yes, it was on hiatus!

(Title says all)

Yes, I'm back to full-time blogging from now on! I'm sure many have missed me!

Or maybe not, if my Google Analytics number are anything to go by.

I don't think I need to explain why I've been inactive when it comes to updating this plot of land on the blog-o-sphere that I call 'da ron files' - exams, studies, Facebook, no reason to blog, you get it.

I thought I'd put up something just to let you know how I've been. I'm fine. Bored, but fine. Seriously, I'm bored from all these exams now, I just want to get home and play around with Objective-C. That's right, I'm planning on making an app for the iPad/iPhone during the holidays! Oh JOY! I, a dude with no coding experience what-so-ever (other than HTML, but arguably, that's just coding for babies), am going to dabble into the world of App-making. Watch out for my app in an app store near you (hopefully, if Apple doesn't think my app is junk)!

Oh yeah, I've been preparing to go back to Jakarta (departing UK this Sunday evening, arriving Monday evening) for the summer break while I wait for my A Level results and Uni. Come to think of it, assuming I don't blog anymore until I'm back in Jakarta, this could be the last posting from Brighton. So maybe I'd spend a bit of time to reflect on my time in Brighton over the past 1 year and 2 months.

Brighton certainly has its bohemian characteristics - in fact, if people were to ask me to describe Brighton in one word, that's the word I'd choose - bohemian. This city is quite alternative - a walk along the Laines is enough to prove my point. It's also a fun city - there's the pier, the beach, the music venues. And I'm glad to have met so many people from different backgrounds; in church, at school, and at the charity shop. My time here hasn't always been pleasant (I shall not say why on this blog). Nonetheless, I'm quite sad that I'm going to leave all these behind in a few days' time, but I guess I have to move on to the next phase in life, wherever that brings me, right?

Anyway, talking about vacation-time, I'm going to be transiting in Singapore for a couple of days, before my Uni Term starts (obviously). My only dilemma is when. My Uni Orientation/Welcome Week starts around 25 September, and I might arrive earlier so I can get my stuff moved over from Brighton to Exeter/Coventry. Aside from that, my parents were also planning on heading to Shanghai for the World Expo, but no dates have been committed for that. Then, I heard Founder's Day in SAS is late August - one month before I should start heading off to the UK. So, what's the plan? At the moment, I have none. But I'm definitely heading to Singapore between now and my Uni term. So, keep watching this space (or my Facebook status updates, or Twitter), as I'll update when I have updates! (redundant redundancy!)

Alright, then. Cheerios, people! I have an Accounting and MacroEcons paper left to study for. See you on the other side of the globe!

Macroeconomics: Things to check out

Since I'm revising for my Unit 2 (MacroEcons unit) exam, I thought I should share a few links to web resources/videos that might help/be of interest to Econs students.

1. BBC Documentary: The Love of Money (2009)

This 3-hour documentary looks at the world financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the events surrounding it - the Greenspan years, the collapse of Lehman, and the response by politicians. It features accounts from key players in the crisis - Alan Greenspan, Tim Geithner, Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown, and many more. It's no longer on the BBC iPlayer, but fortunately for everyone (especially those not in the UK, I found them on YouTube. (I typed the title of the episodes as used by the BBC, as well as the title used by the YouTube member in brackets)

Episode 1: The Bank That Bust the World [The Fall of Lehman]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkAngelStarQ#grid/user/1D8C7CC36500EA3E

Episode 2: The Age of Risk [The Boom and Bust Years]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkAngelStarQ#grid/user/2E6957F5E51F78C1

Episode 3: Back from the Brink [The Last Days of the Banks]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkAngelStarQ#grid/user/A3C2F641D82BDDA5

2. iTunes U

A feature that was added to iTunes not too long ago, iTunes U is one of the places to go to for free, publicly-accessible web content (tutorials, talks, etc.) from some of the biggest universities/academies around. Obviously, some of these are way beyond A Level Economics. But you can watch them just to get a feel of what Economics (or whatever course you want to do) at Uni might be like, I guess

Some of the ones that I've downloaded (long ago and starting to watch now):

University of Warwick: The Global Credit Crunch and the Global Economy

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/warwick.ac.uk.2017263320.02017263328

MIT: The Economics Meltdown: What Have We Learnt, if Anything? by Paul Krugman

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/mit.edu.3609336962.03609336968.3599872997?i=1752459984

3. Spot of Economics Blog

A blog by one of the Econs teachers from my college, Mr Spottiswoode. It's more for the UK syllabus, so if you're reading this from Singapore, there may be some stuff that's a bit different/irrelevant (I don't think you'd care about the UK Balance of Trade as much as I have to for my exam). But still, it's a good read.

http://spoteconomics.blogspot.com

Hope you found the links useful!

On SA vs ACS

There's tons of stuff I wanted to get off my mind. So, here's the first blog post for the night...

On SA vs ACS...

I haven't said much on this, mainly because I thought I shouldn't, since I didn't understand what happened. But now that things are a bit clearer, I'm breaking the silence.

Don't get me wrong - I love my alma mater. But can we be a bit more objective about this whole SA-AC debacle, and set our differences aside? What happened on the pitch shouldn't have happened. Since it has happened, we should try to resolve it, not to let the single spark burn down the whole forest on both sides of the border. The way Stomp reports the incident is not very helpful, for one. Clearly, the "Stomper" that gave the tip-off to this story (or, more likely, the editor) has never been to a Rugby Finals Match, because it has been a tradition for students from the victorious school to run to the pitch after the final whistle has been blown, as a form of celebration. Then, everyone will gather around the centre stand - many of the students will be on the field at this time, too. This hasn't been a big deal since, oh, way before I reached Secondary school (I've graduated, if you are asking). It's only in 2010 that the press is horrified to learn about the "traditions" of the Inter-schools Rugby Finals.

I'm really glad to see some positive responses to this incident from various parties - I've heard the principals of both schools have arranged the teams to meet. That's a positive first step. And I've seen some alumni and students trying to ease the situation with Facebook groups and discouraging inflammatory comments/feelings. And I've seen a more neutral commentary on Redsports.sg [Link].

We have to deal with this situation in a matured fashion.

This aggressive behaviour is not acceptable. But given the circumstances, I can understand why it has happened. Think about it - these rugby players have been working at trying to clinch the title for months. They've worked their guts out, they've sacrificed quite a lot, and at the end of the day, they are still students. They've been through a lot, only to realise that their effort was only enough for 2nd, not first. And add to that the score margin line of 1 point. That was probably the last straw for that student who snapped.

We are all capable of being violent and aggressive. That's what Phillip Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram both proved in each of their studies. We are all capable of making mistakes. We all are. We're only human, after all. Let's just make amends and carry on. Lesson learnt, no inflammatory comments necessary.

UPDATE:

Ok, I take back what I said about Stomp. My criticism of them might have been a bit harsh. To be fair, the person who wrote up the story was probably relying on a 3rd-party account of the incident. Would have been unreliable, but hey, that's how Stomp works, with its contribution and citizen journalism methods, isn't it? It's not perfect, but it gets the word out on what happened.

Moved!

Phew! What a day!

Yes, I finally moved all my stuff from the place that I've been living in for the past year to the College Residence. Every single thing in my possession, as far as I can tell. To be honest, I can't quite understand how I managed to squeeze all that in one taxi, but there you go!

Anyway, really, really, big thanks to Holly for helping me load, unload and move my stuff, and to Steffie for letting me leave my stuff in her room while I was keyless. Oh, and helping me with my first go at the washing machine & dryer.

Enough talk about moving - it's quite a nightmare today, thanks to the absence of clear direction as to how I should acquire my room keys and new Student Card / Security Pass (which I still don't have). That's the problem with holidays, I guess.

Seriously, let's move on to a new topic. Music.

No pun intended, but I think my music taste is moving, too.

Not quite sure why, but I'm now hooked on Scottish singer/songwriter Amy Macdonald. I only own one of her tracks (thanks to the iTunes Student Giveaway on Facebook 2 years ago). But after Spotifying (I'll trademark that!) her new album "A Curious Thing", I think she's comparable to KT Tunstall, only darker, less euphemisms, and more emotionally expressive. Maybe it's just me, but I kinda like her stuff now, especially the newer ones.

Oh, if you were surprised by that, hold on. I actually like "Plastic Beach", the Gorillaz album. A bit.

To be honest, when I first heard "Stylo" (the first single off the album, so I used this track as a barometer of how the album will 'peak'), I thought to myself: "This is just cheesy synth mixing. I'm not going to like this album". But when I listened to the rest of the album (again, on Spotify), I had to retract the statement. Well, part of it, anyway.

It is cheesy. Don't tell me it isn't. You hear disco clips here and there across the album, and that is cheesy.

But that hasn't stopped me from getting hooked on a few of the tracks. "Some Kind Of Nature" reminds me of The XX - gentle, hushed sounds with almost whispery vocals. And I guess I loved the song even more because of the whole half-rap-over-a-staccato-background action. I also like Rhinestone Eyes and Empire Ants.

To be honest, I think I don't mind hearing this album at a restaurant or pub, or even a radio station. It feels quite laid back and 'relaxing'. Probably makes good muzak (Check the definition of the word 'muzak' if you think that sentence didn't make sense. You might be thankful.).

I've also been listening to Vampire Weekend.

Oh, and I'm also forcing myself to hear more of Anberlin. Because I keep hearing this band name left and right. Let's see how I get on...

K. off to bed.

Plans.

Plan to fail, fail to plan. So, here's the plan for this Easter Break.

29-31 March: Nothing much, except hang around London, Brighton and Portsmouth. Maybe Chichester? Mostly revision and packing stuff, because...

1 April: Aside from being April Fool's Day, I'm actually moving into the College Residence. So, I'll be quite busy the entire day.

2-4 April: Not really sure, but I know there's Easter Celebrations at St. Peters on Friday and Sunday. Which leaves Saturday open. Maybe work at the BHF shop?

5 April: Off to B'ham! Late afternoon trip.

6 April: Spend a day at the Bullring and the surrounding areas. Eat at the Balti Triangle? Cadbury World, if I feel like going there (I doubt it)?

7 April: Train from B'ham to M'ster.

8 April: Hopefully, walk around Uni of Manchester, and maybe getting lost in the city.

9 April: Blank, but if I can, I'd probably head to Old Trafford (even though I have very little interest when it comes to football), a couple of museums and libraries (as recommended by Lonely Planet). We'll see...

10 April: Back to B'ton

11 April: Church, and then rush ('chiong') through the textbooks before school reopens.

Study aids.

I don't think I've ever given sensible advice for studying. (That James Wee guy who did that whole email interview with me probably found that out when he knew I sleep in the weirdest of times.)

But this time, I'm actually giving sensible tips. Yes, I'm introducing you to 3 web tools that I think will help you in whatever it is that you're studying/working on. You might have heard of some of them, but if you haven't, read on. And if you've heard of the first one, I still want you to read it.

1. Google Docs.
http://docs.google.com

We all know that Google Docs is amazing as a Microsoft Office alternative. It's got most of the features, plus it's online, with more collaboration features, and free.

Well, what you probably didn't know is that it can be used to do forms and surveys! Yes, all you JC students with your project works and Survey Monkey stuff. You can use Google Docs to create surveys, embed some code that it generates on a website/blog, and the responses get tabulated "automagically" in a nice table. Just follow the instructions on this link and collect those quantitative/qualitative data (it's a form tool, so it can collect both.)

I tried using it to collect the study hours from the people in my cell group last time (N422), and it worked quite well, except for the part where some people didn't really key in their details. But the point is, people used it, and they didn't have much problems. So, it should work with your project, too! Give it a shot!


2. del.icio.us
http://del.cico.us (or else, http://www.delicious.com )

I've tried this tool ages ago, and then I stopped using it after 3 log-ins. But recently, I found myself actually using it as a handy go-anywhere bookmarking tool that I can use for saving links to articles that I can share during Psychology class (see my del.icio.us page for an example of a real-life application of this tool - I saved 2 links for my Psychology class, which was doing Gender Behaviours).

The basic idea is that you put links into Del.icio.us in the same way you'd put into your bookmark bar. Then, when you're on a different computer, those bookmarks will be on a handy website, ready for you to access. You can also use it to share links with others, or subscribe to certain tags. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast team used to (and I think still does) use del.icio.us to gather news stories and picks to talk about during their show by asking people to tag "MBWideas". That's one possible application of this web tool.

Go ahead. Try it. See if it meets your needs.

3. Dropbox.
http://www.dropbox.com

Dropbox is to the thumbdrive what Del.icio.us is to the bookmark bar, and what Google Docs is to Microsoft Office. It's an online storage solution. And a generous one, too. 2GB for free! And, if you introduce 4 other friends to Dropbox via a referral programme (click here for my referral!), you could get up to an additional 256MB*4=1GB!

It's really handy if you're too lazy to dangle a thumbdrive wherever you go. Just make sure there's an internet connection on the PC where you intend to access the files!


There you go! I hope that helps!

[p.s.: I'm on the school PC. For some reason, it forces me to type URLs in posts manually, but allows hyperlinks. That's why I only post full links for those which I can remember in my STM/LTM. Sorry if this post looked a bit "phishy".]

That darn New Year's Resolution...

First thing I want to get out there - I'm giving up coffee for Lent. 

Also, because I kind-of added this as an after-thought, I'm also forbidding myself from anything above 6 units of alcohol over the 40 days. It's not a complete ban, because I had alcohol during communion, and I drank on day 1 of Lent (Owl City concert). 

To put into perspective, the UK government's limit is 2-3 units a day, and 21 units a week. 10ml of alcohol = 1 unit. So far, I've done 4.1375 units. So, let's see how far I'd go!

Ok, back on topic...

I'm trying to think of how I should execute my plans for the short film project. In the first place, I haven't even drawn up a really concrete plan. And the fact that I've got school + "work" to juggle with kind-of isn't helping either. So that might be one new year resolution that I'll have to put on hold for now.

On a related note, I'm thinking of investing in a Yamaha Tenori-on and Akai APC 20 as my mixing rig. But these'll probably have to wait a while, as I try to clear my personal budget deficit from my iPhone app.

Oh yeah, should probably explain. I use this iPhone app to manage my expenses for each week. Normally, I set myself a certain amount a week for my expenses - food, clothings, books, gadgets, phone top-ups, music downloads, iPhone apps, you name it. I record my transactions (approximately) and make sure I try not to go over the set budget. Hey, if I want to be an accountant/auditor, I have to be good with my own finances, right? 

Anyway, I kind-of went on a spending frenzy last week, because I had to pay off in advance for my practical driving test - I don't have my own car, and even if I do, I'm not allowed to drive on my own because my provisional license means I must be accompanied, so I'll have to use a driving school. That aside, I bought new clothes (really loving this short-sleeved hoodie shirt that I got from Topman). And I did some retail therapy on my birthday (a DJ book and a lomocam).

Man, I really need to stop this BBB syndrome.

Oh, btw, have you checked out my YouTube channel recently? I uploaded the videos from the Owl City & Lights concert. Be warned though, sound quality's rubbish. But visually, it's better than most camera-phone videos out there (because it's shot on an iPhone).

iPhone App Reviews...

I promised Ryan (Ren Yuan) that I'd do an iPhone app review blog post.

Well, to be honest, I don't know what a good format of an app review post should be. (Hey, this blog is experimental, after all.) So I'm going to play around with the format. AppJudgement has their "Download/Don't Download" judgement, and I, well, have a phletora of options to choose from. But as a first post (and because I'm on the school PC, which means I can't hook up my iPhone to get screenshots), I'll just do a quick bout of app names, what they do, a couple of thoughts/opinions, and a score, plus a "usage frequency" rating - how often I actually use the app in my day-to-day life.

So, here goes!

App: Moodagent
What it does:
Generates Playlists based on 5 different 'mood' ratings - think of it as Genius playlist generator with mood.

Thoughts:
You need more than 25 non-obscure songs to use this app fully. In my experience, the app is well-thought-out. Once you generate a playlist, you can save it, or even play the playlist when you leave the app (it plays in the iPod app), or if you find another song from which you want to generate a playlist, you can select an icon next to the song, and it'll make a playlist with the same mood as that song. Otherwise, play around with the scales and the app will create a playlist.

The scales' significance can be a bit vague at times, but otherwise, it works as well, if not better, than Genius, as long as you don't listen to really obscure stuff.

Pricing: Free (as at time of posting)
App Score: 4/5
Usage frequency: rarely - I don't make playlists that often, unfortunately. I just set it and forget it.




App: Riddim Ribbon
What it does:
It's a new game from Tapulous, the creators of the ubiquitous Tap Tap Revenge that every iPhone or iPod touch has probably had on its home screen at least once in one iteration or another. This game is still music-based, except that it tries to emulate DJ Hero rather than Rock Band. You tilt the phone from side to side as you try to keep a ball on the track (ha! no pun intended). Stray off or hit the obstacles and you lose energy, which means you can't jump over to the next stage in the music.

Thoughts:
The 'Fail' system in this game can be a bit harsh and demoralising for new gamers (and let's admit it - that's a lot of us, considering how new this genre is). If you hit one of the obstacles jsut before the checkpoint, you'll lose energy and fail automatically - this is compared to its cousins, Guitar Hero, where if you miss a couple of times, regardless of section, you can still try to fight your way back to the green while the crowd jeers at you.

Also, maybe it's just me not gaming enough on my iPhone, but there can be a steep learning curve when trying to play this game. As a guide, think of the two dotted lines in the track as fulcrums. If you keep your phone in the normal position, you'll be in the exact middle of those two dotted lines. Tilt slightly to one side, and you'll get on the dotted line. Tilt further, and you'll stray out and onto the outer lane. A bit like changing lanes on a highway, except you have to keep the phone tilted to stay in a lane.

Oh, one more complaint - This game has been in development for some time now, why are there so few music tracks to play with? Only 3 BEP tracks and a few downloadable Tiesto tracks? Where's the Gaga? Owl City? Come on! Bring them over from TTR!

Pricing: £1.79 in the UK as at posting. Downloadables approximately £0.59.
App Score: 4/5. If they had more tracks to play with, I would give 5/5.
Usage Frequency: Often - I'm hooked on this game!




App: Sleep Cycle
What it does: In 3 words: Glorified Alarm Clock. More specifically: It uses the accelerometer in the iPhone (apparently, not iPod touch compatible) to detect movements while you're asleep. Based on these movements, it interprets whether you're in your deep REM sleep, awake, or dreaming. When it senses that you're in your 'light sleep', it sounds the alarm.
Thoughts:
This app will not suit everyone. You'll need to be able to put your iPhone on your bed, next to your head, and it should be charged unless you want a flat battery the next day. (oh, and if you have a Tempur bed, this app won't work.) And let's not even get into the radiation talk. Also, maybe it's just me being pedantic, but this morning, the app woke me up at 7.26 - that's 19 minutes before the time I intended to wake up! I wanted a nice snooze after I saw the time, but no, the app asks for me to get off my lazy bum, even though I only had 5 hours sleep the night before.

Also, a bit TMI, much? Why do I need to see that I dream at 2-3am?

But I have to say, for someone who's a bit OCD like myself, this app is fascinating in the "I want to know everything even if it's dumb or inaccurate" sense. And from what I see, it appears to work on me.

Pricing: £0.59 (look out for the LexWare Labs AB one. That's the one I tested, so that's the only one I can tell you about.)
App Score: 4/5 - The radiation is a concern for me.
Usage Frequency: Nightly. I'm really interested in how this app works and analyzes my physiological patterns when I'm sleeping/about to sleep/getting up. Even though I'm exposing myself to even more radiation, on top of what my MacBook Pro emits.

My opinions on the iPad, post-announcement.

By the time this post goes out, I'd have seen the full Apple Keynote in video (Download link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=275834665&subMediaType=Video).

By the time this post goes out, I'd also have read some of the opinions the man on the street or in the Media circle.

So, I thought I'd post a round-up of the flaws, the commendable, and the questions for debating on Facebook or my tagboard.

But first, 

The Flaws.

It's an Apple First-Gen product. Which means they're bound to create an imperfect product - that's how they make money from the army of fanboys and early-adopters. And here's my top few...

1. No Multi-tasking. 

One of my friends (Ren Yuan) pointed out that, yes, the iPad has Keynote and Pages, so in theory, you can start tapping reports away on this thing. But what if you need to do some research in Safari? What if you're preparing a Bibliography - you're going to go back and forth between Pages and Safari, copying and pasting, waiting for one app to open for every single bit you copy. That's going to be tedious. And what if you want to listen to Pandora/Streaming Radio/Last.fm while making a Keynote presentation? The problem is that Apple hates to make an App-killer - it shows that their OS can be unstable, like Windows or OS X.

2. No (Adobe) Flash. 

If you watched the announcements, you'd see that the audience chuckled when Steve loaded NYT.com - you see the little blue lego block with a white '?' on it. You saw Steve try to swipe the icon away as that happened. Come ON! Get Adobe to port Flash over, already! [p.s.: If you watched Steve Jobs' intro before Schiller went on stage to talk about iWork, he said something about the iWork requiring lots of horsepower. Maybe it's just me, but I saw that as a prompt from Jobs to Adobe, asking them to get their act together and make Flash stable on OS X Snow Leopard first if they want to come on board.]

3. Lack of Content. Worldwide.

Perhaps this was because Apple kind-of rushed some last-minute content deals to avoid leaks (*stares sternly at McGraw-Hill*). But seriously? US-only iBooks Store? No newspapers/magazine subscription? No textbooks?

4. The Screen resolution. 

1024x768 = 4:3 = stupid resolution. That's supposed to be extinct when the CRT died. Maybe it's to keep costs low, but I really wished they got a widescreen aspect ratio instead. Your "Star Trek" or "Up!" will look really letter-boxed. And what's with the stupid bezel? It's so thick! Couldn't they trim that a bit more to recude the footprint?

5. MicroSIM?!

Apple is brilliant at locking things down, it seems. iPhone 1 was locked to AT&T/O2, their OS X is locked to the Mac and the Mac was locked to OS X, iTunes had DRM, etc. Now that they're selling iPad (the 3G model) unlocked, you'd think that equates to them raising the flag and giving up over the lockdown game. But then, they come up with a right-hook - MicroSIM means you can't slot in your current data SIM in it - you must BUY from SPECIFIC carriers who sell them. URGH! SO FRUSTRATING!

6. The Name. 

iSlate was so much better - original, unique, and most importantly, trademark-able. iPad, apparently, is Fujitsu's trademark in the US. Expect negotiations and possibly lawsuits.

[annoyingly, I thought of why Apple called the iPad the iPad. Think about it - from the iMac and iPod, take all the letters of 'iPod' except the 'o', and put in its place, the 'a' from 'iMac'. It's a portable device (like iPod), but it has horsepower and major computing capabilities (like iMac). It's meant to be the device that's between your iPhone and your Mac. The average of the two extremes = iPad. Get it?]

The Commendable.

On the bright side, the iPad has some strengths worth mentioning.

1. The Pricetag. 

$499 to $829?! Enough said. Say goodbye to those cheap and not cheerful, underpowered, plasticky Netbooks. Move over, overly-posh Vaio/Thinkpad X-series or MacBook Air. Say hello to iPad.

2. Money-making machine.

They really thought about the accessories you'll need for this thing, didn't they? Stand, Keyboard Stand, case-cum-stand, Dock-connector-to-camera adaptor, Dock-connector-to-VGA adaptor, etc. Oh, and Apps. $9.99 x 3 for iWork, and game devs are going to get another chance to make money. Oh, and let's not forget the latest addition to the iTunes family - iBooks. They've created a mall around the iPad!

3. iWork on a tablet. 

That'll make the device more attractive to students, doctors, insurance agents, news presenters, etc. Oh, and thanks to Brushes, artists might start striking Wacoms off their wishlist and get this instead.

4. ePub. 

For the technologically-challenged, ePub is not an electronic pub where you can order electronic drinks and get electronically drunk, before you get eHangovered the next day as you realised how much you spent on eDrinks. It's not like Farmville. No, ePub is a new open standard for eBooks. So you can take all the eBooks you bought from iBooks, and bring it onto your other eBook readers, like the Sony ones. Think of ePub as DRM-free eBooks.

[Correction: apparently, (according to a quote from a disgruntled Adobe blogger via daringfireball.net, at least) Apple is applying DRM on their ePubs. aww...]

5. The Jack-of-all-trades gadget. 

The iPad does a lot of things - eBooks reader, gaming device, music/video player, netbook, photo frame, telephone book, diary, notebook, TV, portable storage drive (albeit a clunky one), Wacom-tablet replacement. They're really blurring the lines with this device - what category do you fit this into, other than a tablet?

6. Unlocked!

Not only is there a 3G-less version, but the 3G version is unlocked and not tied to any contracts! (though, yes, it has a hardware lock in the form of a smaller SIM slot, but since it's a new standard, I'd expect more phones and telcos to switch to MicroSIM in the near future.)

The Questions.

I still don't know how to call on these points, so I thought you should write your opinions on these points. What do you think about these aspects of the iPad?

1. The screen?

I'm not talking about the resolution - it's so 20th century, no questions asked. I'm interested in hearing what you think about the 9.7" size and the IPS technology. Is 9.7" too big, because it doesn't fit in your jeans? Or maybe it's too small (and underpowered) for you to want one in the house? Is IPS a good thing, because of increased viewing angles and colour saturation, or is it bad, because it uses more transistors than other LCD tech, thus increasing power consumption? Which brings me on to my next point.

2. The battery life?

10 hours seems a lot compared to a notebook, but the iPhone lasts longer. Will this thing still have juice if I were listening to music from it all day long via a Bluetooth headset? Or is it not so important since it'll probably never leave the house?

3. Where does it belong?

If the iPad were an appliance, where does it belong? In the toilet? Kitchen? Living room? Study room? Or maybe it sleeps in a bagpack? Or is it not a consumer product? Does it belong in the corporate environment? Or the Education sector? Arts, perhaps? What about healthcare? Or for Science, via the SDK and some specialised instruments? So many possibilities, one device. But where will it succeed?

4. 3G? What for?

Why would anyone buy the 3G version if it's not going to be used anywhere else other than the home, the school, the workplace, or the café - places which probably have some form of Wifi? Heck, what will it do to the battery life? (That's a bit of a rhetorical question, isn't it?)

Well, what do you think, overall? Good product? Or is it a misfit? Comment away...

exams over!

Yay! Finished my exams! At last!

Well, not quite. I still have a Psychology Class Test next Tuesday. Bummer.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a list of things to remember, so that I remember them, in case I get amnesia/dementia. Which, judging from the way that my memory's been going, is quite possible.

Alright.

Tonight, 6pm: Apple announcements.
Tomorrow, 28 Jan, 10am: Some Teleconferencing thingy that my College is organising with a school in Russia. Sounds interesting.

2 Feb: Psy Class Test on Eating Behaviour - Obesity.
6 Feb: First day for the Safehaven project. (Goes on every Saturday)

10 Feb: Exeter Open Day
14 Feb: V-day. B-day. CNY-Day.

17 Feb: Owl City in Concert @ Komedia!
18-19 Feb: Mid-term break

22 Feb: Owl City's Album release in the UK (at last!)
3 Mar: Warwick Open Day

19 Mar: Driving Practical Test (Subject to changes)

23-27/28 Mar: Matthew Lim coming to the UK (subject to changes, tbc)

Phew!

The Benefits of an All-Boys School?

Thought I should share this link...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/20/single-sex-schools-boys-arts
(ignore paragraph 5)

The basic gist is that apparently, boys are more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities which help with the development of the individual's emotional expressiveness. This is mainly because the absence of girls allow them to develop without pressure to conform to the "cool guy" stereotypes.

Seems quite true, in my opinion.

What do you think?

New Year's Resolution...

The New Year's coming!

So, here's a look back at my New Year's Resolution for 2009. Usual scoring technique - Green = 1 point for achieving, Orange = 0.5 points for half-achieving (i.e.: arguable), and Red = 0 for complete non-achievement.

I will get into Bellerby's College.

I will keep my mass under 75kg.

I will grow to above 1.80m by the end of '09. [no. I'm still at 1.7m]

I will not go into overdraft when I am in the UK.

I will keep in contact with my Singapore friends.

I will meet Indonesians in the UK.

I will cook at least once, be it in Indonesia before I leave, or in UK. [I can make a really nice Japanese-style salad and Marmite on toast, but they don't really count as cooking, do they?]

I will post minimum 100 posts in 2009. A low target for a busy year ahead.

I will stop buying physical albums [i.e.: Music CDs] by the last quarter of 2009 [Oct-Dec]. I will, instead, buy online.

I will grow stronger in the LORD, and while I'm at this,

I will find a church in the UK, and go to it regularly.

I will get a new MacBook in 2009.

I will drive with a license in 2009.

I will vote in the 2009 Indonesian Presidential. SBY or Megawati? that's the question at the moment.

I will watch a performance of a choir in 2009.

I will watch min. 3 movies in the theaters / cinema in 2009.

I will still take photos in the UK, but for artsy and casual reasons only.

I will sit on the Airbus A380 for the first time in 09.

I will not be in Singapore for more than 100 hours in 2009.

I will take up music lessons. Specifically, piano. [Guitar, actually.  And actually, I'm self-learning.]

I will run a half-marathon in 2009. [i.e.: 21km. Not competitive, though]

I will run in a running event in 2009, even if it's the London Marathon or Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon. Hey, if people from Africa fly all the way to run in Singapore, why not me? Hopefully, I'll be having my holidays by then.

I will grow more muscles in my arms and the six-pack region. a four-pack would be nice, over the one bulge I have now.

17/23=73.9%.

Now that we've seen the past, let's plan into the future!

Right, here's the New Year's Resolution for 2010! (A bit early, yes, I know. But I'm posting now in case I forget to do it later on. And besides, it's so close to the New Year anyway!)

Broken down into 7 areas...

Academic

•I will score 3 As for my A Level.

•I will get to a University. Either Warwick, or Exeter, if not Manchester.

Athletics & Fitness

•I will log 250km of runs in 2010 on Nike+.

•I will run a 10K in under 1 hour.

•I will try to run a full marathon in 2010.

•I will keep my weight under 75kg.

Charity & Church

•I will help at least 5 homeless people in Brighton directly (i.e.: not through giving money).

•I will work at the charity shop for 100 hours in 2010.

Motoring

•I will pass my practical driving test and get a full license.

•I will buy my first car.

Music

•I will attend at least 2 live events/concerts/gigs in 2010.

•I will join a music team, be it the church music team, or a choir in Uni.

Tech, Art & Social Networking

•I will not buy any more Apple products. No iPods, iPhones, Macs, iSlate, etc. Only provision allowed: An Apple Remote, since mine is a bit wonky.

•I will finish my short film project by the end of 2010. (Oh no. Not another DUE DATE!)

•I will get a new Time Machine HDD.

•I will post at least 200 blog posts.

•I will post my 2,000th tweet in 2010.

•I will get my 5,000th view on my Flickr Page.

•I will increase the number of uploads I have on Flickr to 400.

Travel

•I will visit 6 UK cities in 2010. Possible cities include: Coventry, Manchester, Exeter, Brighton, London and Portsmouth

•I will go to at least 4 countries (Indonesia, Singapore and the UK confirmed, obviously. Maybe I should go visit the States or Aussie?)

That's 21 items on my New Year's Resolution for 2010!

Well, Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Here's to a Happy New Year, 

and may the new year 2010 be a fruitful and blessed one!

And if you are facing major challenges in the new year, be they major exams or whatnots, all the best, and remember that God is with you all the time. 

Untitled.

I realised that the titles of my blog post are quite meaningless, because I tend to choose a title, and then make a post, forgetting that I had a title at the top of the post. So, there you go. Untitled post. So I'm free to talk about what I want, without thinking of following a thread. (You have been warned.)

If you're wondering where on earth I am (literally), I'm actually at home in Jakarta. Home sweet home. The unfortunate thing is that I'm still kind of jet-lagged. Sleeping 2-5am, waking up 12noon-ish. It's slowly moving back to a normal 12mn-9am sleep cycle, but till then, I'm staying off caffeine.

Been trying to study for the AS (plus a few A2) papers in January. I have to confess - I feel that studying in December is like child-labour - it's unethical, because it robs the person of the freedom to enjoy, relax, and celebrate the festive season (and gain weight). But that's my opinion. Must. Study. Psychology. I mean, I'm not too worried about Maths and Econs, and I just need to read up a bit more of the Accounting theory and stuff, but Psychology is a lot harder to study for. Tons of different theories, explanations, approaches, models, treatments, etc. intertwined with hundreds of researchers' names to remember. But since I got myself into this mess (nobody forced me to take Psychology. Just me and my ego.), I have to face the music like a man.

Oh, I've been thinking of embarking on a multimedia project soon. Much like my 'O' Level Art Coursework - a video, coupled with an original audio track, depicting a certain theme/story. At the moment, I need a theme to work on, so that I know what to work towards. So far, I have 2 on my mind - the urban/city life, or the earphones/speakers/mp3 player. The former, because I just want to try making stock-like video. The latter, because I think many of us listen to music on our commute to school/work, and sometimes, you see people behaving in a way that shows they're rocking to the music, but suppressing it really well. And I thought I can use my video to show an amplification (heh. no pun intended) of this perhaps-innate response to Lady Gaga. Of course, this is a spare-time-only project, because I really shouldn't be doing this when I have exams to prepare for. It's just that I've been having itchy fingers lately, if you know what I mean.

Gosh, I really want a 7D and a video-friendly ballhead (Reccos, anyone?).

Anyway, speaking of video, I was watching this HD short-film that I downloaded from the BBC iPlayer some time ago. Hooked my Mac up to my 720p TV, and gosh, did it look good. The story was good, too. Entitled "Pop Art" by Amanda Boyle, it's about this strange friendship between Toby, a kid who's lost him mum and Arthur, a new classmate who's born with a 'genetic disorder that causes him to be born a balloon' (hence the title, I guess). It's an odd story, yes, but I think it's a bit of a reflection of how people sometimes let their negative emotions overcome them. If you're geeky enough to know how to set up a proxy or search on Youtube, do try to watch it. It's a heart-warming clip, IMO. http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004x9xt

But if you have no idea how to set up a proxy (it's alright. me neither.) then you can have this as a consolation prize. If you're a fan of The Bugle - Audio Newspaper for the Visual World podcast, then you should listen to "Andy Zaltsman's History of the Third Millenium", a comedic view of the past decade. It's on the iPlayer, but because it's audio-only (radio broadcast), it's available for streaming worldwide, as with most other BBC Radio programmes. Other programmes I recommend - The Now Show [also available in podcast form worldwide]. But please, don't let these links be your only source of news. You'll sound really weird in conversations about the latest news.

By the way, for people who often look at my Last.fm scrobble charts, there's been a slight glitch with the Last.fm Scrobbler App on my Mac, so I had to uninstall it and use a different scrobbler, which seems to also have its own share of bugs. Seems like upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and then from iTunes 8 to 9, added with the zero-response from the Last.fm coders, might have led to me being unable to submit about half of my scrobbles. So, fingers crossed, let's hope things work with this new 3rd-party scrobbler. If you were reading this paragraph and scratching your head, head over to www.last.fm and use the Last.fm service.

Ok, got to sleep now. Post ends here.

Incentives.

I've just finished reading SuperFreakonomics (finally! after 48 days, with constant interruptions!). If you're doing any form of Economics, I suggest you read this book - it'll help with your microeconomics, not because it's a revision guide, but because it makes the subject come alive. Just make sure you read this book with an open mind and from a matured point of view. Because it does talk about prostitution patterns around holiday seasons.

I've been pondering about one theme that constantly pops up in a subliminal way in the book - Incentives. Economists would like to think we, being rational human beings, react to incentives.

People choose to Bit Torrent their favourite TV shows rather than buy a DVD because they have the incentive of saving money and travelling/waiting time, while enjoying, maybe, a higher quality version (HD?).

People have an incentive to take public transport because they won't have to worry about the cost involved in owning a car - taxes, fuel, insurance, etc.

Secondary school students used to join CCAs because that meant they get more CCA points, which can potentially cut off 2 points from their L1R5, allowing them to gain access into better JCs. But if the CCA Points system was to be stopped in a certain year, will people continue to join CCAs? Or would they prefer something else - maybe LAN gaming? or sleeping at home? or TV?

Students in my school tend to leave 3 days before the end of the term because they know this is the time when all the students disappear, and the teacher don't do much other than chat with you in an effort to, well, kill time before the period ends. Because they can't carry out their lesson plan, or else 80-90% of the class would be left out. And besides, extending your holiday back home by another 3 days - who wouldn't want that? And furthermore, there's no loss by going back home 3 days earlier, because there's no way to punish, and if the teachers were to alert the parents, erm, the parents kind-of knew the students skipped 3 days of lessons already, actually. So what's the point?

The above examples are pretty obvious cases of incentives in action.

But then I've been thinking of some other scenarios where incentives don't seem to fit in to the reason people do certain things.

1. Twitter. Facebook. Web 2.0 stuff.
What is the incentive for people to use social networks? If you were a media company, that's obvious - marketing. But if you're John Doe, an ordinary folk who happens to own a computer, why should you spend time on Farmville?

2. Charity. Altruism. Good deeds.
What is the incentive for people to do charity work? What makes people volunteer to serve? Why do people lend money to strangers?

3. Crime.
What is the incentive for people to commit a crime? I mean, there's a lot of disincentives, but there are people who constantly challenge the law. So there has to be an incentive there, right?

Well, what do you think? Toss in your theories on the tagboard or in the comments section.

Before I end off this post, I want to talk more on number 2.

We all like to think we are nice people. We think we enjoy helping others, and sometimes, we help others, through direct or indirect means, often expecting nothing in return. We call in when there's donation drives on TV (ok, there's some corruption in some organisations, but we'll overlook that in this post). We might even go on visits to institutions and meet people who need help.

But why is it that in a world where there are people who can afford to own a yacht, there are also people who worry if they can find water or food tomorrow? Why is it that in a city where there's Lamborghinis and Mercedes SLKs parked outside the houses in it, there are also people who sleep on the streets and beg for money? Why is it that in a country where there's people who are well-off, there's also people who are starving?

I've been involved in the 'Helping People' team in my church, and we've been trying to find ways to reach out to the community and help those in need. It's quite shocking to see the homeless people all around Brighton. And that's not the only problem in this area. Sexual abuse, domestic violence, drug abuse, there's so many areas that need help.

But then I realised - if God has blessed me with the abundant provisions in the form of physical ways (as well as social ways, in the form of love and care from the people around me), perhaps I should share these with others who lack them.

I really believe that if you feel that you have been blessed, you should bless others and fill someone's need. It can be academic, it can be social, or maybe someone just needs a little encouragement. If you have the ability to help, then go forth and lend a hand, an ear, or whatever the need is.

It's Christmas season, a time of giving. Think of doing something nice!

Techie post

It's been a few moons ago (I mean it this time) since the last time I actually talked tech.

So, to make up for it, I'm going back to one of the many strands of roots from which this blog stemmed. (Can't say I'm going back to my roots, since this blog isn't really a tech blog, but a tech+music+personal rant blog).

By the way, it's a long post, so treat it as 3 separate posts, if you prefer. Each part starts with a theme that's in bold.

Anyway, yesh, where were we?

Google Wave. I wanted to post a status on Facebook saying "what is the purpose of Google Wave's existance"? Because from what I see, it's just a massive IM + Google Docs thing put into one. Maybe I'm being old-fashioned here, or maybe I've been living the iPhone lifestyle for too long, but really, why do we need Google Wave? I mean, yes, I know, it's good for collaboration, and I'm sure many people would enjoy working with other people using Wave. But for the rest of us - the average human being who has non-techie friends who can't give a shyte about Wave - it's useless. You'd probably be doing whatever it is you are collaborating on much faster if you met up face to face, rather than working in Wave, because half of the time, you'd be explaining to them how things work.

I mean, did you watch the Google keynote? The Keynote to explain Google Wave took 1 hours 30 minutes+! I mean, that's one product! Apple takes the same amount of time to refresh an iPod line-up! Microsoft takes half an hour to launch Windows Vista! Wave? 90 minutes plus. No average Joe has the attention span of more than an hour to understand what a Google Wave is. I'm sorry, but this Wave thing will not catch on, unless Google can summarise its features in a bullet-point list. Till then, Google Wave sits in the bin of "Things I can use but don't".


K. Topic numero duo: DJ Hero. This disc-jockey game that costs about £99, the last I checked at the local HMV, seems like it should be a popular title this holiday season. After all, it's like Guitar Hero - a music game that uses some Fisher-Price plastic peripheral to play, so it should catch on like its cousin, right?

Well, it didn't. I read an Ars.Technica article last month on why this was so. And after pondering on their theories a little bit more, I think they're right. (Sorry, no link. School PC a bit too slow to handle tabs.)

DJ Hero involves the use of a plastic turntable and a fader on the side. Unless you've been DJ-ing, this is going to be a steep learning curve. To make matters worse, the music you hear have been premixed, so you'll be quite unfamiliar with the music you hear, even though they take parts from familiar tracks like Boom Boom Pow or Hollaback Girls. And to add another layer of "This game is for cool people only", the game is not easy to play perfectly. You have to slide the fader at the right time, and when sliding back to the centre, not slide too much or you'll toss the track to the opposite side. This is done while you basically scratch the disc and mash buttons on it. That's 3 tasks. Plus looking at the screen trying to figure out the controls, you'll be pushing your hand-eye coordination while the turntable itself tries to throw you off, with the 360-spinnable disc and the low-friction fader. All this, while listening to mixes you're unfamiliar with.

Contrast this to the Guitar Hero experience - Mash buttons with fingers on one hand, "strum" with the other, and time strums with the screen, while listening to "Knights Of Cydonia" by Muse. Very fun, very nice, and you feel cool, especially if you don't cock up.

On DJ Hero, you'll get your music taken away from you, you'll be confused at the controls, you'll not like the music, and youy're not having any fun at all. Not cool.

I'm quite sad, actually, that DJ Hero is such a flop. It had the potential to be a new fad, flooding YouTube with gameplay footages of people acing the game. But sadly, it's such a steep learning curve, it's not fun. In the same way I thought MMORPGs are not fun. Because the people who are good at it are socially remote introverts.

Well, most of them.


Finally, before I sign off and disappear to class, I want to talk about Borders.

Borders UK, the bookstore, just went into adminsitration a few days ago, for those outside the UK. It's quite depressing to see such an awesome bookstore suffer so much. If you walk into some of their stores, you'd see the magazine section basically reduced to one shelf of leftover stock, and their books on their display tables like a discount bazaar at a Pasar Malam.

From what I've gathered, they've had a hard time competing with online bookstores like Amazon, and with the supermarkets such as Tesco now taking a share of the market, Borders has tried massive discounts on their stuff to compete with these other guys. Sadly, the massive discounts came at a cost, and Borders couldn't pay their debts towards some of their suppliers. As a result, some suppliers stopped supplying books, and Borders, desperate but unable to get a buyer, tanked.

Which brings me to my main point - online stores. I know people like the online experience of buying goods from their PC and getting them delivered to the door, including groceries (Ocado, for example). But I think brick & mortar stores should still exist, even in the advent of the digital age. How else can you talk to real people, or pick the freshest fruits that they have, or flip through a preview of what the book is like, or .... you get the point. There are some things online cannot replace. This, coming from a person who's pro-technology, might be a bit ironic, I understand. But in all seriousness, I really believe there's still a room for the brick and mortar stores, even in the digital age.

What do you think?

And by the way, how's Borders in Singapore? Hope it's still a great place to go to (other than to buy music. Their catalogue is always in such a mess, I don't even bother to try searching for music albums there anymore.)

Of flight tickets and train tickets

Just to let you know, I just booked my flight ticket for the last part of my A Level school year. Long story short, here's the plan:

6 Jan 2010: CGK-SIN, arrive 7:35pm.
8 Jan 2010: SIN-CGK, depart 12:55pm.

And I'm going to be transiting in SG on my return trip in July, but the transit is just one hour, it's not even worth mentioning.

There are many reasons why this stayover is short.

•Firstly, I have to be in the UK before the 11th, because I have exams on. I need to be in the UK earlier to adjust to the climate, time, duration of daytime, etc.

•Secondly (extending reason number 1), I tried to book an SQ flight for the 9th of Jan, but the site just won't cooperate, and tell me SQ only flies SIN-LHR on 4th, 8th and 11th of January, even though it has a code-share flight with Virgin Atlantic on the 9th (though it transits in Dubai, making my trip a 2-stop route, but who cares!). Been trying, believe me, for 2 weeks now.

•Thirdly, I want to spend more time with my family (and my bro's Honda Jazz).

•Fourthly, I need more time with the books.

•Fifthly, Singapore's broadband speed will spoil me. Must not get too used to it.

•Sixthly, what I want to do in SG, most of them, I can do in Jakarta, so what's the point of staying too long?

•Seven, I have a longer, more relaxed break between the end of my A Level exams in June and my A Level results collection in August. And by that time, I think the choir peeps were suggesting we have a get-together to celebrate Ms Gan's return to SG or something, so I thought - why not pop by?

And there you go - 7 reasons for the short stay in SG.

Now that I've clarified my reasons, let's start arranging stuff, yeah?

I'll probably need to go to a Guardian store and a Popular/Art Friend shop, btw.

And I must eat Roti Prata / Yoshinoya / 咸鱼炒饭 with green pickled chilli. Gosh, I miss these things.

And btw, I have a fisheye treat (hint hint).

So yeah, do drop me a Facebook message about this, alright?

While we're still on the topic of my flight ticket, I just realised that my flight ticket, even though it'll bring me half way across the globe and back, it still costs less than rail ticket.

And I'm not talking about some bullet train or rail journey to the ends of the earth.

I'm referring to this recent news article about the most expensive UK railway journey ticket. £1002 (that's £11.40 more than my flight ticket, based on current USD-GBP exchange rates) gets you a First-class "Walk-on" Return journey from some place in Scotland to some place in Cornwall. (See Map)

View Larger Map

That's 1,700 miles in total. (Map above can only show car journey. See source article for actual rail journey route)

To put things in perspective, I'm paying less than the tickets for an economy class seat on a 14,000 mile journey.

That should really makes you wonder about 2 things:
a) How does the airline industry do it?
b) How much dough does the railway companies in the UK make anyway? It's not as if they involve as many employees, or use more expensive vehicles for transporting people.

This is just laughable. For the same amount of money to go on a holiday in, say, Bali, I can go from one end of the UK to the other and back. That's just not the same, is it? And yet, in terms of £££, it is.

And mind you, even though it says First Class, you don't get the same treatment as a First Class passenger on a plane. The size of those seats are (most of the time) the same as standard class seats; they're only slightly cleaner, because fewer buttocks have been on them, since you need to pay more to get on them.

Well, that's all the bickering I can do now. Need to sleep. Got church tomorrow morning, and I'm watching 2012 with my housemates tomorrow afternoon/evening (tbc). Am I the only one to see the irony in that, or what?

Of SSD and TGL.

I was going to start this post with "Haven't blogged in a while", till I realised - my last post was only 9 days ago. Now, yes, that's a 'long' time, considering my average blogging frequenscy. However, compared with most other blogs, one post every 9 days is quite frequent. So, no, it hasn't been a while. It's just 9 days. So let's begin this post proper!

----------

Just got an offer from Exeter! AAA, including Mathematics. A bit high, but not impossible. So, that's Manchester and Exeter down, waiting for City, LSE and Warwick to reply.

----------

I spent last Saturday at Earl's Court Exhibition Centre for Top Gear Live / MPH Show. Can I just say, if you're any sort of a Top Gear fan, or if you love cars, you should check out this show. Basically, there's two parts to it - an exhibition area showcasing cars and car-related products (EA was showcasing their latest games, BBC Magazine was selling Top Gear Magazines for £1, and TomTom was selling GPS devices, etc.), and a live show, featuring the stars of the BBC programme by the same name - Clarkson, Hammond, and May, as well as The Stig. You'll see car stunts, car showcases, and ambitious-yet-rubbish creations of the 3 blokes, including vehicles made out of gardening items, and racing with mopeds (they flip a lot when turning, because they only have one front wheel). And the noise from the V8 engines of 8 supercars - that will give serious petrolheads goosebumps.

----------

That wasn't the only show I saw last week. On Wednesday, before I got sick (more on that later), I watched Michael McIntyre Live at the Brighton Centre. For those who don't know, Michael McIntyre is a stand-up comedian who likes to crack jokes about the things he observe around him - from the way people react to you if you sneeze, to the blatant errors in his opening sequence video, which showed him on the road dashing to Brighton in the daytime, even though it's pitch dark 8pm when the show started. He can make mundane stuff hilarious, and he often does it impromptu - unscripted. And even though he has a cold, he was a great sport, going through the whole 2-hour performance like a professional entertainer. Great comedian!

----------

And about me getting sick - I suspect there's a bug going around, because for some reason, the morning after I went to the Michael McIntyre show, I woke up feeling as if I had a hangover. I almost lost my balance in the shower, and I was feeling weak while eating breakfast. I puked five times after breakfast, and had to take leave for the rest of the day after one hour of classes. The school nurse prescribed something called Pepto-Bismol, which came in the form of (to my disgust) a pink liquid suspension. But taking that really helped to curb my nausea, though the side-effects were a bit disturbing, to say the least (it said "black tongue and excrements", and though the former wasn't observed, the latter certainly happened, and it was the most alarming sight ever.)

But yes, if you are nauseous and puking, and especially if you just recovered from a cold, go see the doctor.

----------

Well, that's it for this post. more to come soon. But for now, it's bed time. (well, for me, anyway)

Oh, did you get the MacHeist bundle? only a few hours left! (as of typing: 5 hours left.)

of rage and mediation

Initially, when I composed this blog post, I had the intention of
commenting on this controversy that Ben See's been involved in
recently. I prepared a lengthy post. However, I realised that perhaps
i shouldn't publish it, namely for the following reasons:

• By posting what I have drafted, I will be adding more oil to the
fire, which isn't very constructive.
• The situation seems to have subsided, thanks to the mediation
efforts by his classmates.
• The whole controversy is a 4SA 2009 issue, and I felt that I have
absolutely no right to stick my nose in on an incident which didn't
even relate to me.
• I do not 100% know the background behind this controversy.
• I didn't think through the implications of my decision to publish
the post, and I'd really rather not think about the worst case
scenario should I post it and Ben reads it.
• And talk about hypocrisy. The last time I criticised a friend who
was in my class, he became my enemy. So I shouldn't intervene.
• I'm already quite intrusive writing this post. I think I should not
go too deep into this incident that doesn't even relate to me. But I
have opinions that I felt I really cannot bottle up.

As such, I watered down my post and chose to redact almost the entire
thing.

All I'm going to say is that I admire a few of Ben's classmates for
how they've reacted to the whole thing. Specifically, Josiah, Zong
Zhen, and Adam. They didn't just flame Ben. They tried to take away
the pressure from the cauldron, and they deserve props for acting as
mediators in this situation.

I really hope this episode ends soon, and everyone in 4SA09 can bury
the hatchet, focus on revisions, and strive for the best in their exams.

With that, I hope all those who are doing their O Levels will be able
to focus on their revision and give their best in the last push for
this leg of their school life.

Gambate! 加油！继续努力！All the best! Up and On!

•And by the way, lay off the Facebooking, will ya?

•Also, drink more water, eat more fruits, eat and sleep properly.
There's no point memorising the entire History and SS textbook if
you're going into the exam hall with a fever, chaffed lips, and
feeling drowsy. Now that you guys have control over your schedules,
plan you time wisely.

•And don't take the Paper 1 for the sciences for granted. They might
be MCQs, but they can be tricky. Keep practicing those TYS MCQ
questions.

•And whatever the teachers in school advised, try to trust them and
follow them.

•And don't burn out - take breaks. But not too much. You know
yourself best.

Oh, and Ben, thanks for introducing me to Owl City. their music is
quite helpful in getting me to sleep, somehow. Certainly helps with my
insomnia.

[Note to self: this post should not be syndicated onto Facebook.]

More pix

Got really bored on the bus on my way to school one day, so I tried to calculate how long it would take to drive from Brighton to Switzerland. The above shows the result, if I were to take the Euro Tunnel.


A wet evening. This was yesterday evening, on my way home from school, just outside Churchill Square.


We have Beard Papa in London! Who knew! If only we have J.Co Donuts here... (*drools...)


Another tourist shot. Piccadilly Circus, London's equivalent to Times Square.

of boredom and english accent...

In school right now.

I have one hour to my next lesson, so I thought I might as well kill this time off by making a long-winded blogpost and rant on some nonsensical topic of no interest to anybody. I figured that's the only real way of raising viewership - post more nonsense that's much longer than 140 characters x 5, so that you finally have a good reason to blog rather than to twitter, then it'll be syndicated onto Facebook that you have a new post that doesn't make sense, and 300+ readers will read this post (the number of friends I have).

That's in the ideal world of social networking, I'm sure.

Anyway, I thought I should spend some time commenting on the British accent.

There isn't one.

No, really, to those people who were asking me why my accent is not completely Brit yet, there is no such thing as a British accent - the stereotypical aristocratic mode of speech that belongs only in movies set in very 'posh' times, in very 'posh' settings, and with the royals. No. That is not a British accent. That is just a stereotypical parody of the cynical British 'cultures', if I may call it so.

Nowadays, you rarely hear the 'pure' British accent. In the media, on the telly (that's the Brit way of saying the TV), and on the radio - the people you see/hear are quite mixed.

There's the posh accent. (Imagine the Queen delivering a speech right now. Then imagine Stephen Fry talking in his "Hi I went to Cambridge" way.)

Then there's the teen speak, which ranges from the incomprehendable and unclear mumble common amongst those with ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, if I'm not wrong), to the geek who worked at Morgan Stanley at age 15 and thinks he's a know-it-all, and doesn't use Twitter. Shut up.

And then there's the Scottish way. And there's the Welsh, and the Irish, and the Asian (which doesn't mean Chinese, by the way. This refers to the Indians/Pakistani/Sri Lankan), the 'Black' (like Dizzie Rascal, the rapper. Though I could argue that his accent is more of the hometown accent, typical of people on BBC Radio1), and the very rigid Oriental way (this is where the Chinese and Korean sit in. For some reason, I feel that the Oriental English accent is more stiff than the others - you don't feel that the people are speaking in a flow. Rather, they break their sentences syllable by syllable, or maybe it's just me).

Oh, did I mention the American accent? There's a bit of that, too.

I'm being a bit racist here because I just want to point out that there is no such thing as a British accent. Everyone has their own way of speaking, though some sound clearer than others, and most people belonging to a certain race/culture/origin tend to adopt the same way of speaking English.

But the most important thing about communication is clarity. If another person understands what you say, doesn't matter what accent you use, as long as you get each other, then there's communication.

Sure, there might be the odd 'peppering' of euphemisms and slangs that only Brits or Americans or Singaporeans can understand. I still don't understand the true definition of 'lah', and I'm sure most people don't even know it has a meaning, but they use it as a substitute for the full stop, and that seems fine to some lorh (see what I mean?)

Of course, there are times when some accents are unacceptable. You should never expect Cambridge to give an English O Level paper that's covered in 'leh' and 'wa biang' an A1. Nor would you expect people in a Pasar Malam to speak the Texan way, unless they're doing something related to Mid-west America, which is just odd for a Pasar Malam.

Well, That's 'accents' for you! Now, stop asking me where's my Brit accent.