忙到爆炸死掉

Really busy lately. I messed up a lot of things and delayed a lot of things also. Not feeling quite right. Always talking alot and complaining. Dunno why.

LDP got Peer Tutoring and Peer Lecture. And with the freshies coming in, I need to allocate them and work together as a team. I am not sure whether I can do well, making sure that they have enough opportunity to learn and grow in my department.

Red Cross First Aid is always bombarded with first aid request. Just finished the SFA course which took 6 days of my precious recess week. Then OLS and Health Awareness Day planning are coming up.

Studies seem to be the least important thing to me right now, but yet the ultimate goal of uni is to get a degree. Tonnes of works are piling up without me noticing, reaching up to 50 tutorials yet to be done. I have been a useless member in EID group, contributing nothing. I almost never do my lab project, every time also feel paiseh in front of prof. There is still my URECA project, dealing with dynamic resource allocation (I have a REALLY hard time understanding)

I am going through a big change in my life. Since primary school, I have never stretched my limits. I never had trouble with studies, was never overwhelmed by CCAs, and never stayed up late until 4 to do things. From a superslack first year, I become a very busy second year. I am still coping with everything and learning. Hope I survive this.

LDP & Red Cross Orientation

I had LDP and Red Cross Orientation on Saturday (19/09/09). Since I am a LDP exco and also Red Cross Main Comm, I decided to go both (LDP in the morning and Red Cross in the afternoon and evening)

In the morning, we had our LDP orientation. Around 20 LDP freshmen came and we started with some ice breaking games. After that, our President Serene gave her speech followed by the VPs. As Head of Academic Department, I told the freshmen about my department and encouraged them to join. I left before lunch so that I can reach Sentosa before all the games start.

In Sentosa, the heavy rains disrupted all our plan. Luckily, we had expected this and proceeded with our wet weather plan. I am the programmer of one station together with Hindri and Guo Yang. Our station is called Land-mines. The team had to navigate their team mate who was blindfolded to reach the destination while avoiding all the land-mines(mixture of flour and water). Throughout the games, we had to modified it abit so that the game could run smoothly.

After that, it was time for the Lost Ring. I was in charged of Sing-a-Song. In this game, the group must come out with a performance with song and dance. Then they had to perform in front of strangers.

The Red Cross Orientation ended around 9pm. Despite being exhausted, it was very enjoyable. My only regret was that I could not participate fully in both orientation. Hope next year they wont clash again.

PS: Refer this and this for last year LDP orientation.

Updates

It has been a long time since I last updated my blog. So I think it is time to write something.

Studies:
Second year is not easy at all. I am taking 6 core modules and 1 elective this sem. Till now, I haven't touch my tutorials at all. EID Project is now a year long thing and will take up two hours per week. I am also planning to do URECA Research Project.

CCAs:
Red Cross - I am elected as the RCHN - NTU Chapter First Aid Officer. I am happy and honoured to be elected but this also means more work for me. Have to stay back during recess week for the Standard First Aid course.

LDP - I am currently the Head of Academic Department. I am busy handling Peer Tutoring Session now while ELS and Peer Lecture is coming soon.

Red Cross ISP Project Kasih - As Logistics Officer. Workload expected to increase as it is nearer to December.

LDP Project L.O.V.E. - As Publicity team. Workload expected to increase as it is nearer to December also.

Entertaiment:
I haven't had much time to watch anime lately. I have 110 eps of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and 36 eps of SDF Macross sitting in my harddisk, waiting for me. I had finished rewatching Justice League and currently rewatching Batman Beyond.

In conclusion, I seriously need time management skills. I have always prioritize CCAs, friends(social life), sleep over everything else. However, I spend too much of my leisure time on entertainment and not on studies. I need to put in more effort if I intend to maintain my CGPA.

Thats all for now. Back to watching Batman :)

My birthday

21 August is my birthday. This year, I am going to be 20 years old( although I look more like 30). Last year was my first time celebrating my birthday in NTU. I am lucky to have my OGmates who planned a surprise for me. It was really enjoyable and I really didn't expect it.

This year, as a senior, I was not surprised. But I am still glad that they planned a birthday celebration for me.

Firstly, it was with my friends in Red Cross and ISP. We had the celebration before the welcome tea. Then it was with my fellow LDPians. I was supposed to attend the meeting at 7pm but I reached at 8:10pm due to delay in the Red Cross welcome tea. Anyway, the meeting was actually finished but they continua acting as though they were still meeting. Their acting was so good that I actually fell for that.

After that, I went to MAE rally to support the candidates. After, Siew Ping gave her speech, we went to Ah fang for supper. Then Wencin said that they were meeting us at Chinese Heritage Centre. Again, it was a pleasant surprise to see alot of Qeisharo and Nausicaa members there. I am lucky to be born in August as school has just started and more people with come down for my birthday celebration :)

I am happy to have you all at my birthday celebration. Thank you!

Eating, Eating and Eating!

This is the second week of school and also MAE week. MAE Club had organised a series of event and I participated in one that require almost no skill, which is FEAR EATER. It was on Wednesday.

On that day, I eat a light breakfast to prepare for the competition. I ate a slice of honeydew and some slices of apple. In the first round, I gobbled down 1 banana, 1 bottle of new water and 1 MacChicken under i minute. For the final round, I only managed to eat 2 banana, drink a few bottles of new water and swallowed 2 MacChicken. Even though I emerged as the first runner up. I was way behind the champion and very close to 3rd and 4th.

After that, I ate one more MacChicken before lunch. For lunch, I ate Quad Chicken Spaghetti. For dinner, I enjoyed my Ikan Bawal Penyet with extra rice. Not forgetting to mention that I also ate a small packet of Eclairs.

Total food consumed on 19 Aug 2009:
1 slice of honeydew
Several slices of apple
3 bananas
Several bottles of new water
4 MacChicken
1 plate of Quad Chicken Spaghetti
1 plate of Ikan Penyet with extra rice
1 small packet of Eclairs

I seriously need to control my appetite...

Mechanical Engineering

For the past year, I really dun have the feeling that I am going to be a Mechanical Engineer. But today, I finally felt that I am studying ME. I had a lab session today where we had to study different parts of a gear box. I finally understand what are shaft, gear, bearing, key and so on. The instructor wanted us to be independent, so we disassembled and assembled the gear box by ourselves under his supervision. We measured the parts, learned the functions and sketched diagrams. My hands was greasy after the experiment, but I was satisfied. I finally experienced what mechanical engineering is about.

Freshmen Orientation Camp

Finally, Malaysian Student Association Freshmen Orientation Camp 2009 is finally over. I have mixed feelings about this camp, 50 % tired, 20% frustration and not forgetting 30% joy. This time, I am no longer a freshie, but a senior and will be leading the incoming freshies. I joined Welfare, since I know I will not be a good programmer or photographer.

For the first day, I was the Hall 11 SA, who was in charge of welcoming the Hall 11 freshies. Seeing all of them got a Hall and I could not get one, I was seriously depressed. The feelings continued till night time when I still could not find a place to squat. I finally got a place to, which is Benjamin's room. Thanks to Ben I can stay in Hall 11 and do my work as FOC Hall manager.

My bad mood continue in the second day. But then, when I was browsing through files in my computer, I found and rewatched the video of my birthday celebration in NTU. It was really memorable. My OG mates planned a surprise for me and it was fun. Now, I can still remember clearly what happened in FOC 2008, how we played together, had fun, bonded. OG mates may not be your best friends in NTU, but they are most probably the first group of people you meet in NTU and for that, they are special. I realised this and wanted the freshies to experience the same thing. That's why I swallowed all my frustration and worked hard in the camp.

As a welfare and senior, I tried to take care of the freshies, answer their queries and inspire them. However, I do have regrets. I was exhausted and didnt talk much after a few days. I did not have much time to interact with the freshies in my group. I wanted them to feel what I felt last year but I couldn't. I can only do my best. I hope I had done a decent job as Hall SA, Hall Manager, Admin SA, Welfare and senior.

Lastly, 3 cheers and 3 cheers and 3 cheers for FOC!

Year 1 Result

I am thankful for my first year result. Nothing spectacular but it is good enough for me. I hope that I will be able to maintain my result for the next three years.

Time to update my blog

Like what the title suggest, I am here to update my blog by stating what I had done for the past ten days.

1 May - Went to school. Then Tien Eu msn me and asked me to watch a movie with him. We went to Tiong Bahru and watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He also said that he is going to study in NUS. Sad, less friends from Kampar in NTU.

2, 3 May - Did nothing. Play CS the whole day.

4 May - Went to NLB for collection of donated books and East Coast Park for Project Kasih team bonding. Cycle to beach only but my legs were already damn tired. I must be getting weaker. Then, the whole team went to Parkway Parade for eating and shopping.

5 May - Went to school again, Ate subway cause it was $5.90.

6 May - Receive news that Project Kasih was postponed. Expected it, but still sad nonetheless. Went to school and had luch with my mentor, Assoc Prof Sunita. Talked about some stuffs.

7 May - Went to school for LDP Academic Department takeover. The meeting extended so long that I could not go for Project Kasih meeting. But I learned a lot from Jarrod and Roy. I also realised that ELS actually have alot of problem and very difficult to be carried out efficiently.

8 May - Went to school again. Ate subway again. Had dinner with Joseph. Then play CS with him till 10pm.

9 May - Went to Bugis with Pui Ying who came down from UTHM, Johor. Later Keat Hwee joined us. Basically just chatted and updated each other's news.

10 May - Still dunno what to do. Maybe surf the net the whole day...

MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference

Official Website

This looks like an interesting event. Too bad I cannot make it. Whoever is interested in Open Source Software should go there and take a look. Need to pay though.

Play Ogg

Support ogg format. Play ogg!

Using Ubuntu 9.04

Firstly, I want to say that I am no expert in computer and definitely a noob in Linux and Windows.
This post will be about Ubuntu.

Ok, I had used Ubuntu 8.04 before, dual booting with windows using Wubi. It was a good experience, introducing me to GNU/Linux Operating System. However, I want to really try dual boot so I uninstall Ubuntu 8.04. I partition my hard disk. This is really troublesome since DELL has already partition my hard disk into four parts, C: Drive containing Vista, D Drive for recovery, Media Direct and EISA configuration. Luckily, Ubuntu can be installed on extended partition logical drive. I shrink my C Drive to give some 7 GB for Ubuntu. Then I downloaded the Ubuntu Desktop 64bit iso and burn in onto a cd. I booted the cd, tried out the live cd first to make sure my hardware is recognised and installed it.

After installing, I tried out the operating system. Looks fine, but not as blazing fast as some of the beta testers said. Nonetheless, it was very responsive. Then I tried to enable desktop effect. To my dismay, it said that desktop effect cannot be enabled. After running compiz-check, I found that my graphic card is blacklisted. This is really shocking to me since I used my laptop to run Ubuntu 8.04 without any problem. After some googling, I found the reasons of blacklisting but i cannot make head or tail of it so I decided to bypass the blacklist. I really missed the graphic effects. Nevetheless, I also feared the consequences so I just enabled those effects that are really useful like desktop zoom.

Then, I tried to connect to internet. As I was back in my house in Kampar, I used the command 'sudo pppoeconf' to configure my connection. I did this before many times so I was pretty confident it will work. Who knows? After rebooting my computer, I need to reconfigure it again. After googling agian, I found that someone had reported this as a bug but no response yet. I found another alternative solution which is enabling the network manager. I tried, and it worked, for now. I hoped that the wireless and DHCP will work when I am back in NTU.

Another thing worth mentioning is booting to Media Direct wont work anymore. I think this is because the computer is using grub boot loader now. But I didn't use Media Direct a lot so this is not a big problem for me.

Despite all the problems I face, this is still a pretty decent OS. I recommend anyone who want to know more about Linux to try Ubuntu.

Nerd Test

I am just not good enough ...

Lately, I really feel this way. I am not good enough in studies, not good enough in CCA activities, not good enough in socialising, not good enough in this, not good enough in that ...

I am tired

My computer screen was spoiled

A few days ago, my computer screen when haywire. The colours were distorted and white became pink. After calling DELL, their technician came down to have a look. I thought it was my LCD problem but he said it should be the graphic card problem. Since the graphic card is embedded in the motherboard, he changed my motherboard. It was a lengthy process as I observed him disassembling my laptop to get the motherboard and then reassembled it.
Below are some screen shots of my faulty monitor.

Random Picture

To Kill a Mockingbird

Hah, after less than one week, I had finished this book. Indeed it was a good read. The main reason why I can finish this so early is because of the fast pace and engaging plot. In the beginning, the description of Scout Finch's daily life is interesting but not good enough to get me hooked. When the storyline moves to the case of Tom Robinson, it is very intense and emotional. I finished the last part of the novel in less than three hours as I could not stop reading. (Actually I stopped to sleep as it was already 1.30 am, but I continued reading as soon as I woke up) The father of Scout, Atticus Finch is the character in the novel that I admire the most. He is a perfect example of an ideal man, even more than Joe Gargery in Great Expectations, whom I also admire. Atticus is a noble lawyer, wise, loving and always try to be open-minded to his children. Anyway, you should really read this novel. I have to thank Chee Loong for introducing this book to me. Time to find another good book to read!

Recess Week

Ok, today is the start of recess week. For most people, it is time to sleep till noon and play until midnight. Not for me, though. Today, I had to wait up early in the morning to go to SRC for Malaysians Sports Day. I had promised Wern Chiet to become helper and also first aider. Ah, it has been a long time since I went for first aid duty. Last time I went to duty should be Chinese New Year 2008. Anyway, I was the mobile first aider, covering the whole field, running up and down, while trying to help people with my rusty skills. Anyway, it was a nice experience and the event was a success in my opinion. However, this is not the end of my hectic recess week. Tomorrow, I will go together with Wen Qiang to source for Project Kasih logistic stuff. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I will be attending the Standard First Aid course, in order to get my first aid cert in Singapore. For Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there will be Project Kasih team meeting and probably team bonding activity. Not to forget that I still have my formal lab report , effective communication assignment, and two LDP things, NewU as well as 3rd workshop.

In conclusion, this will be a tough and hectic recess week for me. I just hope that I have time to read the book, To Kill a Mockingbird that I just bought.

Why I stop writing Project L.O.V.E. 2008 Journal

The title says it all. I am too busy in this semester that I have no time to do anything at all. Therefore, at the mean time, this blog will be hibernating. BTW, for those who are interested, I did quite good for my first semester in NTU. 4.83 out of 5.00. I hope I can maintain my result. That's all for now.

Cambodia Trip: Day 4, 8-12-2008 (Baray)

On the first day of our voluntary work,we helped to build a road for the villagers. We had a few lorries of sand and soil for our road. Our job was to put the soil on the muddy road and flatten it. For some parts of the road, it was quite easy as the earth below was firm and strong. But for some parts of the roads that were near the pond, it was muddy and unstable. No matter how much soil we put it and how hard we hit to flatten it, the soil kept on sinking. As we result, every time the Cambodian modified lorry passed by, it left two deep lines on the road. Since that was not something in our control, we had to be contented with what we had achieved. At nigh, it was time for English lesson. To our surprise, the villagers who came were from various age groups. Some were pre school students while there were also adults. Luckily, Serene was quick to react. She managed to entertain the class while learning some simple English. The response from the crowd was good and they clearly enjoy themselves. It was a rough and tiring day for all of us. However, we had learned a lot of things and helped the villagers. This was the important thing.

Cambodia Trip: Day 3, 7-12-2008 (Phnom Penh – Baray)

We left for Baray from Phnom Penh in the morning. The ride was an unforgettable experience. All the luggages were stacked at the back seats. Me, Sherri and Swee Leong who sat behind were constantly under the threat of falling luggage. A few times some of the luggage fell and hit our heads. At long last, we reached Baray Khmer Village Homestay. As it was our first day at Baray, we enjoyed ourselves before starting our work on the next day. We went for a horse ride in the village. It was fun and enjoyable. We also visited factory where they produced all the souvenirs to be sold in the city. The factory was opened by Auntie Esther and it gave job opportunities for the villagers. At night, we watched the performance by the locals. They performed some of their traditional dances and we were also invited to dance together. After the all the entertainments, we went to sleep so that we could get enough rest for tomorrow.