Wallace and Gromit - Curse of the Were-rabbit

is a good show to watch. Recommended, if a good laugh is preferred.

Ranting

Frank's first attempt at golfing.

Played golf at a driving range at Sin ming after Narnia with Kelli, Mike, Lynn, Stanley, and James. Once again felt like a fish out of water/monkey robbing a bank/banana in a teapot, being the charlie chaplin who makes surprisingly accurate hits at the grass patch BESIDE the golf ball.

Does Eu know James Koh, the tennis pro? I have certain impulses to pull Eu into my JC clique, which is surprisingly increasing in members - there's Stanley when Lynn's around; Kenneth's a new mahjong khaki; James' a tennis khaki of Lynn+Stanley's.

Mike is "spreading his resources too thinly" managing his "stocks portfolio", going dragonboating, learning tennis, learning inline-skating, wakeboarding, on top of his MA work at stanchart. Makes me think of myself spreading my resources too thinly as well - jogging, gymming, hanging out with the clowns, windsurfing, inline-skating, wakeboarding(not really for a long time!) But my main resource constraints is more money than time, although I foresee an impending payback period to my FYP. And the v-day roses thingy again. Haiz. But they are necessary evils, for my degree and for more money respectively.


On a side note, I have been watching too much movies/anime. You know that when you have dreams of kongs and little chickens wearing spectacles engaging in the freedom fight in Narnia, with Naruto and his kage bunshin no jitsu on the opposing side - with Jacky Cheung singing a sad love song in the background.

Help. My hat's on fire.

The Biggest Loser

On Christmas eve, I lost my favourite watch at PA SSC at East Coast after my windsurfing session there. I bought it many years ago, a few months before I sat for my O levels, and it has followed me faithfully for a good 9 years ever since.

For these 9 years, it was my only analog timepiece - being absolutely in love with it, I could not set my eyes on another. Sure, there were occassional eyeing of other beautiful timepieces, but I kept faithful to it as it did to me throughout. During these years, any other watches on my hand were digitals, worn purely for functional reasons. Me and my Seiko, we had a thing. The capacitant died a few times and water seeped in a few times too, but we were good after the repair jobs.

And I am saddened by the loss, like I've lost a part of me. Its chunky metal watchstrap, its scratched and chipped glass covercase, its luminous hands and dial, its constant admonishment when I got lazy (it's a Kinetic which loses power when I stay sedentary for too long), are all so familiar to me. I'm not sure if I can cope with the loss.

And when I get a new watch, it will never be the same as with my favourite Seiko.

Merry Christmas~!

Ah... how time flies and sting us on our bottoms all the time.

Once again, we are at the festive season where little children whine about not having ridiculously priced toys which existence is based on parents' guilt of inattention; where consumers get to be foolish kings and queens to profiteering manufacturers; where sad sods hope to land (in vain) a kiss from their imaginary cinderellas under mistletoes strategically placed by them beneath every entrance/exits; where happy people gather to be happy together, and lonely people gather to be lonely together; and where picture frames are given, thanked for, and kept forever in the deepest recesses of the most remote cabinet.

If there's anything to be happy about, it's the long weekend of scampering northwards/southwards to restock on DVDs, chewing gums, and a healthy dose of cholesterol.

...and don't forget to make your New Year Resolutions which you will never manage to keep, yah? Have a jovial season with your friends.

Merry Christmas

Definition: Merlion

1: n. The merlion is a statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of mermaid and lion.

The Merlion

2: v. Eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth; "After drinking too much, the students merlioned"; "He merlioned continuously"; "The patient merlioned the food we gave him last night" [syn: vomit, vomit up, purge, cast, sick, cat, be sick, disgorge, regorge, retch, barf, spew, spue, chuck, upchuck, honk, regurgitate, throw up] [ant: keep down]

Frank merlioned after eating too much briyani rice for lunch

Confusion

Wah.
When I expect a A- for mobile computing, I get a B+.
When I expect a B for Signals, I get a A.

Wtf?

So I'm still in the middle of no where for my grades. Tmd.

I love the 7-eleven...

"Ding dong~~!"

at NUH because they sell cheaper and better food than the NUH cafeteria does. Did you know? At the Nasi Padang stall in NUH, a plate of rice + chicken wing + sunny-side-up will set you back by $3.50? Let's do a calculation, shall we?

Chicken wing = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($1.50) * 1.2 = $1.80
Egg = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($0.50) * 1.2 = $0.60
Rice = (inflated outside price) * (more inflation) = ($0.50) * 1.2 = $0.60
TWICE INFLATED TOTAL = 1.8 + 0.6 + 0.6 = $3
Selling price = $3.50 = TWICE INFLATED TOTAL + SERVICE CHARGE = $3 + $0.50

=>SERVICE CHARGE FOR NON-EXISTENT SERVICE ON A MEASLY PLATE OF (RICE + CHICKEN WING + EGG) ALREADY CHARGED AT TWICE-INFLATED PRICES= $0.50

"You were expecting this? Fat hope, or $7."

Perhaps they are banking on the patronism of patients from the brain-damage ward, or desperate muslims in need of food less hazardous than normal hospital fare.

Hmm... come to think of it, there's quite a lot of malay stalls selling food at higher than prevailing prices. Thinking aloud if it's because malays can only eat halal food and thus have limited options in sourcing for eligible alternative eating places... Some sort of supply-demand thingy?

Anyway, back to the 7-eleven. After extensive groundwork and meticulous research into the NUMEROUS afterdark feeding areas (3 of them) around SoC, I have arrived at the indisputable (unless you're a vegetarian [in which case you would do well with a pair of shears]) conclusion that the best after-dark makan deal would be the NASI BRIYANI + BIG GULP combination in the NUH 7-eleven. Second place would be the Dodo instant noodles in the same 7-eleven.

WHY NUH wins:
1) Nearest location to SoC.
2) Got ATM to draw money (but this point is now invalid since there's ATM @ SoC)
3) SOMETIMES got pretty nurses. Biggest draw.

Why NASI BRIYANI + BIG GULP win? Cos they got promotional offer at a bundle price of $2.80, which is much cheaper than any food-resembling item sold at exorbitant prices at the cafeteria.

Why Dodo instant noodles? 2 dollars by itself. Good eating, if a drink is not preferred.



All this being said, we must question the motivation for such an analysis given above.

And the motivation is simple: All sad blokes working on their f***king FYP 24/7 in SoC have to feed some time or another.

Having fun working on a glorious weekend

Nothing like a deprived childhood to brighten your day...

Went back to Toa Payoh (old home) to have lunch last Sunday after church. The food's still cheap there.

It is one of the few untouched hawker centres left in Singapore (the others are mostly upgraded and have lost the authentic taste [and prices] of yesteryears.) where they serve excellent tasting food in the absence of hygiene. Had my favourite pig trotters there, and I have, after sampling a number of pig trotter-serving stalls in Singapore, come to think it as one of the best in this small island.

"Mommy, mommy... I want pig trotters..."

Pig trotters. One of the few foods where you can comment “老板！你的猪脚炖得好烂!" and receive thanks from the cook.

I've always liked pig trotters, but never did have enough of them when I was young. Maybe it was unhealthy or expensive or because no one else in the family liked them? I dunno. But I'm making up for my deprivation now by gorging on them whenever I have a chance to now.

It's the same for Nutella hazelnut chocolate. I'd remember them coming in small rectangular plastic packaging where you scoop them into your mouth with a small spatula of sorts. It's always a source of delight for me after my kindergarten session, but I only have them on days when I'm good. Which is not often. Haha... Hmm.... maybe I should buy a bottle of it, stick a spoon into it, and leave it on my table so I can eat it whenever I feel like it.

"Mommy, mommy... I want Nutella..."

Somehow, I think all of us SHOULD be deprived of some things when we were young. Makes life more interesting that way, and you learn to treasure them when you grow up.

And what can be more satisfying than drinking a 5-pack Vitagen using a single straw, while they are still tightly clinging together in the 5-pack shrinkwrap? Oh.. the envy you see in little children's eyes...

"Mommy, mommy... I want Vitagen..."

Is it just me or does avocado juice taste like Brand's Essence of Chicken?

I dunno. You try the avocado juice at Science canteen in NUS and tell me. $1.10 only (better than buying all those packaged drinks, IMHO.)

Funny guy.

He has a rather cute blog.

And no, I'm not gay.

Standard Chartered Run Time

Distance: 10km
Chip Time / Gun Time: 55m:40s / 1h:5m:58s
PLACING IN THE ENTIRE FIELD: 540TH / 6846 => 7.9% finish faster (chip time)
PLACING IN GENDER (MALE): 444TH / 3725 => 11.9% finish faster (chip time)
DIVISION PLACING (MEN/SIN): 287TH / 2735 => 10.5% finish faster (chip time)

Timing could have been better if I had started earlier (started 10min later) and not be blocked by the massive turnout. Had to zig zag my way/ run on grass sides/ be stopped, while running. Quite fed up about that.

I think the Standard Chartered Marathon is a very professionally organised event. The timing system in place is quite impressive; the roads were good; the water points are adequate; and the chio bus are there... haha...
And the website is good lah~~! Really detailed statistics of your run, and even have a bird eye view of your position at the finishing line.

Only bad thing is the crowd. Too much people who were not interested to be there being there. Companies shouldn't force their employees to go for the event if they are not interested. Ended up blocking the roads, reducing the timings of those behind, like me. Grr...

What will happen

if 30 years down the road, your teenage son/daughter chances upon your present-days written blog and realises how silly and outrageous you had been?

"Was this you, Dad?!?"

Hmmm....

Room pictures

Pictures taken of my room before it's gone...

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116818042

Action plan.

This came up when me and SOMEONE was bored studying in PGP and he started telling me about this gal he's interested in, who seems to be interested in him also... haha..or so he thinks. =P

It's sort of a one month action plan to get to know her better. Try and decipher what we are writing about... quite cute. Two relatively inexperienced blokes trying to brainstorm over BGR issues, what can be more sure-fail?? =)

But this plan was never carried out, thank goodness. No prize for guessing whose it is. =D

The Friendster thingy post.

Oh man... Friendster is NP-complete...

I'm not a Friendster person but it all started when I got curious enough to find out if there are any mutual friends between me and my friends, and if there are any friends I know who are not in my Friends List.

3hrs.

That's how long it took to complete 1 circle of friends, up to 3 degrees. With an addition of 104 friends.

It started off with WPS and somehow drifted over to NUS and RI/RJ, then Scouts. And the discovery process is filled with personal thoughts including:

1) Eh? How come he know her??
2) Wah lau, how come he looks so "act cool" here??
3) Piang, she never look so chio in real life leh...
3) Wah... chio... droolz... (somehow digressed to voyeurism :p)
4) How come got Andy Lau avatar?
5) So long never see him/her, now look so different...
6) How come got Stephanie Sun avatar??

And because of the 2.5 year lag due to NS, I find some of my male seniors knowing some of my female friends (same age), and some of my female friends (2yrs younger) knowing some of my male juniors. How interesting.

If I know you, do add me to your Friendster using the link on the right. So I need not 海底捞针.

I'm a 3rd born. So the test is wrong...

You Are Likely A Forth Born

At your darkest moments, you feel angry. At work and school, you do best when your analyzing. When you love someone, you tend to be very giving. In friendship, you don't take the initiative in reaching out. Your ideal jobs are: factory jobs, comedy, and dentistry. You will leave your mark on the world with your own personal philosophy.

The Birth Order Predictor

To my dearest Kelly

(WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ IT IF YOU'RE A WUSSY WHO CANNOT TAKE LONG POSTS. YOU CAN TRY TO FINISH THIS POST, BUT IF YOU STOP HALFWAY, YOU'RE STILL A WUSSY. SO WHY START? [ok, I'm trying to make you read it...])

Haha... don't be jealous lah, Kelly.

Just that I've not been mentioning you in my blog doesn't mean that I never think about you leh. It's just that you're in philly having a whale of a time while I'm stuck in Singapore - there's not much interaction to generate anything interesting lah.

I shall reiterate your position here in my heart and a bit of our personal history, ok? Come come, sayang sayang...
All about Kelly:
Kelly's my bestest friend since primary school (I knew Kelly since primary 1~~1988~~!)
(We would wear the same underwear if we could, but our size's just too different... :p)

Ok, THIS PICTURE IS SO GAY...

PRIMARY SCHOOL:
I still remember when all of us in class would borrow his colour pencils (he had one of those Colleen 30-pen/60-colour mega-variery colour pencils) which he lends jovially.. He's the head prefect of WPS and he has been super tall since birth (we contrast a lot, yes.) and we always make fun of him and Qingyi (the also super tall head prefectress who is also his neighbour.) I think Kelly still has a photo of us taken during our childhood. It's a super nice but humiliating one. It showed me as a short, undergrowing (and still undergrown now) boy next to another goony-looking boy who was 1 head taller. Hmmm...

There were many many days after school when I would go to his house in Braddell View and play with him. I shall not boast about his mega tower racks of game collections for him, but they deserve a mention.... Anyway, his house is like a mini funworld, complete with all kinds of gaming consoles, and 2 computers~! That was during a period of time when 2 computers in a house, side by side, was unheard of~! And I love his Transformers. Esp. Victory Leo and Star Sabre. Haha... those were the days.

And yes, the days of ping pongs at the clubhouse, when he would annoy me with his fancy schmancy moves which completely fail to astound me but made me think him an innovative goo goo doll. At least he's innovative. Goony, but still innovative.

"Look at my super duper smash~!"

What about the times spent at the playground with ice cream treats after that? Haha... nice. Except for the fear of spiders and their annoying spider webs.

But amongst all these memories, one thing stood out most to tell that Kelly is my friend for life.

I stole from Kelly before. Yes I did. =| (Frank, you bad bad boy...)

Kelly had limited access to the outside world then, as his maid always brings him home after school - but I was free as a lark to traverse playgrounds and play catching and buy those Dragonball Cards which were so popular then. I wasn't addicted to the DBZ cards, but I was quite mad over the Artist Cards. Quite quite mad.

Son Gyoku

Anyway, Kelly was quite quite mad over the DBZ cards (he has a sizeable collection!), and there were times he bought them through me. Like pay me $5/$10 dollars to buy them. But there was one time when greed overtook me and I kept one of those much prized shiny gold cards.

Kelly found out. But he never got angry with me. He simply asked me why I did it, and it made me feel all the more guilty because I could feel that he was hurt by my actions because I was a very close friend to him. Not angry, but hurt. Not retaliative, but simply asking, 'Why?'

That's a kind of love I've never seen before, and it was then that I thought to myself.. "Rongkang you shithead. This is a friend in the truest sense that you will never come across again in your life. Treasure him."

From then on, even though he can be a pain in the ass sometimes with his idiosyncracies and I do get really really annoyed by him occassionally, I know that I am stuck with him forever. Sigh. What to do? Best friend mah...

And to end off this primary school chapter, I must tell everyone that Kelly can't spell for nuts. Horrigible. He can't even spell if you gave him dictionary.com to reference. :p

But he has good handwriting, so it's a redeeming grace.

Kelly can't spell for nuts

SECONDARY SCHOOL:
Ah... secondary school in RI. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I lost contact with the bugger for a while, immersed in playing catch up with schoolwork, surviving softball training, and trying to be a good librarian (like my bro!)

Then in Sec 3, I quitted softball and joined RI02 Scouts (where Kelly's in) - thus began a new chapter of our friendship.

Going through thick and thin and making a few more close friends between us (TCWITB, for one), we perservered through our Venture years and GC years, leading our scout group through a period of total chaotic anarchism filled with question marks and no answers except for stupid ones. We tried for the President's Scout Award together, but all save me was axed by the SRIC.

Now this is the point where I'm supposed to go 'nally nally boo boo' to them, but I must also reflect that I was the first President's Scout to have 'almost failed because of the final interview' (as admonished by Edmond Tan, our great abominable VSL.)

Yeah, it was fun.

JC times
None available. Kelly chose the alternative path of going Ngee Ann Poly and excelled there with Yusry. But hey, GC years were still on in JC 1, and I saw enough of the Man.

Army times
Can't remember clearly, but I think this is the period me and chee wee and kelly integrated with Kelly's friends over in poly...

Uni times to now
Yup, I see him around school frequently, and have taken 'Principles of Marketing' with him. He's a real good marketing genius, I tell you (though I got A+ and he didn't! nally nally boo boo~~! :p)
But he's the more driven ass, and he's now in philly doing his NOC.

Oh yah, we recently also went for the N.E.X.T Challenge together (with Chee wee and ivan and joey) and got 4th prize! Woo hoo~! N.E.X.T


In essence, Kelly, the friendship between us is unbreakable lah, no matter how sick we are of each other (urgh, puke).

Our friendship is like Gravity - it's all around us and transcends over time and space. And it's the greatest force when summed together!

Post exam blues

Haiz. NO exams already leh... How am I going to spend all my IDLING HOURS????

Should I try fishing?

Haha. Not really. Don't kill me just yet.

My blues are about the current state of my education career.

At the end of yesterday's MOBILE COMPUTING paper, I knew that my First Class is a goner (regardless of my fluk-ish CA marks); at the end of today's SIGNALS, it is more than less confirmed that my First Class has taken a plane to Timbuktu on first class seating and won't be back for good. I estimate B+ for both - which means my CAP will drop to around 4.48 - quite good for 2nd Upper, but slightly missing the First Class.

To Timbuktu, with Love.

Not that I'm plain just-kill-me kind of sad. I'm rather both sad and happy. I've sort of planned for both the if-and-else cases, but have always been annoyed at the uncertainty of whether it's an 'IF' or an 'ELSE' - but it's quite quite confirmed that I fall into the 'ELSE'-case now, and I'm the happier for it. Though I'm still sad I'm not 'First Class' material (dammit!)


Why the heck am I happier?
Would you not be happier if you didn't have to spend the rest of your academic life slogging in your lab trying to polish up your FYP to A/A- grade, with another module to score A/A- as well? And for what purpose? A first class cert? Yah, it looks good but is it worth the effort?

IF-CASE: (Still in range of First Class)
PIA FOR FIRST CLASS STILL. WORK WORK WORK while worrying that the final result is still a 2nd Upper. Simple but tedious plan. =(

IF-CASE

ELSE-CASE: (Fall to 2nd Upper)
2nd Class => Lots of CAP buffer => Can anyhow do my FYP and CRITICAL SYSTEMS module next semester~~~!
This then means that I can spend time doing things OUTSIDE of academics. Academics is starting to bore me - so, yay.

ELSE-CASE

In essence, I can work up some untidy codes and kiss Ananda [FYP Sup] goodbye by the end of the holidays and spend the next semester doing self-improvementsss:
1) Improving my memory
2) Going for Toastmaster + polish communication skills (which I super lack)
3) Grasp the tacky techniques of windsurfing and inline-skating
4) Salsa?
5) Do some business (Frank has a cunning plan~~~!)
6) Go for unregistered classes (like Marketing, French, ++)

Isn't that infinitely more interesting and wonderful? After all, I'm seriously contemplating a non-engineering career.

My dream career.

Daylight saving hours in NUS??

PGP people are mad, I tell you.
420am in the morning, got time don't sleep go play swing at playground.

It almost feels like 9pm in the cluster - everyone's light is still on and music is playing on laptops. People are bathing and asking 'How's revision?' in the toilet.

And I looked downstairs, half-expecting Taichi Man to be down there doing his routine.

Crazy people.

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

Sidenote:
Now that there are going to be as many cubicles in female toilets as there are the sum of urinals and cubicles in male toilets, I'm led to wonder if male toilets should totally abolish urinals and have all cubicles instead.

I mean, if 4 gals can do their *ahem* MNC at one time, compared to 2 guys doing their *ahem again* MNCs(with another 2 only able to do SMEs) is it still fair? Or is it a case of one being fairer than the other?

Sometimes, the battle for equality doesn't result in equality after all. Perhaps it had always been equal in the macro-scale. Just not equal in aspects where we choose to focus on.

Like:
"cos(90) + i * sin(90)" not being the same as "cos (45) + i * sin(45)" if you choose to compare them in either their real or their imaginary form. But their magnitude and power are the same - it's just a phase-difference between the two.

Who says Singapore don't have seasons?

T'is the season when it rains and rains
and irritating flying insects with disproportionately long wings
go forth and multiply
and die and end up in your toilet bowls and sinks.

Flush.

And you see gleeful hordes of ants engage in the thriving business of carcass-collecting, in every corner of your room.

Hmm... maybe I won't kill them. For now. =)

The only way to get away with horrific singing...

... is to package it with some simple and cute animations.

*Frank breaks into horrific singing and juggles 3 balls at the same time*

24 pushing 25 and I'm still a boy??? Sigh...

Was going for my breakfast at the SoC canteen after a really cold night of sleep in the lab, when I was stopped along the s16 corridor by an SoC admin staff whom I was familiar by face with. She was hanging around the corridor doing the horrific task of shushing everyone into silence, as an exam was going on then.

She shuushed me to stop.

"Shuush, boy~~!" she went.

"Erm yah?" I paused.

"Help me buy coffee. Normal one," and she handed me 50 cents.

I stopped for a while to think how I should respond.

"Nothing like an ol' strong morning brew"

Firstly, I wasn't really chummy with her - I don't even know her. I mean we know each other by face and encounter in the admin office (when I go over to hand in SEP application; to ask about my teaching pay++), but we never did know each other by name or if we really do know each other by a 5-hop link of friends (caveat: your friends' friends' friends' friends' friends can be Bill Clinton...)

Secondly, I AM A BOY??! I'm freaking 24 and I can:
1) drive a car (I'll proudly show you my driving license anytime, especially if you can't drive - guffaws);
2) sign my own consent forms;
3) watch RA movies (more guffaws);
4) travel overseas without holding my mother's hands (hmmm...?)

the only thing that I can't do is earn my own keep (that'll be next year) and that's because I'm still schooling. So which part of my life constitutes a 'Boy'????

But sigh, this frame of contemplation didn't last for more than 15 milliseconds (ok, it was more of an afterthought), before I replied "OK~~!", like a boy who was eager to deliver a package in his local neighbourhood for the DHL man in exchange for a sweet or something. Except there wasn't any sweet in the one-sided bargain.

"You drive a hard bargain.... here's your sweet."

Sigh.... I guess I'm still a boy. At least I'm more chummy with her now. Her name's Devy.

可惜不是你

歌手：梁静茹

这一刻突然觉得好熟悉
像昨天今天同时在放映
我这句语气原来好像你
不就是我们爱过的证据

差一点骗了自己骗了你
爱与被爱不一定成正比
我知道被疼是一种运气
但我无法完全交出自己

努力为你改变
却变不了预留的伏笔
以为在你身边那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天已非常遥远
但闭上双眼我还看得见

可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
那一段我们曾心贴着心
我想我更有权力关心你
可能你已走进别人风景
多希望也有星光的投影
努力为你改变
却变不了预留的伏笔
以为在你身边那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天已非常遥远
但闭上双眼我还看得见

可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
可惜不是你陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔
感谢那是你牵过我的手
还能温暖我胸口

Exam Revision

It's getting insane over here.

Time left before the start of exam is getting lesser and lesser, and I'm still spending futile efforts wooing Signals, trying to get to know her better - when I should have married her donkey years ago in LT7. The going's not good.

I hate Signals.

Meanwhile in desperate attempts to avoid studies, I survey SoC's toilets as a self-imposed plumber (I'm a closet plumber) and have since fixed 3 toilet flushing cisterns. Maybe I should consider a professional career as a plumber, if all else fails.

Frank starts a plumbing business...

Though I'm constantly led to wonder about the many spoilt toilets in SoC. Is it because SoC students have no life and stay in school all the time ==> shit a lot in school ==> increase utility of toilet facilities ==> shorter lifespan of toilet systems? With no direct association to the above, I know of a SoC professor whom I see regularly in the toilet in the wee hours of the morning - washing up with a full compendium of toiletries, towel included. Felt like laughing at him for having no life, but soon realise that I was there in the same toilet in the same wee hours of the morning. Haiz. Then I got jealous of his nifty set of toiletries, wishing I have something similar to wash up with.

Ha! At least he doesn't have a Standard Chartered complimentary beach mat to use as sleeping gear in his lab.

Or does he?

Here's the (phone) plan...

vs


My M1 plan ends on 14th Dec 2005, and I'm thinking of switching over to Starhub when it ends.
The configuration should be this:

1)PHONE PLAN - PowerValue 100 (with extra SMSes [students' lobang])
http://www.starhub.com/mobile/mobileservice/voiceplans.html#voice

2)PHONE MODEL -
I'm looking at Siemens M75
https://www.starhubshop.com.sg/asp/e_choose_pro.asp?PID=PRO_00728
or Siemens CX75
https://www.starhubshop.com.sg/asp/e_choose_pro.asp?PID=PRO_00727

I'm prefering M75 because it is a more rugged phone which may last longer, seeing the inhumane way I treat phones...

Hmm... they told me they are blogging.

So here's the link.

http://sexposingapore.blogspot.com/

I have %#@%@@ lost my phone

To all my friends,I won't have your numbers anymore.

It's all inside my SIM card.

Please send me an email (native02@yahoo.com) list with all our mutual friends and phone numbers observing the following format (so I can create Excel file):

:list= (:listing :n)*
:listing = :name(, :phone_number)+
:phone_number = :hp OR :house
:hp = [0-9]+
:house = [0-9]+
:name = [A-Z]+
:n = line break

eg..
List =
Frank Lee Weng Hong, 93627261, 68923242
Jonathan Lu, 98218722
Winny The Pooh, 9992415, 9992411

My last sms received is from ZK asking me to go to Xin Yan on 29th. I guess I will be too skinny in the wallet to go now.

Kusok. Sacre bleu. Tmd.

Zouk Halloween Pics....

...are here

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忘不了

This is one song that I've heard during my childhood which has lingered in my mind till now. Never quite remembered what's the song name, but the tune has been floating in my mind for...17 years?

Have been conscientiously listening for it whenever 95.8FM is playing, but have only caught it once on airwaves. And I didn't quite catch the name.

Now FINALLY found it. Yay. =)

歌手：童安格 专辑：其实你不懂我的心

为何一转眼
时光飞逝如电
看不清的岁月
抹不去的从前
就象一阵风
吹落恩恩和怨怨
也许你和我
没有谁对谁错

忘不了你的泪
忘不了你的好
忘不了醉人的缠绵
也忘不了你的誓言
何不让这场梦
没有醒来的时候
只有你和我
直到永远

Jogging.

I've been doing regular jogs for some time now, and I have some thoughts about jogging.

When did I start taking up jogging?
Let's see... It started last year January, but disrupted when I went to Vancouver for my exchange program (it was too cold to run there. I tried.) I resumed jogging when I came back, and has since been jogging up to now.

What are the distances you jog?
I started off with the usual 2.4km, from 1 round/week to 3 rounds/week.
Then I grew bored of the short distance and migrated to 4km runs 2 rounds/week.
Now I'm running 4km 3 rounds/week, with a 21km run every fortnight (I've run 3 so far) in preparation for the Standard Chartered Marathon slated in 4th Dec. If I feel too energetic, I up my 4km runs to 8kms, albeit at a slower pace.

But dang, Standard Chartered ran out of space, so I'm looking forward to the next marathon. No need to be Standard Chartered. A person has to do at least one marathon in his whole life and I intend to do more than one.
But I really dig Standard Chartered's slogan, "There's no such thing as bad weather - only weak minds."

What has joggin done for me?
Before Army, I was decent.


BUT Army turned me into a fat bastard incapable of chasing after an ice-cream man. Jogging (and all the circuit trainings) has reversed this situation, and I think I'm quite fit now. My body doesn't allow me to go super fast (unlike Gurkha in his prime of youth), but I think I'm pushing it to decent speeds and distances. But still not competitive speeds.

Bus chasing from one station to the next is quite possible, but I still puff a little. But I do get the bus, yes.


Any injuries?
My knees are slowly going, I think.


The first time I ran my 21km, it was "GOOD LORD, I AM GOING TO SEE YOU TOMORROW...."


But I learned to change my jogging gait to minimise impacts on my knees, and now am able to do 21kms without reporting sick the next day. Really cool. But I must say the running gait looks ugly. It's like all those walking joggers who shake their butts all the time. So there's actually a purpose for the shaking butts... hmmm...

How should I start a jogging regime?

Join me! I'm sick of jogging by myself. Not really. But a companion's always good. Jeremy gave up on me after 1 round around the school. He'd rather stick to basketball.



I jog in school, A2 route. Mostly after 12am, when I can jog bare-bodied in only my jogging shorts. I do my 21kms on Sats/Sundays... Only guys need apply. Or pretty gals. Haha.

Erm, how should I start a jogging regime BY MYSELF?
Start off with 2.4km? I dunno. Once the distance gets comfortable, try to increase speed. Maybe till 1030min or less.

Then you may want to try attaining the 945 IPPT gold standard (generally you run faster and faster for same or shorter distances.) or you may want to try going for distances (you jog slower/same speed for longer and longer distances). The essence is that you move to higher speed/longer distance, once you get comfortable with the current config. Otherwise you'll be a wussy.

Here's a good website for reference

Frank "The Auntie Killer" strikes again....

"Ooh.. he's so cute~~! I'm going to give him more eggs~~!"

I've got the vegetarian stall auntie @ PGP aircon canteen wrapped around my fingers... heh heh..

She gives me extra stuff at no extra cost, and knows me by face. Everytime I buy stuff from her, she automatically gives me extra scrambled eggs (my favourite dish. She KNOWS. =D)

And sometimes, she charges me less than usual.

Haha... Frank is so good at charming aunties. =P

Nice .swf file

Thanks to Kenneth the tune is stuck together with the images of romping bunnies in my head now...

Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me

Someone buy me an electronic keyboard?

Halloween

Above: Zikai, me, Wendy, Kelly. (ZX is the jester well-hidden at the back)

Note to self: Weirdest injury to date

WTF?
How did I get armpit abrasion from jogging?!?

Inner thigh abrasion, yes. But armpit abrasion???

Qualnet is over!

No more late nights!

No more pesky mobility models. No more Random Waypoint, Random Walk, Reference Point Group Mobility~~!

NO more AODV, ZRP, DSR, OLSR-INRIA (even though what these routing protocols do continue to elude me...)

No more throughput, end to end delay, delivery ratios

No more spatial dependency, mobility metrics, or connectivity graph.

No more .nodes, .locations, .movements, .configs, .stats.

No more abuse of my lappie with meaningless simulations of Scenarios 1 - 4, 100/125/150 nodes, 600x600/800 terrains.

No more attraction points, source and destination locations.

.
.
.
.
.

But still got exams.

Sigh.

Comp. Engineering..... (let's say it together now) SUX!

Demented show

Demented Movie

This is so lame, but soooo funny~~~~!

Don't watch it! It's lame!

No no no, watch it! It's so funny!

Argh.. watever, you watch and decide yourself.
Or don't watch it and decide yourself. Huh?

Watever...

Sir Rodney and Kenny (no) G

NUS piano ensemble presents...
La Chanson Et Danse

The musical performance at UCC on wednesday was quite an event for me to act the high class artsy fartsy dork I am not - other than being most improperly dressed for the event. I should have been fashionably late to pull the act off better, but no... - I was on time. How can I be late for your performance? =)

I am constantly led to wonder if cultural well-behaviour meant the refusal of the best viewing seats located at the sides of the upper levels of the theatre. If it does, I might have been the only ruffian in the theatre to enjoy the best in viewing and listening pleasures that night with me in bird eye view of everyone else, and the piano's lid providing an indirect projection of the acoustics from the soundboard within.

As the pianists played their melodious tunes, my mind drifted to thoughts on the value of Music. ...

What is the value of Music? Music has been a foreign agent to me (I can't tell my Renaissance from my Baroque.) My reference to music here is NOT contemporary music, but those that you hear on Symphony 92.4FM or in Victoria Concert Hall - contemp. music, I can deal with. I have never had any music lessons, unless you consider those immensely short periods of towgay readings and recorders in pri school and sec 1 and sec 2. The only music education I have is from MTV and radio. And from the umpteenth times I sang Mari Kita in school.

In the performance, the pianists played with absolute passion. It is clear the amount of practise they have on those ivories - how long have they been playing at them? 10 years? 15 years? What is the total expenditure for educating a person to reach performance level in piano? 30K? I have always wanted to be able at the piano without considerations of the efforts and costs behind it, but now I am led to consider - if I had the time and resources to pursue piano playing, would I have had played the piano or engage in other more profitable activities? I am not sure. I am quite a realist, and a bit of a dreamer.

Anyway, back to the performance.

I am quite sure half of all expert piano players look quite dorky - from the current sample size. They play well, but move with manners of primary school kids going up the stage to collect their book prizes at End of Year ceremonies. But maybe I am just being dismissive and jealous at their skills.

Sir Rodney captured me with his trance-like behaviour when he played 'L'isle Joyeuse' - he looked quite normal without any artistic bearings, but when he played the piano, it almost seemed like he was natural with the keys.

Sir Rodney

At times, he was smiling, at times he was frowning; at times his body was flowing to the soothing music, head nodding in agreement, at times he was repelled by the erratic rhythm which he couldn't stop playing no matter how hard he tried while his head shake in vehement disagreement - it was almost like watching a possessed being in action. I am in awe of his involvement, I seriously am.

What put me off was Mr. Maksim-wannabe playing Elektrik. Notwithstanding the wayang-ness of his appearance (with ditzy Windows Media Player visualisation on display, he sat on the piano bench and made the audience waited for a good few minutes before a 'We're sorry for the technical error' abruptly ended his first appearance.) His second appearance at the end of the performance played a Maksim-style techno-piano piece, which is, no doubt, quite nice to hear. The only fault I found was the background music being too overwhelming and drowned his piano playing. And his repugnant parakeet hairdo. And his brown coat. He would have been better off wearing a black tee and jeans - that will show a sleek fuss-free style centered at optimal performance, nothing grandiose, nothing superfluous.

The Man himself

Birthday in cluster kitchen

There was a gathering in the cluster kitchen yesterday late at night which led to the celebration of Gurkha's birthday. Not that anyone knew it to be Gurkha's 21st birthday beforehand.

I was recovering from my jog in the kitchen, when Jeremy 1 came in and chatted with me about how I should go and join him to swim and 'forget about jogging. It's so monotonous'. Then Phu came in with his rice cooker and seafood to prepare for next day's breakfast. And we started talking about how abs almost always develop disproportionately with respect to our body's lateral symmetry.

Then Jeremy 2 came in and we started talking about the Taichi man who taichis almost everyday and how Jeremy 1 would trade his unobstructed view of the Taichi man for my obscured view of the playground (which comes with chio bus sometimes.) We then hitched a cunning plan to ambush Mr. Taichi (just to test his skills), with details being Jeremy 1 jumping out of his window onto him, while I make sure to poke Mr. Taichi into Jeremy 1's landing area, if Mr. Taichi ever come to realise Jeremy 1's diabolical move and step aside.

Taichi Man and his Jeremy Subduing Palm

Soon after our whimsical thoughts subside in decreasing bouts of innane laughters, China Guy came in to cook noodles and we came to realise the gathering to be the most attended one ever (other than the first formal cluster meeting.)

To make things fun, we decided to sing Happy Birthday to the next guy who comes in, just because we were really bored and obstinate about going back to our rooms to study for our testsssssss.

China Guy 2 came in and we sang. Surprised at our misinformation, he was quick to point out the day to be not his birthday (but he would graciously accept any presents we have for him) - and we immediately digressed to examine the Pandoric contents of the upper freezer. To date, none of us present then have laid claim to the unidentified ice-cream box of what Jeremy deduced, after serious inspection, to be bloody fingers from some unresolved murder case.

Cluster leader came in and we sang. Not his birthday. We continued to delve deeper into the lower freezer area, asking for identification of all the possessions in the fashion of handling Katrina's aftermath.

Then Gurkha came in, clad in his shorts and generously endowed natural buffers, holding his toiletries in his hands. And we sang. Surprised at how informed we are, he gave us his usual 1 sec blank look and expressed his thanks to us. Some of us, no... most of us were dubious and thought him to be 'Lamb-Chop-Play-Alonging' with us, and we asked for proper authentication, only to have him properly authenticated by his IC.

Glorious day. 20-10-2005. Some of us should go and buy 4D, using permutations of the numbers.

All of us scurried back to our own room to dig for long-cached universally-accepted presents for Gurkha - Jeremy 2 got him some chocolates, cluster leader too (what's with everyone having chocolates as present reserves??) In excellent and fashionable taste, I gave him the USB-Handphone Charger given out during HSBC's MA talk, reminding myself I SHOULD get some chocolates for federal reserves.

And I walked to NUH to get him a tub of Haagen Daz for his birthday treat as well. He is, after all, my favourite Ghurka.

what Gurkha might have been some years ago..

What do I want to be?

Sometimes, I want to be something else other than me.


I want to be a bird.
To fly freely in the sky, to make the world my home. I will fly from one end of the world to the other, across vast oceans, across great fields, across timelines; to feel the wind in my wings, the absoluteness of freedom.
Then I wonder where I will stay. In nests? Heavens, no. What happens when it rains?
What will I feed on? Worms? Goodness gracious, no! I want my pig's trotters and mee goreng! Pratas! Pratas! I need them!
So I don't want to be a bird.




I know! I want to be a fish!
To swim freely in the ocean, to make the sea my home. I will swim from one end of the world to the other, over vast distances, over great fields of sea anemones, across timelines; to feel the water in my fins, the absoluteness of freedom.
Then I wonder where I will stay, again. Heavens, I don't even have a nest!
What will I feed on? Other fishes? Planktons? No, I want my fish fillet and Hainanese chicken rice! Pastas! Pastas! I need them!
So I don't want to be a fish.




What about a squirrel?
To hide my nuts like a possessive nutcase, to make trees my home. I will jump about from trees to trees with nuts in my hands, balancing myself with my soft bushy tail. I can make my own Nutella, and I'll have fur that never goes out of fashion.
Then I wonder what I will do other than hiding nuts and jumping around. Nothing much, really. Do I get to see the world? No. Do I get to see anywhere outside my little community of trees? Probably not. What happens when it rains, or snows?
So I don't want to be a squirrel.





How about a tortoise? I'll take life easy...
To live a long life, to see what has been here and what will be here. To move about at leisurely speeds, laughing at the meaningless business of everyone else. Why bother to rush about doing, and miss the enjoyment of quiet peacefulness? Two hands of leisure rather than one hand of business, I'd say.
Then I wonder the usefulness of such a long life, if life is meant to be all so peaceful and non-undulating....
No, I don't want to be a tortoise. I want more excitement to life.






A dragon? I'm a magestic dragon! I'll breathe fire and destroy towns and places - holding princesses and kingdoms in ransom. Everyone will be in fear and awe of me! I'll fly freer than a bird, and I'll live in a cave with people paying tributes to me.
But then, who will be my friend? Who will dare to be my friend?
I don't want to deal with the occasional smart ass knight who thinks himself good enough to kill me for the princess and some stupid intangible he calls 'Glory'.
No, I don't want to be a dragon.





I guess I'm better off a human as I am -
I can fly further and faster than a bird to Cananda and live in East Hastings, living freer than a lark in my rented apartment with Garry and Eu;
I can swim freer than a fish in Ko Samut with Chee wee, and laze on sentosa beach as well;
I can wakeboard/windsurf/kayak with ZK/stef/lele anytime I want (if the weather permits);
I can buy cans and cans of Nutella and eat them with bread in PGP, with Gurka to tell me stories of exploits in Mt. Vernon camp;
I can spend a quiet sunday afternoon by myself in McDonald's, watching traffic pass me by;
I can sit in a park and watch children play whilst mothers scream, hearing the chirping of the birds and marvelling at how everything opposing fits in picture-perfectly;
and most of all, I have my friends.

Who needs to be a dragon when you already have friends who promise their kingdoms to you in times of need? (Though I'm always wondering why we never did have enough princesses to go around...)

Not me.

=)