Berkelah Falls

I must say my trip to Berkelah waterfalls in Kuantan Malaysia has only one word to describe it : Treacherous. It probably due to the fact that no guides follow us as compared to the Ophir trip. The trip is mostly led by yr 1s com members of the NUS rovers and they lead by memory which resulting in a few backtracks along the way. Some part of the trek was so dangerous that one fall will land you into the rapid with little chance of surviving. Generally I would say its an accident waiting to happen. At one point a snake fell onto the feet of the girl in front of me after I led her through, meaning it should have fallen onto me(heng ar!). The snake quickly slithered away as I pointed it out, leaving no chance for the rest to see it fortunately since the girl might freak out and fall into the rapid below. Pretty enjoyable as whole as being experienced from the Ophir trip made this one well-prepared in terms of food and everything else. There was pasta, fried eggs(with salt n pepper), sausages and soup for the meals. Having donuts for the mobile lunch beats biscuits during the Ophir trip.

This is just outside JB checkpoint

The small waterfall
The big one(top)

The big one(bottom)

The entrance to Berkelah Falls

Now I know...

I bring this special report on why 'Ah Balling' is called as such. My Mom just told me its becoz of an ang moh who happened to pass by someone preparing this dessert and exclaimed,'Ah its boiling its boiling!' As everyone know our forefathers and foremothers have little knowledge about english so they named the dessert as Ah Balling. Apparently my mom heard about this from her mom, my grandma so there should be some truth in it then.

Spending Spree

I guess today must have been the day I spent the most, not considering paying for overseas trips which definitely cost a lot. Went to Brewerkz for lunch with Eugene today, my first time there. Ambiance wise is pretty good, eugene said its interiors is similar to Hard Rock(another place I haven't been to) but I must say its really pretty big. (photos will be posted after I upload them into my com) Split into outdoor (non air-con, by the river) and indoors (air-con, no smoking) the whole place is very suitable for those wanting to chill out and chit chat(preferably over beer). Eugene had BBQ'ed Combo which includes chicken breast, 1/4 rack of ribs, a small serving of salad(in a small bowl) and a choice of potato(fries/mashed/baked). I had Sausage Mash - 2 sausages from a choice of Brewerkz Beer Bratwurst, Spicy Italian or Garlic(I chose the first 2), with 2 servings of mashed potatoes from real potatoes and some onions in vinegar, stewed maybe sautéed. We shared a pint size(500ml) fruit brew (today was raspberry) which was ridiculously cheap at 5.99(before 3pm). A jug cost 11.99 before 3pm for all beer. I think the BBQ combo was pretty good since fussy eugene finished everything, my sausage mash was good too, pretty filling as well. Beer was so-so, maybe becoz its raspberry(read sour) so its not that sweet. I would have ordered burgers if not for eugene's constant persuasion not to, saw them on the next table after that, which looks really good, serving was quite generous as well. Its Salad noodles looks very generous in serving as well, the big salad bowl filled to the brim. Looks good, shall try that next. Service was prompt with only the price for the food not so nice, our total bill was about $56, though it should have been more judging from the menu, maybe its 10% for lunch or something. Good impression overall, suitable for those chilling out (preferably before 3pm) with thick wallets.

Walked to Raffles City, shopped around but no purchases, head over to Suntec. I bought a belt at Roots which was at 50% storewide, for those who have no idea where Roots is, its within the small side atrium accessible from GAP. Wanted to buy a jeans from GAP but the queue was too long and moving way too slow. Bought a pair of berms from L.P zone and 6 donuts from Donut Factory. The donut fad is fading away...

New pair of shoes from Prima Vera @ Marina Sq since my present one is a little worn out at the soles. Played sales assistant for fussy eugene at United Colours of Benetton taking all sorts of sizes for him. Big sales there, he bought 2 shirts at $56. Now we had plans for dinner at Bedok 85 but the sales assistant at Prima Vera told us we could get a $10 MS voucher if we chalk up $150 worth of purchase in UOB card. So we were a few dollars away and decided to have dinner at MS instead. Dinner at my favourite Imperial Treasure for fried rice and Xiao Long Bao which cost $32 in total for 2 of us. After my second try at Imperial Treasure, I've come to the conclusion of my own personal Xiao Long Bao ranking.

1. Imperial Treasure : Thin skin with tasty filling filled with generous amt of soup in it
1. Ding Tai Feng : Pretty much the same as Imperial Treasure one
3. Hilltop HK Cafe(Tampines CC) : Loses out on its relatively thicker skin
4. Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao(Holland V) : Smaller in size with hardly any soup in it

For those who aren't fans of Xiao Long Bao can try my next favourite dim sum - the wantons in chilli sauce which I've blogged before - here. Sheila and gang (core alliance would be wad sheila calls it) have tried it at Crystal Jade, really quite nice but a different in style from Xiao Long Bao.

So after chalking up more than $150 in bills on my UOB campus card, the counter told me the voucher is not applicable for debit cards but i'm still entitled to the lucky draw. Before I go, Merry Christmas everyone, Frohe Weihnachten! Auf Wiedersehen

This Week

Went to MOS on Wednesday with my sec sch core alliance (name given by sheila) after turning up at a super the crowded Zouk. My first time to MOS and it was quite enjoyable, I guess the company plays a big factor here. Some photos here, more could be viewed at Sheila's blog, all the unglamorous pics she's not posting will be here, haha!

From left: Me, xiuhui, kian, sheila & elson (zhihao shld be hiding behind)

Zhihao stealing a shot from behind like he always do

Sheila resting for part 2

The next day the same group of us minus a few went to watch The Warlords and had dinner together. Show was very exciting at the start but that's where the action ends, so action buffs will be disappointed with the show. Nevertheless, the fight at the start was gory, action-packed and exciting, Jet Li's performances was great.

Saturday morning was spent in NUS, meeting with the rest of the participants and trip leaders for the upcoming trek to Berkelah Waterfalls in Malaysia Kuantan. Collection of stores and meeting the people in your tents as well as delegating the purchase of food for the trip. I forsee a noisy trip topped with lame jokes after turning up at the meeting. The leader is a yr 1 girl from VJC or something with some of her frens joining the trip as well. They were laughing and talking while everyone were waiting to be briefed. This is the kind of leadership one should expect from varsity clubs, unprofessional. They were appointed presumbly based on popularity or just the fact that no one else is running for the post. From my experience last yr, don't expect too much, so my ranting shall end here. A trip to Vivocity after that gave us a surprise... meeting Adrian Pang and some of the Deal or No Deal models. They were playing the exact same game courtesy of items from Courts. Adrian Pang was rather wacky and witty throughout the show and some of the girls were really pretty. Cameras were clicking away the moment they're on stage.

Swordfish Collar

Regular patrons to Fish & Co. would probably recognize this dish from its menu and today I tried it. 2 reasons for choosing this dish, firstly the standard of fish and chips has dropped and secondly it looks delicious from the picture on the menu. When it finally came, I was stunned by the sheer size of it. The portion is really huge with 3 big pieces of what I supposed is the swordfish collar, a nice helping of boiled carrots and celery(I think) plus a choice of chips or rice(I chose chips). Though a significant part of the 3 big pieces of fish collar is bone but the amount of fish is really quite significant. Maybe its due to the calamari we had before the main courses came, I actually barely finished 2/3 of the fish collar, erwin helped me with the 3rd piece. Price wise it was only $1 more than the fish and chips so really quite worth it.

One thing I prefer road traffic than human traffic is the fact that many people(esp girls) take their own sweet time, strolling. Now, using the same principle on road traffic, we can consider that as serious road hogging. You can stroll, crawl or wadever all you want at home I don't care, but at least be considerate to the people walking behind you who might be in an hurry and there you are strolling, taking your time blocking others. Slow pace movement in congested areas in high temp Singapore just should not be tolerated. To me it just gives the impression that you're walking aimlessly, much like a zombie which really frustrates me, so pls dun do it if i'm around. The other thing is that there's no 'lanes' on a walkway. For some with their large group of frens, they may hogged up the entire pavement walking in the same direction, blocking those walking in opp direction and those in same direction(if they're slow like case 1). Again basic courtesy and consideration to others would prevent such incidents from happening, there's just no basic rules like on road traffic. I feel maybe we should if we can't instil such basic courtesy and consideration to others on people.

A different side of Lim Chu Kang

Now, I have been living in Lim Chu Kang as my 2nd home in most of my 2 year NS life in one of the ulu-est camp in Singapore there. Never quite explored the place until yesterday together with Sheila, elson and kian. We visited Farmart which is a cluster of shops and stalls selling foodstuff, probably local produce like honey, organic vegetables, exotic meat and stuff. There's a couple of restaurants there and the secenery is vastly different from what most urban dwellers are exposed to. Pets and aquarium shops also lined the place with a prawn pond that I heard attracts quite a lot of people at night.

Retro coke in glass bottles from Farmart with elson in background(not the one in green lah!)view from Farmart

We then went to Qian Hu fishery which was the main highlight of the day cos Sheila our driver for the day wants to try the spa fish therapy there. The place wasn't very crowded for a weekend but there are quite a bit of people there already. Fish tanks everywhere with lotsa different kinda fishes, 2 tanks stood out among all:

The ugly fishes
The fishes with numbers tatooed onto them(whoever wins 4D from the numbers here must treat me to a nice meal!)

Then in one corner is the spa therapy fishes(garra rufa fish) in a pond where people pay $10/30mins to sit around and let these fishes eat away their dead skin on their feet. The one most enthusiastic about this turned out to be screaming through the session whenever fishes tried to have their decent meal. It was rather interesting to see those fishes eating away on our feet, rather ticklish, an interesting experience anyway since those fishes normally live only in mid-east countries like Turkey. I guess the conclusion is the fishes prefer a hairy meal since elson and sheila had pretty few fishes 'feeding' on them.

This is my leg btw(hope u guys can see the fishes)

It was Holland V for dinner after that and this is my first time to Holland V actually so an eye opener for me. Dinner at Crystal Jade was pretty normal nothing fanciful, the main course of la mian was very normal, nothing to boast about. The xiao long bao was pretty small with few soup in there though the skin is quite thin and the taste was quite good. The dumplings in chili sauce which I had blogge before when I went to Imperial Treasure at Marina South was quite good. Not too spicy yet the dumplings were quite big. Service was normal though they were prompt to refill our ice water.

Dumplings in chili sauce(we already ate half before the photo was taken)
My spicy beef la main( really very spicy, not nice)

Sheila & Kian ordered the la main in meat sauce

Desserts at my favourite Bedok 85 with 'new' discovery. I found out last nite that they actually sell Ah Balling there, my god after going there so many times I actually dunno abt that! For the info, Ah Balling is a dessert pretty much like Tang Yuan with its glutinous rice balls filled with sesame, peanut, yam or red bean but the base soup is peanut soup or ginger soup. This stall does it pretty authentic and I saw Terrence there, my TJ senior in Swimming and a nus mech eng classmate. Fun day out but can't do it too often, no money!

New phone + Day out in Orchard

I just bought a new phone which is actually not that new, as in its an old model but first hand. My W810i, from mobilesquare in far east. I had a day out in orchard rd today as well, Christmas lightings were really beautiful while the traffic sux like hell as usual. Walked around the malls without buying anything unfortunately. Dinner at DOME at Scotts was amazing, the quantity and quality were more than justified by the price. Eugene and I paid in total about $27, he had seafood pasta while I had a meal of Pan-fried Dory, garden salad and cuppa tea. For 12++, the seafood had ridiculously amount of ingredients, 3-4 prawns, squids and fish.... it was really a generous helping. If they get praised by fussy Eugene it really have to be good. My Pan-fried Dory was pretty good as well, 1 big fillet of dory fried with herbs, getting rid of any fishy smell it may have. There's also broccoli and cauliflower which were well-cooked unlike some I've eaten. It was also topped with a generous helping of wedges. The garden salad was rather normal, nothing special, maybe I should have tried the soup instead. House peppermint tea was also rather normal. Overall the helping was generous and the quality was pretty good as well. In the end Eugene even left his handphone in DOME, realising it only until when we reached Taka, so we made it all the way to Scotts and the next customer on our seats had it with them, lucky for him.

How could u....

My phone just died on me today, actually yesterday and today. It almost made me miss my last paper for today at 9am. It totally failed to activate and sound the alarm, fortunately I was awake at 6am probably anticipated its failure. When I got home and about to take a nap, it failed again, this time I can't even switch it on. So now I'm using the Nokia 6510 found in my house which my bro n I used it for NS(non-camera). I could sense it was going to break down already, so recently I was already on the lookout for a new phone. Right now in contention are Nokia 5310 and Sony Ericsson W810i. The Nokia one is pretty new and all, specs wise is more or less the same as the SE's rather old model of W810i. Of course price wise the w810i is cheaper and in my opinion looks better and I dun have to switch to a Nokia platform which I'm fumbling right now(that explains my short replies on sms). The only drawback is that many shops would probably not be selling a rather older model like the w810i. Think I probably need to go down to Far East one of these days.

Something to share

I received an email from Eugene the other day, I think this is the first time I actually received 1 of his email and I must say the contents are really very interesting and funny at the same time. Whether or not this is a true event, I do not know but it should get you laughing anyway. So here goes...


Subject: FW: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

* I thought it is interesting to share with you what I read from a blogging / forum website
I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?
Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden , $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:

1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)

2) Which age group should I target?

3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've met a few girls who doesn't have looks and are
not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

*************************Ms. Pretty*****************************************

Here's a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyze your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here.
From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of beauty and money: Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.
However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depre ciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a trading position. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or leased. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in leasing services, do contact me.

Signed, J.P. Morgan

Peeping Tom

Today I saw one, at least I think I saw one. This is what happened...

I was going home via Buena Vista today, where I had to take the escalator which is like 2-3 storeys high. So there was this guy leaning beside the escalator(ok, he could be waiting for someone) but he was a little suspicious. He was looking at the legs(maybe thigh or i dunno where) of the 2 gals in front of me as they stepped onto the escalator cos 1 of them was wearing shorts. At first I didn't realise anything until i finally realise how high this escalator goes up to, when I looked back, true enough I saw that guy looking up the escalator. Tsk Tsk... so those of you who goes by Buena Vista be careful now.

Well, sometimes I dun understand wad gals are thinking abt. At times when I'm at Central Lib(everyone knows how cold it can get), even I need to wear my jacket in there while I'm wearing jeans. But I can see many gals wearing tubes, shorts, mini skirts and wadever they wear. Don't they feel cold? Maybe its just me being weak huh... I'm not against gals wearing less anyway since I'm one of those benefiting anyway, haha!

A nice german exchange student wished me gd luck on the train when he alighted today, think we met in lecture before, can't remember. How nice of him to think of poor undergrads like me as he alighted at Bugis, probably enjoying his last few days of stay in sunny Singapore.

Relax, have a break!

Since everyone is so stressful with exam preparations, I ought to entertain u since u, yes YOU who still took time off to read this blog. This is a joke I came up with some time ago, but before u read this, u shld put on that jacket hung on your chair/door/cupboard/wherever u left it. Here goes....


Beware of Lameness and extreme coldness that might spread through your whole mind and body!


You've been warned....



You sure u gonna read this? U can still close this browser now....


Qn: Which Superhero is most environmentally friendly?
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If you think you will kill me for giving such lame joke pls i beg u to close this browser and not read the answer for the sake of my life!
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Answer: The Hulk. Because he's GREEN!!!!

Stupid CX was wondering where he misplaced his ME 2121-Thermodynamics Part I Chapter 4 notes only to realise he didn't print them since they were self study materials. Talk about being absent minded and plain stupidity.

Keeping fit

Now that CX has been made OC support of 483SAR, that means responsibility to keeping fit. Becoz as a Tank officer last time, I hardly dismount, my trusty SM1 brings me to everywhere I want. OC support does all the shitty job like flanking, where bashing through thick forest is required. Sounds like I'm back to the shitty days of being a cadet.

Anyway now that CX has no CCA, no 3 times a week hardcore 2hrs each swimming training or sadistic land trainings by either Erwin or Jon, I'm keeping myself healthy through my weekly gym session at Tampines Clubfitt Gym. Its the one at the swimming pool so I get nice views of people swimming below yet in a spacious gym(clubfitt tampines is ridiculously spacious). It has become a weekly routine for me to meet Colin there every Sat at 4pm. Sometimes we see the fit siao Jingsheng there, sometimes I look at him do his weights, I tot he's preparing for some gang fight or smth. Let's pump some iron.

Central Library

I dun always study in librarys when I was studying in JC or secondary. But I'm starting the appreciate the benefits of doing so. Since sem 1 I have occasionally join Colin at Central Lib and I find it more productive sometimes. Staying at home or rather my room have many distractions, that 21'' TV beside this laptop and that bed are top 3 killers. Being in lib prevents me from doing so while being among those hardworking muggers just prevents me from straying away. As per last 2 semesters, i'll be at Central Lib level 6 with Colin and Co.

TUM

I just checked my SEP application and it says that I've been offered a place for SEP to TUM - Technical University of Munich. My first choice. Yeah!

You are so beautiful!

You know who you are, yeah that's you I'm talking about.

I finally understand what is it that attracts me. Its gotta be that sweet smile that never fails to brighten anyone's day. I love it.

Top 10 reasons to date an ENGINEER

10. The world does revolve around us... we choose the coordinate system. 9. No "couple" enjoy a better "moment". 8. We know how to handle stress and strain in a relationship. 7. We have significant figures. 6. We understand the motion of rigid bodies. 5. Projectile motion: Do we need to say more? 4. Engineers do it to specification. 3. According to Newton, if two bodies interact, their forces are equal and opposite. 2. We know it's not the length of the vector that counts, but how you apply the force. 1. WE KNOW THE RIGHT HAND RULE!

I've just been acquitted from charges of murder. Yes I'm really innocent, but no this is NOT a real case. I'm just playing the accused for Colin(law undergrad) in his mock trial assessment. The 'Judge' is actually a qualified lawyer who also serve as tutors for law students like Colin. This is the first time I've stepped into a law firm, nothing fanciful, pretty much like a standard office u see in Raffles Place. It was fun to see how Colin and his opponent(another Seow) questioning the witness(someone else) with Colin trying to discredit the witness(I like the hearing loss part). But it wasn't all that fun when its my turn man. Its okay when Colin was questioning me, since we already gone through the whole procedure a few times but the 'prosecutor' was actually smart to use yes/no questions on me, trying to confuse me with double negation questions and the likes. But apparently she prepares everything she has to say in a 'speech' form and kinda thrown off tracked when I did not gave the answers she wants. So Brad Peat(read Brad Pitt) is cleared of all charges yet score a night with Valda the nurse. Yeah! It was a good experience for me to get a glimpse of court proceedings. Anyway both of them passed so no harm done.

Yesterday as I was on the train(yes, i still take public transport once in a while) to NUS, I noticed how popular PSP has become. In one carriage alone, from what I could see, I saw 3 people indulging in some PSP fun. Looking at them just makes me wanna buy one man. That day I saw someone reading comics from her PSP, how cool is that man.

The Greatest Invention

What is the greatest invention of all time?

From paper to flying aircrafts to automobiles to television or even the World Wide Web, one invention has stood against all others in the face of time. Even as science advances by leaps and bounds, there is one invention that is still very much in existence despites more advanced models appearing in the market. What is it?

Its the INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB! at least in my opinion.

Invented in 1879 by US renowned scientist Thomas Elva Edison after over 100 failures, the incandescent light bulb is still very much in use today without much modification from the first successful prototype developed by Edison. You can hardly find a place on Earth inhabited by Man yet find no signs of the incandescent light bulb. Even in developed Singapore with many people using the more economical fluorescent light bulbs in homes, you can still find the incandescent light bulbs somewhere, be it the bulb in your storeroom, toilet, your car's front headlights or even that very tablelamp you bought from IKEA could well be using incandescent light bulbs. You must praise the brilliance of Edison to come up with such invention that stood against time, against the advances of technology, after more than a century, the incandescent light bulbs we have are still very much similar to the original ones he made. It could well be because of his more than 100 failures that made his invention survive until now.

As I was searching for some info on the Incandescent light bulb by Edison, I stumbled upon something interesting. The invention of Jeans was actually by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis back in 1873.

Anyway could anyone tell me the difference between the normal Levi's shops and the Levi's Strauss shops?

Ich spreche Deutsch!

Today we shall learn some simple german phrases which u may find it useful next time. The title means I speak german.

Hello = Hallo, Hi is okay

Excuse me = Entschuldigung - An~shoe~d~gong( nice ar)

Thank You = Danke - Dunk~ke

Yes = Ja - Ya (J is pronounced as Y in german)

No = Nein - Nine ( close enough)

Please = Bitte - Bitter

That's it for today! Auf Wiedersehen(good-bye )

So exactly how can 1+1 be = 1? This is how!

If u're reading this post with no idea why the title is abt 1+1=1, read two posts down....

Get the question now? Ok, so now let me explain to you the theory behind 1+1=1, it may sounds boring to some(u can change channel now, come back 5 mins later), or it may sounds awfully familiar to others. So everyone knows computers work in 1s and 0s, but have u considered how the millions, billions or even trillionsss of 1s never add up to form a 2 or smth bigger? (Come on, computer uses maths too, u dun expect them to form words with 1s and 0s rite?)

In order to simplify operations and stamp out distortions in signals, computers are designed to read only 1s and 0s, think of it as a yes or no thing. So the 1+1 here is no exactly your numerical 1. In order to ensure the smooth operation of computers, laws and guidelines are drawn up, just like how we keep ourselves from self-destructing.

So Boolean came up with a set of 'laws' which governs how these digital signals are read, in his 'laws', he said that 1+1 should rather be read as 1 AND 1 and the answer will still be 1 since there's no 2 in digital code. Think of it as a yes and yes answer, since it can only be yes or no, yes and yes is still yes. This set of 'laws' he calls them the Boolean algebra or Boolean Logic. Thus the word in the blank should actually be the word Logic. Lame right? After writing all these, I also find myself at the extreme end of lameness.

For those who up to now have no idea wad mi previous was all about, a general translation means 'Engineers are boring ppl, because we only study, I'm an engineer, that's why i'm so boring. I write here now becoz i know no one understands wad i write.'

Something interesting to share about wad happened in NUS, today they were giving out condoms in Arts to advocate prevention of AIDS(not advocating liberal sex!). They put up some survey results which I happened to read abt, it says 49% of NUS students are sexually active, but 40% of NUS students do not practice safe sex. By some simple math, that makes 20% of NUS students are in danger of contracting AIDS or any other sexually transmitted disease. It could jolly well mean the person sitting next to u in tutorial class or lecture could be in this danger zone, or worst the person sitting on that exact toilet bowl u just sat on. AIDS dun spread like that, but some STDs do spread from toilet bowls, i think. So to all those *ahem* ppl out there, all the Greenpeace and Co. ppl will not complain abt too many condoms destroying the Earth, pls feel free to use them.

Deutsch, deutsch, deutsch

Ingenieure sind sehr langweilige Leute, weil sie nur lernen. Ich bin einen Ingenieur und ich bin jetzt zu langweilig, deshalb ich hier schreibe, aber ich weisse niemand mir verstehen. Deutsch macht viel Spass.

What is 1+1?

Under what circumstance is 1+1 = 1? I am looking for a word here that can fit into this sentence,

"By_______, 1+1 = 1." Answers shall be revealed in 1 week's time.

Today I went to a workshop in Redhill to get a check on my bike, this workshop is well-known to be reliable among the bikers. I suspected my usual workshop in Tampines is placing me on the chopping board like a Big Fat Carrot after my visit there to get new tires. Apparently they said my brake pads were worn out, especially the rear one and quoted me $32 for a "Denmark' one. I did some research before I went there so i declined upon hearing the high price. So at the Redhill workshop I decided to change the pads anyway since its been more than a year, to my surprise its still in a pretty good condition after I compared it with one the workshop just changed for another guy. Mine still had about 4-5mm of the padding left while the other guy's worn out pad has only about 1mm left. And it only cost me $25, think its a Japanese product so I'm quite fine with it. So while I'm there I decided to get them to check on my squeaky front brake lever. It happened before, I think the start of the year, so the Tampines workshop changed some small part which doesn't seem defective in any way and charged me a whopping $45 for it. Here they said its just some dirt or something and sprayed some lubricants into the lever and its as smooth as ever, no parts dismantled! So I got the uncle to help me tighten my chain a little since I saw him doing for the guy before me and mine looked a little loose. Turns out the tire changing process was pretty f-ed up, realised the locking nuts wasn't tightened, the nut was too tight so the uncle managed to do everything swee swee for me and all I paid was $25 for the brake pad. I even found out that changing engine oil there is cheaper than at Tampines, and since its 'on the way' between NUS and Tampines, they just got a new regular customer.

A word of advice for vehicle owners, be it car or bike or whatever you're driving, try not to change all your brake pads together, because un-seasoned pads are less effective and by changing alternately, you at least have half of them 100% effective.

Have you checked your digital footprint?

Technology has sometimes gotten so scary yet most people dun realise it at all, at least before u read this of cos. Someday this week I watched an episode of Get Real! now hosted by Cheryl Foxx. She shown how normal users have left much of their personal information on this World Wide Web without even knowing it. To demonstrate she got a few IT-savvy students from Republic Poly(i think) to look for a long lost fren of hers. They have lost contact for about 20 years and all the info she gave to the students was her name, full name, nothing more nothing less. All it took the 5-6 students was about an hour or so and they found out info like her email, blog, her frens, marital status, address, telephone number among the many stuff. So with the phone number Cheryl called her long lost fren and true enough it was her.

What this show is that the WWW is not secure, at all. Many times we leave your digital footprint behind which in the end leads back to us, be it that harmless application for some freebie or u posting that ad on the classified. While most stuff the students managed to dig up are harmless, there are actually unscrupulous people who sell account info like password and stuff to equally unscrupulous people who buy them for purposes like fraud. So the next time u leave behind that phone number or address on the internet, think again.

Today I had an experience how easy it is to track a person through the internet, with just a name many information can actually come up, of course email, frens and blog would be among the most easily found. Anyway all this is NOT done by me, but by a fren of mine(I shall not say who) but he definitely did not have any evil thoughts going through his mind while he's doing it. And all he did was to goggle the name, imagine how easy it is man.

Ok genug genug, it means enough enough in german. My german tutor likes to say that in class all the time to get us to stop what we're doing. I realised the Spring O from Old Chang Kee turns out to be quite delicious, its just like the normal spring roll but thicker, more kick in it. Try it when u have the chance.

Before i forget, mi recre archery has gone on to a new level, 18m range. Gals have a little problem with this range cos u can see/hear some arrows hitting the ground instead of the board. Fundamentals and equipment really play a significant role at this range, i once shot a slightly curved arrow(its a little defective) and i saw the arrow suddenly changed course in its last 5m hitting the adjacent board instead, as if its a homing missile man. Archery is getting more fun, but its not really physically demanding, maybe next sem i shall try something else, either floorball or tennis.

Having plans to go Berkelah Waterfalls in Malaysia this Dec prob the 2nd trip (27-29) with the nus rovers since the first trip to Ophir with Colin and Chonghao was quite good. Anyone else wanna join in?

Freecyling... Pass it on

Just a quick post before i go to bed becoz i'm having mi regular 8am german class tml. 3 days ago after reading on an article abt freecycling i decided to join the yahoo group and see what's its all about. Basically freecycling is all about having its members giving its unwanted stuff to other members who might need it instead of chucking it into the bin or letting it end up with the garung guni. Its better than recycling in a way since it actually extends the life of that particular product since other members take up your offer becoz they have a use for it. So as soon as I joined the group i've come to realise that 80-90% of the post are request for items they need, not many offers are avail, though there are some real good offers like suitcases and women clothes and stuff. So taking a quick glance on my shelf I spotted the perfect item for an offer, my A'Levels Phy and Chem TYS. I'm not gonna need them anyway might as well pass it onto to someone who might need it. So within one day i got 2 offers for it, so thanks to Colin for choosing the lucky one and the books are gone now, more space for me! yeah~

Anyway after the adventurous hike up Mt Ophir with Nus Rovers, there are plans to take on a more fun yet less challenging hike(my body ached for a week after Ophir!) to Berkelah Falls this Dec and really looking forward to it. This time there's more ppl i know who r going and any frens still interested do contact me.

Has been quite some time since I last blogged, I'm typing this post at NUS' engin PC cluster right now. I'm doing some revision since there's only a 1hr lecture today, might as well do some work in campus than sleeping at home.

Started a facebook last week due to reasons I cannot recall but I find it rather interesting and interactive. In contrast, friendster looks so dead, lifeless. I find Warbook which is a game within Facebook rather interesting, reminds me of the game Archmage I used to play back in secondary sch. It getting more fun when u get up the ladder and fight it out with other people while u and ur frens help each other out, girls would probably find it boring but guys are just a sucker for games like this. Currently I'm playing this game with elson(lv 12) and Ben(lv 9) while new players have just joined this game, welcome Jon and vignesh. The more the merrier man.

SEP application for next academic year has just opened, I wanted to choose Uni of Karlsruhe which is slightly south of Frankfurt as my top choice as Karlsruhe is a small uni town, its much cheaper but it also attracts lesser people from going there as well. I would most probably choose to go Munich instead since the ME dept itself has 5 places there, if I get it, I'm more likely to survive in its all-german hardcore mech engin modules. Did I mention that germans take great pride in their mech engineering and mech engineers enjoy elitist status there, at least that's what i hear from a senior who just came back from germany exchange.

11/02 is going to have a steamboat dinner at Parklane Bugis this sunday, apparently at least 10 people are going to turn up so i'm looking forward to meeting them since the usual ones i meet in NUS are the engin ppl, jihui, chonghao, tionghan, jingsheng and hanlun and colin is the only one i meet outside so this sunday would be a great time to meet the rest of the class.

Oh, i heard this poll result through the radio today.

If a meteor is gonna to obliterate Earth tomorrow, what are you going to
do?

Most people chose to spend their time either having sex or with their loved ones, that seems normal since one should enjoy to its last. But what puzzles me is that some people actually chose to commit thef in their final moments of their lives. What the heck are you gonna do with all those money and valuables when there's no more Earth tomoroow? Maybe these people just wanna try something they were prohibited to do all their life in this final moments. How strange.

The packet of life

Today I finally went to donate blood while they were having the usual blood donation drive in NUS. I must say the experience is a lot better than I had expected. Its probably becoz they injected some anesthetics on the arm. I once had a high viral fever while serving NS which resulted in them putting me on a drip. The lousy medics inserted the thick needle into my arm 3 times since the first 2 failed terribly. NO anesthetics were used during the process.

Back to topic, I dun even feel a thing during the whole process, the only pain you will feel is the finger prick on blood testing and the initial injection of the anesthetic but that needle is very much thinner than the one used to draw your blood so no fear. In about 15 mins the whole drawing process is over. After that donors get to have some refreshments in the resting area while watching a movie. They were showing 300 while I was there and the refreshments include milo and other juices, food like apples, Oreo cookies and other biscuits. It was also nice of them to give first time donors a cert as an appreciation. I left within an hour from registration.

I hope those who still have some apprehension on donating blood would feel less apprehensive on donating blood after reading this and go for your first blood donation.

Prison Break season 3

Its finally out, the all new season of Prison Break. So far 2 episodes have been aired and I must say the story is still going strong despite 2 seasons already.



*********Beware of spoilers**************

Now it turned out that its all a ploy in getting Michael to the Sona Prison in order break out a guy the 'Company' wants, James Whistler who has been hiding in the sewers in the inmates run Sona Prison. Most of season 2 survivors have also gathered in Sona, which includes, Bellick the former prison guard, T-Bag the ruthless killer and Alex Mahone the FBI agent with a dark past. Chances are some if not all the other characters were brought here to assist Michael in his mission in order to save his chic girl Sara and his nephew LJ who both been kidnapped. Somehow there's a feeling Sara hasn't been kidnapped since up to now the 'Company' hasn't been able to produce a photo showing Sara under their custody, so they probably only got LJ. Then you have Lincoln who has been exonerated from all charges in the US helping Michael from the outside to save his son and most probably Michael's good fren Sucre would help out with the condition of exonerating all his charges as well. This is just getting more and more exciting, what secrets does Whistler has and is Michael going to go after the Company next?

2LT Wang Changxiong

Everytime when someone calls me on the phone, asking for this person, I always quite wary. You dunno wad business they will have for you calling u all of a sudden. So today I received one such call, and as expected its not something good. So now I'm probably the first OC who is a 2nd Lieutenant(yes, i haven been promoted). The PCs under me probably have a higher rank than me. I always thought they will post me to a unit after I completed my Armour Officer Advanced Course or at the very least give me a post of PC since I haven't complete my PC tour. But stunt of all stunts, making me an OC.

Behold.......The iPhone!

Well well, I'm not really the kinda person who would get a top of the line tech gadgets for myself, at least not when it was just unveiled. But as I blog here right now, there's 2 iPhone sitting on my table. They're not really for me, but of course I could keep one for myself since I did paid for it. The iPhone is too irresistible for me to keep my hands away from it, so I played with it for a little while and here is my review.

1. The iPhone's screen is darn huge, its like a PDA but slimmer, much slimmer.
2. SMS using the qwerty keyboard on its large screen and its still quite easy to hit the right key using your fingers.
3. It has a goggle map function, YouTube shortcut(still works after unlocking) and a organiser that can list your schedule in a neat manner(Colin would prob like this)
4. Docking station and adapter is ridiculously small, think tic tac box
5. Camera is pretty clear for 2MP, tucked away in the corner of the phone but takes plenty of skill if u wanna do self take
6. Volume of the phone is a little soft, maybe becoz i have set the settings right
7. The SIM card slot takes a little skill(and a pin) to open but once u get the hang of it, its okay
8. Haven't tried out the ipod functions but shldn't be a problem since its the main draw
9. Can surf the net using wifi either in landscape or portrait format by turning the phone, yes it can detect how u hold it
10. Though it has a 3.5inch screen, view webpages can still be problematic tat's why it allows u to zoom in
    
11. It also allows u to get weather updates, maps and google earth via wifi
12. Best of all, u can still run most of the functions w/o a SIM card
    

All in all the phone packs quite a punch considering how small it is, it even boast functions like wifi, GPS, YouTube plus an iPod. I can see why its the latest craze all over the world. So if anyone considering to get one can contact me. I'll give u a friendship price.

This is from the net lah, but it actually tells u the dimensions of this baby

The docking station on the left and adaptor on right
iPhone on the left, in box are the earphones and USB cable
Correction pen from my table to show you relative size of iPhone

I hope u can see the word Starhub on the top left

I was preparing steak for dinner for myself today when I decided to try something new, other than just having it plain with coleslaw. Last time I bought frozen fries and fry it myself but this rather unhealthy and uses so much oil that I need to mop the kitchen after that. I prefer something I could do fast with no preparation required. I thought of baking potatoes but it will take a long time. So since i was near a supermart, i went in and bought my favourite minestrone soup but it turns out that the whole can is full of the ingredients and no soup. Add some water and simmer it and add some corn starch to make it a little starchy. Not much change huh, so i decided to make a blackpepper sauce to go with my steak today. So after I'm done with the steak, i heated some water, added some HP sauce and stir it. Then when i want to add in the blackpepper, the bottle just won't open, i have no idea why, maybe the gym session earlier is showing its effect. So no choice have to make do with a HP sauce, but it turned out rather good, complement the meat well.

Tomorrow i shall attempt my blackpepper sauce again.

Those who read the news about the NSF who brought a rifle out would probably have realised by now how this bugger managed to get out with his rifle and rounds. 3 mistakes were found after a High Board of Inquiry(HBOI) was conducted.

1. The guard room allowed unathorised exit which the NSF climbed out of the 2nd floor window and jumped down from the parapet away from the view of the guard room.
2. Guard duties were 4hours each instead of the usual 2 and there was a lack of supervision.
3. Failure by the guard commanders to report the incident promptly, Military police were alerted at 3am while the NSF escaped at bout 12midnight.

If my memory serves me well, a HBOI is the 2nd highest level of investigation in SAF, conducted by an OC level officer(Captain) and assisted by a PC level officer(Lieutenant). That's not all, they have to report their findings to a board of panel, chaired by 2 senior officers of rank at least Lieutenant Colonel and a civilian(i think). Investigators not only have to interview all personnels involved and draft out their report, they also need to suggest what form of punishment should be meted out for those found to fail in their duties. Before i ORD, i was given a task of conducting a Low Board of Inquiry(I can't tell u what its about) and i must say a LBOI is already damn mafan. I had to summon all personnels involved for an interview to get a full side of the story, visit the 'crime scene', draft a report detailing about each person's wrongdoing and recommending punishment and improvements to prevent the incident in the future. Luckily a LBOI was reviewed by my CO only. So to all the buddies, section mates, sergeants and officers of Cpl Dave Teo, good luck to you.

The Air Force - Above All

You must be wondering why the title is abt the air force.... could it be that I signed on as an air force regular? Well, at least up till now i can tell u that its not.

Its just that there was this air force recruitment talk at engin, they're recruiting air engineering officers from mech and electrical engineers. So CX here went to have a look(ok i admit i was after the food but no harm listening also rite?). NUS engineering students would prob realise how different the air force invite was from other talks. They freaking listed the menu for the dinner buffet after the food and looking at the menu will make u hungry lah. Who can resist the likes of cheese baked scallops, shepherd's pie, pasta, tiramisu cakes and other goodies. Since there's free dinner and a USB hub to be collected, of cos its worth going to listen to what they have to say. I bet if no food was provided, probably half the number of people wouldn't be there. I think most of my frens wouldn't know abt this, but i actually signed on with the Navy during BMT as a NEO(not the saviour from matrix) Naval engineering officer. But as i didn't go to OCS after BMT, the contract was void(i went OCS after my specialist course). So i haven't heard abt what the air force have to offer before i went to the talk. From what they offer, its really good, 3.7k starting against 2.8k for private sector. But that's how they attract ppl to join the public sector, bigger fatter carrot. But in return, not only do u need to go back to such regimentation 24/7, u need to go back to OCS. If u're an officer, u skip the first 7 weeks and go on course as officer on course, if not u go back to being a cadet. How sad is that man. Being a cadet at 25 is sad man, booking in and out at OCS is even more sad. I was a trainee for 1.5 years before i ORD, dun think i would wanna go back and be trainee again.

Flight 93

I was watching a documentary on the heroic efforts by the passengers and crew of the hijacked Flight 93 on Sept 11, 2001. Everyone knows that the plane crashed in a cleared area in Pennsylvania but after investigations by forensics, telephone records and flight recordings, they finally knew what happened on the plane.

Turns out that after the hijackers took control of the plane, the passengers who at this time were gathered at the back of the plane, called their loved ones through cellphones and other means. Through this they managed to find out what was going on with the hijackings and what the hijackers actually wanted. Investigations and confessions by one of the plotters led the authorities to believe that Flight 93 was bound to crashed into the US Capitol building which on that day was packed with politicians. Had it crashed it would have been a darker day for the US. The 40 or so passengers and crew decided to mount a revolt against the hijackers in a bid to take back the plane and they managed to neutralise the hijackers outside the cockpit before using one of those meal trolley to ram the cockpit door to take back control of the plane. Families of passengers on board were given the opportunity to listen to the cockpit recordings minutes before the crash. To which they could hear their loved ones storming into the cockpit and fought with the hijackers. The end result from the recordings was that the passengers did managed to wrest back control of the plane but unfortunately did not have enough time to save the plane from crashing. However their heroic efforts did managed to prevent their plane from crashing into the US Capitol building. Post-crash investigations also revealed that the passengers on board Flight 93 were a rather unusual lot. Among the passengers and crew were a judo master, ex-cop, american football player and a few others who have shown valor and courage before the flight. They brought the meaning of heroes to a whole new level until the show Heroes came out of course. But they were just great and it just warms your heart that there's such people around and they will always be remembered.

Saw an accident today after my archery at MPSH. Some driver bang into the adjacent car either while moving out or entering his lot at the carpark. Then he managed to get his car out and move into another lot near the entrance. I thought he was gonna alight and check on the damaged car but by the time I got to my bike I realise he was gone. So being a nice and responsible fellow road user, I decided to leave the poor driver a note telling him(i was hoping its a her) about the terrible misfortune that happened complete with the errant driver's car plate number and my contacts in case he needs me as an eye witness. I must say the errant driver is pretty unlucky that I saw it, since there were a few others who seen it in better view but chose to walk away. In contrast the other driver lucky I was there or else that repair is gonna come out from his own pocket!

I realised that I met quite a few long lost friends and acquaintances this semester. These are all the engin people since u hardly see me in the central lib unlike last sem due to better timetable planning and a more hectic schedule. Maybe they were all in exchange or internship since most of these ppl are Yr4s now.

The TJ swim team people would probably know abt this, that my elbow is really a little more flexible than others. In the sense that when I lock my elbow its not straight at all, probably slanted at about 15-20 deg from my upper arm. Although according to Mr Fun(TJ swim coach) this is quite advantageous to swimmers, but it certainly doesn't help in archery. On the contrary, I can't lock my elbow when I draw the bow string cos it will certainly hit my forearm when i release it and the arrow won't be accurate anymore. Even when i try my best not to lock my elbow, somehow mi forearm is still hit by the bowstring even though i'm already wearing an forearm guard. But this sport is too fun to make me stop though i get bruise almost after every weekly shoots. We're extending our range to 18m next week, cool!

Funny Thai Pigeon Mobile Ad

Funny Thai Marie France Ad (Sub)

Sometimes u need to relak a bit from all those stress!

Really busy

Been really busy these days, more labs this semester and also much tougher modules that require the reading up on textbooks that simply suck away your time. After the comex last weekend, I'm still trying to put mi time management back on the usual track but work just seems to pile up when some tutors go through 2 tutorials at once while some go through one. Just when I thought the maths tutorials last yr was bad enough, it seems the tutorials this yr can be worse. Though tutorials are on alternate weeks, they sometimes go through 2 tutorials at once, so in the end it makes no difference.

Anyway sometimes i really dread going for german class cos the tutor mostly speak in german and half the time i have no idea wad she's toking about. Some of the students in class can get her but i think about half are facing the same problem and u can tell some act as though they know wad she's saying but when she prompt them they give totally illogical answer lah. z.B Tutor ask wad is the answer to a particular qn and u say no. Illogical rite, but this happens becoz she speak so fast using vocabs u never even heard b4, so basically for me i'm just looking out for those verbs n nouns i understand to make out wad she's trying to say. I think the biggest obstacle here is the lack of exposure to the german language in singapore, thus there's a lack of opportunity to practice wad u learn. Seriously i think taking Jap would be a much better choice, since not only do i watch anime i listen to Jpop too. But its a little too late now, just have to press on with the last 2 modules.

The Prof's way of getting an A the engineer's way

Today a Prof was sharing with us how to get an A, his way.
First u need to read the lecture notes which is obvious.
Second is to do all the tutorials... ok, fair enough.
Lastly is to read from 3 different textbooks for each topic gone through.

I guess most undergrads wouldn't have a problem fulfilling the first 2 requirements(if u can't i think u're in trouble), but the last one is a little hardcore man. 70% of the undergrads would probably read up on certain topics that are really complicated from one textbook. 20% would revise all topics using one textbook, sometimes two is that one wasn't clear enough. The last 10% would have already finish reading one textbook before semester began and used the other one during revision and the 3rd one during exam preparation.

Note: If u belong to that last 10% and u're from the small island nation of Singapore, pls contact us. Our country is proud of you and would like to confer on you the title Geek.

Odex

Anime fans and those who have been reading the newspapers would probably have heard about it. Odex are now suing people who download animes illegally. Presently this concerns Singnet and Starhub users after the lawsuit against Pacific Net to release the names of its users in such activities was turned down. Violators faces a $3-5k settlement fee plus a promise of sort not to do it again. Illegal downloaders here are finally going to face the music thus this has actually caused quite a ruckus among the anime community here.

The commotion started when the owner of Odex posted comments online saying he's busy suing people irking many people online. The anime community has also started to hit back against Odex posting their counter-arguments about Odex case on forums online and pooling $$ in an apparent bid for a legal showdown.

While I'm no downloader when it comes to anime, I rather watch it from stream sources like youtube, actions by Odex have really irked me. Firstly though Odex got permission from anime studios in Japan to raise its case, the $3-5k settlement fee is ridiculous if u consider the amount of money lost due to loss of sale. Even the most hardcore illegal downloader could hardly chalk up that amount. $3k would probably translate to at least 50 series worth of anime, that really a lot and most downloaders would surely fall short to that amount. Secondly, since Odex isn't the sole distributor, it doesn't make sense that the fee is paid to Odex, since the loss in sale also affected other distributors. Even if the money is eventually paid to anime studios, I seriously doubt all anime studios authorised Odex to claim settlement. So if someone downloads an anime series that do not originate from the studios authorizing Odex to claim settlement it isn't right that he/she pay settlement to Odex isn't it? Lastly anime fans who actually bought products from Odex claimed that its subbing(translation) are either lifted from fan-sub communities or of really poor quality in terms of content. To this Odex itself have admitted to its less than satisfactory QC, then Odex couldn't blame its loss of sale solely due to illegal downloads.

What anime fans really want is to follow the anime series as it is aired in Japan, which local distributors isn't able to provide since each series of DVD/VCD are put on sale after a significant number of episodes are aired. Thus fans turn to fan sub communities who taped the show from TV and subbed it within 1-2 days before posting them online for all to watch, free of course. Though i agree that these fan sub communities resulted in a loss of sale for anime studios but they no doubt also helped popularise these animes as well. All in all Odex is just too hard-handed on its part, though it may have won on copyright, it certainly lost on PR.

Autobots, transform and move out!

Archers! Fire!

Went for archery just now, after changing it from monday to tuesday then to thursday. First there was a short introduction on the equipment before a demonstration on how to actually shoot the arrow before we're off to our individual 'instructor' whose actually just someone on the archery team. So practice a few rounds since its about 4 to a bow and we still need to retrieve the arrows since they're not unlimited. And after that was the fun part, the prize shooting. We blew some balloons and placed them around the board with a coaster(yes, the kind u put ur cup on) on the bull's eye. 2 arrows at a time before rotating, we took turn to shoot the coaster and the balloons, hitting a balloon entitles u to take a prize from the goody bag which contains items like Ma-mee and other tidbits. Hitting the coaster which also means hitting the bull eye's entitles u to the coaster with a complimentary Nus Archery chop on it. Its not really easy to land the shot where u aim with all the wobbling and stuff, every now and then u can hear the sound of an arrow hitting the metal fence behind or the rim of the target board. The metal fence is literally filled with holes lah. But still as a marksman in the army, i managed to get that coaster in the last shot, how lucky. And my elbow got whacked by the bow string twice man, literally burst a few capillaries under the skin with those blood marks, definitely gonna get a few bruises tomorrow. But its really fun, and cheap too, $10 for the intro with refreshments included and i topped up another $12 to join the recreational sub-club to shoot once a week from week 3 -11. If not for mi tuition on thur, i would seriously consider joining the team, maybe next semester.


Anyway is it just me or are the roads getting narrower these days?

Extreme makeover home edition

A story about how an 8 year old girl battled death and became dauntless to it

I was watching today's episode which happens to be a 2 hr special(usually 1 hr). It turns out that this 8 year old girl wrote to the show hoping to renovate this hospital ward, not her house which is usually the case. Turns out that this little girl had cancer when she was little and stayed in this ward for quite a while. After 10 operations to remove her tumour and having other treatment, she thought she was cured only to find out that she had a relapse and now in the final stage of her cancer which means its incurable now. But this brave little girl continued to live happily and sought to help other cancer stricken children and her greatest wish is to make the children cancer ward more liveable so that patients would recover faster. She was determined to re-paint the ward even if the show didn't want to help so she made necklaces to sell in order to raise money to buy paint. The show decided to help her and made her the renovation team leader in charge of 50 animators from Walt Disney who would be helping her along with her 4 younger siblings and parents. The main design team however lied that they're renovating another house at another place but they actually decided to build her a new house since her parents spent much of their money on her treatment and her house has become rather rundown. With the help from the community and the company who helped build the British-French tunnel, they pulled their house down and started rebuilding a newer bigger one without the family's knowledge. Rest assured that they did ask if the family wanted a new coat of paint since they're doing it on the hospital and the father allowed the team to do whatever they want on the house, of cos not anticipating building a new one of cos. The team broke into their house to find out their likes and asked the neighbours about their children's interest. The children's grandmother was also on hand during the demolition, but she along with the neighbours were told not to tell them about the surprise. Really touching story and for those who missed it, dun worry, today's episode only covered the part 1 of 2, u can still catch the ending next sunday 3pm on channel 5.

A quote from the little girl,

When we're in hospital, we're like little caterpillars in a cocoon waiting to spread our wings to fly, but we can't leave earlier or we may not fly far

Ideal idling

Sometimes when u're having a tough time dun u just wish to be able to teleport to a nice quiet place to spend some time alone, thinking through things or just simply slack around to recharge. Its not like i'm troubled or anything, just that i was thinking wad my ideal idling place would be.

If i want to have some peaceful moments alone, i would love to be able to spend it on top of a nice hill with a lone pine tree at the top and un-obstructed view of the surroundings. Laying down on the grass patch under the shade of the pine tree, enjoying the nice breeze and just doing nothing. How great that would be. Anyway a nice breeze in the night would do for now.


On a side note, for returning NUS students if u haven't been reading ur mails, apparently The Deck(arts canteen) is opening this monday and there's gonna be Burger Kings and Olio Cafe on its 2nd floor. How cool is that man.

Time flies

How time flies without u realising it. This week marks Week 0 of the new academic year in NUS. New batch of students matriculating into the campus, attending talks on how to use stuff like CORS and IVLE while elsewhere a new batch of adults pours into the working population working hard to pay taxes to support the non-working ppl like me. I could still vividly remember the day I matriculated into NUS, collecting my student card and attending all the talks in Engin. My first day in Engin during Week 1, navigating through the maze-like campus. Memories still fresh and yet I'm no longer the newbie in NUS anymore. yay!

I went back to the nat lib last friday with eugene to return a book i borrowed before the exhibition ended and also eugene never been to the nat lib. Saw the security uncle who always talk cock with us, he hardly seems to know me already. Saw the usual librarians at the customer service counter, its the nice malay lady and the one we nicknamed 'sexy' for her different stockings. They remembered me alrite and gave me a nice smile when they saw me. The exhibition area is sooo different now, some photo exhibition is there and the sofa arrangement made the area a stranger to me. Anyway for those who haven been to the national lib, do go and take a look. The variety of books there beats any regional lib esp the comics, whole series could be found there.

Note: Lending section in basement, upstairs for reference only.

Linkin Park - What I've Done

Theme of Transformers the Movie

Nice MV, shows a lot of world issues.

I've come to realise that many people dun really know the proper way to brush their teeth, some are done in like 20s. Studies have shown that negligence in taking of your teeth can lead to heart diseases and other illness. Not that I'm a pro in such stuff but up to now i still practice wad i've learnt in primary school days where the school dentist teaches us the proper way to brush ur teeth. Sometimes when i'm in a hurry and have a quick brush, i just have the weird feeling all day. Most people realise that they need to brush their teeth for abt 2mins for it to be effective and we need to floss and rinse with mouthwash for a complete package.

For more info on brushing, click here.

Superstar Virgo

Day1
Boarding was a bit of a hassle compared to boarding a flight as the queue is really long though we came at the 4pm which was the time boarding starts, a long queue was already there. Issued the access card and finally boarded the ship at about 5 plus pm. Took a quick tour around the ship before heading for dinner, buffet dinner. Food wasn't that fantastic but definitely passable, but there was this old indian couple sitting beside us who ate bread with salt, pepper and long beans, wierd. So took another tour around the ship, visiting the observatory, looking into the Captain's Bridge and punctually at 8pm, we set off for Redang. Shortly after setting off the casino was open and of cos we went in to take a look, it was rather interesting looking at others play. Roulette caught our eye cos of the vast number of chips placed on the table during each round and only about 5% of the chips placed won something. A lucky guy got a Full House in poker and won $250 just liddat.

Access card

Day 2
Terrible nite, people were walking around outside and when it finally settled down outside, people were hanky pankying in the next cabin. I finally can relate to those people staying in the hostel, tough on u guys man. Headed to the gym since we ate so much last nite, b'fast was buffet again i think, so-so, we decided to join the snorkelling tour when we get to Redang, that will set us off $35 each. Then we got about playing the many games on board, we first tried the mini golf course after we saw people playing then we went to have a game of table tennis after jon and maybel had b'fast 2 of cos (they have a bottomless pit). After the game we hurriedly proceeded to the chinese restaurant to have an early lunch before going to Redang. I must say the food was rather good, esp the steamed Cod fish, heavenly. As we gathered for the tour briefing we realised we didn't bring any Ringgit, rather we didn't even bring any cash. You can credit payments to ur access card on board so we got used to it, but obviously not on Redang Island but we found out we dun get to even use the cash on the snorkelling tour. The diving tour provided was quite a bargain actually $90 for 2 dives with equipment provided but i didn't want to dive with strangers and i didn't bring along my divelog.

Rescue ship as ferry

At first we started to regret going on the snorkel tour after we realised that we're snorkelling near the beach but we soon realise the $35 was well worth it after we reached the island. Schools of fishes could be seen swimming under the jetty, corals reefs were abundant and large. If u tot only small fishes could be seen, u're damn wrong. We were literally swimming with the fishes, among the marine life seen were clown fish, sea cucumber(live ones) and Moray eel(not manta eel, sorry).

Moray eel

Anyway those who dun wanna to join any tour can go the Laguna Redang resort via the ferry service for free though i have no idea wad u can do there. Rested a while at the cabin before heading to the pool before everyone comes back. Pool was pathetically short, probably 30m in length and 15m in width yet we could amazingly come up with ways to swim in an orderly fashion(swim team, dun play play). Due to the short length, u tend to get dizzy after swimming a few laps cos u kept turning after swimming a short distance. They had 4 Jacuzzis but its always packed, sometimes with babes, but most of the time with people u prob wouldn't want sharing in it. Dinner at the chinese restaurant again, had tiger prawns and sweet and sour fish, both were gd i would say. Then there's the BBQ party at the pool with of cos loads of other food, buffet style.

The most interesting form of entertainment would be the casino though it was opened almost throughout the day, its more interesting and crowded at nite. This time we played. Jon, Eugene and I pooled some money together to change $50 worth of chips. We tried our hand on roulette with a young couple and a friendly croupier. You win some but most of the time u lose since betting using probability doesn't work most the time but beginners' luck were on our side when maybel won $55 using just $5 betting on the winning row. So now we set aside our $50 and played with the rest, it was fun as people started to crowd around our table and more players joined in. We had 'free' fun for over half an hour since there was no losses, gambling is addictive, beware!

Day 3
Woke up early for sunrise but it was way too cloudy to see anything, wad a waste. B'fast at Bella Vista, the western fine dining restaurant. Food was superb since they also had a small buffet bar offering cereals, pastries and fruits. Settled the check out procedure and collect our passports before packing our bags and taking a short nap in the cabin before lunch. Bella Vista for lunch again, this time it ain't so good, at least for the main course. Then we're stuck in the mahjong room playing cards since its the most quiet place and we can't go back into the cabins. When we alighted the ship, some of the crew were singing songs to our farewell, how sweet or maybe they can't wait for us to leave. haha, all in all quite a nice trip, hope to visit redang again, maybe with mi dive buddies this time.

On the ferry
The Pantheon Pool
Dessert 'Hot Love' with jon as background
from left: jon, maybel, eugene & cx