trash served fresh. you were once like this.

ST Forum 22/08/2009

2009-08-22T11:40:00.001+08:00

Shame on you, young bloggers

IT IRKS me that young people blog negatively about the Singapore Government. They live in an era where there is peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy. There is a need to realise that all these good things do not come naturally. Someone has to do the job and we are fortunate to have a sound and honest government to take care of this place we call our home.

We live in a small place with no natural resources but we have done well. We have good infrastructure, a clean environment, a safe place and the list goes on. Our children are free to roam the streets and return home safely. We cannot take all that we enjoy now for granted.

The Government took great pains to mould this tiny island into a place of wonder. There is no one policy that suits everyone. It is not possible to please everyone all the time. We may not always benefit from some of the policies implemented but we should be happy that others do.

Life was a struggle before but after years of persistent hard work and thrift, we managed. I travelled quite a bit but whenever I looked around, I could not help but feel blessed that I have a home called Singapore.

This is only possible because we have a government that cares to make this a better place. The question often asked is, 'What can the Government do for me?', but shouldn't it be, 'What can I do for my country?'

I am grateful to the Government, which has done a great job, and in particular Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who has gone through so many trials and tribulations. Even now, at his age, he has not stopped caring about Singapore. My heartfelt thanks to MM Lee and I wish him happiness and health.

Juliet Chua (Ms)

Dear Mdm Wee Hua Boey...

2009-07-14T13:23:00.010+08:00

I have written many entries regarding our national security forces as well as the kind of letters Singaporeans write to our Straits Times forum. Being away from Singapore, I log on frequently to portals like STOMP and the online version of the Straits Times to remind myself what Singapore is truly like. This morning, I logged on to the forum and I see this letter:

Horrified by many profanities in matinee show on NS life

I ATTENDED the matinee show Own Time Own Target at the Drama Centre in the National Library building over the weekend. One magazine lauded it as a 'laugh out loud, rediscovery of zany side of national service'. I presumed this meant it was a family-type show and took my two teenage sons, aged 16 and 14, to the show on the premise of a MediaCorp-owned magazine review.

To my horror, I was cringing uncomfortably in my seat the whole show, highly disturbed by the language used. I do not have a problem that the language was coarse and in dialects. But it was offensive when every sentence and curse uttered by the officers (rightly or wrongly, provoked or otherwise) at the NS boys in the drama was a profanity of the female genitals.

The show was a full house, with young and old, males and females equally represented. I am sure I was not the only one who was disturbed by the excessive cursing and swearing by the officers at the recruits. My observation was that people laughed out loud not at the clumsiness of the recruits but mostly because they felt uncomfortable with the profanities.

As a mother, I find it hard to imagine that after years of sheltered school life where students are taught values, to be gentlemanly and polite and respect their elders, these boys have to do NS run by officers who do not blink an eye when they curse their mother, sister, girlfriend and the whole female population by way of conversation.

My boys were shocked to realise that NS is a rite of passage where they will be officially subjected to bullying, shouting and cursing - nothing gentlemanly at all If this is a light-hearted look at life of NS boys during basic military training, I fear to know what my boys will face in their real-life situationwhen they enlist. Please, someone, assure me this is not so.

Wee Hua Boey (Mdm)

One would think that in this current age whereby one has access to resources such as the esteemed Straits Times, in both the print and online version, as well as other reputable sources of information such as Channel News Asia (all of which provide a true and realistic depiction of Singaporean culture and lifestyle), information about "real life" could be easily obtained.

I am so shocked and horrified at the prospects. What have our society degenerated into to incorporate such lies and vulgar use of language in a play depicting NS life? NS is supposed to turn boys into GENTLEmen, not vulgarmen. Such atrocities. Perhaps I can offer Mdm Wee some consolation for her weak heart. NS life is far from what must have been shown as a total hell in the play.

For instance, upon checking in to Tekong Resorts World and Spa, the newly enlisted soldier-to-be would be shown his spanking new and spacious accomodation with exclusive sea views. Meals served there are all certified organic produce, made by a stellar cast of celebrity chefs. There are no trans fat, no gluten, no MSG, no artificial flavorings or colors and of course, the nutritional content of each serving is lovingly calculated to be optimal to the growing boys' requirements. As each soldier would have had his health checked thoroughly with our state of the art technologies, a patented in house system calculates his daily requirements within 2 nanoseconds during which he scans his 11B to collect his meal which would then have been tailored to his exquisite requirements. Its not all just for show, the psychological well being of a soldier takes into consideration all factors and hence each meal is all aesthetically composed on top quality china plate to bring out the subtle all natural flavors of the wholesome food.

Have we talked about the bedding yet? Well, the linen is not only organic, but also manufactured with green practices to reduce the carbon footprint of our regime. It boosts top thread count and is laid on a bed with yet another patented technology - one that massages the fatigued body of the soldier upon his return after every training session. This system makes use of years of research from the Traditional Chinese Medicine department of the Nanyang Technological University to direct waves of calming ulra sonic energy at select acupoints of each user.

As for the instructional and training system, it has all been certified and vetted 6 Sigma and booasts all the relevent ISO certification. It even meets HACCP standards as well other more obscure ones such STUP, ID, REDIC-KULOUS and surpasses even the most stringent Euro VII standards, although what that means remains unknown. Just know that the system takes such good care of you that it goes above and beyond all call of duty.

Each sesssion of training is preceded by an instructional video directed by none other than Steven Spielberg himself, and uses the latest 3D graphics technologies to demostrate the objective, mission and goal of each period. Trainees are free to pause, rewind or fast forward each modular session to the best of his abilities. After all, we have been emphasizing on the third generation thinking soldier haven't we?

All the instructors and officers have ungergone rigorous training programs which over qualifies them to teach the modules that are assigned to them. As each module is highly structured, there are strict rules and guidelines as how to approach the teaching of each of them. Among which, it states that "the use of uncouth language that in any way demeans a trainee" is forbidden. As such, all training are conducted in the most pleasant of environments, which of course, are air conditioned and sheltered (with the air ion-filtered and scented). To take a random example again, the instructor teaching foot drills will open his lesson according to the stipulated lesson plan as:

"Good morning gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to this lesson, Footdrills 101. In this lesson, we will incalcate the heavenly art of precision drills by way of..."

As Mdm Wee can see, there is absolutely no worrry regarding the falsehood perpetuated by evil theatre directors. She would be safe and content in the knowledge that there would be none of the unacceptable behavior shown in the foul play that she watches. Thankfully, such vile words exits only in the realm of our (censored) imagination. She should put her faith in the system and send her sons to do the only holy and right thing, knowing that in 2 years' time, they will come back as not just scholarly refined gentlemen, but also well rounded healthy individuals armed with valuable lessons that greatly increase the odds of our country's future survival.

Hampi - ಹಂಪೆ

2009-07-03T01:01:00.005+08:00

Ruins of the Vijayanagara empire, set in an almost desert environment with cacti growing, and the huge boulders distorting all sense of scale. Well, fortunately I was there during the monsoon, so there were more plants growing. But it also meant that I had to bike in the rain and getting all soaked.

Jumping in joy after TH and I discovered this huge temple complex (with all the Kamasutra carvings no less) behind this hill. Guess no one bothered to climb and take the extra effort to get to this set of ruins hence we were the only ones exploring the entire place.

Caught in an inpromtu moment.

Sitting in a corner camoflauged.

Adventurous/daring/foolish to climb all the way up. Can't imagine the splatter if we had fallen.

The stone chariot of Krishnan at the Vitta Temple complex, which was said to be so beautiful the Lord himself was ashamed to stay there and had to move back to his more humble abode.

Alone in temple complex.

My first attempt at motorbiking. Awesome. The ride in the rain, not so awesome.

About the boulders and how they distort scale.

More climbing.

Wild wild west styled biking.

Use of camera self timer. Left the camera baking on a rock. Ruins behind the main Virupaksha temple.

Sign behind says "Don't Take Elephant Photo".

Krishnan Temple.

Some self indulgence after climbing all the way up.

I have soooo bloody much photos of that place. UNESCO World Heritage Site indeed.

Quote

2009-06-24T22:16:00.002+08:00

"I opened my eyes to a day that seemed almost too close to yesterday"

- Meows (June 2009)

One of the reasons why I left was because I wanted to escape from certain things. The way it is now, just proves and shows to me why it is possibly a wiser than wise decision to have left.

Sad.

Mysore Pak!

2009-06-09T18:23:00.000+08:00

Pictures soon!

444th Momentum

2009-06-03T15:56:00.002+08:00

444th blog post. As I begin to get into the swing of things, it feels really weird. So this is how it feels to wake up, squeeze, go to work, lunch, go home, buy groceries etc. Is this how life would be after graduation? Certainly feel so lost and unprepared for a lifestyle like that. To be truly independent and living alone, accountable only to yourself for your own food, transport, electricity, laundry, security... everything. Is this how it feels like to build your own family and home?

So... strange and such unfamiliar feelings. I spent the morning editing some photos, getting ready to print them to make into postcards. Here's a glimpse of some of them. Drop me a message if you want to get them and I'll send them to you.

Just like the photos, somehow it all feels dusty, grimy, a little bit out of place and lonely. Unreal.

Finally 95% Live-able

2009-05-30T16:22:00.005+08:00

After over a week of reorganising the place and calling a million parties to get the place liveable, we managed to get the place pretty much up and running. We even began to do our own laundry from the washing machine we fixed up.

Our kitchen is pretty much up and running, with a microwave oven, kettle and running gas for cooking. And a fridge too!

Fixing the furniture and moving stuff around got us a nice living room area.

We got in someone to provide a water dispenser since the water here, even after boiling is too unpalatable to drink. Rearranging more furniture allowed us to partition a section away to put all our dirty shoes behind. The table will be used as a library as the amount of magazines and books we bought so far has increased dramatically in the absence of an internet connection.

Fixing up a call center, Indian style. Haha.

My room, with attached bathroom and some cable TV with bad reception. And balcony which is currently used to dry my laundry haha.

With like just a few more outstanding issues, we have managed to make it nice and cosy!

The Hoodhis

2009-05-29T02:57:00.007+08:00

Now that things are finally beginning to get settled down, I can update the world on the happenings on the past week without being too cryptic. The first week was absolutely necessary for adaptation as half the group fell sick and some had to be hospitalised. As if all the trouble we went through to get the visa was not enough, some had to endure the maze that is the Indian healthcare system. I did not visit the numerous hospitals and other facilities the others went to, but from what I heard, those places give the set of Resident Evil a run for their money.

I learnt that things we take for granted back home doesn't come easy here. The power supply here is unreliable, and we have already experienced countless power cuts so far. The tap water is far from safe, even for brushing teeth, and so on. The weather is dry and hot in the day, falling to below 20 at night.

The entire operation to search for a more permanent place to stay in was exhausting. The work needed to make the place liveable was even worse. For instance, I only got my internet connection up now, after days of calling useless parties. We had a shell of an apartment, needing work on the electrical fixtures, lights, hot water, air conditioning, gas, laundry, waste disposal... the list goes on. For 3 days, we lived almost like cavemen here. But now most of the stuff are up, and only a few more outstanding matters need to be done up before we declare this place a home. A trip to Mysore or even further will need to be postponed. I'm just glad to back connected (on wireless no less!) in time for the release of results. Will have to see about the plans for tomorrow. Perhaps an orientation trip using public transport to the workplace. Transport here is a pain in the a**.

Anyways, some pictures from the final corporate visit we did as well as the apartment searching. Checking out the neighborhood is a must.

Dirt roads and no street lights. Not good. Especially in the monsoon season, trudging around muddy paths in the dark in office attire is not a good idea.

A nicer residental neighborhood near the town centre.

We were offered this entire building. Pretty nice, but right next to a slum and dumping ground. Needs alot of work to get it up and running.

We saw some serviced apartments. Comfy.

More of another neighborhood, this one nearer my workplace. Further out of town.

There's a swimming pool for this one.

Photos not organised properly. Haha. Here we cut to the final company visit at Infosys. Impressive. Very very nice.

Something out of the Lourve?

Another geometrical building.

They call the blue glass building in the background the "Washing Machine" building. The sprawling Infosys campus is green too, with its own sewerage treatment and recycling plant, plus a whole host of other green features.

Finally, back to the apartment we selected for the 6 of us working out of town. This separates us into 2 camps, one living in a serviced apartment in town, and us, living out in the outskirts. We have a resident cow staying in the field downstairs. She's the brown/black dot in the center of the picture.

View from the bathroom attached to my room.

View of the (yellow and dirty) swimming pool from the kitchen.

Housemates checking out the neighborhood shops for supplies.

Locals buying food.

The most established fruit stall. The others are just push carts.

Selling fish. Not too sure if they are fresh, the stench and flies prevents anyone from walking nearer. Housemates pointed out several cuts of meats from unknown animals hanging around too. Mysterious.

A more commercial part 10 minutes walk away from my apartment.

Some instant chinese food at the local supermarket. Note the spelling of "Szechuan". The supermarket doesn't sell milk or water. I bought sugar and salt from the open bins, where the minimum purchase is 1kg.

Wanted to get jam for toast for breakfast, but Indians cannot live without their spices. The normal strawberry, pineapple, mango or plum all have to be partnered with various other spices.

Crosses fingers for the other outstanding matters of the apartment and also results...

Incredible India

2009-05-24T03:20:00.005+08:00

Truly a land of contrasts. The weather. The power cuts. The food. The environment. Lets just say that with regards to healthcare, the group here is having a really interesting time. India thus far has been friendly and unfriendly at the same time, making it the most challenging place I have ever visited. See the main commercial area of the city:

Many familiar brands. Levi's here have their own flagship building which has 3 stories and served by lifts. You can find Levi's x Damien Hurst here too.

More familiar brands, particularly this one which was pretty outstanding for anyone who has walked around Mongkok in Hong Kong.

Some sort of a mall...

Pizza Hut, where we had our dinner because we were desperate to get a taste of non Indian food. I think the masala lemonade claimed some casualties. And the poster is true. A meal there starts from 99Rs. 1SGD to approx 32INR. Go figure. (Laundry rates start at 15Rs for a polo shirt)

I call this buying from the street vendors flirting with certain death.

Here, God willing is never enough, because the traffic must be permitting. Here's the jam at 10pm.

So far its been really very much of an eye opener, and I am sure the days (months) to come will be even more so. Wow.

** Extras from Edison's camera **

Us trying to buy our phone cards. Notice the state of the shop and the muddy pools of water. Now you know why it took us so long.

Company visit.

Spot the non local tourists taking photographs.

The masala lemonade needs to be shared.

Beyond Expectations

2009-05-18T22:45:00.001+08:00

Am safe here. Food's great. Weather's fantastic.

Here's a preview!

The Signs

2009-05-16T00:44:00.002+08:00

Heralding the arrival.

Your first brush with what is gonna happen to you begins with the visa application. I had to fill mine out in the dark stuffy room using handphone light because the electricity was cut. There was no internet. Everything is arbitrary.

Walking (Flying) Away

2009-05-09T16:25:00.000+08:00

Here's a preview of life for the next 3 months. (Its the people in the background that matters btw)

Your Birdy Mentor Speaks

2009-05-04T15:15:00.001+08:00

I can't believe it until I saw with my own eyes the numerous videos taken.

What a historical moment.

3244

2009-04-25T18:40:00.002+08:00

I had to take a cab to my exam venue today from hall because I forgot its a Saturday and shuttle buses come every half an hour. I was spotted eating breakfast in the comm hall. It costs S$4.20 to go from Sheares to S1A.

This can so be posted to fmylife.com

Sorry for the lack of updates. Just no mood.

Sold My Soul

2009-04-14T03:36:00.002+08:00

Eventful weekend.

People.

15min last class.

Fred Perry taxes.

Hartley's dead.

Mihara X Puma.

Deadlines.

Lelouch, Euphemia, Suzaku. All dead.

Fuzzy Memories

2009-04-11T00:22:00.003+08:00

Our usual T-day meetup where we invaded Zeros' facebook page and did some photowhoring in AS6. After which we zoomed down to Relish with guest T-day mate DK for some burgers and also the strawberry cheesecake, which in my opinion is the same one they serve at Wild Rocket. So we headed downstairs to Da Paolo but they didn't have anything we remembered liking so it was back to Island Creamery for some local flavors.

Yup, we hearts Zeros.

As we were about to leave we got a wooonderalert to Mel's birthday surprise so we zoomed down to Arc at Esplanade to find boss in the loop too. Haha! Nice surprise. More food as we had dinner with the Actually babes and Arc dude at Robertson Quay's Brussel Sprouts. Nice nice. Mussels in wine wine sauce? A winner there. Too bad the camwhore school graduate didn't have their cameras with them for once so we didn't get any pictures save for a very funny boss video. Haha. It was truly a nice cosy dinner as all the family working relations started coming back again.

Sadly change always comes and without saying too much, I can only regret that once again, I won't be around for the flurry of changes to come. I will miss all the wooonderstuff we do. Really do. From the bottom of my heart.

But the snowman is dead. So I have to leave. Its getting painful to stay here. Bak Kut Teh at Balestier will never be the same ever again.

Your Chill Central

2009-04-08T03:13:00.001+08:00

Finally got the presentation over and done with.

Fruit Labs with 2 of our best sellers. Dean's List.

A+.
Whew. What a relief.

Hermitization

2009-04-02T13:09:00.002+08:00

Have I found you?
Flightless bird
Grounded, bleeding
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big pill looming

Dinner and Dance 09

2009-03-30T23:09:00.003+08:00

Before that, guess where is the place in this photo? Its not Vivocity.

Pageant people fooling around.

A random picture of myself. I took so many photos of the pageant people I totally forgot about myself! JH obviously not caring about the "Bombay Bonanza" theme.

The guys. Have anyone seen the album I uploaded on FB where they were all photoshopped into like Aladdin characters and the girls into genies?

Them looking so pose-y in their formal wear. And at this point I realised I totally forgot to take pictures of them in their casual sportswear sponsored by Puma!

And the winners...

Serotonin

2009-03-25T01:36:00.002+08:00

Evenings. Always makes me feel abit sad when I am out seeing the dramatic color changes in the sky.

Surprise birthday for BPK.

Asp-Arg-Val-Tyr-Ile-His-Pro-Phe

2009-03-19T23:20:00.003+08:00

T-day without Zeros was spent getting lost in Engineering.

Which turned out to be a good thing because it was time to take out the new camera and do some phototaking. We also found LT1 and this cafe in the middle of nowhere. Its called Olive Cove. I am slightly embarrassed to say that after so long in NUS, I've never been here. And also quite surprised to find the pastries there supplied by a friend.

After the exploration we thought we might as well continue on the adventure and so we're off to new far flung places on campus.

NUS Museum. It really exists, and entry is free. Contrary to what someone claimed, I did not edit the sign in. This place is for real.

There's a restaurant/bar outside.

Inside the museum, which we didn't fully explore because we still want to wait for Zeros to join us for part II.

Some piece called something along the lines of straightening you out.

Behind the glass.

Some sunlight.

Its true that I have been feeling increasingly negative towards myself as a Science major, preferring to lean towards an inclination in business or the arts. However, after a trip to CELS (Center for Life Sciences) today and having a short chat with one of the profs whose laboratory was there, the experience has refreshed me quite a fair bit. The entire process reminded me why I took up biology and why I love science. Something about passion for investigating how our bodies work was rekindled. I realised that this was it. A honours project is indeed a chance to really go and do what I want. NUS suddenly became a scientific powerhouse, with so many fields of research and talents housed under all the state of the art facilities. Ok. I am really slightly dumbstruck. Time to get back to earth and reality. I don't know how else to describe the feeling. Its weird.

Lab coat and gloves time.

Echothiophate Pilocarpine Strabismus

2009-03-08T23:51:00.007+08:00

Imelda's Boys! Some choice quotes:

"How many islands make up The Philippines?"
"High tide or low tide?"

"Heard you're diabetic?"
"No! I am Catholic!"

Ok, the diabetic one wasn't funny but Pierre was laughing like mad. When I heard "diabetic" my mind was like "insipidus", "mellitus", "islets of Langerhans", "alpha, beta cells", "pancreas", "insulin"... So not funny at all.

Its like a normal weekday in school is so hectic and packed already that when the weekend comes, I just go mad with my own plans when I finally have some time to entertain myself. So this weekend its been movies, Timbre and comedy play. And yah. Work. Pictures soon. Especially the color coordinated work stuff.

Update: The new wooonderform.

*****

Looking back I wished things for some issues would have turned out differently, in a more favorable way. Is the elephant doing well? In a better environment? Being taken care of? I don't know, but that's why I wonder. But why do I even look back? Suddenly time seems to have passed by so fast. Looking at this picture I can barely recognise it as being myself taken just a few months ago.

We all eat only the ripe yellow bananas. But there will always be the others who will take even the green ones, and be very appreciative of it even though they are not ripe. When life hands you lemons, do you really make lemonade out of it?

Contemplative.

Bethanechol Physostigmine Edrophonium

2009-03-07T04:29:00.003+08:00

The Olive Depression.

Probably only the second feature film about the SAF. Made me look at my own NS life and especially the role of my mother. I think one good thing that came out of it has been that I've never appreciated her more. Mommy I love you. And Happy Birthday.

Watchmen.

Great movie. Not for insecure males with regards to size though.

***Random HP camera Pictures***

(I need a new camera.)

Empty LT. First to arrive for class.

Crazy smoke/dust/noise pollution from new Biz building on a rare sunny day.

Sunset along the river.

Anyone else thinks that the BK burgers have shrunk?

Parasympathomimetic Myasthenia Gravis

2009-03-06T01:51:00.004+08:00

Para what? I don't know. I am starting to lose myself in Pharmacology class.

Crashed my first engineering lecture today. Proceeded to crash the tutorial as well and took over the entire direction of the group assignment. Design an innovative method to cut thick cardboard.

It ain't true that I am very free and have nothing to do though (looks at Nix and Yen). For example on Tue I had 8-10am lecture, followed by a 11am-6pm slot helping out at NEA's department retreat and after that 7-late was formal dinner at MICA.

Speaking of which, the "Grand Prize" of the trip has got to be the most useless. I am not being ungrateful or what, but lets just look at the prizes more closely. True, the face value of the accommodation is the highest but the second and third prizes were high end Samsung phones while the final prize was $280 worth of Tangs shopping vouchers. And to even use the accommodation I need to fly myself there which costs like $500. So basically I am just not going to use the prize and since its most likely non-transferable, it'll just rot away. Nevermind, I wasn't doing it to win anyway, however the premise of the accommodation is really a gimmick.

And I planned to hold "office hours" today from 7-9pm but it dragggged on until almost 1am before I got back to my room.

Work is piling up. Time is running short. Feeling slightly over stretched. Somebody please remind me of ideals like passion and interests because I suddenly don't feel like playing the good guy and work for free or do favors for others. Recession mode. There are bills to be paid still. Why should I work for free?

Wooondermadness

2009-03-01T23:28:00.002+08:00

Midterm break flew past just like that. All I did was my lab report which was due the thurs in the break. It sucks no really having any time to do my own stuff, or even studying. Thus the wooondergathering on Sat after work was really a much needed break. Jojo chua tattoo-ed kong and I and we tattoo-ed him in return. (He drew a Bubbles on me! *&^%^#^&&*!!!)

Its been so long since all the wooonderpeople got out all together! Susu releasing some of her pent up energy on jojo.

Wooondermom's turn.

And acting all bad outside SMU. Wooonder what the security guards thought of all this.

Summary of Midterm Break:
Sat, Sun: Wooonderland
Mon: Bank, Meeting ex-DOF, project meeting
Tue: Rag and JCRC meet
Wed: SCRC meet, do lab report
Thur: ONE deg 15, collect card, find pageant attire, DnD meeting
Fri: Finance com meeting, cut hair, HKUST gang dinner
Sat: Wooonderland
Sun: Sleep. Rain.

And in all, no other school work done. Freak.

The Hypocrites Behind the SAF

2009-02-25T21:50:00.003+08:00

Hypocrite: One who plays a part; especially, one who, for the purpose of winning approbation of favor, puts on a fair outside seeming; one who feigns to be other and better than he is; a false pretender to virtue or piety; one who simulates virtue or piety.

From the ns.sg website:
To ensure that NSmen can strike a balance between the competing demands of NS duties, family and work, you will be called up for no longer than the period required to meet the training objectives.... MINDEF has also restricted the number of times an NSman can be called up for NS duties to a maximum of three times per work year and ensure that notices for call ups are also provided at least 6 months in advance of the training commencement date.

Before your NS training begins, a notification will be sent to you as below:

(a) 6 months in advance for high key training (i.e. 7 days or more);

(b) 3 months in advance for make-up training (MUT) as well as low key training (i.e between 2 and 6 days); and

(c) 2 months in advance for call-up activities of 1 day or less

And so you would think that they are nice people after all, for being so considerate in giving you a 6 month advance notice. However, across at the mindef.gov.sg website, you will see a repeat of the above in the form of:

Before your NS training begins, a notification will be sent to you 6 months in advance. This advance notification is given before every callup to minimise disruption and inconvenience to your schedule.

Sounds like they agree? Well, the truth is, they are nothing but a facade. Or to put in gentler terms, guidelines (meant to be breached). Why? Because Mindef can say whatever they want, to make themselves good look especially on a platform as open and as public as an internet website. A quick check with the constitution of the country (the same one you swore to defend with your life) shows no such "niceness". Simply, under the Enlistment Act Chapter 93, Section 14, point 1 subpoint (a) states that:

Every person who is liable for operationally ready national service shall report for service, in accordance with this Act, whenever he is required to do so by the proper authority on the date and at the time appointed by the proper authority for him to report for operationally ready national service.

Sorry? What advance notice? Huh? By this, they can actually get all the entire hoardes of ORD-ed personnel to just go into any camps as and when they like to do any dumb thing they want, like area cleaning. And they can call you now, and ask you to report tomorrow. Because the best part is, they have the legal right to do so. (So long the higher echelons agree) And if they so happen to be people like us who have no income to speak of (yet), they can pay us peanuts to do all their shit work for them. Isn't that great.

The whole point of this is to demostrate again how the shitty SAF can screw with you long after you ORD. I just got a call this afternoon telling me about an upcoming high key ICT without even receiving a SAF 100 notice which they are required to send. Or an SMS. Or even an email. Or even an update on the ns.sg site.

***ADDENDUM***

They finally sent me a freaking e-SAF100. Right. You need to acknowledge that damn stupid thing. And you need to log in to the most stupid website in the world ns.sg which is a bloody lame joke. Every single click takes FOREVER to load. And now I have, staring in my face this screen that screams at me saying "You have 1 e-SAF100 that is NOT acknowledged. " Those retarded buggers behind the website are obviously not doing their job because I have been trying my goddamned time attempting to acknowledge their impossible request. Can I even click on that thing! My time is precious. They have too much time on their stupid hands. Oh my good lord. Can't they do a simple job of making such a critical website run properly? Or even faster? This is certainly not the first time they are receiving strongly worded comments. In fact, they blame their own lapse in not notifying me 6 months in advance to a technical fault. Hello. If there is a fault you jolly well go fix it. And since you retarded military shit-heads are running this (most likely some loser who due to not being smart enough, is not some scholar born with a platinum spoon in his mouth) stinkhole, you ought to know that they like to say "its not duty to fix your own problem". Ok, you can say that the website is a commercially run one, but i am sure they have to liase with some of those retards don't they? And if its a commercially run one, its even more damning why its so slow. Oh my god and its still not loading. I JUST WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOU STUPID SAF100! The entire website is just another one of the stupid shows put up by the retards. Retarded idiots who cannot find a job and get themselves into jobs like this and ending up screwing up with people's time. If you like to stir shit so much, please go and apply to be a toilet bowl. You can probably kiss ass all the time too. LOSER!

On the other hand, I do know of numerous brillant military personnel and so this post excludes them. Besides, those smart and great ones actually have something important to do and a life. They don't even need to get down to shit level and do brainless things like that. People like that should have long been extinct. Darwin's laws would have weeded out their retarded asses long ago. Maybe the sniper unit can use these retards as target practice to help the human race evolve to a higher level.

Diazepam is a benzodiazepine

2009-02-23T23:57:00.002+08:00

Being elected finance director means I needed to create a joint account with the president so as to handle the hall's finances. To cut a long story short, the bank officers thought the entire time that I was going to wait for my girlfriend/fiancee/wife to open the joint account, and they gave a visibly shocked face when they saw that it was not a girl, but my president who is a guy. Him, having an interview right after, was dressed in formal attire with a tie while I was simply in shorts and flip flops. Mistaking our discomfort (at their behavioral change) as embarrassment, we were quickly sent into a private room to do our account opening. The officer then asked for a reason why 2 unrelated guys wanted to open a joint account together. I think my face was bloody red the entire time. And I don't think he was convinced because we told him not to send bank statements to our personal residence address, but rather, to the hall address which probably enforced his thinking that we were cohabiting or something. Gargh.

On a separate note, there was once a SPG. Being an SPG means that she prefers white c**k but that's ok with me because its her personal preference. Hearing her talk, I was intrigued by her untraceable accent so I decided to ask her where she was from, expecting her to say some like obscure town in the middle of the States. However, her reply was a simple "I'm not a local Singaporean". Of course this kind of interesting answer deserves more probing at which point her white c**k looked at me with a deadpan kinda face and said she is local. And then she went into a crazy tirade of how there is no such thing as native Singaporean because the natives of the region are the Malay people and since she is not Malay she is not native to the region and hence not a local pay se, in a strict sense. I countered with a sentence or two before the thinking side of my brain reasoned with me that argueing with her was a waste of time and so I just looked at her and smiled. I hope she enjoys her white c**k.

Also, to the earlier SPG I met before this one, perhaps she would like to know that having a white trophy c**k is quite passe and she can stop parading him around like some prize. Especially when its obvious he is like 30 years older than she is. He's as interested in what is in her pants as she is interested in what is in his wallet.

Finally, the voting for the STOMP thing is closing! Please don't let me lead in the voting. (I WANT THE SECOND PRIZE!!!) Go vote for the others please!!!!!!!!!!

Supraventricular tachyarrhythmias

2009-02-19T20:52:00.003+08:00

Negative marking sucks. If you know only 50% of the material, you effectively score 0. To score 50%, you need to know 75% of your stuff. Yikes. And with names like the title, I need an upgrade to my brainware.

Anyway, random T-day lunch pic, with the original Woooboys!

Gonna cut my hair tomorrow. Miss my brainless and pointless entries here.

ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT

2009-02-15T05:35:00.003+08:00

I think it was divine intervention.

Whenever I take a taxi, or when I am sitting in the backseat of a car, I NEVER bothered with the seatbelt. I know it is against the law, but somehow, I don't like the feeling of strapping in when I am in the backseat. This time around, its no different. It was my second taxi ride of the day and I am in the backseat again, without the seatbelt. Then somehow I kinda heard "Mr Mega-Mac" Pierre's voice saying "no matter how much insurance I have, I always use the seatbelt whenever I take the cab". It was almost like some audio tape playing in my head and so I went like "heck, why not, I'll just strap in this one time, even if its just for fun".

I looked at the dashboard and saw that he was going over 100km/h. Normal, since our taxi drivers push an average of 100 all the time. We were on the CTE. As we neared my destination, the driver turned into the exit slip road and I saw that he had slowed down to 80. However, the 2 lane road had some road works going on at that time and the rightmost lane was cordoned off, leaving only the left lane open for traffic. With the cars all trying to get into that lane, traffic ahead halted to a stop. I saw the car infront getting nearer to us unnaturally fast and I glanced at the dashboard again. Just below 80. I know we won't make it, but before I could shout out, bang.

2 cars ahead.

I was stunned. Shocked. When the mental calculations told the brain that there was no time to stop, the body braced, but it didn't stop my face from ending up inches away from the front seat head rest. Thanks to the seatbelt which I had on. I sat there frozen in my seat, feeling like I was choking and then realising it was because I was holding my breath. Then I saw smoke and I scrambled out of the cab to see the wreck. There was no further time to think or evaluate the situation because the driver had already hailed another cab for me and bundled me into it.

It was only when I was in the second cab that the pain came in. There was a big-assed bruise on my right hip where the seltbelt held its place. I told the driver that I was in the wrecked cab behind and he asked why I did not stay behind as a witness. I asked if it was standard procedure. However he did not say another word the entire remainder of the journey. Do they have some sort of implicit agreement amongst drivers? Was it to prevent me from telling the driver of the car we crashed into that my driver did not practise due care?

It was like 10 seconds after I finished my conversation with Alaric on the phone and so naturally he was the first person I called after the accident but I think I was still disoriented so I probably blabbered some nonsense to him. Now I also understand what people mean when they say they saw their lives flash past them. That part was scary. Anyway, I hope I don't get whiplash. Symptoms usually appear a day after and I am feeling fine now still. Its common in motor accidents when the car was hit from behind, but I was in the car hitting the car in front, so I should be ok.

Whatever the case, I have to thank Pierre for giving me that moment in time when I heeded his advice. And I am glad I did.

Win Yourself a $100 Voucher

2009-02-10T02:55:00.004+08:00

As you can see from the previous post, both on STOMP as well as here, I am not really putting in the best effort to blog, BUT! Do drop by to vote for me just for the heck of it anyway can? You stand to win a $100 voucher too! The link is here. (You will need to register for a STOMP account.)

Chingay 2009

2009-02-04T02:23:00.010+08:00

Pictures.

Chingay Preview Pictures!

2009-01-30T01:53:00.008+08:00

*EDITED*

Ok, so I went back to PA's headquarters again to get my media pass (read: free entry and other goodies) and attempt a more personal approach to the performers who are hard at work rehearsing. This time round its just the international groups present.

The other bloggers. From left: Kenneth (greenbearwithit.blogspot), Gary (yu-ai.blogspot) and Juliet, who doesn't keep a permanent blog. We took this same shot 4 times for the 4 different cameras. Slightly embarressed.

So after getting the passes I began wandering around the sprawling PA grounds looking at the various groups do their thing. I spot the head of the bigass caterpillar.

Various associated costumes.

The lonely Noah's Ark, away from all the other floats.

Which are all happily hiding under shelter receiving their final touchups. See how big the place is, it is after all an old airport.

Following the lead of other seasoned photographers, I went right into the heat of the action. Hahah! Ok, not close enough, still shy!

Decidedly enboldened by the appearance of Thailand's Tourism Ambassador 2009.

Ready to take up close photographs of the performers. Got the balls finally to go right into the performance area and up to them to ask for shots.

And of course they happily oblidged.

Of course the beautiful Thai amassador is not alone!

There are also Korean performers.

Accompanied by a contingent of children! This guy is adorable! Actually according to the program, they are the Taekwondo warriors, so don't mess with them.

And at this point, I was really into all festivities and went ahead by taking photos TOGETHER with the performers. I mean, the other videographers or photographers or journalists were there to do their reports, but I was there as a blogger, so that made me different. Those people cannot possibly include themselves into their news report, but I can certainly include myself into my own blog post. So i started with the very friendly Korean guys.

And I went on to meet these lovely ladies.

Who invited me to play the drum with them!

And then it was all out madness as the other bloggers thought it was a real good idea and everyone was excitedly approaching everyone for photo opportunities. But I got a whole group who found me instead! All giggly and happy! Even the photographer. Because after a couple of shots, the photo is still blurred!

You got to give it to this guy. The mask/headgear he is wearing weighs a hefty 30kg and he holds it up by his teeth via a small piece of bamboo.

More interaction with props.

After this, PA kindly sent us to Vivocity in our very own private minibus to Topshop, where together with Tiger Beer, we were in for some treats!

World acclaimed beer.

The place was getting filled up with guests.

Check out the exclusive Tiger Beer bar right smack in the middle of the shop.

With Tiger around, you can be sure the Tiger Beer babes will also be around!

Alright, alright. Topshop is partnering City Alive! this year to help publicise the party. Topshop will also clothe another UK icon, the sexy DJ Sassy Pandez who will be spinning for everyone tomorrow. She's really TALL, even taller than host Oli Pettigrew. (She's overheard telling him she is 5 foot 11. That's a whooping 180cm!) Here's the sexy girl, spinning for everyone in the window display of Topshop, wowing the people outside who could only gawk.

City Alive!, as I mentioned, is also the venue for Funkamania XIV this year, and we got to watch some real talented students perform also in a window display! They happen to be this year's finalist, and they are all from different schools. Wonder how they come together for practice?

On top of watching student talents, there is the awesome duo of Yiu and Bo who are professional dancers. Don't miss out on them!

The day has been fantastic. Not only did I get so much "media privileges", but I got to go behind the scenes and meet the performers up close. And all the warmth, and friendliness of everyone is very touching indeed. Everyone is so eager to put up a great show. I honestly cannot wait till the main show in a couple of hours' time!

Microbiology What?

2009-01-28T14:47:00.003+08:00

Been a very color coordinated semester so far with the monsters turning up in bright shades. Or our SEP tees together! Jin's kok look here. Haha!

Anyway, I met Amelia today and was relating to her an entirely fictitious episode which (supposedly) occurred during my Microbiology lecture today. She's so happy that there are actually people more dumb than her. Here's what "happened":

Girl A: Hey, so what kind of bacteria is an antibiotic?

Girl B: An antibiotic is not a bacteria lah, its a chemical that kills bacteria, like, it will break down the cell wall of the bacteria.

(At this point of time, you'll think that Girl B has got the facts right even though I wonder what major her friend is doing if she still has no idea what an antibiotic is until now as a LS major. Unless you tell me some arts person decides to take level 3000 microbiology for fun.)

Girl A (in that "eureka!" tone): OH! So that means the bacteria kind is called an antibody lah!

Girl B: No no no, an antibody is not a bacteria. Its a white blood cell.

Girl A: Huh? Then what is vaccination? They inject the bacteria into people what right? Then got antibody inside the body what.

Girl B: Not really, they inject is inject dead bacteria into a person then it will become a white blood cell which is the antibody lor.

Girl A: Orh....

The above conversation did not happen during this morning's microbiology class. It was not part of the content of the conversation between the 2 girls who were sitting in front of me. I totally made it up. Including the Singlish used in the dialogue.

*****

Just for the record, Wikipedia defines an antibiotic as "a chemotherapeutic agent with activity against microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoa." On the other hand, "antibodies (also known as immunoglobulins) are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacteria and viruses."

Notice of Condemnation

2009-01-25T00:48:00.004+08:00

Assume a hypothetical situation (I don't want to be held responsible) whereby the professor of a certain class makes a mistake in announcing the presentation timing for his class on the online student system. He however announces the correct time during his lecture time which was not attended by everyone because some students just gotta skip classes ya know?

I don't really know how much more to comment for this is quite an old thing, but I am only posting it up after being reasonably sure I am far away enough. Haha. Check out the english. Click to enlarge to read them clearly.

If only NUS students feel strongly about certain things to voice out their opinion like this. (By emailing the entire class)

When the CITY comes ALIVE!

2009-01-17T01:12:00.008+08:00

Remember the street party I was talking about that will be held immediately after Chingay this year? Yup, City Alive! Like how often do you get to get high and party in front of the historical City Hall building right? Last year after Chingay my friends and I were feeling rather high from all the festivities and all we want to was to just continue going crazy on the same streets the parade was held. City Alive! was held last year too, but unfortunately we did not have tickets and so we had no where to go. We were in our performers costumes and it would have be really great to just head off to the party and join in as another of the party people! (Especially if you think partying in all sorts of attire is fun aka Halloween) Speaking of which, why not? I mean, I am considering dressing up as something to join in the party all in the name of the fun. It'll be crazyyy!

So anyway, this year around, we have Asia Pacific Breweries, the company behind our iconic Tiger Beer as the beverage provider, so expect lots of booze.

For the first time, Funkamania which has traditionally been organised by the Cultural Activities Club of NUS to crown winning street dancers from various instituitions, will also be holding its finals at City Alive! so lots of high energy is sure to be present at the party. Funakamania is Singapore's longest running Inter-Tertiary Hip Hop Championship so there must be really good reasons why they are so successful. Support our talented local dancers! Spinning for everyone will be local DJ KoFlow as well as other foreign acts like DJ Sarasa. I do think PAYM the organisers are trying to bring the standard of the party up to other famous parties like ZoukOut. Here's DJ Koflow himself with last year's Funkamania winners.

Check out his slick moves.

The DJ showing us the reason why he is among the best.

He's so fast his hands are a blur. How do you control so many switches and knobs at the same time? Mind boggling.

Oh, also the Tiger Beer babe! When I asked to take a photo with her she even asked to check the photo till she decided she looks good enough. Unfortunately for me, the one where she looks the best ain't the one I look MY best. What to do, she girl so let her win lor.

St James Power Station Gallery Bar!

Ready to be NUS-ed Again

2009-01-13T16:33:00.003+08:00

Trying to get back into the rhythm of things since getting back. Meeting all the dear friends and spending some time with family. I'm already getting NUS-ed. Like waking up at 6am (the time I usually sleep) to drag myself down to ONE degree 15 at Sentosa Cove for some DnD photoshoot.

Posh houses.

The Ericsson yatch. It was the day of the Volvo International Yatch Race's in-port race off East Coast.

After getting thoroughly exhausted at Sentosa, I rushed home, washed up and headed down to the People's Associate HQ at Kallang for this year's Chingay parade rehearsal. I'm writing a chingay blog for STOMP, so you guys can look out for my first entry, which I've already submitted. Don't murder me for the overkill in advertising it. After my camera died on me there I was feeling really cheesed. But honestly, this year's event is significantly better than last year's I think, though I was stuck in my own float last year. Hahah!

Stage's set. Performers set. Are you ready for Asia's Grandest Street and Floats Parade?

Its Not Goodbye, Its See You Again

2009-01-03T02:12:00.014+08:00

Apt quote from Jay. Now I'm back and its time to be NUS-ed again, I guess everyone else is also slowly easing back into their life. The crazy photos we took are a testimony to all times we shared that was this HKUST SEP. In jumbled order, here's the wonderful journey in pictures. Emphasize is on the MIXED up order. You can even see how my hair changed throughout. Haha.

Last daylight look at the main UST entrance with the flags fluttering.

Main building. I took so many photos then. It was my last daylight view of the school. Whoever saw me must have thought I was mad, walking around alone snapping pictures. The security guard did not bother me though. There's a HKUST facebook group that gave a list of HKUST student traits. Amongst them is the insane urge to take photographs of the campus and think its the most beautiful thing we have ever seen. I kinda agree. Maybe not the most beautiful campus in the world, but it IS beautiful nevertheless.

Academic concourse. Without the jostling crowd.

View from Unibar. Yes, they have a bar that sells alcohol to students on campus. Pretty sure NUS doesn't have one.

The huge balcony that is strangely only appreciated by the non-locals who are always drawn to it.

The plane that sent me home.

Last look at Hong Kong.

Spending the night at the airport, thankfully with free wifi.

Last night of shopping at Hong Kong. Very tired. But prayers answered when we encountered Red Bull babes giving out free cans of Red Bull.

The venerable HK History Museum which I paid $10 to enter but spent 4 hours inside, leaving only because it was closing time already.

The night before I packed.

After clearing everything out. Passport on the table. Its sad how the scene transforms from cosy to cold and empty. I threw away all the beddings to make way for more luggage space. And we left so much airconditioning credits for the next occupants, not to mention detergent and a whole stash of treasure.

Final night at Mongkok.

Kowloon Tong station, one of the few above the ground stations, the first station we went to on our first day as there was an Ikea there (Telford Plaza). One stop away from us at Choi Hung.

Another look at the campus. You just cannot stop snapping. There's alot more where this came from.

The high island inland reservoir.

How they sell fresh live seafood. Fishermen on boat, you on jetty. Prepare to haggle!

Christmas countdown at Tsim Sha Tsui with SHE and other artistes I don't know.

The bridges at Tsing Yi area, one of them the world's longest suspension bridge.

Symphony of lights. Made solely to entertain visitors while probably wasting electricity uncessarily. Every night at 8pm. Can be viewed from either side of Victoria harbor. Free.

Cross harbor ferry terminal.

Last look at the library with its breaktaking views of the bay. Do people study or just sit there watching the scenery? Why else would the window seats be the ones that are always occupied?

Accounting group outing. The good thing in HK is that whenever you are served food where you are expected to eat with your hands, they provide you with gloves, so that you can protect yourself. How considerate. Even KFC does that. Impressive. I know someone complained about being environmentally unfriendly. But using alot of water to wash off the grime has to be balanced somewhat with this too right.

It was really my first trip to the local version of Singapore's food court.

Our promise to return to Fernando at Macau. They have walls and walls covered with notes from honestly everywhere in the world. Even countries no one has ever heard of.

The Venetian.

Posing outside the elusive place. Did I mention all the photos are not in order?

Group jump shot, with the IFC tower in the background. Its the building that Batman jumped from in the movie Dark Knight. We just finished our first official restaurant dim sum at the Maxim's at City Hall. Hot summer day.

Day trip to Lantau Island, taking the Ngong Ping cable car ride.

Inpromtu trip to Manila with Joseph and Byron. Where I arrived back in HK at 10am, and rushed to my 12pm class, to take an exam on the same afternoon. And I got a C as a final grade for that module. Haha.

Celebrating my birthday.

First trip to Macau. The start of many many more. Subsequently to the casinos and for the food. Free ferry rides as a Cotai Strip member!

Tim's girlfriend visiting, where we went to Macau and Zhuhai and back to Macau again, in an exhausting day where more than half the time was spent queueing. Luckily we had extremely tasty and cheap dumplings which Derrick, Joanna and I scouted on our first trip to Zhuhai a few weeks ago. Due to the queues, we missed to many, including a promise to eat at famed restaurant Fernandos.

ZX's birthday.

On another of our sushi trips.

Crazy Halloween celebrations of Hong Kong.

China's national day, 45 minutes of harbor wide non stop fireworks, and the first time we experienced the literal CRUSHING effects of human crowds in densely populated HK.

School work too, here's the Singaporeans in our presentation attire.

First BBQ in HK, and in winter time no less, we totally regretted wearing what you see as it got real cold after the sun set.

Dong's surprise birthday gathering, which due to poor coordination did not turn out to be such a surprise after all. And you should notice by now that all the hostel rooms look the same even though all were taken in different halls.

Open bar celebrating Dong's and others' birthdays. Which we arrived in time only to get 1 drink before they stopped open bar. And we paid $300 to get in. Damn. And it was totally stupid of me to be only wearing 2 tees and that scarf because I was freezing outside.

Post-Thanksgiving drinking session. Notice the coordinated shirt and tie combo which was honestly just a coincidence even though no one believed it.

Met Shaun and friends in HK, another one of those crazy drinking nights. This was the night before one of my papers, and which I got back to my room at 6am and there was a paper at 830am next day.

Our trip to Guilin/Yangshuo, during the so-called study break. I got back in time to do my one and only bio paper, which I got a C for.

The whole lot of us who were at Fat Angelos' on Thanksgiving night for dinner.

Anxiously looking on the race horses, the night before I forgot, was it an essay submission or a test. But it was one of those I got A for. Haha.

Final official hockey school training, which became a gathering/BBQ by the beach. And which evolved into a nasty food fight.

The night before Sam and Jeff's flight home to the US, with us going around Hall I asking everyone to put on the comedic headgears we had. The orange wig was Sam's who used that to dress as a troll during Halloween. Kudos to the sporty security guard.

And this is how you drink in a place with almost zero alcohol tax. Get an entire bottle of vodka in one hand and your choice of mixer in the other. Mix in your gut.

Last minibus ride together before Derrick goes home.

Everyone's really sad to leave Choi Hung. Our favorite and most used MTR station. Used most frequestly to go to Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui and basically everywhere else except places on Hong Kong island, in which case we would use the Hang Hau station. That was a really emo night.

Out again at Lan Kwai Fong, where there is no such thing as a ridiculous dress/attire even though its not Halloween.

Ocean Park visiting at night (pre-Halloween celebration), where somehow we did not take any group shots, but only candid ones like this:

Excursion to the New Territories to visit various heritage sites as well as the roast pigeons and goose for dinner. While some of the others were in Taiwan.

View of the city skyscape near The Peak on a night which lousy visibility. Which was not surprising considering we almost never get any clear nights.

Joseph and I went on our own little tour to Lamma Island, exploring the hills and having cheap seafood, rushing to the town to catch our return ferry before it was too late, scrambling in the dark without lights. And also a trip to HKU that night just to check out their campus.

Also memorable was getting to dive in HK and winning a HP printer in the process, which I sold for S$70 there.

Trust me when I say I don't go to Lan Kwai Fong THAT often. Hahaha!

Finally back in Singapore, meeting up with the WAA (Wooonderland, Actually and Arc) people (not all in the picture) at HONGKONG street. And ending up with supper at Geylang MONGKOK DIM SUM.

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
but the hills that we climbed, are just seasons out of time

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song, like the seasons, have all gone

Shit-Dead

2008-12-15T18:48:00.004+08:00

The last time I handed in such an empty paper was for Organic Chemistry. The only difference this time is I'm in freaking China competing with people who have unlimited memory capabilities. Great. If I fail, at least I have pictures of why. First club of 4, a crazy night at LKF, before things got abit too fuzzy.

Met Shaun here in HK. Power to the ever traveling Shearites!

Where else can you be in a different country hours before your mid term, or a day before your final, or drinking your life away the morning before another final?

PLEASE LET ME PASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yangshuo, Guilin

2008-12-10T23:08:00.004+08:00

-UPDATE: MORE PICTURES-

I'm back from Yangshuo and Guilin, a day before my first paper! Gonna upload the pictures to Facebook. Here's us outside the shop that organised our climbing and kayaking trip.

Regretted not wearing something brighter in color. Can't even see myself clearly in the bottom picture.

Posing in front of the rock face we climbed.

Kayaking on the Li River. More than 15km and 3 plus hours worth of paddling on shallow and very clear cold waters.

Cycling around the amazing unreal karst landscape.

Exploring bigass caves.

Comorant fishing.

Most delicious black paste in the world. We went back for seconds and thirds and more...

Trying really hard to balance on the sign that says "Danger, do not cross". Freaking 45 minutes climb up Moon Hill, so named because of the cresent "hole" you see behind.

Beautiful Li River, the inspiration for the picture behind the 20 Yuan note.

Ming Dynasty palace in Guilin.

I must say, it has been a crazily hectic few days. In between freezing ourselves in 3 degs environment, we managed to cycle, hike, trek, rock climb, watch cormorant fishing at night on the river, kayak, cave and eat loads of local food. Including ice cream one night and horse meat noodles. There was also drama when some of us got fake 100 Yuan notes, including from the ATM machine and Jeff losing his camera. And of course, how can we forget. The toilets. Haha.

STUDY TIME! EXAMSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy group shot!

Exams and Presentations. Huh?!

2008-12-04T01:00:00.003+08:00

I know you guys have finished your exams. Stop asking me if i have because I am still at my final week of school. Exam time starts next week. But I have 2 crazy modules with the final exams starting in 9 hours' time. And one presentation tomorrow. Nevertheless, hockey bbq on tuesday! Which degenerated into a food fight and then a water fight. A photo of the guys before things got really messy.

And I just came back from Happy Valley's Race Course.

These people are serious about their horses and their money.

Horses! Before they start racing. Number 3 won! (Ok, you cannot see the number)

Anyway, I better get to studying. I have less than 9 hours to study for 2 final exams, prepare for my presentation ＡＮＤ I have to wash up too. Byebye.

A Wintry BBQ

2008-11-30T23:56:00.006+08:00

I know some of you guys have finished you exams and are free. Grrr!! My semester here is not even over yet! But we had a BBQ today! Oh, on friday we all celebrated dong and jeff's birthday at Club 9, which ended up a pretty disappointing event, photos on facebook. Ugly, so i am not posting here. Haha!

Clear winter's afternoon.

Down at the marine lab. Couple at the corner.

Beach at the (far far) other side.

Some of the post-grads taking the chance to take photos in their gowns.

BBQ at the pier!

Everyone's hard at work.

We're contributing eye power!

Sun's about to set behind UST. At... 430pm... (Notice we were all in t-shirts and shorts. About to regret it real soon.)

Sun's going down. Pink sky!

And... with the temperature plummeting, everyone was more interested in using the fire to keep warm.

And I felt pretty stupid for asking them to buy ice for the drinks because the drinks were all naturally chilled. Damn...

*********

EDIT: Found a decent picture of all of us waiting in dong's room to ambush her with a cake.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T02:07:00.003+08:00

Continuing from yesterday's revelry, its time for Thanksgiving Dinner tonight! Submitted a project and did a presentation today; for the first time, wearing proper business attire with a jacket (urgh). So, time for food food food food food, turkey, turkey and turkey!

Dressed up for the dinner, so we hit Lan Kwai Fong for some more drinks. 2 shirts in a day! I hate shirts. Oh, and my hair's black again. =)

Alright, gotta go do my essay due tomorrow morning. I mean, in a few hours' time. Dammit.

Did I also mention that its kinda cold here now? And why is the air so DRY!?

Chill

2008-11-26T22:31:00.003+08:00

I guess I was wrong when I said ALL the chinese people cannot party. Tonight was my hall's pub night as part of Hall 2 Week. Free flow alcohol. Free too! In my hall's common room no less!

Ok, screw all the bloody deadlines and my fever. I also think I am being too touristy and forgetting about all the partying.

Time Is Running Out

2008-11-22T23:19:00.006+08:00

I don't want to go home yet. There is still so much to explore and do here! Gotta step up the pace! Time to have intense days like today. So many pictures! Derrick and I freezing outside Langham Place:

Team America.

50% off sushi at Sushi One. HKD4.50 for 2 pieces of salmon sushi.

Ok that was on Thursday. Had a long session of mahjong after that and I missed my classes on Friday because I couldn't wake up.

Today was the intense day. Took a bus from Sai Wan Ho towards Stanley, winding along a very scenic route. From Stanley, we went to Repulse Bay, and there was a "temple" of sorts there.

Repulse Bay to Deep Water Bay to Aberdeen, where we took a ferry to Lamma Island for some country side exploring.

On the ferry.

Cheap seafood at Lamma island. Abalone, shrimps, calamari, clams, fruits, rice and beer. Less than S$20 each.

Did some hiking.

And MORE hiking. This week is turning into a hiking week.

Sunset at the top of one of the peaks. Got quite a few cuts from all the bashing. Was actually kinda afraid there might be snakes.

Not enough of walking, we took a ferry from Lamma to Central and a bus to the Hong Kong University to visit (and attempt to have cheap dinner).

Hong Kong University is celebrating their centennial in 2010. Old campus. This is one of their halls. Chinese style!

But not everything was that chinese, there were many colonial styled buildings everywhere too. And... what's a university without the students studying, and falling asleep while doing it?

I don't want to go home yet! Should I head to Macau and Zhuhai tomorrow again? But I have a presentation to do due on Thursday, a project to submit also on Thursday and an essay due on Friday!! Urgh. NUS should have having exams nowI think...

Weekend Solo Adventurer

2008-11-18T02:32:00.006+08:00

Dim Sum @ Diamond Hill.

Shenzhen.

Time's Square, Causeway Bay.

Japanese food @ Minden Avenue, near Tsim Sha Tsui.

Cold november night.

Fei Ngo Shan.

Lion's Rock and Kowloon.

Top of the ridge around Tate's Carin.

Port Shelter, HKUST in the top left corner.

Lousy visibility.

A good long solo trek is good.

Almost forgot how the wind makes sounds like waves breaking on rock as it blows through the tress.

Almost forgot the smell of the cool countryside air.

Almost forgot how good it feels to lie on a plain of grass and enjoy the wind.

Almost forgot the crunching sound of gravel under my feet.

Almost forgot.

Its good to be alone sometimes. Clears your mind. Humbling.

Cheated... AGAIN

2008-11-10T00:50:00.003+08:00

Yes I know! AGAIN!! There wouldn't have been this entry if not for my own dumb mistake of even thinking that "maybe I should have a haircut". Going down all the way to Mongkok to the place we got our hair done, we found, in all our dumbness, that place is closed on Sundays. So we walked around for a little bit and thought that hey maybe the one just across the road would be as good. Mistake. The poor english on the sign should have served as a warning but of course I was too dumb. Way too stupid. Urgh.

After an unreasonable amount of money which was more than stated on the sign board, my hair became like this. It doesn't look or feel like it was cut. I don't like it. So I try to smile it away.

Following some instructions, we came to the street selling guns. If only we were here before we got our hair done, those guys would have been able to choose to receive payment in a variety of weapons. Pistols, semi automatics, sniper rifles, machine guns, you name it. Didn't dare take any pictures inside, but as my room mate put it, it must have been a terrorist wet dream.

Anyway, the temperature here is perfect now. I love it.

Made in Singapore News

2008-11-09T12:04:00.003+08:00

Just as I was explaining to my room mate how The Straits Times likes twisting statistics to make their point, this article appeared on the online version. While it is not exactly a good example showing how they try to make naive Singaporeans continue to think all is rosy back home, it shows that the paper needs some serious lessons in basic statistics. In the below example, a scuba tank was described as supposingly to have 80% oxygen and 90% nitrogen. Hello? 80 + 90 = 170 anyone?

Next up, CNA reports that PM Lee says "its possible" to have a minority race PM. Well, he did say "its possible", but he added that "I don't think so, because you have to win votes."

Its just like reporting a headline that goes "NASA says that faster-than-light space travel is possible" and then after reading the report you realise that the chief said "I don't think so, because ...." You get the idea. I am not being racist, but I am pointing out that the local news networks will never provide you with a true picture of what is happening if you just scan the headlines daily. The existence of "ingrained racism" is attributed to by the PM himself when he said "to reach a position where everybody is totally race-blind and religion-blind, I think that's very difficult. You will not find it in any country in the world".

Many exciting things are happening back home ain't it? Like how the Mandarin Hotel has shifted it main entrance to make way for a new shopping mall. Like how the MRT is finally going to take some good ideas from the HK MTR like having realtime updates on network maps in the trains via blinking LED lights. Like how DBS is going to retrench so many workers. Like how we are suddenly gonna get a hell lot of new and huge malls opening. In the middle of a financial crisis. Oh, I forgot, Sandra Davie from The Straits Times wrote an article urging readers to "Go Indulge". Happily writing "Spend more money, urge the economists". And of course, in typical ST style, she needs to include an interview excerpt from an average Singaporean to give readers a sense of what is happening on the ground. So what did 36 year-old restaurateur Mervin Goh, who keeps up with the news on the credit crisis that is unfolding around the world say? He simply "wonders when it will hit Singapore". Well done!

This has reminded me of how some business school people has become slightly grating on my nerves. This feeling is very adequately described by blogger "GallentKnight" from heytheregoodlooking.blogspot in his October 29th 2008 post. Basically he talks about how business school undergrads who attend every single recruiting session just to exchange namecards. He says it better: "Perhaps this raises their sense of self worth, because schmoozing is probably the only skill they really have." Because they are not the only ones trying to polish boots or apples, it leads to "with the number of people sucking up, the recruiters will probably not remember them anyway". Very excellent, and he went on to talk about stupid business/marketing, whatever kind of clubs the students come up with and join on their own, to make their stupid resumes look better.

While being here, in Asia's top business school (HKUST is Asia's No.1 business school), some people really struck me off as the exact kind of pest described above. Since this post has been largely about quoting from other people, I'll leave it to a quote to conclude what I think about them. "I feel really sorry for people who spend their entire college careers calling up sponsors, doing Excel models and Powerpoint presentations, all in the name of their resume. Because they're probably going to be doing it for the rest of their sorry lives. Why start now?" Exactly. Why make yourself a Super Miserable Undergraduate? Sorry to inform you, but no one's getting remotely impressed by you. Someone should just kiss your pathetic investment banking wannabe ass goodbye because you are simply not going to make it. Ciao!

Note: I mean nothing malicious, I just want to point out that in light of the current economic situation, we should all be more prudent in our own finances. And that the entire "investment banking bubble" we have come to know will probably never ever be the same anymore.

I Have A Test Tomorrow

2008-11-05T22:21:00.003+08:00

When you're ordering food in Hong Kong, you better make sure you know what you're gonna get. For example, a meal that comes with "chicken wings" can mean this:

Technically, that IS a part of a chicken wing, since they made no mention of which part of the wing. Of course I wasn't the one who ordered the above.

Everyone knows that Singaporeans are crazy about food and eating. Is that why whenever you are overseas you see blasphemous stuff like "Singapore Fried Rice" or "Singapore Vermicelli"? As a guide, if the restaurant or any establishment you walk into hand you a menu that says Singapore something, your best bet is to walk out. No self respecting foodie will subject himself to such torture. I am a Singaporean but back home there is no such thing as Singapore Noodles or what other rubbish some enterprising people can come up with. What the hell is Fried Rice Cakes Singapore Style!?

Sometimes, when people are too lazy to do proper english to chinese translations, they just do a half assed phonetic one. As such, my order for french toast came up as "多士" (duo shi) by the one keying in the order. Of course I didn't get my french toast as the order got lost in translation. After alot of sign language, I got a slice of bread spread with butter.

While we have Xiaxue and Talkingcock.com back home, American college students entertain themselves with Chuck Norris Facts. Here's some:

They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but it wouldn't take shit from anybody.

If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.

Chuck Norris is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.

When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

Every night, the boogeyman checks under his bed for Chuck Norris; but then Bob Saget comes in, gives the boogeyman warm milk and quietly reads him a bedtime story.

Also, on top of Failblog, there is now one more place to go to: http://bash.org/ where people post dumb IRC exchanges. Selected quotes from there:

(~bati) how is that thing called
(~bati) where some fat chicks takes a photo of herself where only face is shown
(~bati) or taken from some fucked up angle so she doesn't look ugly?
(p00h) myspace

(A)Im playing tetris, and why won't the square pieces spin like the others?
(B)...

(Jeedo) hey baby, whats up?
(Indidge) umm....nothing?
(Jeedo) So....want me to like come over today so we can fuck?
(Indidge) Wait....did you want to speak to my daughter?
(Jeedo) Yes Mrs.Miller.. :-/

docsigma2000: jesus christ man
docsigma2000: my son is sooooooo dead
c8info: Why?
docsigma2000: hes been looking at internet web sites in fucking EUROPE
docsigma2000: HE IS SURFING LONG DISTANCE
docsigma2000: our fucking phone bill is gonna be nuts
c8info: Ooh, this is bad. Surfing long distance adds an extra $69.99 to your bill per hour.
docsigma2000: ...!!!!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK
docsigma2000: is there some plan we can sign up for???
docsigma2000: cuz theres some cool stuff in europe, but i dun wanna pauy that much
c8info: Sorry, no. There is no plan. you'll have to live with it.
docsigma2000: o well, i ccan live without europe intenet sites.
docsigma2000: but till i figure out how to block it hes sooooo dead
c8info: By the way, I'm from Europe, your chatting long distance.
** docsigma2000 has quit (Connection reset by peer)

(i8b4uUnderground) d-_-b
(BonyNoMore) how u make that inverted b?
(BonyNoMore) wait
(BonyNoMore) never mind

(Ben174) : If they only realized 90% of the overtime they pay me is only cause i like staying here playing with Kazaa when the bandwidth picks up after hours.
(ChrisLMB) : If any of my employees did that they'd be fired instantly.
(Ben174) : Where u work?
(ChrisLMB) : I'm the CTO at LowerMyBills.com
*** Ben174 (BenWright@TeraPro33-41.LowerMyBills.com) Quit (Leaving)

(T-Wolf) man, my girlfriend left me for some faggot named robert
(RdAwG20) you don't live in Hope mills do you?
(T-Wolf) ya, why man?
(RdAwG20) lol, just wondering, was her namne alisson?
(T-Wolf) you mother fucker

(NES) lol
(NES) I download something from Napster
(NES) And the same guy I downloaded it from starts downloading it from me when I'm done
(NES) I message him and say "What are you doing? I just got that from you"
(NES) "getting my song back fucker"

Ok, I am not really laughing, I have a test tomorrow, why am I even doing this now?

Obama won. Palin lost (dammit ahahah). Paris Hilton should just be President.

The Real HK Halloween

2008-11-01T14:27:00.010+08:00

Ok, so that class photo wasn't my Halloween picture of the year. Here's some pictures of what the Hong Kong people do for Halloween. It began with the sightings of spooks along a street in Wan Chai.

And as we headed towards Lan Kwai Fong, it got really crowded with ghouls and people alike.

The police helped with crowd control.

As did the Power Rangers.

Batman too, although I wasn't sure why he was so small. He looked much bigger on screen.

Mish mash of other characters.

Almost got my head chopped off by a menacing undead butcher .

But of course was saved by Chun-li with her flying helicopter kick.

Walking along, we saw crazy colors as not everyone wanted to be one of the undead.

Nurse with her doctor.

Truly spooked by this pair who lurked just around the corner.

What would the God of Fortune do at other times of the year outside Chinese New Year? Walk the streets with fellow undead deities.

It wasn't just teenagers or young adults or little kids dressing up. We saw a great many older and more matured people as well. These two are just abit younger than my parents. How sporting!

Of course alcohol has got to be part of all the revelry, but this angmoh couple is obviously wasted.

Not sure who is the reigning emperor. Brings to my mind the NUS "call me emperor..!" thingy... Haha. A whole new meaning huh.

Geisha.

Some anime characters?

Guys getting in touch with their feminine side. Pon, you just got owned.

There were many many sexy nurses around, but this group we met in the MTR station has got to be the biggest gathering of nurses. Dina, you ought to take some dressing tips from them when going to the hospital. Many of the female exhange students we met dressed up as nurses too. What's with them and their bursting bust lines.... No one's complaining though.

Daniel thought he found Sailor Moon.

A bunch of mascots. I think they were Korean.

A female Ronald MacDonald.

Mummy!

More people we met, this time, in the MTR train itself on the way back. The girl in green was dressed as the Monsters Inc character. I wonder how they walked past the MTR fare gate.

Red Indians.

Ever popular Spider-Man.

Another Spider-Man, this time round, fatter, with Mr Incredible and a VERY UGLY Batman.

Bunny babes from UCLA.

I conclude that the local people like to dress up as ghouls and ghosts while the foreigners prefer to dress up as characters, with girls going for the sexy look. And the most "off" costume goes to a certain "Brian" who dressed up as his own Facebook profile.

I also found something dumb. The doors to the food court at LG7 next to Park N Shop have got both sides labelled "Pull".

How was Zouk back in Singapore? How's Halloween back where you are now?

10 (+) Years Ago

2008-10-27T17:53:00.002+08:00

An old classmate of mine recently posted our old class photos on Facebook. Urgh, the horrors! Here's this year's Halloween picture.

Weekend: Lantau, Zhu Hai

2008-10-23T02:04:00.009+08:00

Not enough of cable car rides at Ocean Park, so we headed to the one at Lantau, which we spied on our way to the airport for our trips.

Can you see how freaking high it is... and that's the new HK International Airport in the background.

No we are not afraid of heights.

Going up.

Wisdom path? Well, I climbed up the nearby slope to attempt and artsy shot. Haha. Lots of failed ones, which you guys aren't gonna see.

View from the top of the big buddha platform. Good place to come the day before your exams. Can hug Buddha's leg.

Looking up from the bottom of the hill. Where's the bloody lift!

This phrase has been immortalised by countless period dramas.

More monkeying around.

Climbing around to get better views...

Lantau Peak.

Firebeaters. For putting out fires.

Food:

Sunset on way back.

And look. Haha!

What else, but the most expensive chicken rice ever, at $48.

Sunday was spent at Zhuhai, shopped so much, I did not take any photos. Joanna has uploaded the Zhuhai photos (facebook) though, and as for those of me monkeying around on Lantau climbing everywhere, they are tagged somewhere on facebook as well. Lazy to load here. Very troublesome.

HK Science Museum. Free entries on wednesdays. Went there for the incredible special exhibit on deep sea life. Very very nice! Worth the crazy walk there from Hung Hom station. Obviously too busy looking at the exhibits to take photos, so here is one of the not-that-nice one. My head on a stand.

Movie Posters

2008-10-17T00:31:00.001+08:00

I like graphic design. I like looking especially at movie posters and CD covers. These remind me of someone...

The Peak and Ocean Park Halloween

2008-10-14T19:15:00.008+08:00

Victoria's Peak, for a view of the world famous skyline of Hong Kong. Singaporean, Malaysian and American. Photo courtesy of CS.

Photo courtesy of CS's DSLR.

CS.

CS' shot again. Too bad for the foggy weather, clarity was bad, but nice, windy and chilly.

Caught eating.

Nice restaurant.

View from the Peak's Burger King.

Walking the Hong Kong trail:

And that's about it. Haha. Bad visibility.

Hong Kong's most famous landmark:

Blooooooody looooooong queue. Where to?

Ocean Park's Halloween celebration.

They have very cuddly and sleepy pandas. Oooh, scary.

And whip toting babes.

Sneaky ghost went around scaring people, so I did the same to her. Not sure if I succeeded, but she followed me around thereafter, photo shy though.

Cursed Bamboo Theatre.

Random coffin and skeleton; they are everywhere.

Chinese themed, as you can tell.

Monsters.

Deadly Doll House. Probably the scariest.

Mood lighting with smoke.

Ocean Park, so here's the aquarium. Giantic stingray.

More wandering ghosts.

Trying to take photo while on a ride. Failed.

Better.

Pretty.

A very messy and dirty Ladies Street at 3am in the morning.

The Philippines!

2008-10-08T17:53:00.017+08:00

So I missed Guangzhou and even Japan. But on to the Philippines! At such an unearthly hour where we got up to leave for the airport, UST looks really nice and peaceful and quiet. Cool sea breeze. Refreshing.

The university sundial landmark aka the red bird.

3 crazy inpromtu last minute travellers. Note the 3 different nationalities.

Hong Kong International Airport.

Our plane.

Outside hotel for first night.

Cocks everywhere.

Lonely new/unfinished Manila International Terminal 3.

Intramunos, the walled ancient city. Most "un-Asian" place in SEA I have ever been.

Photo, typical tourist style.

Even have cannons to protect the city.

Getting ripped off for a drink.

River, not too clean.

Insane tricycle ride. Worst so far in all the other SEA countries I have been to.

Horse drawn carriage for you Sir??

So many churches.

Cheery colors.

Another old crumbling church.

Tagaytay.

At the top of the volcano. The smoke is steam.

Lonely horsey.

Conquering the volcano.

Climbing back down, trying to reach the bottom before sun sets.

Sunet at the Taal Volcano.

On Lake Taal.

White Beach at Pueto Galera.

Robinsons's Plaza. Some singer releasing his album.

Malate Church at night.

Insane budget room.

Going back.

Studying for mid-term, which I was taking after I land back in Hong Kong.

The people in HK are so bloody KS, the 2 girls next to me, did things like held up their exam scripts against the light to try to see the questions first. Bloody loserish idiots. I totally look down on such behavior.

Oh, in the Philippines, everyone thought the 3 of us were Korean. They all greeted us in Korean. Ha.

My camera died somewhere along so there was no pictures of our snorkelling trip, which was one of the main highlights, especially when our guides picked live sea urchins for us to have unlimited supply of sea urchin sashimi to dine on. Quite an experience eating the urchin so fresh that its spines are still moving. Ok. Quite sick. But still not as sick as the duck embryo egg we tried. Haha.

The exchange students really going mad.... everyone is flying and jetting everywhere.... is this what exchange is about? But if only they maintain this sort of standards for their grading...

Atrocious

2008-10-03T17:49:00.002+08:00

Finally going to the cluster of islands east of HK. But not NE. Just E. After a short discussion, the Canadian, American and this not too smart Singaporean booked themselves a trip to The Philippines. (Japan..............!!!!) =[

Coming back on Wed. Mon is my free day, Tue is a public holiday here.

Today's lecture revealed that I have my Mid-Term Exam on Wed. WTH. After the lecturer opened the floor for questions, all sorts came. Basically, there is no need to remember exact names, just roughly. The questions and the system here.... Well, lets just say the following conversation can sum it all up.

Student (S): Do we need to remember the name of specific genes?
Lecturer (L): What do you mean specific genes?
S: Specific genes as in those genes mentioned in class that cause the disease.
L: Yes, you have to.
S: What!! You mean we have to memorise the full name?!!
L: You mean like MECP2 is methyl-CpG-binding protein 2? You don't need to, just roughly know the name, I accept some spelling errors here and there and I will accept it as long as I know what you are talking about.
S: No I mean MECP2 as MECP2.
L: But its only 5 letters!!

And now, I just found out I have another test on the 9th, Thursday! Damn...

I was at the school library just now, checking the call number for Lonely Planet (if they have) and I found an 1994 edition of the one for the Philippines. I went over to ask a librarian where I could find it and she volunteered to help me find it. Happily, she took the slip of paper from my hand and entered the call number into the computer. I think when she saw "Lonely Planet" pop up, instead of something like "Biochemistry of Diseases", she gave a scowl.... Oops. =x

Happy Birthday China!

2008-10-02T15:33:00.010+08:00

And happy birthday to me... Thank you guys who surprised me with the cake and who all crashed into my room giving me a crazy shock. Taken at my level common room. See the chinese wording...

And here are the cards, presents and parcels whom you guys sent me, thank you! I've received them and you can see them here. Hahaha, all the different international postage.

Yum cha.

Wanted to head to The Peak, but it was too crowded, so we fooled around some more.

Took the iconic Star Ferry across the Victoria Harbor.

Derrick is hungry for some ships.

Jeff and Dan think we are crazy.

Everyone at the waterfront. Didn't know that so MANY people owned SLRs.

Some parade thingy.

Jackie Chan at the Avenue of Stars.

In the midst of all the crushing human traffic and running and heat and mess and everything, don't forget to take photo.

People.

More people.

Derrick has an idea what they were looking at.

Someone... lying on the road.

Ok. Joking. After the fantastic Beijing Olympic Games opening, how can the Chinese National Day fireworks be any thing less amazing? Due to some *ehem* problems, we lost our waterfront viewing area, so we had to content for my much much much less than ideal viewing spot. The 25 minutes worth of fireworks was still incredible. How much money did they spend?! I think can click to expand the fireworks picture.

Even without the bright fireworks, Hong Kong itself is still colorful and bright. See the streets.

In today's South China Morning Post, someone wrote in to refute calls for the Hong Kong government to host the F1 following the success of the first ever night race in Singapore. While there was a letter gushing about the event after the writer flew in to experience it himself, there was another that went something like "...boring Singapore has to resort to something like this...". The writer went on to talk about the huge carbon footprint of F1, including the noise pollution and fuel wastage. Not to mention the insane amount of energy and money spent to operate the floodlights. On and on the writer ranted, and then the final statement went "in a sane world, there would be no F1". I do agree though, that Hong Kong certainly needs less of the air and noise pollution.

Sucks that another innocent life is lost to the evils of NS.

First Test Tomorrow!

2008-09-29T23:57:00.002+08:00

Studying in the bloody cool library with the fantastic view and automatic movable shelves.

Then was told that "Class Participation" and "Quizzes" make up a total of 10%......

Diving in Hong Kong

2008-09-29T01:38:00.007+08:00

Lots of school children in school. These are like what? Still preschool? Taken from a classroom window. Yes. Boring lecture.

Park and Shop's megastore with Derrick who was going crazy over all the duty free alcohol. Yes, alcohol in Hong Kong is duty free. 2 big bottles of Tsing Tao beer for HK$9.50. That's like what? Less than S$2! Took this for my room mate. His MSN nick is marTIMI. Hahaha. Signed up for the Park and Shop membership also. They give you a 3 small "sub-cards" (think UOB mini) in addition to a main card to collect points. Very auntie right? No, its also cos they have an outlet on campus where we get alot of groceries from, so it makes sense.

"Dive into your full potential at HKUST", a charity dive organised by the school in conjection with the Sai Kung district and alot more in Cantonese which I don't understand. Meeting point at the school jetty.

Dive boats. Excited! Wonder where they will bring us to, to dive. BUT! The venue was just right there. Giant stride entry from the jetty. Sucks man, the viz was like what? 2m? Bumped into Dong and also lost her on numerous attempts. The water was so shallow (6m) and viz being so bad, on both dives we did, we hit the bottom without knowing. Blah. The bottom was sand and garbage. Saw like a grand total of 2 sea cucumbers, 1 puffer fish and like 3 anemones. Blah! So much for Clearwater Bay. Haha. Glorious day to be outdoors though. Cloudy, sunny and cool wind.

Since everything including the safety brief and what not was in Cantonese which is alien to me, when they conducted a lucky draw in between dives, Dong and I went to help ourselves with the "refreshment" snacks instead. However, with my plate full of food and fingers smudged wih teriyaki sauce, they called my number and I was ushered on to the "stage" in front of a cheering crowd, looking very dumb, hungry, greedy and lost. Shook hands who whom I think are important people and smiled and posed for cameras from personnel with the tag "media" on them. Seeing how dumb I looked, someone thankfully relieved me of my plate of food. My prize? A new HP color printer. Now, can someone tell me what to do with it?

Walking back after the dive, Dong and I decided it was too much of a waste to not go to the pool so we went since its on the way. Promptly fell asleep on a tanning chair. Woke up, damn hungry and running late to meet the others for haircut at Mongkok. Found bus after bus unloading tourists at the school bus stop. Told you the school is a tourist attraction. This pic was taken rather stealthily so you can't see the mass of buses and tourists.

At the salon, somehow was persuaded to dye my hair and the ash green I choose somehow ended up the same ah beng blond as the time I dyed in Vietnam. Blah! Yikes!

Anyway, here's some public service anouncements.

Toilet Use 101:

1. Pee only in bowl, not cover.

2. Shit only in bowl, not cover.

3. Whatever you do, flush. The toilet is equipped with one for a reason. The reason is for you to use it.

Queueing Up 101:

1. When there are people in line, its a queue.

2. In a queue, the time you enter into one dictates when you will get served or settle whatever business you were queueing for in the first place.

3. Going in front of someone in a queue is called queue cutting and is only done by retards who come from somewhere with no manners. What? You mean your parents didn't teach you how to queue up?

Ok, no idea how to make some simple things even simpler, but we shall see how much a certain group of people need more general education.

Glass-Steagall

2008-09-25T20:05:00.003+08:00

Where else. I can never grow sick of the scenery. Wonder if the local people ever stop to admire the views they have. Or they are always rushing off somewhere. The only people I ever see standing here at the huge "balcony" are not local.

Oh. No more Guangzhou this weekend, I forgot I have a dive planned on Sunday. However, the rest are going and they are leaving on Friday night, staying there till Sunday night. Oh well. Next time I guess.

Weather Mood Swings

2008-09-23T16:52:00.005+08:00

UPDATE:

Since signal 8 means (almost) everything is closed, food becomes a problem. So.... MacDonalds to the rescue! Everyone is eating it. The wind is power man; I just saw a snapped tree. And so now I know why all the doors here are so heavy.

Messy wind blown hair!

**END OF UPDATE**

One moment bloody hot and sunny, then hazy, then hot, then whatever. If its relatively clear and sunny:

Then typhoon time, no more leisure boats.

Crazy waves.

Sunny.

Typhoon signal 3.

On the way to signal 8.

Last night before I slept it was signal 1. Then this afternoon when I went for lunch it was 3. And after rushing for my 4pm class and 5 minutes into it, they announced they wanna hoist signal 8 and at that everyone just decided to leave the class. Like WTH!!!! You mean I went for class for nothing!!!!!!!!!!????????????????

Signal 8 shuts down the entire place. No transport no nothing. Like WTH?

Shenzhen!

2008-09-20T01:25:00.005+08:00

Oops, back to more frivolous pictures...

After the Beijing Paralympic Games ended, China was extremely efficient in lifting the visa requirement for us to enter, and we took the opportunity to, going to Shenzhen immediately. Derrick and Byron in the MTR (KCR) line to the border.

In front of the China side of their immigration department. I wonder who was the smart person who figured out the cheap(er) way to get into Shenzhen via MTR, making use of the loophole in the ticket pricing system. We saved like 10HKD on the way to the border and on our way back, somehow the system registered our journey from Kowloon Tong to Choi Hung as only 0.20HKD. Rocks!

Shenzhen greeting you as you emerge from after clearing immigration. Sleek, new, modern and gleeming buildings. At least as far as the facade goes.

Very new (and very very clean) metro system. Our one way ticket was a RFID token chip. And it cost like 2RMB.

Bustling streets.

Nice architecture.

Trying to seek shelter and A/C to hide from the sun.

Chinese styled building meets American capitalism.

Here's a final look at Shenzhen before heading back.

Up next, Guangzhou! So stay tuned!

Classroom

2008-09-20T01:25:00.003+08:00

Someone told me to show pictures of the classrooms so that I don't always have pictures of me having fun in Hong Kong. So lets see some views from the classroom windows. Here's one facing a hill and a village cluster in the far distance.

Facing the sea. Air pollution is bad here, you can barely make out the difference between the horizon and the hills in the distance.

And here's an interesting Singapore tidbit. From the LTA's website:

The Vehicle Quota System was implemented on 1 May 1990.

Under this system, LTA determines the number of new vehicles allowed for registration while the market determines the price of owning a vehicle.

In determining the number of cars allowed for registration, we take into account the prevailing traffic conditions and the number of vehicles taken off the roads permanently.

The quota allocated to each vehicle category is in proportion to that category's share of the total vehicle population. The vehicle quota for a given year is administered through the monthly release of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs).

One gets the impression that a major reason for COEs is for the control for vehicular numbers on our roads. The Straits Times had a report (on PM Lee) saying the following:

'Fundamentally, we only have a limited amount of land in Singapore. Roads already take up 12 per cent of our total land area,' he added.

Underground roads costs 10 times more to build and 30 times more to maintain than surface roads, he said.

The PM also sought to explain why it was not possible to limit the number of cars through the COE scheme, and why the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) is needed to manage traffic flow.

'ERP ensures that road users take into account the costs of congestion when they choose to drive. Without the ERP, our roads would be choked, and even the buses would not be able to ply freely.'

'When cities ignore or fail to tackle congestion, residents face gridlock, and have no choice but to sit in a traffic jam twice a day, morning and evening, and sometimes even all day.'

'The cost in time and inconvenience to workers and to the economy is enormous. We cannot afford to let this happen in Singapore.'

Not sure about you, but it does sound rather contradictory. But I guess ERP works to control access to the more popular areas of the country, like the city centers. ERP is theoretically a good idea, why else would other countries seek to emulate it; but for it to work I think the prices have to be set unrealistically high like at $100 per entry. This however, would surely cause a major uproar amongst the population and thus it will never be carried out. Similarly, to keep too tight a leash on COE numbers would cause prices of COE to skyrocket, resulting in another fallout. Since this is not a possible way to control cars, we only can build more and more ERP gantries, ultimately striving for a pay-as-you-drive model, which I think the government is going for, even though they actively deny this is the case. And with the constant expansion of the public transport network, in particular the railway system, hopefully more people would use them. New Yorkers, for example, I was told, mostly either walk or take public transport and only the crazy rich will drive. Such a scenario can only happen when the public transport network is not just fast and efficient but also enticingly cheap. As of now, the network is far from comprehensive, waiting times are somewhat ridiculous, service timings end too early without much meaningful replacements and there is a hell sh*t of a bugger known as the PTC who seems to do nothing else but to recommend price hikes for already profitable transport companies. Not to mention taxi drivers who pick and choose fares.

There are only going to be losers here. And the losers = us.

Alienate

2008-09-17T21:26:00.007+08:00

Take train.

More pictures of Fanling Wai, looking more serious here.

Requisite SMU jump shot. Check out the (almost) perfect symmetry.

Silly looking jump. Right hand: heritage trail tourist guide and camera, left hand: water bottle.

I don't know who started the "land is scarce in HK" thing. They have mountains everywhere!

Beancurd. You stand there eating from the bowl and return it after you are done. Add syrup yourself and red sugar.

Erms. I don't know what I was thinking, but nice picture nevertheless.

HKUST's equivalent of NUS's central forum. Notice almost every educational instituition in HK is funded by the Jockey Club.

View from UG Hall I facing UG Hall II.

Menu from a typical "cha chan teng". Who ever is able to order from it! Speaking of which, it took me almost 4 persons' help in translating today just to order chicken rice to takeaway from the school canteen.

I cannot stand people without basic courtesy. Like not holding doors open for people. Like rushing into an elevator before its fully emptied. Like cutting queue. Allowing a swinging door to slam into the face of a person 3 steps behind you is rude. Allowing a lift door to close on you, sandwiching in between the doors is cruel. Not responding and then staring at you caught there as if you are some asshole holding up their time is unacceptably inhumane. Shame on you. I repeat. SHAME ON YOU!

Fanling

2008-09-16T00:41:00.005+08:00

Inspired by a mysterious postcard hanging at some photography competition, we travelled all the way north to Fanling in the New Territories in search of the place where said photo was taken. Starting with a happy shot of myself. Haha.

The Tin Hau Temple along the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail. It contains 2 bronze bells dating more than 300 years old.

View of the temple alongside the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall (which contains the soul tablets of a Song Dynasty princess and her husband).

By which phototaking has become abit tired and lazy and hence edited to achieve a "loco-cam" effect.

Rusty fence and bicycle.

Fish, cut longitudinally, but with heart still beating.

And finally, Fanling Wai's famous "reflection upon water" view.......... Another case of being fooled by a good photographer.....

Sunset along the way back.

Way to Hong Kong's most famous restaurant for roasted pigeons.

And here's the abrupt end. Pictures of the walled villages we went seeking out for are uploaded on Facebook. After editing a few pictures, I gave up. Ha.

Sinlaku

2008-09-14T11:40:00.002+08:00

Ok, so the rest left for the airport to go to Taiwan. Decided not to join them and it might turn out to be a good choice as you can see below, a big friend is heading towards Taiwan now. In fact the flights before and after theirs are cancelled. I hope they have a good time though. More shopping! And the insanely good street Taiwanese snacks. Ok, can't say I don't miss all those chicken cutlets and bubble tea myself. Shilin!

So I spent the past few days trawling the internet and making phone calls to agencies who can only speak Cantonese to try to get myself on a flight to Japan to compensate for my absence in Taiwan. At 5 plus AM this morning, I used my card to make a booking on China Airlines to Tokyo Narita. Guess what, I'll get to do a transfer in Taipei. Haha. So much for skipping Taiwan. But the shitty thing is, after I entered my card details, I have not received any sort of confirmation that my order was taken. And its been like 6 hours! I don't know what I should do because the site's FAQ does not seem to hold any answers and I am definitely not going to try again lest I end up buying 2 tickets. Bloody hell so now what!

Back to home news, the Serangoon Gardens issue makes for really interesting sociological studies. And what do you mean when I see that its going to cost more to take public transport in Singapore again! What rubbish is that. Especially when the headline that followed that (the online version) said that fuel prices has been the lowest since last November. I wonder, but I already know the outcome of the government's decision after they read the recommendations submitted and compiled from bloggers from The Online Citizen. In Hong Kong, I get to enjoy almost 50% off MTR rides as a student but back home, I pay full adult fare. Bah!

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival and so tomorrow is public holiday here! But my Monday's free anyway. Hmmm... gimme my Japan trip!!!!

Buckle Up

2008-09-13T00:29:00.004+08:00

A faded sign at the back of a bus here shows a rather misleading message.

I wish that message is directed to the people here who have no spatial awareness, who are rude, who have no manners, who have no personal hygiene and who have no class.

Not All's Rosy

2008-09-08T18:13:00.005+08:00

I guess its kind of misleading to post all these happy photos and make it seem like its super fun and rosy here because its not. Physically alone, there was that really shitty episode of food poisoning from the food at the Sands Resorts at Macau. I wonder how they would react man, seriously, as food quality is certainly a critical issue in a high end establishment such as themselves. Not to mention that these are the same guys who will open on our shores on Marina Bay in 2010.

Anyway, here's us Yam-cha-ing.

At a busy street in Mongkok, a day before their legislative council elections.

At Lan Kwai Fong. Someone got pretty drunk... I had just one flaming lamborghini and a few sips of others. Check out the others. Derrick now has purple hair which he dyed yesterday.

Okay that last one I think I look really red. But I was sober. We even all went for more dimsum after that. Slept at like 5 plus, with classes the next day.

Here's more of the raw shitty things you don't see in pictures. During my first management tutorial, we were supposed to find someone and just introduce ourselves and basically make some small chat. Being lazy and all, naturally I was last to find someone and that someone had to be some American born chinese from Atlanta. So I went up and said hi. Guess what his reply was.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk to you? I'm here to know more chicks. Girls. Females. Geddit?"

That was as best I could remember as the first sentence that he said to me. I wasn't sure why but the room suddenly felt uncomfortably hot, like global warming was bad enough to cause the indoor temperature to rise suddenly. It might have been easier to swallow if he was like some jock and hot. But jock and hot he was not. (rhymes eh)

Hong Kong also has some unique habits when it comes to dining, like using of water/tea to wash various utensils before you use them. This practice comes in different forms and depending on where you dine, the procedure can vary quite alot. The one time we went for supper at Hang Hau, we were served our food and cups of water. In Singapore, that would be totally normal as almost everywhere serves iced water. So I was happily drinking from the cup and trying not to think why it tasted really bad.

Until I found out that the cups contained the water for the washing of chopsticks and other utensils.

Temptation of Sin - Macau

2008-09-02T03:27:00.003+08:00

Photos courtesy of Chorng Shin: senior, tour guide, food and photography extraordinaire.

Coincidence!

2008-08-30T01:17:00.003+08:00

Sometimes you can walk ard in Singapore and not meet a single person you know and yet today I met a friend as I was coming out of the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. (BTW, keeping a photo of the MTR network in phone cam is damn useful for referencing; there is no need to carry around the physical map)

HKUST hosting the Chinese Olympic gold medalists tomorrow. I'm proud to be able to navigate myself back to the school taking the small bus. Shop eat shop eat. Apt description I tell you. Whoever started the Singapore is a shopping paradise thing hasn't seen the malls and shops here yet.

HKUST

2008-08-28T00:50:00.004+08:00

Lazy to blog, lazy to take photos. So I am now in HK's UST.

Paranomic view from their "central forum".

My (not really nice) room, with my room mate on my bed, documenting the room. The bed is as narrow as the length of a pillow...

As HKUST is built on a hill slope, many rooms face out, and HKUST faces Clearwater Bay. This view is taken from the triple sharing room directly opposite my room. My room faces the hill, and all I see is rocks and grass and the bottom of the university buildings behind.

View as you walk out of HKUST.

Random MTR station.

Back In Singapore, For Now

2008-08-20T16:17:00.006+08:00

EDIT:

Here's a map of the journey. Too lazy to blog this anymore.

*********

Back... Kinda tired. After reviewing the photos, here is the nicest one out of the 493 photos taken. Didn't really plan this shot. Was at the flooded Mekong bank in Vientiane having dinner with Kiki and Jessica when I saw the rainbow in front of me. After taking a shot of the rainbow (not so nice) I turned and took this one of the sun setting. So much nicer.

Rainbow.

Guess will blog more and edit the posts here... When I feel like it. Tried to upload most of the photos on Facebook, but somehow din work out. So ..

Travel Update

2008-08-14T11:55:00.002+08:00

was in siem reap... angkor temples.... then took a long bus ride to the thai border ayanrapathet or sth... laos side is called poipet... then took another long ride to bangkok where i spent 1 hour there eating at the train station's KFC... then took an overnight train to nong khai... then travel abit to the lao border... cross the thai-lao friendship bridge... then travel abit more and arrived in ventianne yesterday.... mekong river here is flooding... ppl here using alot of sandbags to build a wall... am going to take another overnight bus tonight to go to luang prabang up north... hahahah ok... that's the end of my commentary....

alot of nice bakeries and cafes here in ventianne... very laid back... very relax... very quiet... very nice!!! french food... swedish.. whatever la...

met quite a few cool ppl travelling...

in fact, yesterday i met a pair of super cool dutch girls... and we had seafood dinner on the banks of the swollen mekong river... tonight we are travelling via overnight bus to luang prabang!

ok... ahah this is just a sketchy post to let everyone know i am fine!

ok see you soon!!! internet here damn slow and shitty.... ahahahah...

and.. happy birthday Issac!!! (in advance)

Paul's

2008-08-09T17:17:00.008+08:00

Ok, since some photos are out on Facebook....

Me and my size 38 berms held up by 55DSL belt. The white thing is the tag. Yes. They insisted it be worn so high.

NUS starting school tomorrow. I'll be in Cambodia Siem Reap tomorrow. Wahahaha!!!

Rag, National, Olympic and Farewell Days 08

2008-08-09T02:41:00.009+08:00

In view of Singapore's 43th birthday, all red and white bottoms at Wooonderland going for $43. Usual retail price $139 - $198. Yes, the tiger/zebra print one is counted as well. No, its not me wearing it. I'm the one on the left.

Passed my days to Jeremy so that I can attend Rag Day. Its been one year since the unforgetable events at the Padang with the resounding success of The Cinderella. I think ALL freshmen ought to attend Rag day. Not so much as to feel the passion or what not, but just to appreciate how some people can dedicate so much time to doing something so... hmm... yup. JEREMY! You better go see next year!

Sheares Hall, whose float opened up to reveal a rock band playing live music.

Kent Ridge Hall. The pictures don't do the float justice. Bad lighting. The float was stunning. And if I may add, the costumes, spectacular. Loved the extremely good and creative use of scrap materials to make items such as lamps. The purple and green went together flawlessly. Of course they won big time.

King Edward VII Hall. Nice work. Pretty costumes as well, but I felt the dance lacked energy. In addition, the jester head reminded me very much of the (multiple award winning) Sheares float 3 years ago...

Said Sheares float. Notice the deck of cards and the jester head.

Eusoff Hall. Bright and cheery colors. Nice nice. Unfortunately, the shoe-house idea was similar to Kent Ridge. In fact, these 2 floats were the 2 that were widely being considered as the potential winning floats. I guessed they lost out to the technically superior KR team as the judges could not appreciate the act cute-ness?

Raffles Hall's garden inspired float. Highlights include the set of toadstools (drumset) and the plant stem (?) that became a saxaphone.

Missing here is a picture of Temasek Hall's F1 racing car inspired float. They won the most creative float award.

And for the faculty floats, here's the one from Business.

Dragon... Didn't manage to catch where it was from. Creature based floats are sorta too overdone I think.

USP.

A Jap themed float, also not sure where its from either this or that dragon one should belong to Engineering. Reminds you of the Bizad Rag of 2 years ago...

Said Biz rag from 2 years ago.

Pharmacy's tank. Showstopper I tell you. The standard of the float and costumes are close to Hall levels. Vast improvement over any previous of the floats they sent.

Dentistry. There were more than one camera/crew groups from participants this year.

Medicine. I think the disjointed fingers were indeed creepy.

Arts.

Science, with what I felt was a terribly disappointing standard for a float, considering the previous attempts. They managed to win something for the float though, so its not that bad.

SDE. The float opens to a lotus flower which blooms.

Missing is Law's float, which was a white elephant. Literally.

After Rag in school, went to run some errands like collect my shades. And then it was a party at Boss's. A sorta farewell thingy for me as well. Everyone is at Wooonderland is also doing a fair bit of flying around, so I won't see the gang as much. I miss you guys! And no, don't post all the sabo pictures up!

Olympic opening was damn fabulous. China has no shortage of manpower willing to give up to ensure perfect technical detail and accuracy. Save for the lighting of the flame thing whereby the "runner" was not coordinated with the unravelling "scroll". Anyway, it was amazing. Though the march pass was toooooo long. The attention to detail was wow. The painting from the dancers, the floating everything. WOW.

And the S*F sent me a letter reminding me to go for Remedial Training. WTF. Immediately called to confirm and was told it was sent wrongly.

They sent a dumb booklet as well. It was filled with rubbish. Those you would expect to come from scholars sitting in a comfortable office churning out. What a waste of resources.

The SEP Saga

2008-08-05T02:47:00.005+08:00

Lets trace the entire saga from the start so I will never forget this load of shit I brought upon myself, UNNECESSARILY. In point form:

- Applied for UNSW for Year 2. Interviewed, passed, and accepted
- Had to reject for some personal reasons including a cock up with with the S*F's side
- Decided to give up going overseas

- Nic the neighbour felt like he wanted to go for exchange after Year 2
- After some discussion, allowed myself to agree to go together
- Planned for module mapping for some universities, including York and HKUST
- Submission and approval of documents and various admin stuff were severely cocked up due to multiple failures of different parties involved
- Missed the submission deadline
- Nic's coordinator gave some problems too, and it ended with him not submitting his application

- HKUST made an exception and accepted me
- Module mapping
- Submission of documents and various admin stuff... not so much shit here
- (Late for collection of admission package)
- (Dean's office guy making me wait for almost 2 hours while he went off for coffee - bloody irresponsible)
- This means I am going alone to somewhere which wasn't where I wanted to go in the first place

- HKUST releases updated module list barely 2 weeks ago
- None of the approved mapped core modules were offered, except for one
- Rush to remap and remap and tons of emails and more communication breakdown
- Left with 2 modules approved
- HKUST course registration closed
- Needs 4 modules to fulfil minimum SEP requirements

- Coordinator suggested to friend to drop SEP after reviewing options and module list from HKUST

Ok, so in brief. All this totally sucks shit. Here are the reasons why it does not make sense to continue to go for SEP.

1. I am going there to do only ONE core module. This totally defeats alot of the purpose of going for SEP in the first place. To put it in another way, going there to do one core module is not really a smart waste of time. However, its not to say I demand to take all 5 core modules there because that would also be meaningless as we should at least try something there not offered in NUS.

2. I would have to take alot of core/major requirement modules when I come back from SEP. This is unnecessary stress on myself as the workload is not evened out, taking into consideration that many core/science modules would require long hours of laboratory sessions.

3. Any timetable problems would certainly lead to delayed graduation, which is also a dumb waste of $ and time. Possibility of needing to do special term is also another.

On the other hand, there are overwhelming reasons to continue to press on, among which,

1. I have given up my place in hall, and if I were to give up SEP, I would have no place to stay in NUS.

2. CORS bidding is already underway, and I have neither bidded nor got any modules. On top of which, I was not allocated points for this semester.

3. I have paid for the HK air tickets and for other misc stuff like orientation, which amounts to more than S$1000.

4. I have also booked a 2 week trip to Cambodia/Laos/Thailand which will eat into 2 weeks of NUS term if I plan not to go. Its not a simple case of just giving this up because you have to factor in its cost and also the others who are with me, and the fact that leave etc needed to be taken.

All these points are by no means exhaustive.

All in all, these events are going to lead to an absolutely shitty SEP experience which is totally lose-lose.

And I am still lacking 3 more modules.

Please pardon this whiney post; I really cannot help it.

SEP Sucks

2008-08-03T01:04:00.004+08:00

I'm sorry to all those people I said I would meet but have yet to find the time. I have been quite busy. Tiring. Physically. And mentally, from SEP. HK side's module registration ended today. And officially I have 2 modules only. I need like minimun of 4 and optimally 5. The dept coordinator in NUS has not been really nice, but what can I say. I've been warned. This SEP saga has dragged on for terribly long and the fatigue is wearing me out.

Ok enough about SEP. I am so blur I tried alot of troubleshooting on my laptop trying to find out why there is no sound, only to discover that I did not put on my earphones.

Balestier area is very nice, alot of those really old school shops. I like. Went to order a pair of vintage old sunglasses today.

Singfest was cool. Met Shaun there, he's with Sistec. Poor local acts. They playing to the trees and grass.

The YOG has to shift to NTU. Can I say "told you so"? They obviously did not have the time to finish building the entire University Town. I am guessing it was an extremely rushed job, with designs and everything done last minute. I remembered they actually placed up detailed short listed designs for the new Biz building before they even went ahead to build it. But for a project as huge as the UT, there was no sign of any of such things, and so far all artist impressions of the place seem different and sketchy. You would think that details would have been released for such a mega development.... Well. I TOLD YOU SO!

Ok. Tired. More items added to the to-do list.

Cross fingers. Sleep.