My Blog

First week of my final semester

2012-01-14T17:11:00.000+08:00

This is the first week of my final semester in NTU. Without realizing it, I have been in NTU for 3.5 years. Many things had happened and I have also changed a lot. Still, I am trying to enjoy my last moments in NTU and hope to achieve as much as I can.

I have only 3 modules, 11 AUs this semester. They are MP4010 Mechatronics Systems Design and Analysis, MP4J02 Marine and Offshore Structural Integrity and CM101 Java and The Internet. Since my timetable is so free, I decided to audit two very interesting modules, which are MP4005 Fluid Dynamis and MP4J03 Marine Engineering Systems and Control.

This week has been quite interesting. I crashed Nano lecture, attended talk by Red Hat CEO, got rejected by PSA, went outing with Red Cross buddies, jogged at SRC, played badminton for the first time since 2000, chatted with a financial consultant, helped Dung with his FYP, attended FYP meeting, Grad Dinner meeting, LDP Workshop meeting and so on.

Hopefully next week will be even better. I am going back Kampar for CNY!!!

Random

2011-12-30T11:01:00.001+08:00

Ok, I am too free. Above is a histogram for my grade in university. X axis represents the grade (A+ to F) while Y axis represents the number of AUs for that particular grade.

Anyway, I am enjoying my life at home - indulging myself in novels, sleeping more than 8 hours per day, eating good food.

Year 3 Result

2011-12-22T01:13:00.002+08:00

Leisure

2011-11-29T11:13:00.003+08:00

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

by William Henry Davies

NTU Hall Allocation System

2011-06-29T14:36:00.002+08:00

As expected, SAO is giving standard official replies to our complaint emails about hall allocation. Now, there are several points we should think about:

i) In the case when the no of applicants exceed the no of places in a certain hall, how should the selection be done? Randomly allocated (like now) or depends of cut-off point? What if the cut-off point is the same? Should ECA points be favoured over distance point/extra points with roomate? The reason of awarding extra points and distance points is to help juniors, international students and locals who live far away to get a place in hall (any hall) easier. Where as students who have high ECA points by working their asses off throughout the year should definitely be given priority to choose the hall they want.

ii) Is the quota allocated to JCRC and freshmen too high? I understand the importance of having a vibrant hall life in NTU. But more often than not, alot of freshmen give up their place after a while when they realise that hall life is not suitable for them. These places will then be randomly allocated to students on waiting list - places that are highly sought after by the students who made the cut-off point

iii) Is the computerized system glitched? Despite the reason of over-demand given by SAO, I have heard cases where students who didnt get their 1st and 2nd choices are allocated to halls which are supposedly "full".

It is evident that our Hall Allocation System and its implementation by SAO is flawed. How can we improve?

The day when shit fell from the sky

2011-02-24T18:33:00.002+08:00

Yes, today shit fell from the sky, literally.

I was walking from Jurong East MRT to the shuttle bus pick-up point when something fell from the sky and splashed on the floor. Some part of it grazed my right shoulder and sleeve. At first, I thought it was water, but on closer inspection, it seems like shit. Alright, I could not be 100% sure on what is it, it could be vomit, shit, soil or any other thing. But brown colour and the smell resembles shit the most.

Anyway, there was another lady nearby who suffered the same fate as me. She was puzzled and keep on looking up to see what was it all about. I, who was still stunned, just hurried to the pick-up point as I don't want to be late.

Afterwards, on the bus, I really thought that I should have at least looked up and see who or what was the cause. Now everything remains a mystery. And I wore the shirt at work the whole day :(

Volunteering in Debate Competition

2011-01-30T01:07:00.004+08:00

Today me and Wencin volunteered to help out at an International Humanitarian Law Debate Series jointly organised by Singapore Red Cross, University of Michigan Alumni (Singapore) and The Debate Association (Singapore) at ACJC. I will have to say that it was indeed very interesting

Initially we thought that our jobs are limited to ushering, time-keeping, logistics and so on. But due to lack of volunteers, we became chairperson cum timekeeper. Even though I had a script to read from, it was still quite intimidating to speak in front of debaters and adjudicators who were very fluent in English.

Back in the days, I have participated in inter-class debates in my school. I have to admit that it was not very professional and we were just having fun. The International Humanitarian Law debates were also conducted in similar style. Initially, I had some trouble adapting to the role of chairman plus timekeeper. But as time goes by, I became familiar with my job and started to listen more attentively to the debates.

The participants were from various JCs in Singapore and were very good speakers. However, among the 6 teams that I have seen, I was most impressed by debaters from Victoria Junior College and Hwa Chong Institution. Not only were they fluent in their speeches, they had very good points and interesting views. They, however, did not really engage each other points and not enough rebuttals.

Anyway, I enjoyed the debates very much. What seems to be a boring task turned out to be a nice experience.

New Year + Internship

2011-01-03T22:19:00.005+08:00

Time really flies for a Year 3 Mech Eng student. I could barely remember the life of Year 3 Sem 1. Just events after events, projects after projects, CAs after CAs and finally exams. As usual, I regret not being hardworking and disciplined enough. The same old cycle repeats every semester: High motivation in the beginning, slack for most of the time, last minute rush and finally regret after exam. Haiz... Why can't I escape from this endless cycle.

Anyway, I just started my internship today. After years of waking up late , I find it extremely painful to go to work early in the morning. But I hope this will force me to become more disciplined in the future. I am actually quite nervous about my future 6 months of working life. But as the Chinese saying goes, "兵来将挡，水来土掩"

Return to the "Year 1 Kok Hou"

2010-11-15T22:56:00.002+08:00

Today I sort of return to the person I was in Year 1. See below.

7.20am - Woke up

7.55am - 1st Breakfast at Canteen 14

8.10am - 2nd Breakfast at McDonald

8.20am - At LT1, waiting for the lecturer to come

8.30am - MP3001 Lecture

10.30am - MP3007 Lecture

12.30pm - Library

1.00pm - Left NTU

2.30pm - Reached Raffles Place. Medical check-up at Drs. Bain & Partners

4.30pm - Lunch

5.00pm - Reached Red Cross House

5.30pm - Left Red Cross House

6.45pm - Reached NTU. Dinner at Canteen A

8.00pm - Library

9.30pm - Reached my room

10.30pm - Bathed

11.00pm - Writing this. Planning to study till midnight

Blog Hiatus 2

2010-09-13T16:07:00.003+08:00

Havent updated my blog for 3 months now. I hope that I can post more often in the future.

PS: Year 3 is killing me.

Year 2 Result

2010-05-28T08:08:00.005+08:00

Compare to my Year 1 result, this is quite disastrous. However, I am still happy that I can maintain my scholarship. Well, I need a 4.8 next semester to return to first class. Time to work hard.

And I also wish to thank Joseph for helping me a lot in the last semester. I could not have achieved a 4.47 without your constant nagging :)

PS: Joseph, I promised to help you treat others if I obtained a GPA of 4.5 or above. Too bad, you are on your own now.

The Road Not Taken

2010-05-04T11:50:00.004+08:00

I have been thinking a lot lately. I know that I should be studying but I am not the type of person who can fully concentrate in studies only. My mind always wanders off to different things. For the past few days, I have been reviewing the choices that I had made in my life, specifically in education. Throughout my life, I made many decisions. I chose to stay in SMK Sentosa. I chose to study Form 6. I chose to study in NTU. I chose to study Mechanical Engineering. All these decisions are responsible for all my educational experiences and also mould me into what I am now.

I have no regrets in choosing this particular path. I enjoy every moment of my life. However, I do ponder about what my life would have turned out to be, if I had chosen otherwise? With all the different experiences and encounters, what would I have become? I like to fantasize about the endless possibilities.

Now, back to the reality that I still have one last paper. I shall end this post with a poem from Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Exam

2010-04-18T23:04:00.004+08:00

Finals are coming soon, and I am not prepared at all! My first two papers are on 23rd April: CSC 425 - Similation & Modelling and MP2011 - Engineering Graphics and Machine Components. One is a Computer Science elective while the other is a drawing module which I hate with a passion. Both carry 4 AUs, so this means that half of my final will finish on the first day. This is not good.

Despite having ample time to prepare( more than one week), I wasted it on slacking. Now it is just less than 5 days before final. I need to study hard for this. I cannot allow my CGPA to drop even lower as I still plan to graduate with first class honours. My aim for this semester will be 4.50. Even though this may be a bit far-fetched considering my situation, I still believe in miracle :)

All the best to those who will be facing their final examinations soon (and that includes me)!!!

Another Emo Post

2010-03-19T17:09:00.004+08:00

Just finished my 2011 tutorial. How naive I am to think that I can attend a hands-on tutorial without even attending any lectures. Needless to say, I screwed up big time, as usual. 2011 tutorials have been a torture for me every week. I just cannot draw properly. At first, I blamed this on the fact that I hate drawing( It is true, I did not choose Design stream because of this). But today, a thought crossed my mind.

I have not been paying much attention to my studies since the start of Year 2. I always think that we should enjoy ourself in college/university. A college student should participate in a lot of ECA activities, make a lot of new friends and have fun. Because of this, I am contented with leaving my studies as it is, only to work on it during exam time.

Just now, it dawned to me that if I continue like this, I would become a damn lousy mechanical engineer. I cannot draw well, I cannot understand gear and chain well, I suck at fluid mechanic, not so good in thermodynamic etc.

We study not just to get good grades, we study so that we could be good at something. When I graduate, I will be bearing the title 'mechanical engineer'. I will have responsibility toward the society as an engineer. How can I fulfil my responsibility without the necessary technical knowledge?

In conclusion, there is always a reason why certain modules are being taught. As students and future engineers, it is our job to study and understand. You cannot just simply ignore you studies because you do not care about your grades. It does not work that way.

天若有情

2010-03-19T10:38:00.002+08:00

原谅话也不讲半句此刻生命在凝聚
过去你曾寻过某段失去了的声音
落日远去人祈望留住青春的一刹
风雨思念置身梦里总会有唏嘘
若果他朝此生不可与你那管生命是无奈
过去也曾尽诉往日心里爱的声音
就像隔世人祈望重拾当天的一切
此世短暂转身步过消刹你的空间
只求望一望让爱火永远的高烧
青春请你归来再伴我一会

Want to buy a new phone

2010-03-13T02:21:00.004+08:00

I really want to buy a new phone. My current phone is really nice despite missing all the functions like camera, bluetooth etc. However, the battery is giving me headache and it keeps switching on/off. My dream phone will be HTC Dream. Manufactured by HTC, running Androic, an ideal phone. Even though this is an older model, it suits my need. And it also got a real keypad unlike other HTC Android phones.

Now comes the hard part, deciding to buy. I seldom bought anything expensive or luxurious for myself. So I need time to think over. Nexus One also seems very nice....

My ECA Experiences - Reminiscing The Past

2010-03-05T10:15:00.006+08:00

ECA stands for Extracurricular activities. From wiki, it simply means activities performed by students that fall outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school or university education.

When I was in primary school, I was not that interested in ECAs. I wasn't even sure what is it all about. Starting from primary 4 in my school, we were required to join at least one club/society. In primary 5, I joined the badminton club. Every Saturday, I just went to school and played badminton with Ah Boon. I think that was the time when I was fittest :) In primary 6, Ah Fai asked me to join St John Ambulance. At first when I saw the name 圣约翰救伤队, I was like what the heck? This name was so long and weird!!!! Anyway, that started my involvement in St John Ambulance which continues till now. During primary 6, seniors from SMJK Pei Yuan will come down regularly to teach us first aid and foot drill. That was all the ECAs my primary school. As primary school students, we were not expected to organise events, but more to participate and learn.

After that was secondary school. I spent my Form 1 and half of Form 2 in SMJK Pei Yuan. After that, I transferred to SMK Sentosa and studied there till Form 5. In Pei Yuan, you are only required to join ECAs starting From 3. Initially, I planned to slack all the way through Form 1 & 2. So when the representative from St John Ambulance came to our classroom to recruit new members, I did not sign up. However, my mom, unlike other moms who discourage their sons/daughters to join ECA, encourage me to join St John Ambulance. I had forgotten what was her reasons. I think a few years later she regretted this decision as I become more and more involved in St John Ambulance. Anyway, I attended one of the weekly meetings of St John Ambulance and became one of the member. This started one and a half year of hell for me.

Every Saturday, we were required to reach school by 745am. After taking attendance, we will split into different years. We had only two activities, which was learning first aid and foot drill. A typical Saturday will be like this. 800-930am: Foot drill, 930-1130am: Learnig First Aid, 1130am-1200pm: Foot drill. Normally we will be dismissed around 1230pm. Those were the busiest and most tiring Saturdays I ever had in my life. It was because I still had English tuition class at 1245pm.

During the May holiday, our division will have our annual training camp. It was during that time that I was pushed to my limit. I remember one particular afternoon when we were practising foot drill. We kept on doing "Ke Belakang Pusing" while "Cepat jalan". We went back and forth for more than 100 times. My vision blurred that time and I could not see a thing. Everything was pink and red in my eyes. It recovered after a few minutes but it did scare me for a while. On the next morning, I really did not want to go back to school for the second day of camp. As the alarm clock in my parents room were spoiled(not because of me), they did not come and wake me up as usual. I was lying on my bed, hoping that they will keep on sleeping until 8am, when it will be too late for me to go to school on time. However, they woke up around 745 and quickly rushed me to wash up and drove me to school. I could not say anything but to follow and reached school just on time. I finished the camp unharmed but it was unforgettable.

When I was in Form 2, a new school had opened in my town. Ministry of Education decided to relocate all the students living near the area to the new school. Some complied, like me and others applied to go back to their original schools. As this is a new school, everything is still not established. I joined the St John Ambulance and was elected as Vice President. (At that time, the school only has Form 1, 2 and 4 students) As I was still blur blur that time, I did nothing. Luckily for our school, there were two very active girl in Red Cross, Pui Ying and Hui Min. They were also members of St John Ambulance in Pei Yuan before ths. They did everything needed to form a division in Sentosa. They went to consult seniors, they went to Headquarters, the did all the necessary admin work. In the end, a Sarjan, Weng Kit became the officer of our division. In first ever meeting between 4 of us, Pui Ying was appointed as President, Hui Min as Secretary and I was the Treasurer. I kept on holding that position until I graduated from SMK Sentosa.

The three years in Sentosa division was not easy for all of us. As it was a new division, many things needed to be established and worked out. Pui Ying and Hui Min did most of the work while I was slacking around. This became one of my greatest regret in life. I was the top student in my school. This may sound like boasting, but I really could do very well without much studying. The same thing cannot be said for both of them. Instead of putting more effort in division, I spent most of time daydreaming and fooling around. Looking back now, I really wish that I had done more at that time. And then I vowed that I shall never let my friends down. I shall always share their burden. Pui Ying was under alot of stress as president and she decided to resign. I was asked whether I wanted to be the president. As usual, I backed off from responsibility and said no. Hui Min become our president instead and this proved to be great choice. Under her lead, our division started to accomplish more things. Our teams won many prizes in Area Comp and represented Central Area to State Comp. In State Comp, our Nursing Cadet team emerged as the first runner up, narrowly missed the chance to represent Perak State in National Comp. We also organised our first Division Camp, first Cooking Competition and so on. We became one of the most active clubs/societies in the school and received a lot of support.

Open To Choice

2010-03-05T01:46:00.002+08:00

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

2010-02-20T21:06:00.005+08:00

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Accommodation	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Narcissism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|	20%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Conflictseeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Romantic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|	20%

Wealth	\|\|\|\|	20%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	60%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Sexuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Peter pancomplex	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Hedonism	\|\|	10%
Physicalfitness	\|\|\|\|	20%
Religious	\|\|	10%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Indie	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com

A Pretty Hectic Week

2010-02-06T23:05:00.002+08:00

1 Feb - Had to rush my URECA poster. Spent two hours in SIMTech Project Room to edit the poster and get approval from both my supervisors. Ran around N3. After that, I helped the blood officers to move the tables and chairs. In the end, I realised that I had screwed up big time. Won't share the details here.

2 Feb - Helped Umer to put up banner at Boon Lay interchange. Had a short EID meeting. Went all the way to Hall 11 to standby for meeting just to have the venue changed to old Can A. Discussed about Run Round Singapore with Elisha. Realised that this will be a big, troublesome and tiring event. After meeting, went to LDP room to celebrate Yee Teng's birthday.

3 Feb - Wanted to slack in my room for the whole morning. In the end Kelly from HPB called me and spend the whole morning spamming others mailbox. Had my first peer tutoring session for the semester. Response was weak because of the late publicity.

4 Feb - Spend almost the whole afternoon at SAC for blood drive. Nothing much to do there since we had enough manpower. Helped to be blood buddy and did lecture announcement. Weslie really enjoyed being the blood buddy. Went out with Wencin to buy cake for KC. Celebrated his birthday at the new HSS building. Also realised that it is a good place to study with cold/hot water, snacks and benches.

5 Feb - Lots of class. Sucked at drawings. Also helped with blood drive before going to peer tutoring. Still needs more publicity to attract more Year 1 students. Enjoyed the performance at LDP Got talent but did not enjoy the part where we carried all the logistics back to LDP room.

6 Feb - Project RICE. Had a great time with my team. I salute the committee for doing such a great job. Writing this blog

7 Feb - Project RICE. Planning to go eat at Clementi with Qeishians.

A New Start

2010-01-11T11:52:00.002+08:00

Well, it has been a long time since I last updated this blog. I was really busy with studies, exams, Project Kasih 2009 and so on.

I am starting my 4th semester in NTU. I am hoping that a fresh new start will motivate me to do better this year. Last semester was a disaster for my grades as I got 3A-, B+, B, B- and D+. Needless to say, my CGPA now dropped just below first class. If I want to graduate with first class honours, I cannot slack off even abit for the next two and a half years in NTU.

Despite saying that, I enjoyed my last semester. I had fun in both LDP and Red Cross. I made more friends and learned more things. Even though it was stressful at times, especially when LDP Peer Tutoring Session had some many problems, the support from my fellow LDPians really helped me a lot.

Project Kasih 2009 was in interesting experience. I really enjoyed interacting with the kids from the orphanage and also the LTC staffs. Learning to cook was a big challenge for me during the trip as I had never cooked before. Nonetheless, it was fun as we work as a team. However, I did miss the nice food in Cambodia whenever I was eating in Nias. It did not help when LDP Project L.O.V.E. Team members told me that they were treated to 20 course meals every day.

I don't have any big plan for year 2010, just 3 main goals:
1) Study hard and get first class
2) Involve in Red Cross & LDP and enjoy myself
3) Make more friends in Uni

忙到爆炸死掉

2009-10-06T22:35:00.004+08:00

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

2009-09-21T13:22:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-13T12:44:00.005+08:00

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

2009-08-22T10:06:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-08-20T23:16:00.003+08:00

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

2009-08-11T17:59:00.003+08:00

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

2009-08-11T17:14:00.005+08:00

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

2009-05-23T07:29:00.003+08:00

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

2009-05-10T10:52:00.002+08:00

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

2009-05-01T14:24:00.003+08:00

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

2009-04-30T22:00:00.003+08:00

Support ogg format. Play ogg!

Using Ubuntu 9.04

2009-04-25T10:38:00.004+08:00

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

2009-04-23T17:22:00.001+08:00

I am just not good enough ...

2009-03-20T21:02:00.002+08:00

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

2009-03-08T21:11:00.004+08:00

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

2009-03-08T21:05:00.001+08:00

To Kill a Mockingbird

2009-02-28T23:44:00.003+08:00

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

2009-02-21T22:09:00.004+08:00

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

2009-02-08T20:20:00.003+08:00

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)

2009-01-11T14:40:00.001+08:00

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)

2009-01-04T15:38:00.000+08:00

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.

Cambodia Trip: Day 2, 6-12-2008 (Phnom Penh)

2008-12-17T16:33:00.002+08:00

For the second day, we had a new tour guide, whom I had forgotten name. First, we went to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The museum is a former high school that was changed to a prison by the Khmer rouge. This place really gave me an impact on foolishness and cruelty of human. I also realised that I actually had very little knowledge regarding the history of Cambodia even though it is very near to my country. I was ashamed of myself for being so ignorant of the sufferings of the people in Cambodia. In the museum, I learned a lot about Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge because the tour guide was very good in explaining things to us. She also stated that many of the high ranking people in Khmer rouge is still hiding in the jungle near Thai border. The Cambodian government is still trying to catch them. As for the normal Khmer rouge soldiers, they are not punished and still lives among the Cambodians. I want to quote some of her words ,' Cambodia is a Buddhist country. We forgive people for their wrong doings. We want to catch the high ranking Khmer rouge not because we want to punish them, but rather to find out exactly why they did those horrible things.' Later, we went to visit the killing fields where they uncovered the death bodies of the victims that were killed by the Khmer rouge. In the afternoon, we visited the royal palace. I noticed that all the tourist went inside using the side door as the main door will only be open when important people came to visit. The royal palace is a beautiful place. As Cambodia is a Buddhist country that is heavily influenced by Hinduism, we could see many statues of Buddha and also paintings of Ramayana story on the walls. In this day, I learned more about the history of Cambodia and also enjoyed myself in the royal palace.

Cambodia Trip : Day 1, 5-12-2008 (NTU – Phnom Penh)

2008-12-16T20:47:00.002+08:00

We departed from NTU at 4am in the morning to Changi airport. After a two hours plane flight, we arrived at the Kingdom of Cambodia. Auntie Esther was there to welcome us. She introduced our tour guide for that day, 'Pixels' (I dunno how it spell but the pronunciation is something like this). He is a third year uni student studying tourism coming from Baray, the place we were going to offer our help. He brought us to go shopping in the Russian market and central market. As I sucked at bargaining, I didn't get a lot of good deals. It is fun to see how my fellow team mates bargained. The sellers charged us a higher price as it was evident that we were tourist and all us were wearing the same LDP shirt, marking us as 'water fish'. But if you are good at bargain, you should be able to lower the price by 30 to 50 percent. After shopping, we went for a boat ride on Mekong river. It was an enjoyable boat ride. We were watching the sunset on the boat while eating our dinner. My impression of Phnom Penh is that it is a city of contrast. The basic facilities there such as condition of the road, lamp post, buildings are worse than my home town, which is just a small town in Perak, Malaysia. However, as this is the capital city, I can see a lot of high tech gadgets being sold here. I even saw a advertisement showing that Macbook Air was sold in the shop. My feeling is that even though Phnom Penh the capital city and is full of shops, the basic facilities there fail to reflect the status of the city. This I think is the responsibility of the government of Cambodia.

Going to Cambodia

2008-12-04T12:51:00.003+08:00

On 5th of Dec 2008(that is tomorrow), I am going to Cambodia for 11 days. This is under LDP Project L.O.V.E. In less than 24 hours, I will be boarding the aeroplane for the first time in my life. I, however, am not too excited at the moment. Maybe just before the event I will feel something. Anyway, the purpose of this trip is to help the Cambodian people in Baray. I just hope that I can do anything in my power to really help them. Wish me luck!

In need of tuition teacher!

2008-11-21T10:22:00.005+08:00

Ok, I don't really need a tuition teacher but tuition is really popular among Malaysian and Singaporean. Just yesterday, while I was at the Woodlands MRT station, someone approached me. Following is our conversation.

She: Hello Sir, do you have time? I am conducting a survey.
Me : Ok, no problem. ( I am always willing to help out)
She: Are you currently studying or working?
Me : Studying.
She: Where are you studying now?
Me : NTU.
She: Oh, now should be exam period right? Are you final year student? ( Do I really look that old?)
Me : I am just first year. I just finished my exam today.
She: What is your source of income, as in where do you get your money from?
Me: My parents. ( Is she doing some research on the financial status of students?)
She: Then, do you have any savings? Do you save any part of the money from your parents?
Me : No, usually it's just enough.
She: Then do you want to do any part time job to earn some extra money, like tuition? ( She revealed her true purpose)
Me : Not now.
She: Ok.

Then she just walk away. What about the survey?

NOTE: I am now back in Kampar, enjoying my holiday. I left Singapore straight after exam. Homesick is incurable!

'Get Real' , 'Be Rational'

2008-11-19T21:54:00.002+08:00

Just something I want to share. I have seen this before on someone's desktop and find it really interesting.

'Stuck Piston' Problem

2008-11-14T13:01:00.003+08:00

Today, I had just finished my Physic paper. At first, I was very happy cause the paper is quite easy and I can do all the question( not sure correct or not lah ). But after gearing from Joseph, Wai Ming and Tim, the question 4(a) actually is more complicated than I think.

This is a standard thermodynamic question with a piston and cylinder of different cross-sectional area, bigger in the upper part and smaller in the lower part. Then they add a weight on the piston to increase the pressure adiabatically and the question ask for final pressure and temperature. I just calculate the pressure, P1 and then the temprerature T1 using formula. According to them, when pressure increases to P1, the volume V1 is actually smaller than the V of the smaller part. Meaning, the piston actually 'stucked' in the upper part. The V will be the volume of the smaller part. And the pressure, P1 is wrong cause the piston is supported by the wall of the lower part. Then, we have to use the V of lower part to find new P2 and T2.

Summary, for a 6 marks question, first use the extra weight to find P1, V1 and T1. Then, V1 is smaller than V so it is illogical. We had to use the V of lower part as final volume. This make the P1 and T1 wrong. Using the V, we find another P2 and T2 as answer.WTH!

Ok, if you are confused, sorry. Just ranting. :)

Hotel Infinity

2008-11-09T15:45:00.008+08:00

I heard about this from Wen Cin a few weeks ago. After reading more about it, I have decided to write a short post about it in my blog. However, I am not good enough in maths to understand this thoroughly so please forgive me for any inaccuracy in my post.

Lets assume there is a hotel of infinitely many rooms and every room is occupied.
Case 1: A new guest comes and requests for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 3 and so on ( meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room n+1 ). Then the new guest will stay in room 1

Case 2: A bus carrying a countable infinite number of guests arrive at the hotel and all of them request for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 4 and so on (meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room 2n, leaving all the odd number room empty). Then all the new guests will accommodate the odd number room.

Case 3: A countable infinite number of buses, each carrying a countable infinite number of guests arrive at the hotel and all of them request for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 4 and so on (meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room 2n, leaving all the odd number room empty). All the passengers from bus 1 will accommodate rooms 3ⁿ for n = 1,2,3 ... The passengers from bus 2 will accommodate rooms 5ⁿ , and so on ( meaning passengers from bus i will accommodate rooms pⁿ where p is the (i+1)-th prime number).

Source: Wikipedia

Responsibility

2008-11-08T20:34:00.004+08:00

Today, I went to LDP room to have a 'meeting' with Roy and Siew Ping about the fund-raising activity. We are supposed to draft a letter to be sent to the MAE professors asking for donation. After reaching there, Siew Ping told me that the meeting was actually held yesterday. I quickly called Roy and he told me that he had finished the letter. Ok, this is settled but my mind wont settled down. I began to think about a lot of things. How on earth can I forget about the meeting? Have I no sense of responsibilty? Have I slacked too much that I forgot what I should do?

I still remember my vow long time ago. I had once vowed that I would never run away from my responsibility. Looking back at what I have done in this sem, I realised that I had achieved nothing and did not fulfill my responsibility. I had been a ghost Red Cross First Aid Subcom, never attend any first aid duty. Even though many things are not in my control, I can't help but feel that I had contributed nothing to Red Cross this sem and I feel bad about it. I had been a semi active LDPian, helping out a bit in some occasion but I am not satisfied. I feel that I should have done more. As for MAE Publication Subcom, I am just an ordinary guy who submit his work on time. Nothing bad but nothing spectacular either.

I am not satisfied with myself this semester, and this is just the CCA part, I haven't even talk about the academic part. Nothing can be done now but to remind myself of my mistake and do better in the next sem.

People in NTU

2008-11-07T14:06:00.000+08:00

Yes!!! I have finally finished my CAs today. But that also means that my final exam is coming near. In fact, it is just less than 5 days before my final starts. Why am I still writing this? Some may ask. I am still slacking because it is not my style to suddenly become hardworking or studious. I prefer to tale it slow and easy. For example, I revised my Life Science last night. Even though I havent revised the last two chapters, I still went to sleep cause it was already half past twelve and I started feeling sleepy. This is insane, some will say, but this is me.

After coming in NTU, I had met different kinds of people. Some are very disciplined, always studying and revising, but still can sleep early.This type of people are quite rare and most of them can get good results(I think). Some like to slack in the first half and start to work hard in the later hallf of the semester. In some of the extreme cases, they will isolate themselves from the outside world and just engulfed in their studies. In this period, many people also become very sensitive to noise and disturbance. Everyone you see may eventually transform into a violent beast if you disturb their studies. Another strange phenomena is that the usually empty Study Room is now crowded with people who only study at the eleventh hour.

I am not saying all this things are entirely new and strange to me. But coming from a small town where people work and study at relatively lower pace, this is consider to be mind opening. Enough talking(or writing) already, start study!

Blog Hiatus

2008-11-04T22:48:00.001+08:00

Haven't update my blog for a month. In this one month, I had been quite busy with all the CAs and ECA. More importantly is that I have nothing to write about. My life in NTU has been so uninteresting that I don't even feel like talking about anything. Anyway, I have spent some time thinking and pondering. Have I changed? Is this the real me? Who is the real me? I use to be a quiet and innocent boy who is very shy. I also had a bad attitude. When I grew up, I become more talkative and more readily to compromise. But I still have the bad attitude and arrogance. I am thinking, am I changing little by little? Is compromising and politeness a sign of maturity or alert of losing my personality? Or being arrogant is just a way to hide my weakness and insecurity? I am still learning and changing. There is still a long way for me to go. To all my friends and families, I cannot promise that I will become a better person who is always polite and kind. But I can swear that I will always be sincere and honest, no matter how I change.

GIMP

2008-10-04T16:54:00.000+08:00

GIMP( GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free alternative for Adobe Photoshop. As I am a noob in computer graphic design and image editing, I don't know the difference between this two software. However, I want to learn more about image editing and GIMP is the perfect tool for me as it is free. I tried some of the tutorials and this is what I get. Don't make fun of it cause this is just my first try. Hope I can progress in this :)

Lack of awareness in Open Source Software among NTU students

2008-09-17T21:38:00.003+08:00

Today is the NTU Software Freedom Day. Although a lot of activities are planned by the NTU Open Source Society throughout the whole day, nobody really knows about this particular event. In most of the talks and workshops, there were just around 10-20 people in the lecture theatre It's partly due to the lack of publicity but the main reason is that many NTU students are not aware of the free and open source software development. I am no expert in computer but I use a lot of FOSS in my daily life. In my opinion, open source is the future for all software. And as students, we may not have enough money to buy proprietary software like MS Office, Adobe Photoshop and so on. In this case, free and open source software can be a perfect solution for the students who are not financially independent. After writing this, I hope that free and open source software will continue to develop and to all NTU students, let us embrace the world of FOSS.

Banner Painting

2008-09-13T20:05:00.001+08:00

Today, out of boredom, I went to help my Block Manager, Wei Le to paint the block banner. I was not very helpful, just doing petty things. This was the first time I tried painting a banner. It was a new and fun experience for me.

Mid Autumn Festival

2008-09-13T19:54:00.001+08:00

This is the first time I am celebrating Mid Autumn Festival away from my home sweet home. No special feeling, just another usual day. Last night, Chinese Society of NTU organised a grand MAF Celebration. My friends and I went there and had a enjoyable time. Therefore, I want to thank all the committees in Chinese Society for making this a success and providing us with great entertainment. We tried paper-folding, made mini mooncake, and also went to the fortune telling stall. According to them, I can only improve in my studies if I work hard. So true, but is this considered fortune telling cause even I can say that :) Well, I had a good time there. It is always fun hanging out with friends.

Lost and found

2008-09-08T20:36:00.001+08:00

Yeah, today I finally got back my Class T-shirt. Actually Chong Wei mistook it during the LDP orientation and I totally forgot about my clothes. As a result, his clothes was left in the toilet. When I went back to look for my clothes, I found a bag which contained his clothes. I didn't take it then cause I was not sure whose clothes were those. Now, I am feeling guilty cause Chong Wei lost his clothes. Nevertheless, I am thrilled to have my class T back. Going to hug it for the whole night!

An Eventful Day

2008-09-06T22:57:00.002+08:00

Today is the LDP Orientation. Like any other orientation, we began with games, talked about serious stuff and went to Sentosa. I had a good time there, made some new friends and sabo a lot of people by throwing them into the water. But then, sad things happen. When I was busy 'saboing' people, I forgot that my handphone was still in my pocket. As a result, my phone was spoiled and now giving out a strange smell. Not to mention it is not working at all. Then, after going back to my room, I was shocked to see that I didnt bring back my clothes. It looks like not a big deal but it is because the T-shirt is my Form 6 class T. At 7.30 pm, I took the 199 bus from Hall 11 to Boonlay, MRT to Harbour Front, then Sentosa bus, and walked for 15 minutes from Beach Station to East Pahlawan Clothes. And my clothes was not there. Damn it, who is the bastard that took my shirt! Dissapointed and crestfallen, I went back to NTU gloomily. This is a just a rant. The class T means alot to me. I had a great time in Form 6 and the T-shirt reminds me of those time. Although the T-shirt is gone, I will still treasure those precious moment in my heart. That is the most important time.

In conclusion, all the unfortunate events happened due to my carelessness. I hereby swear that I will never be careless again. Hopefully :)

A normal day in NTU( But with an interesting video)

2008-09-04T20:21:00.000+08:00

Today I attended a lecture about molecular diagnostic. At first, it seems like a boring lecture but the video shown to us is very funny. I just want to share it. The link to the video is here . Go watch it if you have time. It shows that science is not always dull and boring. I also attended the meeting for MAE Publication Subcom. I have always been an avid reader but not a writer, so I think I will have a tough time. Nevertheless, I will have to work hard and brush up my writing skills so that I will not be a burden to the publication team.

Life in NTU

2008-09-02T22:49:00.003+08:00

I have been in NTU for more than six weeks now. Can't really describe my feelings at this moment. I had never left home for such a long period, so this is really a new experience for me. Life in NTU is quite fun, I have met a lot of people, made some new friends, and learned a lot. I am sure all these experiences will not be the same if I had choosen to study in UKM. I am grate ful to have a chance to study here and I will definitely live my university life to the fullest!

Some pictures of NTU

My room

My study table

My hostel, Hall of Residence 11

LKC Lecture Theatre

Chinese Heritage Centre

My first blog

2008-09-02T22:44:00.003+08:00

Hi, everyone. This is the first time I try to write a blog. Why would I want to write a blog? No real reason actually, just following the trend. To anyone out there who bump into my blog just by chance, please bear with my poor English and random rant. This is not a blog where you can find insightful articles or constructive thoughts. This is just a diary written by a bored University students who is trying something new. That's all for the introduction to my blog. Enjoy!

Extra: Some article about me i.e. just want to brag :)
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