Felt so lethargic today. Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the air. Smells especially hazy too. Didn't have the mood to do anything, just felt like killing time and passing the day quickly.
For the first time, I forgot to bring my tutorial sheet. Thanks to ZY I was still able to learn something rather than stare at the screen blankly.
Totally wasted my 3 hours break today doing useless stuff, since I didn't bring enough materials to study. Luckily time passed faster than I thought.
LRT broke down on my way home. Left the station and took a bus instead. Reached home 30 minutes later than expected. Very hungry.
When I reached home, news reports about several natural disasters around the world flashed. How depressing.
Not to mention my 2 mid term exams for the next 2 days.
Maybe I should go and sleep now...
*4 MSN chat windows are blinking blue now...can I just close them?*
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Speedy!
Came across this video, a compilation of some 'World's Fastest' records. Take a look:
Were you impressed? The one that impressed me the most is probably the fastest stamping one. The record is not held by any professionals in the field, but just by a normal OL (office lady). I wonder how long had she been working in that job (doing the same menial tasks over and over again) before she could achieve such a feat. Is that a compliment or not? Haha.
Do you have anything which you feel you could do fast enough, at least faster than an average person? (for eg texting, typing, etc) In fact I do. =) It's not really a big deal actually, and probably no one will care whether you can do it fast or not. I didn't notice it myself too until someone praised me for that, and even attempted to test my speed. Haha.
On the other hand, the one that made me the least impressed should be the clapping one. I just don't see much point to it. It's not a sport, nor game, nor hobby, nor pastime, and doesn't do any useful work. Well maybe such speed can become useful during certain musical performances haha.
Talking about usefulness, here's another interesting clip. World's most pointless machine haha. What makes it so pointless? Pay attention to the switch...
Even a machine needs its own privacy...
Were you impressed? The one that impressed me the most is probably the fastest stamping one. The record is not held by any professionals in the field, but just by a normal OL (office lady). I wonder how long had she been working in that job (doing the same menial tasks over and over again) before she could achieve such a feat. Is that a compliment or not? Haha.
Do you have anything which you feel you could do fast enough, at least faster than an average person? (for eg texting, typing, etc) In fact I do. =) It's not really a big deal actually, and probably no one will care whether you can do it fast or not. I didn't notice it myself too until someone praised me for that, and even attempted to test my speed. Haha.
On the other hand, the one that made me the least impressed should be the clapping one. I just don't see much point to it. It's not a sport, nor game, nor hobby, nor pastime, and doesn't do any useful work. Well maybe such speed can become useful during certain musical performances haha.
Talking about usefulness, here's another interesting clip. World's most pointless machine haha. What makes it so pointless? Pay attention to the switch...
Even a machine needs its own privacy...
Superficial
Be prepared for an incoherent entry. Don't ask anything. Just read and get puzzled.
It's so scary to think how half a semester has already passed, just like that. It still feels like groping in the dark, trying to get used to the momentum. But that also means the year-end holidays are coming soon! Too early to look forward now haha. The closer one would probably be the so-called '2nd recess-week'...
Visited a website, then couldn't bear to leave it, even though there is nothing much there. What's more I've already looked through most of the stuff there. The links are highlighted, meaning I've accessed them before. But I still can't help clicking on them and skimming through the materials again and again. Waste of time but these kinda actions do show the things I really yearn for.
Not that difficult to obtain though. It just requires my courage, and another 'universal' factor.
Was on facebook just now and clicked on something I shouldn't have clicked. Exited before any further thoughts start to flow in. It has been a long time yet so fresh in my mind. I'm trying to bury it since then, and revive it when the right time comes. (after at least 1 more year probably) But the damage has been done, now I can't concentrate. Maybe a night's sleep will help.
On the other hand, I saw something and wanted to initiate it. But I hesitated and decided not to do it in the end. After all...it's getting late. (Though I know it won't take up a lot of time). Or maybe I should have thicken my skin and go ahead. But bleh, next time I guess.
Everything is so transient. When roots are quick to grow, they are quick to uproot too. Maintaining those roots are not easy, especially when the soil has already been mostly taken up by other bigger and thicker roots. I wonder if I should let them die off slowly, or just uproot them myself. Feels so empty. I guess this is part and parcel of life: we have to search for fertile soil where the roots can grow strong and healthy, and continue to stay at that spot rather than trying to extend into somewhere else that doesn't have much nutrients left due to several competing roots.
It's so scary to think how half a semester has already passed, just like that. It still feels like groping in the dark, trying to get used to the momentum. But that also means the year-end holidays are coming soon! Too early to look forward now haha. The closer one would probably be the so-called '2nd recess-week'...
Visited a website, then couldn't bear to leave it, even though there is nothing much there. What's more I've already looked through most of the stuff there. The links are highlighted, meaning I've accessed them before. But I still can't help clicking on them and skimming through the materials again and again. Waste of time but these kinda actions do show the things I really yearn for.
Not that difficult to obtain though. It just requires my courage, and another 'universal' factor.
Was on facebook just now and clicked on something I shouldn't have clicked. Exited before any further thoughts start to flow in. It has been a long time yet so fresh in my mind. I'm trying to bury it since then, and revive it when the right time comes. (after at least 1 more year probably) But the damage has been done, now I can't concentrate. Maybe a night's sleep will help.
On the other hand, I saw something and wanted to initiate it. But I hesitated and decided not to do it in the end. After all...it's getting late. (Though I know it won't take up a lot of time). Or maybe I should have thicken my skin and go ahead. But bleh, next time I guess.
Everything is so transient. When roots are quick to grow, they are quick to uproot too. Maintaining those roots are not easy, especially when the soil has already been mostly taken up by other bigger and thicker roots. I wonder if I should let them die off slowly, or just uproot them myself. Feels so empty. I guess this is part and parcel of life: we have to search for fertile soil where the roots can grow strong and healthy, and continue to stay at that spot rather than trying to extend into somewhere else that doesn't have much nutrients left due to several competing roots.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Big Deal?
For those who visit my blog every now and then and keep seeing the same entry at the top again and again, here's something updated to make you stop by for a moment, such that it's not a 'wasted trip' haha.
I haven't been blogging much this August, or rather it has been always like this since dunno-when. Only one entry per week or two. And thanks to Singnet (I suspect), the layout of blogger (and Facebook) has been giving me lots of problems. For a lazy person like me, it serves as a good excuse to procrastinate my entries. (As if someone is forcing me to blog regularly hah...)
Despite the inactivity and lack of event reports in the blog, August was really a hectic month for me. It was some kind of a follow-up to my Japan trip in June. I visited a university during the trip and this time it's their turn to visit our country and university. No lah, it's not a turn-based thing. We were given the chance to meet up with Japanese students who were scheduled to come to SG for English immersion programme.
They came and we enjoyed the 1-month period together. It felt really fast and short. It has been 2 weeks since they returned to Japan. Was very glad to have met and made so many foreign friends at one go, though there were some hiccups along... Mixed feelings.
Since it's already over, I shan't elaborate any further. No idea when I could have such an opportunity again. =)
Now there's another thing to look forward to! Hope it will be a good motivation for this semester, though it's still some time away.
As for school so far, I'm glad that the peak of my weekly lesson hours is over. But the debris still remains behind for me to clear up. It's normal to feel stressful during the semester, when projects and assignments seem to converge, when mid terms draw near, when readings and tutorials accumulate, when you realise that you're unable to fully understand the lecture anymore...
Being a student who has never taken 'A' or 'O' Level Biology before, whose biology knowledge is still stuck at "cells have a cell membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus", taking a biology module in university seems like suicide. Indeed, I was totally lost in some lectures. Tried to understand but the alien technical terms are acting like a barrier which excludes non-bio students. Had a hard time trying to digest the concepts, but in the end everything is just touch-and-go, understand-then-forget. Hasn't sunk into my memory yet. Thanks to the A Level Chemistry option topic Food Chemistry, I was able to understand certain parts.
Though the exam is open-book, ultimately memory work is still needed on top of conceptual understanding. Like we have enough time to flip the book...
No point getting stressed over these. Just follow the flow, do what I can and get it done and over with. No matter how much I rant and complain to friends or in the blog, eventually I still have to face it by myself. Everyone has their own stress and troubles. What makes mine such a big deal?
I haven't been blogging much this August, or rather it has been always like this since dunno-when. Only one entry per week or two. And thanks to Singnet (I suspect), the layout of blogger (and Facebook) has been giving me lots of problems. For a lazy person like me, it serves as a good excuse to procrastinate my entries. (As if someone is forcing me to blog regularly hah...)
Despite the inactivity and lack of event reports in the blog, August was really a hectic month for me. It was some kind of a follow-up to my Japan trip in June. I visited a university during the trip and this time it's their turn to visit our country and university. No lah, it's not a turn-based thing. We were given the chance to meet up with Japanese students who were scheduled to come to SG for English immersion programme.
They came and we enjoyed the 1-month period together. It felt really fast and short. It has been 2 weeks since they returned to Japan. Was very glad to have met and made so many foreign friends at one go, though there were some hiccups along... Mixed feelings.
Since it's already over, I shan't elaborate any further. No idea when I could have such an opportunity again. =)
Now there's another thing to look forward to! Hope it will be a good motivation for this semester, though it's still some time away.
As for school so far, I'm glad that the peak of my weekly lesson hours is over. But the debris still remains behind for me to clear up. It's normal to feel stressful during the semester, when projects and assignments seem to converge, when mid terms draw near, when readings and tutorials accumulate, when you realise that you're unable to fully understand the lecture anymore...
Being a student who has never taken 'A' or 'O' Level Biology before, whose biology knowledge is still stuck at "cells have a cell membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus", taking a biology module in university seems like suicide. Indeed, I was totally lost in some lectures. Tried to understand but the alien technical terms are acting like a barrier which excludes non-bio students. Had a hard time trying to digest the concepts, but in the end everything is just touch-and-go, understand-then-forget. Hasn't sunk into my memory yet. Thanks to the A Level Chemistry option topic Food Chemistry, I was able to understand certain parts.
Though the exam is open-book, ultimately memory work is still needed on top of conceptual understanding. Like we have enough time to flip the book...
No point getting stressed over these. Just follow the flow, do what I can and get it done and over with. No matter how much I rant and complain to friends or in the blog, eventually I still have to face it by myself. Everyone has their own stress and troubles. What makes mine such a big deal?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
What's this....
This happens for both IE and Firefox. No autosave, can't preview, and the option to upload photos has even disappeared... This shall be my excuse for not blogging these few days. Haha.
Let's not talk about how facebook looks like in my browsers...
Let's not talk about how facebook looks like in my browsers...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Next Episode
These few days Blogspot (as well as Facebook) is getting haywired for some reason. Whatever it is, I'm now typing on a very haywired-looking page, with a totally white background and links placed around the page haphazardly. As long as I can still publish my entry properly, this should be fine for the time being.
The third semester has started for me, after a long hiatus of more than three months. The girls who used to study at the same level as me in my JC days, are either approaching their final year, or have already graduated. Now that it's back to study, I realised I've forgotten most of the stuff taught last semester (even grammar points in my Japanese module). I wonder why we tend to forget academic knowledge so easily. When many things are crammed into our brain within a short period of time, they become very volatile too. It's like stuffing a cabinet with clothes hurriedly, which might end up pouring out the next time we open the cabinet door. We are not given enough time to fold the clothes nicely and pack them in a orderly, stable manner. Similiarly in one short semester, we don't have the luxury of time to consolidate, arrange and reinforce the facts we've learnt. Everything is so liquid that they flow out naturally. Unlike in primary and secondary school, newly acquired knowledge now seems to be stored in a RAM-like memory space in our brain. Quick to enter, quick to erase too.
After experiencing being overloaded last semester, I opted to return to the normal rate this semester. Or rather, most of my desired modules either are not offered, or clash with my cores. As much as I wish to utilise the costly school fees to the maximum, I think I should take care of my own welfare too haha. As a result my timetable this semester looks more 'loose' than the previous, though I've no more free days anymore. =(
One complain is, there are far too much gaps in between lessons. It can be quite gruelling to roam and linger around the campus while waiting for the next class. My efficiency lowers when I do work at the school bench, due to numerous distractions from the surroundings, as well as the stiff seats. Last semester I enjoyed the thrill of having to rush from one faculty to another. This time I will just stroll leisurely at my own pace, with no worries of being late or whatsoever. No more bus and traffic rantings from me anymore.
My timetable could be better planned, if not for the fierce competition for the few obvious 'perfect-fitting' slots. As I balloted a tutorial slot as the first choice, I sacrificed the tutorial timing for the other module. When one slot fails, the others fail too...sigh. But then I'm thankful for being able to split my tutorial balloting between two iterations. Ranking everything at the same time would be a nightmare!
The bunch of morning lectures shall make me train up to become an early bird (or an early worm).
A pity I probably won't visit Arts that much anymore. It serves as a good change in atomsphere from the stifling Engin air.
The third semester has started for me, after a long hiatus of more than three months. The girls who used to study at the same level as me in my JC days, are either approaching their final year, or have already graduated. Now that it's back to study, I realised I've forgotten most of the stuff taught last semester (even grammar points in my Japanese module). I wonder why we tend to forget academic knowledge so easily. When many things are crammed into our brain within a short period of time, they become very volatile too. It's like stuffing a cabinet with clothes hurriedly, which might end up pouring out the next time we open the cabinet door. We are not given enough time to fold the clothes nicely and pack them in a orderly, stable manner. Similiarly in one short semester, we don't have the luxury of time to consolidate, arrange and reinforce the facts we've learnt. Everything is so liquid that they flow out naturally. Unlike in primary and secondary school, newly acquired knowledge now seems to be stored in a RAM-like memory space in our brain. Quick to enter, quick to erase too.
After experiencing being overloaded last semester, I opted to return to the normal rate this semester. Or rather, most of my desired modules either are not offered, or clash with my cores. As much as I wish to utilise the costly school fees to the maximum, I think I should take care of my own welfare too haha. As a result my timetable this semester looks more 'loose' than the previous, though I've no more free days anymore. =(
One complain is, there are far too much gaps in between lessons. It can be quite gruelling to roam and linger around the campus while waiting for the next class. My efficiency lowers when I do work at the school bench, due to numerous distractions from the surroundings, as well as the stiff seats. Last semester I enjoyed the thrill of having to rush from one faculty to another. This time I will just stroll leisurely at my own pace, with no worries of being late or whatsoever. No more bus and traffic rantings from me anymore.
My timetable could be better planned, if not for the fierce competition for the few obvious 'perfect-fitting' slots. As I balloted a tutorial slot as the first choice, I sacrificed the tutorial timing for the other module. When one slot fails, the others fail too...sigh. But then I'm thankful for being able to split my tutorial balloting between two iterations. Ranking everything at the same time would be a nightmare!
The bunch of morning lectures shall make me train up to become an early bird (or an early worm).
A pity I probably won't visit Arts that much anymore. It serves as a good change in atomsphere from the stifling Engin air.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
It's a small small world!
Even before its air, the trailers of the show had already captured my attention. These days there are hardly any 8-9pm variety shows that can spark my interest, but this one did. So I decided to set aside some time and watch the first episode. Indeed, it wasn't disappointing at all! In fact, it gets better every episode, as more elements are introduced along the way.
This is the show I'm talk about. Have you watched it?
Just in case you're clueless on what this show is about, it's a talk and discussion show with guests from various nationalities who can speak mandarin. The guests are asked to share their experiences in Singapore, and the how different the cultures in their native countries are. Along with the host Mark Lee, this show is really funny and can make you burst out laughing throughout.
There are also game segments where guests can interact with each other, and of course create exclusive jokes that native mandarin speakers will never think about. =p Some games include:
- Interpret the word. Guests are to guess the meanings of Singlish words unique to Singapore, such as 'Kelong', 'Swaku', 'Lelong', etc. You should hear their varying responses!
- Pass the message. Guests will pass a short phrase or two by mouth from one person to another. Notice how distorted the phrase will become as it is passed down!
- Link the word. This should be familiar. For example, ‘儿子’的‘子‘啊，‘子孙’的‘孙’啊，‘孙女’的‘女’啊...
The episodes are uploaded in youtube too! Here is one sample episode:
You can continue to watch the other parts in youtube...
As you can see, most jokes stem from their inaccurate pronunciation. The HK 'student' Ah De is deemed to be the worst student as his pronunciation can be really off sometimes (or rather, many many times). As a result he is often teased and picked on by Mark Lee during the show. Haha. I think the best 'student' should be Amit from Israel.
Apparently this show is quite successful due to its good viewership. However it is ending its run soon. No extension like Paris and Milan. Hopefully there will be more of this kind of show next time. =)
This is the show I'm talk about. Have you watched it?
Just in case you're clueless on what this show is about, it's a talk and discussion show with guests from various nationalities who can speak mandarin. The guests are asked to share their experiences in Singapore, and the how different the cultures in their native countries are. Along with the host Mark Lee, this show is really funny and can make you burst out laughing throughout.
There are also game segments where guests can interact with each other, and of course create exclusive jokes that native mandarin speakers will never think about. =p Some games include:
- Interpret the word. Guests are to guess the meanings of Singlish words unique to Singapore, such as 'Kelong', 'Swaku', 'Lelong', etc. You should hear their varying responses!
- Pass the message. Guests will pass a short phrase or two by mouth from one person to another. Notice how distorted the phrase will become as it is passed down!
- Link the word. This should be familiar. For example, ‘儿子’的‘子‘啊，‘子孙’的‘孙’啊，‘孙女’的‘女’啊...
The episodes are uploaded in youtube too! Here is one sample episode:
You can continue to watch the other parts in youtube...
As you can see, most jokes stem from their inaccurate pronunciation. The HK 'student' Ah De is deemed to be the worst student as his pronunciation can be really off sometimes (or rather, many many times). As a result he is often teased and picked on by Mark Lee during the show. Haha. I think the best 'student' should be Amit from Israel.
Apparently this show is quite successful due to its good viewership. However it is ending its run soon. No extension like Paris and Milan. Hopefully there will be more of this kind of show next time. =)
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