London Calling

Methinks

2008-08-17T15:06:00.002+01:00

I think that I will be missing my self soon...

A new beginning awaits..... Vamos!!

Back in SG!

2008-07-13T13:38:00.002+01:00

Back in sunny Singapore after a short getaway to Japan with the girlfriend over the past week. Mainly stayed at Tokyo, but I also did a daytrip to Nikko. Wonderful looking shrines and temples, but also a great experience soaking in all things Japanese. Gotta love the food there. (Though I'll steer clear of it for some time, especially after all the raw fish & oyster at Tsukiji!)

Anyway, had Commencement yesterday... Cut short my Japan trip just to make this ceremony so inside I was really hoping that it wouldn't be a letdown since the trip was shortened. Turns out I was pleasantly surprised with the event... simple, fast, caught up with old friends (who weren't hesitating about making full use of networking time), and took loads of photos =) To think of it, this would likely be my last ceremony for some time where I'm getting some award or sort of. And possibly my last step into NUS for some time, bar the tennis sessions heh. In any case, to all my fellow graduate friends, happy Graduation!

Will upload photos as soon as I get my hands on them, for both Japan and Commencement, so stay tuned for it.

Oh, and thank you Rafa, new Wimbledon champion, for justifying my trust in you... [see previous post]... Vamos!!!!

Mid-Wimbledon Prediction

2008-06-30T17:31:00.002+01:00

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say here, that the best player in Wimbledon 08 is not Federer, but Nadal. Money's on him to win the championships.

Let's see if this pans out in a week's time.

Journey through history...

2008-06-11T05:23:00.005+01:00

2 rather interesting flash animations depicting
- the influence of religion through ancient times (of the 4 major religions today), and
- Rulers of the Middle East region through known history
Note: flash was too large to be embedded, so they open in a new window.

I've always been interested in historical Europe, especially circa 500 BCE to 1500 CE. I've been hoping to find some maps actually, that show snapshots of the european theatre in this period. To that end, these 2 resources, were the closest I can find for what I want. Sadly, the 1st one, while very detailed, starts from 1CE, while the 2nd while, is a larger macro view of the world empires (though mostly hunter-gatherer societies pre-Antiquity). Enjoy if your are a history buff like me!

http://www.euratlas.com/time1.htm

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:World_History_Maps

interesting bet

2008-06-09T17:27:00.001+01:00

Bet between Buffett and Protege Partners (S&P Index vs. fund of hedge funds over a 10 year period)

O Lewis, where did you get your driving license from?

2008-06-09T11:30:00.005+01:00

In a surprising Canadian Grand Prix, the BMWs came in 1-2, with David Coulthard 3rd. Now wait. Where are the McLarens and the Ferraris?

Basically, to keep a long story short, during a busy pitlane session after the safety period, Raikonnen and Kubica lined up at pit exit due to a red light.

Soon after, Hamilton comes cruising along at pit lane speed limit, and crashes unceremoniously into the back of the Ferrari. End of race for both drivers. Kubica was not bothered by the circus of events going on 2 metres from him, and went on to win the race.

From left to right: Kimi (car underneath), Lewis (car in mid air), Kubica (laughing in the car)

Interestingly, Hamilton was facing 2 cars side by side, and when he realised too late that the lights were red, he 'manouevred' to the left, where the red car was. No further suggestions necessary.

Quote by Kubica: "Last year Fisichella and Massa went by, I stopped as the first car. This time I stopped side by side with Kimi and after a few seconds Lewis came flat out and crashed into him. I have to thank him that he chose Kimi and not me."

Quote by Kimi: "Obviously, anyone can make mistakes, as I did two weeks ago in Monaco, but it's one thing to make a mistake at two hundred per hour but another to hit a car stopped at a red light. I am not angry because that doesn't achieve anything and does not change my result.
I am unhappy, because I had a great chance of winning."

To be fair, Hamilton knew he was in the wrong and he did apologise. Its just one of these things that crack me up -- F1 driver trying to beat a red light with 2 stationary cars in front of him. This already reminds me of the incident in Shanghai where Lewis parked his million dollar McLaren in the world's most expensive carpark (read: gravel)

Having said that, I still cannot understand why the pitlane has to be closed during pitstops, or why the exit is closed when the entrance is opened. I believe the former is due to not letting any driver gain an advantage of the safety car by pitting in, although this would be negated easily if everyone did the same. I presume it would benefit backrunners the most, but hey, safety car sessions always benefits backrunners.

I think we should see some new rules coming out in the next few weeks.

The Incredible Rafael Nadal

2008-06-08T16:07:00.006+01:00

Nadal uses the same strategy against Federer for the past 4 years; still has Fed's number

French Open 2008 was such a one-sided final. Roger Federer, world number 1, only managed 4 games against Rafa. It was a massacre through and through. Sometimes it can be rather stupefying watching a relentless Rafael Nadal own a player of Federer's calibre like it happened today.

Well, today, like the rest of the past 2 weeks, Rafa played perfect tennis. Without a doubt, he has improved further on clay, and today's final was a complete annihlation. Bagel in the final set. ouch. ouchhh.

What was sad to see was how easily dispirited Federer gets. Sure, its easy to sit on your couch and commentate, but watch Nadal, after he makes a (rare) unforced error. He curses under his breath, and then does his routine again, walk to the back, strings, sweeps the line, spits, hair, bounces, picks his shorts, get on with it. Roger? shoulders drop, curses, plays tentative on the next point. Of all people, he should know that at that level of tennis it is all physical and mental. And clearly, everytime he faces Rafa (on clay), he already starts off on a losing foot with his mental outlook. Somehow, and I actually think it is a matter of ego, he can't quite come to terms that he being the world number 1 for the longest time ever, being considered possibly the best player ever, is being ridiculed in such a manner.

Well Roger, face it. We might as well accord Nadal the title of best player on clay, ever. Let's talk tactics. When an average player faces a clearly better player, the average player is extremely unlikely to outplay the better player. He has to play to his own advantages and bring the better player out of his comfort zone. Then, he has a chance. He might still lose, and lose even more, but there is a better chance of winning. Otherwise it is still 80-20 in the better player's corner. And that's exactly how it panned out. I think Roger still cannot believe he is inferior to Rafa on clay by this much; his approach should then be to try different shots and plays that he himself seldom uses to surprise Nadal. Granted, some effort was done today. More volleys, drop shots. So what went wrong?

1. Fed's volleying was poor today. It was poor during the entire French Open. 30% of the time it is good, and it looks elegant and beautiful. But he still loses on 70% on other times.

2. The top spin backhand. Nadal has been going to Fed's backhand for 4 years (in Paris), and Fed almost always insists on hitting back his top spin back hand. and 80% of the time it is a mid court ball, which is Rafa's money shot area. I felt he could have sliced more today. Yes again, he might have lost in any case ... simply because ...

3. Rafa was just amazing today. Some of the volleys to the back of the court were returned exceptionally well. Passing shots, lobs, you name it. Rafa played perfect tennis today.

Somehow, the idea of winning got lost for Roger. In tennis, foremost to any player, is to win. And to win is to score points. Yet somehow one gets the feeling that Roger is going for the beauty shots, as if he will be crucified whenever he wins ugly. As for Rafa? Today's game was seemingly a cake walk. He broke Roger so many times early in the set, and if I was him I would think, if it ain't broken, why change my gameplan? Roger's throwing me the trophy! Heavy balls back to his court, and let him attempt his line cleaning shots.

Watching Federer is like watching a dance; elegant, artistic, enjoyable. Watching Nadal is inspiring. I like Federer -- don't get me wrong -- but there is much to learn from watching a grinder like Nadal play as well. At the very least, at the amateur level, we can grind better than we can play drop shots 1m from the net.

Aside from the match, I thought it to be pretty funny that Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander came out and said Roger had a good chance to win (prior to the match, obviously). Surely, if they have been following the events of the past 2 weeks, it was clear that Rafa was playing at the top of the clay court game the world has ever seen. I honestly put the match at 80-20 to Rafa. I think deep down, Borg probably wanted his record of 4 French Opens in a row not to be bested by anyone, so rooting Fed was probably right. And if Borg went on record to say Nadal was surefire to win, I think Fed would have even less belief in himself facing Rafa!

Another aside: Didn't anyone think that the commentators were severely biased towards Roger? I mean, I like Fed, but I'm sure the Nadal fans would be seriously annoyed by his constant prejudice. Everything he talked on was from the viewpoint of Roger, seriously, everything! Rafa's fantastic play today deserved so much more praise than was given by the commentator. Perhaps this is something the TV station needs to take note of.

Aside #3. I was quite looking forward to this game, even though I predicted a whitewash. Nevertheless, I offered 4/1 odds to a friend for Fed to win. This friend (who shall not be named -- suffice to say he is a Fed fan) refused to take up the odds! haha. So much for support! (just kidding dude) As the game went on, it was quite interesting to see that Fed odds were given 7/1 , then 10/1, and on the final set at 5-0, an amazing 201/1 !!!

All in all, great play for Rafael Nadal, extremely deserving of his 4th consecutive French title, and very possibly many more to come. For the sake of tennis too, I do hope Roger gets his act together and puts on a good run in Wimbledon.

Sean Carving

2008-06-06T04:09:00.002+01:00

here's a really cool video of a image processing software. just think of its many possible applications ....

conspiracies, funnies and hotties

2008-05-17T03:01:00.003+01:00

I'm currently following Carl Icahn's Extreme Makeover: Boardroom Edition (quoted from fool.com) with a lot if interest. I was quite surprised when Yahoo turned down Msoft's offer; it was quite good value I thought given market valuations and sentiments. Now that the activist Carl (check out what he did with Motorola and BEA) is trying to bring in his own board onto Yahoo, it could simple push Yahoo to reconsider MSoft's offer, and yield Carl himself a nice profit from his Yahoo stake. Well played.

Not sure if Steve Ballmer had a part in this as well (haha! conspiracy threories...)

******

Speaking of conspiracy theories, something smells fishy with Carlyle's takeover of Booz Allen Hamilton's governmental consulting arm. Carlyle has been trying to separate itself from any governmental connections in the recent past, but now, a takeover for BAH's government consulting arm? Sounds wrong??? If it's true Carlyle engineered the wars/govt projects, wouldn't their consulting arm now reap the most benefits. What a way to earn money. "Propose" a project, and let the consulting arm earn from it....

Having said that, BAH (commercial part left) is now left to fight with the big 3 in the business, without their rather exclusive govt contracts. interesting, no?

******

Hilarious Stuff: some guy tried to bank in a $360 billion cheque.... sure.

******

K.C. is hot =)

Ronnie wins world championships; threatens to quit snooker (again)

2008-05-08T06:29:00.002+01:00

There we go ... the most talented snooker player in the world wins his overdue 3rd World Championship, beating Ali Carter even though Ronnie wasn't playing at his best. Quite a fitting final as well, as the 2 players who hit 147 in the championships went on to play in the finals (I believe this is a first). Well done to both players.

As I mentioned before, I do hope that Ronnie finds new focus and concentration in his game. I actually think the game needs him than he needs the game, as snooker without him now, is quite a dull setup.

Again, his usual hint that he may quit the game now, exiting at a high. He said it before a few times, and one could literally hear the groans from the crowd when he said that during the prize presentation. Oh well. It would be great to watch him play on and win a couple more championships at least. It does seem like his life is back in order =)

Ronnie O'Sullivan hits another 147; claims snooker is not his first priority....

2008-04-29T17:30:00.002+01:00

First off, I know there has been a lack of updates, but well, nothing that much interesting other than the fact that I'm grauduating soon. But enough about me, here's something quite interesting.

I'm not a hardcore snooker fan but do enjoy watching some matches every now and then. The maximum break one can hit in a snooker game is 147 points, which means all the red-black combinations and the full colour set at the end. It's not done often, and it's always magical to watch another one (I would assume it to be about 5 times as hard as hitting a perfect bowling game...).

Ronnie O'Sullivan, my fav snooker player has just hit another 147 in his win over a 2-time world champion, in the world championships recently. Now he holds the record for 147 break in competitive matches, I think.

I really like this guy a lot as he is wonderfully talented. Natural with both hands, he really makes the game look easy when he's on fire, very much like Federer does with tennis at times. Plus the fact that he is ambidextrous gives him a huge advantage over his peers. Thought by many to be the most gifted snooker player of his generation, albeit lacking in consistency and focus.

Ok, so he seems to be on form now... this break took 8 mins (his record is 5mins ++ which is also a world record...) Seriously, how good is this guy?

Shockingly, he claims snooker is not his primary interest!

O'Sullivan's perfect clearance, in the 25th anniversary year of Cliff Thorburn's first Crucible max, was worth £157,000.
However, he later claimed the cash was irrelevant.
"I don't really spend a lot of money," insisted the world No.5.
"I just don't need money. I don't know what to do with it.
Maybe there are things I can do and when I'm out running I'll think of a few good causes.
"Snooker is secondary to me.
This is just my training camp for running. It would be nice to win the tournament but running is my No.1."

From here

the end is near

2008-04-15T06:17:00.001+01:00

it really is near when most ppl's msn nicks contain the word "end", "countdown", "can't wait"....

FYP is finally over, and just the little business of 2 reports due next friday and 2 papers starting in a fortnight's time.

Life's good =)

what's the difference...

2008-03-20T05:04:00.002Z

.... between talking on the phone when driving, and putting on your makeup when driving???

I mean, I saw this OL using the liner and brusher for easily 5 mins, slowly applying her makeup through this morning's wet weather and heavy traffic.

Well, I'm not for banning putting on makeup but I just feel the ban on hp when driving could be unnecessary. I'm not sure if it does really cut down on accidents. So how about talking to your passenger with hands all over the place while driving? Should the ban be removed?

On the other hand, Singaporeans ain't that good at driving. Just compare to any European, American, or even Malaysians. Put us to shame.

But still ... lady, don't distract me from driving! hahaha.

Decisions...

2008-03-13T14:04:00.006Z

we all have to face them. some have it easy, some have it tough. some ... we just don't get.

***************

A friend commented to me recently, said that with my grades and overseas SEP experience, it shouldn't be too hard for me to land a IB job, one that pays ~2k over what I'm offered right now. While I already knew of my options then, nevertheless, these words seem to run through my mind every now and then. Of course the work will be quite different, some say tougher, while others say it's easier. In any case, it did leave me with a decision. Should I pursue other options?

Anyway, my conclusion thus far is that I'll stick to what I have now. I think it has good prospects in any case, and it's a commitment to my earlier choice. Will I regret? Only time will tell. But for now, no.

***************

Another friend of mine, who went SEP to IC with me, is facing a tough decision. He landed an offer from DB recently, pays real well, and looks set and happy. Recently he waas offered a post grad position in MIT ! Wow, what a decision I would love to face. I'm happy for him honestly, and I suppose whatever choice he makes, it will be one he wouldn't regret. both options are really, really good. (I'll probably pick DB, but my penchant for research isn't half as strong as his heh.)

***************

On a cards board I played a couple of days ago. I held T3 and called the big blind. some guy in LP called too, the rest folded. Flop came 6 K T, rainbow. (i forgot the suits but a flush wasn't on the board.) So I raised the pot amount, and he called quickly. The turn was a T. I raised, and this time, he reraised! Strong play I must say.

So I wondered, with me having a set, did he actually have a set of KK, 66, or KT for the full house? Those were the hands I was afraid of. very playable hands in any case. I thought he may be bluffing, and in any case with a straight draw remotely possible, I reraised him again. He called, to my surprise. He must have something strong I thought.

River came the Q. Bad card for me. I checked. I thought if he made his straight he would raise for sure. He checked! He seemed afraid.... I was certain I won the pot at this point....

Until he flipped over AJ. Wow. that was a seriously weird play.

While I can't comment on his play pre-river, which on hindsight was unusual perhaps but still not a bad play considering he had outs, but his check on the river really threw me off. I mean, if you were waiting on the 1 card that you think can beat the other players, and when it came, you checked in the last position????? So weird.

So much for decisions. =)

PS I lost 300 in that pot.

EDIT (20/4/08): Re-reading this post, I realized I may have made an oversight. What could have happened was that even though he made his straight, my strong betting made him think I might have a FH with the board being paired. So, just in case I did have the FH, he would check on the river, for 2 reasons: He can win a showdown if I did not have a FH, and still win a substantial pot, and also , if I did have the FH, he would minimise losses in case I was check-raising him. So it might be a viable, conservative play. However, it still doesn't address the fact that knowing I might have a FH, he still went on to call my raise on the turn for his straight draw. In other words, he was just gambling on the turn and I got drawn out (in fact, he must have realised that he only had Q as his only out against me, or unless he thought I was bluffing. And he still called 2-to-1 on the turn). You gotta gamble, to win big.

Classy Milan

2008-02-25T14:41:00.002Z

We all know Eduardo of Arsenal suffered a horrific career threatening injury over the weekend, but AC Milan was real classy about it and issued a get-well-soon wish via its official website.

Breaking news

COME ON EDUARDO!

2/23/2008
MILAN - Eduardo Da Silva has broken his left leg in the match against Birmingham today, as reported by the BBC. The Rossoneri's family wishes the Arsenal striker all the best and a quick return to playing.

Now, how many clubs in the world would do that. Some more they were Arsenal's next major opponent in the CL.... Another reason to love my Milan =)

my virgin (golf) experience

2008-02-12T14:09:00.000Z

haha.

nothing much really... just went to the range with my cousin for about an hour or so, so that he can teach me some basics of golf. I realize its wayyy harder than it seems on TV. There's so much to take note of and really requires concentration. I guess it's like tennis, gotta keep practicing till the stroke becomes 2nd nature. Right now, 80% of my balls swerve right, implying something is still fundamentally wrong... hahaha!

Amazing Race Asia -- Budapest!

2008-02-04T15:01:00.000Z

So coincidental today that when I turned on the telly, I caught the Amazing Race Asia 2. I knew they were in Europe and there was this particular bridge that they were counting the bars on. I thought that looked familiar like Hungary, and it turned out that ya.. it was in Budapest!

I was there last May with Teresa for a short trip, so I can still remember the place quite well. Next thing I knew, they went to the Buda castle labyrinth, which was basically a scary and dark tunnel maze. Yea the same light carrier too, but the labyrinth was wayyy darker than that in real life. Oh well. (But they entered from the exit I think....)

Then they went to Margaret Island, which we went too! Did the pedal carts, which I was quite tempted to do but I think it was quite ex then. haha. Next they went to Heroes Square, which we went too! and it was near our hostel!!! hahahhaha. It was really so coincidental. But again, these are the generally touristy places. Budapest has more than that of course, but still it was nice to revisit Europe.... heh.

Lenny Kravitz rockin' on

2008-02-03T14:54:00.001Z

I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself, but the new Lenny Kravitz album "It is Time for a Love Revolution" sounds really really good. Normally I take a few listens before an album grows on me, but this one didn't take long. Hope the feeling doesn't go away too soon either.

Anyway, the music world needs more of such rock bastions to keep rock alive among all the black and pseudo-black rap that's filling the airwaves.

Success can be double-edged ....

2008-02-03T14:22:00.000Z

haha. no it's not about me.

Remember Football Manager 2006? Having not played it for months, I went back for an hour today to take a peek at the 'empire' that I created haha.

Well I've always been priding myself on building up a team from youth, so my game plan has always been to scout and pry the top youngsters from around the world to train in my world-class academy. And yeah it has been a very successful program feeding my 1st team, which has been all conquering in recent seasons.

In my 10th season already, and normally, as a habit I would play the AC Milan full team vs the AC Milan Under 20s, as a pre-season warm up for both teams. And also as a morale booster for the first team b4 the season kicks off, since I would expect the European champions to crush the U20s anyday, no? (yes i know... this is just a database game... but I tend to personalise the characters in my game..... 10 seasons! )

So the 1st team has been crushing the U20s for years... until this year. 2016. Half time score.... Milan 1 - U20s 5. big fat sigh. My youth team was crushing my 1st team! I was tempted to just play the youth team for the upcoming European Super Cup rather than my lacklustre 1st team.

Gave them a lashing at half time "I expect a better performance after halftime!!!!!!". And my 1st team began to play. the match ended 6-6, and it went to Extra time. 1st time the match ever got to ET. the 1st team got their act together n put in 2 more to make is 8-6 final, but what a embarrassment it would have been if the U20s actually won! It would have been a demoraliser, which does actually impacts the game....

Oh well. Success can be double-edged, no? (I should give my Assistant Manager a raise for his brilliant effort... hmm)

Haha.... all this over a game.

Driving Tips

2008-01-31T15:02:00.000Z

There are some things which I feel rather strongly for and thats the good thing about having a blog to rant about it. Today's topic: Driving tips.

Since I've been sitting shotgun for quite a few rides recently, I've had the pleasure of 'noticing' how other people drive. While most people believe they are above average drivers, the fact is, that can't be true! Anyways, heres some tips which I hope can help my fellow drivers.

1. A good road driver is one who drives smoothly, and driving is a carefree motion.

Think about it. A smooth ride is much more enjoyable than a rushed, jerky ride (unless rush for time, then the cause of the problem is something else) Many times I have seen drivers who see the red light in front by about 200m, and still continue to accelerate till 50m to the red. That, my friends, is bad driving. Unnecessary acceleration wastes petrol, for no real gain in work done. You just managed to reach the red light quicker.

Similarly, some people enjoy tailgating. Maybe they like to scare the drivers in front. Ok. But more often than not, the passengers in the car would be more afraid. People are more afraid of things out of their control, so while it may feel alright to the driver, it may not to the passenger. Tailgating = lots of braking and accelerating. you are just wasting expensive fuel, and adding on the global warming, again for no gain bar a minor ego boost (which no one really cares)

2. Learn the macro, but master the micro.

Macro is pretty much the route map to take. Knowing the route, the quickest, smoothest, least traffic, least lights, etc. These are not mutually exclusive. Many times, the shortest distance is the most packed. It's always better to go on main roads as the traffic lights are in your favour. Some times it's a game of percentages, other times it's luck. And after driving the same route often, you will realise which lights are in sync. Usually it is timed to the main roads.

Learning the macro comes with experience, especially knowing all the short cuts to somewhere else.

But more importantly, master the micro. Defined as the near space within the car. ie front back left right. Know the environment. It will help so much to attain smoothness of driving which is tip 1. Know the car lengths and widths well. If in doubt, ask your passenger to get down and check for you (esp when doing blind reverses, or areas where you can't see) Put your pride aside. Learn how to park properly, within 1 adjustment. As a passenger, one is able to tell within 5 mins of a ride whether the driver is a good driver or not. If you enjoy the ride, he/she is pretty much a good driver.

Don't forget, you aren't the only person in the car. You are also responsible for their safety, so do not take unnecessary risks, esp when driving others around. There was once I drove quickly into a rather narrow section as a truck was taking up part of my lane. To me its quite routine because I know the car's width quite well, but it shocked the hell out of the gf. haha. It kinda frightened her, so I guess it could be nasty if I drove some old fogeys around. So yeah.

3. Overtaking. The key is anticipation.

Overtaking is something we all do often, but somehow not quite good enough. Everyone, including me, can improve much more on this area. But the 1 tip I would encourage people is to ..... Focus on the front, and not so much on the side.

Remember, you are travelling FORWARD. even if you wish to cut right, the main motion is FORWARD. the immediate space in front of you (most likely within metres to another car, you impatient fella), harbours the most danger. Only when you can safely presume the front car wouldn't do a e-brake, then you can start focusing on the left/right.

So many times have I noticed drivers looking left/right once they catch up with a car and wants to overtake, or just to switch lanes. And when the front car brakes slightly, the brake lights lit up so brightly in front, and now you are the one doing a e-brake, even more so than the car in front. This happens to me too, and I'm still trying to correct it somewhat.

The key is anticipation. Know your micro-environment. I personally view the mirrors every 5-10s, depending on mood. haha. But it gives you a clear picture of whether any cars are zooming into the lanes on the side, or any bikes coming along. So in the case you need to make a quick lane switch, it is done with absolute smoothness. Signal, check blind spot, and bear left/right. (Note: don't bear too drastically, as if you were turning! Its jerky and uncomfortable, though it could be fun for you....) As long as you keep track of the micro-environment, lane switching is really an easy matter.

Like a racer, you should always be more concerned with the car in front, than the car to your side. Always remember that. In any case, if you veer right, the car on the right can horn at you, but the car in front can't! you're always worse off being the rear car in accidents.

Find a gap while you are cruising. when the gap comes, signal, move into the lane slightly 1st, blind spot, and go. shouldnt take more than 3 seconds. If you master the micro, you can do 3 lane changes in say 400m , easily. Remember smoothness is key.

4. While smoothness is key, be alert when the need arises.

When it's time to be kancheong, or more alert, sit up. Especially rainy days, or red light cameras. Decide on a path and go ahead. Think about it, a summon sometimes is a much cheaper price to pay than an accident. In any case, I would recommend always having a CD of songs that really get your heart pumping, just to wake u up sometimes during a long/boring drive. AC/DC usually works for me, but to each his own.

Remember too, always always take note of bikers and m-cyclists. It's very dangerous for them, and don't make it even more so with reckless driving.

Haha. Obviously I did feel quite strongly about the driving thing. Do you think my recommendations are valid?

Aside: more ERPs! 85% of motorists will have smoother rides. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Does that mean that 85% of all my drives will be supposedly smoother, or does the 15% just belong to those who drive from 1am-6am? I'm rather wary of these so-called projections. Maybe these jams will make people more inclined to ride motorcycles/bikes, which traditionally have higher %s of incidents compared to 4-wheels. This is not a desirable effect. Maybe I will think of alternative solutions and post them at a later time.

Red January

2008-01-22T15:10:00.000Z

I seldom post things about the financial markets, but I guess this would be an exception.

When the Fed Bank of USA cuts by 75 basis points (during a non pre-determined meeting), it is not a recovery signal. It is not a bail out. It is an indication that "Ok, we're in recession, we admit it, and hopefully this cut can help tide this period over."

Not.

Dow responds with -400 opening. It has been a very red January, esp for those who are still vested. That includes me, who is staring at huge losses. Blue chips though, so I guess I will just hold on to them. However, I would strongly suggest others to consider taking losses for now. Even I'm seriously considering taking losses. Hmm.

back in black.

2008-01-22T12:57:00.000Z

Um. Don't know why I put up that title, but was just inspired by Fed's night all-black attire. Anyway, realised that I ain't gonna be updating much on the Aussie Open, but in any case, it's week 2 and the competition really comes alives. The survivors remain. I think almost all the top players have been tested very strongly thus far, maybe bar Nadal, so it should put him in good stead for the final =)

Hmm. oh yes ziggy. The loving couple won.... sigh. I mean, good for them, but I really wished gramp's team would be 1st. Actually I missed the final ep! haha. But I'm sure I will be able to catch the replay this weekend... totally forgot about it!

On another note, why does the ECE office have to make life so difficult for me. Obviously, when students go in to look for the admin officers, we are in some problem ourselves and we would request for some help from the dept. There's no way we would make their life easier, because we simply only add problems. Anyway the way they scowled at every student's request makes me wonder what some of their job scope was in the first place. Maybe they don't want to do any work at all. hmm shrugs. This is quite the opposite when 1 year ago I went to the office quite often to sort out my SEP stuff and they were overwhelmingly helpful! And I've always thought that the ECE office is one of the best admin offices in NUS ... until today. Maybe it's just a bad day. But tomorrow... I've gotta walk through fire again. Wish me luck. hurhur.

On the last random note (this post has been so random), it's really time to think about my grad trip plans. So far it seems like its Taiwan in end-May and Japan in July, but that leaves my June pretty much freed up. Honestly, I think the real problem is the lack of a travelling partner(s). Sighhhh. Better plan it up soon..... term's gonna get busy real soon....

Aussie Open - Day 1

2008-01-14T13:59:00.000Z

All you really need to know:

1. Jelena Jankovic fought a SUPERB comeback, to play a super long final set (2hrs?). Kudos to her and her opponent. What a match!

2. Andy Murray, star of the future, touted UK's no. 1. I mean, he IS the UK no. 1, dumped out on the first day.

Amazing Race finale .....

2008-01-14T13:56:00.000Z

The Amazing Race will have its finale next week, and boy, will I be supporting the Grandpa and the Kid. Nicolas and David I think .... I think its superbly inspiring to see a 68yr old gramps huffing and puffing along with his grandson. and they are in the final 3 of the comp! Vamos Gramps!!!

weird...

2008-01-13T12:34:00.000Z

my body's telling me something, but I still haven't figured out what it's trying to tell me. And neither have my GP and loved ones.

it's rather worrying.... sigh.

(sorry don't want to reveal details here ...)

computers .. computers...

2008-01-05T04:42:00.000Z

Ah well. since I'm so free these days, decided to tweak the computers in my house. as it stands, there are 3 desktops (1 spoilt), and 3 laptops. Out of which ALL are ancient dinosaurs (and snails), except for my mum's laptop, which ironically is under-utilised by my sister.

So by some weird twist of fate, the person who doesn't use computers much (and properly I must add ... haha) gets the fastest chip in the house. Oh well.

Happy new year everyone! =)

1 sem remaining...

2007-12-26T03:55:00.000Z

Since Sem 1 '04, to borrow some financial trading terms, my CAP has been on a bear run since. Well, mostly because I had quite an extraordinary 1st sem results but rather mediocre ones later on. So I was quite pleasantly surprised to see my CAP rise for once. Dead cat bounce? We shall see.

Still, was a little disappointed to get a B+ for my HR, as I thought it was very possible to get a A- at least. Oh well. Can't complain too much I guess.

1 more sem to go. Focus on FYP!

Happy Holidays everyone =)

All I want for Christmas ....

2007-12-24T02:32:00.000Z

... is to get rid of this damn annoying headache. Argh. Really hurts. Sucky.

2007 Han-ee awards

2007-12-13T10:23:00.000Z

haha what a name. Han-ee. Inspired by the Office's Dundees, well I've decided to acknowledge the more memorable events in 2007. Well by that I don't mean personal experiences like some anniversary, but rather, like best movie, best match etc. or worst. It would be quite cool to look back years later and see how my tastes have changed. heh.

And even though 2007 ain't over, I think I've had about enough material to start giving out the awards. And even if some of the things listed were not made in 2007, but if I experienced it during 2007, then it counts. haha. Give chance lah.

OK! To the inaugural Han-ee awards (note to self: need a new name)

Entertainment

Best Movie: Well, I watched a lot this year so it's really the toughest choice for me. Sentimental fav is Transformers. Other notable ones include Cashback, American Beauty (old movie), Zodiac

Worst Movie: Chronicles of Narnia (old movie). It's really just a C-grade LOTR. And a talking lion, I don't quite get it. haha.

Best TV series: I must say, Sopranos rocked my socks off! A pity they ended, (but what an ending! great! ), so that's the end of the legendary series. The first few seasons may seem somewhat dull compared to today's TV, but the right comparison should be made by the era of TV then, late 90s. I think it must have been quite the ace in the 90s. Nevertheless, who never liked mafia show heh.

Memorable mention: I'm currently hooked onto The Office (US). Brilliantly funny, and I think Dwight Shrute outshines Steve Carrell in the show heh. And I don't know why but the simple love story between Jim and Pam is so touching! heh imagine that in a comedy.

Worst series: not really, I'm quite selective of what I watch. Maybe Pirate Master hah!

Best Musical: Mamma Mia!

Best concert: (only attended 1...) Muse @ Wembley

Best album: Surprisingly, not a rock album, but a jazz compilation known as Jazz Manouche volume 2.Irresistable!

Worst Album: I seem to recall deleting the new Bon Jovi album as soon as I got it.

Best song: Toughie.... hmmm....... this hasn't been the best year for breakout songs, no?

Irrannoying song: It's a decent song, but hearing Snow Patrol's you-know-what song 3 times per hour on UK radio is enough to make my blood boil haha

Worst TV moment: The writer's strike. Sigh. no more Office for now....

Sports

Best Soccer match: AC Milan vs Liverpool, CL Final. suck it up. Actually the Milan - Man utd one could have won this category. but then again. Lpool. hmm.

Best Tennis match(es): 3 come to mind. 1st, Federer owning Roddick Aus Open SF. Total domination, and AR was hot coming into the match. masterclass.
2nd) Federer vs Nadal, wimbledon final. what a 5 setter!!!! fantastico nadal.... vamos next year !
3rd) Nalbandian vs Nadal some final in October. It's hard to play Nalbandian in that form

Best F1 race: Can't recall the venue, but the one that was pouring nonstop, and had for a moment the world's costliest parking lot when 4-5 F1 cars slid off the SAME corner on the SAME lap and pretty much collected themselves together

Best Crash: Kubica @ Montreal. evidently, F1 cars are really really safe.

Best karting race: Of course, the championship clinching run by Team Apex at the Caltex National Karting Challenge. (No one believes me when I say I'm a national champion hahahaha)

Lifestyle

Best Meals: Back to Basics (London), Hokkien Mee @ ChompChomp, Punggol Nasi Lemak@ Upp Serangoon Rd

Best trip: Tie between Budapest and Greece. Love central-eastern europe! Actually Norway was also kinda memorable, for different reasons hah!

Best car ride: Greek island driving loh...haha

Best hostel: Greek islands, cheap n wonderful

Worst airport experience: Heathrow and the stupid curfew

Best plane experience: Forgot when, but it was when a delay allowed us to go into the cockpit and see for the 1st time what it is really like in it. And its much smaller than you think. and Smarter.

Best Game: Hold'em.

Best Website: footytube.com, and rapidshare.com heh

Best blog award: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

Education

Best Book: Mostly read non-fiction this year. Hmm. Haykin's Neural Networks.... NOT hahaha. perhaps WetFeet

Best Documentary (yes.. educational ...): NGC's The Seven Ages of Rock. I wished I had seen this earlier, by 5 years.

Best course: Roman Empire (IC)

Best lecturer: My HR2002 tutor, Mrs Ma

Worst course: BY FAR, Microwave Technology (IC), scoring a world class 46.8%. I wondered how I passed.

Best exam: let's wait and see.

Best FYP moment: let's wait and see about this too.

Best project moment: Seeing my own brain waves on the screen ... 3 days before the presentation day!

OK! I think that's about it. Anything else you would want to know? =)

the feeling of argh.

2007-12-04T14:32:00.000Z

A little rant here.

1st day post exams, and day 2 of my 'exercise' regime heh. Anyways played tennis for the 1st time in weeks, with EJ. I mean, he was a former KR captain so it was obvious who got spanked. Anyway we booked the court till 7pm... and about 630 a group of older ladies came by the court and asked if we were students. This was in TC2, and beside us happen to have a group of staff professors playing their regular tennis. all fine and dandy, except that I didn't bother to print the booking sheet as I never did, and no one ever checked. Even security only check our matric cards.

Anyway this particular male prof, came up to us and said that there was NO WAY we could have booked it, as they block booked the courts every tuesday and friday at those times. They had the sheet to prove it. But the funny thing is, I also managed to book it yesterday! Maybe there was a glitch in the system. and because I had no booking sheet, he was adamant that we didn't book and we had to leave the court immediately. While he does have a point, I was just really put off by his arrogance stance, and demeaning tone. As if a pri sch teacher to a child. I mean, so what, I know you're a prof but you don't have to show your 'power' over me. Argh. By the way, I would not divulge his name, but he did teach a common engineering year 1 module, and is always seen regularly around the tennis courts.

Ask nicely la. We know we no proof we also will go. Stop showing attitude....

In the end, I went back to check and I did manage to book it from 6-7pm. Not blaming the profs for this as I honestly think its a system glitch as they always block book those courts.

But dammit stop your arrogance.

the blog is dead .... NOT!

2007-12-03T12:55:00.001Z

Ok. My last post was in Oct. That's pretty bad. hurhur.

Anyway exams are done, so its just left wqith FYP CA2 on 19th Dec. and then soon xmas ! and then new year! and then... school restarts. bummer. Can't wait to start work.

FYP I think for CA should be fine. Will be running the main bulk of simulations over the next 10 days or so, before finishing up the CA2 report. Sounds quite reasonable to me, but of course gotta put in effort. Still. tennis first tomorrow. hahaha.

Don't know why but I just thought of this today

"The smartest people around, are not the ones with the highest CAP, but the ones who know where their own priorities lie."

Ok this may sound like BS to some, but it's rather meaningful to me anyway haha.

And of course. Happy anniversary to you dear =)

And many more to come .... !

What a finish!

2007-10-22T02:34:00.000+01:00

The F1 season is finally over! And what a great finale it was. Stayed up late in the wee hours to watch the Brazilian GP ... Hamilton went into the race with 4 pts over Alonso and 7 over Raikonnen. It was his race to lose.

Remember Shanghai? When he parked his car in the world's most expensive parking lot ie the pit lane gravel pit?!?! What was he thinking of? A decent finish and the title was his. But that moment of sillyness, losing his head when he could have slowed down more going into the pits, showed a weakness mentally. Can he handle the pressure.

Going into Brazil, I was telling some friends that I expect Alonso to finish strongly in the top three. That's because he has a really cool and mature head on his shoulders, winning 2 championships already. Hamilton will be too eager, and it will be interesting to see if he crumbles under pressure. Raikonnen... 7 pts behind, nah no choice unless the Mclaren blows up. Thus I think Alonso would win, even though I was rooting for Hamilton.

Guess what. He did lose his head once again. Start of race was frantic, Raikonnen got up to 2nd, Hamilton got caught behind a little and let Alonso past. 2-3-4. finish in that order and we have the world's 1st ever rookie F1 champion. but NOOOOO. Turn 4 and you know he wasn't thinking properly again. He's a racer no doubt, wanting to win the title with a victory, but it was barely 1% of the entire race and he didn't need to go on the outside of turn 4. Not very likely. I would say give any driver the chance to finish 4th and win the title and they will snap it up. Perhaps some youthful exuberance from Hamilton? In any case, he ended up 7th I think in the 1st lap.

Of course the electronics problem later didn't help and when he got to the back of the field I knew the title was lost. A brilliant attempt to get into the points got him into 7th , but he was hoping for a miracle (ie a crash from the front runners) to get any chance to win. Ferrari 1-2, so obviously Raikonnen would get no. 1 . Alonso would finish a strong 3, but 1 point short of the title... Raikonnen world champion! Wow. I think the crowd was quite stunned. in the end, the top 3 drivers were separated by 1 point only! Very very close.

In any case, we can judge the drivers by comparing them to their teammates. Hamilton has had a wonderfully successful season and should take heart from his rookie year. Same points as previous world champion is a remarkable achievement. Alonso won't stay in Mclaren, I don't see that happening. Racing is rather pro british if you look at all the key players. he's probably better off joining a non-british team.

Anyway well done to them. a juicy season indeed .... =) next year! (n the night race !!!)

Today's Stock Market lesson.....

2007-10-15T10:09:00.000+01:00

... be very, very careful on intraday trading.

Ok. I'm no stock expert, even though I'm holding some counters. I've never tried intra-day trading before, but was tempted to try once, since the returns seem so good for the short time involved.

Uni-asia has been performing hot for the past 2 weeks. It IPO-ed under 60 cents and it opened today at 2.6-ish. Since mid August only! It was rather weird. Obviously there was some speculation going on. So now, do I ride the wave, or just stay back. I know nothing much about Uniasia besides they have some insurance services. That's all I know. I may even be wrong!

This is exactly how speculators do. Ignore the fundamentals, just gamble.

And so I did. Bought 2 lots at 2.6. (abt 10am)

Within the next 30 mins, it went down 2.55. I was sian diao. I really ignored my strategy, fundamentals, research everything out of the window because of this greed. Should I sell? Wouldn't that be so stupid. 2.55. hmm. I don't feel so good. Stupid decision? What was I thinking! It's such a ridiculous idea at this point to even buy it!

Went for lunch and back. Did some calculations, told myself. ok sell at 2.65 if it ever goes there. can cover transaction costs. hope and cross fingers.

1pm, started watching webcast. Saw that the counter was rising. hmm quickly put in my selling bid. I didn't want to have heart attack playing this speculation. It wasn't very fun ... too exciting for me even though not a lot was at stake (pple were buying 100 lots at a go). queued in at 2.66, and within seconds it sold. ok not too bad. made $70 in 3 hrs. Take profits, watch webcasts.

2 hrs later, 3pm. Saw that it had went up to 2.77. Damn! Why couldn't I be more patient. What was I thinking of? Where's my guts?! Hello .... this is trading. can I be more risky. :S

Or... maybe I should short? Since this was totally a rubbish price based on spec. Aiyah. stay off it la. Not worth the heartache....

Went to do some other stuff, TV, newspaper. came back at 4:30. Took a glance. Blinked, and blinked again. What's going on??? from a +10% it was now -26% ! Price = 1.88!

Frantic sell queues, trades made by the second. Volume up and up, prices down and up, fluctuating in the region of 1.9. What can I say? I must have been really lucky. Teresa was just telling me to be happy with my gains (and buy her sth ... ... ... ) Bless her for her advice!

End of day, closed near $2 region.

Moral of story? Buying low selling high is a simple concept. buying low ain't hard, its often the selling high that's the problem. Want to take risks? Be prepared for roller coaster ride. You will enjoy magnificent gains, but also astounding losses. Game for it?

Uni-asia's intraday stock for 15/10/07.

Roman Tennis

2007-10-13T03:41:00.000+01:00

Wow this vid creator is such a creative genius... he/she made 2 vids which combines 2 of my loves, the Roman Empire and Tennis! haha and obviously a fan of Rome the TV series as well...

So let's go back to 44 BC when Gaius Julius Caesar was dictator of Roman lands....

... where he was enchanted in Egypt by the Queen Cleopatra... but had to fend off his greatest nemesis in the clay of Paris (de Gaulle??? From another era leh. haha)

Go Kart, go Fast!

2007-10-12T02:41:00.000+01:00

ok I hope not too harp too much on the karting thing but it's just quite a momentous occasion la... hahaha oops. Anyways, AsiaOne carried our story here....!

Go fast, Go Kart!

A total of 96 go-karters representing 15 nationalities from various walks of life competed in the finals of the Caltex National Karting Challenge 2007 held at East Coast Park on Sunday.

...

APEX OF THEIR AGE-GROUP

AsiaOne chatted with the winners of Category B (19-25 years), Team Apex, which comprised of four young men who came together for this challenge only a month ago.

"It was great fun preparing for the competition. We met each other just a month ago. It has really helped us to get to know each other better," said 24-year-old Apex team-leader Melvin Teng.

To prepare for Sunday's race, the team made two trips to their Johor Bahru training base, where they spent a total of 40 minutes on a rain-swept track, prior to competing in Sunday's final.

The ace in the Apex pack according to his team mates, is Chen Zhonghan, who has five years of karting experience in places like the UK and the USA.

The 'Lewis Hamilton' fan humbly declined to be identified as the team's 'best racer', suggesting instead that all the team members had learned from, and helped each other in the process of racing together.

hahaha I still remember that interview it was rather funny. But yeah well the media as usual do their usual 'framing' of articles so it didn't exactly come out as expected, but its good enough lah, can't complain. Will update more here if I find more articles hehe.

clean tech!

2007-10-09T14:37:00.000+01:00

I honestly believe that clean tech will be one of the main driving forces of the next 'growth' technology. Well we shall see. Anyway here is a great invention, in my opinion, which could really go a long way in helping reduce wastage ...

How 'disappearing ink' can cut waste paper
Scientists have unveiled a new kind of 'ink' that disappears from a page 24 hours after printing, allowing paper to be re-used

Mission Impossible-style self-destructing messages may soon cross from the realm of fiction into the wilds of the nine-to-five office, according to scientists who have developed printer ink that vanishes after 24 hours.

Read more here ...

Anyway, I'm not saying that karting is exactly a very environmental friendly sport ... haha! But it's fun nonetheless!

Pictures from the National Karting Challenge 2007!

2007-10-08T02:50:00.000+01:00

Here's some pics as promised ....

Here's us before the race. Excited, but not THAT happy yet haha. Brandon, JP, me, Melvin L to R.

Us again ...

heh like some MTV. We were about to do our routine track walk...

Race to begin soon ... tension in the air...
The Start/finish banner ..

The karts lined up ... we were kart 3. 3 is really my lucky number....

Race underway! Don't know who's this though .. but definitely not me. Think its Brendon

One of us .... could be me. Ooops but that was a poor line into the double right heh.

Then it was announced... we won! Up on stage with president of NUS motoring and Minister of State.

Yummy medal. This was the media room where we had our interviews... (sadly tho none were published in today's papers...)

Another pic... we wonder why the Chevron backdrop

Chatting with the ST photographer haha nice guy.

Along team Speedy Gonzalez (Cat A winners), who were all over the news. 3 of them had no driving licences! Really impressive young team...

Tada! Our winning medal. =)

Champions of National Karting Challenge 2007!

2007-10-07T10:37:00.000+01:00

Wow. What a day.

Ok let's just start from the beginning ... our team Apex (Melvin, jp, brendon and me) formed about a month ago to enrol in this competition. None of us were professionally trained in karting, but we all had a passion for speed....This challenge is open to anyone, and every team was classified by the age groups. So we were in the group of 19-25 yrs old. It was a relay, so each driver had to do 5 laps (400m each), total of 20 laps. Results were determined by time trials. Place was ECP carpark E1 converted to a mini race track.

So Friday was qualifying, and we clocked a total time of 12min 13s. Not bad. We felt quite quick that day, and kart was good, no spins nor crashes. Got the call on Sat night that we'll be racing on Sunday, where the top 6 teams on Friday will get to the finale race.

On Sunday ... I know that qualifying and racing are just 2 totally different things. How many times have I seen on F1 the pole holder lose his position later on. Or crash. Or complacent. We qualified as the 3rd fastest team, and the 2 teams ahead of us were more than 1 minute faster than us based on Fri time trials. It was going to be hard, but we had a podium chance.

Walked the track as usual. Talked through the corners. Discussed the new chicane. All was ready. Focus... focus.

When the race was underway everything was a blur! Brendon was unbelievably quick, and before long he had managed to overtake the 1st 2 teams, out of sight! Just a small lead then, but the 2 teams had started a good 5-10 secs ahead of us, so we were positioned very well.... fingers were crossed. maintain, maintain....

Melvin hopped on next. Kart 1,2 came in, so his exit was delayed. Race on! wheel to wheel, the 1st 3 karts went. At the start finish straight, Melvin applied the forward jerking technique, and helped gain 1 place!! Subsequently he was bumped at the back by some other kart but thankfully all was fine, very well in fact. He came in 1st again...

JP's turn next. quick engine on, and go go go! I was busily putting on the rib protector, gloves n helmet, psyching myself up.... come on. a few more laps to go. Pit in sign shown to him. He was coming in.. and I had the last leg.

JP off, I was on. Pit marshall said "Wait" but the karts in front were out of the way already. come on, let me go!!!! Pit was clear, and I didn't need the delay...

Finally gogogo! Grip was good. In fact damn good, better than Fri's already very good kart. The double right can be taken without lift off. Chicane 1... chicane 2... hairpin, ... double chicane... left-right and back to the straight! 1 lap done. no one behind me , no one in front of me. It was my race to lose. Gotta maintain. No pressure. Uneventful racing will win. Keep cool. No spinning. Get the tunnel vision.....

Yellow flags on last turns! Darn! Gotta slow down.... kept checking my back to make sure no one was closing on me..... and still had to squeeze into a small slot between the fallen tire and the side of the track. slowly... slowly.... I don't need the fastest lap. Just finish 1st.... when will the "pit in" show? It was to be my chequered flag.

Finally....... I saw the "Pit in Kart 3" on my last lap! It was the chequered flag!!!!!! Fist pumps... woohoo! Did it.... Went back to the pits, still quite not believing that we pulled it off. But we did! Super exhilarating!!

Handshakes with competitors .. "you guys were damn fast...." Wow. Soon after, the media flooded us, interviews and pictures (I kid you not... watch out for AsiaOne and CNA. Sadly ST didn't find us, but they had our pic) We had our 5 mins of media fame. haha. What an experience. But it all gone away when the celebrity race started and all the media focused their attention elsewhere. I saw Andy Penders, Melody Chen and Wong Lilin! heh.

Prize persentation, quite a formality.... Got a Timex and a medal. Damn cool. My 1st racing medal! yay! After that, more photographs, a few random interviews, and yup that's it. We managed to catch some precision driving by some professional stunt drivers that was really cool. tyres were burnt out! heh. Quite an eye opener.

Then the sky opened and the rain fell. Ooops. Sorry Cat C and D. Wet race for ya. Enjoy it!

End of day, our total time was 10 min 25 secs. That was really unbelievably quick... for us. We expected to go under 12 but not so much! Really proud of everyone in the team... cos we helped each other so much along the way..... even though none of us were very good. In fact the fastest lap time went to a team which didn't even make the top 3. Guess this really shows how important the team is. Racing is really a team sport!

Still we know that there are so many people who are better than us. Perhaps they didn't join this challenge. We also knew some teams in Cat C (26-35 yrs) who did 9.55 which is really impressive. But at the end of the day, we were the fastest team in our age group in Singapore, and that counts for everything! It was soooo worth the effort put in!

Whew! What a Sunday. Pics to come soon, so do watch out for them.... next time... if anyone of you goes karting.... do jio me along too! =)

The irony ...

2007-10-03T09:23:00.000+01:00

... when I'm sitting in a HR office, speaking to a HR officer, and there she was, telling me that she's considering leaving the firm, but is clueless about where to head towards.

Guess no ones an expert when it comes to careers eh. Hmm. Interesting....

late night encounters...

2007-09-27T16:04:00.000+01:00

haha... nothing of the spooky kind tho.

Today had lab in school till 6pm, and since it has been raining for the whole day and still was, it only meant the inevitable CTE jam (I drove today). So I decided to have dinner in school and do my lab report. So I kept on doing till 930pm when the guard chased me out of the classroom, and thats when I left towards Eng Aud. Thinking that it was term break, and nearly 10pm I thought there wouldnt be many people left in school, no?

No! All the benches in the EA block were filled, with people pouring over their laptops and books. Not just chatting at the end of the day but hardcore focused studying. Wow. And they weren't PhD students... they were undergrads (I know some of them) ! well well. Maybe cos I used to stay hall so I don't roam around school at 10pm at night. But at 10pm it was either in the band room, watching tv, playing guitar, attending some meeting, chatting with friends, dota, jogging, whatever. But definitely not studying, not even during exam period! Well, it really is competitive here eh?

Anyways, I noticed that there are ongoing professional engineering examinations (a test for pple who want the Engineer chop and can chop on official documents) .... Usually people who worked 3-5 yrs in industry. Man, they were struggling (via overheard conversations) ... Can't imagine myself studying engineering after 3 yrs working. All the formulas. I'd rather much do a MBA.

Well... guess its one less thing for me to worry now, then... =)

By the way ... it still jammed on the way back home... :S

Nice!

2007-09-23T07:08:00.000+01:00

Just finished watching the MotoGP race in Motegi, Japan, where Capirossi won, but the main story is that of Casey Stoner wrapping up his world championship when he finished 5th, ahead of his main rival V. Rossi who finished 13th.

Seriously, he has achieved so much already ... at 21 years old, married to a beautiful wife, racing in the premium class, winning the world title. All in 1 year! oh well ... congrats to him! A mature head on his shoulders indeed!

And who knows, Lewis Hamilton may yet win the F1 title. All the young dudes, carrying the news....

2007 MotoGP Champion -- Casey Stoner

Back to MAF

2007-09-16T07:27:00.000+01:00

Ok, stop with the MAF/muff jokes... ahem.

So I went back to Hwa Chong's annual mid autumn festival for the 1st time in 4 years... haha glad to see that some things hasn't changed much. Caught a bit of the lion dance performance, where they did some obstacles, but none of the stunts that my batch did... but then again my batch was quite different as we had the talent coming in from RV.. but wow this year at least 2 of the lion "heads" were done by girls, so that's really impressive....

There was a dragon lantern made, pretty huge, hung up across the plaza, very nice, though I must admit I was a little let down by the lack of fireworks ... this year they only lit up a rather meaningless word (I think). Anyways, the company is the most important, and met up with the OAC bunch again! So glad to see some of them since many months ago... like Chermaine and Dyan...and I couldn't stop calling Xinhui "Gigi" Giselle hahaha. She's so gonna kill me soon. So we went for the annual OAC gathering, and for the 1st time, our batch is the OLDEST batch that went back. I mean, now its the 33rd and we were the 26th! Never thought this day would come so soon.... I'm really olddddddd. But our turnout was very strong, and hock gave his usual inspiring speech... so pretty much same old =) It's so glad to see everyone moving on with their lives, but still remembering the friends that matter every now and then....

Ok. Enough of nostalgia, back to FYP!

oh the memories!

2007-09-14T07:35:00.000+01:00

Aye how I love this song! heh. Enjoyed jamming/singing/listening everytime. The Darkness Rocks!

Happy/Sad

2007-09-10T13:59:00.000+01:00

Well, don't really know how to describe my state of mind now. Obviously I'm elated with this proposition, as it looks very attractive right now. But on the other, demoralized because I was 'given' so much help along the way. Somehow, it didn't feel as accomplished as I had imagined.

It's like, winning a marathon on drugs. Or winning a F1 race using stolen technology. It just don't feel quite right.

Anyhow, it's not that extreme, and I must say I'm mostly delighted how things have turned out.

Imitations...

2007-09-08T03:39:00.000+01:00

Well, anyone who's been following tennis would have heard of Novak Djokovic. Ok, young Serb, no.3 in the world etc. He's good ... but everyone should see him in his off court antics mimicking the other tennis stars, ala sharapova, nadal etc. Totally reminds me of how Kevin Spacey did his impersonations of movie stars in the Actor's Studio .... This is good stuff, enjoy!

The side effects of too much tennis ...

2007-08-26T17:09:00.000+01:00

I was playing with XX that day. Wham! Slam! Bang! Balls flew everywhere. When we picked up the balls to go home... we saw this...

Truly, ownage...

i'm so pissed...

2007-08-24T12:26:00.000+01:00

I'm so pissed with myself today. stupid stupid stupid argh. how can I let something like that happen to me? I really learnt it the hard way... sigh.

The Loss of Individuality

2007-08-17T04:39:00.000+01:00

In these recent weeks, I found out that one of my friends, well let's just say that he has changed a lot. I used to think of him as a resolute guy, having strong personality and knows what he wants. Turns out that I was wrong. The loss of individuality is indeed a very sad thing. Whatever happened to his original goals and intentions, now with different influences around him?

People change, I guess.

Try saying...

2007-08-10T06:54:00.000+01:00

"The Greatest Road Trip in Sports"

Heh this is the tagline for the US Open tennis championships. Catch the ads

Then ... watch the bloopers. Haha!!

Nadal is so funny... esp when he is so pissed at himself for messing it up, just like in a match! "NO!!"

Ownage!

2007-08-05T18:03:00.001+01:00

Just a pure ownage match haha. One of the things I do to keep myself entertained...
BTW this is Football Manager for the uninitiated... And it ain't a friendly match... it's the World Club Champs in 2012!

Ferrari VS McLaren

2007-07-27T16:08:00.000+01:00

Just to add on ... Ferrari's reaction to the decision was very valid. Here it is, courtesy of formula1.com

Ferrari have hit out at the FIA’s decision not to punish McLaren after the British team were found in breach of the International Sporting Code for possessing confidential documents belonging to their Italian rivals.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council opted not to impose a penalty as it could find no evidence that McLaren had made use of the data, which was found in the hands of the team’s chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

Ferrari, however, said they found it “incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the application of a sanction,” and added that they believe the decision “legitimises dishonest behaviour in Formula One and sets a very serious precedent.”

In a statement issued after Thursday’s hearing, Ferrari continued: “The decision of the World Council signifies that possession, knowledge at the very highest level and use of highly confidential information acquired in an illicit manner and the acquiring of confidential information over the course of several months, represent violations that do not carry any punishment.

“The fact that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of such information was discovered totally by accident and, but for this, the team would continue to have it. This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport like Formula One in which small details make all the difference. Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the sport.”

Ferrari added that they will continue with the legal action already under way within the Italian criminal justice system. The team are understood to be pursuing cases against both Coughlan and sacked Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney, who is alleged to have provided the material in question. Both men have also been summoned to appear before the FIA.

Mclaren gets away with murder

2007-07-27T05:43:00.000+01:00

The recent spy scandal in F1 has just been resolved. Well, that's a rather strong word to use considering not much was concluded. After all the trials, McLaren was found guilty of being in possession of Ferrari's technical documents, and the sentence was ..... no sentence. Due to lack of evidence that McLaren used the knowledge to their advantage.

Yeah. So in a high tech sport like F1, where every bit of information is crucial to a team's performance, and even race strategy, this industrial espionage has gone unpunished for there was no proof of advantage gained. Well, to be honest, it is hard to prove so. With technical data of the rival's car, you can put the data into your multi-million dollar simulation software and determine the greatest probability of the rival's race strategy. i.e. qualifying fuel, tyres, pit stops. Which are such important factors into today's racing especially with the tyre wars long gone. But it is near impossible to prove the fact that McLaren had based their strategy around beating the Ferrari one, for they can easily claim it is their own best strategy. Very much alike if say, Liverpool managed to get their hands on Man Utd's tactics for the upcoming match, knowing which players they are gonna start with. Again, it is not easily proven that Liverpool can use the tactics to their advantage, although I bet they surely would. Who wouldn't.

"Oh, I'm just gonna close my eyes and pretend I did not know their strategies and their competencies this weekend, BUT I think we should lessen our qualifying fuel " etc. Makes for fun racing, sure.

McLaren is found guilty of contravening a Sporting Code, so they should be punished. Perhaps a point deduction would be in place, or out of running for the manufacturer's championships. But the driver's should remain in the competition.

Alas, F1 is a sport steeped in such subterfuge, that team spies are known to take photographs of cars up close, for lab analysis. Ultimately, to preserve the image of the sport, and to maintain what so far has been an outstanding season of racing, money sense prevailed, and McLaren are free.

In all probability, in the next trial, Mike Coughlan will be found guilty and expelled from racing for a couple of years. But he is already sacked from McLaren. So the company is protected by these layers of, shall I say, protection, to protect their own integrity.

Perhaps viewers come first, in such a lucrative competition. So then, Hungoraring next....

On another note, I recently just finished watching 3/6 eps of the HBO miniseries Angels in America. Looking very very good I must say. And I think my tolerance for homosexuality has definitely increased. Haha.

Saturday 9pm Ch18

2007-07-26T05:32:00.000+01:00

Really, just a reminder to myself to catch this show.

AFI Life Achievement award to Alfredo James Pacino=)

Welcome back to NUS.... NOT!

2007-07-25T05:26:00.000+01:00

oh well. Since round 0 of CORS started today I thought I would login just to get a feel of the system, which I have left untouched for a year. Lo and behold. Welcome back Mr. Chen...

Your standing: EE3
Program pts: 750
Gen pts: 250

GREAT. I'm as good as a freshmen now, where I should have at least 2500 Prog pts to play with. just great. and I should be EE4, but its probably due to my SEP results not out yet.

For the uninformed, think of CORS points as a 'savings account' where I get 1000 points every semester and use some pts to bid for modules. Obviously the remaining points get carried forward. So all my storing of points, is now, effectively useless. I'm back to square 1.

Still, credit due to the helpdesk girl, who was really friendly and sounded genuinely surprised something like that has happened. Hopefully she gives me a ring soon...

Racing at its best !

2007-07-23T04:24:00.000+01:00

Wow, what a fantastic Nurburgring race! Many things which I want to say, but its all very well-expressed in the report here. If the Singapore race next year is half as good, that's enough for me!

Highlights of the race:
- Rain in after 40 seconds into the 1st lap. And its a heavy downpour
- Spyker's Winkelhock, in his race decut in his home race, with a especially shrewd change to wet tyres after warm-up lap, led in his 1st F1 race for 1 full lap! That's everything a rookie can ask for.
- In turn 1 of the 3rd lap, in the space of about 30 seconds, 5 cars, 1 by 1, slid, no, aquaplaned off the hairpin into the gravel and tyrewall. It was simply hilarious (well I don't think the drivers would agree haha)
-pit stop frenzy to get wets
-Kimi missing the pit entry. Well he tried, but slid off and ended up on the track! Meaning he would have to go 1 more round on grooved slicks
- red flag. very sensible given the conditions
- Hamilton joins from the back! Saved from the gravel-yard!

Race restart in bright sunshine
-Kimi had a engine problem. So did Winkelhock. Definitely memorable for the German...
-A rather routine 50 laps until ....
- Rain predicted in 7 mins, with 12 laps to go!!!!
-The rain came, the pits were open and busy, and race on!
- After much probing, Alonso managed to edge past Massa on the track. There was contact, and it seemed rather agressive, but Alonso was way faster and would have gotten past some how.
- Last 3 laps to go... and in the last corner of final, Webber nearly threw away his podium 3rd on a slide that had Wurz inches away, but managed to hold on....
- Post race, in the holding area before prize presentation.... WAR OF WORDS between Alonso and Massa. A slur of Spanish flying around. Very tense moments, but very watchable! Even Ron Dennis just stood and shut up.
- Presentation ... Schumacher presented the trophy to Ron Dennis for winning constructor. hohoho. the agony, man.

Racing needs this kind of excitement, this kind of tension, this kind of drama. I love racing.

Memories of a concert

2007-07-20T15:41:00.000+01:00

Great memories...

From Muse Wembley ...

Update!

2007-07-15T14:04:00.000+01:00

Well, I know I'm supposed to blog about some other stuff from before, but, you know, once its past a certain time the idea of blogging about that topic becomes like a novelty haha. So well. Maybe I should just summarise what I wanted to blog about...

1. I was kinda on a "musical journey" of sorts. After the Muse concert, I actually picked up a copy of a documentary on the rise to fame of Bob Dylan. Called "No Direction Home", it shows the early formation years of Dylan and his own musical voyage. You wonder, how is it possible to write lyrics as deep and resounding (as it were for that time) when you are barely 21. Its just shocking sometimes. Dylan, indeed the romantic, songwriting extraordinaire, and the poet of the 20th Century. Must for fans.

2. Listened to the album "The Who - Live at Leeds". As you can tell, a live recording of a The Who's concert. Absolutely rock-solid live performance by the band themselves, even managing to sneak in a dirty joke in the midst of the gig haha.

3. Caught Mamma Mia finally, after so much procrastination. My seat was a beat awkward, so didn't get the best sound. Nice show though.

4. Went to windsor castle. Magnificent castle, splendour everywhere.

5. Went to Edinburgh with Edwin. Nice place, good weather (surprisingly) I hope all goes well with you.

6. Wimbledon was a blast. Despite the rain and long queues, actually managed to get into centre court and caught 3 matches .... Fernando Gonzales vs Tipsy, Serena Williams vs forgot who, and Roger Federer vs Marat Safin!!! Wow. Blown away. Serena just demolished her opponent. I think she could have given any guy a fight on that day. She was just awesome. And Roger was so graceful to watch. Congrats on winning the title too! Also saw Sharapova and Nadal and Murray etc etc. Definitely one of the highlights of my SEP!

7. Attended Aaron's and Kathy's wedding. 1st UK wedding I attended, even though they were singaporeans. Quite an eye opener. But I prefer the chinese one I think.

Ok. What a summary.

Anyways .... Teresa has just left for Africa for 7 weeks. I really hope she takes care of herself, but also to have fun at the same time. Suddenly I have quite some time on my hands, though I would rather not. A couple of meet-ups with friends this week, so should be good!

Oh, on an aside, I realised Singaporeans are soooo fascinated by anything and everything Japanese. why??

back in the heat.

2007-07-05T13:53:00.000+01:00

It was really a whole messed up flight. Supposed to fly off on Monday night 2215 ... flight delay till past 2330, and while we were on the plane, the pilot told us Heathrow had a curfew at 2330. And we couldn't fly that night! I never expected Heathrow to have some curfew .... so much for international airport. The plane was evacuated, luggage was stuck in the cabin hold, the passengers were pissed, and literally formed an angry mob demanding rescheduled flights early next day, and hotel stay for the night (which is the norm). Emirates was severely understaffed to handle this situation, with only 4 attendants to 400 shouting, angry people. It was chaotic. In the end, only 40 rooms were found and obviously the Economy class people weren't gonna get any of it. They then claimed it was the best they could do and the rest could have their hotel stay/transport reimbursed for the night. I took a cab back to London to Teresa's; I was really lucky to have a place for the night. Called Emirates time after time to rebook flights, cos I was connecting at Dubai later on and I was going to miss it. No booking available .......

Next day, 7am went down to the airport. Finally got a reschedule for Malaysian airlines which would leave at 10am .... but MAS wouldn't accept my excess luggage, asking me to pay 600+ pounds for it! (not MAS fault though, as they helped Emirates with this favour. Emirates offered a coupon to cover the costs but MAS would have nothing of it. And I'm like the pawn in their chess game.)

After much complaining, I finally booked another Emirates flight at 1300 (which was delayed again ......), given complimentary hotel stay in Dubai for a night, and then catch the next day's connection to Singapore. Weirdly, I caught the same connecting flight as Teresa! So there was a little light at the end of the tunnel ... Finally reached sg on Wed night 11pm. What a ride!

I haven't unpacked yet though.... Too tired to do that. Maybe over the weekend. Now trying to combat jetlag + repairing computer viruses .... sigh.

Anyways. Sg. is. so. HOT.

haha. chilllllllll .....

Goodbye London

2007-07-02T17:22:00.000+01:00

I know I thought of blogging about some other stuff, but haven't really found the time to sit down and do it. And then suddenly. Today marks my final day in London!

Memories, I have lots of it. Either in pictures, videos, gifts or deeds, I must say this whole experience has been very very enriching. Of course, the friends here that I've made, really appreciate the times we all have together... Oh well. Before I get too melancholic (sp?), I better stop heh.

London certainly hasn't let me down in its weather; still wet and windy on the day of leaving. And the bomb-cars hasn't help much as well ...

It's quite weird, as I'm not exactly leaving a lot of my friends as we are all going back to singapore and at least spending some time back home, but more of this place itself. As I say, London is really great city to be in, especially if one is a fan of city life.... The real sadness probably will come when all the londoners leave in sept/oct back to the UK to study, while I'll be midway through my term by then ....

Ok. Gotta go now. Heathrow waits for no late pple!

Seeya from Singapore!!!!!!

akan datang ...

2007-07-01T00:50:00.000+01:00

apologies for the lack of posting. A few to come in the days ahead I think, so keep an eye on it.

personal notes
dylan, muse, who, mamma, windsor, edinburgh, wimbledon, wedding.

Con Te Partirò

2007-06-23T20:09:00.000+01:00

In many ways, it's time to say goodbye.

Over the last 2 weeks, I've been seeing freshers moving out of halls. Other Singaporeans finishing their exams and leaving either for holidaying with friends, or else just going back to sg to begin their army/air fore/dsta/astar etc. attachements. Everyone's leaving... everything's gonna come to an end.

Me? I'm not too sad. Sure I will miss London, and I still have 1 week more here. The freshers, you can see the tinge of sadness in their eyes when they moved out ... someone even weeped! I guess I have been used to leaving halls, twice already. In any case, we're all gonna go back to Singapore, and its easy to arrange meetups. I suppose, for me, it would be sadder when people start leaving for London to carry on their academic pursuit, in September.

Otherwise I foresee many foodie gatherings when I back. haha! chomp chomp. chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp.

Supermassive

2007-06-20T14:50:00.000+01:00

It's been quite a while since I blogged eh? haha, well actually I've been pretty cooped up in the EE labs the past few weeks, working on the EEG project with my groupmates. Just had the presentation a couple of hours ago, and although it got rather testy with the business case, I must say we did really well for our technical presentation! (apart from my small boo boo of forgetting to plug in the channel input haha) So well done to the whole group, it has really been a wonderful experience working with everyone.

I think this EEG technology (not just the one we just made) really has very good potential. It can actually be integrated into many other items that we saw presented today, and gives wonderful benefits to users besides just simple diagnosis. Brain wave games, anyone? Some pics of us at work today ... I was the lab rat for the demonstration! haha.

EEG Project

Anyways, I went to the Muse concert at the NEW wembley stadium over the weekend. Really got blown away, they were very very solid. Matt was singing at his best, and the stadium setup was marvellous. Really made use of all the space available in the stadium for their props, which included 2 giant balloons having a gymnast spinning underneath, floating around the stadium. Kinda hard to explain in words tho, gotta see the pics for it. Easily the best gig I've been to! It's a pity they didn't play City of Delusion, which is kinda my fav Muse song of the moment. But otherwise, I was impressed with Matt's piano playing, and overall stage show of the whole gig.

I think Muse have really brought the space rock genre to a new level. Bowie may have started it, but Muse perfected it.

Muse Wembley 16/7/2007

Next few days, gonna start the major packing up of my room and shifting temporarily to Teresa's, before heading off to Scotland (?? maybe??) for a couple of days, and then back to London, then Sg. Going back so soon..... and now my 3rd year is officially over ......

Wii played Wii till the Wii hours ....

2007-06-10T11:46:00.000+01:00

Whee !!! haha. pure unadulterated fun. except for the ring tossing of course heh.

Sporty weekend then, with Hamilton on pole for Canada F1 and the motoGP, and the French Open Final. its a busy stay in Sunday!

These days ...

2007-05-31T16:35:00.000+01:00

... have been quite a revelation of sorts.

Turns out that finding out too much of some stuff isn't good. Realized that some people around me are wearing masks, even thicker than I originally thought. Hmm.

What's new? Everyone wears masks to some extent, myself included.

Perhaps less analysis ought to be done here. A professional hazard of an engineer. Deal with the problem, and move on.

Don't get it?

Shrugs.

Milan 2 Liverpool 1

2007-05-23T22:17:00.001+01:00

It wasn't the best of games, but it sure did alleviate the pain of Milan and her fans. Especially what happened 2 years ago. Inzaghi's fluke goal, a wonderful Kaka setup for the 2nd, and a comeback header by Kuyt. Liverpool may have played better, but Milan took their chances when they came. Liverpool cannot complain, for they won 2 yrs ago even though being more thoroughly more outplayed than Milan was today.

Well, it brought back memories of yesteryears....

The 1st time I watched a Milan match, was in 1994, in Athens as well, where Milan faced Barcelona. Milan, with Franco Baresi and Costacurta suspended, were up against Cruyff's Barcelona, led by a fantastic Stoichkov-Romario combination, with Koeman, Zubiuzeretta, et al. But Milan won emphatically, 4-0 at that. I knew I loved Milan since.

In 2003, I still remember I was the duty officer that night at Kranji. Milan vs Juventus in the UCL final. We had Channel 5 in the duty office, and that night a few of the men came down and watched the match together. Milan prevailed on penalties that night, and I still remembered how I jumped for joy (haha!), before going on my rounds.

In 2005, Milan Liverpool pt 1. Painful, painful. 3-0, then 3-3. Milan outplayed Lpool, but ..... alas. Penalties lost. Very painful. I was in my room alone that night and I could not sleep.

Today, Milan vs Liverpool pt 2. Milan were outplayed by a better Liverpool, but a fluke and a moment of brilliance by the otherwise quiet Kaka put Milan in the dominant position. This day, I'm in Teresa's room, watching with Terence. What joy! I was going mad! Too happy. And watching Paolo lift it for the 5th time, just amazing what this guy can do. 39 years old, and still lifting European cups.

When is the next time? shrugs. Hopefully it will be memorable again, for the right reasons.

For now, a little celebration will suffice. Forza Milan !!

The day has come.

2007-05-23T09:44:00.000+01:00

What an exciting day ahead.

No, its not because my last paper is within 4 hours away. After this silly exams has dragged on for so long (and quite disappointingly...), it's all gonna be over in a matter of hours. But, it's just the exams.

No, it's also not because of the French Open coming up, in an interesting time in the tennis world where Rafa's 81-match streak has just been broken and smashed by Roger. I won't read too much into that result, though undeniably the confident boost for Roger would be immense.

The REAL reason for today's excitement lies simply, in the ancient town of Athens.

AC Milan VS Liverpool FC !

UEFA champions league finals. These 2 clubs have so many European cups between them it's not possible to count with both hands. Both teams are looking up for the match, and believe me the hype here is really enormous. My hall is setting up a projection screen and broadcasting the match in the common room, and they're getting ready for the party should Liverpool win.

Well, I say. Save the money.

No doubt about Milan's win today. People say revenge is not on their mind. Bollocks. Revenge will be on their minds. A huge core of the current Milan team is made up of the same team in that infamous 2005 final. On their mouths, they speak professionally about Liverpool and say revenge is not such a important thing... but believe me it is THE motivation tonight. Bring the scousers to the slaughter!

Come on Milan! Kick their asses back to where they came from! (which is here...)

It's party time.

not in the mood.

2007-05-11T18:43:00.000+01:00

It's a bad day.

Just finished my 5th / 6th paper today. and there is a chance that I may fail it. No kidding. It's not funny.

I came out of the exam room feeling like EE2012 all over again. That one, I only attempted 50% of the marks. So I know I surely failed the paper. But there was the "buffer" of everyone else; a good 100 pple perhaps. So the bell curve pulled everyone up. So I wasn't too worried with that paper, though it didn't feel good coming out still.

Today's paper was reliving the whole 2012 thing again. Yes, in all probability there will be moderation. But, do you know how many pple are taking this course?

Only 6.

15 pple registered for the course, but only 6 registered for the exam. Dropout rate is 60%. I'm forced to take this cos of mapping issues. Brings me back to 6 months back, all the emails to and fro NUS but to no avail to remap this Microwave course. Never mind now. Studied hard, for selective topics, but in the end was examined on something else. Gamble didn't pay off -- tough luck, han.

How does one moderate the scores of 6 pple. Shrugs. It's gonna be nasty. I give myself a 50% chance of passing this time.

Went out, walked in the rain for 20 mins, couldn't find a money changer who had hungrarian forints. damn forints. should have wore a cap.

Irritating cough that wouldn't go away. Still to do packing all over again. Didn't want to start my trip like that. Stupid flaking bag.

The only comfort now for me -- and its not the fact of moderation -- but more of I wouldn't be able to do anything about it until at least 2 months later.

Just not in the mood.

No wonder you are ignoring me.

2007-05-10T15:18:00.000+01:00

I was trying to get xiexing's attention over msn, cause I needed to ask him something about FYP. Then for ages, he just won't reply me (usually he does so in an instant) ... so I thought, you know, what could it be? It just struck me that the Rome Masters was on, so I went to check, and yeah, his favourite Roger Federer is playing against the Italian no. 1. ok so the score says 6-2, 4-3 ..... so I thought ok lah, maybe he will get back to me soon.

Then I realised.

Federer is losing ! Not winning!

And yeah, he lost this match. 6-2, 6-4. hmm. Like that ... how to win the French Open. sigh.

Maybe someone needs to make another comment on his cajones to get him moving. No more groggy legs pls. tsk tsk.

And yeah, I've been missing for a while, been down with a cold while revising for the exams. Got a paper tomorrow, and one more on the 23rd. And then .... Project time!!!

Of course, all work and no play makes me a dull boy. So then, to Budapest with the girl this weekend. Sun, please ;)

Norway trip

2007-05-06T21:54:00.000+01:00

The photos from the norway trip ... just 200 odd in all!
A quick summary of the trip ....
Went there to meet Melvin, whos on exchange in Trondheim. We did the norway in a nutshell package tour, but with buying all our tickets on the spot we saved at least 2-300 NKR, which is 50-75 SGD ! not bad. the one day tour included a couple of train rides through scenic routes, mountains and small villages. A fjord cruise to see Norway's most famous natural beauty -- the fjords of course. And then bus ride to Bergen.

Bergen's a quaint quiet town. very small, akin to Bath. But oh my, the mountains were so beautiful! It is weirdly sunny in the 2 days I was in Bergen, which was quite rare cos it rains a lot in Bergen. We spent 1 whole day time doing a 5 hour trek from the mountain Ulrika to Floyen (sp?) .... and it was soooo nice and calming. You can only hear nature's sounds, and even though the city is just down there from the mountain you can hardly hear any traffic. We had the fortune to be accompanied by a Bergen local who did that route "many many times" in his life. He's about 50 yrs old, and through the entire trip we just chatted and chatted, and learnt so much about each other cultures. I learnt so much from him than from the tourist guides/internet. Quite wonderful I think. And his fitness/agility just left us bewildered at times. Don't let that beer belly fool ya!

Other than that, we spent quite some time sunbathing, and now I'm darker! again ....
Norway is indeed scenic, though extremely expensive. I think anyone who has been to Europe should at least drop by this Scandinavian country for a short visit!

till next time!

norway!

The Singh-sons

2007-05-05T15:15:00.000+01:00

haha. quite funny leh, this clip. enjoy!

Singhsons
Uploaded by Harmeet1

Milan ..... Milan ....

2007-05-03T10:07:00.000+01:00

oh man .... what a glorious match. Stick it up to ya man utd fans.

AC Milan vs Man Utd - Match Comp
Uploaded by FootballHeaven

And yes, its another Milan - Lpool final. Again. repeat. of 2005 final.

Kelong soccer? Perhaps. but even so, not knowing which side its rigged towards make it so entertaining to watch.

Kuan Hsin, you and me again, 2 yrs later. Game on.

fjords!!!

2007-04-27T22:44:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie trip to Norway till Tuesday...

Till then, adios!

Why don't you all F-F-F.....

2007-04-20T14:02:00.000+01:00

Truly, Rock and roll never dies.

The oldest and "greatest" rock band in the world - meet The Zimmers and their
amazing cover of The Who's "My Generation". Lead singer Alf is 90 - it's quite something when he sings "I hope I die before I get old". And he's not the oldest - there are 99 and 100-year-olds in the band!
The Zimmers will feature in a BBC TV documentary being aired in May 2007. Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can't leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes.
The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming together to
stick it back to the society that's cast them aside - by forming a rock troupe
and trying to storm into the pop charts.
Some massive names from the pop world have thrown their weight behind The Zimmers... The song is produced by Mike Hedges (U2, Dido, Cure), the video shot by Geoff Wonfor (Band Aid, Beatles Anthology), and it was recorded in the legendary Beatles studio 2 at Abbey Road.

What can I say ... wow! Rock's no.1 anthem sang by the old fogies.

Anyways, here's The Who's live performance.... you can really see why they brought live rock to a new level .....

Why don't you all F-F-F ....

Greece photos

2007-04-19T11:16:00.000+01:00

ok ok here they are, nearly 500 of them haha. Well I wanted to pick out some, but in the end, just upload all la.

hopefully I didn't upload any of the "x rated" stuff hah!

Greece

thats me at the black sand beach in Santorini ...

We're so lucky ...

2007-04-06T00:57:00.000+01:00

I guess, for the one certain good thing out of the Greece trip, was that we had just missed a ferry cruise accident off Santorini just yesterday. So, count your blessings ...

είμαι πίσω - I'm back

2007-04-04T10:39:00.000+01:00

I just got back from Greece! and what a place it was ..... finally away from the chill of london to the sun and the sea of Greece.

Just like Rome, this place has managed to strike me as wonderfully fascinating. It's no secret why Greece national colours are blue and white; the deep blue sea and the abundance of white marble everywhere! (even the wiring casing is in marble ... go figure)

Its really a nice getaway, the island hopping. Perhaps the only slight regret was not spending enough time on the islands itself (We only spent 2 days in Crete, 1 in Santorini, 1+ in Naxos) ... but I sure enjoyed myself there. 9 days away from the hustle and bustle of city life, no internet, no school, making it a really serene trip. Anyways, here's just some tips for whoever's interested to go Greece next.

Athens - 2 days is more than enough. Just make sure to see the Acropolis, esp the Parthenon. you will be wowed. Other than that, Athens is just a typical city.

Crete - Island that is bigger than Singapore. I think a minimum of 3 days is necessary if you want to explore the entire island. We only managed to cover the Palace of Knossos and some beaches, but the town itself is really nice to walk through. Of course, rent a car for travelling around. You could try to bargain to under 30 euros a day.

Santorini - The legendary Santorini. At least 2 days minimum there, with a car of couse. A car just makes it so much more accessible, and more freedom for yourselves. 20 Euros a day only... in fact I think a jeep may be worth considering to access to dirt tracks which leads to beaches. It was so fun driving around and stopping whenever we wanted. Of yeah, of course, we went during the pre-peak season .... the streets will be super packed towards end of April, and all the shops will be open in full. When I went, only a couple of shops were open; most of them were still painting their chairs for the tourist season. Stayed at Anny Studios at Perissa Beach, where the black sand beach was just in front of the hostel! and its a studio ie. kitchen, toilet, aircon. swimming pool. all for under 10 euro per night per person. how good is that! (I think these are pre-season prices tho). Anyways, IA, the sunset point, is said to be marvellous... unfortunately it was cloudy for the evening we were there. Otherwise, I think it could be really beautiful, with the red sun setting against the white walls and blue roofs of Santorini. Oh... Santo!

Naxos - Was so windy the days we were there, and calm when we left. Oh wells. Get a car too! (Apollon car rentals are REALLY good. cheap n good service!) Its about the same size as Santo, key attraction is the unfinished temple of Apollo. But I think the real unsaid attractions of these islands are really the views from the mountain tops, vast boundless blue horizons, clear white sky, rolling hills and such a laid back lifestyle. The Mediterranean is really beautiful! Windmill Naxos Studios is another fantastic and cheap place to stay, and its just next to the town main square and beach.

I guess I'm thankful for the good accoms (well, generally) that I had during the trip, as well as deciding to rent cars for the islands, which gave us so much more to see and enjoy. I'm definitely darker now, thank goodness, after a bit of suntanning! heh. Shiok.

And the company of course ... much thanks to Joanne and Binghao!

Ok. 18 days time, 4 exams and 2 essays to hand in. heh.

The Girlfriend

2007-03-25T15:45:00.000+01:00

This must be the best use of a montage sequence in an ad.

Bites of Life II - Jealousies of the 1st Century

2007-03-22T18:12:00.000Z

The weaver Successus loves the innkeeper's slave girl, Iris by name. She doesn't care for him, but he begs her to take pity on him. Written by his rival. So long.

[Answer by Successus] Just because you are bursting with envy, don't pick on a handsomer man, a lady-killer and a gallant.

[Answer by the first writer] There's nothing more to say or write. You love Iris, who doesn't care for you.

Carving on walls of Pompeii bar, pre-AD79

Bites of Life I - Hush hush

2007-03-21T22:26:00.000Z

"Thank you for the flowers", she said
"and I'm sorry for the things I said".
As we forgave over loving hours,
I thought, "What fucking flowers?"

-Anonymous scrawling on toilet door

Wow.

2007-03-12T22:03:00.000Z

Call it exploitation of kids or whatever, still, this is a really decent cover of one of my fav rock songs ever! rock on, kids!

P.S. I'm not sure if they can handle the groupies at that pre-puberty age! heh.

The Flaming Monkeys (Live @ Rockstock) - Rock and Roll (Led Zep Cover)

Montag

2007-03-12T16:37:00.000Z

So, quite a weekend (though I had absolutely no part in any of this)

AC Milan lost in the local derby 2-1. damn.
Chelsea (just next door) played a thrilling 3-3 derby with Tottenham.
Lionel Messi scores a wonderful hattrick against Barcelona, also 3-3 in the Spanish derby.
Federer lost in 1st round of the Pacific Life Open ... winning streak gone! But he'll be back, I'm sure.

Hostelworld offered me a GoldCard membership for free. ie I do not have to pay for booking fees on the site from now onwards. Wow. machiam so elite. I think I get the msg la, that I've been travelling too much. Now make me gian to book more hostels, cos there's no booking fee! Summer term plans hehe.

Oh. and its just 2 weeks more, to Greece! Beaches and babes, are you ready for me?

(and 1 more week to my humanities exams, which weirdly I'm really looking forward to it heh)

woke up to the sound of pouring rain ....

2007-03-10T08:37:00.000Z

eyes blinked and the heavens poured.

damn leak.

O the Horror!

2007-03-07T17:49:00.000Z

does my alcohol bottles offend you? pt II

2007-03-02T12:28:00.001Z

Ah. Quite efficient, the accoms office is. Just yesterday after lodging a complain about my door, they came today to repair it! and of cos with a small reminder to clear my bottles and balcony ... just tidy up the place. 2 reminders in fact.

plus they are coming on Monday to do a thorough spring cleaning of my room.

plus a deal sweetener of 10pounds voucher to spend for meals in college. wow.

that can get me about ... 5 sandwiches? =)

does my alcohol bottles offend you?

2007-03-01T20:41:00.000Z

Some lady from the accoms office knocked on my door today. Very polite and all.

Turns out that the hall, which normally rents out rooms during the summer when the students aren't around, is looking for a room to do those 360° panaromic sweep to put on their website. And they chose my room.

Lady: "Hi Mr Chen. We would like to use your room to do those 360° sweep, and we're wondering if you're ok with it?"

Me: "Sure. Just let me know when the day arrives, so I can tidy up my room."

"Ok. Oh and here's a checklist"

I read .......
nice curtains, neat and tidy, no clutter. check.
Bright bed Linen. Hmmm. mine's rather colour un-coordinated
No electrical equipment such as rice cooker ...etc as they are banned equipment. Hmm. I have a cooker.
Check posters are presentable. Hmm. Is a Godfather poster presentable?
Check to make sure shelves do not contain anything that is offensive eg alcohol bottles.

Does my alcohol bottles offend you?

hurhur. Anyways, should be interesting to watch them when they film my room. Well, whatever floats their boat.

On another thought, maybe I will get better housekeeping from them, at least before the shoot. The door handle just happens to need repairing... and there's still the case of the missing laundry basket....

Wise Words

2007-02-24T20:41:00.000Z

Right down the line
Its been you and me

And lovin a music man
Aint always what its supposed to be

-Steve Perry

More than a War Movie

2007-02-23T16:02:00.000Z

I just watched Flags Of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood. It's a recently released film, showing the story of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima for WWII, and how the American govt used, no, exploited the flag raisers to promote a money drive for the war effort.

But you probably already know that.

This is not just a typical war movie. It's not some war movie based on fictional characters, fighting against stereotyped bad guys and saving the world, becoming heroes in the meantime. It's also not just about how a picture about a flag being raised swung the war to the American's side. It's about soldiers who never saw themselves as heroes but thrown into the spotlight nevertheless to serve a 'higher purpose'.

Now, some of my friends who watched it do call it a little boring at times, or perhaps irritated by the constant flashbacks, certainly a unconventional portrayal of war movies. But they all agreed at least, that it was a meaningful show. The switching scenes of the 3 men in the battlefield juxtaposed with their shoulder bumping with the D.C. bigwigs back home, only serves to highlight the superficial packaging of the war to the American public, and how everything seems to be a show rather than what war really is -- a passage of excessive horror.

And the one scene, where Bradley drove past a limping and exhausted Ira Hayes, was so symbolic, no? (I suppose ever since I got into Film class I've been taking a different approach towards movies) It does seem that Eastwood was making an anti-war statement, however, I leave that up to you to decide for yourself.

What got me thinking, is something which I've already knew, was that the fact that the rifleman on the ground fighting the war, was only fighting because of his fellow men beside him. Because the person next to him was willing to give up his life for him, and vice versa. Band of Brothers drove home that point to me. And it got me thinking, because in the world today, with information being so widely accessible, should the riflemen know the real agenda behind their govt's decision for war, would they still have fought, or would they have deserted?

Imagine in Roman Antiquity, when civil war broke out. I personally don't think the foot soldiers knew what the Republic really represented. Were they fighting for the Republic, or a new era under the Empire? No, in all probabilty, they were fighting for their general, and their fellow legionnaire beside him, for promises of fertile lands and pillaging of provinces. Or going even further back, (even if a myth), would the Spartans have invaded Troy if they knew it was because their bum of a king lost his wife to a pretty boy Trojan?

So what are today's soliders fighting for?

To protect their country? To protect the entire world? For democracy? For their religion? For $? How much of their own beliefs are actually aligned to that of their government's?

What are you fighting for?

This film turns out to be more provoking than I thought. If you want to be entertained, go catch a Jackie Chan or a Owen Wilson. If you rather watch a docu-film, or a war movie, this movie is a must catch.

Eastwood, to his credit, has not only made this film from the American perspective. He made a complementary film called Letters from Iwo Jima, showing the war from the Japanses perspective. It's in Jap of course. And I'm in anticipation of it. Perhaps after watching Flags, you will too.

Photos !

2007-02-19T22:55:00.000Z

Heh better post up some pics before I forget!

Snow in London! One fine morning I woke up and there was snow! quite rare. This would be the 1st of 2 times I seen it in London thus far...

Snow in London

Paris -- Went there with Teresa for a weekend getaway. Did the touristy route with Lourve and Eiffel and Arc etc ... then we ended up just walking the streets of Paris and soaking up the atmosphere. Really nice place =)

Paris Feb 07

Arsenal VS Cardiff City (FA Cup Youth Q/F)
Final score Arsenal 3 Cardiff 2
Cost to watch: 3 pounds only! heh.
Went with Lap and Alex... really worth the $. Sure I dont get to see the big names like Henry but the youths are no pushovers either. Fran Merida perhaps? Enjoyed myself throughly!

emirates

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

2007-02-18T03:31:00.000Z

hello everybody!

Just here to say Happy CNY to everyone. Gong Xi Fa Cai and Wan Shi Ru Yi.

been quite a bz week leading up to the CNY... 1st with Hwa Chong night last Saturday at Marriott which was quite a blast, for I met up with quite some old friends and was reminded of many JC fond memories... then the hall's CNY meal on Monday where we got catered food from a chinese restaurant. Then V-day next on Wednesday, had yummy seafood at Back to Basics with the girl. Singsoc also organised on Thurs a CNY dinner at this chinese restaurant called Harbour City where the Singaporeans took up 2 storeys of the entire restaurant. Wow.

And then there was today, where the Singaporeans of Evelyn Gardens and Friends came upon our not quite humble common room and had a smashing time steamboating. Me for one is a steamboat guy la... Miss it so much from home. Too much food today heh, but I'm sure all of us had our pick of nice foods, be it Kenneth's spring rolls, the collaborated wantons, or Cheryl's delicious desserts. Had a mini drinking session later where we played Avalanche again heh, and realised its nothing more than just an excuse to finish a liqour drink. (Drink! awww... drink one !) Never really had much alcohol during CNYs to be honest, other than beer at relative's places. Blackjack game never came to fruition, and not even Hold'em. oh wells. can't recover the mj losses from the previous night then.

Called home earlier just now, such a joy to hear the family's voices even though its just for 3 mins and hearing all the wake-up grogginess of everyone. Of course a little homesickly (who wouldn't on CNY?), but generally the pple around me, esp Tere, have been making it really comfy & homely here. Guess at the end of the day, we've all gotta cherish the times we have with our loved ones, whether it be family or friends, rather then miss the times with regret once we're not with them.

Still having said that, it's so heartwarming to be in amongst so many Singaporeans on such an occasion, and I'm thankful for everyone who made it a quite simple and successful affair. I'm sure we all had fun heh =)

And oh yeah, of course, there was the little thing of 2 men running around topless at Evelyn Gardens, but I suppose that's a post for another time ....

Space Oddity Animation

2007-02-10T11:59:00.000Z

Suddenly thought of this song by David Bowie, one of my all time favs. I remember seeing this animation once about a year back, and I wasn't feeling too good that day, but this vid certainly cheered me up. There's something about Bowie...

Here's the link, Enjoy!

Martin Scorsese's Sesame Streets

2007-02-10T01:06:00.000Z

As a follow up to Ducktales Heat, I chanced upon this spoof of Martin Scorsese's shows, using De Niro's voices (in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Godfather etc), and incoporating Sesame Street characters. heh.

Profanity abound, and even though sometimes the syncing seems a bit off, at least compared to Ducktales, it's still not a bad effort. Quite cool la.

Enjoy

Martin Scorsese's Sesame Street

A halftime rock show to remember

2007-02-06T22:06:00.000Z

Hey! Back from Paris, such a lovely city =)

Anyways, Super Bowl's over, and with quite a rousing halftime show, I think it should be shared as much as possible among friends! Here we go, Prince (or the Artist Formerly Known as a Symbol), doing old school covers (Dylan, CCR, even Foo Fighters), and of course his signature hit, Purple Rain.

And dare I say, what a rockish-chic outfit heh. He could just well be the next Hendrix?? oh well.

Prince's Super Bowl 2007 Halftime Performance

Getaway!

2007-02-04T05:54:00.000Z

Off to Paris, till tuesday!

Au revoir =)

Ducktales Heat

2007-02-03T19:44:00.000Z

While, doing some random youtube surfing, I caught onto this.

The maker of this vid used the trailer for the 1995 film Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and used Ducktales characters to 'lip-synch' the actors! I thought it to be quite brilliant. and yeah, I do remember that ducktales episode (or is it movie??) hah.

Enjoy

Ducktales Heat

The Untouchable

2007-01-25T19:11:00.001Z

Well, almost, nearly, can I say, flawless tennis? Enjoy !

Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick
Australian Open 2007 Semi-finals

new year, new seasons

2007-01-22T14:03:00.000Z

While I'm still getting used to the unseasonably warm weather in London, as well we my uncharacteristically slack timetable this term, I found out that 2 of my favourite TV shows are now on air!

Rome Season 2, out now on air, rumoured to be the final season (what a pity due to budget reasons I belive), will focus on the battle between Octavian and Mark Antony. And of course, following the footsteps of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo again. Such a remarkable setting!

and ...

24 , Day 6, the 1st 4 eps are out on DVD already and seems quite exciting already. To be honest, day 5 will be hard to beat, because its THAT good, but oh wells.

So, wherever you are, USA, Singapore, Europe, catch these shows, and you won't regret it.

And yeah, theres the small thing about the Australian Open. heh. I hope to catch the final, somehow ...

Spain, Italy and Beyond

2007-01-13T16:35:00.000Z

It's been quite a tiring few weeks, but unbelievably awesome!

After skiing in France, came back for xmas for a day before departing for Madrid-Barcelona-Rome-Florence-Pisa for a super packed 2 week holidays. I think you may be bored if I rant on about the trip, but I've uploaded the pics here so you can enjoy it as you like. As well as ski trip ones

ski trip dec 06

spain n italy 06

Didn't take many shots within the cathedrals as pics just cannot capture the beauty and stunning artwork. Also, most places banned photography within the museums etc.

It has also been rewarding for me, kinda like a mid-year break (well it is one) for my 1 year here, had a super interesting new year countdown in Rome where the fireworks just go off 10 metres ahead of us, and lil kids blowing up things their parents were giving them. awesome! we did try to purchase some crackers tho but to no avail, sadly. oh well.

heres a clip of some fireworks (which was supposedly made legal only for the new year). and us getting splashed by some alcohol hurhur.

Of all, Rome has to be my favourite. Where London is a melting pot of cultures from around the world, Rome is a mix of the old (2000 years old) and the new. It's like the city refuses to let go of its past, and you see quite a interesting blend of antiquity and modernity. And some things, just don't quite change over time, do they?

Anyways, off to a new term. Handed in 2 essays this week, so feeling rather happy over it heh. the WJ guys went to Northend Road today and bought back about 2 weeks worth of meat! haha, its so cheap, I guess we just bought as much as we could carry.

Ok, gotta go for a steamboat now. It's great to be back in halls =)

ciao and Felice Anno Nuovo everyone!

Musings pt III

2006-12-25T09:01:00.000Z

from the ski trip ...

1. Do condition your body before going on a ski trip. It is tiring, very tiring, especially on knees and leg muscles. and arms. and abs. Conditioning means going for exercises and not lazing in halls through London winter.

2. bring your balls to ski.

3. don't feel ashamed when groups of 7-8 kids zoom past you on a intermediate difficulty slope. and kids meaning not older than 5 years old. the crazy europeans send their kids to ski before they start to walk ...

4. do take the last ski lift up, even though it's getting dark. when you have the whole vast slopes to yourself in the evening sun, the feeling is unparalled.

5. never ever throw someone else's skis down a slope. cos it just keeps going and going ...

6. be wary of frostbite

and to you, GC ...
7. hot fart rises

you rock la, girl!

2006-12-25T08:38:00.000Z

After a long, tiring but nonetheless fun ski trip, I made my way back to hall, ready to pack up for my next trip.

So I went to my room, unlocked it, and felt weird already (cos I usually single lock my room but now its double locked). nevermind, open, walk in, saw some things that didn't belong to me, then thought it was the wrong room, so I stepped out and checked the name again.

Yeah it was my room alright. So someone came into my room and left me these while I was gone...
So thats a mini xmas tree (which we should find somewhere to plant it), a box of my fav coco pops, 2 wrapped presents and a card. and a bottle of milk on the balcony to go with the cereal heh

the card....

The 1st present ... a photo frame

...and the 2nd present, decorated banana cupcakes
(theres our names, a snowflake, 'merry', 'xmas', a xmas tree, and something-I-don't-know)

so here I am, eating the cereal on a wonderful xmas morning, hoping to finish all 4 pints of milk in 2 days, thinking of you.

thank you very much.

P.S more on the ski trip when I come back from Italy

Pre-trip update

2006-12-15T09:29:00.000Z

heya!

it's been a while ... I know I haven't been updating in a while, and I won't be for some time actually.
Here's my itenary for the next 3 weeks

15/12 - 24/12 : Ski Trip in France
26/12 - 28/12 : Madrid
28/12 - 31/12 : Barcelona
31/12 - 3/1 : Rome
4/1 - 5/1 : Florence
6/1 : Pisa

and then back to London!

Well, I'll be back in london for xmas day too, but its probably sleep in + laundry day. Gonna be a really loooooong holidays, and having a bit of mixed feelings going into it, but all should be good ! =)

see ya all in January, and have a great holidays and MERRY XMAS !!!

Go fast, Go Kart!

A total of 96 go-karters representing 15 nationalities from various walks of life competed in the finals of the Caltex National Karting Challenge 2007 held at East Coast Park on Sunday.