Recess Week!

The title speaks for itself. It's recess week so yea, time to give myself a short break before preparing myself for a week of tests, tests and more tests!

So yea on Friday, went to meet up with the 01 peeps at Changi Airport. For some reason its at Changi, but it's good for me either way coz it's super near my house.

Had dinner at Swenson's at T2 before roaming and bumming around the Airport. It's always a wacky outing with the 01 peeps. Anyway it was a really fun night out - a great way to kick-start my recess week! =D

Saturday was Adeline's 21st. Yeps, went over with Kelvin and Vicki to her birthday chalet at downtown east.

It's a really really small chalet I must say. But yeps, enjoyed the night catching up with them. Looking forward to more outings! Haha. So cool to still be able to keep in contact after so many years. (Ok actually not really.. we meet up every half a year or so. LOL.)

Gotta start revising my work soon. Mid terms are well on the way!
28/02/2011 - CN2125
01/03/2011 - CN3124, MLE1101
02/03/2011 - MA1506
05/03/2011 - CN2116
This time round NUS has been kinder to me, with more spread out mid terms. But yea, gonna study really hard for them, coz I don't wanna make the same mistake as I did last semester. =X

I need a break...

Weekdays nowadays are really nothing more than studying and sleeping. Seriously. Everyday's a rush for a another upcoming deadline. Oh my the lab report and homework assignments are so damn time/energy consuming! Really terribly tiring. Then I used to look forward to weekends. But weekends seem equally unbearable. All the tutorials pile up so high that I just don't feel like touching them. Really sian. Oh well. Guess I need to hold on for another 2 weeks and finally, recess week. But no, not time to slack, but rather, time to catch up. My 6 cores are really taking its toll on me.

Ok all the troubles aside, I made time for CNY gathering with the TMS peeps on Saturday.

The usual gathering every CNY. Anyway it's always a happy affair with them around. Forget the stresses of school and yeps, just have a little break from reality. Had a really good steamboat and just good fun. Awesome night.

And yesterday had another gathering with my family at my aunt's place. I always enjoy gatherings with my cousins. Really a talk cock, makan good food, drink good coffee (and perhaps some alcohol =D) and just chilling out. And I especially needed it yesterday coz I really wanted to tear up my chemical kinetics tutorial coz it was so mind-boggling! Almost went insane, if not for the break I had for the gathering. Anyway enjoyed myself a quite a bit and re-charge, before plunging myself back into the sorrows of chemical kinetics. Yes you realise that I mention chemical kinetics quite a bit, coz it's really turning my life upside down inside out. I can say that it's the single hardest and most painful darn thing I've experienced so far! Totally regret taking it. But I realise that all the gatherings and little chilling out sessions are what that has kept me going thus far. It actually reminds me that I actually need a break. I'm not superhuman. Yeps, really thankful for them.

Ok I shouldn't spend too much time here. Back to drowning myself in more work. =(

Happy New Year?

Chinese New Year's here again.. for the 22nd time on my life. Haha. Anyway yesterday started off really lazy. Woke up late and ponned MA lecture coz it's 8am! Tuesday night's really shag with K till pretty late with the GEP peeps. Haha. Zhiyang's super random comment on Facebook materialized into a 9 ppl K outing. Damn awesome. It was really great fun! Haha. And what's more, for the first time, an outing's held in the EAST! Haha. LOL.

Went to Teo Heng at Katong for some good K! Haha. But not before stopping at Old Airport Hawker Centre to get some good dinner. Haha. Really enjoyable.

Anyway I thought I was the only one that ponned MA, but apparently half of us ponned it in the end! Haha. Totally LOL. Anyway I went for the later CN lecture. And really thank goodness I went for it, if not I will be totally lost coz there's no webcast for it. Haha. Anyway bummed around in school till 5 for 2125 tutorial. Damn suay. All the tutorials cancelled except the last one for the day. And I still have to present today! Can't pon! Haha. But tutorial turned out to be pretty fun. The lecturer/tutor is an awesome prof, and he was like in a holiday mood today. Plus the fact that my class only has like 10 people. Haha. So super funny lah. Haha.

Anyway after tutorial cabbed back home for reunion dinner! I was like super lucky to be able to get a cab. It was the time where the taxis were changing shift, but thank goodness, I managed to get a cab that is changing shift at Bedok! Haha. Super lucky! Yeps, so cousins came over for dinner. Really fun and relaxed dinner. I'm super full now because of it. Haha. But really satisfied. =D Anyway just came back from the temple. Really really packed place. It's like a Chinese tradition to visit the temple at the strike of midnight - the start of the new year on the lunar calendar. But I guess it's that crowded and stuffy environment that makes it feel like it's CNY! Haha. Weird but definitely true. Haha. Ok all the visiting's gonna commence tomorrow. So yea, gotta have a good rest for the long logng few days ahead!

But amidst all the celebrations, take some time to think about the turmoil that's wrecking havoc in other parts of the world.

The Million People Protest in Egypt against president (for the past 30 years!) Hosni Mubarak.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathering at Tahrir Square to demand for the removal of their president. 

Even the conservative Muslim women taking to the streets to demand for a change in leadership of the country.

Just imagine the amount of unjust these Egyptians must have suffered for them to take to the streets and protest after so many years of peace. The power of the middle-lower class citizens - a result of the widening income gap between the rich and the poor due to the exploitation of the poor by the rich. To the extent that the army too, backs the people, I believe it's only a matter of time before the president's fall from power. Let's just pray that people would abstain from violence.

Over at the other side of the world. Australia is taking a real battering from Cyclone Yasi.

A satellite image of Cyclone Yasi battering Northeast Australia - Queensland.

Australians preparing sand bags to contain the anticipated floods and storm. 

Latest news states that the cyclone that hit Queensland ain't as devastating as expected, but meteorologists warn that Cyclone Yasi is just the start to a series of cyclones that will hit Australia.

Yeps, while many people worldwide are celebrating the arrival of the new year, there are still many who are bracing themselves for the potential devastation of natural disasters. In addition, civil struggles are also widespread as people demand for their basic rights and fight against exploitation. Hence, in the midst of our celebration, we should learn to be even more appreciative of what we have and where we live in.

Alright, enough of all the sad and discouraging stuff. It's good enough that we know what is going on around us and appreciate them. But still, it's the new year! So wishing everyone an...


AWESOME CHINESE NEW YEAR!


Happy is an understatement. Everyone please live an awesome life! =D

Rain. Rain. Rain.

Yes it has been raining non-stop for like 42hrs consecutive already. Terrible. So much for global warming. Singapore's getting colder instead! Anyway woke up ready for school today only to realize that it was raining super heavily. Yayness. A good excuse not to go to school. Anyway today's lecture's for 2 hours only, so not really efficient to go to school. Anyway since I was wide awake, I could get to my work right away! I never knew my day's so long. That extra 4 hrs I save a day on travelling's really very useful. Completed my lab report and sent it to my group-mates to vet. The great sense of achievement. Haha. Anyway damn awesome, now my tutorials are all done way ahead of tutorials in school. Feels really awesome. And I don't have that struggling feeling I had last semester, which is a damn surprising thing since I'm doing like 2 level 1000 mods, 3 level 2000 mods and a level 3000 mod  this semester. I really enjoy what I'm doing I must say. Grades aside, these modules are all great. =P

Anyway the weekend's really well spent. Saturday met up with my TMS family. First birthday celebration in the year 2011 for the January babies. We realise that it's too much of a hassle to celebrate everyone's birthday separately, so yea, now we grouped them by month. So much better. Anyway we had lunch at Manhattan's Fish Market before heading over to Chai Chee CC for K! Haha.

 Damn fun. And must really thank Li Wen for organizing almost every outing! Yea we nag and crap a hell lot, but at the end of the day, we still appreciate your effort! =D

Anyway left a bit earlier to meet my bro to shop for some last minute new year stuff! Couldn't get any shoe that I like from Parkway. So sad. BUT. I went shop for other stuff as well. So at the end of the day, I was wayyyy over-budget. Haha. But anyway, I continued with some shopping on Sunday as well. Went to Vivo to shop for shoes, the last item on my must-buy list before my mum nags at me again. Haha. Anyway it was cheaper than I expected. So awesome.

Anyway just came back from a good run. Omg after not running for like 2 months I still can run 8km under 40 minutes. Haha. I'm quite surprised. Haha. But yea, it's the weather. So cold and breezy. Really feels like running on the treadmill in the gym, plus the scenery, minus the boredom. Running really helps to clear you mind of all the stress and nonsense that's happening in your life. And it really helps you sleep better at night. But then again, it's not that I don't sleep well. In fact, I'm usually so tired at the end of the day that I can drink a cup of coffee and the next moment, poof! I sleeping like a dead log! =P But that's a sign that I spent my day fruitfully. Wahahaha.

I'm telling you, an extra 4 hours a day is damn awesome. I even got time to watch my 超級星光大道 7! This season's a season of the rise of Chinese singers outside of Taiwan. They are damn good compared to previous seasons. And the winner's damn expected. 李佳薇 won! But she's really damn awesome.

Listen to this song she sang in the finals. It's called "Listen" by Beyonce. I really though she lip sync throughout the song. It's unbelievable for a live performance. =D


The power of an effective bilingual (trilingual for the case of 李佳薇!) I think they have an advantage in everything they do. So kids out there, whether you want to be a doctor, engineer or singer, please go brush up on your English and Chinese!  Haha!=D

Post-Orion CIP!

Yesterday was the post-Orion CIP trip! Haha. We did like a mini-amazing race sort of event for the youths who are supposedly at risk of delinquency. But yea those kids were actually really nice and fun people! And it was really fun facilitating in the event. It was even more hilarious looking at those kids play those games. Haha.

Me and Sai were the station masters! =D

My station was actually some ball game which I was quite skeptical about at the start. However, it turned out really nicely and nice to see the kids having great fun. It was at this Woodlands Waterfront which I found so ulu, but the kids managed to find the place so easily!

The damn awesome playground. 

Anyway the penalty was like running through this playground and I think it's really fun. LOL. Anyway our station finished pretty quickly so we decided to go bum around at the other stations. Oh and thanks a lot to adeel for the ride! =D

Bumming around!

But my station was the first one so yea, after all the teams completed it, we just bummed around at the other stations. Haha. We even had time for some monopoly deal! =P

The whole lot of us after the event!

Yea, a really well planned event by the team again. Hmm. I'm really tempted to join Orion 2011. Should I? Haha. I shall seriously consider! (but most likely yes!) =D

Ok after that we had group dinner!

My carbo-loaded meal! But damn nice! =P

Ended up queuing really long for Ichiban Sushi at Causeway Point. But actually it didn't felt very long as we were all happily chit-chatting away. Haha. But yea, the service there was pretty good I must say. They managed to clear a table for 12 for us despite such a long queue. Really thank them for that. And the food came really quickly too! And the quality is way better than Sakae I dare say. So yupz, overall a great evening spent with them as well. Yupz, after that I went home with Jiamei and Choon Keat coz we were the only 3 east-siders. Haha. Oh I finally know of the fastest and most comfortable way to get to Woodlands Interchange! Haha. Take Bus 168 from Bedok. Takes only 1 hr and you can sit all the way! Haha.

Yea so today's a really well spent day (away from my tutorials and notes), and yea I really enjoyed myself. Just some thoughts about teenage delinquency. Sometimes I feel that these kids are not exactly delinquents. Rather they are just lost and misguided youths. You can really differentiate between them just by interacting with them. These kids at YGOS are so kind and polite, I really can't imagine them to be kids at risk of delinquency. So yeps, I believe that society should remove these "labels" from them and give them a chance to do something useful and meaningful in their lives. I believe that everyone's born for a reason. Yes, they may not be the best academically, but understand them better and you will definitely find something they're good at. So I really appreciate these youth help organizations like YGOS which help remove these social stigma about kids who don't excel in their work, and give them more confidence and direction in their lives.

Mid Week Post

Yea finally the end of Wednesday. Day started with 4 hours consecutive lectures. Differential equations in MA, followed by even more differential equations in CN. Yawnz maximum. Haha. Oh yanshan came to crash the 2116 lecture too. Haha. Anyway I really dread Wed as it's the only full day of the week (only because of an 'awesome' 5 hours of break in the afternoon. Anyway today's 5 hours was quite well spent though. Haha. Lunch, work, bum around, crash lecture. I crashed CM1502! No lah actually I wasn't even listening. I was busy doing my 2116 tutorials. LOL. Haha. But today turned out much more fun than I expected.. LOL. Anyway it's week 2 and yea, I finally got a taste of what I will be experiencing in the semester to come.

The module that I'm really enjoy now is CN2125 Heat and Mass Transfer. It's super mathematical in nature but that's exactly what I like. And the Prof Wang is really good, especially during tutorials. Really enjoyed the module thus far. As for CN3124 Particle Technology, I don't really know what I'm studying. Haha. Plus the lecturer is... ok you get it. CN2116 Chemical Kinetics is proving to be quite a challenge. The concepts seem to A-Level-ish. Except that Prof Lee removes all possible assumptions and everything goes haywire! Tutorials are deceiving. Looks so fundamental but reality slaps you in the face when you see the solutions. So simple, so elegant, so mind-blowing. Really makes me feel like I probably failed my Physical Chem back in JC. Haha. But I feel damn shiok when I can actually solve something. Haha. LOL. MA is boring. Coz it's absolutely dry and laborious. MLE is pretty easy since it's just JC chemistry. Haven't started my CN2108 lab yet. But I've heard really differing views about lab from seniors thus far. So I shall see this Monday when I have my first lab session before commenting about it. But yea, I'm actually quite glad I didn't overload more this semester. I can feel the difficulty level rising exponentially as the weeks past. Hope that I can catch up before everything starts to pile up!

Oh and need to buy my new year stuff soon before my mum starts to nag! Haha. As for now, time to make up for the lost sleep. =D

Awesome Sunday!

My bro's really a pro. One moment he say he wants to go for a holiday and the next moment, he off! Haha. Damn efficient. Anyway yea, just back from sending my bro off for his trip. But before that, my family went out for a nice Sunday lunch together. It's to celebrate my Dad's birthday too. =D

Settled down at Dian Xiao Er for lunch. Ok the food'd pretty good and the view is really awesome! You can see the entire Resorts World Sentosa from there.

It's a bit on the expensive side though, but it does not matter since it's my Dad's birthday! Haha. We are all not fond of birthday cakes and stuff, so yea, a good meal together beats them all. Oh and my family has the tendency to over-order food stuff. So yea, ate a little too much. =X

Anyway followed my parents to shop around for winter clothing. They are going on another holiday without me! Hokkaido leh! Omg this is the n-th time they are leaving me in Singapore and flying off by themselves already! Unfair! They keep going off during CNY and I can't just pon school for so many days. Damn. But yeps, they promised that they will visit me in the US if I go for exchange there and yea, can go tour around then. One more year to go! Anyway shopped quite a bit at Vivo. And women will always be women. My mum's supposed to shop for winter stuff, then suddenly,diverted her attention to look for bags. LOL! They just can't have enough bags. Haha.

Oh and I finally decided to get a mono-laser printer to print all my notes and stuff.

All the money I spent so far on buying the refills for my inkjet is really burning a big fat hole in my pocket. And it's pretty cheap. 100+ bucks only! Haha. It's definitely worth the money (and time! My inkjet's really slow!). And it's so nice and small as compared to my inkjet. =D

Oh and yay I can collect my new spectacles this week. It's a dunno what retarded lens that is especially good for your eyes and a Tag Heuer frame. I love it man!

But damn it took really long. Heard the whole long bullshit from the optician about how they have to send my glasses over to Japan to get it made and assembled. Haha. This time I really spent a bomb on my glasses. Haha. But yea for my eyes, it's worth it. Actually my dad asked me if I wanted to do Lasik but I still think that the technology is still pretty new, so yea, giving it a couple of years more before I go for it. And I think I look a bit weird without my glasses. LOL. Ok I will stick with my glasses for now.=D

Ok enough of crapping for this week. I'm still not done with my work yet! =(