes with 'fries' (I forgot what they name those pieces of fried potato made to look like waffles) adn deep fried prawns. Mayonnaise, chilli sauce and ketchup available.
The 1st thing I noticed when my meal was served, was that I could pour the oil from the crab off my plate. Quite tasteless, little meat comparatively, and as "does not look like crab to me" (quoted from a fellow diner). Maybe soft-shell crabs are best eaten at places selling only Jap food.

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Why am I blogging this when I should be sleeping? HR tutorial at 9 am tomorrow, and I only slept for 5 and a half hours the night before. On top of it, I'm supposed to be the 1st to do individual presentation for tutorial tomorrow. Pity I can't talk about soft-shell crab.

Due to special request, I've made some minor adjustment to my blog. See any difference?

I'm very very very pleased to announce that:

I FINALLY HAVE A PC TO USE AT DSO! AND IT'S NOT SOME PENTIUM 2 CRAP!!

This blog is being typed out using the pc at DSO (yes yes, I'm at DSO again...). Waiting for my CT scan to complete (which will be 8 pm).

My stomach is constantly hungry. I wonder what's wrong with me. All I have been doing is to sit down the whole day. I hardly move around when I'm doing FYP. Nothing explains my hunger. Maybe I need an adjustable gastric band (see below).

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Tengkia Times

What's new

Figure 1: Under the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedure, a silicon band is placed around the upper stomach. The size of the band can be adjusted via its water-filled adjustment port, which is tucked into the abdominal fat.


Figure 2: The capacity of the upper stomach is now smaller, so, when the patient eats, he feels full faster.


Figure 3: After the meal, the food travels slowly through the narrow channel and the
patient will not feel hungry for a few hours.

Taken from http://www.todayonline.com

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Food review

It's my turn to do a food review. What else is a glutton good for anyway. The food retailer in my review is Coffee Grounds. Though I've only tried their Irish Cream Vanilla (ice blended) and Ricotto Cheese Cake (cheese cake, what else?), I must say that the food there is really value for money. Nothing on the menu (there's one pasted on the glass walls of the cafe) costs more than $3.50 (which is the cost of their pasta).

The Irish Cream Vanilla ($2.90) is a creamy non-chocolate non-coffee drink that does not taste too sweet, nor does it turn bland as the ice in the drink melts. A rather smooth flavour. The Ricotto Cheese Cake ($3.00) is really a must-try (identically described in their menu) for all cheese cake lovers. The taste of the cheese is rather mild, so much so that one can eat a few slices without the greasy feeling in the stomach. The biscuit crumbs that spans the base and sides of the cake taste fabulous and even has a delightful crunch to it. There's another drink, Pink Polkadots ($2.90), made from banana, strawberry and milk blended with ice, fit for the health conscious (but adventurous).

The portion of the food is similar to cafes elsewhere in Singapore, but the prices of the food is the main pull factor. To top it off, the location of the cafe offers a good view (because it's located at the Faculty of Medicine).

Early Bird Promotion! Early Bird Promotion! Early Bird Promotion!

There's this male server at the counter, who looks quite young, with dyed and highlighted hair, and seems to be the only server there (don't ask me what the others are doing). He seems inexperienced and tends to get orders wrong. You can get a free sandwich off from him (if you're cunning enough) before he gets too experienced.

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At least now I've more things to help me while my time away at DSO.

How does it feel to be using a Pentium 2 when you're surrounded by Pentium 4s?

It's terrible I tell you. I have problems running even Microsoft Excel on the Pentium 2 machine. It just hangs everytime I open a file. It's not just the fact that I can do very little with a Pentium 2. The PC looks very much out of place in a new DSO building (especially since it's surrounded by Pentium 4s. I just keep drooling at everyone else's equipment.

But today, I just found a PC in an adjacent lab that I can have administor's access to. Nearly jumped for joy. There no one in the lab because it's a Sunday (does it make you wonder what on earth am I doing in DSO today?) and I can just use the PC freely. Of course I would not abuse it, such as to download all kinds of games or files. The most I would do is to use it for Web MSN and blogging, which is what I'm doing now.

I didn't realise that they shut of the air conditioning to the whole building on Sundays. Nearly died of asphyxiation in the afternoon. Oh well, now every security guard that works in DSO knows me by face. My greatest accomplishment to date. Until I can start producing the results my supervisor wants to see, I have nothing more to update. I still remember that when I first took up this project and met up with my supervisor, he told me that he wanted me to learn the 3 "C"s from this project - character, contacts and content. I wrote them down on the 1st page of my logbook on the very same day.

By character, he meant that we should develop the correct work attitude and such. Contacts refer to knowing the correct people that will help me in my life, one way or another, in the future. Finally, content is about learning from my project, and not forgetting things that we've learnt (reminds me of Argyris' Model.....).

I think I managed to accomplish the 1st and last "C"s, but as for contacts..... Maybe I should put my supervisor's name as a reference in my resume.

Time to check on the scan images again.


Penning down unhappy events does not necessarily indicate one is unhappy at that time, but rather, unhappy during some point of time in life
- Tengkia

The story of the 3 monster killers

It has been nearly fifteen years since the war between the orcs and humans ended.
An uneasy peace settled over the land while, for years, the drums of war were
silent. Yet the kingdoms of men grew complacent in their victory - and slowly,
the defeated orcish clans regrouped under the banner of a new visionary leader.

Now a darker shadow has fallen over the world, threatening to extinguish all life
- all hope. The drums of war play upon the winds once again - rising urgently
towards the inevitable hour when the skies will rain fire - and the world will
tremble before the coming of the Burning Legion.

quoted from http://www.blizzard.com/war3/

About 1 and a half year ago, 3 monster killers, Super Shir, Super Sher and Super Sure, emerged from their previously sedentary lives. They charged themselves with the task of defending their country from the evil monsters, which threatened the break the fragile peace that managed to prevail so far.

Super Sure was the most experienced among the 3, having fought the monsters for more than a year before he decided that he had faced enough bloodshed. It was the unexpected appearance of monsters in the 18th top university in the world, that caused him to come out from his 'retirement' and back onto the battefield once more. Fate brought him to Super Sher, a fellow countryman who felt the same, if not greater, need for eliminating this new found threat. Subsequently, they came upon Super Shir and the rest is history.

Being the most experienced, Super Sure guided his 2 comrades on the various skills and strategies needed for dealing with monsters. Super Shir specialised in building towers that rained arrows, cannon balls and all sorts of other projectiles on monsters who tried to get to close. Super Sher, on the other hand, preferred a more offensive but risky approach of eliminating the source of monsters single-handedly. Super Sure kept to his old style of raising an army to wipe out the monsters and their nests.

Despite their differences and the numerous stumbles over the year when Super Shir and Super Sher were still at their learning stage, all 3 Supers became brothers-in-arms who never entered a battlefield without one another. The battles they fought helped to develop their cohesion and team spirit. Killing monsters not only brought them together as allies on the battefield, it also bonded them together as close friends. To honour their friendship, they vowed to keep the university free from monsters for as long as they were around.

However, good times always disappear into the thin air suddenly, leaving one to ponder if it was a cruel trick played by a master magician. Super Shir and Super Sher fell out with each other so badly that there seemed no way of getting them back together again. When it used to be "if you see one, the other 2 are not too far away", it has now become "when you see Super Sher, you don't see Super Shir".

Super Sure was caught in between the 2 former friends. Their differences was not something he could resolve. He did not wish to choose either over the other, but living in a country so small , it was inevitable that all 3 Supers would bump into one another at some point in time. When it did happen, Super Shir would just walk away.

Gone were the days, when the 3 good friends killed monsters together, and then laughed and chatted about their victories over a good meal.

HR2002

I learnt what is Arygyris' Models from my 2nd HR tutorial.

Arygyris came up with 2 models for dealing with other people:

1. playing safe

2. doing the right thing

On the very day I learnt this subject, I realised that I'm an ardent user of Arygyris' Model 1. Holding back information so as to avoid embarrassment, minimising chances of getting upset. Sometimes, it's just better to say it out. Tactfully of course.

I discovered that Model 2 is usually better than Model 1, when it comes to friends, true friends at that.

I'm all by myself in the freezing cold lab. With nothing but my idle thoughts to entertain me. Previously, my mind was constantly plagued by FYP matter - what should I write in my interim report, how should I carry out my preliminary presentation. Was looking forward to the day when I'll be free of worries. But the day has yet to come.

Now, my thoughts never wander far from my friends. Not in the sense that I miss them, but their disagreements leaving me caught in between. I understand that whatever problems between them can only be solved by themselves, in other words I'm powerless to do anything. But why do I still brood over things that do not affect me directly?

It's not easy to turn a blind eye to their affairs, especially when they confide in me. I can't offer any advice. I don't even know what to say.

I know I can't expect good times to last forever.

In a way, their disagreements can be linked to me. The link may be a weak one, but it's still there nonetheless.

Some say I think too much. Perhaps they're right. All I can do now is to pretend that nothing has happened.


Doing nothing may be the best thing to do sometimes
- Tengkia

My FYP preliminary presentation just ended.

I took at least 25 minutes, when the presentation was supposed to be only 15 minutes long. There's a clock in the room, and I was constantly refering to it as I was presenting, but what I didn't realise was that the clock is not working!! Oh well.....


Time to keep those monsters under control again

KL photos

There wasn't any hurry for me to put this up, but I simply couldn't resist putting up these photos, still piping hot from Yapz's ermmm.....digital camera. Whatever.


The following is my personal favourite.

The Frozen Throne

Ring a bell? No? Allow me to refresh your memory.

Looks familiar? Heh heh. But no, I don't feel like a king sitting on that block of ice. The only thing I feel is that my butt is going to freeze any moment.

Full strength

That's the whole group whom I went to KL with.

There's a lot more photos, but these shall be all for today. Still waiting for Karen to pass me the photos her cousin took. The more I look, the more I feel that I look very stupid when taking close up shots. Definitely not photogenic. Shall not post any such photos up.

Spine picture

Out of sheer boredom, I've decided to post pictures of the spines I've been playing with during my FYP. Consider yourself lucky that you can view them before my examiner does.

Warning: The following picture is extremely gory. Please do not scroll down if you are below 13 years of age, pregnant or have a history of heart problems.


























Continue scrolling at your own risk...

























Don't say I didn't warn you...






























The author holds no responsibility for any consequences resulting from viewing the following picture.

Little Furball wants to come out and play

Gotcha!!!

A rewarding day

I had went out today to get a much needed pair of leather shoes for my coming FYP presentation. Yup, I managed to get my shoes, a pair of Rockport black and relatively glossy laced shoes, which felt so light that I almost thought I was wearing track shoes.

I had also learnt today, that there is a very complicated web of relationship within the entire cohort of Engineering undergrads (for my batch only). Very much akin to the kind found in some Hong Kong dramas.

There was this "live concert" going on at Fajar this evening, featuring quite a lot of celebrities but the only ones I know of are Li Sengjie, Cai Lilian, Wu Yue Tian (aka Mayday), Fan Weiqi. Anyway, I reached Fajar at around 11.30 pm, which was nearing the end of the concert, and I managed to catch Mayday's performance. Saving the best for the last. Thankfully, the weather tonight was perfect, save for the chilling wind that was constantly sweeping through the performance area. I managed to find a relatively empty spot not too far away from the stage and watched their performance.

Mayday has always been my favourite boyband. Their mere presence simply turned the heat up. I hardly felt the wind until the performance ended, and I'll bet that everyone who was present felt the same.

I'm glad that I went out today.

FYP FYP FYP FYP FYP

There's been a lack of blog entries lately, because I've been doing nothing but my FYP for the past 2 weeks. Analysing results, writing reports, preparing my presentation slides, a few of my friends have gotten to know that I've been staying in school late into the night to get things done. Sometimes I even had to make sure I didn't miss the last bus.

I could blog about my FYP, but that would be very boring stuff, especially when things kept going wrong. The only thing I can think of putting in is pictures of my spine specimens, but I believe my readership will drop immediately, and some will start suing me for putting NC-16 pictures up on this innocent site.

A suggestion I heard from a friend for the preliminary presentations: make your life sound as miserable as possible. Your examiner will be impressed when you can actually make some progress despite the difficulties you're facing. What I had in mind when I heard this was to put in lots and lots and lots of photos on specimen preparation, to make my examiner feel gross, and then sympathy (hopefully). I must make sure the photos are very bloody as well.....will make them R(A)

If a million things go wrong on you, it means that you have a chance to turn a million things right.


The secret to eternal youth is to freeze yourself in a very cold place
- Tenkgia, lilstarzpebblez

A little something to brighten the day up with

Why is HONEY golden in color?


A) Because of the Sun the flowers receive?
B) Because Flower Pollen is naturally Golden?
C) Because it's manufactured that way?
D) I don't know.


The answer may be found below.









A little lower...

Courtesy of Kangwei

What I've learnt over the 3.5 years in NUS

To watch Ren2 Ci2 over NUS webcast on the projection screen in E2 pc cluster.

While doing my interim report of course.

I have 3 worm holes

Worm hole number 1: BIOMAT lab

Nice cosy corner with my personal desk and a desktop (but it's only a Pentium 2 and it doesn't have MS Office!!), adjustable air-conditioning and usually very quiet.

Now rudely taken over by some research student or something.....can't figure out why anyone would want to use that desktop.

Worm hole number 2: E2 PC cluster

State-of-the-art PCs (state-of-the-art only within the campus) with flat screen monitors, monsters to kill and lovey-dovey couples to look at.

Subject to availability and is sometimes occupied by inconsiderate people (or maybe they are hard of hearing and need to be spoken to loudly).

Worm hole number 3: DSO

Has a micro-CT scanner, 2 workstations, extremely peaceful and quiet and has a rather efficient lab officer.

Provides me with my weekly dosage of radiation, the workstations can't be used for anything at all except image processing and the peace and quiet is contributed by very poor network reception.

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I've been taking turns camping at each worm hole for the past few weeks. Haven't decided which one I like best yet.

Who needs to stay in hall?

What is going on?

Things have been cresting like the peak of a wave for, and sinking into a bottomless pit for others this year.

THE CRESTS

HCl's EAB presentation has been cancelled and he's back into holiday mood once more.

THE PITS

Demon's getting pissed off by the education system in NUS. Most of the final year students are getting stressful over their FYP. One of them is on the verge of breakdown.

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T was in the pc cluster, doing her FYP with solidworks as usual, when I stepped in. I took an unoccupied terminal beside her.

"How long will you be staying in school today?" she popped the 1st question.

"Will be staying rather late." I replied. "What about you?"

"Same here. I need to show my supervisor these by today." she pointed to the pile of engineering drawings lying on the table. T has been trying to come up with the design fo a jig for the past few weeks. Her supervisor set today as the deadline.

I logged into the terminal in front of me and started working on my interim report. In between, T asked me a few questions regarding the use of solidworks, and I gave her some pointers. After a while, she printed the last of her drawings and left the cluster to look for her supervisor.

T came back a little while later with the drawings still in her hand. There were some words and markings on it in red. Her supervisor had gone through the drawings and pointed out a few mistakes in them.

"I'm tired of doing FYP. I feel like quitting school." she said suddenly as she edited the drawings.

I was taken aback slightly by her words. "You have only 1 more sem to go. Quitting now would be most inadvisable."

A few more minutes of editing later, T printed out her edited drawings and went off to look for her supervisor again. This time, she didn't return as soon as before. And when she did, she just sat down on her chair and started surfing the net. She noticed that I was looking at her.

"Are your drawings ok now?"

"Yup." Opened the GEM webpage and started scrolling rapidly. Too rapidly for someone who is reading.

"Where are the drawings?"

"I sent them to workshop 2 for fabrication. The technicians said that they don't have the material now and I'll have to wait till Chinese New Year to get them." She took out a piece of tissue from her bag and started to dab her eyes with it.

"Yes." Wipes her eyes again.

"The interim would be over..." It finally dawned on me that she was wiping tears. Tears of despair. I had blurted out the wrong words too quickly, and could only stop myself and look away in embarrassment. Her tears made the worries that had built up over the past few days vanish from my mind completely. I was so lost for words that I could only stare at my monitor.

It was a long and awkard moment for me. T logged into Friendster. "Hey look, K added me. She always look so happy in the photos."

I could tell she was trying to divert the topic. I could also tell that she was fighting back her tears bravely, but barely.

"Yes, she can smile at the camera no matter what mood she's in."

I tried to follow her line of conversation but we soon fell back into the awkard silence again. Tried as I might, I just couldn't find the right words to say. I stared on dumbly as T surfed page after page aimlessly, occasionally rubbing her eyes with the tissue in her hand, until her phone rang. She managed to sound very normal, without a single choke while speaking.

"...alright, I'll go down." she picked up her belongings and turned to me, "I got to go. Bye"

"Are you alright?" I finally managed to ask.

She nodded, "I'm ok." And then she left the cluster.

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

I know she's far from ok, but I just don't know what to do about it.

Sigh.....

The rain is here to stay

Just as the weather has been in Singapore for the past few days, my life was about as stormy and grey.

Things just kept going wrong again today.

But that doesn't mean I'll be sitting around complaining how bad my life is. Instead I'm going to talk about something quite the opposite:

SCANDALS
I came across 2 ladies today. And each came along with a guy. By the way, both ladies are quite good-looking.

Lady 1:

I was at DSO cracking my brains at how to make my CT images look good, when Jeremy walked into the room with a lady (ok, she's not that old, but "lady" is a very polite way of addressing a female) beside him and said, "Melvin, this is *****. *****, this is Melvin."

As a subordinate, I have no right to question my boss' actions, so I just carried on with my work.

Lady 2:

I was at MacDonald's (NUS) waiting for my monster killer kakis to have dinner, when I spotted a very familiar guy queueing up to make a purchase. There was a lady standing very close to the familiar guy. So close that.....I'd better leave out the details. That familiar guy is none other than Kangwei, my good old buddy.

I actually wanted to chat with him and his girlfriend, but was feeling in a very lousy mood that day. In the end, I only said "Hi" to them and went back to waiting after a brief conversation. Maybe next time, I'll bombard him.

I think they'll have my head off for putting this on my blog.

Last night, I crossed a dangerous threshold. I thought it was safe to cross, until I realised that I had stepped on someone's tail, someone who matters a lot to me. It must have hurt a lot, for it pained me very much when I found out what a terrible mistake I had made. It didn't help that my apology was accepted that very same night. It didn't make much difference that we were able to talk as though nothing wrong had happened last night. It didn't make things any better that I managed to make her smile again. The scar left by the unfortunate incident will be here to stay, just as this blog entry will, to remind me never to go treading into unsafe territories again.


Time is a universal medicine for the heart, that different people require different dosages of
- Tengkia

When are you getting married?

I"ve just reached another phase in life. The period of time whereby the hottest question asked is none other than.....

You've guessed it! It's the title of this blog.

The closer people around me are getting married one by one. In fact, my cousin (who's just 1 year older than me) held her wedding dinner on the 2nd of January, 2005 (ROM on 11 Dec, 2004, 4D anyone?).

This cousin is quite close to me, for we've been playing together since young. She likes to bully me, until the point in time when she couldn't look down while talking to me (being tall is useful).

To me, my cousin's face hasn't changed much over the years. Therefore it gave me the impression that she's not getting any older, not yet the age to don a wedding gown and to sign the certificate of marriage. But I changed my perception when I saw her wedding photos. Ladies definitely look their best during wedding. My cousin is one of those beautiful brides you can see in shows. Plain and ordinary looking until the big day itself. She made everyone wonder how she managed to transform into someone so beautiful.

Let's see, I still have 1, 2, 3, 4 more cousins plus my elder brother (which makes 6 more) to go before everyone's eyes start staring at me.

The Christmas blog that came a week late

My apologies once again for putting up another blog a week late. I wanted to wait till the photos were up before I wrote this blog.

Officially initiated NUSSDU* member

Let me see.....The 1st member of NUSSDU I got to know of is Mr Chan Kok Kin. Through him, I got to know the rest of NUSSDU one by one. Somehow, I managed to leave Sherry and Ruth a good impression and they invited me to join their.....society.

Anyway, here's the official group photo

Taken during the Christmas gathering on 2004 (Vincent is missing from the photo and the empty chair is supposedly meant to represent him, but of course I wasn't the person mean enough to come up with that)

There was this particularly evil girl in NUSSDU who wanted me to undergo initiation by treating everyone in NUSSDU to dinner (at restaurants like Crystal Jade and Ding Tai Feng, not in the school canteens) before I become a full-fledged member. Dou1 shen3 me4 nian2 dai4 le4, long gone were the colonial days of Singapore when secret societies are abound everywhere and initiations are as common as drinking water (maybe not quite). Initiaition indeed. What nonsense!

*For the history of NUSSDU, please consult Prof. Demon at eledemon@nus.edu.sg


Anyway, back to the topic of our Christmas dinner. I volunteered to help prepare part of the Christmas dinner. To be precise, I volunteered to make pasta. It seems that any male Chinese Singaporean around my age, who have had any hands-on cooking experience, has tried cooking pasta before. So much for trying to show off.....

Hey, I can cook and I have proof of it. Here, see for yourself.

Yup, that guy on the extreme left is me. Here's another photo to prove it.

Ruth's little kitchen

Notice that there's always a constant source of eye-power available.

There more than just carrots and sausages to my sphagetti, but the camera lady isn't doing a good job here

Clockwise from top left: ham, chicken fritters, potato salad, fruit cake and kueh lapis, and chapati

My wonderful pasta has been conveniently left out of the picture. Ok, maybe it wasn't wonderful but I'm sure the effort I put in on it is worth the pasta being placed at the very centre of the photo. Nevermind, I'm sure that 1 day, I'll be able to find someone who truly appreciates my pasta.

Right: NUSSDU version of prawns fried in cereals (mai4 pian4 xia1)
Top: We even bought champagne for the occasion, non-alcoholic of course

We actually made enough food to feed the entire army. Cooked as though there's no tomorrow. Some other food were not taken as well (apart from my beautiful pasta). There was this huge plate piled with shredded lettuce which we ate with ham wrapped in chapati. At the end of the day, there was still a lot of cake left, the lettuce looked as though it had been untouched throughout the dinner, and half the bowl of potato salad (boiled potato mixed with Thousand Island and more shredded lettuce) remained.

It was the best Christmas I've ever had.

From left: Ghim, Ruth, me, Huiying and Sherry

Especially since the unattached guy is the one that gets all the girls to himself during photo shoot.

Thanks for the wonderful time NUSSDU!

How did you spend the last day of 2004?

I had been going out for almost everyday for the past 3 weeks, be it going to school for FYP or to hang out with friends. It feels kind of weird when it dawned upon me that I had to stay at home on Friday, 31st Dec. Not that the date mattered at all, I would have felt the same regardless which day it was.

My brother didn't have to work that day, and he literally spent the whole day playing Baldur's Gate (a role-playing game). Yup, he can play games for the whole day, which means I don't get to use the pc at all. I decided to turn to the other monitor in the house for an alternative means of entertainment - the TV.

My brother bought the entire series of Gundam Seed and Transformers VCDs around half a year ago. I guess it's about time I maximise their worth. But just as I swithced on the TV, there was a slight sizzling sound coming from inside the TV. And a burning smell appeared as well. Oh dear...

Mom called up the technician (the poor guy had to work on New Year's Eve and it was raining that day ) and he arrived within the hour. He switched on the TV, listened to the sizzling noise for a while, and told us the news we've been dreading to hear - the TV has served its time well and it has to go.

No TV for me to watch during New Year's Eve!! What am I going to do??


BEEP BEEP: Technical knowledge alert!
People who are absolutely put off by technical knowledge please scroll down until you see the next sentence in red.

The sizzling sound from the TV was caused by an arc between the high tension cable and some of the grounded plates beside it. This phenomenon occurs when the insulation of the high tension cable has a leak, and is especially prominent during rainy days. The greater the leak, the louder the sound.

Arc: A direct electrical connection
High tension cable: A wire carrying high voltage
Grounded: Connected to earth
Higher humidity on rainy days make the air a better conductor of electricity.

The technician suggested a temporary solution - cover the likely leaking area with a layer silicon rubber to prevent the leak.

***End of technical knowledge section***

Oh well. The TV has been providing entertainment to our family for a good decade now. All good things come to an end. Have to learn to let go at some point of time in life. So, I decided to put the silicon rubber applying skills learnt over the duration of my FYP to good use.

But, the silicon rubber gun hasn't been in use for months, meaning the silicon rubber has started drying at the nozzle. Which in turn means I need to remove the dried silicon rubber from the nozzle with brute force. Most unfortunately, I decided to watch TV (the other small TV that used to be in the master bedroom) while clearing the nozzle by forcing a screwdriver through it.

And.....the screwdriver suddenly went through the nozzle and pierced my thumb.

There was silicon rubber (which is quite toxic) and dirt (accululated inside the TV over the decade) on the wound as well.

First of all, I wish to thank my dear parents for painstakingly looking after me for 24 years. Next I wish to tell my brother that although I can't stand him most of the time, I know that he's been trying to change for the better and I hold no grudges against him. Ok, I'd better start making a will. Wonder who should I get as my 2 witnesses.....