Thursday, May 31, 2007
The month of May, 2007
Ending of an academic year felt like it was like ending of a physical year. Maybe because I have been so accustomized to them being in sync, hence the feeling. It was the first time I was able to rest in a long time. Well, relative, since you know how short university semesters are. I wish they were longer. However, by month of May, I think my body is telling me that it could use some rest. I might agree with it. The only downside is that the rest will probably do me no good, as my body is going to be pounded by all the stress again when the semester starts again. All the rest for nothing. Back to square one.
I told myself to look for jobs. I recognized the fact that I am a poor person. There was one that came to me, but I declined it. The stress level is far too high for me. It was a phone interview assignment with a market research company. I am not one who's good with my voice, though I seek to improve it, practicing over actual situations is detrimental. Being a waiter was one that I actually enjoyed, even though it featured interaction with people. However, it was tough to get a similar job. I am sure I complained somewhen before, so I am not going to complain more. 3 factors on why it's so hard to get a job. One, I am not Singaporean. Two, I don't speak very good Chinese and can't read or write it. Three, it's always a female working environment. =) And I am not female.
Besides, even not during the semester, I am supposed to be a high achiever. I have things to do left behind from the holidays before. I seek to at least finish them now, and even lined up extra things to do during the semester. Even though I spend all my time in it, I couldn't finish, because my expectations of myself were too high. Even if I miss, I'll land among the stars? So I spend most of my time picking up things from the semester before. Finally finished Need For Speed Underground 2, after like an eternity. I finished the first long before this and the second came out quite long too. A shame that I finally finished it so late. But hey, time is limited. I can only strive to finish more things. Vicious cycle? I don't think so, as long as I land among the stars.
Besides that, not much other things were interesting. My laptop features an integrated graphics card that doesn't support hardware T & L, so I'll have trouble playing the latest games. I didn't even finish Oblivion, a shame, considering how good the game was. Also considering I finished Morrowind plus all it's expansion, and a faithful fan of the series. My laptop had to use oldblivion to run it, and the graphics generated are just not as nice. There, I lose the motivation to play. Why should I play when I am not getting the full thing? I could better play next time when I get a better computer. Still, I have a little craving for it so I played a little.
Didn't finish Final Fantasy Seven either. Don't remember where I left off, and don't feel like starting a new game, since it would consume quite some time as well. I can't help but to have this time is running out feeling even during the holidays. I guess this would just never end until I eventually graduate, and spend real holidays, like the 8 months I had after JC. Another time of my life? What else? I had UFO too, but didn't start on it since completing NFSU2 up to 100% in itself already consumes a lot of time. Not to mention I am planning to finish it with more than one main car. In the first one, I finished it with almost every car possible. I am so patient.
So a month passed where I did nothing much. Couldn't find a job, and so I am a financial liability. Without enough money, life was quite miserable. I need a job, but I have lots of things to do. I am such a hypocrite when it comes to this. Plus, time passes too fast so much so that it's over before I realized it. Ok, that was not the way to do it. I should have looked for a job during the semester so that I could quickly transition on to it once the semester ends. Oh well, I was looking for some good rest too. Trying to reduce the amount of things I have, but most of them are just too precious to go to waste, as I am also a very sentimental person. Sigh. How?
In the end, realizing that I am wasting a lot of time and not doing productive work, I have decided to go home. Go home! Not like I am going to do any productive work there anyway. It's harder to be productive there. Plus people decide things for me there without telling me, totally messing up my planning. There's no place to go for a good run, no basketball courts, no gym (not like I have been to a gym for a long time, but still) relatively lousier internet, not many friends, no library, and not a place that I can navigate much without getting lost. Internet in Malaysia is better in some ways but worse in some ways. Better when you download stuffs, but lousier because you can't use it when it's raining. There's a chance lightning strike and your modem gets fried. Quite a disastrous situation to be in since the modem is not something cheap. Rain comes quite often.
Wai loved you at 1:48 AM
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
My first wife.
Isn't she chio? I bet I told the story about her a lot of times before, but this may be the last time I am going to tell. Some of you might remember, some of you might not. There was a time, when I was in boarding school and there were nothing much to do. For some time, homework was still easy and can be finished in short time, leaving quite a bit of time at hands.The whole story is a lot of melodrama, and I can practically make a soap opera out of it. I am probably not going to tell the whole story, since a lot of juicy parts at least have some 'idiotic' characters that were blocking my quest for it at that time. (If I told you the full story, you might agree with me, but I don't think it's nice to talk bad about people behind their back.) Let's just say I went through a lot of hardships to get it, and little people will know.
Ever since young I had been fascinated by computers, and was lucky that I had some form of headstart. Even today, when I ask around my peers, most of them didn't have a computer at home when they were primary 1 or 2. Building on the foundation, I only became better at it of course. Being deprived from computers was not a position I want to be in. That's just why I see a very desperate need to have a computer when I was in Secondary One and Two.
Objectively, we all wonder why there is a computer deprivation. Root of the cause is stupid and I'm sure you don't want to hear about it. Alternatives were available but scarce. Datashack is very poorly managed. Even teachers avoid having a responsibility in it. Datashack don't always open at hours it's supposed to open. The network connection was poor, the computers don't have enough RAM to save itself, and you'll go through triple firewall, which effectively meant, a lot of your everyday activities were restricted. Therefore, even without elaborating further, it's quite safe to say it's a complete failure. (I mean, where in the world have you seen computer that disallow you to even use messengers?)
In addition, there's only two hours a week, an effective 80 hours if you use every week during the term and to the max of two hours. Back to back two hours are not allowed, means you'll have to use one hour on Friday night and another hour on Saturday night. It's doesn't open on any other nights, and I am too busy for afternoon sessions, since I had many CCAs. Ok, I am stretching the story far too long now, but you get the idea. Other alternatives includes library, where you can use 10 minutes after waiting for 30 minutes. Computer lab was a favourite, but we always ended up getting chased out like we commited a crime. You could go cybercafes, which was getting hot at that time (hence at least $2.50 an hour). But, seriously, who in the right frame of mind would spend $2.50 an hour surfing the internet? Besides, I just need a computer at that point of time, not internet yet. Also, I was a poor scholar.
Hardwarezone.sg forums! It was like the only good place where there are a lot of buyers and sellers everyday. I finally got a great deal. It's only $300. I got everything, ASUS Motherboard, 1.3Ghz Athlon, Matrox Dualhead graphics card, Soundblaster sound card, some 30Gb Harddisk and a CD-Rom drive. Bought Joshua's old casing at $20 and he gave me his power supply too. Ready to go. Ever since then, computer knowledge just diffuse through me. Practice really makes perfect. Having spent a lot of time using computer every day, I could troubleshoot more problems, help people. Now I can't live without internet, but back then no internet is no matter.
The part about getting permissions, was another soap opera in itself. Somehow, computer in a teacher's mind is always linked to playing games. And to them, playing games is a crime. Somehow, I just think they were deprived. =) I do agree that a lot of children are not disciplined enough to play games, especially if the games are too good to resist, but I guess 1 or 2 hours a day is ok. How is that different from like say, watching tv? Teachers allow you to watch tv a few hours a day but don't allow you to play games? Anyway, I finally got the permission, became one of the first peoples to own a desktop as a secondary school student at the boarding school.
We endured lots of ups and downs. I finished a lot of work with it, and I do photo editting on my free time. Crashed and caused me a lot of stress twice, and minor crashes happen every few days towards the end of it's useful life, but I managed to resolve everything on my own everytime. I think it's a good skill to have, as outside people probably charge you at least $20 just to check what's wrong. Also, I managed to help a lot of people with my newly acquired skill. Yay! Project work Band One from it? Priceless. I still remember the night where we lost everything, and I spoke to Carol the whole night through the phone. We managed to redo the presentation at the end. It was one of those times where I didn't sleep the whole night through and still performed well. I still do now and then too! =) Just not at basketball. Never play basketball when you don't have enough sleep.
Came a time where it broke down every other two three days. We had air-conditioning so the problem of it overheating is surpressed. It's Singapore, we have summer every day. It doesn't overheat, but it does raise the room's temperature, and make us feel quite uncomfortable. Sometimes, I switch it on as a heater on really cold mornings. I was still optimistic about it, all the way till I entered University. I take forever to do everything. Maybe not forever, but the speed just isn't enough anymore. A lot of things require additional speed and it doesn't give me a lot of flexibility. It had been working on 256 RAM but SP1 so it was alright, since I don't use internet.
It's university, and the importance of internet suddenly became very high. I need to connect to do my things. I need to connect to download my tutorials. I need space to store lecture notes and tutorials. A lot of internet things just doesn't work on SP1 and I installed SP2, since I needed the security because I would always be online. Installing SP2 on 256 RAM was like the death bell. It does take longer to boot now, I have less space to store things since Windows expanded. Takes longer to shut down. Due to lack of RAM and my hard disk dying, opening programs took a lot of time too. I can't just open Acrobat reader at a comfortable speed and changing between documents. Still then on, I persevered.
Still, the ultimate death bell came not very far into my new and first semester. Then came a time it couldn't go onto internet at all. It was a minor problem, just the ethernet card fried, but I don't have the time to go get a new one. As a university student now too, I need to check my e-mail and learning portal everyday, and so I was just deprived. Even more so, my phone also died. I was uncontactable and was enjoying it for a while. Nowadays, being uncontactable is so hard. The computer can no longer do anything new, and became a minor irritation with it's heat. Fortunately, a new laptop came, or else I'll still be using it till today.
If you compare the laptop and the desktop, the desktop suddenly become worthless. It's like the analogy fried chicken drumstick is like good food, but when it's next to shark's fin soup it becomes almost worthless. Not saying that my laptop is fantastic, but there is just no redeeming feature to use the desktop anymore. I loved my desktop very much, so I called it my wife for a very long time. Back then, a lot of people have the Playstation as their wife. It did a lot of good to me, and also a lot of work.
I still keep it with me even though I don't use it. It still works, and I like the flexibility of having two workstations. Both can do work when I am doing work. However, the desktop occupies a lot a lot of space, and moving woes continue. The monitor also occupies a lot of space. It's almost 20 kg with the box. The monitor itself is 17kg+. I have to move out every semester. Since I don't use it much, it became kind of a waste of space, and energy to move it. Not to mention additional stress during moving. I have a dilemma. I love it, I don't want to watch it go, but I have too much stuffs. Way too much for comfortable moving. Throwing away these two pieces could mean a lot less stress. The worse part of the dilemma is that, it still works.
The used electronics store would only buy it for $5. That's not even worth the taxi fare to get there. Michael see the need for a monitor, so I gave it to him. Then I dismantled the casing and threw it away to further free myself more space. I kept the working parts though. =) So here it is, last looks at my faithful wife that have served me well for at least 5 years. You'll always be remembered.
Another reason why it was my first wife? It was the only computer to which I have exclusive access. I had computers before this one, but it's shared between all my siblings. This one? I was the only user unless I loan it out to friends to do some things. The faithful computers I used before this one included another stellar desktop that's still working now, bought in 1999. The 486, 386, and the 286 still works too, but see, 286 is worthless when the 386 came, 386 became worthless when 486 came and so on. I think I still have their dismantled parts.
I am not going to compare the desktop and my laptop, the new wife, as I had probably done it before when I got it. My laptop marked my first ever laptop. A milestone in my own history of existence. No problems with it yet, and looking forward to many faithful years with it.
Wai loved you at 7:30 PM
Sentosa Trip!
After a hectic semester, and also a stressful packing period, I think it would be nice to spend some time off just relaxing. Reflecting back on the two semesters that have passed, I have been a complete loser. I didn't manage to complete everything that I set for myself to do, be it academic targets or non-academic ones. I think there was nothing much that I did right. I just make mistakes all the way. Sigh. Hindsight.
At least I am excited about my Sentosa trip. Though we were both very late, and hence didn't do a lot more things as planned, I am just glad that I am finally there. The Sentosa kampung huts undergone a renovation, and now they are much better than before! It used to be smaller, and with a double decker bed and another pull out bed, making it's total capacity 3 persons, but actually you could squeeze more if you are on a chalet outing anyway. It's now two double decker beds, and so you could fit in 4 persons comfortably for the same price. Not to mention now you have extra space because there is no pull out bed to occupy the floor anymore.
New air-conditioning unit, seems to be even more powerful than before. Now there isn't a window anymore, but no matter. It used to be you couldn't charge your phone there or use laptop because there is no power points available for use but now there are a grand total of two. Everything just seem so nice all of a sudden, the tiredness and dreadfulness I felt from moving have been gone and relieved. It felt good just resting in the comforts of air-conditioning. I know I don't like air-conditioning for prolonged period of time, especially since most are very dry, but the air-conditioning unit was pleasant so I guess I was able to survive. At some point, I started to feel cold, but not dry yet.
Since by the time we were there it was already night, there was nothing much we could do except walk around and watch the stars. Besides, I was already very tired from all the carrying. So we just went to bathe and then to bed. I fell in love with the vending machine there that sells hot tea for 50 cents. I forgot what brand the tea was, but it was nice, and especially nice to drink hot tea in the comforts of cold air-conditioning. I don't remember how many cups I had, but I definitely spent all my 50 cents coin on it. I managed to fall asleep, even though after drinking tea, because I am probably very very very tired by then. Slept as much as I could.
Woke up at 10 a.m.. in the morning. After wash-up and prepare everything, and since we took turns, by the time we are done it's almost time for lunch. Took the trams all around, and it took time getting used to because the system has changed. Anyway, soon it would be even more different again since Genting is developing the place which used to be visitor's arrival centre. Looking forward to a new theme park there, even though I would prefer going to Genting Highlands for the nice weather there. Anyway, the point is, Sentosa is very different from the last time I was here. Now everyone stops at Beach station when you come by bus, and no longer the visitor arrival centre. A new building, complete with monorail and 7-Eleven.
More food now too. I am pretty sure there wasn't a food court before. Now there is! The old 7-Eleven along Tanjong beach shifted a little, and is now even larger than before. No more worrying that you cannot get food in the middle of the night. There are a lot of instant food and also a place like a bar for you to eat there. Kind of regret that I forgot to bring camera in the hurry to get there, so we have to settle for hand-phone camera. I totally forgot that my hand-phone could take photos at that point of time, until I reached 7-Eleven, bought, cooked and ate some instant food. Here, the pictoral journey begins.
Here I am, one level above the said 7-Eleven store, where we just had something like hotdogs. Sandwiches? Doesn't really matter right? We're here just because we're wondering what's upstairs. Looks like some restaurant that have just closed down or a function hall. Maybe there are some things planned here in the future?
Nice reflection on the roof. Actually I thought it was quite smart, because if the roof reflect back some sunlight, then people under that roof wouldn't feel so hot?
The said 7-Eleven. They have most things here, but unfortunately a little on the expensive side. I don't expect things to be cheap either in a place full of tourists, but $2 for a cup noodle is too much of a steal. You don't want tourists to get the wrong impression about Singapore! =p
Just in time to catch this last animal performance of the day. It wasn't planned in advance, we just happened to walk past and therefore lucky to enjoy it.
This is the place where I think wasn't here before. It's nearer to Tanjong beach and is some short walk from beach station. There's a food court here, and not to mention, a lot of happy children playing in these waters.
Same place still. Just admiring a place that I haven't been before. The seats you saw there was for the food court.
Don't mind me. Since I was on the handphone camera, I have to keep trying until I get good clear photos. Believe me, I didn't post all the photos I took, only selected ones. If I posted, you would see a thousand and one duplicate photos.
Mouth watering! I always liked sweet sambal. I know I can't really take hot food, and would sweat like mad if I exceeded my threshold. Ayam panggang, anyone? (Grilled chicken)
Other foods available here. Clean and neat environment. Of course, the prices here are a little more expensive than usual, but I think it's worth it since eating in Orchard would probably cost around the same.
I think the drinks stall looks very inviting with all the fresh fruit here. Sugar cane juice! Very expensive though.
Nice perspective! Symmetry.
Our shared lunch. Ayam panggang! I really like the sambal though it's quite hot. Have to get sugar cane juice in the end even though I was resisting the temptations.
Another look at the dish. I think there were too little rice and too little curry on the rice. Too little keropok too.
On the walkway, we are just walking around, exploring. I heard beautiful evening views like these are common near beaches. =) However, we don't live near beaches, so views like these are quite rare for us.
There, the southern-most tip of continental Asia.
And we're inside this building at the southern-most tip of continental Asia! Nice view of the horizon.
An attempt at using the panorama function of the hand-phone camera. I think it's decent other than for the left part. =)
Another shot at it. Think I am improving by now? However, the light levels are different, so it didn't give the desired effect.
We're here for the sunset too. It shouldn't be far from now. I know sunsets occurs rapidly and once it occurs, the sun would be gone within a minute or two. Been catching lots of photos waiting for it. Think I captured one every second or something like that.
Lens flare. And the sun still refuses to set. This is a little painful to the eye to take. The sun is shining directly at all of us who are standing on top of that little tower. And believe me, I took a lot these just waiting for sunset.
Ok, we ran out of patience since we were there for quite a long while now. The sun doesn't seem to want to disappear. Besides, we were all feeling very hot and uncomfortable from the direct sunlight.
Then as we are leaving, it decided to happen. And so we ran back to the top again. This one caught when we were halfway there. Reaping the rewards of patience.
And finally, the sun disappears from sight. =)
More evening views.
Ok, from now onwards all the photos taken by the camera have a lot of noise due to lack of light. This is one of the weaknesses of point and shoot digital cameras. It's hard to take decent photos at night without flash.
Ice-cream! After a long walk and waiting for sunset, eating ice-cream at one of the many ice-cream parlours in Sentosa is only natural.
More walking around after ice-cream.
Just outside the beach station, just outside the songs of the seas area. Wanted to go for it but felt very guilty since I already spent quite a bit of money so far. I know it was recreational, but the guilt overcame me and I didn't go for it. In the end just saw the 'fireworks' (more like waterworks, they are spraying water everywhere and then shining colourful lights at the water, to make it look like fireworks) from afar. No regrets though. There's still next time.Pictures really speak a thousand words. I had thought I would have to spent a long time describing and talking about the trip, but as those pictures already told the story better than I could, I don't have to elaborate lots on them. =) So after that, we just went walking around the beaches of Sentosa, watching stars and things like that. In the end we decided to be back early to rest, since the room is so comfortable and nice. Initially we wanted to have dinner at Sakae Sushi but by the time we were there they were about to close. In the end we had instant noodles for dinner. Guilt-free since it was the cheapest thing we could find. Coupled with a cup of hot tea in the nice air-cond room, I think it was great!
The left side of the room from entrance. See the double decker bed? Now there's even personal storage area for each of the 4 persons. Much better then before. It is also more spacious than before!
Personal storage area for everyone. I think the kampung hut are reasonably priced. I think if in the future I have to plan chalet, we'll do it here.
Main door and the only place where natural light can enter. The two super small 'window'. (Just two long pieces of glass)
Finally it's morning. I know it had been an enjoyable experience, but our time here came to an end. Here's how the room look like once you open the door. Can you see the two powerpoints nearer to the right side? I'll remind myself to bring my laptop and handphone charger next time.
Even the rubbish bin is themed. I think the place rocks after renovation.
Outside view of the hut.
Barbeque pits! See why we should organize chalet here?
The newly renovated bathrooms. Now come with motion sensors. The water supply, lights and fan all operate on motion sensors, presumably to save electricity and water. Once you are nearby, the lights and fan would switch on by itself. Cool! Except if you don't move while you are bathing inside for a while, the lights, ventilation fan, and water suddenly switches itself off. So keep moving. It to be a bug infested place before renovation, not to mention very dirty. So this is definitely a good upgrade. However, they still haven't installed hot water, and we all have to bathe in cold water. I don't mind because it helps us stay more in tune to nature.You know what I realized while bathing there? Maybe some girls like to bathe in pairs. The first night, there were two girls bathing together in the same bathroom. Shortly after, another girl went into one of these cubicles with a guy. Hehe, interesting. The next night, the same thing happened too, but with different people of course.
Early morning drizzle. We were stuck here for a while after we checked out.
Empty volleyball courts, what a rarity. However, it was morning and I am sure most of us are not in the mood yet. Besides, it's weekday, and no one else are having holidays other than us university people.
On tram to destination. Sakae Sushi, something that eluded us the night before. Time to conquer it!
Morning view from Sakae Sushi. We were their first customers of the day! We could have been their last yesterday.
My breakfast/lunch. I loved this thing since I tried it the first time at Sushi King in KL. I like to dip them in mayo plus the japanese soy sauce.
This is Angel's breakfast/lunch. She say she likes eel. I must admit, boneless eels are quite a treat.
Scenes we saw when finally leaving the place. Goodbye, Sentosa. See you real soon!
Views from Beach Station.Then we went home to rest some more. I am supposed to go home, back to KL soon, since I wanted to be back for a while. Living in Singapore for too long makes you feel a little tired of Singapore. KL is really good for a change. Two days later (11th May), we were asked out again, this time for something else I forgot. In the end, two of them couldn't make it, and so us three (me, Angel, Esther) settled for Marina Bay all-you-can-eat steamboat.
This is just a portion of the people that were waiting for the same bus as us. There is only one service and it is as crowded as bus service 170 to Johor. We almost couldn't make it on the first bus that came. Anyway it was a Friday, so naturally everyone would be out on a Friday night.
Another almost sunset view from the bus stop near Marina Bay MRT. I must admit my apetite shrunk. Even though I still eat double helping of food for meals from now and then, I couldn't eat a lot when it come to buffet. It was really crowded that place and it was hard to get service, like asking them to light up the stove, or to change the aluminium foil that is full of carbon. Luckily, the cooked food available was good. I capitalized on the char siew. There were other nice stuffs like honey lemon chicken wings and such. Just a pity there were no dessert.Also a pity was that I don't like seafood. Both of them don't really like but don't really dislike it. They were eating prawns! Drinks was a little on the expensive side, but quite necessary as I forgot to bring my own. Most of the food there will continuously make you thirsty. So yup, I didn't eat a lot in the end, and struggled to finish the food. We were one of the latest to leave the place after it closed.
Then we went on to play at the arcade nearby. A little nostalgic, since I would be here everytime after steamboat. Kind of recounting who where when I went for steamboat with before, and what arcade game we played. Sigh. Memories. Anyway I think I managed to clear all 5 stages of Para Para that night. That would be like one of my first times playing Para Para, but not my first, as I vaguely remember I played somewhere before. It was quite interesting until some people start to look at you wave your hands. Being the very shy person that I am, I'll feel a little out of place. There were also a group of working people, in tie and formal wear, the type you see in offices playing there. Everyone of them are very good at shooting games! They must have been playing ever since they were young or something.
Also played guitar game. I admit I do like racing games and music oriented games. We did play Daytona but my screen was spoilt so I couldn't do a thing. I could only see my car on other's screen and try to drive my car while looking at other's screen. Anyway, we all had fun! I saw a Tekken 5 machine and I was like, "So fast? Tekken 5 already?". Seems like it wasn't very long ago (actually it was quite long ago, just didn't feel like so) when Tekken 4 came, and we were frequenting arcade to beat it. I wonder what new things/strategy were added.
As always, good times come to an end again. We went around in search of toilet, and we found out that the bowling centre is 24 hours. Even the mini-canteen in it was open 24 hours. Not to mention, it was actually quite full even at that hour of the day. Esther needed to sleep and wake up early for tuition the next day so she would need the first cab possible for sure. It's hard getting cab there. It's easier to wait at the bowling centre since people would be coming to bowl and then we can catch the taxi after the passengers left. However, we aren't the only people there, and there are many other groups of people there too, often each group needing a few taxis. We called taxi in the end, and plus midnight charge it was quite expensive, but anyway, at least we get to talk all night.
Wai loved you at 7:00 PM
About Me
Wai Hong is currently an undergraduate student at National University of Singapore. He majors in Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. He is a member of the forever sixteen :) club since he was sixteen. He was lucky enough to end up in Anglo-Chinese School Independent and then Anglo-Chinese Junior College, where he spent his best years and still looking to spend more best years. He was born into the world on 16th October, sixteen years ago. =)