Hmm.... this is quite true....





I'm completely down-to-earth!

Find your soul type at kelly.moranweb.com.

Wow, almost a month since I last filled in my blog.

Let's see.... things of interest for the past month:
1) Exams...
2) DDP...
3) Maple Story...
4) Review of Sims II...
5) Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon...
6) My new MP3 player - the Creative TX FM
7) My new grand niece - haven't seen her yet though...
8) Strings Camp

well, I'll fill in more details in the next few days... ^_^

Title: Belief about recognition.

Some stuff that I just realized while walking.

In an Asian society such as S’pore, people are taught not to seek for recognition but to let those who see the recognition talk about it, the value of being humble is indeed a very important one, but somehow through the generations, the value seemed to be taught in a manner that seemed self-destructing.

Eg. Conversation between A & B
A: Hey B, how did you get such great results
B: No lah, just pure luck. (Attributes success to luck)

This is a very typical example in the Asian society where we do not accept the recognition and instead attribute the success to non-core reasons such as luck or other people. Somehow, it affect our mindset; it lowers our self-confidence thus making ourselves instead of others not recognizing our achievements.

Reflecting on my growing-up years, I realized that it is this behavior that made me missed the opportunities of taking up positions in classes, ECAs which might result in another “me”; in short, I limit myself to my full potential.

I think what should be done in the future is to put myself on the line, to take up positions that I had not dared to but are definitely within my capability. After all, we our have limited numbers of years to live, so why not make the place a better place if you can.

今天的欠扁边问答题

问： 是谁把肉粽拾起来
答： 祥龙
因为：降龙十八掌 （祥龙拾“肉粽”福建方言）

哈哈 够冷罢

The significant event for today have to be Liang Jin Ru's concert.
(Many thanks to Emmie for her help in getting the tickets for me, also special thanks to Spencer who made the time to pass me the tickets ^_^)

Today's event is much better executed compared to the FIR concert, started queuing outside the auditorium since 1630 and managed to get in by 1820. Was with FuMing chatting about Liang Jing Ru (he's definitely an expert in that field, haha~) Oh, an unexpected guess is Adrian. He actually took the time to rush down to NTU from SMU, haha~ (tickets courtesy through Apryl's network of friends) At 1920, the concert started promptly with a perfect rendition of "Ning Xia" followed by a few more songs in her new compilation.

During a games segment, my friends Martin and Tao zhui volunteered for it. Ling Zhi and Jin Ru interview the participants before starting the games, during which a guy actually kneel down and profess his liking for Jin Ru(hehe~) Martin, as usual done a comedy rendition of her songs which brought much laughter to crowd. As for Tao Zhui, no one believed his name is that and thought that he's teasing Jin Ru. The marathon singing of verses of Jin Ru's songs ended after a 4-5 rounds. Jin Ru brought us more songs, even a short unplug version of David Tao's song "Ai, Hen Jian Dan". Her voice is heavenly - it is crystal clear, powerful and sung with all her souls in it. Wow, been a while since I heard such good quality singing.

After she officially left the stage, the audience demanded an encore - Jin Ru really didn't prepared for much songs so she sang some songs unpluged, even Rasa sayang~ haha~ indeed, it's an interesting experience...

She held an autograph session after the concert - I didn't go thinking that there'll be many people vying for her autograph, sharks - should have attempted and see if there really are so many people, well pass is pass, anyway, she'll definitely be back in S'pore in the near future ~ at least she says she's going to hold a concert in Jan/Feb.

Can't wait for the next Singer to perform in NTU.... kekeke~

Attended the sunset mass this evening, Arch Bishop Nicholas who's there for the comfirmation ritual later on gave a homily on leading our life as a christians - can't really recall the details - he ended saying that we live a life that shows Christ shining though us "It is not I, but Christ living through me" Anyway, it got me really thinking and reflecting, how am I leading my life in the Christian and what I should do to live a life that profess my faith and beliefs. Hmm, now thinking of it, perhaps a thing that I could do is to study hard for the coming exams - as they always say "do your best that you can to honor your God, our lord" talking about which, I haven't really been putting efforts, sigh~

Yeah. My Home computer is finally up and running after hours of hardwork and hassle of hardware and software installation.

Points to take note:
1) Do monthly backup of documents, it's better than losing everything you have when the HDD crash.

2) Do a yearly system backup, so that recovery time can be dramatically shorten.

Lab evaluation for Comp Grap in Design this morning - another assignment done and this signifies that exam is really round the corner.... :(

Sigh... After exams time to mug again for the Design & Development Project. Pro or con? I'll find out very soon.

Another review for uP System Desgin (MSD) tmr, finish up the report and it'll be mugging time.

Luckily for this semester's paper, it'll spread out for the entire 3 weeks of exam period. Otherwise.... Well.... It'll be hell of a time.... I don't mean it isn't now but it can be worse.

Freak!

My brother called me earlier on and told me a bad news...

My harddisk crashed or so it seemed to him...

Sigh~ what a time for the system to crash... luckily I've got most of my critical data in my computer in the hostel. Still that means that I might have to spend some time troubleshooting the silly system. Sigh~ To think it is a Western Digital 60GB I bought 2 years ago.

I'll see what I can do this week to get it up to the basic mode of operation and leave the rest to my brother....

Wahhh..... No internet for this weekend at home..... :(

Final, Oral presentation over.

Didn't seem to do very well in it. At least less than what I expect. Well, I think I focus too much on the material rather than doing the presentation part - a definite need for improvement.
Some feedback Dr Khong
- Too dependent on cards
- Too many "errs" "aahs", seem to happen most of the time. Critical mistake to correct
- Didn't engage audience (should have asked a question to get them thinking)
- Didn't move and looking down too much.

Well, something for me to work on during my toastmaster sessions.

Sigh, been busy with so many stuff. Hopefully can settle everything this week and focus on the coming exams.

Anyway, my assignment that took me quite a while to write... Should have spent more time writing/expressing myself when I was young to build up the skills for that. Haha~

Below is the article I did for my 2nd assignment

One may ask: “What is self-limiting beliefs?” Before we embark on the question, we will discuss how beliefs are formed.

According to many sources, it can be said that beliefs are formed through our experiences that we had accumulated over the years. When we are young, parents, society and/or other significant figures impart some of their beliefs to us through their teachings, conversations and actions which we observe in their daily life

As we grow up, some of the basic beliefs that were formed are internalized through limited experience and build upon in later years. Once the basic set of beliefs is formed, new information from the environment are selected and produces new beliefs that are generally consistent with the old basic set, be it rational or irrational, since they are seen as the “truth” by the believer.

The believer is then guided by the set of beliefs and performs actions that are in line with them. Whether the results are productive or unproductive (to the individual or his society), it is seen as the correct decision that he has made.

The powerful effects of beliefs can be seen from several real life examples
1.) The Pygmalion effect or otherwise known as the self-fulfilling prophecy. In 1957 Prof Robert Merton of Columbia University (Sociology) conducted an experiment where a teacher was told that she will be teaching a class of gifted students where in fact, the students are tested and found to be of low IQ. The teacher believing in what she is told, did her best and treated them as gifted and taught in all ways possible to get them interested in class. At the end of the test period, the students have improved their academic grades dramatically and on average, gained 25 points on their IQ tests. This experiment results shows that useful beliefs will led to productive actions and hence achieve what one used to think as unachievable.

2.) The placebo effect, a term commonly known among physicians, has been heatedly discussed and studies for past decades. It involves the effect that the mind is actually capable of willing the body well. Although studies are yet conclusive, but there is no doubt that the mind is capable to do so from the fact that we human used less than 3% of the mind’s capacity over our entire life.

3.) People with very strong and firm beliefs are also noted for their undying will and determination, for example
Mr Lee Kwan Yew – had he not changed his belief that it is possible for Singapore, an island without much natural resources, to survive without Malaysia, he would have given up all hopes and Singapore would have long been erased from history books instead of being an advanced and modern city nation that we knew of today.
Sylvester Stallone, who acted in “Rocky”, suffered from paralyzed facial nerve since young, yet, he had a great dream of becoming an inspiring actor. After rejections for acting roles again and again, he final got a chance and went on to become one of Hollywood greatest stars ever.

4.) Another interesting example of the power of belief is the running of sub four minute mile accomplished by Sir Roger Bannister. Before he achieved the feat of breaking the records, no one is able to do it, yet within a year after he did it, 37 other runners also did it and in the following year, another 300 did the same. This proved that once the limiting belief was destroyed, things became possible.

From the above examples, we can see how strong the power of beliefs is. Towards the opposite end, there are also many examples of how beliefs can stop us from achieving our goals or worse, hurt our body and even others during the process – these are especially evident in mental patients suffering from depression, obsessive compulsive disorder or terrorists who held beliefs that killing or hurting people are the only way to reach their goals. Even normal people like you and me also have some limiting beliefs that stop us from achieving our full potential, typical examples of these are “I’m poor in this subject” or “I’m a poor leader” or “I’ll never be slim”. These limiting beliefs stop us from making an effort to change and suffer from the consequences of them.

Knowing that beliefs are so powerful a tool, we should decide what we should believe in rather than letting others deciding what we should be believing in. Author Robertson Davies described this situation very aptly in his book 'The Deptford Trilogy ' (p477), saying:
"Be sure to choose what you believe and know why you believe it, because if you don't choose your beliefs, you may be certain that some belief, and probably not a very creditable one, will choose you."

In order to eliminate existing limiting beliefs, one method that we can use is the “A to F model” Basically, the six steps involved looking for a particular event that triggers a limiting belief and disputing it to establish new beliefs and emotional response.
(A)ctivity
Self-limiting (B)eliefs
(C)onsequences
(D)isputing beliefs
(E)ffecting new beliefs
Evoking new (F)eelings

After unreasonable beliefs are broke down, we can then apply the method of monitoring self-talk to prevent unreasonable beliefs to form roots in our mind. Since we talk to ourselves most of the day (at least I do), we actually have the most influence on what we are thinking or saying to ourselves. By monitoring our self-thoughts, we are able to stop negative thoughts. We can also affirming our strengths in our self-talk and implant new reasonable and more useful beliefs that enable us to perform more productive actions.

Through the effective understanding of how our beliefs works, monitoring the way we are talking to ourselves and the methods that we could use to evoke new change of behavior, we will be one step closer to be the person that we want to be.


Sources:
http://www.vision.net.au/%7Eapaterson/esoteric/belief_systems.htm
http://www.csicop.org/si/9505/belief.html
GP13 Readings
Brammer L.M. (1991) : How to cope with life transitions
Adam Khoo / Stuart Tan (2004) : Mastering your mind, designing your destiny

After reading many of the readings for GP13 - Personal Mastery for managing change, I seemed to have learnt more about myself and the methods and techniques that I should use for evoking and adapting changes. It is really a worthwhile course to take - didn't regret to go through all the hassle of changing my tutorial classes just to attend that subject. :)

Well, this week is the submission week for the assignment. Gambattee!
Also less than 3 weeks before the start of the great war - semester exams. Kekeke~

Go, go, go!

Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum? (United States)
brought to you by Quizilla

You are Form 3, Unicorn: The Innocent.

"And The Unicorn knew she wasn't meant to
go into the Dark Wood. Disregarding the advice
given to her by the spirits, Unicorn went
inside and bled silver blood.. For her
misdeed, the world knew evil."

Some examples of the Unicorn Form are Eve
(Christian) and Pandora (Greek).
The Unicorn is associated with the concept of
innocence, the number 3, and the element of
water.
Her sign is the twilight sun.

As a member of Form 3, you are a curious
individual. You are drawn to new things and
become fascinated with ideas you've never come
in contact with before. Some people may say
you are too nosey, but it's only because you
like getting to the bottom of things and
solving them. Unicorns are the best friends to
have because they are inquisitive.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

What Is Your Animal Personality?
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You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter
the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the
stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the
imagery we find here may inspire us or torment
us. Understanding the moon requires looking
within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in
this luminary that circles the earth every
month and reflects the sun in its progress.
Listening to those rhythms may produce visions
and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a
force that has legends attached to it. It
carries with it both romance and insanity.
Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it
is only those willing to work with the force of
dreams that are able to withstand this
reflective light. Image from: Stevee Postman.
http://www.stevee.com/


Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, wasted another week, particularly yesterday, thinking about something which I shouldn't have. I guess people are right that smart guys, like me, think over excessively over nothing. Well, in my case, not exactly nothing. Was frustrated with the purpose of my life. After thinking it through, what for should I be that stressed with it, the Lord will guide when we have come to use for him, in the meanwhile, serve Him and my friends and my neighbours in my best effort. :-)

Time to resume life. Period.

Attended both the Mon and Tues violin classes, realised that violin is so fun! Should find more pieces to play. ^_^

Well, as I always say, time flies... It's 3 days since the begining of school again. 6 weeks and counting down to exams! Muggers! Start your engines!

Relised that I have been excessively feasting during the holidays, it made me understand that growing a tree needs a hundred years but taking it down requires just a moment - that means - put in consistent effort.

Finally rushed my resume for submission, the writing of the resume sort of made me look at myself in a different viewpoint and a glimpse at my unstrectch potential. I should be confident of myself because I do have many positive points.

During SC111, we watched a interesting classic called "Twelve Angry Men" which shown the process during which a group of jurors formed a bond. It demostrated different characters commonly observed in society bonding together through the process of analysing one trial. Indeed lessons can be learnt from it.

Did my NAFA today, quite suprised that I can do 5 pull-ups, a good progression point to 12. :) I achieved a speed of 10.25 for my shuttle run, is it really that easy? Well, anyway, I need to work on my sit-ups and sit and reach, did badly in them. As for the 2.4 run, think I clocked a non impressive timing of 12:20, I think. More room for improvement if I want to get nearer to the timing of 9:45 for goal.

Well, time to work on the GP13 assignment and rest an early night.

Sigh- IE just crash, lost my previous blog, so here's typing again.

The week flew in a flash and I didn't seem to get anything much done; other than having my two hands being bitten by some insect and causing them to swell till they are like pig's trottles; what luck.

Well, plans this week to get myself in the discipline mode. Plan my week ahead and stick to most part of getting stuff done. Write down my goals and how I'm going to achieve them.

Well, that's all for now.... Don't want to waste time to recall what I actually wrote down previously. :P

4 Days flew in a flash, making exams nearer and nearer day by day.

I'm still far short from my goal of achieving 'A's for this coming Semester; I don't really understood much of what was taught in SC205 - SC208. That means that I'll have to spend more time studying, perhaps assigning more time for study in the Library 2, looking up on the textbooks for understanding. Also, I need to finish all my tutorial questions that I owe by this weekend.

My files for these subjects are also currently in a mess, if I want to get 6As for this coming Sem, all these shouldn't be happening.

Beside studies, the date for the Army Half Marathon is coming in 2 weeks time, I need to increaing my mileage for this and next week before tapering down for the Army Half Marathon. Also, my current fitness is in a mess; I need to stay to a stable diet intake of fruits and vegetable; reducing meats and carbohydrates of all kind.

Focus, focus~ With discipline and effort, I believe that I can achieve anything!

Wow, what a week~ Can't believed that I'm occupied was so busy till today.... Thank God that I managed to complete my POVRay by today, partially, at least... The whole experience of creating a 3D scene out of scratch has been a stretch for me. Visualising 3D shapes in thin air is a tremendous task for one like me who has't had past training, then again, most of my classmates doesn't have any too... haha~

Other than designing 3D scene, I had some interesting time going through my classes, my favorites for the time being are Professional Communication, Software Engineering and Personal Mastery in managing Change.

-Professional Communication-
This week, we touched on the DOs and DON'Ts for writing a resume. Somehow, writing a future resume for a job that I want, which is Computer Security Engineer seemed to bring me back to reality - that is, I haven't got much relavent skills and experience to assume the post. There comes the problem - I know what I want to be in the future ~ but I haven't really work towards the goal.

- Personal Mastery in Managing Change -
Today's class is about Role Playing; how can role playing help to stretch your beliefs by exposing you to contary beliefs. The example that was used today was quite radical and sensitive, "Having Casual Sex under the presupposition that it is concensual, safe and no 3rd party is hurt or betrayed", a spicy debate was conducted afterward, which we saw a lot of argumentative viewpoints which we might not get had we not play the opposite roles to what we agree on.

-Software Engineering-
Logic and more logic ~ As usual. I think I'm getting hang of it, less the catching up with the tutorial. Time to work on those.

Went for a buffet lunch today at Genghis Khan. The stuff quite okay for it's price; at least it's much better than the Charcoal BBQ at Orchard Shopping Centre; the food there is too expensive although it's an unusual experience.

Anyway, I don't really like buffet, think it's the Singaporean mentality; if we go to buffet, we have to really eat till it's worth it... :( Don't really like to do that sort of thing but can't help it; that's why I have been avoiding Buffets unless it's some special occasion.

Went to the COMEX 2004. Definitely a big crowd there and you don't really get to walk - I hate squeezing in the crowd unless I needed to get something. Anyway, been searching high and low for Sandisk booth but it seems that I'm blinded from it. Until I bought the 512MB Transcend USB Flash Stick, which my dad needed, from Memory World, did I see the big letters "SANDISK" right in front of me - and I have been searching around the fair for a full 30 mins. Sigh~ Hate that sort of situation. Well, at least the Transcend USB is just $12 more expensive - taking into account of the USB extension sort of made it up for the price. Anyway, the difference is more than made up when I got the TDK DVD Writer, that is the main reason that I'm at the trade fair, at $149 which is a last min price slashing. I used the difference to get myself 25 piece of TDK DVD -R at $40 which is cheaper than getting the 10 pcs if I bought it at the $199 package.

Back at home - Tried out the DVD Writer; saved more than 8GB of space after dumping my Anime into it~ Hehe, HDD a lot of space again~

Just finished watching the Olympic rhythmic gymnasium, I was quite amazed by some of the routines performed, the grasp of timing, the song's rhythm~ Could see that the skills and the timing acquired are through much sweat and blood. Indeed, I think the Olympic has shown us that being an athelete is by no means an easy feat; success does not only come through time and time of continual practice, years and years of sweat and blood. It also requires the mental determination of desiring to win and the strive for excellence. This really reflect the mentality of successful people in their fields and are worth learning if we too want to achieve excellence in what we do.

Daily Reflection~

Sigh~ Missed my morning class... must control the timing that I go to bed... it is definitely a toll on pathway to achieving As for this coming exams.

Attended the PAYM tea reception this afternoon; really get to know more about PAYM and YEC. I'm kind of tempted to join it, had not my commitments to other activities in school and of coz, my usual term time stay in the hostel and the application for GIP. Really interested in organising a forum for student leaders or any youth who's interested in education matters to a forum that focus on the education of future Singapore. Definitely one of my agenda in the future.

Went to the Z-POP concert after that, it seems that there are a lot of Ho Yeow Sun's fan around; she seemed to get more support than any other of my favourite artiste; something must be really wrong....

Went to the TCC in Boat Quay, nice ambience but unfortunately relatively expensive to Dome, Bishan for the stuff that I get; could be the rental. They do however, have a great menu with many different types of coffee.... Still, I think the prices could still be adjusted if they are going to target the student population.

Today~

Had hell lot of problem with the SC206 Lab, despite staying overnight till 5am to wire wrap the Target Development Board as good as possible, still find problem; luckily Michael had a copy of Formal Report of 206... keke~ Still spend more time than expected and we haven't began with Lab 2.... Sigh~ Must catch up next week.

Having major problem with SC205 lessons. Think I need to spend more time revising it. :(

Went for IIC sub-comm meeting~ Actually not really considered meeting, more like carrying out tasks assigned, pasted most of the advert promoting the financial talk on Tues. Hmm, bad thing about it~ They need to be teared down by Wed.

Went to JP and shopped for a bit while waiting for Wee Beng to collect the Fedora Core 2 CDs. Seemed to have some problem with my skin, it seemed to seeping lots of oil, cleaned it twice with facial paper and it took less than 30mins for the problem to return. Sigh~ perhaps should cut down fatty subtances in my diet.

While transfering files to Eric Computer, realised that his laptop is not properly patched, did the windows update thing but it seemed to fail to download. I think I should start learning more on Win XP and troubleshooting skills~ Still not up to par as yet, spent at least 2 hours of my time, not including him looking bored and stuff there~ Sigh~ Sorry Eric, couldn't help much as yet. Wait till I bring my tools from home and blast the stupid registry back to normal next week~ Keke~

Well, 3am now. Time to rest~

Let's see, what's one for today~

For once, I managed to get up on time for class... Yeah, a step improvement from yesterday, perhaps I should stick to the 7hrs sleep rule; seem to work most of the time~

Well, about today class~ Sourin still bores me~ he's getting too technical in what he teach and fails to spike my interest in one of the most interesting subject; 3D graphics~ Sigh~ I think there a gap in my communication with him; must depend on myself....

Peter Low still manages to catch my attention now and then, but I do hope he could improve in bring practical relevance to the subject. I think the biggest problem still lies with the NTU SCE, teaching already obsolete stuff to us; how to bring relevance~ Sigh~ If only I knew it were like that, I would complete my NS and do a part time Degree with SIM or Informatics; practicality and theory at the same time; then again, I would have missed out the fun that I derive from knowing more people in NTU and having a solid undergrad experience~

Coming to the interesting subject of the day; GP13 personal mastery of managing change; at least it ain't a mundane subject like the rest were; I still prefer stuff that bring relevance to our everyday life~ keke~ I'm a practical person afterall.

Quite interesting stuff we learnt today- about Security/Control to Learning/Discovery; on the hindsight, there isn't much relevance in what we learnt earlier on in the class, seemed to have touched on one's beliefs system and rephasing situations, hmm, reminds me of NLP; better find time this weekend to brush up on that.

In the later part, we talked about the 2 assumptions of the world; 1 - The world is stable, predictable and controllable; basically like what it was a century ago, 2 - The world is a complex system and changes happen all the time, like what it is at this point of time. The concepts are quite interesting and true to the fact; definitely deserves studying. We also talked about the control paradox, ie. The more we exert control over the events of our lives, the less in control we feel. Indeed, many of the situations are most often than not, are hard to control, the worst part is, the more you want to get it in your way, the more it gets in the other way. Yet, the less we want to control it might misled others that we are indifference. Perhaps we should learn from the principles of Tachi and Akido, go with the flow and using the flow to our advantage.

Another interesting topic that was raised was that the objective for having school is learning how to learn. Indeed, Singapore system focus too much on teaching us what is right and what is wrong. However, it miss out the important aspect that the world is changing all the time and what is right today might be wrong tomorrow. So what should be our objective in learning; I suppose in a short sentence - "The objective of learning is to learn what learning is all about; so that we can follow with the changing time and look at things from different perspective" Simple as that. ^_^

Finally started my first run of the week; quite a while since I last ran, need to discipline myself so that I can get myself prepared for the Army Half Marathon this coming Sept.

Sigh~ The CCNA exam coming soon, don't know whether can get prepared for it or not~ If postpone again, then I can only take it after exams~ Well, what to do, all for the sake of my startup. No pain no gain....

Sianz, sianz....

this week seemed to suffering from brunt out from activities...
Went to PACE at Sat, interesting seminar on WinXP Security Issues... Too bad, the courses are damn expensive... Spend my Sun at SLS waiting for Ah Beng to get his PC. Sigh~ Lessons relearnt, know what you want before going down there, otherwise you are going to spend precious time waiting for the sales persons dealing with other people while you had no idea what to get....

Didn't catch much of the PM Lee's National Day Rally.... Some very interesting ideas that are being posted up, esp on Education; itching to write another ST Forum article on it. The 5 days work week also sound very good, esp when I go back to SAF.... serve 1/7 less of torture... Well, all for the good of this small island nation, I guess :P

Been sleeping day long from Mon to Thurs, skipped my violin and other lessons~ :(

think it's time to realign myself for the rest of this Sem.

What is ultimate goal? What will life be for me 10 years from now? What do I see at the end of the tunnel? How I pace myself so that I maintain constant motivation and at a steady speed.

Sigh~ back to the drawing board...

Yes. Susilo has lost. So what, he has done his best in the Olympiad and has done us proud.

<>More importantly Susilo had taught us an important lesson through his trials of the Olympiad. <>

Singapore, small as we are, we are able to produce top seeded players, even one that is able to beat the current World No. 1 player.

<>His efforts has laid the foundation; shaping the beliefs of our future generation; showing us that we are capable of achieving greatness.

That, I think is a wonderful present.

Thank you Sosilo!

Wednesday.... Hmm an interesting day~

I woke up at 745 but went to sleep again, by the time I woke up again, I already missed class~ sigh~ mustn't let this bad habit get in my way to the As.... Aiming for all As..... Too many Cats and Dogs on my degree audit.

SC111 - Haha, seemed to a reminiscence of yesterday toastmaster~

Went to sign up for Mac Donald Ezlink rewards~ got me self a free double spicy McChicken, haha~ good deal. Still can redeem for 1 more burger.... haha~

Went for the campus run after discuss 206 Lab with Michael, well, the project seemed easy enough at this current moment....

Got me self a goodie back from the campus run~ Too bad I went to take part in Hall 12 ICG Table tennis~ Didn't managed to go for a run with Desmond and guys~ sigh~

Well, there are 2 sides to a coin~ The positive side and more unbelieveable thing is that I managed to win the games~ haha

my first table tennis award after years, but I must say, today I seemed to be in a good state, managed to be calm and compose and managed to get most of my shots in~

Well, wat will happen tmr, I'm fully anticipating the joy and happiness I can derive from it~

Tues ~ Seemed to be one of the slackest day....
3 class in total, 2 Lecture and 1 Tutorial~

Time flies and soon it's evening time....

Went to my first Toastmaster (joining toastmaster is damn ex... @ $75) oh well, hopefully it'll be a worthwell investment. Let's see if I can reach the level of "pian xiao niao cong shu shang xia lai"... >_< btw, I see a lot of familiar faces there.... guess S'pore is still quite small~ haha~ oh, the speakers there are quite good; esp the impromptu speakers, bravo for their courage to attempt the topics, as for the prepared segments; I'm quite impressed by what they deliver.... Overall, a worthwell experience....

Sigh~ Mon again.... Super long day....
Lab, tut, violin everything at a go....
Luckily this week nv kanna suan by Mr Poh...

Hmm, really must find some way to earn money....
Account is depleting after my regular spending plus my Brother and Mother birthday present; which happened to be gym memberships... Coz me $400... Well, the money will only be worth it if they really go and workout...

Find ways.... Find ways....
How I wish money drop from the sky; then again, it won't be valueable if it does...

Another week flew. Time does have wings....

Only one thing to describe the week, hectic...

Let's see what I did this week...

Tues - Attended Violin practice, kanna suan by the instructor, Mr Poh; think he can be a Singapore Idol Judge; well, can't blame him, haven't been practicing my violin so sometimes "hang" while reading musical notes....

Went running with Jamez... Had not been the apperance of his friends, which led to additional round of running, I think I run a little too few.... He's slacken after ORDing from 2sig

Wed - Geben 2004, lots of goodies; though some quite useless. Met up with Ruijie from Toastmasters, who brief me more about what Toastmasters do, had a better idea at least (including the knowledge that Toastmaster is an expensive activity, $75, more than what I paid up at the String Ensemble)

SC207 Software Engineering project discussion - I think I better do some revision on 207, I know nuts!

Hall 12 Election rally - too long and boring, went to indulge myself in the western food at Canteen 13.

Thurs - Had a long day~ Enjoyed myself most in GP13 discussion, at least I'm not sleeping, coz there's movie "Truman Show". Went to SE Tea Session after that, most beneficial thing about that, food and entertainment (great performance by the SE Seniors, I should get that piece, Fragments of memories from FF VIII). Went to Hall 12 election after that, after deliberating on who to vote for in each position(spent 30 mins reading their VCs again and again), casted my sacred vote, haha~

Went running with Jamez again~

Late nite, figuring how to do POV Ray, it's help manual sucks for those who want express knowledge.

Fri - SC206 Lab, surprise, Michael from CHS was my lab partner. Thank God! Oh, one thing I hate about the lab, need to draw the Project Board for wire wrapping; it's container is like those black box used for art and craft, feeling kindda weird carrying such a box in a tertiary institue.

Had a small IIC Research Subcomm meeting in the evening, hmm, didn't expect so many ladies interested in investment, the ratio is almost 1:1.... Interesting...

Late nite - more hours poured in POV Ray; I STILL KNOW NUTS, ARGG!

Sat - Overslept due to POVRAYing the previous nite. Directly skipped all plans of attending lecture and gym, playing violin instead... (Hmm, think need to make up gym...)

Went for lunch with Shao Hai and Eric; the 2 friends of mine treated me KFC lunch.... Haha, thanx a lot! Went viewing Twin Effect 2, initially thought it'll be more of a vampire show, but it ended up more like a comedy to relief stress.... haha~ All 3 of us planning to get the show to watch during exam period. Keke ^_^

Boy, did weekend fly in a flash.

So fast another event (SIF symposium) ended. Didn't managed to know more people by the end of the day or I find it hard to build rapport with them. They seemed to be the more English educated type.

Fri evening; went to the Investment Interactive Club's Tea Session; plenty of people around; so much so that it frightened me~ haha~ All of the sudden, the club seemed so small; there are so many of my friends in the club; Hejia, Qinjie, Junde and Weiguang... Well, that's part of the reason I joined it... ^_^

Went out with AEC guys on Sat for JS's bd; I was wasting my day earlier on~ sigh, slept through the afternoon... At least I had a better evening, going out with them, seemed to have helped improve my mood.

Sun was a typical day; Church, followed by a delicious pack away from AMK S11. Dinner at the newly opened Swensen. What a "full" day~
Well, one thing that I missed out is Ricky the rockstar's first performance :( ~Sigh~

Mon - National Day 2004 - it's Singapore 39th Birthday!!!
Well, it's been 2 years since I last take part in the NDP Parade. Really reminds me of the memories that I had during then; the camo, the stairs, Steph Sun, friends, plenty of drills~ haha~ It's really something that has become part of me now.

Hmm, let me do my best to recall what happened last weekend.

Fri was reall hectic, I travelled to the east side, borrowed my uncle's vehicle, back home and load the stuff I need then to Queensway Shopping Centre to pick up the trophies then back to school to unload. Damn hectic.

Sat, there was suddenly a meeting; thought it would be a meeting just to discuss through what would happen on Sun. I was underestimating the meeting; it's more than a briefing; it's really more of all the last min prep in a package~ Sigh~ Haven't done more last min stuff than this for quite a long time~ haha~

Well, at least basically the event just went through, though there are a numbers of hipup here and there... 1 thing I learnt, don't do last min work, and if you must, get the pro to do it FOC for you... Anyway, the participants from VJ appeared very happy; of coz, they won themselves a new desktop plus printers; the 2nd prize and the prize for best multimedia round. Well, the guys from RJ seemed quite satisfied with the HP Laptops they've got for the top prize.

Well, Sun passed in a flash, so did Mon, Tues and Wed; a lot of undone tutorial/ lab prep~ arg, seemed so far away from my As. =( Need to buck up my efforts in getting those done~

Thurs - my 3rd SIF Student Symposium; seemed that they had differ from the previous 2 that I had attended. Made a few new friends, 3 to be exact~ Hoepfully by tmr, will be making a lot more new friends~

Interesting keynote given by Dr Ibrahim, unfortunately, not all the panel speakers are as interesting, some, slides full of facts and figures, some, diverted into a totally irrelevant topic; they get me bored and asleep; sigh, think I better not tmr so that I can take note what not to do. Haha~ Think they need to attend toastmasters. Looking forward to what will happen tmr~ :)

P.S. Btw, SIF really prepared for elaborate lunch~ Really posh and high class~ Thanks to NUS/SMU/SP and of coz my Alma Mata NgeeAnn Poly ^_^ (They are the sponsors for the event)

Despite being flag day, I still went back to University to send out the invitation cards for GHZ Sunday's event - in the future, this will not happen again, this last minute stuff is really getting out of hand.

Enjoyed doing the flag selling with Desmond, too bad Xi Ci, Junhong and James did not join us~ Well, just make do with the oppotunity to do some charity for those needy students in NTU.  Only problem encountered is there are too many people in RED - flag sellers like me, haha~
Jurong East isn't really a good place to do flag selling, too many sellers around.

Well, during the day, we tested our strategies going to different places within the town central to do selling.  Obviously, the MRT and bus interchange are not good place, coz everyone crowding over there.  Instead, we lay ambush near bus stops within the town where most of the working population in Jurong town tend to be when going to and fro from lunch, they seemed to be good points.  Some other places include the main walkpath back to the nearby office buildings and banks, esp when people are leaving banks and can't say they don't have money, haha~ I seemed to have missed out a significant older population as I'm not that well versed in pursuading people to donate in Chinese - something to work on.

Evening: returned to AKLTG.  Boy did that place gave me energy that I'ven had for a while.  It is exciting to know that many of them are making good progress with the knowledge they had gained there.  It sort of forces me to do the same.  I think I had being doing too much theoratical stuff instead of using them in my daily life. Something to change. Oh, will be setting up a SBG with Tu Zhi and Ruitian. Can't wait for the team to be formed.

The second day of school passed by very quickly, my time filled up by the first lectures of the terms - classes are mostly interesting but somehow, I seem to miss the relevance of what was taught to the syllabus, think it's about time to start on reading up on course introduction and lecture notes. One particular class that especially held my interest is SC208 - Graphics, the first day of class and the lecturer shown us 3D images, shapes plus the 3D glasses, the ones with green and red. He remarked that they are very easy to create - looking forward to the labs.

I went back to hall 12 to slightly clean up the table and stuff and noted that the room is quite big compared to where Simon/Lance are living ~ hopefully that doesn't mean I have to pay more. Looking forward to Hall life in Hall 12.

Was buying Mac for Lunch/dinner when I met someone familliar... Took me a while to recall her name~ Ruichun, my junior from NP. Quite a coincidence to see her in NTU, futhermore, after chatting with her, realised that she's living in the same hall as I am, what chances are that of meeting a friend you haven't seen for quite a while and realising that both are studying/living in the same area. Well, maybe S'pore is too small, haha~

Later on, attended the concert by FIR (Fairyland In Reality), they are a great group. Fei, the lead singer has got a very versatile voice, of coz it's the skills of all of the members in the group that made the music great. Well, the one and only complain I have is that the waiting time is too bloody damn long they are almost like 1 hour behind time. Luckily that Jane was there in the queue early otherwise we might have ended listening in the back of Nanyang Auditorium.

Haha~ a brand new academic year~

Well, though feeling nothing new, coz I'm not promoted~ (coz I'm promoted last Sem to yr 2).

Managed to get down to school few hours earlier~ I love the air in school, plus all the new freshies (you thinking wat I'm thinking) I get to meet~ Some old friends too~ from Cat High (Melvin & Weishieh) to Poly(Wenwei and Jason) to Army (Desmond, James and Junhong) all in my dept of SCE. Haha~ One word to summarise it is FUN!

Signed up for the flag day today, quite a good goodie bag, especially the event T-shirt red but well designed, much better than the orange one last year. (at least the color is better)

Attended the first 2 of my class. SC111 - some interesting stuff, about communication in organisation, kindda blur about what the subj is about, seems so general~ Well, back to the drawing board. SC206 - The lecturer seems friendly and knowledgable, but I think he tends to rattle off a bit too much without visuals, so find it difficult to visualize, think should tell him to use more transparencies for those stuff that he came out impromptu.

Violin class - sigh, managed well for the first hour, once we proceed on to the 2nd hr, buang into the wall I go, stoned to followed up with the notes.

One thought that came up during my way home - Hall is better than the 90mins of journey back home.... self explanatory.... Oh, well, be borrow van from uncle for a small move to Hall 12 - rock and roll~

Oh, and was reading this book (Getting the most out of life) by Herve Commerignes~ He seems to be an NLP practitioner, can see all the NLP stuff popping up in the book - Map is not the territory and stuff, sort of like doing NLP revision~ haha~ that reminds me, a few books not done reading~ think I'll update the blog tomorrow~ ^_^

Another new day, another fantastic line of programme is line up for me tomorrow - NTU heritage walk, more classes and FIR concert, yeah, fantastatic! Praise the lord!

 

Haha, school starting soon again. Really must work hard this semester. It's either do or die!!! 6As here I come~ Planning and excution~

Just signed up the marathon (42.6) for S'pore Marathon. It's really a stretch goal for me, but I believe it's achieveable. Hmm, wat should my workout schedule be~

Think will run 2 times a week. 5km 1st week, 6km 2nd week 7km 3rd week. 4th week casual run 2.4 twice a week. plus gym once a week. Test it out in the mean time~ 2 more weeks to Army Half marathon, looking to improve my timing to 2:20hr

Meanwhile, gym did help me improve my physique. Able to do 3 chinups now~ Though far from my peak of 8, still an improvement~ ^_^

Reflections on GHZ

- Take full responsibilies for whatever you do
- Make fun the main aim of whatever you do. Without passion means without enthusiasm.
- Give yourself a timeline for your work and exercise discipline to keep to it.
- You are not superman, distribute work out to your co-workers

Bloody long since I last wrote my blog. Horrifying year I had~ Well, past is past, look towards the future.  My future plans is to get into the security field in IT- that's sort of my ideal dream job, the challenge of being constantly ahead of technology, spotting security flaws and coming up with new solutions. Hmm, really need to work on a lot of stuff, the first, to get my CCNA. Well, 20 days to countdown, hmm seems that I might need to postpone it again~ Almost zero recollection of my knowledge.