Things happen when you least expect them to...

Apart from the game I played yesterday where 3 enemy heros kept appearing out of nowhere and finishing me off in seconds.

I had my dinner at little after 8 pm last night, but decided I was still hungry, so I ate some cakes my mom bought. My handphone suddenly sounded off the sms alert tone. It was Guojian , asking me if I wanted to have supper together with Boon Leong, Eric and Kangwei as well[1].

Supper? I looked at the cakes I ate, then looked at my gradually but steadily growing waistline. The 1st thought that came into my mind was "NO".

But the company sounded good. In fact, it will be rare to have such chances in the future, thus I arranged to have Kangwei pick me up at my place at 10.30 pm. I can just settle for a drink anyway.

After I got into the car, as we went on our way to pick Guojian up, Kangwei told me about the place we're going to for supper. It wasn't the usual coffee shop opposite Beauty World that sells Muslim food. We were having porridge buffet at Quailty Hotel (located at the junction of Balestier Road and Newton Road)[2].

Buffet? Guojian didn't mention anything about a buffet... No one ever goes to a buffet and settle for only a drink. That's it. I'd better cycle to Bishan tomorrow.....

The porridge buffet costs $5.80 after 11 pm. Last order is at 12.30 am, the restaurant closes at 1 am. At least I'm not paying $10 odd to stuff myself silly. Porridge is not so filling. It was nice to have a get together with the guys.

Sometime into the meal, my handphone rang an "incoming sms" again. This time the sms read: "Dear Melvin, B & J (the friend who sent this sms) warmly invites you to celebrate our wedding at Rasa Sentosa.....please confirm your attendance....."[3]

J was my classmate in primary school. We didn't talk much back then, but my mom patronises her mom's handicraft shop quite often back then. After PSLE, she went to Cresent Girls' while I went to River Valley High. Funny thing is, we both went to ACJC (but I still didn't talk to her much then). Subsequently, we lost touch completely until the technology that brought about globalisation, further closed the distance between citizens in a tiny country like Singapore.

June had found me on Friendster. And that was about a year ago.

In my half dazed state (I was a little sleepy at that time, must be all the food that I ate), I stared somewhat bewildered at the sms for about 1 minute.

It would be a great pity to miss out on the most beautiful moment of my "long lost friend", yet on the other hand, she didn't seem to have invited other former classmates. The fact that she asked me showed that she remembers me and appreciates my presence, but I don't like the idea of going without anyone else that I know of.

I think I'll politely refuse the wedding dinner and get her a present to pass to her on her wedding night, along with my well-wishes.

Guess I'm just not used to friends of my age gettting married. Shifting paradigm isn't as easy as it seems.

Sportsmanship

sports·man·ship

• The fact or practice of participating in sports or a sport.


• Conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports,
  especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in
  losing.

Adapted from Dictionary.com

I just had my very first game of DOTA (for those who don't understand, I'm just keeping the neighbourhoods safe from monsters) on Battle.net. DOTA is a team game, and to play it on Battle.net meant playing with people you don't know at all (typical for most online games).

Before you decide to close the page on the idea that I'm going to go into the nitty gritty details of how I performed in the game, please move your cursor back onto the page and scroll down.

I had a very rare chance of playing a game whereby everyone in the game displayed sportsmanship.

For those who have neither played online games nor have played with a group of about 10 people, to have everyone display the spirit of sportsmanship is a rarity. If you assume that everyone has a 50% probability of being a good sportsman, go do the maths and find out the probability of having 10 good sportsmen.

Anyway, this is not a lesson on probability and statistics. This is about being a sportsman.

Although the above definition given by Dictionary.com did not specify so, sportmanship can be applied to computer games too. A player with good sportsmanship does not:

• scold players on his team for under-performance


• push the blame to others for mistakes or losses


• abandon the game when the going is bad


• try to gain at the expense of team mates

I've played countless games on Battle.net before, and I dare say that in most of the games (80% or so) I've played, I encountered at least 1 person in the game that has at least 1 of the undesirable traits mentioned above.

You may say that such people are not worth any attention and should not be worth the effort to notice. This is not quite possible. Imagine having someone curse you every 10 minutes or so, just because you made a mistake. Or someone leaving the game after a minor setback. Only when you play the game yourself do you realise that it takes sportsmanship on the part of every player to make the game a pleasant one. Even if you lost the game eventually.

I just lost my 1st game, but it was great playing with those people. Seldom have I seen a game played to the end without harsh words or quitters.

What's wrong?

Maybe it has something to do with the ridiculously hot weather lately. I'm going crazy. Planned for a crazy cycling trip not too long ago. Just went for a KTV marathon today. Pushing oneself to the limit of endurance after a long period of slacking is not the way to go. Thankfully I've not lost my voice.

Speaking of the "ridiculously hot weather", is anyone else melting besides me? I find sweat dripping down from my body every few seconds after I wipe myself dry.

Next on the itinerary, commando training program in Taiwan. Following that, maybe kayak around Singapore.

I can't stop spouting nonsense. This change in climate is seriously bad for me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Met up with my 'fellow commandos' this morning to discuss our Taiwan trip itinerary. Everyone of us looked as though we burnt the midnight oil mugging for exams the night before. It's already 2 days after our last paper, but our faces don't indicate so. Post-exam fatigue? Or utterly destroyed bio-clock?

When will I ever get started on the things that I'm supposed to do? I can't even drag myself out to go shopping.....

Cycle time

What is the 'cycle time' for cycling to Bishan from Bukit Panjang and back?

Been trying to use streetdirectory.com to find out but it doesn't work. Back to the primitive way of looking at a real street directory and estimating distance. The distance as the crow flies (linear distance) is about 10 km, while cycling by the road is probably around 20 km. That's because there's a water catchment area between the 2 zones and going by road means taking a big detour.

There is the option of going by a cycling/hiking trail (half the journey is a cycling trail, the other half a hiking trail). That would reduce the distance somewhat, but I'm not sure what is the difference. Think I shall try it out when I visit Ru-Tian on my bike.

Phase 1 of my crazy cycling plan shall commence next week. Before that, I'd better condition myself. Have not been cycling for months.

Engaged the tedious task of taking my exam without sufficient sleep, followed by going out for the remainder of the day.....this is beginning to feel like an Iron Man Contest to me.

I shall prevail!

I......shall not.....fall.....asleep..........

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

4 by 4

It's coming to the end of the 4 years of university life.

I spent only the last 4 days preparing for the very last paper.

Then I decided to watch 4 hours of Wrestlemania 21 despite the possible implications.

Woke up this morning after 4 hours of sleep.

Oh well, 4 more hours before I declare myself FREE!


4D anyone?

How old are you?

A friend of my brother, who I haven't seen for about a year or so, dropped by this morning to pick up something from my brother. The very first remark from him when he saw me was

"My, you look like you've aged."


Noooooooo! It can't be true! I only did 1 year of FYP. How bad can that possibly get?

I guess the answer is "worse than I can ever imagine".

Need to go for some rejuvenation program. Any recommendations?

-------------------------------------------
Experts say:

Facing the computer monitor for prolonged periods can cause hair loss. (this is really true)


Tengkia says:

Doing FYP for 1 year is equally bad, if not, worse. (and I am the living proof)

The forgotten

I think I haven't touched it since the last exam I took last semester. It was left lying in my cupboard collecting dust for about 5 months, until today. I had to wipe the layer of dust off. Thankfully there wasn't any cobwebs gathered on it.

Maybe you'll be surprised to know that an engineering undergrad didn't pick up his calculator for an entire semester, until the day before his exams (and I mean literally). My antique CASIO fx-D400 is still working fine. It shall accompany for the very last exam of my undergrad life (before it goes back to collecting dust? Who knows?).

Home alone

It's not another attempt at a sequel to a comedy.

I'm used to returning home to someone in the house, usually my mom, because as a housewife she's almost always in the house.

Since I started reaching home late (by late I mean past midnight) early this year due to my school work, everyone at home would be fast asleep. It's almost like going home to an empty house, but not quite. I have to take care not to make any disturbances in case I wake anyone up.

Very recently, I'm returning to a home that devoid of people.

It's not like I'm not used to being alone. When you go home to find that no one is around, it makes you wonder where everyone else is. It's hard to describe, but something feels different.

Oh well, at least I still have Furball.

If only I could.....

cast silence on those miserable buggers that disrupt the peaceful study environment in the pc cluster.


Silence
Stops all idiots in an area from talking.



Just like those Viet Congs who fought against the terrorists (or counter-terrorists) in Sector (cluster) 7, the 'NTU intruders' (actually they're just people without matric cards) that like to enter and exit the different sectors ever so often, lovey-dovey couples that love to whiper sweet nothings (none too loudly) to each other, girls who can't stop giggling for some reason or another, and not forgetting the friendly neighbourhood exchange students who are ever so willing to share the beautiful sounds coming from whatever programs they're running on their computers.

Sounds like I have a long hate list. Don't mind me, I'm just bored from studying. No offense to anyone.

Though it would really be nice if I could cast "silence".....

'Automation' in blogging

Why automate?

To increase reader-friendliness.

That's what engineering is all about.

And what do I mean by reader-friendliness? There're a few things to note basically:

• Reduced loading time


• Easy on the eyes (depends on font size, colour)


• aesthetic appeal (an ugly page turns people off, and turning people off is not reader-friendly)

I just learnt something new today (and couldn't wait to show off as usual). Below are pictures of the residents of Pulau Tioman (no babes there when we went, too bad).

There's catch to this program if I were to make different slide shows for each blog entry, there's a need to press the "Start/Reset" first.

Imagine if I have tons of photos to show (I foresee that'll be the case after my trip to Taiwan), and I wish to show them all (yeah, I like to show off). Firstly, even if I can put several pictures in one entry, it'll take a very long time to load them all. Secondly, you'll have to scroll and scroll and scroll.....and that may cause lagging (depending on the performance of your computer).

However, there's always a catch to making things better. The blogger will have to go through quite a bit of trouble, by adding javascripts to the template and playing around with the html code (I think most will faint when they look at the html version of this entry).

The more pictures you add, the longer the javascript in the template will become, although one javascript can handle all the pictures you have.

Showing off can be bad for health (kills too many brain cells).

Tengkia Mag: Song Review

I have more to life than just food and games. Personally, I feel that music is one of the best creation ever made by man.

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

歌：爱笑的眼睛

原唱：徐若萱

我第一次听见这首歌是通过 933 播放。因为曲是由林俊杰写， 所以才会特别留意。我对徐若萱的印象是她只能唱快歌，并不认为她的情歌实力有水准。谁知道，她唱起这首歌时却是那么的动听。真叫人另眼相看。

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

灯，灯不熄灭，逃过多三夜，就能从书中逃回到这个世界。。。

Tengkia Mag: Game Review

I have no idea how can anyone ever possibly imagine me going back to my studies right after my second last paper (which is incidentally my first paper as well). These people apparently don't know me well, even after hanging around me for four years.

Those who understand me better (or have read my past entry) would have realised that I've gone for a LAN game session with Kok. Mechwarrior 4? Wrong. I've been dying to try out Half Life 2 ever since I first noticed it in one of the LAN shops in Ginza Plaza.

The name of the official site of Half Life 2 sounds pretty full of itself. Anyway, I decided to justify the reason for this arrogance. The most intriguing part of the game is that they can make every object in the game obey the laws of physics. Like how some objects float or sink in water, how they ricochet off walls when you fling them.

Compared to its prequel Half Life, the graphics were very much better, the puzzles still rather mind boggling (some of them have to be solved using knowledge of physics!), the need for superb jumping and landing skills were no longer required, but there's a place where you need to operate a one-man hovercraft of some sort, that is capable of moving at rather high speeds.

In other words, this game is more likely to induce motion sickness than most games using first-person view interface.

For those who are relatively new to the concept of motion sickness, it has two main causes:

• Your body is being moved about at high speeds with frequently changing direction


• Your field of view is being changed at high speeds with frequently changing directions

In the second case, although your body remains stationary, the changing images captured by the mind simulates the actual feeling of carrying out the motion, thus causing motion sickness. Which explains why some do not play games using first-person view interface.

My stomach started feeling queasy after three hours into the game (I can usually last longer when playing other similar games). So I had to pause and look at Kok's game once in a while and console him for not winning his DOTA matches

A game that can cause motion sickness is a good game, because it's an indication of it's fast-paced action, though playing for prolonged periods is not advisable. Shall resume after my final paper.

Building progress: 90% complete.....

I'm still tweaking my blog template once in a while, but it's more or less complete. I've added links, a ridiculous footer which I don't know if anyone realised, changed the way comments appear so that it's easier to read them (but that causes the footer to be neglected), changed the font type and the layout so that they're more pleasant to read (hopefully), and last but not least, I've changed my profile picture.

I mean what kind of major blog revamp leaves the display picture unchanged?

Anyway, just to introduce the origin of my profile picture, it came from a game (don't you dare slap your forehead or roll your eyes!) called Mechwarrior 4. It's not another real-time strategy game. It's classified as a simulation game.

And to prove that your greatest fear just came true, YES, I'm going to talk about the merits of this game. Just a teensy weensy bit. Slapping your forehead too often may result in concussion, brain damage, etc, so if you really can't stand it, just shut down the Internet Explorer.

Mechwarrior is a series of games where you get to control a Mech' (short for a huge mechanical walker that carries tons of armament) and go around blasting others' Mech's.

1. There're dozens of Mech's to choose from, huge range of armaments to configure onto the Mech's (which is the strategy part of the game)


2. The Mech's look real cool, and their firepower looks awesome (excellent graphics)


3. The control of the Mech's is very complicated. It looks like a first-person shooter, but moves in a much more complex way. Maneuverability as well as firepower is needed to defeat your opponents (very good reflexes required)

My obssession with Mechwarrior first started during my second year in National Service when I went to my friend's place during one night's out. He let me entertain myself with his pc game, which is Mechwarrior 3 (latest at that time). I've never been more fascinated by a game since.

Think I'll cut short and end here. Fengchun thinks I'm still studying for my HR exam tomorrow. Wait till he reads this, heh heh. Off I go before he joins Caiyun to reprehend me.

HR2002 April 2005

Idle chatter, small talk and gossip are the only means by which human relations within a working organisation can be improved upon in the rapidly changing and globalising world, where retrenchment rates are on the rise and companies are focusing more on temporary staff for manpower requirements.

Discuss the above with respect to any of the THREE main topics.

--------------------------------End of paper--------------------------------

I'm actually setting my own exam question.....

It's bad to talk about who's gotten a job at which company, and the starting pay whoever's receiving. Or to tell someone else that you've heard these news from somebody. Who knows someone may get so upset with you that he wouldn't even want to see your face for the rest of the day.

Maybe I'm not showing enough empathy here. We have our individual differences in terms of values and the strength of the situation isn't strong enough for me to render any empathy. But have I not been the subject of gossips before? Have I been spared the misery of having observer/target similarity to this unpleasant situation? Some were ridiculous and does not even contain a single bit of truth at that.

Can you imagine hearing gossips that've been spreading around, and when it finally reaches your ears, you're the last to hear it? And these gossips actually originated from those closest to you. It starts to change the perception you have of your close friends, which leads to a change in attitude towards them as well. And if you take a look at the model of attitudes and behaviour, behaviour is next on the list of changes. But does it have to be something as drastic as not wanting to see someone's face for the rest of the day?

Ok, so he could have felt betrayed. The unconditional trust he had placed upon me can no longer be sustained. He's facing difficulties suspending the belief that I would not be broadcasting whatever he told me to anyone else. The only thing that I've ever said was that a particular someone had gotten a job in a particular company, and that he was the source of my news. He didn't know the person in the subject matter well, so mentioning his name was a bad move.

In conclusion, do not gossip about anyone at all.

What do you view career as?

I've heard of a very good way in which to view career and career planning: what you wish to put into your resume.

A resume is basically made up of a person's skills, achievements and experiences. Although most people touch up their resumes only when they're looking for jobs, this is not be the correct way. So imagine that a resume is a document that you spend your entire lifetime updating consistently. What would you like to have inside? What would you wish to show others (be it potential employers or friends) that you have achieved?

Most of my friends are looking for jobs not with just good pay and stability, but also potential for development. They like to ask: "Where do I see myself in 2-3 years' time?", "Can I stay onto this job for long (more than 5 years I think)?", etc.

Perhaps this is one of the benefits of the HR module that we're 'forced' to take. It made us realised that the ability to change ourselves in order to adapt to changes in the environment is the best way out. One should always think of the future, and not just look for a comfort zone and stay idle in there.

Though I'm currently still hiding in my comfort zone.

Caiyun is chiding me for blogging instead of studying.....

好无聊。。。

我好无聊，假装一切都很好。。。

Wasted an entire afternoon on paperwork. Not typing out reports but printing out my thesis. Can't believe I wasted 2 weekend afternoons printing out my thesis.....

Meaning of work

Work has 4 functions:

• economic function


• important social function


• a source of social status and prestige


• important psychological function

But when you fail to relate what you're doing to any of the 4 function, work will then be referred to affectionately as "shit" - something you have no choice but to do.

Spending 2 weekend afternoons printing out my thesis is SHIT (my apologies for being vulgar, but can't help it).

Renovation in progress

I've been happily experimenting with HTML tags and codes (since Blogger templates allow the use of those), and Blogger tags for the past 2 days. "Happily" because I'm finally done with the final draft of my FYP thesis.

Apart from editing the template tags, I've also learnt a few other things. Let me use a picture that I've just dug out from somewhere in my hard drive as an illustration.

Cailuan and I at KBox


Hold your mouse over the image. Then click on the picture. Look at the top of the picture. It says "K BOX". That's the Malaysian version of KBox we found in Berjaya Times Square, KL. Really a small box with a ktv set inside. Couldn't be more aptly named.

And just to show off further...

Date	To do
17/4 (Sun)	Read HR notes
18/4 (Mon)	Get thesis printed and binded and submitted Do HR past year paper
19/4 (Tue)	Start panicking for HR exam
20/4 (Wed)	HR exam Lunch with lemonattackers Kill monsters with kok
21/4 (Thu)	Read AIM notes
22/4 (Fri)	Read AIM notes
23/4 (Sat)	Do AIM past year papers
24/4 (Sun)	Do AIM past year papers
25/4 (Mon)	AIM exam

As you can see, my FYP final presentation is not even in the time table. Just goes to show how bo chup I am.

Why am I doing all these instead of studying? WHY? WHY? WHY?

My biological clock is upset beyond repair

What am I doing at this time of the night?

Not sleeping.

Not writing my thesis nor studying for my coming exams.

Nothing constructive basically.



I think I'm in need of help.

怨不得天
尤不得人
就只能怪
自己无能

More than you'll ever know

Very recently, I just found out that a rather close friend of mine had been depressed during her 2nd and 3rd year in university. We were in this clique from the same lecture group during year 1 in NUS, but chose to study different fields subsequently and therefore were not able to keep in contact as frequently as we used to.

Although we did make it a point to meet up beyond just to celebrate one another's birthday, sometimes maybe just to have lunch together in 1 of the canteens in NUS. On all those occassions, I've never once detected any sign of her unhappiness. I've prided myself in being sharp and observant, and most of all, able to understand my friends "like the back of my palm".

Of coures I've been thinking too highly of myself. I couldn't even tell that my good friend had lost her meaning in life. Although we were no longer in the same lectures and she could have burdened herself with emotional labour during our gatherings, I still feel.....affected by the fact that I couldn't sense something so strong, and had been ongoing for 2 years.

Of late, while everyone else is preoccupied with academic and career matters, my mind would wander off to what will become of the friendship between me and the wonderful people I've gotten to know from my 4 year stay in NUS. The birthday surprises that we threw at one another, the crazy ktv marathons, the hardcore gaming in the pc clusters. The free rides I had accepted (and sometimes requested) shamelessly, the blatant cheating during tests in lecture theatres, the day my friends carried me to the University Health Centre from the SRC handball court when I injured myself.

I now cling onto these memories as my most precious possessions.

If you want to know what I'll miss the most when I graduate, I think you should have the answer by now. I'm beginning to miss my friends already.

Urban development

Last Sunday, I made my way to Shijie's place to return him his digicam. And of course to play with his rabbits while I'm there. I had to walk by this big empty field, between our homes, which is awaiting development (see below).

Legend:
red block - my home
blue block - Shijie's home
purple line - my route
red star - big empty field

There were several families scattered around and flying kites and a small group of boys playing soccer in one corner on the field. Across Segar road (above the red star on the other side of the road), a group of men were trying out their skills on controlling remote control aircrafts. There were usually helicopters zipping around, but not today.

The sight of people enjoying themselves on a wide expanse of grassland reminds me of the familiar scene on a typical day in Marina South, minus the salty smell of sea breeze. There's no need to travel all the way down to the south of Singapore to find a picnic spot while enjoying the view of multi-coloured kites, hanging high up in the sky or attempting a take-off. It can be found right here at Bukit Panjang.

And if you're wondering what the black cross in the map is all about, I was walking to Shijie's place when I saw this scene: white cirrus clouds hanging over the zenith, transforming into uniform gray cumulus that silhoutted across the orange sky, a masterpiece created by the setting sun. I wanted to take down the beautiful evening (since I was holding onto Shijie's digicam anyway), but the scene could not be captured nicely on his digicam so I gave up on that idea. I was standing at the spot marked by the black cross while I was pondering over whether to take a shot, when this remote control airplane suddenly crashed through the tree I was standing under and landed about 2 metres before me.

No mistake, that thing could have crashed into me (or flew by real close, but whichever the case I wouldn't appreciate it). The plane landed with such an impact that it immediately disintegrated into a few pieces. I quickly took a photo of it and walked on, thanking the sky above and the ground below.

Can't imagine the consequences if the plane went right for me. Suddenly think of the 911 incident. Gives me the shudders.


Kangwei and Shijie used to tell me that the area I was living in (the entire area between the road with the word "bukit" and KJE) used to be a forest, before they cleared the trees, levelled the land, and built flats on the clearing (I moved in on Jan 2001 when it was just completed). currently, the remaining blank spaces are still flat and empty ground dominated by grass and only grass. I have no idea what URA plans to do with the area.

Before the block of flats, one of which I now call my home, was constructed, Shijie was able to see the forest from his window. Right now, he could still see the forest across KJE because nothing was built on the clearing to obstruct his view. If URA decides to build more flats, his only window view would be a concrete jungle, a woe shared by more and more people.

A community club is being constructed right now (denoted by the green block, or is that a mixture of green and brown?) to provide more facilities for the increasing population in that region. This is one of the things that the government is doing for its people. But do they know what we really want? Residents like Shijie and Kangwei would most likely like to see something else other than a concrete jungle when they look out of their windows. From what I see, that empty field is the most widely used 'recreational facility' in Bukit Panjang. The best thing the government can do for the people living there is to let the field stay.

We'll still be happy even without the salty sea breeze.

Instigation

Ru-Tian suggested that I try this test

Country Quiz


and the result that I got was

You're the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of beating each other about the head and torso. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result. But your heart is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.


What does it mean by my heart is in New York???

Conversion rate

Found an online exchange rate converter while looking up on imformation on Taiwan, could be useful for those travelling overseas.

Happy holidays in advance!!!

Trying to stay sane, but not very successful.....

If I were a LAN shop owner.....

I have absolutely no idea why, but I know of 3 guys who wish to set up a LAN gaming shop. Ok, I do know that they have something in common: they like LAN gaming. But does that mean everyone who likes LAN gaming will, at some of time in life, think of starting a LAN shop?

Personally, I feel that these 3 friends of mine are not business-oriented people. In other words, they don't plan and consider enough before they really come up with the idea. Starting a business is no child's play. First and foremost, you need capital. I don't think they can even spare $1000 per person. Secondly, you need a good business plan, some competitive edge to make you stand out from the rest of the competitiors in the market. Bring in better hardware, they say. And that brings us back to the issue of insufficient capital again. Thirdly.....forget third, they didn't even bother to do research before they came up with this idea. And yet they sounded so serious when they came up with this proposal.

With our common background as engineers, I don't think any of us are cut out to make money in this way. I do understand that starting business is all about taking risks, but a hasty decision is too dangerous. LAN shops' businesses have been on the decline, starting a new one will not get anywhere unless it has something attractive to offer. The good thing is they don't have the money to start one, so I don't have to spend the effort of talking them out of it.


Uncle Chua: Infantry is the key to victories

Tengkia: Wait till you see my tanks

The last burst

...of complaints.

Make that the last outburst (hopefully).

I emptied my last burst of fire finishing my thesis overnight from yesterday. By hook or by crook, I have to submit my thesis personally to my supervisor today (it's already 1 week overdue).

So I spent spent the night before packing my 'full battle order' (you know, toiletries, spare clothes, slippers, and of course, biscuits) in preparation for my deployment at DSO. The place had shower facilities in its toilets. Might as well utilise them.

But there was a change in deployment ground when I met Guojian for dinner last night. He said he'll 'hold the fort' together with me. Company through the night is most definitely appreciated, so I accepted his offer.

Bypassing the boring details of my final charge, it was about 7 am this morning when I finished my thesis. Guojian, Sherry and Ziyi were all down. I was the only one left standing. Doesn't matter. I went to the printing room at E2 to print my thesis out for submission. But the colour printer was yet to be fixed. After some thought, I felt that I need colour printouts for my thesis (due to certain illustrations), so I headed for another printing room - the CBLC in YIH.

For some reason, the pc there took about half an hour for me to log in. Goodness knows why I didn't fall asleep waiting for windows to startup. When it finally started up, I test printed 1 colourful chapter of my thesis using the colour printer. The print quality was pretty good, but it costs a pretty big sum too. The $10 in my cashcard was exhausted.

No worries, I told myself, there's always a cashcard top-up machine at these printing areas. Somehow Murphy's Law decided that it was time to get to work for the start of the new day, and the top-up machine could not read my card. And I still have about 20 more pages (that need colour print) to go.

And so, I had to travel to the printing room opposite the central library to try my luck there. Just when I managed to drag myself into the room, I saw the horrendously long queue inside waiting to print. I should have just followed Ziyi home to sleep.

Final try - central library. If I still can't get to print, I'll call up every single friend of mine asking them if they can print for me in their labs (1st on the list is demon, hoho~). Luck was finally on my side. I printed out the remainder of my thesis, brought the whole stack of paper (I still don't know how thick it is, but it should be around a hundred pages in all) to the printing room opposite central library to have it bound, and at long last! I'm already to submit my thesis.

After another pleasant stroll over to my supervisor's office, I reached only to discover that he's not in his office.

Progress report: I sent him an email asking him when he'll be in his office. It's 11.20 am now, and I'm still waiting.....dozing off in front of the pc as I type this out.....zzzzz.....

必
胜

I've finally done it. Almost anyway. Still have to go back to DSO, change a picture, print out the remaining pages and bind them at YIH, maybe collect a centennial mug while I'm there, and then submit the thesis to my supervisor, and I can finally sleep in peace.

A thesis should reflect the efforts and thoughts that you put into your FYP
-Kuan Ming

The marvels of friendship

I'm not sure if they saw my MSN nick (which says "dinner tonight anyone?"), or have I been complaining so much that all of my friends already knew that I'm staying back in school to catch the last bus every night (let alone eating dinner in school), or have they conspired to give me a pleasant surprise.

I just received a sms from Guojian and Ru-Tian each, asking me to have dinner together. Both sms came at the same time. But I don't think they can conspire together, given that they don't have each other's contacts.

Got to meet them for dinner now.

Back from dinner. Found out the reason: everyone knows I camp in school. Oh well. I'll really be camping tonight. Must finish my thesis by tomorrow or my head will roll.

Haven't had dinner with any of my friends at Arts canteen for a long long time. I sure do miss that feeling.

Thesis time.

Quite a few of my friends have been giving me constant encouragement over the past 2 weeks, be it over MSN, in blogs or in verbal form. And not forgetting the fact that they always remind me to go home when the clock shows it's 10.30 pm. Their kindness forms a very important motivation for me to complete my work, because without it, I would be feeling upset all the time and not be able to focus on my work.

Thank you. Each and everyone of you. It really makes my day to see your messages.

No, this is not some belated April Fool's joke. That 'joke' is not funny anymore.

Black Hawk Down

Haven't blogged in weeks? Should be. First, Blogger went down, then my Internet Explorer went down, and now I'm also down (still being bogged down by my thesis). And linked everything in a lame manner to this title. I think I have not been reading my friends' blogs for days. Everyone has at least 2 new entries when I re-visited their sites today.

The final semester of the 4 years spent in NUS seems to be the most tiring and stressful of all. A single final year project is all it takes to give everyone the pits. I haven't seen a truly happy smile on anyone for a long time.

Nor have I worn one on my face for a long time either.

It's time to stop feeling down.

Let's see what I've got here that can brighten the day up
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4 little bunnies napping in a basket


Remember the 2nd litter of rabbits in Shijie's place? They're 10 days old now and have begun growing fur. Very pleasant to the touch. They are able to open their eyes now, but their eyes are always in a half-open state, as though they can never get enough sleep.




4 little bunnies falling in


They look very adorable, despite that some of them have rather squarish skulls.




Boy or girl?


Gotcha!! They're still not strong enough to hop, but they can crawl around. This little fellow was caught by me for a close-up photo shoot. My single-handed photo shooting skill is improving.




Let's put our heads together!


They were crawling and squeezing all over one another, trying to find the most comfortable sleeping position until they finally settled down on this one.

Every time I see an animal, stray or otherwise, I think of my poor neglected little Furball at home.

Urban commandos

A new term that I coined only this morning. I'm not talking about soldiers who are expertly trained in FIBUA (Fighting in Built-up Areas) tactics, I'm refering to a people who can survive in any type of environment, here comes the catch, as long as they have a working computer with internet access.

And I really mean any type of environment. Be it, noise-filled (someone drilling away next door), overwhelmed with pungent odours (in a freshly painted room), extremely dusty (due to some construction going on nearby), total darkness (just switch off the office lights) -you name it, they can stay withstand it (for days in fact).

Urban commandos can be found in the labs all over NUS (and many other places too, but I've only seen those in NUS). But whether whatever they're doing is a service to the nation or not remains to be seen.