Cogito Ergo Sum

Greatest Show On Earth

2012-01-20T23:01:00.001+08:00

Before I typed this, I typed about how drained out I feel from the JC curriculum.

Backspaced it all.

Then I decided to talk about how superficial society can be.

Backspaced it all.

Then I typed about how lonely I feel.

Backspaced everything yet again, and felt stupid.

Well, basically, I don't have anything meaningful to say. I mean, the JC2 curriculum is full of shit but the J2's reading this would already know how I feel. And I've already lamented about how lonely I can get and I don't want to sound like a broken record.

In short, I can't complain. Life sucks but it's not like complaining does anything to make my life suck less.

I might not update this blog for a while. Maybe I'll blog if I have some interesting things to say, but my life has been pretty dull and dreary recently. I don't think there will be anything particularly exciting to talk about in the near future. Plus, I'll be spending a lot less time on the computer so I won't feel motivated to blog out of sheer boredom. So don't be disappointed if you check my blog every now and then and see this same post over and over again.

I'll see you when I see you.

Au revoir.

Hope

2012-01-07T20:43:00.001+08:00

I have a magician friend named Harapan who finished his National Service last year and is now in University College London studying Physics. No, not engineering. Just pure, uncorrupted theoretical Physics.

He got a scholarship to go to UCL, so that obviously means straight A's. So I asked him for tips.

Salim: Hai I'm taking my A Levels this year any tips?
Harapan: A Levels? Tips?
S: Yeah... I don't know if it's a weird question but what the heck..
H: Have you wrriten your will yet?
S: No...
H: Have you converted to any religion "just in case"?
S: Uhhhhhh.....
H: Have you told your family you love them?
S: YES.
S: I CAN SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING LOL.
H: Oh good! You're still rational!
H: You'll do well :)
S: OH THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE HELP OH GREAT HARAPAN.
H: That's Lord Harapan to you.

BRILLIANT.

By the way, Harapan is Indonesian-Chinese, and "Harapan" in Indonesian/Malay means hope.
"Harapan" in Indonesian/Malay means hope.
"Harapan" in Indonesian/Malay means hope.
"Harapan" in Indonesian/Malay means hope.

Oh, the irony.

Lost Inner Peace

2012-01-07T11:45:00.001+08:00

What happened to the wonderful music of yesteryear?

It's times like these that I wish I had a sister. A sort of Platonic, sibling love.

Someone I could share all my ideas and troubles with.
Show her new magic tricks I have learnt.
Love and hate her at the same time.
And, rain or shine, I'd always see her sleepy head in the room opposite mine.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. I will never have a sibling. My mum cannot conceive naturally; if she wanted to have another baby she would have to drop several hundred thousand dollars (?), go for dozens of injections every week and several tests every month, just as she did to have me.

Many people tend to have this notion that 'only children' wouldn't want to have siblings because they don't want to share their material belongings. That is bullshit. I wouldn't mind having just 30% of my current allowance, and a shitty $1000 laptop instead of my current computer setup which cost something around $6000. When you go to poverty-stricken countries like Morocco, or countries like Bosnia which are in a really bad shape (because they just ended a war a few years ago), you can't help but reassess the true value of money. You can't help but feel disgusted by the whole concept of capitalism and consumerism. It is sick. Just because someone is highly qualified or skilled, he automatically deserves to get millions of dollars directed to his bank account annually, and he has no obligation to spend the money on anyone but himself.

Think Lee Hsien Loong. He only needs to manage such a small country, but he has to get US$1.7m per annum to do it. Obama? US$400 000.

Utterly disgusting.

But I digress. My life is almost entirely devoid of love.

Introverts

2012-01-05T12:42:00.002+08:00

From a very young age I could tell that I was different. Not like the others. I found that, unlike kids my age, I got excited when I saw a diagram of the solar system. I would go on the Internet just to find out the names of the powers of ten above a million (billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, etc.) and recite them. I never fancied theme parks or rollercoaster rides. I preferred origami to Gameboy games. I could never stand noisy environments and for that reason I rarely go to LAN shops. Even as I turn 18 this year, I would very much rather stay at home and reread a book from my personal library, instead of going clubbing to strike random conversations with drunk strangers.

But I'm not alone. There are people like me out there.

We are called the introverts.

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

Taken from: http://www.carlkingdom.com/10-myths-about-introverts?_ft_qid=5693964992562632285

The Current State of the iPhone

2012-01-03T04:02:00.001+08:00

The sequel to the previous post will have to wait because I feel like ranting right now. Yeah, it's 3.05am and I can't sleep so I shall make use of this opportunity to rant here.

Just a heads up, this post is about Apple's iPhone and Google's Android so if you have no first-time experience using either product, and have no intention of doing so in the near future then this post will probably bore you to death. You have been warned. Otherwise, you might want to get a nice cup of coffee, sit up straight, and listen to what I have to say about the direction in which the Apple iPhone is heading.

I still remember watching the keynote of the introduction of the iPhone to the world. Wow, such amazing technology packed into such a small device! It was amazing. A 3.5" touchscreen phone, an innovative new UI with big gorgeous icons, and a completely redesigned way of looking at the smartphone. However, in recent years, Apple has gotten sluggish. The iPhone has become less of a technological marvel and more of a fashion accessory. The majority of iPhone owners choose the iPhone because of brand loyalty, the 'cool' factor or simply because "everyone else is doing it". On the other hand, Android has been taking the lead, raking in millions of dollars to Android phone manufacturers as they take over the iPhone as the dominant smartphone platform.

But before we go further, let's rewind back to the start, back in early 2008. I remember proudly proclaiming to many of my friends that I was about to buy this wonderful device called the iPod touch, which was, in essence, an iPhone without the phone functionality. I was so proud of it I brought it to school just to show it off, even though I had no real use for it. The iPod touch, back in 2008, was more than just a media player. It was a device that conveyed a new era of mobile technology. More than that, it was a fashion accessory. Somehow, having a cutting-edge device somehow made me feel superior, like having that thing in my pockets somehow made me 'cool'. I know much better now, of course, but to this day, many people still think that owning a certain product makes them superior to all non-owners of that product. It's a personality complex that the human race can never really get rid of, unfortunately.

Later on in 2009, I got an iPhone 3G which was stolen during NPCC training one day. I got an iPhone 3GS several months later that year and still loved the iPhone platform because there didn't seem anything else to compare it to. However, there were some issues with the iPhone platform that I found hard to ignore.

You only get to do what Apple wants you to do.
Before the software update to version 3.0 there was no way to copy and paste text. If, say, someone messaged me a chunk of text that I wanted to forward to another person, the only way to do that was to memorize what he said (often word by word, to preserve the integrity of the message) and then retype into another message box. Before 4.0, you couldn't change the background of your homescreen (so all you get is black background) and it took Apple 5 versions before you could finally have a notification list. The notification list was a game changer, in the sense that it finally ended a major frustration that every iPhone user experienced. Before version 5.0, if several people messaged you at the same time (say, to wish you happy birthday) while you were surfing the web or playing a game on your phone, you would get bombarded with notifications in the center of the screen which was extremely annoying. That's just the SMS. You then have Facebook notifications, game updates, game announcements, Twitter notifications, mail notifications, instant messaging, and the list goes on. Yes, Apple did finally revamp the iPhone's way of displaying notifications, but it took them 5 entire years to do it correctly. You see, Apple takes their own sweet time in giving what would appear to be VERY BASIC features to iPhone users. That way, when people finally get the updates they deserved all along, they become happy and feel like the value of their phone increased due to improved usability. This is how Apple rakes in customers. They first give a shitty product, then slowly provide software updates over a long period of time to make the said product less and less shitty. The users feel like their devices are improving dramatically, are superior to other phones in the market, and continue sticking to the iPhone platform.

You have little to no power over your iPhone.
Software wise, iPhones are almost impossible to customize. One might say, "Aha! You only have that problem if you don't jailbreak!" The thing is, though, is that the iPhone wasn't meant to be jailbroken. It's not how Apple intended to you to use your iPhone. Hence, you often run into lots of problems. Every time a new major software update is available you're stuck in this dilemma of choosing whether to forsake your jailbreak and get the new official features, or to give up the new official features and stay with your jailbroken iPhone to reap the benefits of jailbreaking. If you do decide to give up your jailbreak, it can easily take up to 6 months before a new jailbreak is released, and until then you are stuck with an uncustomizable phone. Either way, you still lose.

You pay a premium price for a substandard product.
Need I say more?

If you're an iPhone owner, you're just that: another iPhone owner.
Not too long ago, Apple's marketing campaign was to "Think Different". Basically they saw themselves as people who thought differently and promoted the idea of being unique, different from everyone else around you, challenging the status quo, et cetera. However, you can clearly see a conflict between Apple's "Think Different" motto and the current situation of the smartphone market. Practically every Tom Dick and Harry owns an iPhone nowadays. Just get on any form of public transport in Singapore, for example, and you'll see quite literally dozens of iPhones. If you're an iPhone user, you're just another iPhone user. The ironic thing is that if you own, say a Nokia phone, you'll be the one "thinking different" among the large iPhone crowd.

I could go on with what limited functionality the iPhone has and how the hardware sucks, but I think I've just about described all the major frustrations I had with my iPhone when I still had one. After I found out that the 2011 iPhone (the 4S) STILL HAD A 3.5" SCREEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, I lost faith in Apple and switched to Android. I am currently a proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy S II, which rocks a gorgeous 4.3" screen. It's the same phone that's advertised in the Samsung advertisement above. I love it.

Ya, I do know that the Samsung Galaxy S II advertised above and the Samsung Galaxy S II that I own are slightly different, but it's not like the average person really cares anyway.

Oh and, congratulations if you actually bothered to read everything in this post without simply skimming through and reading this last bit. You're the best.

Fresh New Start

2012-01-01T02:37:00.001+08:00

I was supposed to meet 407 people + Joey Lim at Bugis MRT at 5pm. But I had an afternoon nap (only had around 4 hours of sleep the night before) and woke up at 5.

Great.

So I took a really quick shower, managed to shave off my offensive facial hair (I really hate how my beard grows so damn fast) and rushed to Dhoby Ghaut. At Dhoby Ghaut, as I was heading to City Hall, I walked along the platform and spotted 3 familiar faces. Wee Pin, Wai Heng and Chong Yu! What a coincidence. Apparently they themselves were headed towards some Marina Promanigalugalu place (I don't know what's the name of the place actually) near Bugis. So we went to Bugis together and then we parted, me going to Bugis Junction while they headed for Marina Promanigalugalu.

Had dinner at Fish&Co, and you might think of me as a glutton who eats a lot for every single meal but this dinner was extremely filling. It's 2.21am as I type this, I haven't eaten anything since that dinner and I am still very full.

Once we were done with dinner we headed towards Kovan MRT. On the way there, I met Melvin! Upon recognizing him our epic conversation went something like this:

Salim: Eh hi.
Melvin: Eh hi long time no see.
Salim: Okay bye.
Melvin: Bye.

Our initial plan was actually to go to Yon Min's house for a bunch of people to play mahjong while the rest of us just sat around like fools. Upon reaching Kovan, though, we realised that going to Yon Min's house would be too much of an inconvenience because he sort of lived very far from everyone else and some of us wanted to stay over at Si Ying's house. The problem was, Si Ying's house is not terribly huge and her sister's friends were also there, so not all of us could go. So those who live along the red line went to Wei Jian's house (Ang Mo Kio) while those who live near Hougang and/or wanted to stay over at Si Ying's place went there.

Yon Min, Joe and Daren started playing mahjong with Si Ying who was soon replaced by her father. Her father's really cute, cracking lame jokes and sneering at our implied dirty jokes. it wasn't long before the New Year countdown began and WOO!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Could hear and see the fireworks from Si Ying's place. Joe, who earlier on made a big deal about watching the fireworks, at this point couldn't care less. He was too engrossed with his mahjong.

I had casually told Jovy that I was at Si Ying's place, because Jovy and Si Ying live in the same condominium, you see. Why does this matter at all? Well, at about 12.30am Jovy called me and asked me if I wanted to meet up with her downstairs.

Downstairs. Just the two of us.

In the middle of the night.

What happened next????????????????????

WELL, WHAT HAPPENED?

Did Salim accept this offer and agree to meet with Jovy?

If so, what happened?

If not, did Jovy persist?

And if Jovy persisted, did Salim agree to meet up with her eventually?!!

FIND OUT IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF DCF1337.BLOGSPOT.COM!!!

I Don't Argue Like This

2011-12-28T00:14:00.002+08:00

There are few things in life that makes one feel better
Than talking to an old friend you haven't met in years
Who actually cares about you

It's really uplifting :)

Over The Years

2011-12-26T23:46:00.000+08:00

A really long time ago, my room looked like this:

Some time later, it looked like this:

Now, it looks like this:

How times change.

Makes me wonder what my room will look like in 5 years' time.

Looking Back

2011-12-25T03:19:00.001+08:00

It's time to do some serious soul searching.

It's that time of the year again. Christmas, last days of 2011, and very soon we greet the new year. It's also a time to reflect on the past year and deliberate on what I've done the past twelve months.

Let's take a look at what I've done this year.

I completed JC1.
It was a tough year, to say the least. I struggled throughout the year, but it wasn't because I didn't work hard enough. Surely not. I just did not have enough determination and focus to keep revising on a constant basis. Having classmates who don't give a damn about their results doesn't help either. I sometimes doubted if I would even promote. I did, though, albeit with very borderline marks.

Words cannot express how relieved I am now that I don't have to take Malay and Project Work anymore. Project Work is an absolute pain in the ass (I'll be sure to tell my juniors that just as my seniors have told me) and hardly worth the effort you have to put in to secure an A. Malay is okay, actually. But not having to go for Malay lessons anymore will be a huge benefit — more time to focus on core subjects.

I went to Spain and Morocco.
Spain was absolutely beautiful. This is the first time I want to revisit a country I've been to. Beautiful people, beautiful architecture, beautiful landscapes, beautiful cities, amazing food. Everything was amazing. They have a rich culture and a fascinating history. I would upload pictures but

it's such a hassle to handpick a few photos from thousands of photos
a handful of photos of Spain don't do it any justice

As for Morocco, well, let's say it wasn't quite what I expected. It's a really poor country so naturally there are a lot of beggars around. Everywhere you go beggars surround you begging for money (either in French, Moroccan Arabic or broken English). On the day I reached Morocco a local there tried to pickpocket another local and when he got caught a mob of man pinned him to the ground and started kicking him and beating him up, as he screamed in pain. On that very same day, a male adolescent (around my age, maybe a year younger) begged me for money, following me for hundreds of metres before I got on the bus. As I got on the bus, he breathed into a bag while giving me the middle finger.

He breathed into a bag?

Yes, he breathed into a bag. He was sniffing glue.

I wasn't angry at all. In fact I felt sorry. Not just for him but for all of them. This was more than a problem of not having enough money. It's also the culture and influence. Giving out cash here and there in itself won't help them. It's not so much about the lack of money as it is about the society. Money makes things move, but it doesn't magically make problems disappear.

All that said, Morocco is definitely not a place I would recommend anyone go to. High crime rates, high poverty rate, and whatnot. Indeed, there are places in Morocco that are exceptionally beautiful, resembling Europe in many instances. It isn't worth it though. Not worth the risks.

I learnt basic Spanish and French for this trip (Morocco was once a French colony, so many of the locals speak French) but ended up not having to use much of either. Pity. Maybe I can use French when I visit Paris next year, eh. Maybe.

I read countless books.

I hate letting my brain idle, so I spent a lot of my time this year reading. Most of the reading was done in the past two months. I'll try to put down the titles of the books off the top of my head. No authors, sorry, because I can't remember many of the authors.

Aristotle in 90 Minutes
The Black Swan
The Tipping Point
Buzan's Study Skills
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Atom
The Richest Man in Town
The Moral Landscape
This is Not a Book
NLP for Beginners
The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
50 Physics Ideas You Must Know
50 Genetic Ideas You Must Know
50 Mathematics Ideas You Must Know
Quantum Mechanics: A Short Introduction

This is just what I can remember. There surely are more but I can't remember the titles because they're all library books. Mostly books on philosophy, theism, Spanish and physics, though, if you must know.

I found love, and then lost it.

Turned out to be the best thing that ever happened.

I tried to write a book, then failed.

Early this year, or rather late last year, I started writing a book titled, "The Book of Smarts". In my book I tried to explain why and how smart people are so brilliant and why people do the things they do. I also tried to categorize people into 3 psychological domains:

the socials
the thinkers
the doers

While I was writing this the people in MJC were getting tested using MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) that could categorize anyone into 1 of 16 main categories. I did a tonne of reading on this and was overwhelmed, I did not think anything like this had been done before. The MBTI made me see that my way of categorization was far too broad and vague. So I just chucked the incomplete draft of what was supposed to be my first book into the bin.

I have, however, come up with new ideas. If you have been reading my blog you would have seen them before. I call them DcF1337's Laws. They are as follows:

No amount of material wealth will satisfy.
A higher entropy will always lead to a greater potential for chaos.
A greater necessity always begets a greater potential for destruction.

Interesting? Law 1 seems more like a philosophical assertion than anything else, so I might end up scrapping it. Laws 2 and 3 however are interesting because although they seem specific, they are multi-disciplinary. They don't just apply to physics, but also to biology, chemistry, epidemiology and sociology! However I'll need to do a lot of reading before I actually start writing anything because I want my concepts and theories to be as robust as possible. Also, I need to make sure that my conjectures haven't already been proven by some expert many many years ago.

You ask why? It's not about the glory or the fame, really. It's about contributing to society and making better sense of the world.

Okay, I lied. It does have a little to do with the glory. Who doesn't want a little admiration for their work?

I went out with people that matter.

Ivan Ho came back so obviously I will go and meet him right!!!! Not like SOME people *coughjiahuiyutingcough*. Joey was so nice, even though Yu Ting and Jia Hui abandoned her, leaving her to be the only girl going, she turned up anyway. She totally deserves like an award for being awesome like that.

Plenty fun, dinner at Popeye's followed by pool and arcade. Great fun.

Also met up with several magician friends and boy do they make me feel like a noob. You may think my magic is good (or not) but DAMN these guys are GOOD. When I watched them do their tricks and flourish I was just staring all the way with my jaw on the floor. These guys are amazing. Sadly it's because of their addiction to cards that they didn't do well in school (some completed their A levels, got lousy certificates, and had to continue their education in a polytechnic) and ironically it's also because of their polytechnic education (poly students tend to have a lot more free time) that they can improve their card handling in a short period of time. In short, I wish my magic was as good as theirs, but my education has to come first. I think I'll just quit cards for now and continue after A levels.

I guess that's it. That's about everything significant that happened this year.

Man, was it an amazing year.

Printing Kidneys

2011-12-21T01:52:00.003+08:00

Absolutely amazing.
At the rate that medicine is advancing, living over a hundred will be the norm for our generation.
These are exciting times.

Go Claudia Go!

2011-12-19T20:31:00.000+08:00

Claudia is pretty damn awesome.It's too bad I had to turn down her offer of meeting up today because I was just too exhausted.Oh well, there's always next time, I guess.

When Silence Is Not Golden

2011-12-17T06:02:00.001+08:00

There's like this really cute girl I've been going out with, (trust me it's really not what it sounds like, I'll explain more in the near future) and the one thing I hate about her is that she is

SO DAMN QUIET.

I would consider myself rather quiet too, and I have always tried to keep silent as much as possible because my policy is that, if you had nothing meaningful to say, you should simply shut up. Yet being with an intruiging yet quiet girl makes me so vexed. It's like she doesn't talk, and me being quiet by nature I also don't talk, and because of this we can go for HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS sitting beside each other without saying one word.

UGH. QUIET PEOPLE. I HATE QUIET PEOPLE.

Amat Victoria Curam

2011-12-14T06:49:00.001+08:00

I cannot make you enter my labyrinth.

But I can show you the way through it.

Hidden in Plain Sight

2011-12-07T01:59:00.001+08:00

Hey, this one's for you.
Remember when we said we would both go to Meridian and top the college together? I didn't
The song above sounds like something only a depressed person would
make the cut and got posted to CJ instead. And now we're both performing rather poorly. I'm
listen to to drown out his emotions, right? No, not exactly. I'm actually
doing much worse than you, though, I presume.
very happy. For my family. For my friends. To be completely
Let's work super hard next year. I know I will. I need to get my A's for A's and you
and utterly honest, there aren't many people I can call "friends". But
probably want your A's too. So Let's work really hard for them! I'm just as confident in
for those who are, let me just tell you I'm really happy you're there.
you as I am in myself. Let's just cut back the excuses, quit procastinating and mug. Hard.
You have obviously been a very busy girl, and you need to reassess why you keep making
I have been spending my time wisely, I guess. The whole of the past
yourself busy.
week I have been working on my seniors' graduation night video. Wow,
Normally people use holidays to get rested and just chill. You however, have been using the
it really sucks to be the only person working on a video, and an entire
holidays to get busy. I'm not complaining, I'm just suggesting that you should be at home
student council bossing you around and telling you what to do.
sleeping, really. Nevertheless, I am heartened and grateful to know that you took the effort
Thankfully, I can take pressure. I can take a beating and still be able
and time to meet up with me despite your hectic schedule. It wasn't much but it sure meant a
to stand tall. There is a saying that goes, "It's not about how long
lot to me.
you can go without falling down. It's about how often you get back up
I hope things work out with your parents. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it
again after getting knocked down.
cannot possibly go on like this forever. Do you want them to be cold towards you even as you
graduate from university? Even as you plan to get married, even as their grandchildren are
We all face obstacles in life. Huge big fat challenges that seem to
born? You have to begin somehow. Maybe not now. Maybe not this year. But I really hope that
have no end. Endless responsibilities that seem to have no human
you begin talking to them soon. Talk it out. Communication is
element within them at all. One must remember that although these
key. A series of misunderstandings can really destroy a relationship, even if neither party
obstacles may seem impossible to solve, they never really are. They are
means harm. You have to stop the misunderstanding, but in order to do that you have to
always possible to tackle or overcome. It's all amount timing and
talk it out. Heart to heart. You cannot simply dodge the problem and hope that
effort. Timing and effort. There's all there is to it.
it will someday just fade away.
I have always firmly believed that family comes first. They are like the roots of a tree,
I have been reading a lot of books lately. A few weeks back I went to
without them you will have absolutely no support to fall back on, nothing to anchor yourself
Popular and went on a book buying spree. I got The Black Swan,
to. Family comes first, then neighbours, and then friends. Remember that. Blood is always
Freakonomics, Superfreakonomics, The Tipping Point, Battle Hymn of the
thicker than water and you cannot change that.
Tiger Mother, Buzan's Study Skills, and Persuasive Writing. Awesomeness.
It can be frustrating, I know. But you have to start talking some day.
On another note, enjoy your Sweden trip and don't forget to be just be yourself while you're
So far, I have read Battle Hymn, Study Skills and I am in the process of
there. You're going to Sweden whether you like it or not, so you might as well make the best
reading Tipping Point. Ah, can't wait to finish them all.
out of every moment. I'm looking forward to meeting you next year. I'll try to get you some
Spanish/Moroccan goodies!
Till next time,
Much love,
Salim

Jag Känner En Bot

2011-12-06T22:35:00.001+08:00

I have always been fascinated with foreign language songs. The thing about them is that you can speak the lyrics while in a group and no one would understand what you were saying, unless they understood the language or knew the song and bothered to Google the meaning of the lyrics.

In the case of the Swedish song above, it sounds like a love story of some sort. Something about a breakup? Something about the singer missing a girl he loves? Perhaps?

Let's take a look at the lyrics translated to English:

I know a bot,
her name is Anna, Anna is her name
And she can ban, ban you so hard
She cleans up in our channel
I wanna tell you, that I know a bot

That always watches everyone here
And makes us out of trouble
There is no Take-over that succeeds
Remember that it's I who know this bot

The bot that no one else can beat
she kicks when she wants to
she kicks all of the spammers
Yes, nothing can beat our bot

(Ready for take off)

(Are you ready?)

And then came the day I didn't think was realThe channel was out of controlI never thought I would be so wrongWhen Anna said to me"I'm not a bot,I'm a really beautiful girl"Which is, unluckily, now very strange to meBut nothing needs to be explained*Because in my eyes, you will always be a bot*

Her name is Anna, Anna is her name
And she can ban, ban you so hard
She cleans up in our channel
I wanna tell you, that I know a bot

That always watches everyone here
And makes us out of trouble
There is no Take-over that succeeds
Remember that it's I who know this bot

The Bot that no one else can beat
And she kicks even if she shouldn't
She gets rid of everyone that "spams"
Yes, nothing can beat our bot.

Yes, that's right. This entire song is about an IRC bot named Anna who keeps the chatrooms clean. Yes. A 4 minute song about a bot.

The artist behind this song is Basshunter, and he made this song all by himself in his bedroom with amateur equipment. He sent it as an MP3 file to his friends and within weeks this song was playing on all the Swedish radio stations. Soon after he got signed up and he is now one of Sweden's most globally recognized artists.

Just because of one song he created in his bedroom. Imagine that.

Paciencia

2011-12-06T00:10:00.001+08:00

Man has unnecessarily complicated life. Daily pleasures have been replaced with mindless daily rituals. Simple joys have been replaced with pretentious, superficial, artificial materialism.

With the inception of religion, man has been worshiping self-imagined deities fervently. However, in recent times, religion has loosened its grip on society, and as a result many have turned to worshiping money instead.

What has happened to our values? To our morals?

At this point there will be those who wish to step in and say,

"Ah, this is where God comes in. By practicing our religion and our religion alone, and accepting our God and only our God as your God, you shall be saved. You shall be happy. You shall be morally upright. You shall be at peace".

To these people, I say,

"Nay. Your religion has brought more harm than good. Religion only seeks to control the masses and brainwash the impressionable. More lives have been taken in the name of religion than in the name of anything else. As for the concern over morality, morality is doing what is right despite what you're told. Religion is doing what you're told despite what is right. Religion is NOT morality".

Alas, this is not my point.
I must inquire, why, why do we seek to divide?

Why is it that we keep wanting to categorize people?
Why is it that we form cliques, only to exclude non-members?
Why is it that we join religious institutions, only to classify others as "non-believers" or heretics?
Why is it that we group together and fight just because two or more parties have different beliefs?
Why is it that we find security in finding local clusters of individuals with shared interests, only to discriminate against those outside said groups?

Why?

We must realise that humans are one, and that any classifications or divisions are completely artificial and unnecessary.

I have not exactly been secretive about my lack of belief in a supernatural all-powerful being that controls everything in the universe. I have talked about my atheism with several Christians I know personally and they are completely fine with it. Every now and again I would ask them what they thought about God, going to church every week and the like. I may not believe, but I respect their freedom to believe whatever they choose to. However, the following incident made me realize how religion can turn one into an absolutely intolerant bigot.

Several months ago I had made plans to meet up with Sydney Sim, and said she could invite whoever she wanted. Being her best friend in secondary school, she naturally invited Rachel Wong. When told about my plans to meet with them, Rachel declined, saying,

"Eh don't want lah. Shouldn't mix with these kind of people."

"These kind of people"? You mean like the 82.5% of Singaporeans that do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour?

Really, Rachel? Really?

As Time Goes By...

2011-12-03T01:54:00.001+08:00

It's 2am right now and I'm not all that tired, so I shall take this opportunity to write a short post.
Or more likely, a long one.

This week has been a rather frustrating week working with difficult people. On Tuesday I suddenly got a call from my president (Film Sound Video Society, for those who are unaware) that I was to work with another person, Clarisse, to make a graduation night video for my seniors. This video is to be shown this coming Monday night. So I made my way to school to copy to my thumbdrive the photos that Clarisse had picked out for me. Once I had done that I went to the council and discussed with them what they wanted in the video. They told me about the order of the pictures, the text and so on. So I went home and started working on it. Once I was done editing, I rendered the video and uploaded it to YouTube (unlisted, so that even if people tried to search for it they wouldn't be able to unless I gave them the link) and had them review the video.

Verdict for video #1: WRONG PICTURES!

Okay so apparently Clarisse had picked out all the pictures from 2011 when the council wanted pictures mainly from 2010. So I told Clarisse to help me pick out the pictures again from the school server, this time pictures from 2010. She literally lives 15 minutes away from CJC by foot while I live 45 minutes away by bus, so this was a rather fair deal. She spends 30 minutes of travelling time and only has to pick out the pictures, I spend 90 minutes of travelling time and have to produce an entire video for the seniors and am subject to the student council's criticisms and demands. We were supposed to each have an equal part in making the video, but I only asked that she pick out the pictures while I make an entire video. Alas, after she had picked out 10 photos (we needed around 50+) she messaged me, saying, "Okay I have to leave soon for tuition!" On top of this, she was going overseas at 4am the next day, which meant that I literally had to do everything on my own. She called me shortly before she left for the States, and I flared up at her because I had to do everything on my own. Looking back, I realised it wasn't her fault that she had to go for tuition and it wasn't her fault that she had plans to go overseas. I felt bad about that, talked about it with her and we're okay now.

Going back to the topic, I went to school (90 minutes to and fro just for some pictures, mind you) to pick the pictures from 2010 and went straight home to start working on the video. I was done around 1am when I uploaded the video to YouTube, sent the link to Sham, the in-charge of the graduation night video on the council's side. But all she really does is just boss me around and make sure that my video is up to her standards. Immediately went to bed after that.

Verdict for video #2: IT'S DAMN BAD!

I woke up the next morning and the first thing I did was check my phone. And apparently Sham had sent the link of the second video to the student council to seek their approval. And this is literally what they sent to Sham, word for word:

"Sham we all hate the video, it's damn bad. Can we just request the photos from fsv? We'll do it ourselves. TAKE THIS AS ADVICE."

The hell? Apparently using Premiere to pan and zoom (Ken Burns effect) photos as they fade in and fade out is "damn bad" to them, so much so that they have to tell me that they wanted to do it themselves. I used this technique for the 203 video and no one complained or commented on it. I used the same technique in the 407 video and no one complained or commented on it. I do the same technique for a graduation night video and suddenly "it's damn bad". Plus, they didn't mention this earlier. For the first video, they simply told me I used the wrong pictures. When I replaced the 2011 pictures with the 2010 ones suddenly the whole video becomes garbage to them.

At this point I was furious. Out of the blue they simply demanded a video and there were two people who were supposed to be working on this video, Clarisse and me. Clarisse leaves for US and I have to do everything. And instead of telling me how it sucks or where to improve, they simply say, "it's damn bad, can we do it ourselves?"

After a while, I managed to control my anger and took another approach. Instead of being angry I could take this chance to improve my video and remain calm. So I Googled for software that is more directed towards making video slideshows, found ProShow, torrented it, and started learning to use it straight away. By the time Sham had messaged me trying to calm me down (several angry messages were exchanged prior to this) I had already made a third video via ProShow, completely revamped, with vastly different effects and transitions.

Verdict for video #3: HEY, WE LIKE IT!

Okay, so they finally liked it, But they requested a few improvements here and there, like slowing down some transitions that were too fast and whatnot. These were very minor edits, and I have been making edits, uploaded to YouTube for them to review, and then making more minor edits, from Thursday to this day. Tomorrow I'll make one more minor edit that they requested, and I should be done.

So, what can we learn from this?

Always keep calm. Anger is like a fire that consumes. Control anger before it controls you.
Not everything can be controlled. Some things just happen due to unforeseen circumstances and as a rational human being you should accept that. Some things are just out of our control, so deal with it.
If your current strategy doesn't work, don't keep pushing it. Develop another strategy and use that instead. Be persistent in your ultimate goal, but be flexible in your method!
Above all, never, ever give up.

For the 203 and 407 class videos, I had people help me out by passing me their photos. But for this graduation night video, I had virtually zero help. I had to do everything on my own. I did not think I would be able to produce a quality video before graduation night, but I did.

All on my own.

PS. On another note, I always have and probably always will suck at DotA, and I feel horrible every time I make my team mates lose. Sorry Ivans and Weepin! I know I suck at DotA really bad, I guess teamwork-based video games like DotA just aren't my thing. It's like I was born to feed.

Working Through Pain

2011-12-01T00:30:00.000+08:00

Oh, it's December already!

This is actually an animated short from a compilation of Batman animated cartoons called Batman: Gotham Knight. I simply loved this particular episode, so much so that I had it cut out and uploaded to YouTube to share with my blog readers.

I first watched this 3 years ago, in 2008, and although it is merely an animated short, it has completely changed the way I perceive pain. Pain, to me, used to be a vulnerability, a weakness, and once you encounter it you are left helpless, at its mercy. After watching this short, however, I realised that pain was just a sensation like any other. Just like the smell of coffee. Or the feeling of an exquisite carpet as I step on it with my bare feet. Pain, like any other feeling, cannot, as Cassandra said, be overcome. But it can be put in its place.

This simple yet stark realization radically changed the way I manage my emotions. When I counter an unpleasant emotion, such as rejection or depression, I don't simply run away from the pain, because I know that the pain will only come back and hit twice, or thrice as hard the next time around. Instead, what I do is I let the pain penetrate me wholly. I experience the pain and its afflictive nature in its pure essence. I feel it in every cell of my body. And then I let it go.

Sounds a little like Buddism? Well that's because it is, at least in its approach towards managing emotion, or rather absenting emotions from oneself. I am no Buddhist, but if I had to commend one particular belief system, it would have to be Buddhism. I have derived more goodness from studying Buddhism alone than I have from studying Islam, Christianity and Judaism combined. Even Albert Einstein remarked, "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

It is a pity, though, that most modern Buddhists are not practicing, much less fervent. Some don't even make an effort to get to know about their own religion, instead choosing to give in to social pressures in order to fit in, and opt to follow their friends to church instead.

15 People

2011-11-27T18:07:00.001+08:00

There are currently 15 people I wish to meet before I die:

Stephen Hawking
Robert Greene
Malcolm Gladwell
Bill Gates
Richard Dawkins
Mark Zuckerberg
Daniel Buck
David Buck
Leonard Susskind
Marshall Mathers (Eminem)
Morgan Freeman
Christopher Hitchens
Sam Harris
Emma Watson
James Randi

Steven Paul Jobs used to be on that list, but seeing as to how he's dead, it wouldn't be very possible to meet him, would it? Nevertheless, whether or not I'll ever become important enough or have the proper connections to be able to meet these 15 people, I will never know until it actually happens.

But it's nice to dream.

By the way, Emma Watson is absolutely gorgeous.

One Shot

2011-11-25T15:10:00.001+08:00

Forever is Nothing

2011-11-24T15:43:00.001+08:00

I wanted to take some panoramic shots, so I went down to the field outside the Florida condominium because they had a really big field. This is the field that Weepin, Yingting and I went to to film Weepin running around and playing a fool. You can see him doing so at the 2:24 mark in this video:

When I reached there, more than half the field was gone. Most of the field had been turned into some Boathouse Residence Showflats bullshit and a parking lot. I felt so dismayed and cheated. It was gone without any warning. I guess things just come and go, and nothing is truly forever.

Nevertheless, I did manage to take some panoramic shots, albeit very lousy ones. I've uploaded them here for your viewing pleasure (or not).

Till next time.

Are Christians Better?

2011-11-21T19:51:00.001+08:00

Does accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour automatically make you a better person?

I think not.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum

2011-11-20T23:38:00.001+08:00

There is this Chinese proverb that goes, "A man grows most tired while standing still".

The traditional Chinese have long believed in the existence of 气 or Qi, which roughly translates to life energy or life force. There are several ways to increase one's Qi, but they primarily revolve around meditation and relaxation. On the other hand, one may inadvertently deplete his Qi by doing absolutely nothing at all. Idle. Sleep excessively. Phase out and stare blankly into the open. It is, arguably, one of the best ways to get tired.

The Chinese concept of Qi helps illustrate, at least in part, the fact that we get most tired when we do nothing at all. Hence, idle not. When free, do not waste your time on frivolous pursuits. Engage yourself in something fruitful. Books make great companions as do informational articles found throughout cyberspace. Exercise, study, get a job! A day getting nothing done, ironically, makes you feel more exhausted than a busy day does. Why tire yourself doing nothing when you can get things done with the same time?

The problem though, is that we aren't really all that idle anymore. The tables have turned, we are no longer are the naive little secondary school kids we were just a year ago.

We do too much.

Verba Veritatis

2011-11-17T00:21:00.001+08:00

Will

2011-11-13T13:39:00.001+08:00

I seek not fame nor riches

All I want

Is to

Find the lost

Fill the empty

Moisten the dry

Enlighten the dim

Educate the ignorant

Empower the meek

Liberate the subjugated

Emancipate the enslaved

Unchain the enchained

Moderate the excess

Feed the hungry

Calm the depressed

Reform the corrupt

Establish freedom where none exist

Bring justice to the oppressed

And eradicate all great evils

DcF1337's Laws

2011-10-31T22:22:00.000+08:00

First Law:
No amount of material wealth will satisfy.

Second Law:
A higher entropy will always lead to a greater potential for chaos.

Third Law:
A greater necessity always begets a greater potential for destruction.

Let's move onward together.

Relapse

2011-08-27T00:45:00.000+08:00

I must apologize for my hiatus.

Stuff have happened that weren't very nice, and I'm still trying to crawl my way out of this mess.

Hey There

2011-07-23T00:19:00.000+08:00

I just felt like I ought to do this...

Sorry. For all of my past faults, especially being oversensitive.

Thank you. For the littlest things. They mean a great deal.

I want to keep you as a good friend, forever :)

Ya Yaya Yaya

2011-07-17T01:02:00.001+08:00

Contentment

2011-07-02T23:56:00.000+08:00

2 things I'll never get sick of:

Cards and music.

Careless Whisper

2011-06-28T19:43:00.002+08:00

Okay

2011-06-24T10:55:00.002+08:00

Was it something I said?

2011-06-23T01:35:00.000+08:00

Been months since we last talked.

I don't get why you aren't replying my messages. :/

C'est la vie

2011-06-21T00:30:00.003+08:00

Ca n’est pas ta faute

C’est Ton héritage

Et ça sera pire encore

Quand tu auras mon âge

Ca n’est pas ta faute

C’est ta chair, ton sang

Il va falloir faire avec

Ou plutôt sans

It's not your fault

It's your legacy

And it will be worse

When you're my age

It's not your fault

This is your flesh, your blood

We'll have to do with

Or rather without

And That's Just What I'll Do

2011-06-19T00:51:00.003+08:00

Yesterday night, a very old friend of mine gave me what might just be the best piece of advice I've ever heard.

"Don't bother with finding a soulmate at this age," she said. "Find lifetime friends. Friends you can keep."

"From there, you'll find your soulmate a few years down the road."

Then she went offline.

The Power of Science

2011-06-17T15:49:00.004+08:00

Wow.
Just, wow.

Dum Spiro, Spero

2011-06-16T08:58:00.004+08:00

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"

- Vincent van Gogh

Boner Alert

2011-06-15T19:46:00.004+08:00

Lonely Island: Because the world can never have too much retardedness.

Oh and, this song has been stuck in my head ever since Wai Heng played it at the arcade. Damn you Wai Heng!

For Wai Heng and Rui Guang:
Muons do not travel faster than the speed of light, nor do electrons or tauons. If one did they all would, because they're in the same family of subatomic particles: leptons. However, because of time dilation (as the muon approaches c, time slows down) the muon lasts longer than it would if it were stationary. You have your concepts muddled up. You can't move through space at or greater than the speed of light if you have any mass at all.

Tachyons, assuming they exist, are particles that can travel faster than the speed of light; they have a whole set of weird, unique properties that you don't see in ordinary matter. However, tachyons are completely hypothetical, they haven't been proven to exist, by experiment or theory.

So yeah.

Life's a Box of Chocolates

2011-06-03T23:42:00.008+08:00

Koh Wai Heng once told me, "The universe exists, and does not exist... at the same time".
Not quite, but close enough.

Go get high on some hallucinogens as you listen to the following song:

Nice Guys Finish Last

2011-06-02T22:02:00.000+08:00

Angular Momentum

2011-05-26T10:42:00.001+08:00

Wish I had somebody.
But I've become too cold to show I care.

Kara Remembers

2011-05-21T13:04:00.000+08:00

Irrational fear?

2011-05-20T19:42:00.001+08:00

I don't even know whether to laugh or cry. It's easy to mock and scorn a group of people who believe in complete bullshit, but if you care at all about humanity, you can't help but feel sorry for them too. You can't blame them completely for believing what they believe, because the uneducated and misinformed are especially prone to being brainwashed in such a manner. They then feel the need to circulate the fear, and the ignorance spreads like a virus.

The world would actually be a better place without Christianity, or any other invasive religion to start with.

Extraversion

2011-05-14T22:45:00.007+08:00

The more I know the more I realize how little I know.

Once I'm done with the A levels I'll make it a point to go through the entire A level chemistry and biology syllabus in-depth. It's really a bummer to love science but not be able to read A level chemistry, even at H1, during these 2 years. So I plan to go through chemistry on my own, as well as biology. I find molecular and evolutionary biology highly fascinating but it sucks when I stumble upon a paragraph of text filled with unrecognizable terms. Wikipedia articles just aren't enough, I have to actually read notes/books to really internalize the concepts. Watching several dozen documentaries and video clips on cosmology has allowed me to explain how the universe expands and where the sun gets its energy from, but ask me to calculate the magnitude of the local acceleration in a gravitation question and I'll just stumble. I don't know the formulas. I don't know what the constants are. And that's why we go to school. Reading Wikis doesn't give you enough insight into any sort of advanced theory. In a sense, the educators provide us with knowledge in a condensed package, so that we may apply practical knowledge to real life situations should the need arise. More importantly, though, we acquire skills that are required of the courses and syllabi that we go through.

But I digress.

I feel that knowledge is much more important than the average student realizes. It's really a pity that most students are making themselves sit through over a decade of gargling from the fountain of knowledge just so they can have that dream job and/or that fabulous pay. It's really a pity that people are more interested in the destination than the journey itself.

Don't gargle. Drink.

A lonely soldier

2011-05-09T15:28:00.006+08:00

Some things are everlasting, forever, eternal.

But most things are only for the moment.

So appreciate them while you can,

because once they're gone,

they're gone.

It's been a hectic few weeks and time has flown so fast.

I don't even know what to say.

I really enjoy the few hours I spend playing DotA with 203 guys and Portal 2 co-op with the Ho.

I also really enjoyed the few hours we spent having a picnic at Marina Barrage eating all kinds of shit like marshmallow seaweed sushi and a chaotic concoction of Doritos, Pocky, Pringles, bread, marshmallows, seafood spread and seaweed that actually turned out to be surprisingly tasty.

No really.

I'm quite glad that I've done almost all my homework, but when it comes to revision I have much left undone.
I need some sort of motivation to keep going at a consistent rate.
It would be nice if I had someone to constantly nag at me to go and study.
Or maybe,
I just need to get that motivation from within.
If only things had turned out just a little different.
I feel very lonely now.

Now you know the truth

2011-04-30T10:54:00.001+08:00

And then some.

What is this I don't even

2011-04-18T11:37:00.008+08:00

Marred

2011-04-14T21:50:00.001+08:00

What hurts the most is not feeling emotionally distant from those physically closest to you

It's knowing that the people you treasure the most see you as insignificant.

Metacognition

2011-04-12T21:05:00.002+08:00

And then it explodes into this enormous collage

And in this moment we are perfect

We are whole

And we are beautiful

Schadenfreude

2011-04-10T22:04:00.002+08:00

I may not openly express it, but I really appreciate all your presence. It's nice to occasionally eat and study with friends for a change.

Thanks for making me feel appreciated. :)

Rule 90

2011-04-10T16:43:00.003+08:00

Well, homecoming was disappointing.

I still think it's retarded that I got a prize for being top in Malay. Because I'm the only Sec 4E student taking ML instead of HML. So OBVIOUSLY I will top the level in Malay?!?!?!!? Nevertheless it was nice going up on stage for doing absolutely nothing at all, and I do appreciate the $20 voucher... will come in handy when I need to stock up on stationery.

I'm supposed to meet up with Weepin and a couple of girls(?) to study at Compass Point in about 30 minutes' time. YET HERE I AM, BUTT STUCK TO MY CHAIR.

Time to get a move on!

There we go

2011-04-07T15:30:00.004+08:00

My masterpiece. <3

Actually, technically speaking, all I did was film several parts of the video and compose them together. Wee Pin directed the whole thing, all I did was behind-the-scenes stuff. It was a really wonderful experience though, seeing him learning to dance, trying to match up Party Rock Anthem with his dancing and reversing his jumping down and what-not.

Let's make another video like this at the end of 2011, just for old times' sake. We can call Ivan Ho back! Then we can use our After Effects magic to make Ivan Low fart fire and make Fizzy explode into a mushroom cloud of smoke. Hell yeah.

I intentionally didn't credit myself at the end of Wee Pin's video because I wanted it to stay "pure" and look like its completely his own effort. Despite that he told people that I helped him make the video anyway. Thanks man, I appreciate that. :)

Fatigue

2011-04-03T10:34:00.004+08:00

What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.

I'm just... damn bloody tired of all the responsibilities I have to take on.

"Eh Salim please represent CJC in the Lensa Bahasa competition"
"Eh Salim come and organise a day on which we can go to ECP for filming"
"Eh Salim show me all the effects you can do"
"Eh Salim plan out a draft of the script"

Bloody tired of all the favours I keep doing for people.

"Eh Salim help me copy FIFA DVD"
"Eh Salim burn 10 movies for me "
"Eh Salim what games you have? Can burn some for me?"
"Eh Salim can help me download..."
"Eh Salim can lend me..."

Bloody tired of the fucking irritating people in school who can't shut the fuck up.

"My grandfather lost 9 million dollars in the economic crisis"
"My parents always scold scold scold me. Every time my father come into my room and..."
"I have 15 dictionaries. You know I used to collect dictionaries. Then I collected stamps and coins."
"Why you never buy the black iPad case? You know the Apple case? It's like smooth. Damn nice damn nice"

Seriously what the fuck. Give me a fucking break.

Neutronium

2011-03-26T23:26:00.007+08:00

Haven't been blogging for awhile. I have stuff to do actually so I'll keep this short (or not).

Birthday was a huge surprise. After PE I wanted to go back to class but one of my classmates, Gordon, insisted I accompany him to refill his water bottle. When I went back to class with him there was a cake on my table. So touching! I've never had anyone but my parents buy me a cake before... and the last time I cut a birthday cake was probably 5 years ago. Aw. :')

Had my first CCA meeting yesterday. I wasn't supposed to be inside actually, because by the time I wanted to secure a CCA, Film Sound Video (it's basically a media club) already had zero vacancies. I was considering joining chess club! But I talked to the teacher-in-charge of FSV and apparently he was so impressed with my experience with AE/Premiere and my photos that he let me in. And after I got in, I realised I was the only J1 who knows how to use Adobe programs. Wow, no wonder I got in.

There's this inter-school Malay competition where I have to make a video about how education will be like in the near future. And my school wants me to recreate a futuristic virtual user interface, something like the one in Minority Report..

That is, an insane amount of work. INSANE I TELL YOU!111!111!ELEVEN1!1!!

But I can, and I will. :)

I'm also suppoed to do some backward motion action for Weepin and smokey kaboomzy explosions for Yingting. WOO THE THINGS YOU CAN ACHIEVE, AFTER EFFECTS. WHAT WILL WE EVER DO WITHOUT YOU.

IVAN HO I WISH YOU WERE HERE IN SG SO YOU CAN LIKE HELP ME OUT WITH AFTER EFFECTS SHIT. I NEED UR GAYNESS AND PROWESS. I MISS U BABY. WE ALL MISS U. LETS MEET UP AT SOME DARK ALLEY SOMETIME SOON.

XOXO,
BLACK

Tickity tick

2011-03-18T23:23:00.000+08:00

The clock is ticking...

Oh that reminds me, I have homework to do. :/

What am I doing?

2011-03-18T01:22:00.000+08:00

There she goes, there she goes.

You guys do know who she is, right? ;)

Nanananananananananana

2011-03-16T11:06:00.000+08:00

Become legendary

2011-03-08T23:08:00.004+08:00

Are you making excuses?

It's been a long, long time since I started blogging. This is my thousandth blog post. Although this blog's URL has changed a couple of times, it's been around for very long. I started blogging when you were still playing Neopets, trying to defeat your friends' virtual pets in battles and earning as many Neopoints as you can. I still remember, only in Neopets are "fairies" spelt as "faeries". I'd never heard of the latter spelling until I started playing Neopets. I often got annoyed because whenever I searched for "fairy" in Neopets, nothing would turn up. I even tried hacking the page to give me virtually unlimited Neopoints but I realised that was impossible unless I had internal access to the Neopets servers.

Oh, good times.

Acesulfame K

2011-03-06T22:48:00.006+08:00

An unexpected match. Who knew Eminem and Taylor Swift could fit into the same song?

Aspartame

2011-02-27T15:42:00.002+08:00

Phenylalanine

2011-02-26T08:17:00.000+08:00

Frankly,

I feel unloved. ):

Phenolphthalein

2011-02-24T20:39:00.002+08:00

Where do I start?

CJC isn't all that bad, but I really really miss the good old times in Xinmin. No more Joe/Weijian/Yufeng to call me black. No more Joe to crack incredibly lame and random jokes. No more Yuming to discuss the problems facing society and fundamental psychological concepts with. No more Ms Kuck to come in with an everlasting smile and a "Good morning class!" No more Mr Singh to wear turbans with. No more Zhen Yong to discuss Apple products with. No more Mr Pah to laugh at. No more Mdm Tian to complain about... No more O levels to study for.

Heck, I miss 203 even more. Those times were golden. Now it's all gone. Now it's all study revise study revise study revise CCA study revise. Tsk.

The other side of the meadow is always greener, isn't it?

On a more enthusiastic note, I feel like forming a group. A super duper awesome group called the Mugger's Association. Mmmm...

Everything rotates

2011-02-17T18:30:00.002+08:00

My wings may break once in a while, but nothing can break my spirit.

πάντα κυκλει, in omnia paratus.

Be alright

2011-02-13T17:36:00.002+08:00

Chingay was so damn awesome on so many levels I can't describe in words. Wahahahaha. ^^

Xinminians are the best. You guys really make me feel like I belong somewhere. I've never felt the same way with my non-XMS PPS friends, so I really mean it when I say you guys are awesome. Let's keep in touch forever. Once a Xinminian always a Xinminian! <3

You can view the Chingay photos here:

Day 1
Day 2 (1 of 2)
Day 2 (2 of 2)

Back to school tomorrow! I can't wait to stare into blank space during lunch and talk to my graphing calculator again! Yay!

Retarded education system

2011-02-12T11:34:00.004+08:00

If there's anything I hate about the education system in Singapore, it's that they put too much value in past academic achievements.

Having achieved a net L1R5 score of 10 I thought my score was just nice for admission into MJC, but noooooooooo, so many low-scorers got in, so the cut-off point for the science stream dropped to 9. I thought I'd get in by appealing, but nooooooooooooo, they only accepted those who appealed with CCA. If you don't meet the cut-off point and you have nothing good to offer to Meridian you'd better get the hell of out MJC.

Nanyang failed, for about the same reasons as above. So I should be alright with the JC I was posted to, CJC. I should be fine with PCME, right? But nooooooooooooooooooooooo. No. No. I didn't take pure science in O levels so I wouldn't qualify for two sciences. I could take either physics or chemistry, but not both. That's fucking unreasonable. As far as I know every other JC allows combined science students to take both sciences. The admin at CJC told me that I "don't have the background" so I wouldn't be able to cope, and that "it's not what you want, it's what's good for you". Fuck that. Why the fuck does "background" matter if I read well beyond my syllabus anyway? Is interest and passion not more important than a bullshit certificate? Are past academic achievements really all that matters? -.-

It is my fault that I slacked throughout my first 2 years of secondary school and got into a combined science class. And it is my fault for not working hard enough for O levels to even get into MJC (or RJ/VJ/TJ/NJ for that matter). But not being able to take a subject you love, simply because you don't have proof that you can handle it? Really?

The Singapore education system is screwed inside out. Education should be about life-long learning, learning for the sake of knowledge and not for the mere sake of academic results. Yes, of course everyone would like excellent grades and go on to their dream secondary school/poly/JC/uni, but that shouldn't be all there is to it. If all you do is cram shit into your head to do well for tests and examinations and then forget everything immediately after, you would have learnt nothing at all at the end of your schooling life. You would just be an information pump. Information goes in and information goes out. You learn absolutely nothing, because you hold no value in the knowledge you were given access to.

Of course, you could interpret this entire post as me being bitter about not getting the JC/subject combination I was aiming for. Or you can try to see things the way I do and appreciate knowledge more. I don't know. That decision is yours to make.

At the very least, I'm taking H2 maths and physics. That's good enough for my standards. It's all I need. :)

It takes time

2011-02-09T22:17:00.000+08:00

Past few days/weeks have been quite tough. So many changes I wasn't ready for. But I'll make it through. With the few friends that I have, with my parents' encouragement and my sheer might and will, I'll make it through. Somehow.

You still appear in both my dreams and nightmares. Under situations like this I'd tell my mental projection of you to leave me alone, but upon reconsideration, having you in my dreams makes me feel alive again. It's like you're there... except you really aren't.

It sucks to suffer alone. No wonder youngsters form gangs and shit.

Nothing. Just nothing.

2011-02-04T01:07:00.004+08:00

944999

2011-02-01T18:57:00.000+08:00

If I had a single flower for every time I thought about you, I could walk through my garden forever.

Feigned nonchalance

2011-01-30T23:54:00.002+08:00

I've told myself time and again that I will eventually have to let go, whether I like it or not. Despite how hard it is. Despite how long I've waited in silence. Despite how many words I have unsaid. Simply because a shift in circumstances completely turned the tables and put an abrupt end to this... thing we had going on. Much like how the change of a single digit in a binary sequence can completely alter the meaning of the entire line of code. Or how a single proton can completely change the state of matter in which the atom is in.

I'll miss you very much.

Yesterday

2011-01-28T20:37:00.004+08:00

Same chords over and over

2011-01-27T16:47:00.004+08:00

Shitty day.

Fate?

2011-01-26T16:02:00.001+08:00

1st choice: MJC *REJECTED*
2nd choice: NYJC *REJECTED*

Posted to 3rd choice: CJC

I didn't think I'd be posted to CJC. I thought worst-case scenario was being posted to NYJC. But apparently NYJC has a COP of 8 now, while MJC has a COP of 9. When I was appealing to MJC just now I asked the teacher at the office what my chances of getting into MJC were. She just replied, "The science stream has a cut-off point of 9." Period. It's just another way of saying, "Your chances are damn shit but you can try anyway for our amusement."

It takes me about 40 minutes to get to CJC, but just 29 to reach AJC. AJC has a cut-off point of 10 which means I'll have good chances of getting in there if I appeal. But should I? Is it worth the extra 22 minutes I save everyday? Is it worth leaving Xinmin friends already posted to CJC? Does any of this really matter anymore?

Ahhhhhh screw this.

The .JPG says it all

2011-01-21T01:31:00.003+08:00

All I need

2011-01-19T19:37:00.010+08:00

Hai I just woke up from sleep. I was reading a book while lying down and I must have been really tired because I just dozed off. Now I have a stiff, aching neck, and I will most probably have difficulty sleeping tonight. Awesome!

I think the 203 chalet was quite a success, especially so if you take into consideration how it's a Sec 2 class and how late it's held; it's a whole week after the results. I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who attended the chalet and helped to make it happen. There would be no chalet at all if it weren't for you guys. Thanks a bunch.

On the first day, I headed off to Fizzy's place to see him playing WoW, with Wai Heng watching him. Wow, really. I wonder how many hours a day he spends on that game. After grabbing his Monopoly, Wai Heng, Low, Weepin and I left for the chalet. Franklin helped us to check in (thanks Franklin!) and they started playing some games while waiting for more people to come. Around 7-8 I went to eat at Popeye's with just a few guys because I was damn hungry, I skipped lunch that day. The rest were still playing I think. I can't really remember what else happened that day, it was all a blur. But I do remember watching some shit Thai "horror" movie. After watching 45 minutes of non-scary bullshit I told myself, "If I see nothing scary in the next 5 minutes I'm going to sleep". True enough, I didn't see anything scary. So I went to the bedroom, wrapped myself in a blanket and went to sleep. At about 2.30am Ivan jumped on the bed and woke me up from my sleep.. what the hell. If I'm not wrong, most of the people there had just finished eating supper. I woke up and played Monopoly Deal for a while before all of us went to sleep together. Sounds wrong. But you get the idea.

Woke up quite early the next morning and I was feeling damn hungry. I wanted to go grab breakfast asap but everyone was too busy playing daidi/slapjack/some other game to give a damn. That, and because they weren't too hungry because they just had supper a few hours ago. In the end I went to have brunch alone because I couldn't take it anymore Q.Q Ate at Asli Village. The chicken cutlet there is only $5, wow. I went to NTUC to get stuff for the BBQ. On the way back to the chalet I saw Minnie and Zanelle and they helped me carry stuff. How convenient. ^-^

I thought I'd have to carry all the stuff alone so I didn't buy drinks. I called Wee Pin (who was outside eating) and asked him to help me buy 10 bottles of drinks. He then instructed Joey and Yuting to buy the drinks instead. I think he said something along the lines of, "Eh go buy ten bottles of water. 1.5 litre. Kthx" And they did just that: they bought 10 bottles of mineral water. How awesome is that!1!11!!!!

We started the barbecue. Ryan was very helpful in starting the fire and rearranging the charcoal. I could only eat so much before I started getting sick of the food. I just had a barbecue last Thursday. Now I know what Minnie means when she said, "You not sick of BBQ food one meh??!!?"

Played asshole daidi and drank the awesome melted sea coconut dessert. The awesomest thing I've drank all day, because all we had to drink was mineral water... LOL. I tasted the incredibly tasty AbdulAngKohLowSim rice prepared by the master chef Koh Wai Heng. Wee Pin helped with the heat control by fanning the pit when the master chef asked him to. I'm not sure what Low and Franklin did but all I did was, stand there. Low had this brilliant idea of removing the satay from the sticks and putting them into an aluminium tray and cooking all the satay meat together. Master chef Koh cooked it and wow, it was damn awesome. Then they put the satay meat into the recooked fried rice and mixed it all up. 很好吃. AbdulAngKohLowSim rice. A once-in-a-lifetime meal.

Some of us spent the night watching TV and some played slapjack/daidi and stuff. After showering I planned to stay up throughout the night so I drank frozen Red Bull. Finding myself with nothing to do, I continued reading my book. The next thing I knew, Kenny was screaming, "RISE AND SHINE. RISE AND SHINE. WE GO SEE SUNRISEZSSZXSSZ". Just because he's bored he has to come and disturb my sleep. And obviously the Red Bull didn't give me wings.

Things I learnt from the chalet:

203 people eat at weird times, like breakfast at 4am and supper at 2am
Never judge a DVD by its cover... seriously
Wee Pin's abs are teh sex

The chalet made me realise how lonely I am at home by my lonesome self. No siblings, no maid, both parents working. Just me and my computers. I wake up to an empty home and my parents sleep hours before I do. I pass the time with games and movies but I suck at DotA, find singleplayer games a bore and have watched just about every movie worth watching. Man, this is the life.

I miss Xinmin already. Everything from the people to the canteen food to the lessons. Somehow I wish it was 2007 again. There are so many wrongs I would have made right and so many mistakes I wouldn't have committed. So many red herrings I would have avoided. So many deeds left undone and words left unsaid. If only there was a backspace key in life...

School's starting in a matter of weeks for those of us going to JC. Let's go back to Xinmin during CNY celebrations okay? :)

Our world

2011-01-16T13:55:00.004+08:00

I have this massive urge to solve some calculus and algebra questions. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I asked my father for some math textbooks and he give me 8 big fat books, 2 of which are on electrical enginnering and 1 more on mechanical engineering. Electrical enginnering is surprisingly interesting early on, it covers basics like motions of charges in fields and how velocity affects mass. Relatively simple stuff, any Sec 3 student would understand. But later on they give me some bullshit about diodes and AM and FM modualtion?!1/11!?!?!?!11 Suddenly all the weird symbols come out. They look like hieroglyphics. x.x

Damn this. I'm going back to plain-English theoretical physics. -.-

Anddddddddddddddd 203 chalet is tomorrow. WAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH. ^-^

Odyous of olde been comparisonis, And of comparisonis engendyrd is haterede

2011-01-14T10:43:00.003+08:00

Back from 407 chalet. Ate so much BBQ food I was full. I was full. I find that amazing.

Unlike Cherry/Joe/Yon/Yuhui I slept for 6 full hours. Waking up to Joe's bullshit is infinitely more annoying than waking up to my mum's nagging, and yet it's infinitely more awesome. He stares at you for no reason at all and spouts rubbish after rubbish after rubbish about lard, pork, Boon Keng, Ar Du(sp?), fats, oil, Iraq, Kuwait, and the list goes on...

At first I regretted not bringing the camera but now I don't, seeing how there wasn't many things to take pictures of. I also wanted to screen the 407 class video at the chalet but everyone was so busy barbecuing the whole evening...

I uploaded this video to YouTube shortly after Christmas and made it public, but the first few viewers suggested that I remove it from YouTube and show it during class chalet. So I made the video private and prepared a DVD for the class to see. Sadly, that didn't happen, so I shall just go back to making it public for everyone to watch... ha. Isn't it awesome how things keep coming back to square one?

Next up, 203 chalet!

The worst is over (for now)

2011-01-10T20:51:00.001+08:00

I was anticipating a single digit L1R5 but I guess 10 is okay by my standards.

Here's the breakdown:

English A1
Maths A2
A Maths A2
C. Humans B3
Geography B3
Malay B3
C. Science A1

Geography was a huge surprise. I've never passed a single paper since 2009 and yet I got a freaking B3... utterly mind-blowing.

The rest was more or less expected... I guess. Hmm..

If you got the results you wanted then I'm very happy for you! Otherwise, don't feel bad! The past has passed and you can't change it. Remember, it's not the destination that counts. It's the journey.

I'm probably going to NYJC... maybe. I don't know. I'll decide after the open house(s). =/

rwrwrw & hoho: Apparently not, but it must be some spammer we know because he/she also appears in Weepin's blog?!?!

weepin: Wise words... wise words.

kenny: THANKS! But you got the date wrong. Go wish me again on 22/3. :)

hoho: Because the pixel density of your screen is much better than the iPhone's? :O

Ivan: Really what. Even in real life you talk a lot rubbish. LOL.

ming en: Thanks! :D

Francine: It's okay! It really isn't your fault; I was the one who installed Adsense in the first place. Q.Q

Changes

2011-01-09T00:41:00.004+08:00

Ah, so much has changed lately.

New monitor
27 inches of pure badassery. With a resolution of 2560*1440, even 1080p video looks somewhat stretched when viewed fullscreen. Back when I was using my 22" monitor, I used to feel a little sad because every time I watched 1080p video it would be downscaled to just 1050p. I couldn't enjoy 1080p content in its full glory. Now I can. And the tons of extra virtual real estate is a huge plus. Dell makes awesome displays.

My computer moved house
Okay, not really. With my 27" monitor beside my 24" monitor, everything was more cramped, and I had significantly less desk space. So I did what seemed obvious; I just moved my massive computer tower below my desk and suddenly everything fell into place: I have more desk space than ever before (despite the addition of a new monitor), my computer runs about 5-10 degrees cooler than before (because hot air rises, cold air sinks), and it's easier to open up my computer than ever before. Previously I had to meticulously reach in from the back and pull out the cables and carefully turn it and place it on my table before proceeding to open the case. Now all I have to do is simply rip out the cables, pull it outwards and lay it flat on the floor. Bam.

I've started sleeping in my own room!
For the first time in 16++ years I've decided to sleep in my own room. I've already had a sofa bed all these years, but it's only recently that I've been using it as an actual bed and not a sofa for my stuffed toys. Previously my excuse was that my room had no air conditioning, but seeing how the weather's so damn chilly now, having no air conditioning isn't a problem. Because of this I can also truly start experimenting with lucid dreaming, because I can try to induce lucid dreams using an alarm clock. This wasn't possible back when I was still sleeping in my parents' room, because I'd disturb my parents' sleep.

Finally opened my own bank account!
It's nice to know that you can always have a little extra cash anytime you want. Your life's savings are just an ATM away. To my surprise, my ATM card also doubles as a debit card so I can finally buy stuff online without persuading my parents. Not to mention that I can also use it to make moolah online. Hell yeah. >:D

New blog skin!
As if you haven't noticed this already. It actually happened because of an accident. I was trying out Adsense on my blog and realised it wasn't what I thought it to be. So I tried removing it manually in my template and I screwed up badly, and my blog skin went haywire. Everything was all over the place. Francine suggested I use a new blog skin and voila, here it is.

New year!
Um... duh. Now that I've finally gotten used to being in 2011, here are my resolutions.

Use the computer a lot less often, at most 1h per day.
Read more books, at least 3 per month. (imma slow reader, ma bad)
Create something fantastic: a book, a short film, a cardistry video, a song remix, etc.
Spend more quality time with friends, both new and old.

And... it's just one more day. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be excited or worried. :/

Magnetic

2011-01-03T23:50:00.002+08:00

HUAT AH.

From 0 to 1

2010-12-31T23:57:00.009+08:00

While people are out counting down to the new year, having barbecues, screaming their lungs out, getting drunk at parties and dancing like some retards, here I am spending the very last moments of 2010 and the dawn of 2011 finishing Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw.

An amazing book by the way.

2010 was an awesome year. It had it ups and downs but more of ups than downs. Life is a rollercoaster ride after all, if you don't try to at least enjoy it you're gonna feel sick and miserable throughout the entire darn thing. Just make the best of what you have and be what you want to be. You don't have to conform to society. Define yourself. Rules are only rules to slaves who refuse emancipation. At the same time, don't do anything stupid like drugs or gangs. It's okay to enjoy a little freedom, just don't neglect the use of your frontal lobe.

Let 2011 be, even awesomer than 2010, regardless of what circumstances we find ourselves in or how the rollercoaster ride is turning out. In omnia paratus!

Results Day

2010-12-31T09:56:00.004+08:00

I keep dreaming about O level results recently... sigh.

Last night I dreamt that Ivan Low everyday go my house play DotA DotA DotA and then suddenly we realised, "Eh! Tomorrow got History paper! Fuck haven't study!!!!

Then I asked him, "So what was that exam we took in October and November?"

"October? That's mid-year la dumbasssssssssssss HAH HAHAHAHAHAHAH"

Okay damn weird dream. Low's always acting like a clown in my dreams. No wonder I rarely take him seriously. =x

A week ago I dreamt that I got 28 points. In that dream I was supposed to be sad but all I could do was stare at that slip of paper and stay mum. I woke up from that dream wanting to cry. Oh how relieved I was to know it was only a dream!

I keep telling myself that I no longer care what results I'm going to get. But deep down inside I definitely do. I'm just really scared that my results turn out to be much worse than I'm willing to accept; and if that happens I don't think I'd know what to do other than just break down and emo for the rest of my life. Q.Q

It's such a pity that prayer does not work. If I were not aware of that fact I'd probably spend the rest of my holidays kneeling and praying for good results. I guess... all I can do now is, as cliché as it is, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. :/

Is this the real thing?

2010-12-26T22:06:00.004+08:00

This morning I woke up with a piece of chocolate waffle in my mouth. LOL. My mum was feeding me with a waffle she just bought and trying to get me to wake up. I didn't actually wake up until about an hour later. Awesome.

My life recently has been mostly being on the computer 24/7, with the exception of meals of course. I really hope that'll change soon. I don't want to spend majority of my holidays rotting at home. I need to get a life. :/

Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

HAI MERI KRISMUS ALL.

Christmas isn't really a Christian thing anymore, at least it's not just a Christian festival any longer. I'd like to wish a very merry Christmas to all Christians and non-Christians alike.

Let's do the cha-cha. :)

元素図鑑

2010-12-22T12:48:00.002+08:00

For the win.

Through the fire and the flames

2010-12-21T10:01:00.004+08:00

I swear I have the weirdest dreams ever.

A few days ago I dreamt that I went for NPCC training and at the end of training I found that my phone went missing again. I panicked and made everyone around me panic only to find my phone in my bag a few minutes later.

Just yesterday I dreamt that I went for NPCC training again, during the December holiday period in 2010 (which is now). When I was supposed to put on my full uniform I realised that I left my beret at home, so I could only wear quarter uniform. Then I went to 7-11, grabbed a Big Gulp cup, then went to another 7-11 outlet and claimed that I paid for my Big Gulp without putting anything inside. Then the cashier told me to fill it myself and I left the store happily without paying. LOL. I wonder if that works in real life... not that I'd try though.

It's been 6 months since the last training but I still dream of NPCC. It had such a great impact of my life. It showed me that the human body does not have any measurable limits. You may think that you've reached your 100% and you can't go any more but with enough might you may go on to 120%, 150%, or perhaps even 200% of what you thought your body could handle. Next time around you return a stronger person, again with perceived limits and yet again breaking them with sheer might.

Perhaps I should go back and see my juniors during the EOY camp... would be nice. They must miss Bobo a lot. It's been a year.

Leave your self-centeredness behind

2010-12-19T21:56:00.004+08:00

This brilliant video was created as a tribute to the classic by Carl Sagan, The Pale Blue Dot.

Beautiful. So damn beautiful.

Dreams and nightmares

2010-12-17T10:29:00.003+08:00

Who shall police the police,

watch the watchmen,

comfort the comforter?

Coincidence, or just determinism?

2010-12-08T14:50:00.008+08:00

hoho: Yep he chose everything. :O

rwrwrw: HAHA you think too much.

celine: CELINEZEZ

weepin: The song is totally epic (Y)

hoho: So nice right. Too bad one of the iPhones is stolen, one is my Dad's, and the iTouch is taken over by my mum. But both my parents have iPhone 4's now so I don't see why they need another iPhone/iTouch. :/

Francine: YEAH CYA REAL SOON K. ^^

Yufeng: Long time no see you tag in my tagboard. Haha welcome. :)

Back home

2010-12-08T02:38:00.002+08:00

As I begin to write this post it is 2.38 in the morning. I am suffering from jet lag. Everything about my physical self screams, 'fatigue': dark eye circles, red eyes, occasional headaches, but I just can't get myself to sleep. My mind is too wide awake to fall asleep with my body. That's why I'm here, in front of my computer, typing away. I shall simply stay awake and wear myself out both physically and mentally, then sleep early tonight so I can reset my biological clock back to normal. Even my parents are awake, unable to sleep. My father practically sleeps almost immediately after dinner every single day and my mother considers 11pm to be 'extremely late'. This is the first time in my life my whole family is awake at such an unearthly hour.

I just came back from Turkey actually. Horrible 12-hour flight, absolutely horrible. Imagine being stuck in a plane for 12 hours straight. By the second hour you're getting really bored. By the fourth hour you're really tired. And by the eighth hour you're really cranky and just about everything annoys you. You want to sleep but it's very hard to fall asleep on a chair which has a body that can only bend backwards so far. If you're sitting on Ivan Low's chair it's a completely different story, of course. If only they put chairs identical to Low's in planes. If only.

So, I went to Istanbul first. Visited some mosques, churches, and hybrid mosques/churches, which are used not as places of worship but museums.

Shopped at the Grand Bazaar, spent the night in Istanbul and then off to Croatia.

Next stop: Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And then finally, Sarajevo.

Other than the shitty 12h flights (Singapore/Istanbul and Istanbul/Singapore), the vacation as a whole was really enjoyable. Lots of sightseeing, sipping coffee, tasting their local food, taking pictures here and there. Bosnians eat a lot, and I really mean a lot of meat. For lunch they can serve you a plate completely filled with kebabs and steaks, but it isn't all protein either. Every lunch and dinner starts off with soup and salad (olive oil as dressing) to offset all the meat you're eating in the main course. Then again the dessert (which comes after every single lunch and dinner) is usually something extremely sweet, dipped in honey, caramel or sugar syrup. The food in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H is actually the name of one country, despite its confusing name) is rather cheap too. A full fast food meal, which includes a gigantuous burger, a large portion of fries (which is much more than you can get in Singapore's McDonalds') and a drink costs just 6 Marks, which is around S$6. The food in B&H and Croatia is really cheap, although I can't say the same for Turkey. The average Burger King set meal in Istanbul costs 17 Lira, which is almost S$15.

The weather in the three countries that I went to were rather pleasant, with the exception of Sarajevo which was -2°C. 2 degrees below zero. I actually intended to record a cardistry video in Sarajevo (because of the nice scenery) but the moment I took my hands out of my jacket pockets they were freezing. The temperature's insane. I'll just have to find some other scenery in Singapore to record the video. :/

And yeah, that's pretty much it. It's amazing how 9 days passed by so quickly. When I think back about the vacation it all seemed like a dream, like I was free to roam in lalaland for what seemed like 9 24-hour cycles. And then I jump back into reality and look at the pictures, the souvenirs, the boarding passes. It was all real. It all really happened. I really was there. Alas, who is to say that life has to be reality, and what we perceive to be real are not mere illusions? Who is to say that we are not dreaming, and that life is more than just a dream? Who is to define what is real, and what is not?

Forgive me for the sudden philosophical contemplations. Sometimes it feels good to ask questions for which there are no real answers.

Wow, it's 5am already. And you know what, I'm more awake than ever. Sausages and eggs, anyone?

Xinmin Graduation Night 2010 Photos

2010-11-25T16:37:00.026+08:00

Ong Xian Ting (1) (2)

Words left unsaid

2010-11-25T06:52:00.008+08:00

Until yesterday night I've completely forgotten what it feels like to listen to music at extremely loud volumes with the bass pumped up. Makes you feel like getting up and dancing.

Anyway the graduation night yesterday was just plain awesome. The dinner was decent but it was being served so slowly I already felt full halfway through it, and ended up passing up some of the food. Which makes me wonder, why do people opt for sit-downs? They pay so much and end up eating so little because it's served bit by bit at a very slow pace.

The performances weren't bad, but to be honest I expected more. :/ The acting was quite funny and Tin Fung's dance was EPIC. Pictures of him heading their way to Facebook. Just wait around and you'll see them in my photo album. :)

I think the best part was the photo-taking session at the very end. Took so many pictures with many friends, some of which I've known for 2 years, some 4, some 6, and some even 10! What's more, I took photos with people who I've never spoken a single word to in my entire life, like Liting and Xiuming. I hardly know them at all, but they were surprisingly enthusiastic about having a picture taken with me when I asked them to. I think, no one minds social interactions with new people, even complete strangers.

If you were to talk a walk down Orchard Road and smile at strangers they'd probably think you're crazy; that you just escaped from IMH, or that you're a sick dirty pedophile. Why? Because in Singapore it has become the social norm to only acknowledge the existence of people we've come to know and no one else. But the reality is, we humans are social creatures. No matter how lonely you've gotten used to being, you'll always have this need to interact socially with others of your kind. It's just that we've been brought up in an environment in which we are taught, directly or indirectly, to only trust and care for people you know. So that when you see a stranger, you ignore him/her. But it's just a ridiculous social stigma. I've been to countries where complete strangers, male and female, young and old, smile at me as they walk past my direction. They have nothing to gain by doing so, but they have nothing to lose either; and that alone is enough to keep them doing what they do.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that you go to town and smile at everyone you see, because you'll probably get a lot of blank looks and stares. But I believe that changing the attitudes of the people around us, one person at a time, can and will eventually transform the community as a whole, to truly show the sincerity and goodness of humanity.

There are no boundaries, no limits, except the ones we impose upon ourselves.

Fans and circles

2010-11-18T10:30:00.010+08:00

Just finished playing Call of Duty: Black Ops a few hours ago. It's truly the best game I've ever played in my entire life. Everything is nice; the graphics, the storyline, the cinematic cutscenes, the various environments (rooftops, underwater, helicopter, etc.) and most importantly the gameplay.

Recently I've been cleaning up my room, getting rid of old stuff and stuffing my books into a bag ready to be thrown away. Actually I've started cleaning up my room even before O's started. I realised that I've been wasting a lot of space keeping unused boxes in my cupboard. So I decided to take them all out and throw them away. But before I did that I took a picture, because it's not everyday that you possess a 4-year-old collection of boxes. :P

Look at all that shit. I've been keeping these empty boxes in my cupboard for years. Wow. =.=

I've had my computer desk for a few years now and it looks old and it has cracks all over. I thought of getting a new desk but they don't make desks like this anymore. Usually it's just one tiny little square of wood with a little box by the side for holding the computer case. I don't want that.. :/ I need a big, wide table because I do everything here; use my computer, read, do homework, practice card magic, sometimes I even have breakfast and lunch here. So I spraypainted the whole thing matte black, and it turned out surprisingly well.

The problem I now face is that dust particles are very obvious now. I keep having to wipe the table to have it look clean.. otherwise there will be white specks all over. Bah. :/ I still have one more desk to spraypaint, the one by the side on which I place my Apple devices. After that I'm going to get an air conditioner installed and resurface the walls and repaint, but who knows when that will be.

On a random note, the scientists at CERN have successfully trapped antimatter! Dan Brown's Angels and Demons might just become a reality!!

Have no idea what he's talking about? Then read! Find things out on your own! Acquire knowledge! Find out about things at your own pace and make the entire process enjoyable. That's what learning is all about. Cramming your head with facts you do not care about and then forgetting everything after your examinations are over is not learning, it's simply useless cramming. Wonder. Ask. Learn. Nothing empowers like knowledge.

So intense

2010-11-17T10:22:00.001+08:00

Look at that rainbow.

Woohoo

2010-11-11T22:25:00.011+08:00

Oh damn, my legs are so tired now. My body feels fatigue but my brain is too wide awake to fall asleep. A good excuse to just stare into blank space and stone.

I spent the whole afternoon out with Low. It was nice. He took damn long to decide what CPU and graphics card he wanted because he wanted "very good" specifications despite a budget of just $1000. After switching back and forth on what he wanted he finally settled on i5-760 and Radeon 5750... which is really good by the average person's standard! But I guess that's not a good method of measurement because the "average person" is happy with Pentium processors, onboard graphics and a decent-looking exterior, even though all the components on the inside fucking suck. But I digress.

He made his mum pay $1400, $400 more than the agreed-on budget. And because of that he kept lamenting to me about how guilty and sad and miserable he was and how badly his mum was going to scold him upside-down because of the additional money he made her spent, and that her face was "damn black" and he "gonna die already". But his mum looked fine, was fine and was obviously too busy shopping to care about how much she spent earlier on. Yet, there Ivan was repeatedly asking me if the computer was worth it and telling me that my answers weren't convincing enough. o.o

So, as we were waiting for his computer to be assembled Low and his mum went shopping at Bugis Junction while I went to Golden Landmark to get some cards. On the way to Golden Landmark some old Chinese guy stopped me and acted friendly and stuff and introduced himself and what his company did. Then he blurted a few paragraphs of words really fast and before I knew it, he had placed a blue ballpoint pen in my hand, nicely wrapped in plastic. Then he said, "Can you buy this? Buy this. Only $2. Thank you very much."

He didn't even give me a chance to respond. It was as if he was messing with my mind and hypnotizing me into buying that cheapo pen for $2. Then, suddenly, (holy crap this is starting to sound like a narrative I wrote in Primary 6) some balding middle-aged Chinese passerby came and shouted at us, "BOHONG! BOHONG! TIPU TIPU! DIA TIPU ORANG! TIPU TIPU!" (meaning, "Lies! Lies! Cheat! Cheat! He cheats people! Lies! Lies!") at the top of his lungs. I was very stunned, to say the least. The salesman then told me that the passerby was just a mentally challenged person and that I just had to ignore him. I was still quite overwhelmed by everything that had just happened in the past few seconds then I thought, "What the hell, it's just $2". So I payed the salesman $2 and left. The madman was still shouting at me as I walked away quickly. Everyone was staring at me. So embarrassing.

9000 years later, when I finally reached Golden Landmark, I had a nice chat with the old auntie working at the shop selling cards. Talked about magic, flourishing and gimmicks and recent releases of playing cards. She may be old and wrinkly, but damn she's really up-to-date and nice to talk to. And in many ways she reminds me of Low's mum, who was kind enough to treat me to lunch and ice cream. OH I LOVE OLD CHINESE WOMEN!!11!!1!!!!!eleven!11!

Bought a few cards, then back to Sim Lim with Mr and Mrs Low to collect Mr Low's computer. Then to his house to install everything, just pew pew pew and done. Cables were a little messy at first but that wasn't a problem because I'm no stranger to cable management. A few tugs, loops and ties and everything was in place. Boom. Low has a new computer to use.

Glad you like it, Low. I shall present you with many many games to fill your time with. You'll love the graphics. :)

Drown it out

2010-11-10T17:51:00.007+08:00

All the other papers this week were alright. Surprisingly. Even social studies and human geog. Studied the right topics and the right points. And the whole studying process went incredibly smoothly.. and that's really amazing because I expected it to be a painful process of cramming. It wasn't, and I'm really glad the O levels are unofficially over. Of course, I have one last paper on Friday but that doesn't really count because it's bound to be a piece of cake. 15 minutes of revision should suffice... because I already studied everything just last week.

Weepin and Low came over yesterday. Had aplenty fun playing DotA, Moomoo and cubes. Seems like it's been centuries since I played DotA and millenia since I solved a cube. Brings back awesome memories.

Oh and, yesterday I had multiple rampages for the first time in my life playing with non-AI! Hahaha awesomeness. :)

So many movies to watch, so many music to dance to, so many games to play.

What games should I start downloading har? :O

Very much overdue tag replies:

weepin & hoho: Now plenty of time to train! ;)

yuhui: Haha I am now! Hello!

Yufeng: Como estas amigo? Blanco o negro?

hoho: Yep

hoho: Yeah!

hoho: PRECISELY!!1!11!

Ivan & weepin: I have the craziest dreams. Ever.

Ivans: Omg don't emo/mushy leh. Q.Q

hoho: Hoho you smart.

Ivan: Yeah. Too awesome.

Yonghan!: Haha stalkerz. Stalker stalker stalker O.O

Theawesome: But Haagen Dazs' Macadamia Nut Brittle is the best ice cream ever!1!11!

Theawesome: Yeah prolly class gathering?

yuhui: KA-SHINGLE

celine: yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

hoho: i5-650

j0e: Doesn't matter anyway. O's are what matters. :O

weepin: Woohoo!

Francine: HI FRANCINE.WHY YOU SO RANDOM?

KENNY: No no. It's you who told me you could play... I think? :O

(Selective) Photographic Memory

2010-11-04T23:06:00.005+08:00

I discovered that I have selective photographic memory.

When I read an unfamiliar piece of text, then go on to do other things, the new names/terms/words that I've learnt will suddenly pop up into my head, out of the blue. And I won't even have any idea where those thoughts came from.

It's like this:

I read something briefly, skimming through the text.
I go on to do something else, I don't think much about what I read.
And suddenly, a word, term or name from the text suddenly pops into my head. More often than not, this word/term/name is one I've never encountered before prior to reading the text.

Example:
I read up on neurons and the brain. In this text I encounter the word "neurolimbic". I do not think much of it nor do I bother to check the meaning. I go on to do something else and all of a sudden the word "neurolimbic" pops into my head. Curious, I Google up the word only to realize I just read about it moments earlier.

This isn't the first time. It has happened dozens of times before. I can walk into a library, look at all the book titles, think nothing of them, but suddenly have a book title and its author's name popping up in my head, many hours later.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it a common occurrence or does it only happen to a few? I think it's kinda scary because it occurs randomly and I can't control it. Very strange brain of mine :/

Boom boom clap

2010-11-04T12:22:00.000+08:00

Kenny persuaded me to reinstall Garena and play with him. So I did.

It feels good to play a familiar game after not touching it for so long. But the game itself was quite retarded. Played Moomoo twice and lost both times. First time we lasted 1.5 hours before losing. The second time we lasted what, 10 minutes? Kenny keeps choosing noob heroes that cannot tank. Q.Q

Alas, playtime is over. I played a lot today and I'm satisfied now. Time to start studying... tomorrow that is. Or rather, later today, since it's past midnight already.

Not too long ago, someone shared a quote with me that I thought I'd like to share with you. It goes like this:

“Our relationship shall be like a circle. It shall have no ends.”

Aw, isn't that just sweet? (:

Rewind and play

2010-11-03T11:30:00.002+08:00

The guy in this video was blind. Completely blind, no sight at all. By inserting photosensitive diodes into his retina researchers have been able to grant him basic vision. Not as clear as what the human eye can produce, but enough for him to identify basic household objects and words. I think that's amazing. Modern science only has been around for about three centuries. Look at what we have achieved in this short period of time.

So far all the papers have been fine except for Geography. Really need to study hard for human geography and social studies (and Malay too). But until then, I'll just play for the next few hours before I get back to my books.

Adios, amigos.

Behind closed curtains

2010-10-22T16:56:00.004+08:00

It's really sad to know what some religious leaders do in the name of religion.

It's even sadder still, to know that the masses blindly believe everything they are told.

Do yourself a favour. Educate yourself. Don't make it the duty of those around you to spoon-feed you with knowledge for the mere sake of doing well in examinations and tests. Learn. Learn on your own. Knowledge is your greatest asset.

Not much longer

2010-10-11T07:27:00.006+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the most anticipated video in the card world.

Which reminds me, I have quite a few videos to make after the O's, including a short film(?) But I don't know if anyone is willing to act, or can even act decently enough for me to convey my story effectively.

O's are coming very, very soon. I'm sad that school has officially ended, meaning there's no more laming around on a daily basis anymore. But it isn't goodbye yet! There's still prom night, chalet and more gatherings to come.

There might be a 203 chalet! I'm still asking people for their input though, so give me some time, okay? ;)