[Long day's journey...]
Took my last exam paper for this semester this morning. It wasn't too bad, considering I felt like hell. Didn't get enough sleep, but tanked up on coffee and my brain felt like shit. My cousin, who took the same module, was seated directly in front of me in the exam hall, since it was by alphabetical order and we share the same surname. Most people couldn't finish the paper, which I guess was a good thing since I almost couldn't finish it too. It was the first time I ever had to write my answers in an answer booklet (it was a Business Law module, we don't usually write a lot of essays in Computing), and I actually filled out the cover page wrongly. I cursed when I made the mistake. I remembered thinking, "Great...I haven't even started the exam for real and I've already made a mistake."
After the paper ended, I was supposed to catch a movie with 2 friends, one of whom is graduating after this semester, and took his final exam paper today. We didn't pick a movie to watch beforehand, much less buy any tickets. So in the end, we just had lunch, chatted and walked around Orchard Rd for a bit. Just as I expected...There weren't really any nice movies right now (personally, I'm waiting for X3), and there was no way in hell we were gonna be able to get tickets in town on a Saturday without purchasing them in advance.
We walked about for a bit, and we went to Apple's showroom in Cineleisure. It's called iShop I think. Can't quite remember....My brain wasn't really working at that point. However, I did have the presence of mind to take some photos of the ancient Macs they have on display at the shop.
Would you believe I actually used them before? When I was in secondary school, back in 1995.
This picture is the promo poster for a Korean sex comedy. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Anyway, I saw the Chelsea-United match a little while ago. I was kinda disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I realise there's really no chance in hell of United winning the title, but their performance tonight was just uninspired. They gave up after the second goal, and Rooney got injured. It'd be a shame if Rooney missed the World Cup.
I've changed the countdown. It now counts down to my in-camp training in June. I wonder if my uniform still fits. Anyway, my training is for a week, and it's my first ICT since I completed my service in 2004. I was enlisted on June 13th, 2002. My first ICT starts on June 12th, 2006. Freaky, huh?
[Sign of the times...]
This week's RAW was taped in the UK, and while watching it I grabbed a couple of frames.
Isn't this a silly pose? And to tell the truth, she's not even that hot.
The sign reads "Hungry Hungry Hippos". I don't get it. I know it's a game, but I still don't get it. Maybe it'd make sense if someone calls Triple H "Monopoly" or "Scrabble" next week.
"Vince Please Buy QPR". You sure about that? He did run the XFL into the ground....
BQ: By the way, do you still buy wrestling shirts? If so, let me know where I can get them. Thanks.
[The problem with our education system...]
...is that it breeds elitism.
While the situation has changed slightly for the better in recent years, for the longest time, the one and only ideal path of education in Singapore is from secondary school to junior college and then to university. Fall off this track, and you're a "failure". Yes, as a society, we tend to place a lot of emphasis on education, particularly the older generation. This was because we have no natural resources, and the human capital is all we have.
Personally, I am one of the "fallen" ones. And I'm glad to say it's the best thing to ever happen to me. I have no interest whatsoever in the subjects taught in secondary school, and did rather poorly. I knew when I was 14 that I was interested in IT, and would most likely pursue a career related to this field. But no, instead of being allowed to explore this path, I had to cram loads and loads of meaningless mathematical equations and scientific formulas into my brain (which are of no use to me now).
Based on my O-level results, I couldn't apply for junior college. I went to a polytechnic, studied the subject(s) I'm interested in, and got results good enough for me to be accepted by NUS.
Still, the idea of only the students from JCs can make something of themselves is still prevalent in our society, as can seen from the article above in today's Youthlink section of the Straits Times.
I take great exception to her views, as I'm sure most other polytechnic students/graduates would. It is sad to see such a "holier-than-thou" mindset in a member of our generation.
[Something to think about...]
There are some interesting letters in the Straits Times forum today. I reproduce them below:
Varsities: Talent-centred or citizen-centred? I read a most thought-provoking article in The Straits Times on April 7 - 'How to win alumni and donors'.
It was a speech by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew at the 800th Cambridge University celebration in Hong Kong. It was about his enduring sense of gratitude for all the experiences and help he received as a student at Cambridge.
He then compared this to the contrasting allegiances of Cambridge graduate and ST columnist Chua Mui Hoong who suffered the indignity of a 50-pound fine when her sister stayed for two weeks in her dormitory at Cambridge but received overwhelming love and support at Massachusetts Institute of Technology when she stayed on in Boston for breast cancer treatment.
She was quoted as asking: 'What is it in a university's experience that creates loyalty in alumni, and what is it that alienates them?'
She gave a three-point answer:
Sense of community
Good communication with alumni.
Student-centred administration.
Let me pose an equally relevant question for Singapore. What is it in a nation that creates loyalty in citizens, and what alienates them? There is no simple answer. It is not easy for any government to balance all considerations. But talking about university students, I have a point to make.
In the National University of Singapore Academic Yearbook 2006-2007, the fees paid by medical students reveal a talent-centred administration to whom citizenship is worth a few dollars. Compare the following:
Singapore citizens and permanent residents: Full fees - $81,610. Payment after tuition grant - $17,010.
International students: Full fees - $83,310. Payment after tuition grant - $18,710.
My son, as an international student at the University of Western Australia, pays full fees of A$42,000 (S$50,000) a year while Australians pay a tiny fraction and have access to generous study loans.
Why do international students take some of the places of our own boys who have put in 2 1/2 years of national service? Why do foreigners get to pay almost the same rates as 'fortunate' citizens who win a place at NUS? Presumably the answer is talent. Singapore needs talent.
Singapore also needs to be more citizen-centred. For without citizens who love their nation because they have first been loved, the richest nation will have no soul.
Tan Thiam Chye
And here's the second letter:
20% quota for foreigners in varsities does injustice to S'pore students
Having a fixed quota of 20% foreign students in our three universities is doing a grave injustice to Singaporean students.
News reports have stated that there are only 12,800 vacancies and 74,000 local applications, with 2,560 places given to wealthy Gulf states and other foreigners.
The outrage of Singaporeans who cannot get a place in our three local universities can be politically explosive with the looming elections.
Only one out of every six locals will be successful in their applications and yet the universities reserve 20% of places for foreign students.
The unfairness of it and the strong feelings of being relegated to second-class citizens compared with foreign talents can only be provoked by this issue.
The person who suggested that rejected Singaporean students can turn to the local campuses of foreign universities in Singapore had added salt to the wounds.
Why should we pay through our noses in the foreign universities when eligible Singaporean students are being unfairly discriminated against and displaced by foreigners as a matter of policy?
Lim Boon Hee
I've always been against how foreigners are treated in our local universities. Personally, I fought pretty hard for my place in university, coming from a polytechnic instead of the "suggested" route of JC. After giving 2.5 of the best years of my life to my country, I entered university to find that I have to content with foreigners who did not serve National Service, and yet they get to enjoy the same opportunities.
I don't want to over-dramatise the whole thing, but I had a pretty torrid time during National Service. I entered a healthy male, and exited the service with a bad back and knees. It's been 2-years since I completed my service, my back has never fully recovered, while my knees were better, they still give me problems from time to time. I spent my 21st birthday in the jungle with an injured arm, and I never got the chance to open my university acceptance letter.
Why are foreigners given the same benefits as us who had sacrificed so much for our country? University school fees have risen for two straight years, while we give the same "discounts" to both locals and foreigners. Shouldn't foreigners be made to pay the full fees instead? (I do get some satisfaction from how a foreigner student was ripped apart on our school forums when he/she was complaining about how the fee hike would affect him/her. No one sympathised with him/her.)
[Unprepared...]
In less than 2 hours, I'll be sitting for an exam which I started studying for only yesterday morning. I've never been this unprepared for an exam.
[Digital Crap]
We get a copy of "Digital Life" every week with our newspapers. They've been publishing it for as long as I can remember, and used to call it "Computer Times".
I've never liked it. I found the articles lacking in substance on several occasions, and the topics they discussed were neither here nor there. And to top it off, they offer hare-brained computing advice. Take today's edition for example:
There's an article about setting up a wireless network for your home. This isn't the first time they had a write-up about the same topic. Granted, there are always newbies around, but this article is perhaps...1.5 to 2-years too late?
This article talked about the benefits of a wireless network, etc etc. I just scanned through the article, it's pretty elementary. What caught my eye was the "Hot Tip". It's kinda blurry, cause I used the camera on my mobile phone instead of my digital camera (because *somebody* didn't put it back where we agreed it'd be... *glares at sister*). It says:
"As you go about setting up your wireless network, be sure to turn on the security features like WEP settings when you install the software. This usually allows you to set a password to keep intruders out."
Now, I'm no security expert, but I find it extremely disturbing that a nationwide publication would recommend it's readers to adopt an encryption method that has already been cracked. I've never tried it myself, but I've read articles which claimed that WEP encryption on a wireless network can be cracked in 10 seconds, without the need for a ton of sniffed packets even.
The very bare minimum level of security that you have to enable for your wireless home network is WPA encryption. If your router has WPA2, use that instead. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only thing that protects your network from intruders, and you have to change the pass-phrase often. Other features like MAC address filtering, disabling SSID broadcast, disabling DHCP, etc, offers zero protection whatsoever.
Now that I've got the rant off my chest, I'm in the middle of my study week. My first exam for this semester is this Saturday, and my last the next. I might not post as much during this period, since I'm mostly at home mugging and nothing exciting happens at home. Come April 29th, I'd be done and I'm thinking of finally converting my current fish-tank to a planted tank. One of the main reasons holding me back all this time was the cost of getting a canister filter and a CO2 delivery system, as well as the hassles involved if it didn't go right (not to mention my fishes dying if things really didn't go well). But I think I've figured out a cheaper way of getting things done, and I'd be trying it out after my exams.
I haven't even sat for my first paper, and I'm already thinking of things to do after my exams. Let's see...
["Singaporeans are stupid"...] There's a bit of a furore in the local tabloids recently. Taiwanese independent legislator Li Ao commented about the Chinese people in the region, giving each country's Chinese population an offending label each. Folks in Singapore were labeled "stupid".
I'd imagine that for most locals, this would be the first time they've ever heard of Li Ao. Not me, though. My Dad has a keen interest in politics, and he follows the political situation in Taiwan very closely as well. He's an avid viewer of Li Ao's talkshow, and that's when I was first introduced to him.
I've never liked watching or listening to Li Ao. He hasn't any guests on his talkshow, and does a rather one-sided trashing of whoever he feels like picking on. Granted, I don't know too much about politics and I've never watched an entire episode of his talkshow; he might be spot-on regarding the issues he talks about on his show, for all I know. According to my Dad, he's a very well-educated man who knows exactly what he's talking about (maybe I should consult my Dad again on this issue).
Still, to me, someone who has the ability to bitch about one issue after another, 5-days a week on TV is someone who just likes to shoot his mouth off. So it didn't really surprise me when I learnt what he said. I mean, this is what he does for a living -- Pissing people off.
What made me sit up and take notice was that after learning of the angry reactions in Singapore to his comments, he said if Singapore would invite him, he'd be glad to come over and explain what he meant by "stupid".
Let me get this straight.
You called us stupid, and now you want us to invite (read: pay) you to come over to tell us exactly why you think we're stupid?
If we did that, then we'd really be stupid.
Hey, at least he's hip..."V" sign for victory and all.
[If you're wondering, yes, I picked out the most ridiculous pictures of him that I could find from Google Images.]
[They're backkk....!]
Took the following pictures on my way home from school yesterday. Once again, examples of inconsiderate people on public transport.
This guy's carrying so much stuff, he took up 2 seats instead of one. If you look carefully, you can see he's got a baby stroller with him (his wife and child were in the seats behind him). If I were carrying so much stuff, I'd put them in the "standing area" and stand myself instead of taking up 2 seats. I can never understand why people would bring baby strollers with them anywhere other than within walking distance of their home. Which is the part of their brain which tells them that it's a good idea? Bringing a baby stroller on the bus just disrupts everything, and makes it inconvenient to get on and off the bus.
This woman took up 2 seats as well. And no, she's not really sleeping. She was alert enough to scan her EZ-Link card way before her stop. She alighted at the same bus-stop as I did. Yup, fare cheat. In front of half the passengers on the bus too. Talk about being thick-skinned. And I don't want to sound like a pervert or anything....But she really shouldn't be wearing that top. No one wants to see....that.
[The best newspaper in the world...] Judging by what they've got on their website, I don't rate their newspaper very highly. (click the picture to see what I mean)
And to think I used to buy it religiously during my secondary school days.
[I love James]
I saw this advertisement in the papers a couple of days back. It appeared again today, and I took a picture of it.
I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I thought it was kinda disturbing. "James" is the name of a money-lending service (WTF?) or something...I didn't read the entire ad. The picture alone was disturbing enough.
[Another funny sign...] Captured this screenshot from yesterday's Smackdown. The sign reads "That's Rey, not Eddie." Kinda funny if you think about it.
[The sign of the times...]
I was watching this week's RAW and I saw some hilarious signs in the audience.
"HHH IS FAT". You gotta say, his body's gone south. And WWE's new drug policy is probably not doing him any favours. "HHH - King of Queens", this one's just disturbing. Isn't that supposed to be Kevin James? (Yes, I know that "queens" is used in 2 different contexts. If anyone starts explaining it, I'm gonna turn violent.)
This one actually made me laugh out loud. It says "Triple H vs Warrior Rematch". If you get it, have a good laugh. If you don't, I don't really feel like explaining it. Watch the self-destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. You'll know what it means.
Oh yeah, Triple H's new entrance theme kicks ass. This is what happens when you shag the boss' daughter. You get the best of everything. You even get to wear a costume for Wrestlemania! (Which by the way, I thought he looked absolutely ridiculous in.)
["Zo Peng"]
[This post is for my local audience. *semi-long pause* Okay fine, I don't have a "local audience". So it's really for my real-life friends who visit my blog. Especially the male ones.]
This movie was written/produced/directed by the same guy who brought us Tak Giu. I actually did my National Service with this guy, we were in the same unit/company. He was an extremely quiet chap. He managed to get downgraded, and became the company clerk. The only time you see his aggression was when he played football. He has a amazing pair of feet. Remember the Nike advertisements where they played football on the tanker? He was that good.
Most guys would be able to identify with the content of the video. It discussed several issues which you would never understand if you never experienced it yourself.
Are you doing your part...And his part and her part? Don't let a coworker get away with slacking on the job. They'll continue to get off scot-free if you keep on picking up their workload, you know.
What a coincidence, since there's a free-rider in one of my project groups this semester, and we talked to the lecturer about him today. There's a chance he might be getting a zero for the project. Hoho...
[It's a small world after all....]
Singapore is a small country. The IT industry here is smaller. And School of Computing is even smaller. I was once offered advice from someone, who said it was important not to offend anyone in the IT industry, because it was so small the chances of running into that guy again somewhere down the road would be pretty high.
Last year, in the months of June and July, several freshmen contacted me to clear some doubts regarding the system in NUS/SoC. Most of them got my contact from HardwareZone, where I posted replies in some threads in the University forum. I didn't mind, always glad to help out, since I remember how lost and overwhelming it can be, having spent 2-years living the military life and now having to switch your mindset back to the normal, compatible-with-society mode.
In the first tutorial of one of my level-3 modules this semester, I heard a name which I thought belonged to one of the freshmen whom I talked to. I was occupied with some matters right then, so I didn't read too much into it.
Last week, the final presentation team presented their case study. I saw "the name" on the slides, and I was sure it was the same freshman I talked to almost 8-months ago. He had no idea who I was (in real life), and I recognised him only because I put his MSN nick and email together. His friends called him using his MSN nick (which was a regular English name), while his name on the slide was his real name, which he used in his email.
I didn't approach him to introduce myself or anything. We might meet again next semester, who knows? It'd be an interesting ice-breaker for next time.
This just reminds me of all the "small world, eh?" incidents I've encounter over the years:
One of my sister's friends in school was my secondary school teacher's daughter.
A friend of mine from secondary school (now in NUS Business School) knew another friend of mine in SoC because they took a level-1 Computing module together.
One of my project-mates was friends with above-said secondary school friend because they went to the same JC.
One of the girls from the Computing Club who welcomed the 10 of us when we matriculated was the cousin of a female fresh(wo)man from my Orientation Group about 6-months later.
A girl whom I almost did a project with this semester, is the cousin of a friend of mine. He matriculated with me, part of the "lost child" group.
My polytechnic classmate who matriculated one semester after me is friends with another fresh(wo)man from my Orientation Group. I found out when he forwarded a funny email to me, and I saw her email in the headers.
And the list goes on. You're probably confused or skipped the entire chunk. Don't blame you...I didn't really expect anyone else to understand the complex relationships I mentioned above.
To add on, my cousin is joining me in SoC next academic year. My sister is slanted to join the Science Faculty, which is next to SoC and students from both faculties share a canteen. But hell, SoC might be moving, so I wouldn't know if I'd bump into her a lot next semester. We'll see.
[ARAGH!!!]
I didn't get enough sleep last night. If I don't get my 8 hours, I can't function properly. It's been this way for as long as I can remember.
I've read somewhere that a sleepy driver is just as dangerous as a drunk driver. I have to agree. I've done some real silly things when I didn't get enough sleep, and today was no exception.
I was cleaning my contact lens when the first incident caused by the lack of sleep occurred. I put my lens into the lens case, and went back to my room. It's my habit to flick the lens case hard to get rid of the water after I've washed it, so I did it out of habit. I then placed the lens case on the shelf, and opened the bottle of solution to soak my lens in.
That's when I realised the lens case was empty. In my sleep-deprived state, I flicked the wrong lens case. My lens went flying, on the floor somewhere. Luckily they didn't fly very far, and I found them without much problem.
The second incident occurred after I finished reading the papers. I usually saved the time of United matches into my mobile phone's calendar, so that it'd ring 5-minutes before the game and I wouldn't forget about it. The TV schedule stated that the match would start at 9:55pm tonight, but I saved the time as 10:55pm.
Which explained why when I turned on the TV at 10:50pm, the pre-show wasn't on. It was the half-time show...And I didn't even realise what had happened (I did realise that it was odd...I wasn't that stoned) until United and Bolton returned to the pitch and I saw "2nd Half 1-1" on the screen.
Oh well, at least United won. And Chelsea dropped some points. Could United still catch up? Honestly, the title is Chelsea's to lose. All the same, it makes the end of this season more exciting than the one before.
On the school front, I found out today that my faculty might be moving. There were rumours going on about it for a while (although I only found out today), and today someone posted a thread in the faculty forums. The Assistant Dean of Special Programmes actually came to address the rumour. It seems that due to "regulation", an entity near my faculty had to expand. In order to do so, we'd have to move to make space for them. It's still in the works, but they expect to make a formal announcement by the 3rd week of this month.
It may or may not affect me, since after this semester, I'd have only 3 semester left in NUS. Actually I think the chance of it affecting me is very high. If they make the announcement in April, they could make the move in May/June/July during the vacation period and we'd be attending classes in the new location by August, when school re-opens. It seems that we would be moving to where the Law faculty used to be, since they've moved to the Bukit Timah campus.
How does this affect me? Currently, it's very convenient for me, in the sense that my bus stops near my faculty (10-15 min walk). If they move to where the Law faculty used to be, I'd have to take the internal shuttle bus everyday to get there (10-15 min walk + internal shuttle bus). That adds to travelling time, which means I have to wake up earlier. We're currently very close to the Co-op, so it's very convenient when you need to buy something. The nearest Co-op from the Law faculty is....3 to 4 internal shuttle bus-stops away depending on where you are.
On the plus side, we would get to choose between 2 different canteens, the Arts canteen and the Business canteen. Which suits me just fine...Since the "scenery" at Arts and Business is much, much better. We may be able to study in the Law library, which would be cool since the Science library is really run-down and has the "old building" smell. However, it might be harder to "reproduce" certain academic works since everyone there should be well-versed in copyright law. Anyway, I find it really weird for them to move the law faculty but leave their spanking new library behind. Imagine their students having to go to-and-fro between 2 campuses when doing research.
Broken for now. :( If anyone knows of a good way to display tweets without using Twitter's awful looking widgets, please let me know. Preferably something that allows me to retrieve my tweets in plain-text format.
What's this about?
Anything and everything under the sun. I write about my day, my thoughts, things I see in public, things to get off my chest, or sometimes just some senseless rants that make sense only to me.
About Me
30 year old male. Always with too many ideas in his head and too little time. For my 15 minutes of fame, I want to be a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Interests
Movies, TV, cycling, computers, planted tanks, cherry shrimps, P2P legal issues, Manchester United, WWE, TNA, UFC, etc...
Disclaimer
Best viewed @ 1280*1024 or above. Views are expressed are mine and mine only, and are not meant to offend or influence anyone. Designed for readers with a sense of humour. If you can't laugh at yourself, you probably won't like my style of humour.
, pass my IPPT before ICT.
