late night encounters...

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!

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

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!

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

Happy/Sad

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...

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 ...

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...

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

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...

"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!

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

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

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

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

AFI Life Achievement award to Alfredo James Pacino=)

Welcome back to NUS.... NOT!

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 !

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

Great memories...

From Muse Wembley ...

From Muse Wembley ...

From Muse Wembley ...

Update!

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.

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

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!!!!!!