Brain Overload...

The past 2 weeks were the most stressful weeks I had. Assignments, lab demos, project analysis report...etc. The most stressful part is doing my 3 semester project analysis report. The fact that I am doing the project alone makes it even more stressful. Do not get me wrong, doing project alone is not bad, just that there is 1 disadvantage that is brainstorming. I got my classmates to show me their project reports. They have made me realized how simple minded I am! There were a lot of stuffs that I did not think of. Guess I am not one of those people with many ideas. There was also a class test on Tuesday on circuits, I scored 4/10. I have forgotten a very important rule for currents, i.e. currents always flow to non-resistance path...

The past 2 weeks, my brain has been digesting a lot of information, making out head and tail on new things being taught in lecture. Every hour will be thinking about school work even during bathing! I am also losing sleep and losing my leisure times! There is usually a 1-2 hr where I am simply doing nothing, just surfing the net, stare at the wall, play games, write my post...etc. Those times are gone!

There was 1 thing that helped me survive the past 2 weeks, it was Australian Idol! It had reached the semi-final (top 30) by that time. There is a rock chick in the 1st group and a funky blues chick in the 2nd group. Those 2 are my favorites and they are through to the finals. The funky blues chick can even be considered my idol already! It is the 1st time that I declared myself as a fan of a person. I am a fan of Liverpool football club, a fan of sci-fi show (eg.startrek). I am attracted to songs more than the singers but this time is different. I have the same feeling of watching Liverpool soccer match when I am seeing the funky blues chick performing. Those who want to see their pictures, here is the link. The rock chick's name is Tarni and my idol's name is Milly!

The pace have slowed down a bit after submission of assignments and my project analysis report is near to completion. My leisure time is coming back. I have been playing old games from Nintendo and Sega on my laptop using emulator.


These games are not as addictive as playing new games because they had already been played. I am currently playing 'Shining Force II' using Sega emulator. It was a very popular game in those days. The 2D graphic is not bad; Phantasy Star 4's graphic is the best. Here is a snap shot of the battle scene.
posted by Estan @ 10:20:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

My 1st Clubbing Weekend in a Foreign Country

Went to disco with friends on Friday. Danced for 4hrs straight. My neck tightened up after I drank a bottle of beer. Guess my blood circulation is not good and I also drank with empty stomach, plus I have not been drinking for a long time. I rested for a while at a corner hoping my neck would loosen itself but to no avail. I returned to my friends as I did not want them to worry. Somehow, my neck began to loosen up as I danced so I concentrated on my shoulder. Imagine me dancing mostly with my shoulders!

Went to watch EPL in a pub the next day. Everton vs Manu. Sadly, Everton lost because of a defense splitting pass from their defender in the beginning of 2nd half. Next, West Ham vs Blackburn which we were not interested so we went to another place for supper then returned for Boro vs Liverpool! Liverpool fans rocks. The atmosphere was totally different during Everton vs Manu. The crowd cheered at every attack Liverpool players made. There was this African guy who got up from his seat and moved forward everytime Liverpool players were about to score. We were guessing if he would charge infront of the TV screen kneeling down like those players celebrated their goals or simply hugged everyone in the pub. However, it was a goalless match so we did not get to see further actions by the African guy. There was also an Aussie that caught our attention. We were not sure if he is an Aussie though, he went to the restroom like more then 10 times during the match which was beside the TV screen. It seemed that that was that guy's way of bringing luck to liverpool. My friends and I like that pub, it is near our apartments and looks decent so we may be going there every weekends to watch EPL. Some of my friends are Manu fans so I am looking forward to Manu vs. Liverpool!
posted by Estan @ 4:10:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

Reflect on Yesterday 11/08

Yesterday was kind of a funny day for me. In the morning, during my lab, I forgot to remove my thumb drive from 1 of the lab machines again. Luckily, 1 of my projectmates from another subject was still there. The lab is free-access when there is no lesson. I dislike the lab machines arrangement. Inside the lab is a single shelf bench. The monitor is placed on the bench while the CPU is placed on top of the shelf. The shelf is above my height so my eyes will miss it after packing.

Next, during 1 of the lectures, 1 of my Aussie classmates was rushing a math assignment that I am taking too. I find it odd as the assignment deadline is next week. Both his friend and him said the deadline is the next day! I was totally shock as I just did question 1. The good thing was my classmate said he was about to complete the assignment and would pass his to me then. After the lecture, I asked other classmates for confirmation, the majority said it is next week. My classmate was totally relieved, so was I.

Attended another lecture next, the lecturer gave us a thinking question. 1 of the guys gave some sort of a 'stupid answer'. The lecturer started to do his explanation where he got heated up as he went on and uttered the word 'hell'. The whole lecture room went silent for a second then burst into laughter! The lecturer apologized to us along with the 'already past 5pm' reason.

After school, went to the gym with new friends I knew from 1 of the subjects we are taking together. They are Singaporeans too and live in the same rental building with me. I always wanted to go to the gym facility ever since I moved in. However a part of me is too lazy to go and it is boring going alone. I paid 5 bucks for daily entry to do the trial. I ran on the treadmill for 10mins. Boy, it was good. I have not sweat (due to exercising) for 1/2 a year. My new friends go to the gym frequently so I have made up my mind to follow suit. I will be spending 39 bucks monthly to use the gym. I will have to start slowly because my body aches after I have woken up this morning.
posted by Estan @ 7:54:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

What is the use of regretting?

I bought my 1st DVD series recently, Scrubs season 1, a comedy about doctors during their intern phase. My housemate got it 1st, which I loved it after finished watching during study breaks and lunch times. Now, I am doing a re-run to check for any faults during similar time slots. A scene in 1 of the episodes made me think about the title of my post. In the scene, 2 female friends of the lead actor were arguing about a certain topic. The actor decided to get involved in their argument by telling them, 1 is being condescending and the other being overly sensitive. From that moment on, his 2 friends combined their powers and turned their attention onto him. Next, was a scene where the actor went to a corner and pulled a stick backwards with the 'rewind' sign on top of it. Now the whole story started all over again. When it was about the time for the actor to interfere, he decided not to! However, he changed his mind, and did the same as before after a few seconds. I think that particular scene has a moral behind it. Everytime when we regret certain things we have done, we wish so much that we can go back in time to change what we did. However the fact remains, that we are what we are. Things that we do reflect the type of person we are which lead to actions we do or decisions we make. Even if we have a chance to go back, history will repeat itself as we feel we were doing the right thing at that time. We have to move on, take it as a mistake we have made, learn from it and improve ourselves.
posted by Estan @ 11:09:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

Friends, what does it really mean?

It had been quite a while since I went out with my friends. Those that omitted me from their projects, in fact, I felt our distance has become longer. They had called me out just once after the omitted incident which was to play badminton with another group of friends. After that I would call them if I wanted to go out but they would either be outside already or just came back and said they were too tired to go out. My response is why didn't they call me out in the 1st place? Their replies would be that I am preparing for exam or they decided to go out last minute or thought I was outside as I did not on my msn. At 1st, I kind of just laughed it off but after hearing it more frequently, I begin to think, are their outings really all decided at the last minute. They did call me to join them sometimes but it was also at the last minute. They called me to join them when they were about to leave. Please, there is no outing that is made up at the last min, not that I know of, there has to be a 15-30mins preparation time. They could have called me before that. That just showed they did not think of me in the 1st place.

To me, there is a big difference in 'calling your friends out immediately after planning an outing' and 'asking your friends to join you when you see them in school or on the street or think of them way after you have already planned the outing'. Last Friday, they went to disco during the night without asking me out. The next day 1 of them saw me and bragged about it. I did the usual thing of asking why they did not ask me out. His reply was I am taking exam! I finished my exam at 7++pm, it was my last paper and I was yearning to de-stress. They could call me after that or before my exam if they wanted me to join them. Perhaps, they may think of me as a ‘party thrasher’. I not those outgoing type, I would find things to do when I am alone and plan the day ahead. I am also a light sleeper; I will wake up in the middle of my sleep 2 or 3 times. My NS buddies all knows about it. To make up for the lost time, I would stick to a certain time to sleep as well as take afternoon nap.

I would turn down their invitation (usually last minute) most of the time or went home early. I would urge them to go home too if there is morning class the next day, otherwise I will tell them my reasons and to continue to enjoy. However 1 of them always said 'leave no man behind' and the whole group would go home with me. It is funny that this guy would leave me out for so many outings. He likes to say that he treats all his friends equal. Well, no offense, he is either being political or he subconsciously unawares or I do not fall in his ‘friends’ category.

I could not help but to think of my friends back in Singapore, the situation above happened to us countless time. The difference is that they still call me out no matter how many times I turned down their invitations or leave home early. I guess the bond is stronger as we have been friends much longer. There were times that I felt bad of turning them down too many times and apologized. 1 of them replied me with this once, "You can turn us down as many times as you like but we will still keep calling you out as we considered you as our friends. Another guy once said that I am the kind of friend that "suffers together but does not enjoy together". 9 out of 10 times, I would lend a helping hand. The 1 out of 10 is stuff out of my league; whereas, 6 out of 10 times, I would turn them down. We would give each other advices to improve each others' ways of doing things, cleared up any misunderstanding once things were calm. We would never go into a cold war. We would also involve everyone in our conversation and jokes. Sadly, our frequencies of outing have been significantly reduced due to national services, work commitments and relationship commitments. The plus point is we still keep contact through phone. Once in a while we will have a 30mins to 1hr chat, just to catch up on lost time. I miss them so much; I miss my girlfriend and family even more.

Now my situation is like I just arrived here 6 months ago. However, I could not stop the feeling of being left out after I thought I found friends that I could depend on but actually I am still alone. Looking on the bright side, they still look for me for help in school and other stuff. Therefore in order not to feel left out, I told myself that they are my schoolmates instead of friends.
posted by Estan @ 9:52:00 AM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

Initial D Review

Watched the movie initial D yesterday, the racing scenes was great but that is all I like about it. The script is very different from the animation. I am a fan of the animation. I know it is hard to combine so many episodes into a 1 hr 40 mins movie but some of the characters should not be altered so much. For example, Bunta, the father is not abusive at all in the animation, in fact he is 1 of the coolest character in it and he does not wear ah beng leather clothes! Another thing is that Takumi has other 3 friends that form a 4 person group. They combined the 3 person into 1 and linked that person and the petrol station boss as father and son, ridiculous! 3rd, Bunta has never ever once see Takumi during racing before (at least not in the animation) and does not flirt around, that is also what makes him so cool in the animation! Lastly, Takumi joins the team not because of Xia Shu, the reason behind is he truly loves racing and wants to be faster. There is no other reason or catalyst effect behind his decision. If there is, it is after he reconciled with Xia Shu not before. Hear that there will be a sequel; hope the script is not altered as much as the 1st movie.
posted by Estan @ 9:39:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

2 Down, A lot more to go....

Supplementary exams over, not sure when will the results be out. It depends on how fast the examiner marks; time to move onto other stuffs. Have to finish a lab report by next week, 2 assignments that due in 2 weeks, 2 project proposals, 1 due next week, the other week after next, and a small microcontroller program for 1 of the lab also due next week and last of all, brush up on my Op-Amp by going through my poly notes.

I have not log-in to my friendster account for a very, very long time. I did a few days ago after I received an email notice from a primary school friend who wanted to add me to his list. Friendster has improved a lot during my absence. I like the very much improved search features. It has option to search for 'school' which I try it out with 'bendemeer' and found a lot of long lost friends. Seeing their photos from their profiles bring back a lot of fond memories. I am still wondering whether to send them a message to ask for their emails.

Watch Australian Idol 3 a few days ago, a guy wore a batman suit and sung ‘Spiderman’. "Spiderman, Spiderman......" I can't get it off my head!!!
posted by Estan @ 11:14:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

Inspection, Rent & Strange System

I have moved over to my current apartment hoping it will be better than my previous 1. Well, it is better but there is something which I dislike. 1st, is the inspection; since the current owner of the apartment wishes to sell the apartment so he will arrange with the management for once or couple of times in a month to inspect the place. Usually the buyer will come instead of the owner. The problem is that there seems to be no deal made at all as potential buyers keep coming every month. I do not know whether any deal is made or it is like showing off different kinds of apartments so that buyers can chose the apartment they like. The annoying thing is that the management will only give us 1 notice each month and then they will just bring those people here as many times as they like. 2nd, the rent; I prefer the way my old apartment's management handled. They would give me a notice if I past the date of payment to remind me. The current 1 will not give any notices and after 1 month they will straight away disable our security card which will disallow us to enter the main door. That was what happened to my housemate yesterday. We forgot to pay July’s rent, it must be due to overseas travel. 3rd, their strange system; When I went to pay the rent, the service crew said my housemate and I owed them 320 bucks of rent. That was impossible as we paid full amount everytime so if we were to owe them money it would be the full amount. The 320 bucks was actually from the lower apartment that we were living before we moved to the higher 1. We moved on the 21st but we did the handover on 27th. The system thought that we were occupying 2 apartments during that week! The maintenance guy was busy on 22nd and we were busy from 23rd till 26th, so we did the handover on 27th. That time, a different service crew did not mention anything about this to us. She said it was alright to choose any day we liked to do the handover. After a long 'chat', the service crew said he will remove those extras rent from our bill. Nothing is perfect.
posted by Estan @ 3:20:00 PM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments

My Biggest Distraction

My supplementary exams are in 3 days time and I am trying hard to study for them since last week. How many percent have I studied? I would say 50%! Yes, only 50%, why it that so? I had been fine tuning my lifestyle at the start of this semester after I found out I did not pass 2 of my exams. I did an 'after action review', it turned out my life was a complete mess last semester. Yes, I did put in a lot of effort and time in the practical stuff but when it came to theory stuff, I would prefer to watch TV or surf the net...etc even though there was nothing particularly great to watch or surf...etc. The only time I got to study was in school. I tried out several other ways since then. I am able to study in my living room with the TV switched off and when I am on my bed or sitting on the floor in my room. I am never ever able to study at my desk. I am not sure why until now. Sunday night, I could not sleep, the fear of failing my exams got into me and I got up and continued studying at my desk. This time I was able to really study. How come? The difference is that every night before I go to bed, I will close the lid of my laptop. That night, when I started studying, I left the lid closed. The biggest distraction is my laptop! I sit at my desk 90% of the day, not including my sleeping hours. During those times, there will be notes between my laptop and me. However, my eyes are always on my laptop. Whenever I try to study the notes, my eyes will wonder from the 20 degrees view to the 60 degrees view. Then Monday, I started to study with my laptop lid closed and I was able to study. Ironic! I know some people might say it is all in your mind. 'All you have to do is to tell yourself to focus...blah-blah'. Well, I do not care about their opinions. They can take their blah-blah to the blah-blah-ologist. The brain is still considered a puzzle these days and all I care about are the ways to make my brain function to the highest level possible.
posted by Estan @ 5:49:00 AM (GMT+08:00). 0 comments