Thoughts.

Complexity.

2011-10-17T21:09:00.002+08:00

In essay writing, I don't seem to hit the level of complexity that I want, which frustrates me and means that I won't be satisfied with my essay. In chess, I still think I'm thinking complicated situations to solve my complex chess puzzles, with calculated variations instead of higher understanding.

In video gaming, they seem not to have complex elements and I can play with much ease. For 2 player board games I can calculate what happens next. However, with multiple players, I seem to do badly. There seems to be too many factors to consider. Perhaps I was thinking complicated solutions for a complex game. Perhaps considering personalities instead of just logic might have helped me in that context?

Now the question is, how do I think with a fluid mindset for complexity? Fluidity includes having little assumptions. But I can't assume that everything is false. So what can I afford to assume?

I guess that's why you need to question the question in the essay. And understand the ideas behind chess variations. I need to observe; much more. My current thinking is too straightforward and does not consider complexities. Moreover, I am not strong-willed enough. If one wants to seek the truth, one must seek hard. Be less satisfied with the conclusions one makes, and continue seeking for answers.

Don't give up just because questions lead to more questions.

And I ask myself...

2011-09-06T23:09:00.002+08:00

What is the purpose of a blog?

Some people blog about their interests, such as food, sports, and even celebrities. But majority of blogs are for personal use. So, what is the purpose of a personal blog? I guess for the majority of the ppl, it's to update their friends, especially those whom we have not met in a long while (those whom we neglect due to our busy multi-tasking lives.. but that's for another blog post). So my question is, do you use blogs an avenue to express oneself, or to express what you want others to think of you?

For new media politics, I guess political blogs show all the 'good' stuff. But if you are an individual with no reputation at stake, will you hide what you want to get off your chest badly? Or keep it under lock and key?

Whatever happened to freedom of expression? Are people being too afraid of being judged nowadays?

But I guess I'm not one to talk.

Money!

2009-11-19T01:17:00.001+08:00

It is simply the most common means of attaining happiness/self-satisfaction, but it is not the only way.

But of course since it is the most common and easiest way to become attain materialistic happiness, it is highly sought after and is held at great value.

Money itself does not bring happiness,the purchasing power does. Maybe because the happiness that we seek involve money.

If we find happiness that does not involve money.. I guess money won't matter.

ORD

2009-11-19T00:26:00.000+08:00

51 weeks and counting.

People say that uni's more stressful than jc.. and each mod test is like studying for A's again.
Some even envy the males that they can 'rest' for 2 years.

But objectively, it's like being retained for 2 years.
It's like going out and working 2 years before going into uni, whereas working after graduating from uni would get you much better pay and greater job satisfaction... not to mention working towards pay rises and promotions.

Seriously. If the girls really do envy the guys, then they can also go on study hiatus for 2 years. Why don't they? Because there is no progress. Fulfilling my aims and goals in life, graduating with a degree and getting a stable job? ... Doesn't help.

Us Singapore males already have a statistically shorter life expectancy (hmmm... maybe because of the lack of slp in NS? Think about it. Not many differences between the things Singaporean males and females do), and yet we must undergo these 2 gruelling years. And after these 2 years, we STILL have to go through the 'cruel' uni exams. Can't you see it's for your own future?

We'll get used to it, we all will... Time-wasting that is. Traveling time, waiting time, and just plain stoning/relaxing at home. I pretty much wasted all my time on this bloc leave.

Need to get my thoughts and weekend goals in order again.

Cheers.

I wonder...

2009-08-11T21:48:00.000+08:00

who reads this blog.

Thinking about DDR

2009-06-06T21:57:00.002+08:00

DDR = Dance-Dance Revolution.

Definition from wikipedia (because I'm lazy): Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.

Blah blah blah. But just a thought - wouldn't it be cool to compose music just by moving your body?

Maybe something like this.

A giant tenori dancefloor. Which reminds me of this video, also...

Ah, as technology advances, just about anyone can become composers.. at low cost.
Leads to more creativity.. more songs.. more music. =p

Then again, not at low cost. Because there'll be classes, there'll exams... There'll be courses, degrees, qualifications after qualifications.

Bahh.

On a happier note, I bet the Internet will provide free tutorials. So yeah.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_Dance_Revolution

P.S.: Wishing that all the ppl I know got into the courses they want. Sometimes you can't have your best choice.. but sometimes it will turn out to be a better choice, so don't lose heart.

There is life outside studies.

Dirty Spectacles.

2009-04-03T22:56:00.002+08:00

Ever since enlistment to army on 7 jan 09, my life has undergone drastic changes. From going out with friends every alternate day, to regimental army life. After being away from home for 2+ weeks, being shouted at... I felt demoted, that my value in society was being cheapened. My brain felt under-used and over-stressed. Losing your own confidence... And having a brain that feels devalued... It was really more than what I expected.

After graduation from BMT, got posted to infantry, at bukit panjang camp. Distance doesn't really matter, because travelling to and fro happens only twice a week. But I guess it's a countinued brain devaluing experience. Managed to bring in materials to study this week. Read up in basic driving theory, copy of reader's digest.. now planning to find pharmacy notes to prepare for uni. It's a brain perk for me.

From student to soldier, I can't help but notice that my spectacles are getting dirtier and dirtier.
Some things just don't matter any more.
Some things that mattered for the past 12 years don't matter now.

Have fun in NS, fellow NSFs!

The world is cruel. Men are selfish.

2009-03-07T00:05:00.002+08:00

A level results today.

Some people did not get the grades they deserve, despite being consistent all the way.. Did they stumble at the very end.

Isn't life unfair? For ppl who had put in their hard work, I think they deserve more.
It might be due to studying hard but not studying smart. Not getting enough rest before the exam, and falling sick etc. ... But sometimes its not the case. And its unfair.

It seems that we are deluded with the image of a perfect world, and that image depicts fairness and karma.. which in fact does not necessarily exist. This image brings unhappiness.. as we strive for perfection, it forever seems out of reach.

We can forever delude ourselves, that our problems don't exist, that everything's fine.. and simply be happy, in the short run. When this problems accumulate and worsen, that's when the shit hits the fan.

=) Relatively short post, but it's food for thought.

Vicious cycles

2008-11-21T00:24:00.002+08:00

20th November marks the end of the bio paper 1, and the end of the A'levels for people taking BCME. Students scream with joy, throw their notes away and shout "Exams are over!".

What? Exams are over?

I've realized since O'levels that exams were not over. After PSLE came the Os, after Os came the As, and after As will come the uni exams. Will this be the true end of exams in our lives? It wouldn't be. In a mordern competitive world, where there are job shortages, where there are only so little promotions, meritocracy is the means that is used to distinguish the better from the rest. And how is meritocracy implemented? Test, exams... working behaviour, results, ideas... They're still exams, just in the disguise of proposals, projects, etc. Even one's daily performance at work is comparable to class assignments in secondary school, which adds to the total grade.

School has been modified into a place of not only learning, but adapting. To society. The real working world. Although things like bootlicking doesn't work, and you can't pull much strings... it's a start. Results in school is sort of a reflection of your 'grade' in society, where you'ld stand. Socially, academically, emotionally.

Which is why we always have to improve ourselves. Not only academically... but we must also take care of our social aspects and our physical and mental health. It's not productive wasting your life away during the holidays. So learn something each day, and of course, relax. It's the holidays, after all. =)

OMG I'M SCARED FOR GP AND BIO. =|

I'll be back!

2008-10-15T22:24:00.003+08:00

I promise(Which isn't worth much nowadays, is it?). It's just a word or a phrase, and its credibility depends on the person; the person who is saying it, and the person who is hearing it. It's based on trust. So... you'll just have to trust me. (you can hardly do anything else, can you? =p )

Brb.

2008-09-24T21:37:00.004+08:00

A levels. Brb. cya. bbl. ttyl.

Prioritize.
Do not procrastinate.
Hard work.
Discipline.
No complacency. (I have nothing to be complacent about anyway).
Time management.
Stress management.
Good balance of sleep and study.

Chiong.

Will be jotting my ideas on a book, developing them after A's.

Each idea like a photograph, to be developed. A picture paints a thousand words; An developed idea, like a picture, can speak a thousand words too.

Dane Cook- Joke Thief?

2008-09-07T01:38:00.002+08:00

In response to a video posted on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz3_ZYYE9II

Indeed Louis CK 2001 and Dane Cook 2005 (lazy to include full album details) has similar themes, such as naming kids and car accidents, but that does not mean that these themes cannot be used again. Firstly, these "themes" are merely ideas, ideas that belong to no one. They cannot be patented, and people cannot lay claim to it. Ideas can be similar, thought by different people at different places. Should they accuse each other of theft?
Undeniably, Dane Cook's presentation, exaggeration improves the 'same' joke that Louis CK told. If inventions can be improved upon, upgraded, modified and sold as a different products, why should this be an exception? Considering it as "plagiarism", which involves copying wholesale, doesn't give Dane Cook any credit for his improvements.

While it is suspicious that these same themes from Louis CK 2001 were in the same Dane Cook 2005 album, but I doubt that any comedian is free of 'joke theft'. Themes and jokes are bound to repeat, now it is up to creativity of the comedian/comedienne to prove his/her originality.

An article about joke theft, for your reading pleasure.
http://www.radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2007/02/take_the_funny_and_run_1.php

A relatively short post. I'll make it up with another post another day. GP prelims over, don't feel an urge for critical thinking about issues. But I felt like penning this thoughts down before I forget them. To all Meridians (and other JC students taking prelims): GLHF xD

National Day Celebrations

2008-08-08T22:53:00.002+08:00

the 2 main celebratory events in schedule:

1.National Day Speech
Touched on economic, social, and mentions major events in the future (youth olympics, integrated resorts). Also mentioned in the speech was also some interesting bits.

Quote:
"What then is the Singapore Spirit? The “Singapore Spirit” is a common identity we share that arises from our heritage and way of life. In Singapore, we celebrate our different cultures, but we never let that divide us. While we are a small country, we are a strong society because we stand united, as one people, ready to defend our country and to work together for the common good. We value and maintain our ‘common space’ - institutions such as our schools, National Service and even our hawker centres, where people of different races and religions interact, share common experiences and strengthen our bonds as one people."

The "Singapore Spirit" - common identity, way of life. Singlish, Food, and HDB flats. But also complaining, 'kiasu', high stress levels. Our culture is uniquely diverse, and diversely unique. Still, the theme "Singapore Spirit" - seems to depict nationalism and loyalty to country, which I'm not sure all Singaporeans have. I agree with the importance of places of interactions between races. History books remind us of racial riots in the 1960s, which is possibly still due to the different enclaves. The last part coincidentally ties in with what our movie 'portrays', sepet, a Malaysian movie to celebrate National Day. More to that in later paragraphs.

Quote:
"We believe in hard work, and treasure the fact that all of us, regardless of background, have the chance to improve our lives based on our own efforts. At the same time, we are a just and compassionate society, where the more successful reach out to help the less fortunate and where we seek to create opportunities and hope for all Singaporeans."

Emphasises on justice and meritocracy, which is thrives in Singapore. However, "compassion", i.e. fraternity is hard to find in an ever-increasingly competitive society, where selfishness and craftiness prevail. "the more successful reach out to help the less fortunate". This kind of reminds me about the NKF saga and the recent Ren Ci scandal. Not very successful isn't it? I guess our 'compassion', coming in the form of money, may not be reaching the right sources.

2. Movie - Sepet
From wikipedia: Sepet is a 2004 Malaysian romantic comedy drama film set in Ipoh, Malaysia. Directed by Yasmin Ahmad, it tells a tale of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl. Sepet is a Malay word which, in this context, refers to the 'slit eyes' of the Chinese.

This movie really had a 'local' feel to it, unlike the blockbuster action movies and the Japanese anime that I watch. The comedy involves dialects, mixes of english, chinese, malay, which is quite common in Singapore too. It shows, like every romantic show, the things the couple are willing to go through and the obstacles that they overcome; the emotions that they experience, the audience also experiences, a connection between the actors and the audience. IMHO, I think that racial and social pressures are an obstacle, and are NOT what the scriptwriter particularly had in mind. I don't think teachers that watch the film go "Hey, this is a really good movie to teach the students about racial issues". Rather, I think this is what happened:

Teacher: "Hey, we need a movie to educate our students about local racial issues on national day."
*After much searching, finally decides on sepet*

The GP panel was criticizing us about not thinking about these social and racial pressures, but this movie being a romcom do not have the intent to stir those questions. At that time, we were audiences, not gp students asked to critically analyze and observe racial themes, in a mindset of relaxation.

Also, the tutors brought up a question "What do you think will happen if Singapore followed an education system favouring a certain race?" Oh please, of all hypothetically possible situations, this is a bad one. One can understand that you have to link it back to Singapore, but this is lame. Singapore, on a system of meritocracy, will not implement such policies in 300 years. Singaporean history has already illustrated ill effects of racial discrimination, I don't think human intelligence will degrade to that extent in the near future...

Human nature will become the undoing of us. Greediness, discrimination, stereotyping; as our society becomes more 'civilised', the greater these problems show. Shouldn't there be a point where we should stop all our environment-polluting and money-grubbing activities, and look back at the past where such problems don't exist?

what's wrong with the world anyway; Why do we want to live to a hundred years old? Afraid of death? Progress just pulls us deeper into the quicksand.

Oh well, that's how the way the world works. Happy National Day and enjoy the Olympics too.

Youth Day

2008-07-07T19:42:00.002+08:00

In Singapore,Youth Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of July.

And thanks for that, it spills over to monday and becomes a sch holiday for us. Long weekend.
Did nothing much, went to jog with a few friends... but what is the purpose of youth day? How are other youths spending their time on this day dedicated to them?

Well, when running around Bedok reservoir, I could feel the 'alive-ness' in me, the coolness of the wind; the speed of youth.

But looking back at my peers, at my generation: How many is spending their time at home, lazing around playing pc games, watching TV?

I'm not really one to talk; I hardly do much physical work. But I think we don't appreciate our youth enough; Carefree, happy days: let's try to enjoy them before the working life hits us.

Come to think of it, adults would know how to appreciate youth better; You won't miss it until you lose it. Youth is yet another thing that is unappreciated. "Youth is wasted on the young." Myths about fountains of youth, living for an eternity; All fantasies of the adult.

Hmm. Out of curiosity I wiki-ed youth day. Seems that Youth day is not only for appreciating youth, but also has religious and political agendas. Give us a break, will ya?

Anyway, here are some data from wikipedia: International Youth day, designated by the UN: "meant as an opportunity for governments and others to draw attention to youth issues worldwide". World youth day, "youth oriented Roman Catholic Church promotional event aimed at young people."

Oh, and different countries celebrate youth day on different days of the year, for various reasons, e.g. marking an important event in national history. (is it because awareness of this event is aimed at the youths, or politicians want the event to be held in a higher status?)

Oh well. Let me get some rest before school starts tmr. Getting some exam results.. hopefully I don't get too depressed, ya?

The higher the expectations, the higher the fall.

TTFN =)

Blogging - A global phenomenon

2008-05-30T00:35:00.002+08:00

My friend asked me to blog every week so that he can link me to his blog. (i.e. be a regular updater so that it isn't a link to a dead blog)

This is my reply:
Nah. I want to be free, free from the burden of updating. it's like a commitment... another commitment. Time's valuable. Blogging is only not a burden when you enjoy updating it, and I am quite neutral in this.
Why do ppl keep blogs? There are several reasons.

1.Social aspect
Keeping in touch through long distances can be a chore, and blogging can help solve it. Blogs allow ppl to update their lives to friends and family online, making it more convenient for the blogger (if not you have to tell every single person every darn thing over again). Chatboxes and other interactive features also help. However, one should also be aware that the blog is public, and detailed personal info should not be posted.

2.Political aspect
Does Mr.Brown's podcasts sound familiar to anyone? Well, he has a blog as well. Oh wait, it's a non-political blog... cancel that example. Let's have another one. Beijing's Blogosphere has been fighting against politicians, their censorship, and unfair political practices. It gives them an avenue for protest and also anonymity, although not total security. Hmm.. sadly youths of today remain happily apathetic to politics --> less pressure on leaders --> less competent leaders. Hopefully this will change through education, but I have my doubts.

3.Citizenship Journalism

Interlinked with the previous reason, but citizenship journalism also covers other reasons. Blogs are shown to the WWW(World Wide Web), and therefore blogging allows ppl to rally support for a certain cause. There are blogs that are aimed at humiliating ppl with bad attitudes, do discourteous things in public etc. A website www.hollabackNYC.com, although not a blog, will be enough evidence to support this evidence. There are also examples of Police Brutality, do a youtube search and you'll see. Most of the time it's Bad Event --> Effect (protests). But sometimes it has to be Bad Event --> Blogging --> Effect. Blogs, a catalyst for the greater cause? An interesting notion.

4.Interests
Some bloggers keep blogs on things that they have passion in or they like, such as music, animals, movies. I myself had a chess blog (which unfortunately I have taken down because I couldn't find time to update it). Sometimes blogging regularly would help keep that passion in oneself, so that you dont lose touch with it and it just dies off. We must take some time off our busy lives to keep in touch with our interests.

5.Complaining
Yeah! Venting anger, complaining to the whole world, letting them know that there is one angry, dissatisified individual with his life. There's so much to complain about these days, as expectations rise and ppl fail to meet them. E.g. services, quality of gds, etc. Also, can complain about people, even celebrities. (i.e. celebrity-bashing blogs). Oh well, one should be entitled to freedom of speech, so continue. Just don't blog about religious/racial issues, it's against the law (Singapore's sedition act).

Another issue...
Why is blogging an uprising trend in the digital world today? There are several reasons.
1.Because it is cool to have one (i.e. Peer Pressure)
2.Stress! Busy!
3. Bo liao
4.Reasons mentioned above.

Yeah that pretty much sums it up I guess... wanted to blog more but its getting pretty late. Hope someone reads this anyway. Tata for now. =)

The value of life

2008-05-01T12:40:00.004+08:00

After watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, the last 2 episodes (of the TV series) provided a psychological assessment of the EVA pilot, Ikari Shinji. He pondered upon the question: "Does my life hold any value?" In the end, he managed to break through his psychological restrains and get some self-esteem.
And so, it led me to think: What is the value of life, and what determins the value of our lives?

There are many definitions to the value of life, different perspectives from the government, society, and the individual. For governments(political), it is the cost of reducing the number of deaths by one, be it workers safety, healthcare etc. For society, maybe its the amount of contributions made by the individual to the society. For the individual, it is how one values their own life.
Let's be selfish and concentrate on the individual perspective.

What determins the value of our lives?
"It is how one values our own life." By this definition, it is obvious that it is the individual that determins their own value of their life. Interesting statistics from wikipedia: "Typically, the value of life has been placed at $3 million per life and $100,000 per year of life."

How does that work?
There are 2 factors that make us look up to ourselves, which is our capability and confidence. The more capable we are, the more confident we are, the more we value our lives.

1.Capabilities
The ability to perform actions. Earning praise from bosses, impressing dates, winning awards, in studies, work, CCAs, and even skills like handicraft, balloon sculpturing, or having a good sense of direction; All these are capabilities. Not all are appreciated, but you should still value them.
So, we should constantly seek to upgrade ourselves, pick up new skills, be interested in anything and everything because increasing our value in life is what we should strive to achieve.

2.Confidence
Believing in yourself, in your capabilities. That is self-confidence. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as those without it may fail or not try because they lack it, and those with it may succeed because they have it, rather than because of an innate ability. Too much self-confidence will lead to overconfidence, which is dangerous, because if you don't have enough ability and skill, then you'll screw up. But for those who lack confidence, it is important to get some. One must believe that there is a purpose in life, and believe in yourself. With no confidence, that psychological barrier will hinder attempts, limit abilities and limit achievements.

3. Happiness
Oh, did I mention there was a 3rd factor? Happiness. This is often determined by your own actions and mindset, friends, family. Communication, spending time together, interaaction, sharing secrets, telling jokes.
What's the use of capabilities and confidence if one is not happy? Happiness extents life. In a way, your life has more value when you live longer, as it is $100,000 a year. But this monetarily-assigned value is meaningless if you do not make full use of that 1 year. Live life to the fullest. Be happy, as one minute of sadness is 60 seconds of happiness wasted.

There is a difference.
Don't live life because you are afraid of death; like a shell empty of soul.
Live life because it is worth living; And it is.

The value of life is intrinsic; It cannot be sold, but it can be fully used by the individual.

Just a few more months.

Scouting For Girls - Heartbeat

2008-04-20T13:36:00.002+08:00

Am I alone in your heart?
Have I hope with your heart?
She's such a teaser,
she's such a star.
Give me a reason or gimme a chance.
Am I alone in your heart, or am I alone...?
It tears me apart.
Am I alone?

Doing all I can do, just to be close to you.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
Give me an evening, or give me a night.
I'll show you the time, of your life.
I'll walk you home safe, from the dark.
I'll give you my jacket, I'll give you my heart.
But she won't come dancing tonight, She's having the time of her life.
Am I alone?

Doing all I can do, just to be close to you.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
I do love, she does heartbreak.I did love, till she broke my heart. [x4]

Doing all I can do, just to be close to you.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
I skip a heartbeat for you.
Doing all I can do, just to be close to you.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse.
Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.
I skip a heartbeat for you

Good song. =)
Here's a link to the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-GiT_pNy4o

Time Poverty

2008-03-29T00:45:00.002+08:00

In the modern fast-paced society, we all live in a state of time poverty. There is never enough time to study, to meet deadlines, even to properly eat a meal.

I disagree. It is the way we manage our time. Time management, with discipline, will save a lot of complaining and frustrations.

Free time? Recess, lunch, waiting for CCA to start, saturday mornings... Travel time for long distances. Start revision earlier.

But now I'm slacking. You can tell, I'm sure. Haven't updated this for 2 months. Have nothing much to do. March block test is over.

But A's are not over.

And after A's, are the exams over? Nope, and they will never end. They're just called other terms: Projects, assignments. Every bit of assessment is a small exam.

The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the more you will be disliked (directly proportionate). I guess this might be the same in sch. But I'm trying to be good, not to get into trouble, not bearing grudges, trying not to offend anyone.

I try. But life is never smooth-sailing.

On another note, I guess I'll just pen down my thoughts instead of going through my day-to-day activities. My blogging times are too irregular.

Why? Not that I don't have the time, but I lack the urgency, nor see the reason.

Hmm, how do I end this post? Simple.

It ends here.

Back to school

2008-01-17T19:43:00.000+08:00

I haven't updated my blog for more than a month! Well its back to school, work. Let me sum up the activities.

1.New Civics Tutor- Mr.Joseph Lee (Chem)
2. New Econs, Maths, GP teachers.
3. H3 Pharmaceutical Chemistry (no NTU course =x )
4. Went to the Molecular Frontiers Symposium. Lectures there were too difficult. Now still have to do summaries.
5. Did badly for the first test of the year - chem test
6. Got High Distinction (with Benjamin!!) for Australian Chemistry Quiz. 4 wrong ans.

That's about all. Generally coping with school, finding that chem lectures is just repeating organic chemistry which I forced myself to self-learn in 4 days (and even did the tutorials k). And H3 Chem is repeating what Mr.Lau taught us for Chem Olympiad (Currently Stereochemistry). Of course there are other H3 topics that I haven't learn; but I know about half the syllabus already =p. But that's being too complacent, being too slack now. Can start mugging for new topics, I got my resources =).

This sentence ends this post.

The above sentence is false.

Ok let me end off with a joke.

Q:Why do ghosts not like water?
A:Because it dampens their spirits.

Tata. Till the next post.

26th National Age Group Championships 2008

2007-12-08T22:39:00.000+08:00

Date:  9th to 12th December 2007
Venue: Asean Chess Academy, 7500D Beach Road, The Plaza #03-10/14
Time Control:    1.5 hours per player to complete the game for Swiss System of 8 rounds
                       2 hours per player to complete the game only in Open Category (me!)



Yeah. 4 hours per game. (I'm a slow thinker xD)
Seeded 28th out of 50.
Kill or be killed.

Aim: 4.5 out of 8
Not exactly "on-form".








18th dec 2007
Oh well. I had 3.5/8 at the end, but I drew with 2 FIDE rated players and have a TPR of 1600+. (Performing better than expected).
Qualify for national junior squad and 9th ASEAN c'ships, but not going because of As. Will miss ASEAN friends and playing cards in the hotel room.
But it's too much of a waste of money and time.
Chess competitions are going to be more limited from next year onwards.

A little about myself

2007-11-30T00:19:00.000+08:00

Found this on rachel's blog. Shall fill it up myself!

Favourites
Favourite colour: Blue
Favourite Food: Edible (no preference)
Favourite Movie: None. But prefer comedy.
Favourite Sport: Chess
Favourite day of the week: Wednesday (CCA!)
Favourite Season: None.
Favourite Ice Cream: Vanilla sounds nice. But not much preference.

Current:
Current mood: Happy and feeling weird. (that's why I decided to blog)
Current clothes: Nike Shorts and Singlet
Current Desktop: Default. (using laptop because comp keyboard not working)
Current Time: 12:43am
Current surroundings: My Room. Chessboard, calendar, Bed, etc.
Current annoyances: JunJie!! hahaha jk.
Current thoughts: Nice Song.

Firsts:
First best friend: Chee Liang
First Crush: Crushed a soya bean can
First Movie: Not important enough to remember.
First Lie: On the Bed. (Not sure. Probably about homework. )
First Music: Probably some beatles song in my father's collection xD

Lasts:
Last drink: Water
Last Car Ride: Yesterday
Last Crush: :) You all should know.
Last Phone Call: last mon or tues, during pri 6 gathering.
Last CD Played: Not impt enough to remember.

Have you evers?
Have you ever dated one of your best friend: Never dated =(
Have you broken the law: Jaywalking? Yes.
Have you ever been arrested: No.
Have you ever been on TV: Yes. The TV broke. =\ (No lah)
Have you ever kissed someone you don't know: No.

Others:
Five random things that you are good at: Chess, Typing, Music, Stoning, Chemistry.
Things that you have done today:Playing Games, abit of hw.
3 things you can hear now: Fan blowing, Typing, Song playing.

I hate....

2007-11-03T22:44:00.001+08:00

28th-30th dec chalet fully booked.

ARGH sucks to the core lah.

Thinking of booking a few days earlier but have to confirm.

Nothing is perfect.

stressed.

sianed.

Still got DHS music Os outing to plan. Another headache.

ffs I shouldn't do this crap anymore.

Everyone is oh, so happy and glad that I'm organising chalets, but they don't understand, and they don't bother to understand. I'm asking certain ppl not to make my life difficult man. If drinking makes less ppl want to go for the chalet, I think it would be nice not to do that at the chalet. Stop being such an opportunist. Go organise some outing if you want to go and drink. YES, I ASKED the girls and they are NOT comfortable with alcoholism. Especially PAE chalet, I have no class fund to back it up. From a totally realistic point of view, I NEED MONEY TO ORGANISE THE CHALET, AND I NEED MORE PPL TO STAY. If you think it's easy to organise a chalet, I suggest you do it man. Hell, I have to use up my own savings to cover the losses. Screw it lah. Normally I don't say things that make ppl unhappy with me, but this time I have to let it out.

Back to work

2007-10-23T20:03:00.000+08:00

We submitted our WR last fri. And went for 306 chalet. Post-promo fun! Did alot of funny stuff. And our CG rep. managed to break a sink. way to go, kc. =) Played some mixed version of 'truth or dare' and 'guess the number'. Learned something about baseball xD and said some stuff that I didn't want to say.

Also want to say that I'm lucky to have good PW group members, especially the leader, who is neither demanding nor slack. Some PW groups are not very well-coordinated and cooperative. Come on guys, it's only 2 weeks of PW left! jiayou!

Why are movie stars so cool?
Because they have many fans!

- yahoo kids jokes

Sadly can't think of much original jokes nowadays.

Results

2007-10-13T16:25:00.000+08:00

I am very satisfied with my promos results, even though I felt that I could have done better. All that time wasted on playing.

I hope that our current class would stay as one. Both in number and in spirit.

I don't like organising chalets. I have nothing to gain. And I hate solo-ing it. It's not as if I am the only one that's going to enjoy it. It's troublesome and bloody stressful, okay? I hope people would be more understanding.
2 frustrating issues:

1) Date. I'm thinking of organising it on fri-sun, 3D2N.
1st week of november is busy with I&R.
3rd week of nov is too close to chem olympiad(19th nov). If I can't make it then I don't see why I'm organising it (since no one else bothers to).
4th week of november busy with MJC OGL camp.
2nd week of dec cheuk wing and jacinda can't make it. (both overseas) haha sounds scandalous.
3rd week of dec have SIN-MAS challenge (chess). KW can't come too(cip).
4th week of dec there's class CIP. (5 ppl affected.)
5th week of dec would be too close to sch hols. I know that alot of people that intially wanted to go would back out because of homework issues (reality of life).

That leaves 2nd week of nov (9th-11th) and 1st week of dec (30th nov-2nd dec), provided it's fri-sun. If I want to book costa sands resort, then 2nd nov is out as sat is fully booked.I am now asking if Yuren, BeeSiang and Allan if they can make it on weekdays, so I have more options to play with.

So it's either 1st week of dec, or weekdays after 7th nov (I&R deadline). I suppose I'll ask around about 30thnov-2nd dec.

2) Cash. I'm not talking about having enough money to book the chalet and buy the food, but about getting it back. An ideal situation would be collecting the money first, and then decide the budget for bbq food.

The problem is that people don't turn up on the day itself. It could be because of illnesses or unexpected happenings. But if someone suddenly backs out for no good reason, it'll really piss people off. Actually just one. The person that has to put up with the extra cost.

My father does the booking, so he pays first. Ultimately I have to pay him back. Same goes for bbq food. In the end, I have to fork out my own pocket money. And if my parents know this, they'll probably tick me off.

I planned about 3-4 chalets already and it's always these two issues. Thinking of solutions, but there's no fail-proof way of organising a chalet. Not that I know of.

Dislike.

2007-09-03T00:35:00.000+08:00

Simple Plan

Welcome To My Life

Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
And no one understands you
Do you ever wanna runaway?
Do you lock yourself in your room?
With the radio on turned up so loud
That no one hears you screaming

No you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels all right
You don't know what it's like
To be like me

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

Do you wanna be somebody else?
Are you sick of feeling so left out?
Are you desperate to find something more?
Before your life is over
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?
Are you sick of everyone around?
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies
While deep inside you're bleeding

No you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels all right
You don't know what it's like
To be like me

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

No one ever lied straight to your face
No one ever stabbed you in the back
You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay
Everybody always gave you what you wanted
Never had to work it was always there
You don't know what it's like, what it's like

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like (what it's like)

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life
Welcome to my life
Welcome to my life

Song lyrics on a blog. How cliche is that? Anyway the mood of the song is like mine at this moment.

I don't know who to trust.
I don't know how much to trust.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know.
I.
Don't.
Know.

lol. no jokes on this post. Try google searching "The impossible quiz".

That Music Thing

2007-07-21T20:53:00.000+08:00

Rock Concert in MJ! Yup, specially endorsed by peepshow and freaky z. Local music is entertaining, do support it!

Haha everyone was so hyper during the concert. Met up with my PAE classmates. =)
Updated each other on our lives. Cracked jokes all the way to white sands with my JAE classmates.
Haha! Fun fun fun.

Now back to work.

Results

2007-07-21T20:51:00.000+08:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but the need to blog has dwindled and I'm lazy.

MYE results:

H1 GP: E
H1 CL: C
H1 Econs:U
H2 Chem: U
H2 Bio: U
H2 Maths: B

Needs alot of improvement.

Pattaya, Thailand

2007-06-29T00:24:00.000+08:00

13th-22nd June - 8th ASEAN+ Age-group Chess C'ships

It was a fun event similar to 2 years ago, where the venue was also Pattaya, Jomtien Thani Hotel. The hotel breakfast is good, but lunch and dinner could be better. Made more friends, got together with old ones; even formed a mini study group. When we were not studying or playing chess we were playing cards in Ravi/Weixing's room. Haha, the life!

23-24th June

Panic, panic. Exams are around the corner. Studied like crazy with a friend at library.

25th-28th June

Chem paper was easy, but I mismanaged my time. Thought I had 15 mins more. Ended up not doing one question, worth 10marks. Kwang Wei said something about hilighting the chem olympiad students names on the results list. Hahaha. Think we'll be bottom few.

Econs was bad. Couldn't do an 8mark qn and a 6mark qn. Well, I attempted all questions, but I dunno how much is relevant.

Maths was easy. But I mismanaged my time (kind of!). Well, I spent too much time on the APGP qn (7m out of 60!) Then I rushed through the last qn and returned to the APGP qn. I think it's passable. (E grade is a pass, ha ha!)

Bio. I was so happy doing the paper (I understood everything they were asking for!) until I came to structured essay question. -.- They asked about cellulose and collagen, which I didn't study in detail, and about protein kinase and G-protein-linked receptor. The protein kinase question was a mass murderer. Sigh.

Chinese was good, quite fine. But I never get good marks for chi. At least there wasn't a compo.

Haha after chinese went home play UT2004 until 4.30pm, then went to the SP chess briefing (which was pretty much a waste of time) then went home, eat dinner, play again. And tadum here I am blogging.

Which instrument goes ring-ring?

A saxo phone.

Sigh, I can't find any original ones. This is ripped from the net.

GP and SMO

2007-05-30T22:14:00.000+08:00

GP and maths olympiad was screwed. GP I attempted the question on blogging and maths olympiad I managed to fill in 15 qns, in which 2 of them were guesses, 2-3 which I found out to be wrong, and the rest quite unsure. Honourable mention hopefully.

Sometimes I feel that people should not criticise something that they do not fully understand. And particularly if they have a very very biased viewpoint against it. It's just hypocritical.

What's the difference between a fly and a mosquito?

A fly can fly but a mosquito can't mosquito.

Elitism

2007-05-21T21:13:00.000+08:00

The Straits Times Friday, May 18 2007.

"Students of top schools worry more about elitism"

Statistics shown:

Whom do you consider members of the elite?

Elite schools Non-elite schools
Academically strong 70% 80%
From top schs/universities 69% 65%
Excel in any area such as 65% 70%
sports/music/arts
On government scholarships 54% 70%
From rich families 39% 28%
Speak English well 27% 38%

Most common elitist behaviour is looking down on those who are....

Academically weaker 36% 55%
Non-elite neighbourhood schs 22% 18%
Unable to speak English well 15% 13%
From poorer families 8% 11%
Not good-looking 3% 1%

Base: Youngsters aged 15 to 24 in the respective groups.
Source: SPH Research, Analysis & Planning Department.

Wordweb definition:
Elite - A group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status.

Oh, the definition can be quite wrong. Even with economic status, students may not be considered 'elite' if they are academically weak. Rich people may still be looked down upon, in companies also, when they get a job there because it is a family business. How about those who are academically strong? As long as they have a middle-class or higher income, they are considered quite "elite" amongst their peers.

Oh, what a broad term with many different definitions.

Elitism also occurs in gaming. Verses of "I pwn you" and "noob!" is seen in all types of multiplayer games. Ha. I'm not guilty of doing that. I only call people noob when they really are acting like one.

Anyway even if you were in the upper-quartile of the good players one should respect the less experienced players and be friendly to them. Taunting them might get you some self-satisfaction, but that self-satisfaction just shows that you have no life.

Haha. End of post.

What did one plate say to the other plate?
Lunch is on me!

Harold A. Rosen

2007-05-21T20:59:00.000+08:00

Harold A. Rosen

He invented the geosynchronous satellite, which is the basis of communication satellites.
How would you imagine a life without Cable TV? Without long-distance calls?
How about the Internet? Would foreign websites still be acessible without satellite technology?

Wow, what great contributions he provided to the society.

But...

Have you ever heard of him?

Have you thought of the satellite when riding on it's benefits?

We take things for granted. Perfectly human nature.

Hahas. That's our PW group's groundbreaker.

Cool huh? =)

Why do fish swim in salt water?
Because pepper makes them sneeze.

Update update.

2007-05-17T18:51:00.000+08:00

MJC Games Convention
Games Convention was kind of fun, it was good teaching the families and friends there our own games. The first day wasn't perfect, but the 2nd day was definitely better. Stockchecking at the end of the day, was fun. Thank you all that supported the event.

HCI speed-chess tourney
We got 4th. The first two rounds Kelvin was unable to make it so we had to push up the boards. We screwed up 0.5-3.5 to NJC and had a BYE the next round. We thrashed PJC B 4-0 and PJC A 4-0. The 2nd day of tourney we face HCI. We played HCI B, we got 2-2, Kelvin drew with Zhou Tianyue with a winning position but no time. I played with Victor Goh. I was white and can't believe I screwed up a +- (winning for white) position. Could have drawn at least. Round 6 played HCI A. Got 1-3 score with me winning on 2nd board. Liu Yang had got her form back. Thought we were playing VJC next round, but NJC overtook us and played with VJ. We played with JJC team A. We just won 3-1. If we had 4-0 ed them we would have gotten better chances. VJ screwed up against NJC with 1.5-2.5. HCI A first, NJC second, VJC third.

House comm elections
Triton house comm elections. It was pretty boring, with people making their speeches. A lot of them sound cliche and fake. Almost like council rally. Zzz. Well top 10 were interviewed, and I can't believe Zia Hakim didn't get in. He's the most enthu person. So now Jeremy is captain, and xinyun(sp?) Vice captain.

NTU organic chem talk

Wow. The lecturer is good. Inspires me to chiong for H3 chem. Nowadays my maths not that good. JC math is different from sec sch. Anyway he talked about some stuff about NUS (he was from NUS). Funny guy. Teaches the year 1s of organic chem. He's damn cool.

Music extraordinaire
Ahahaha. Humiliating experience. Not for me, but for Eugene and Kwang Wei. Our group performance did pretty okay, but then Eugene and Kwang Wei screwed up their individual performances which affects our group performance too. They should have auditioned on another day. Hahah yy and Grace got in! Might be supporting them. Dunno.

IGC EXCO
Not so confident now. The other 9 nominees were quite a threat. 8 ran for chairman, 2 for vice-chair. lol. Sad. Made my speech. Quite fine. I think more people voted for Kelvin though. Being killed by the uncertainty.

Now
Offered CG chairperson. Because the gals were so indecisive. Declined because of IGC. Now if I'm not in EXCO then it's kind of screwed up.

Hmm, failed standing broad jump again. So I skipped the re-test halfway. Wow, what a luxury. Anyway I wouldn't have passed pull-ups. Anyway not in the mood to run 2.4km.

Have to watch a soccer match SAJC vs. MJC tml. Darn, I will be missing a chem olympiad lecture. Chem test postponed. Maybe our class can be more bonded. haha 07s304 and 07s308 were also called up. =))
After that is music x. Heh. I don't know why I'm going.

Coming up next:
Colosseum
IGC J2 farewell party
GP MYE
SMO - Singapore Mathematics Olympiad
8th ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships

How do you make the number one disappear?
You add a 'g' to it and it's 'gone'!

Reminder to self

2007-05-07T18:57:00.000+08:00

Things noteworthy of blogging:

MJC games convention
HCI speed-chess tourney
House comm elections
NTU organic chem talk
Music extraordinaire

Will blog when I have the time.

30th April 2007.

2007-04-30T20:42:00.000+08:00

I miss 4R.

I miss Charlene, Yuren, RuiQi and Ryan for their ability to liven up the atmosphere. I miss Shermaine for her lameness. I miss Diantha for her panicking before (and after) a test. I miss Joanna and her big water bottle. I miss Madeline for her helpfulness and thoughtfulness. I miss Pailin for her blurness. I miss Nani and Izzati for their good humour. I miss Ploy for her friendly nature. I miss Abdul Hakim for his singing. Abhishek for his jokes. Changsong, Sam Lee, Shaun, Sam Tang for their humor. Zia for his enthusiasm. Alex for his wittiness. Zihao for his talkativeness. Marco and Melvin for their funny antics. Adam for being an effective leader. Tien Beng for his fake boastfulness. Mervyn for his magic tricks. Anavil for his good dance steps. Timotheos for his entertaining violence. Nga, Rachael and Diantha for being my inspirations to mug. Shijie, Shirley and co. (+ Huiping + Lifeng + Felicia) for being a reminder that life is not all about mugging. Cheryl and Samantha for keeping that balance. Lastly, for Weiquan, Aaron, Sam Ang and Weichao for being some of my closer friends in TMS.

We have gone our different paths.

I wish that never happened.

I hate this.

Sometimes, the disappointment is just too much to take.

2007-04-29T22:13:00.000+08:00

Chem test.

Mug and rejoice

2007-04-23T19:25:00.000+08:00

an update of my life.

20th April:
Friday: Chem test and chem olympiad.

Had runny nose, cough. All in all, I was quite sick. Guess what? The first period is PE =/. Run, run, run, abit of jumping exercises to train for long distance jump. Tired, went to eat 'lunch'. Changed, then entered bio lecture.
My my, photosynthesis is one difficult process. Next, chem tutorial. A.K.A. chem test.
lol. Rush hour. Chem test is like the first chem test, super-rush. I noticed they put the MCQ at the back. HAHA. But they were quite easy. Previously I took half the time (20mins) to do the 5 MCQ. Then got owned by the structured qns. But managed to pass and top the class with cheuk wing.
I hope to top this chem test.

Chem olympiad: 3 questions. the first 2 questions we had to learn new content. First one was on electrophilic and neurophilic atoms in molecules. second was something to do with molecules. Microstates and energy levels. Third was quite simple mole calculations.

Weekend

Saturday was quite busy. Morning had violin lesson, afternoon chess training, evening reunion dinner with cousins and uncles.

Sunday I slacked. the whole day. I somewhat attempted to revise maths.

Today: 23rd April
Screwed up my maths test. Maybe I can pass.

What happened to my maths?
I know I don't deserve this. Maths is my strongest subject in secondary school. Now like crap.
Like some random guy on the street.

Mediocre? Nope, not me.

Maths olympiad is mine.

What's my favourite band?

Rubber Band.

2007-04-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

lol... I did best in econs test with 6/8. tied with kwang wei. Went for project REACH briefing. signed up some form and we're all good to go. Hees. Wonder when is the training.

Well, thinking about Jazz for Chazz. I signed up already, but will I be a performer, logistics, or some money collector? Since performance is in public, it would be ridiculous to perform the piano during auditions. Violin maybe. Beatboxing? I'm not good lah. =/ I just know the basics. And they really are basic. Just the 3 basic sounds. The rest of the sounds are kind of freestyle. lol. Auditions on 27th April. Some briefing at 2pm 20th April. Maybe can have some A Capella performance. Can ask the PAE 304 gals lol. Or maybe can find some weird piece with clarinet and violin. Then Rachel and I can perform. lol. But I think the sounds will clash/sound weird.

Haha, haven't do PW 2nd draft. But I have started. Oh well. And I am going to revise maths olympiad everyday. Oh, and I signed up for chem olympiad. I'm not expecting much from chem olympiad, I'm just signing up for fun, and, as Mr.Lau said, to test skills and see my ranking.

Hmm. I still have to prepare chess puzzles for the IGC chess trainees. Teach them how to mate. (mate is a short form for checkmate, so keep your filthy thoughts away). Haha. and chem test on fri! Life's fun. =)

Sigh. Where's my social life?

Why is a building called a building when it's already built?

Sigh.

2007-04-10T20:28:00.000+08:00

These few days' events can be classified into two categories:

Bad

Maths olympiad selection unsuccessful.
Screwing up bio prac
Chess skills deterioriating --> tactical blindness
Chess team lacking one good player.
Upcoming tests and homework.

Good

PW was complimented by the teacher.
Running 2.4km faster.
IGC on wed AND fri. =)
MJC -YJC Soccer 4-0
Finding the motivation to carry on.

I was so darn confident that I could get into maths olympiad training team. Now that I didn't I'm just thinking that I am just another loser who thinks his maths is good because he got both A1 for both maths for Os. I was so devastated when I didn't see my name on the maths notice board. Screw that. I and Kwang Wei agreed to get gold for olympiad. That would look damn zai. Haha.

Will H3 maths ever be mine?

Blonde joke: Not all blondes are dumb. Most of them can talk.

Pee Double-you

2007-04-06T10:23:00.000+08:00

This is going to be a short post. Hurray for the 3day weekend, though I am going to spend today(fri) and sat on project work. Haha, yeah. so just a short post to update my blog. Groundbreakers or Entertainment? I'm considering doing entertainment. Aha. Back to work.

Lame Joke: Examples of groundbreakers are oil rig and coal miner. Examples of entertainment is my sec 4 physics teacher and PAE s304. =/

Harris contributes: why was the stadium so hot when the game ended?

all the fans left the stadium.

Sian v1.1

2007-04-01T22:43:00.000+08:00

This weekend sian ah. During sat chess training at Bugis I was up a piece then I blundered a rook. =\ then I lost the game. Then got relatively alot of hw to do. Well, nothing compared to J2's workload, but it's a bit of a surprise since we were quite slack during the temporary timetable. Now, we have to do project work, and also bio elearning, bio mindmap, econs workbook unit1 and unit2. Oh, Happy Aprils fools day. Ahahaha. I recieved a lame April fools day message. Then, I send to like, 5 ppl. then Harris told me it's 3 msgs long. Another thing to 'sian' about. I'm using prepaid card. That's like waste of money lah.

But really, it's worth every cent to see the recipient's facial expressions when reading the message.
Sian, I didn't know how to spell recipient. Had to use spellchecker.

Another long day for monday. School ends at 5pm, then have violin lessons at 6.15pm.

Lame Joke: Why are fish so smart?

Because they swim in schools.

Parent's Orientation.

2007-03-30T20:48:00.000+08:00

Had a tiring day of sch, with tutorials and lectures. Ended at 1.45pm. Then had maths olympiad selection test. 2.30pm-4pm. Super-depressing. Could only figure out 5 qns out of 15 within the time limit.But it's expected of SMO(Singapore Maths Olympiad). I participated in sec 4 and got honorary mention =/. with 10/35. Yeah. Than went to classroom E3-1 to have fun playing games. It's actually training for Games IC for Family Fun Fest. Then went to Parent's Orientation. Attended a principal's talk about sch and university and MJC's achievements. Saw Jacinda, XueJuan, Iris, and Debbie(I think). Haha. then had FREE DINNER. Then left home. and then I blogged. ha. Yeah. Simple and short blog post to update my friends about my life. (That's what a blog is for).

Lame Joke of this post: There may not be free lunch in this world, but there is FREE DINNER. =)

Sigh. Now I have to search for more jokes.

Laziness.

2007-03-29T17:25:00.000+08:00

I'm lazy. hahaha. I could have posted yesterday, but was too engrossed in doing chess puzzles. So... yesterday was quite a fun day. had CCA exhibitions. so I went Intellectual Games Club (IGC) exhibit to play games. Yeah, I'm re-joining IGC. Haha. Saw our video for Family Fun Fest in the making. Hmm, let me give you a brief intro on Family Fun Fest and at the same time promote it for IGC.

Every year, MJC IGC has been organising a Games Convention. This year, our theme and title is Family Fun Fest. The purpose is to establish closer bonds within families, and at the same time have fun with the family. Grand prize is an Xbox 360. Yes, if you are interested, please pick up a form from any IGC member. Details at www.familyfunfest.blogspot.com
This event has the backing of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. There are tons of games, which are quite unfamiliar yet fun.

Wahhh. Tml will have tutorials and no breaks, only one recess. =(

Guess I won't be updating much.

Lame joke of this post: 3 simple steps to beatbox.

1.Get a stick.
2.Get a box.
3.Hit the box with the stick.

Updating a blog

2007-03-27T20:22:00.000+08:00

sigh. Only a few posts this year, and I'm already tired of blogging. I mean, I can just do chess puzzles at chess.emrald.net. They're addictive.

Hmm, I didn't change my impression of the econs lecturer. She was mean to another friend of mine. School wasn't too bad, though our timetable was kind of screwed up, with 4 breaks (50mins per break) at one shot. We went as a CG to eat at tampines interchange, KFC.

Sian. tml I going to bring some more games to play. though the gals probably won't play reversi or chess with me. Gonna bring uno. some family game. =p
Hmm. I kind of have nothing to say liaos. hmm. Let's end off with a lame joke as usual.

Lame Joke of this post: What do coal miners do to past time?

They tell each other coal jokes.

Sigh. now have to think of another joke, or kop one from the internet.

The first impression.

2007-03-26T16:20:00.000+08:00

Econs lecture at school. Crappy. Firstly, the econs lecturer had some funny pronunciation errors. Also, she also kept saying "flip the slide" which is grammatically incorrect. This somewhat reflects the standard of English in Singapore. Secondly, she picked one of the China scholars to answer an econs question. This is the China scholar's first time in MJC, and he said that he was just sitting into the lecture. But the lecturer insisted that he answered. The person then said he was a scholar. Then she said, quote and unquote, "Scholar cannot answer questions? Fine, then." in a very sarcastic way. Is that how we should be treating the guests of MJC? The lecturer could obviously tell that he was a guest, seeing that he wasn't wearing MJ uniform. The China scholar's buddy is my friend, and I would feel shame and embarrassment if I were in my friend's shoes. A warm welcome the econs lecturer give the China scholars. The econs lecturer might be in a bad mood, but still, she shouldn't have taken it out on the scholar, and secondly, she just created a very bad first impression if herself in front of the scholar. Let us hope that the scholar does not base the whole Singapore on just that one person. On a lighter note, it shows an example of the "ugliness" of Singaporeans and does provide a rich, though unpleasant, cultural exchange. Politeness and courtesy are values Singaporeans has yet to master.

Enough about the econs lecture. I don't know if I can cope with bio if they increase the pace. I have forgotten many things about the topic already. Bio lecture today was revision for me. Gahh. I would like to some more time. (Not by retaining though.) Still have to train chess for 8th ASEAN+ Age-group C'ships. Then again, I'm not really utilizing my time well. Slacking at the library during breaks. If I do mug, then people will classify me as a nerd. Being in IGC won't help. I think I'll bring times mag to read during free periods tml. Argh! Sch ends at 5.05pm tml. But wednesday is super-slack. ahh, the screw-ups of the timetable.

Yeah, my CG's fine. Although there is a imbalance in boys/girls ratio. But I'll survive.

And I think I'll plan a 304 BBQ first week of June holidays.
The memories. =)

Lame joke of the post: Don't judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes. Then, you will be a mile away from them, and with their shoes. - Internet

2007-03-25T23:04:00.000+08:00

The purpose of a blog is to update friends about your life, possibly letting out emotions, and also giving you something to do, penning down thoughts and complaining about stuff.

For me, once I start a blog and publicly let it be known to other ppl, I feel pressure to update. Seriously. so I don't really want to start a blog. Haha. But I'm trying to continue to blog. As you can see, my attempt to blog last year was unsuccessful. I only had 3 posts. I'll try to blog 4 times this year to break the record =p.

Yeah, quoting from my previous post last year, I don't really see the need for a fanciful layout. Simplicity rox. Yeah.

okayy. so I suppose I shall dedicate a lame joke to Rachel. (for her suggestion of me starting a blog)

Lame joke of the day(for every post only):
Why did the chicken cross the road?
He didn't like the road, so he crossed it instead of ticking it.

2006-03-28T22:04:00.000+08:00

games? O'levels?

I wonder why the sec 4 batch is not really seriously putting in effort. Talks of playing maplestory and its characters has become a popular topic amongst my classmates. I don't really feel the pressure too. Oh no. I feel that this is spelling my doom. I need long-term motivation.

Procastinate? You're going to regret it later.

2006-03-28T21:42:00.000+08:00

Layouts

Upon starting, I realized that I have to choose a simple, common template for my blog. Does looks really matter? Its all about content, isn't it? Of course, some people would say that pictures and the layout will enhanve the overall feel of the blog. Do you think that having a million visitors on the counter would mean a different million online people visited your blog? No. There will always be people that visit over and over again.

If you want a site to be popular, you must know what attracts people. Pictures, colours and insights. And also regular changes. Maybe some background music. Appeal to the majority, not the minority. Be trendy.

I have none of the above. And I'm proud (=

2006-03-28T21:09:00.000+08:00

Effects of ageing

What are the physical and mental effects of ageing? There will be alot of changes. For physical changes, we will be talking about the deterioration of health. This involves the immune system, and other forms of diseases. They will be sensitive to coldness. They might face illnesses like osteoporosis. Their reaction time would be slower.

Moving on to emotional/mental effects, there will be diseases like being senile and alzheimer's disease, which involes impaired memory. This disease is said to be prevented by playing stimulating mind games like mahjong and chess, but this is not the only problem. The elderly might think that they have nothing better to do then to play games. They will feel helpless, being dependent on the family and the society, and will feel depressed. Also, they might be bored at home, as they have nothing to do. This may result in accidents, as the elderly might do things like cooking, which may be quite a dangerous activity for the elderly.

So, do know the effects of ageing and show care and concern for the elderly. If you have grandparents at home, ensure that the house is safe for them, e.g. Not putting paper/flammable materials near the altar or kitchen. Most of us would be too immersed in our own little world than to notice the needs of the ones around us. Like me.