restarting the exam engine

ok, my papers are finally coming up. the final 2 papers, first one on tuesday last one on thursday. have got to get the engine restarted after this long break.

sweetie's birthday and trinklets

went in with herman to jb again today. he to get the printed mugs, me just tagging along for cheap food up norht. hahaha. while there i saw certain intresting trinklets, reminded me of sweetie's favourite cartoon character. it is her birthday today and she must be enjoying herself now in thailand.

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

safe trip sweetie

sweetie's flying off tonight to thailand with her family to celebrate her 21st birthday. no she is not thai, it is just a gift from her family. she is so lucky. i remember my 21st birthday, it was overseas too, in a way. shaved head, drab green, pelted with rocks and t-shirt torn, lousy memories.

anyway, here's to a safe trip to sweetie and may she enjoy herself and come back safely. in the meantime, i am headed to the bloodbank to make another blood donation, oooh yeah! blood. hahaha.

"X" goodies

the goodies from the powers up above has arrived in my little honey pot. just like everyone else in the land of singapore. the timing of this is soooo very intriguing and soooo very intresting. hahaha.

not good to have a long break in the middle of the exams

i am now into day 8 of my 14 days gap between papers. arggg. without any mental stimulation, i have a classic case of too much time and nothing to do. initially it seemed to be fun to have a long break, alas, with everyone having their main modules during this 14 days, life is so boring. not that i need to have a lot of people's company, just some. whatsmore, most of them are wrapping up this friday whereas i will not be done till next thursday. haiz. oh woe is me!

cheaper on our own?

i had always thought that it would be cheaper if we went on our own to dive sites in malaysia instead of through a singapore operator. however, based on many of the figures i have seen on the malaysian operators websites, for the same period, a full board package would be cheaper but it also has less dives and we have to make our own way to the various dive sites. by paying about S$50 more, the entire trip would be packaged and settled by the singapore operator. pros and cons. haiz.

organizing a dive trip

many want to go diving, many do not want to organize it. haiz. i am trying to organize a dive trip to redang from 5 to 8 June 2006 and wonder if anyone will sign up at all in the first place. i have sent out emails to quite a number of people already. if any of you want to come along for the dive trip, you can either drop me a comment or you know how to reach me.

i am not good at stoning

stoned the entire day at home and felt i wasted so much time! argggg! stoning is definately not for me. stoning is not so fun when you got nothing to avoid or to put off. just like playing games. without having an exam looming within 48 hours, gaming suddenly is so boring!

mugs sourcing

met up with herman today to take alook at mugs and the printing of mugs. we were sourcing around to see where we could get the best deals. sadly, not in singapore. the shop we went to at queensway shopping centre quoted us at about S$15 a mug and there were no individual boxes for each mug if we ordered in bulk. if we wanted the box, we had to pay extra cost. if we wanted to individualise each mug with a different name, it will not be considered bulk order anymore. haiz. we made a trip up north to see how the pricing was like. lo and behold, we found a shop doing the same thing for only RM10 per mug and it included individual boxes for the mugs. if we wanted to put individual names, each mug will only cost RM12. the mugs were of the same quality available in singapore. damn the cutthroat prices in singapore. no wonder so many people go up north to print their wedding invitations. it is really much cheaper up north.

cake war

went down to queue for the chocolate cake again today at fullerton hotel. since i gave yesterday's cake to sweetie, i wanted one for myself. the queue was moving really fast today and we were basically throwing the $10 note on the couter and collecting the cake from a staff as we passed the counter. haha. kudos to the fullerton hotel staff from preventing people from requeing to buy more cakes. it is unfair to others who make the effort to come down only to be denied a cake due to the requeuees. if the requeuees friends want the cake, they very well can come down themselves and get it and stop being lazy bums. hrumph! you do not want to make the effort to come down, no cake for you.

yummy chocolate cake

went down early to fullerton hotel with my mum to get a very yummy chocolate cake which was on offer at $10 for a 1/2 kg cake. we reached fullerton hotel at about 8.10am and there already was a queue that was already starting to snake towards the road junction. plenty of office ladies were there too, getting the cake, each leaving with a smile on their face. at $10 for a cake, it was a steal, considering that it is usually priced at $30+ each. the chocolate cake is just so heavenly that i will be returning tomorrow morning to get another one for myself. haha. i gave the one i bought today to sweetie. just to see that smile on her face. i will be graduating soon and may not be able to see her again after this semester, her smiles would be up there with some of my best memories from ntu.

i like her smile

ok, i am a sucker when i see a gal smile. maybe that is why i am pretty partial to females and usually treat them well. there are cases when i have been pretty shabby to a couple of them but it is more the exception than the norm. at least until the friendship or relationship turns sour.

sweetie's birthday is coming up soon and since it is her 21st birthday, i decided to get her a small present. nothing fanciful, just a mashi-maro key chain and a crystal bracelet. i dropped by her hall today while back at school to return some stuff to one of my professor. i especially like the look of joy and happiness on her face when i gave her the presents and wished her happy birthday. i guess she never expected to recieve a present so early, much less from me. ah well, what can i say, she has been a really good companion to me this semester and i just wanted to make her happy. the smile on her face truly made my day.

karaoke after the tough paper

today's paper was very very tough. it was very tricky too. i hope i can pass it. i need to pass it to graduate, i need to. went with indra & eric to k-box at cineleisure to destress after such a stressful paper. had tons of fun there, singing and croaking. hahaha. even had a couple of vocal battles with eric & indra. both of them sure could sing. i had the most amount of fun singing "delilah" though. hahahaha.

all nighter ahead

full steam ahead, starting from 7pm earlier, it is going to be an all nighter to get through my entire set of tutorial to preapre for tomorrow's heat transfer paper. this paper sure seems like a toughie, my graduation might ride on the outcome of this.

cool weather......mattress enticing

after a heavy downpour, suddenly the weather feels very comfortable to sleep. funny thing is, after a heavy downpour, there is supposedly more negative ions in the air, which supposedly refreshes us. hmmm......maybe i got it wrong. hahaha. got a toughie on tuesday but i feel very very reluctant to start the engine. i am so dead!

Then & Now: From MPE to MAE

Some time at the beginning of Year 4, i was looking at our pictures and was smiling at the changes that had happened to most of us. 3 papers and a presentation later (at least for me), we are supposedly going to be qualified engineers. Oooh. How interesting. Hahahahaha. All of us started as students under MPE but are about to graduate as students of MAE. To mark the end of our undergraduate years at NTU, the School of MAE had commissioned a series of individual head shots of us to help us remember each other. Comparing our photos from then to now was a really joyous experience.


ALVIN

National Service status in limbo and just months prior to National Day Parade 2003, I had my first photo taken for admission into NTU. Very country bumpkin looking. Hahaha. Fast forward 6 months later, at the EID exhibition, where our group won the automation category, looking rounder. 18 months later, at the beginning of year 4, having been through a near-life ending accident, looked slightly slimmer due to the liquid diet I was on for the 3 months prior. And the present me, (ok, maybe the me of a month ago when my hair was longer), starting to be round again but at least more normal looking than the country bumpkin looking me from 3 years back. Hahahaha.


MALCOLM

Team leader of my EID group and one of my best friends in NTU. We were practically in the same class from day 1 when we started Year 2 together but we only became good friends during the November of 2003. Like me, he is also a Polytechnic graduate. Unlike me, he was a top Polytechnic student, a good badminton player, an Air Force officer and the Sword of Honor Recipient (Top Officer Cadet Trainee for the Air Force) during his Officer Cadet Training. A steadying influence on me through my many trials and tribulations these 3 years. Listened to my consistent ranting but never put me down before except for the occasional jibes. All in good fun. Hahaha. Got happily married to Eileen in 2004 and will be having his traditional Wedding Dinner this coming September. We are all still waiting to become aunties and uncles to his kids. Hahahaha.

His first photo was taken while he was still in the Air Force, pending his acceptance by NTU. The second was from our most joyous date in NTU, the EID exhibition when we won. Lastly, the Malcolm of today, which was taken for our Graduation yearbook. He claims that we all look better than him in the pictures taken for the yearbook. You decide. Hahahaha.


INDRA

Sat next to me during our first lecture, G263 Fluid Dynamics, on day one and has been my only other best friend since. A top student in his Polytechnic days and is an officer like Malcolm but in the Army. One thing in common we have is that we were both recipients of the Best Trainee of our respective platoons during our Basic Military Training days. Alas, his path was of an officer and me as a lowly Regimental Policeman. We meet up occasionally for soccer or badminton. Conned me into signing up for the lifesaving course, which he eventually did not turn up for. Ah well, at least now I AM the qualified lifeguard. Hahaha. Just last year he even tried his hand at Scuba Diving. Another dive buddy for future dive trips. Yeah! He is currently happily attached and we are all still waiting for his wedding invitation.

He looks very amused when he took the first photo for his application into NTU. That was way back in the first half of 2003. The joker that he is, is revealed in the second shot which was taken at the end of 2004 at a barbeque, just prior to us beginning our 6 months Industrial Attachment. Back to some sense of normality in the Graduation yearbook, although I did touch up on his picture. The original photo taken had some of his hair sticking up like horns. Hahaha.


KAH LEONG

From the first day I met Kah Leong, he has always been a very quiet and reserved person. Often you have to engage him to get him to speak. It is only when you are talking to him that you realize that he has a wealth of knowledge and experience waiting to be tapped. He has been a great friend to me, listening to my pathetic attempts at getting a girlfriend, and always joking with me about my on-again off-again attempts. Hahahaha. Even through all my bullshit, he always encourages me to pass my modules and not give up. He is really a great friend.

The first picture was taken a year prior to his entry into NTU in 2003, having been accepted the year before. The second photo was taken in December 2003 and he is another member of our hugely successful EID group. The third photo was taken in March this year, when we went together to have our pictures taken for our Graduation yearbook.


SAM

Sam is actually his surname and not some English name. No matter how you address him, he is also another helpful person. When I first met him, the impression I had was that he and Joyce were an item, which I later found out how wrong I was. Hahaha. When it comes to work, Sam is a very serious person and does not likes to be disturbed. However, when his "work" mode is turned off, he is just another happy go lucky bloke like us. His main gripe when I first met him was that no matter how he eats, he remains stick thin. Arggg. Hate people like him who never grows fat. Hahahaha.

He still looked very childlike in his first photo which was taken sometime in the first half of 2003. Another member of our successful EID group in the second photo taken in December 2003. Although he seemed to have softer features in the second photo, his features became sharp again in the Graduation yearbook photo taken last month.


T041: EID 2003 AUTOMATION CATEGORY WINNERS

A team of 2 females, both former JC students, and 8 guys, all Polytechnic graduates, were brought together from 17 November to 19 December 2003. It was a dream come true for the gals as they had wished that they would be joining a group where the majority of the guys were Poly grads. Well, they got more than what they wished for. Hahaha. During this period, we worked hard and play even harder together. Well, I played more often than not. Hahaha. Our little invention, the IGM2003 won us the First Prize in the Automation Category of EID 2003, bagging the group a trophy and a cool $1400 shared by the 10 of us. Sweet!


CELEST

The first time I made contact with Celest was back in the first semester of Year 2. In between lectures, I used to go outside the Main Lecture Theatre to heat up. There I made some friends and Celest was a friend of theirs. Spoke to her once but never had any contact with her right up till September of 2004 when we were in the same dive group. From then on, we used to chat and poke fun at each other, but always only on MSN. In person, we hardly ever spoke. A very fun loving lady, she always has an entourage of male friends with her but she never ever takes advantage of them. A good friend of mine and happy to have, she is currently happily attached but is always willing to lend a ear to this blabbering idiot. Hahaha.

She looks very beautiful and photogenic in the first picture. I guess it could be due to the long hair. I am a sucker for gals with long hair. Hahaha. She has since trimmed her hair short as can be seen in the second photo which was taken for the Graduation yearbook. She looks slimmer with the sharper features but I feel it makes her look too businesswoman like now.

posted back in?!?!

damn! i opened my letter box this morning and found a letter from Mindef dated last week. i grudgingly opened it and it stated that as of 6 April, i was posted back to active NSMen duty. i was like, NO!!!!!!!!! i am still having my exams, i can not be moblized! not now! got to go get the letter from NTU as soon as possible and get myself deffered, at least until the end of May. argggg!

What goes on in Voice Studies?

My friends once asked me: What goes on during my Voice Studies GE?

Well, we have a ball of fun, that's what. Hahaha. Under the guidiance of our esteemed lecturer, Michael (aka Sir Stamford Raffles from Discovery Channel's Story of Singapore), we learnt how to take care of our voices, how to maintain our voices, voice hygiene and voice control.

One of the most relaxing portion of the course was where we learnt breathing exercises which would help us to prepare for voice work:

For our final presentations, we had even more fun. Hahahaha. We had Cheryl who was teaching us how to relax:

Swee Ling giving us a Puppet Show:

Kelvin sharing his childhood with us about making miniature paratroopers with toy soldiers:

Sheena giving us a guide on trimming and plucking out eyebrows:

Sini teaching us some hand signs, where we had a ball of fun later firing jibes at each other in sign language:

Madelene giving a free lesson in beaded-jewelry craft work:

Elin the chef letting us know how important breakfast is and gave us a lesson in making ham & cheese sandwich, especially important for those of us who had not had anything to eat till then, notice the look on Michael's face:



Two person sharing a sandwich, no wonder Angeline is so skinny and Sini is so......erm......

But really, she looks much better here (credit to the photographer, hahahahaha)

There was also Clarence showing us some card-tricks and how it was all down to simple Mathematics. Michael could not resist trying his hand at it:

Angeline led us in a lesson of painting with poetry, unfortunately I am a pretty gloomy person thus my rather dark masterpiece, unlike Cheryl & Sheena here doing their utmost best:

There were also other presentations, such as Angela giving us a lesson on word relations, Geroge's presentation about the GSM network, Weizhong teaching us about Geomacy and how it can aid us, me teaching the rest how to draw in perspective and Melissa's "missing" presenation on Homosexuality (that would have been intresting).

Angeline is trying to look attentive during one of the presentation here:

I had a very wonderful time during the course and met a great bunch of people. First time in my entire life that I was in a class where the gals outnumbered the guys. Hahahaha,
Kudos to Michael and the class for the wonderful time this semester!

aching fingers

all the hurling of "smoke cannisters" during this afternoon's human resourses management paper has made my fingers ached. hahaha. i arrived in the hall just moments before the announcement to begin came. ah well, at least i was still considered on time. haha. 1 paper down, 3 more to go. ooohh. the suspense is killing me. hahahaha.

preparing the smoke cannister for tomorrow

well, yeah, it does sounds weird. preparing smoke cannisters but tomorrow's paper on human resource management has been dubbed by many as the smoke bomb paper. hahahaha!

funny thing happened today. my neighbour's dog came over and ate the offerings my granny had placed at the earth god's incense holder outside the home. hahaha. greedy dog he is.

2 down 4 to go

submitted the final assignments for both my electvie modules today. woo hoo! 2 modules down, 4 papers to go. shudder......still have to struggle with the editing process for my fyp report. arggg. so much to edit, can die ah!

after today, i don't know if i will ever have a chance to see some of the nicest gals i have met for some time. today could very well be the last time i get to speak to huizhen, serene and angeline. all very nice people, made me wipe off the notion that ntu gals are all monsters. well, there a few exceptions such as celest. ah well, life is not perfect, you can not keep all your friends with you. why are all the good gals attached? bad news for me is all 6 of them are attached. hahahaha!

final boost for non-exam modules

final push to end of 3 assignments for my 3 non-examinable modules. photography, voice & my fyp of which naturally my fyp takes priority. haiz. photography is the easy one, voice is still manageable. it is the fyp that has caused me the moset headache and frsutration. i simply detest it, i abhore it. hahahahaha!

the blind guiding the blind?

met up with claire earlier to teach her hrm. she had problems understanding what was going on and was hoping i could help her. i tried my best to explain the various terms and to simplfy the things that were mentioned in the notes to her. hopefully, i did not do more harm than help. to think that this is the first time in a long while that i am studying. hahaha.

my stand on romance

man is sometimes hesitant at certain points in his romance with others. on many occasions, he can not gain the confidence of the other one. if a man loves a woman, he will not change his mind. it is very simple. if his heart is still with someone else he would not be treating another especially well.

black day? maybe......maybe not

today has been a real black day for me. my handphone battery kept dying, my laptop hdd crashed and my supervisor only returned my fyp report to me today to edit it. arggg! die lah die lah!

then again, at least i had 2 pretty gals who joined me for dinner today after my photography ge. both of them are very nice people, serene & hui zhen. both much younger than me and both happily attaced. ah man! hahahaha! ah well......not everything is perfect.

aw shucks!

i do not know why but i just seem to prefer the company of females more than guys. hahaha. however i just do not seem to be able to get a girlfriend yet. all my close female friends are attached?!?!?! why am i caught in such a predicament? arggg!!!!

more printing ahead

the printers are finally rectified but now only one printer is capable of doing good prints. argggg! it is the final week of lessons, why are the printer settings changed again. hrumph! alot of us are rushing to get our prints out and now this. there are going to be lots of problems when all of us are going to rush to get our prints.

full day of printing

got a full day ahead of me to print out my photography assignments. the printers are low on ink and i do not know when i can get my stuff finally done. hiaz. well, at least i got my photos back from the developing shop. taking photos in colour sure allows for plenty of mistakes to be covered up but also allows for creative lighting. like the shot below, coupled with the use of Kodak film which is good for warm colours, made my classmate look very pretty and sexy. heez. to think that the lghting then was no where near as nice. hmm...wonder how it came about. haha.

i am considered yellow?

Alvin, your true color is Yellow!

You're yellow, the color of joy and energy — two things you definitely bring to everyone around you. It's hard for anyone to be sad or lonely in your presence; your sunny disposition and cheery outlook just won't allow it. The warmth of your personality shines through in the kindness you show friends and family (and strangers, too). Always ready with a lighthearted joke or heartfelt compliment, you know how to make people feel good about themselves, so they can't get enough of you. Yellow is a warm and inviting color for a warm and inviting person — you!

hmmm......i am not too certain if the above is true of me. another internet quiz thingy. hahaha.

happy april's fool!

april 1st. hahaha. have you tricked or teased the person you have been intending to do so?