fluish......AGAIN!

damn! i got hit by the flu bug again rendering me unable to crawl off my mattress. i am so screwed that i can not even get my fyp restarted.

electroplating ain't child's play

before i started doing my fyp, i always though electroplating was just puting 2 metals in a solution and just turn on the power. little did i know that there is so much to electroplating. the solution, the metals, the currnt. wow! no wonder i have to study all these before i am able to do my fyp. scary!

i am so screwed

arggg. i am in such deep shit now. my fyp is almost a non-starter even after all the minor work put in thus far. everything has been just literary review. alas the exams have got me so out of touch with all the things i have done thus far that i am some what lost now. whatsmore the phd student i am working under says that i am too slow. and that i am too lazy for the other students came down during the exams. seems i got too many outstanding students working in the lab that my non-appearance during the exmas have got me a very bad rating. got to work double hard now.

a touch of spring

i was returning from footie in the morning when i looked up and saw the backdrop of the spring building against the trees. for a country which is perpetually in summer all year round, it seems we have a bit of spring now. heez.

cycling: wet and dry

i went out around mid-day, cycling to expo to buy the creative x-fi sound card and a dvd burner. damn, they cost me a bomb. ah well, i won a set of mini-speakers in the lucky dip and 2 miserable key-chains. haha. when i was about to leave expo and head to malcolm's place, the sky started to pour. i was like, oh no! thankfully my bag, which is waterproof, was big enough to fit the x-fi sound card in. tying the dvd burner in a plastic bag, i began my journey to punggol from changi. it was only a light rain but soon became a heavy downpour. i even got cuaght in puddles which were half-calf deep! i became literally soaking wet.

however, as soon as i hit hougang avenue 3, there was no rain. the ground wasn't even wet! hrumph! continuing on, malcolm gave me a call and i settled to meet him at buankok/sengkang area as i was not too keen on going up the flyover overlooking tpe. i settled down and the bus stop, looking totally hedious and bikey dripping at the crank.

oh yes, the guys soon arrived!
we began on our journey along upper serangoon road with our destination being chin swee road. along the way, i asked the guys to take the flyover as there would be no traffic lights, however, they opted not to and i was cyclng up there alone. while on the flyover, i could not help but notice the beauty of the sunrays coming through the clouds. picture time! man, my new k750i sure is handy!

after we reached chin swee road, i told the guys that i wanted to go home to put down the sound card first and would meet up with them back at chin swee road later. afterall, malcolm's bike needed to be serviced and repaired.

i quickly rejoined the guys after settling down my bag. what a load off my shoulders. malcolm was playing with my camera to test its pototaking capabilities. haha. we got on our bikes and headed on for ice cream at esplanade. the guys were soooo slow that i could even stop at the fullerton junction hotel and snap off a quick shot, alas the camera could not get a good focus. too much traffic, it was confused. hahaha.

at esplanade, we reminicised our university days. of our eid days, how the prject concept came about and our feelings at prize presentation. of how we thought we would not win when the "bookies" favourite came in second and we were all headed back when our group's number was suddenly called and we came in FIRST! hahahaha! those days were really great! frankie also regaled us with some of his NS days experiences. man, his NS life is so much more exciting than mine. in fact, come to think of it, any unit's life is so much more exciting than my mundane NS life.

after ice-cream, we headed over to chijmes for some football and beer. yeah! male bonding! grunt grunt! buuuuurrrrp! hahaha! the place was a bit priceybut hey, we have not done this before and i sure was enjoying the company and experience. to top it off, Liverpool won! it was really a great night. thanks guys.

out the whole day

after the tiring day the day before, i was hoping to have a day of rest. alas, i had to attend a followup medical appointment at sgh clnic j. also, my mum and granny wanted to go in to jb to have a look at the rice cooker that we were sharing for my cousin's housewarming gift. i left home and went to the hopital early as i did not want to be backlogged and had to wait for eons before it was my turn. my number was 1410 so i sat outside the doctors room and waited. the buzzer came on and it was 1401! arggg! at that time it was already 2.20pm and my appointment was supposed to be 2.05pm. by the time i got to see the doctor it was 2.45pm! grumble grumble mutter mutter. forget better facilities, i want shorter waiting time!


after my apointment was over, headed to kranji to meetup with my mum and granny. we headed into jb and my standard operating procedure dictates that must buy ice-cream. so after we cleared the malaysian customs, as we were passing the petrol station heading to city square, i went in to get 2 walls cornettos. guess how much they cost? only RM2.20. i was like? i thought one was RM2.20 not 2 for RM2.20. when i converted the amount back to singapore dollars, it was like around 50cents for a cornetto royale only! wow! and they cost bloody S$2.50 EACH in singapore.

after we were done with my main motive of going in, we headed over to johor's carrefour to have a look at the rice cookers there. there were only 3 cookers good enough that were worth considering. one was takada, one was national and the last one was pensonic. yes, pensonic, not panasonic.



It was pretty hard to decide between the trio as they each had their own advantage. in the end we settled for takada because it had valid warranty in singapore but also becuase it was a reliable brand.

after the purchase we headed back to the malaysian customs to return back to singapore. at the malaysian customs side, i bought a ramly burger, a very popular beef burger, as a snack for later. at the singapore customs side, my bag was opened for inspection after the x-ray machine detected something. upon inspection, the customs office found the ramly burger. i was informed that the burger was not allowed into singapore and they had to confiscate and dispose of it. apparently, beef, chicken, mutton and pork, whether cooked or uncooked, from china, indonesia, malaysia, thailand and vietnam, are not allowed to be imported into singapore. that includes kfc, mcdonald's and barbecued pork or bak-kwas. so now we know. don't say i never warn you here.

when we arrived back at kranji mrt, the night race had just ended and the crowd was just pouring out. we were worried that we could not get on to smrt service 961 but thankfully, most of the turf club patrons were boarding another bus. by the time our bus arrived, we at least managed to get seats and the bus was not overly packed.

i am so dead tired now, i just want to quickly shower and just sleepzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

a day at sitex

cycled all the way from bukit merah to tanah merah, where my cousin stays, then proceeded from there to expo by foot. oooh yeah, my cycling days are back. nothing fantastic at sitex this year. well, except maybe creative. they did a very good job with their x-fi demo. i was so impressed, i'm going to splurge $600 to get the x-fi sound card. hahaha. also found a good steal of an internal dvd burnere, only $119 with 20 free DVD+R. hmmm. can consider. plus the 2GB memory stick duo-pro. oooh, my head is spinning at some of the things i wanna get. if i end up buying what i want, it's going to put me back by $1000. AHHHHH! had to get out of there before i actually spend any money!

on our way back, saw this turtle in the canal. like bloody ninja turtle like that, keep ducking in the water. very hard to capture a shot.

exams are over!

yeah! my exams for this semester is over. finally for some rest. going to slack till sunday before starting my FYP again on monday. man, this has beeen one long ardous examination.

one more to go!

the exams are coming to an end. to be exact, this exam is coming to an end, still got another one next April/May. today's human factor was ok. i was reading through the questions and took 20 mins to take in all the questions and understand what is required. hmmm...i never do this for my other modules. guess this is what they meant by, if you do something you like, you are never working. oh man, this was one paper that i answered everything. smoked my way through some question but i think i should at least pass. tomorrow is the the last paper for the year. oooh. and it is my repeat fluid dynamics module. haiz. have to pass it. have to pass it.

the human factors factor

finally, the module which had me sprouting all sorts of stuff at my cousin and friends is finally upon me. tomorrow afternoon will be the exam for my human factors module. as it has been stated at the beginning of this module, the aim of this module is to expose us into becomming mechanical engineers with some basic knowledge of human factors and not making us human factors experts. was reading through my notes, yes reading through, and alot of things start to flow back. ahhh, i am going to miss this module. it was always a joy to attend the lectures. i have learnt so much from the human factors modules, it really makes me appreciate and maybe hate life abit more. hahaha.

slacked

some real footie in the morning plus some virtual footie in the afternoon equals totally no work done. and my exams are still no over. damn, why do i put myself in to such shitty situations. just because i feel jealous does not make it right for me to vent my frustrations this way, ARGGG! and why on earth am i feeling jealous for when it should be nothing but a passing phase?! ARGGH!

return of my cycling excapade

after spending so much time on my bum this past couple of weeks, i went cycling again. back to my old route. this time i went out with my new k750i and took some shots along the way. from bukit merah to science park, then along pasir panjang , followed by telok blangah hill. only when i went up mt faber then did i remember to take pictures.

came up to the newly opened "the jewel box". not all that "sparkling" or awe-inspiring as some might claim, to me at least.

going further up, i came to the peak of mt faber. ahh. a really nice place to relax. sat at my usual spot, staring out at the usual view of pasir panjang and beyond. seeing the lights and the movements at the piers and wharfs really makes you marvel at the little things that keeps singapore moving

what's a trip to the peak with the mini-merlion up there? haha. but it looked hedious with the way the lights fell on it, i shifted the camera focus some what to include the converted communication tower-now-christmas tree. bikey even got a posed shot with the faber point landmarks. hahaha.


coming down mt faber, i just had to take a shot of the accient site and attempted to simulate how things looked like on the night of my accident. alas, there were plenty of traffic tonight on mt faber and i only had a short window of time to place bikey down and snap off a quick shot.

from my faber, it was onwards to tanjong pagar train station, through shenton way and then to marina square. felt a bit tired at this point, it has been sometime since i did this route, certainly very unfit now. at marina square, i found the overhead bridge decoration quite interesting. there was even a min-blimp of the world cyber games nearby to boot.

after rounding the fountain of wealth, which happened to be under renovation so no shot, i passed esplanade and came to a stop at the traffic junction just before padang. looking up, the swissotel hotel looks pretty nice, too bad the street lights sort of killed the photo. but at the padang, the view of the supreme court was very nice. with the soft orange glow, it was a shot not to be missed. at least there was no irritating street lights to spoil the shot.


after rouding st andrew's cathedral, i soon arrived at parliament house. the view of the cbd skyline at night was pretty intresting. i decided to test my handphone's 2mp camera performance and got off 2 shots, one in daylight mode, the other in night mode. the night mode shot, looks quite good but i felt the daylight mode shot captured the mood better.


feeling tired at this point, i decided not to dally around any longer and headed stright home. i had expected to take maybe one and a half to two hours on this trip. guess my amazement when i realised i was gone for 3 hours! wow! it was long, but sure allowed me to get some exercise in and also to test the k750i capabilities. from what i heard, it does very good shots taken in the daytime. maybe next time. now, i'm aching and had just finished my bath and only wish to sleep. till next time.

another toughie down

another toughie paper down. 2 more and my exams are over. today's paper was a borderline ok. i hope i pass. being a design optimization paper, we were joking after the paper that the paper was designed in such a way that you could not possibly finish the paper. therefore, you had to optimize your time to get the best possible result from it, constrained by how fast you punched your calculator, how fast your ink flowed, how fast you write, how fast you analyze the question, etc etc. hahaha.

i saw her before the paper while making my way to the exam hall. she did not look pleased to see me. haha. whatever. after the paper, i saw someone that looked like her but i wasn't sure. that someone was holding hands with another guy. hmm... boyfriend? could not verify as the person rushed to board the bus. but i am thinking it should be. when i mentioned it to kah leong, he was saying he could smell the "vinegar". haha. ah well.

starting to feel a little weary

this has been one long semester and exam. with 5 of my 8 papers done, i'm starting to feel a little tired from the mental exertions. i amd only half way through studying for tomorrow's paper. thankfully i started stuyding for it earlier. damn, so much to cover.

not enough time

today's design paper was doable. it was not difficult at all. there was just not enough time. as design is very subjective, us students were given much freedom of expression for the answers. alas, i expressed myself too much on the earlier questions. hahaha. still, it was a paper done with ease and i am happy with my performance. nothing spectacular but i think passing should be no problem now.

with next weeks 2 paper, one on human factors and the other on fluids dynamics (my repeat module), another toughie, design optimization, is coming up on friday morning. although a toughie, it is only a 2 hours paper, so can not waste time again. argggg!

design is very subjective

design is never definite. it is very subjective. what is one person's fancy is another's junk. tomorrow is the second of my open book papers. i can not make the same mistake as Monday and will keep track of the time. 2 hours...2hours...2hours.

mismanagement of time

arggg! i totally mismanaged my time on today's paper. it was a 2 hour paper but i kept thinking of it as a 2.5 hour paper. ahh! wasted a lot of marks. a quick check of my exam time table for the week showed that the rest of my paper for the week are all 2 hours. have to keep remembering that. arggg!

new phone on the eve of my exam

Finally got my new phone after very very long. Got the K750i at a steal. Only S$480 with no contract and with add-on flash attachment some more! hahaha. Got the NEC N411i for my mum.It's a pretty ok phone. Doing some testing for Starhub so got it at only S$199. Haha.

Got my first of two open book exam tomorrow. Did not do much studying for it. Haiz. Got to pull an all nighter again. arggg!

more hard work to come

this semester has been one big rollercoaster ride. no difference in the exam either. a moment of happiness when you realise you know the answers and then a moment of panic when you are stuck and do not konw how to carry on. another 11 days to the end of my exams. after which, there really ain't anything to look foward to. would love to go diving again before i start my tooth-implant procedure.

had a few random thoughts:
A man wants to be the woman's first lover
A woman wants to be the man's last lover

A clever woman knows fraility is a powerful weapon against man.

begone! boogey hall! BEGONE!

finally done with the biggest and coldest exam hall of them all for this semester. otherwise known as my boogey hall. at last!

i nearly had another panic attack during the paper. it was really scary!

a woman will worry about her future until she meets her husband
a man will not worry about his future until he meets his wife

panic attack!

there's so much to remember. ahhhhh!!!!!!!!! help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the year turned over quietly. so very softly it breezed past.

toughie coming up

a real toughie is coming up on friday. have got to clear it. too many toughies in one semester is hazardous to the health.

on this day, some time ago, a star guided the wise men.

dead tired

today's paper was scary. some giveaways, some challenges. met rui wei outside the exam hall and i was going hesterical. haha. i was telling her no need to study then kept peeking at her notes. when the paper was done, i suddenly felt so tired. insufficient sleep has made me a dead man walking again. another 6 more papers to go.

all nighter ahead

did not study at all since my last paper and now i fear. have to pull an all nighter to prepare for tomorrow's paper at my bogey hall. Hall F. the biggest and coldest exam hall of them all.

egg-wrapped instant noodles

was in abit of a cullinary mood today. tried something new. i cooked a packet of instant noodles, drained it and cooled the noodles. i then got out 4 eggs, scrambled them and poured in into the frying pan. when the scrambled egg was about half-cooked, i placed the instant noodles in to the centre. then with two wooden spatula, i attempted to flip the egg so that the noodles were encased within. heated it for a while more and it was ready to be served. i served it with tomato sauce but i think A1 sauce might be better.

human factors class at ikea

went to ikea with my cousin today to shop for some furniture. throughout the time we were there, i kept talking about ergnomics and how badly designe some of the furniture was. i was so into my human factor mode that my cousin could not stand me. hahaha. everything from sofas, to beds, to tvs, everything. hahaha. damn and the paper is not till 22 Nov and here i am sputing nonsence. hahaha.

sluggish

it's the exams but i'm a bloody slug. damn! i just can noy start. i keep telling myself, wake up, study, wake up , study. but rather this 2 days have been, wake up, bathe, sleep, watch tv shows, sleep. arggg! i hate myself. i'm falling into a rut here. if i don't change things around, things are going to get messy and ugly.

bleak but......

my remaining 7 papers are definately not going to be as smooth sailing as my first. ok maybe one of them will be, but the remaining 6 are still tough tacklers. seems that i am not the only one to be doing 8 modules this semester. alot of us were going 1 down 7 to go yesterday. hee hee. just a year ago it was also the same. 1 own 7 to go. my 3rd consecutive semester doing 8 modules. not because i am capable but rather because i am very bad at my studies, failing modules along the way, and just want to graduate on time. had a chat with Kah Leong that our time is about to come to an end. a little less than a year to go. or if you prefer, going by the world cup commercial in singapore, 8 more months to graduation. if things go smoothly and ideally, 8 months from now i should be getting my B.Eng (Mech) (Hons), although 3rd class only and only in a very ideal situation.

start of the exams

here we go! for the next 22 days, it will be a whirlwind rollercoaster ride as i, Alvin, will attempt to vanquish the 8 evil overlords! fighting alone on this perlous journey, will be a great test of my mental strength.

the first was vanquished this morning with some difficulty.

damn this flu is killig me. 4 days and i'm still only half fit. thankfully today's paper was not a killer one.

hard studying

battle of the M428 monster is on tomorrow. damn i'm tired. Quality Assurance & Management. Sounds big but do not know if it will be one of them 95% unused theoretical knowledge. back to my studies. all the best to my fellow combatants. tomoroow WE FIGHT!