Coming back fresh from an 18 hours of sleep. I must admit it was heavenly, and I was finally able to see the world in its full clarity again. Yeah, the world is a beautiful place. =) I was able to finally see its beauty after seeing its worse. The week before this, I was on the verge of breaking, and I guess a lot of people who still have to endure this exam thing was feeling the same too. I am officially 5 down, 1 more to go, and suddenly, the weight upon my shoulders have disappeared, though it is still sore from the numerous bashing it took.

From where I left off last post, I was just focussing on CS1102C, but unfortunately, I followed a somewhat bad algorithm to go at it. Needed a little rest from studying too, and waiting for hard drive space in my head after cramming too much for the paper before. Not very productive, but guess I can use my common sense with this module. Furthermore, because they were very understanding, and because learning both the C++ language and data structures at the same time were too much for one module, we don't need to write actual code for the paper. We could just describe how we are going to tackle the question.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I guess my bio clock's not screwed, it's just upside down. I became sleepy once the sun rose. Yeah, trying to stay on and study to get healthy sleeping hours. I don't know what magic happened, I fell asleep sometime at 9a.m., and went on to sleep till 7p.m.. That's a lot of sleep I guess. Just all I needed. The unfortunate part was that I have a paper at 9a.m., and I foresee I won't be able to sleep by 12a.m. again. Fortunately, I had lots of sleep and it is going to be productive for me to study. Oh well, I always told myself that it is not the quantity of hours you were awake that counts, it's the quality.

Begin looking at the past year papers, and hmm, they always have those hit-or-miss kind of thinking question. =) Interesting, it keeps you thinking, and not to mention, it keeps the process of thinking fun! Mostly were supposedly claimed to be either Microsoft's or Google's interview questions. Of course, it was so interesting that I had the opportunity to be lost in my own world thinking about it, attempting questions after questions. I forgot time was passing or ticking, I forgot that I was listening to music, I forgot that I was sitting on my chair. I was totally absorbed. It was fun, and I didn't feel guilty even though I haven't done my revisions.

Unfortunately, before I could try out the whole archives, the sun rose, and it was time for my first paper of the day, SSB2216 paper. I didn't even study a single bit for this module, and it was open book. I tried to read the lecture notes just before the paper a little to familiarize myself with it and know where to find what if needed. Amazingly, even though 7a.m. was supposedly to be my sleeptime, my nose was runny non-stop, sneezing non-stop, I felt energetic. Yeah, I felt like an Ultra Wai Hong, (inspired by my recent nostalgia on Ultraman) complete with my own transformation sequence and all. Grabbing as much toilet-paper (I learnt that this was the most politically correct term for that roll of paper in the toilet) as I could for my nose, I rushed to the exam hall.

Ooh, I was late for the first time! It was 8.58a.m. when I got off the bus, no recovery from that. Yeah, how could I be late since I was awake all night long right? No no no, I was listening to inspirational songs (some Ultraman songs) right after I bathed and they were somewhat source of my energy. I didn't want to leave. I was absorbed in the music like I always do. Mood were high, now to my paper! The paper still haven't started, and the exam clock hasn't struck 9 when I got to my seat. I sat and it struck 9, and the paper begins. The paper was not hard, but I had trouble choosing which question to attempt, because they all commanded some interesting content from me. =)

Uh-oh, confession, you guessed what I wrote in there didn't you? Ok ok, the question about this module is never hard, and it usually asks for point of views. Unfortunately though, I guess they were looking for canned answers, as one of my friend pointed out to me. You get zero for your creativity or your own point of views, no matter how good they may be. If you answer is not in the answer key, then it's too bad. I was thinking, this is a University leh, how can that happen? You mean our graders don't actually read everything we wrote? Then what's the point of asking us to write? They might as well use a computer to grade, searching for keywords and giving marks for every keyword hit. If that happens, we don't have to write in paragraphs anymore right? =p

Well, I was debating with myself what I should write. The answer was staring there right in the face through the lecture notes. Even if you didn't read it, and you attended class, you would know what to write. However, if everyone writes the same thing, then no one stands out right? How can I make myself stand out? (Not in a bad way.) Ok, I adopted a somewhat bashing tone (Justification: strong arguments) about the HR problem. Actually I don't have to justify everything I said, but just in case the person who marks the script is a GP tutor or something. I kept hitting HR in the face, citing extreme and funny examples where my arguments stand. In my defence, they were all funny kind of example. My brand of humour was somewhat like the mrbrown's one as far as my essay was concerned.

(At this point I would like to thank the Blogger auto-save feature. This window accidentally went back when I hit the backspace and I almost lost everything I typed before this sentence.) Now that the paper is over, I kind of regret it. What if the person who is marking my script is a serious type of person or have no sense of humour? (Or maybe don't like this mrbrown kind of humour?) I would have screwed up the paper bad. On the other hand, if my examiner liked my script for all the food-for-thought kind of answers, I might have stood out against the crowd. Perspectives eh? I refused to be the normal type of Singaporean, and therefore have caught fire during the paper. I kept on writing and writing, bashing and bashing, and suggesting some extreme solutions that are guaranteed to work provided that humans are not humans anymore. If I ever get my script back, I guess I may want to frame it up.

Somehow, some regret was creeping up my back. What if I really did badly? I know, it was meant in sarcasm but what if the person didn't think it was funny? Then I would appear very uncaring. My humility was not shown anywhere on the paper. Maybe I need to be taught a lesson in humility while writing creative solutions but I still hope I'll get good grades for this paper. See, I went to the extent to think of creative solutions. I felt somewhat elitist too. =p I regret, because that was not me. I must have been feeling really high during the paper. =) Though I don't deny the fact that I am capable in writing that way. That was just plain attention-seeking. Maybe my script might be in the Hall of Fame where it would be remembered by the examiner for the rest of his/her life? =)

Much like some hoo-hah we had some time ago in Singapore. No I am not going to mention her name though, because if I did that, then people would Google her name and my blog would show up right? =p So far all the comments I have read from this saga were non-constructive, but it was worth a read as a reflection. Somehow, I believe I am some sort of elitist when it comes to certain things. When I find a more efficient way to do something, I am never doing something the less efficient way again. If not, how do you improve yourself? The wikipedia page to that is here. It has objectively summed up the whole saga. I suppose you can Google her name for all the flame she had to endure for her post. Her post was somewhat a flame of another person's post and many at times we give our opinions without knowing the full story. I know we try most of the time, but life's too short to do research all the time right? My blog is my place to voice my ideas, I don't have to have someone police my ideas. If you are unhappy about something, make your own blog where you take ownership of your own words.

I always make an active effort not to talk bad about other people behind their backs. Therefore I should just offer my opinions and maybe constructive feedback. I refrain from quoting names because I want to keep unwanted traffic out, hereby I should refer to them as girl and guy. =p What guy said might be true, because that might be opinions based on his personal experience. I think there's nothing wrong with that, we tend to base our opinions based on personal experience too. It's true as far as I am concerned, and that's all that matters. Girl also posted opinions probably based on her personal experience, maybe the language was a little strong, but I see nothing wrong with that. Singaporeans over-reacted as usual, and the press always needed this kind of saga to help the lack of news in Singapore. (Singapore so small and so little people, how much news can it generate?) No news is good news by the way. =)

What I see was a lack of open-mindedness in Singaporeans. Maybe it's a hand-me-down thing since we are Chinese. We are selfish when it comes to information, as evidenced by history. I guess if our fore-fathers were as open-minded when it comes to sharing information and stating opinions, they would have been the first to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. But but but, we are so many generations down that time again already and still we don't learn. One of my tutors always say this, in his own words, "while we of course do not want to be like the Americans and wash our dirty laundry on national TV for everyone to see, we have gone the other extreme and have a problem with "losing face". To his credit, he was former Rafflesian, true and true. I didn't like seeing people bashed for keeping an open mind. I guess girl was gutsy and tough, since she didn't care if she "lose face" or not. Guy was great too, since she highlighted things worth mentioning. My father always tell me to learn to good, and don't practice the bad. I didn't say I agree with all the points raised the girl by the way. =) I did agree with some too.

In my opinion, most of the people who had a say in the saga were loud, dumb people. I always knew the internet was full of loud dumb people. I was one of the first within my peers to have internet back in 1999, I knew it all along. I played MUD for a long time and people with huge ego always thrash-talk and I have heard the phrase that pretty much summed up what girl said in her post before lots of times before. I think I am a loser anyway, none of the elite kind, I always tell myself never to lose the beginner's awe, and yet I will say it.

Please, get out of my elite uncaring face.
Yeah, if you cannot take a criticism or two, please get out. As much as I don't like people with ego too huge for themselves to swallow, we have gone to the other extent to have fragile ego. (I have a fragile ego too!) What is wrong with the statement? What's the difference between what she said and what I said? The difference is probably because she's an RJC girl, she's an MP's daughter and being the oh-so-pure and innocent Chinese that she is, she is not supposed to say such a thing. People just jump on the 'hate the RJC elitist(s)' bandwagon. (Can this be because RJC is just so hateable? =p) Also, I guess the average Singaporean can't stand being called a 'stupid crackpot'. I know, it's childlike, but on the other hand we're glad we never grew up, can still have fun calling each other names, and at the end of the day, turn out best friends. I know some people lack sense of humour and I don't claim to have much myself, but some are just too square.

Original comic here at http://xkcd.com/202/.

Something else people should read before commenting on any blog or bashing other people for their opinions on blogs is here. Make sure you click every link in the article too. I should quote Joel directly, "You don't have a right to post your thoughts at the bottom of someone else's thoughts. That's not freedom of expression, that's an infringement on their freedom of expression." I absolutely agree that girl's privacy has been intruded. As a result of Singapore being not very open-minded, we lose two great bloggers. Singapore would like to remind you there is no such thing as privacy in Singapore, as you can be jailed for what you write on blog. Singapore would like to remind you too that they are a conservative society, and they don't need elitism. We can begin with a very small step. Repeal the sedition act with regards to blogging, because we still care. =) I have said this before, legal does not mean it is ethical.

Write this cannot, write that cannot, how can we be creative and open-minded?

In my opinion, there is no such thing as elitism. Why? There's always someone better than you. You are the best in your class? Someone is better than you in the level. You are the best in your level? There is someone better than you in the school. You are the best in your school? There is someone better than you in the area. You are the best in your area? There is someone better than you in Singapore. You are the best in Singapore? There is someone better than you in the world. You are the best in the world? 5 years down the road, someone will be better than you. I probably remembered this from one of the Monday's chapel in ACJC. In my opinion, lack of humility in writing style does not consitute elitism, no matter how elite the writer thought he/she is. We know and keep quiet, avoiding yet another round of thrash-talk, as this 1337 mentality often appears in the gaming world as well. =)

Having said all that, I am just glad I am not from RJC. =p Get a blog, so that you have a voice. Take ownership of your words. Guy probably thought that since the newspaper didn't think his plight was worth telling the masses, he should write it on his own space. I actually support that. It is almost time for citizen's journalism. Writing is like muscle, the more you write, the better you get. One of my lecturers even said we should all start blogs. It is interesting to read and teaches you a lot of new things. I advocate blogs because I know everyone is fighting a hard battle, and everyone have a story to tell, even if they were your wet market fish aunties/uncles. I learn from other's unique experiences. Sharing information is also good for open-minded exchange of ideas.

After the paper I felt really bad. I had gastric, runny nose, sneezing and lack of sleep. I really cannot take it anymore I have decided to see a doctor. I was glad I did, because my runny nose always stop when I go to a place where I can feel the air-con. It was short-lived though. I got my queue number and I met a friend. He was having diarrhoea and he propose asking the doctor for sleeping pills for his unable to sleep condition too. Hey, I also have trouble sleeping lately, and very frustating one too. Only other nice fact was that there was some pretty girls there waiting to see doctors too. I saw my doctor and described my red spots problems. I don't know, but she gave me the feel that she was rather uncaring, or maybe she was just numb at the numerous people seeking help?

She told me it may be just an allergic reaction to something, and it's nothing much. We should just do a blood test to confirm. The blood test was another horror. Yeah, I am not as fit as I was in JC anymore. When I donated blood, the blood moved real quickly. When I went for blood test for admission to university, the blood moved real quickly too. I was rather slow in filling the tube and not only that, it was rather painful. I felt little pain the last few times I had to give blood. Only during the initial poke, and then the coming out. This time, I was feeling pain throughout. I really should exercise more. The weekly basketball game doesn't constitute as exercise. Then after the first tube is filled, she had to hold it there, while I was feeling the pain. She couldn't move away, as she was holding the needle in. She was waiting for another nurse to possible pass by to get her another tube.

Imagine the agony. Another nurse finally walked by and she requested for the spare empty tube. Yeah, the slow blood movement just make things even more unbearable. Slowly, I began to fill the second tube. When it's all done, my arm was surprisingly still very painful. It was weak too, and was shaking. I guess I better go do more gym this holidays. My strength has dropped to an unbelievable level. Yeah, think video games, and you'll be more motivated to go for the workout. I need to get back my STR points. =p Basically the pain just extinguished all my ultra mood for the day. I was told that my platelets level was 212k, and acceptable level was above 50k, so I am normal and don't have dengue fever. I was dismissed with no prescription (woah, this must be record somewhat, because I have never been to doctor with a problem and no prescription). Surely there must be one for my numerous problems right? As of now, I am having even more red dots than ever, I guess I'll go to another doctor for second opinion, or maybe how to cure these red dots. Anyway, one scare is gone, that's good, I have no dengue!

I made my way sadly to the Arts canteen for my favourite sausages. They tasted good, and it was strange to be able to find lots of empty table during lunch. Met some people too, and they sort of lifted my low spirits a little. Went home, and was supposed to read on the last three chapters which I never touched. I felt amazingly tired and my confidence and energy was all broken by the ordeal. It didn't help that my left arm was still painful. Was tired and went into sleep. Set an alarm for 3p.m. to wake up and read the last three chapters but the sleep was too beautiful to be disturbed, and I changed the alarm to 4.00p.m. instead. The sleep was still too beautiful at 4.00p.m., though I am beginning to wake up. Woke up at 4.20p.m. took a 10 minutes dash through the three chapters which I never read.

Feeling as energetic as ever, went for a quick shower and then a mad dash to the paper again. This time I was late, but I didn't know how late I was. It didn't matter. I read the paper and began to laugh. Of course, I could have done much better, but I guess this is as good as it gets with the numerous modules I had to take this semester. One of the questions which I did the night before came out! Jackpot! Money in the bag. Told you I can't be that bad. Hopefully this lands me in good grounds. Plus, a lot of people told me they couldn't finish. =) Hehe. I hope and hope and hope... =p Anyway, I felt good, the stress upon me vanished. I have 4 days till my next paper, but I feel very carefree, something I haven't felt in a long time. I took a slow walk to the bus stop, and I didn't have to rush. Took my time to enjoy my dinner.

Went to relax a little, played basketball with a weak arm. Played bad, plus both my arms were shaking though I only gave blood on left arm. Lucky she didn't take from my right arm, or else I wouldn't be able to write for my CS1102C exam. Oh well. Relaxed a bit more and went to bed at 1a.m., the next thing I know, poof!, it's 7 p.m. just now already. Bathed and went for a nice yong-tau-foo dinner.

Lately there's been an influx of dragonflies in my cluster, and the more disturbing fact is that they were all dying. I thought it was possible that they were driven out of their natural habitat. I guess it's probably the recent spikes in number of insecticide spraying that's killing them. Dengue mosquitos has killed more than just humans!

I guess I wrote too much. I should either go study for my next paper or get a nap now. I am rather tired.

Blah, I guess the threats are always very real nowadays. I went to bed at 1a.m. last night, hoping to recharge and then conquer a brand new day, but realized that was not possible. My brain kept telling me to study and I was extremely awake. Tried to do somethings to relax myself a little, and hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep accidentally.

Went to bed again at 2a.m. after the last post. I think it must be near 3a.m., amidst my flood of thoughts, the weirdest things came to me. I become reminded of some of the super hero shows I watched when I was still very young. All of a sudden, there is a strong urge to revisit the thing, and Youtube came to my mind. Hopefully too, I'll be more relaxed and able to fall asleep better. It was CyberCop, and I liked the black one because I think his radar is the coolest. Suddenly I was very very interested and think I forgot a lot about it. Hopefully there's something on it in YouTube. Unfortunately, there isn't episodes of the show uploaded. Sigh. Oh well, better than nothing.


The starting song. Believe me, when I was a kid everything looked so real. =p


The transformation. This happens almost once every episode.


The ending song. So sad I haven't been able to find any episodes online yet.
Oh yeah, from searching there, I got reminded by other shows I watched when I was very young because I stumbled upon someone's blogcast that showed a number of his childhood shows. They were similar to mine, and I got reminded of my favourite and first Ultraman ever, Ultraman Ace. He/she is still my favourite! It's one of those Ultraman series where they feature romance and a girl returning to the moon. =) I heard the recent Ultraman Mebius is great, and it may overtake Ultraman Ace to claw the spot of my favourite Ultraman series.

Besides Ultraman Ace, I also watched Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Tiga, and lost touch after that. Ultraman Tiga sounded like it was a local production. =p Furthermore, he was the first Ultraman where he doesn't look similar to the rest of the Ultraman brothers. He has three modes where he can change to, and he features some blue colour on his body, very different from those Ultraman that was released before his time. Yeah, wikipedia rocks, because it would have been very time-consuming to do research on the Ultraman series when I get interested in it, but wiki just makes it looks oh-so-simple. I even get information that I didn't think I wanted. =)

Watched some comparison video between the original series and how it appeared in the recent Ultraman Mebius series. Yes, Ultraman(s) before Ultraman 80 are all featured in the recent series. That means Tiga would not be featured. Anyway, all the Ultraman(s) before Ultraman 80 deserve to be in the Hall of Fame of Ultraman already. The kids that watched their shows are probably 40+ years old now.


Ultraman Ace. My favourite Ultraman! Here is a comparison from the original series and the modern day series. Much more real now eh? Also features the theme song from the original series.


The original Ultraman back in 1966. The first.


Ultraman Jack. I thought he sounded a little westernized.


Ultraman 80, and yeah, it was back in 1980.


Ultraman Taro! One of my favourites as well!


Ultraman Leo! One of my favourites as well!


And the award for the weirdest transformation sequence and theme song goes to, *drum rolls* Ultraseven. They even rearranged the numbers. Definitely a phenomenon. =)


Ultraman turns 40 years old in 2006. Here is a 40th anniversary video that I was able to find. Features a nice song from Ultraman Mebius sound track.
At this moment, I felt that I should curse YouTube a little, for robbing me of the very limited time I have. New things are invented to rob you of the very limited time you have. (Think YouTube, Facebook and Friendster)

Ok, without knowing it was already 5a.m. and I didn't feel sleepy. As time runs out I feel even more guilty as I should have used the time to study instead. Yeah right, the more I study, the more I cannot fall asleep. I realized having the concentration and morale to study is directly affected by the amount of sleep I get. When I woke up at around 4p.m., I was thinking like I am a Secondary 2 kid where I can cramp everything in tonight and get an A. By the time it was 1a.m., I feel so super saturated that absolutely nothing can enter anymore. I feel as if I can puke if I study anymore. Sigh, I should have started earlier. Yeah, morale super low, and I was giving up. I'm sorry. I tried.

Went to bed again at 5a.m., and was cursing myself for not being able to fall asleep. It was getting so stuffy that I think I was going to sweat. By the time it was 5.30a.m., I assessed the amount of sleep that I can still get. I need to wake up at 7.30a.m.. Seriously, being super tired and unable to fall asleep is the most frustrating thing ever to happen. I was in a screw sleep mode, and I proceeded to wake up and study.

Unfortunately, I was really sick of EE2006. Like really really sick. Worse part was that I finally knew why I was never good at using the Karnaugh Map. You see, I printed my notes, but unfortunately and I don't know why, I didn't print the remaining 8 pages of that lecture. I suspect it was not released at the time of printing, or else how could I have missed it? I decided to take a look at the PDF version because I was kind of sick at looking at paper. To my horror, the 8 pages were all there, and Karnaugh Map is so easy. That was like the if you ever forget everything taught in this module, you should remember this one thing. It was that important.

My group mates didn't know that I didn't sleep the night before. I was early for my paper, and was never late for any final papers this semester. Yeah, right, we'll see how it goes, since only 2 papers have passed so far. Studying for the paper was not only useless, it's futile. Everything that's asked on paper concerns our project. That was a 360 degrees change from past year paper. Moral of the story, I should never have studied. Anyway, there was a lot a lot to write and I think I am getting some wrist deformity soon from overusage. It cramped halfway throughout and I only managed to churn out 9 faces of writings in two hours. It was quality writing I guess, but I can never understand how people can ask for additional answer booklet. (There's really a lot of paper in there and if you fill them all up, you must be writing really really fast)

Hopefully I'll get an A, or even A+. As it stands, I need 12 grade points to float my boat. Yeah, simple calculation, 6 modules, 2.0 each, and passing everything means I survive and will not be kicked out of university. Problem is, I think I may have tendency to fail three. That means three other subjects must be a B+ and above, three 4.0s add up to 12. I might have earned to stay in university but failures are not only ugly, it means you have to retake the module. Please let me not fail at all costs. At least give me a D. I accept defeat.

Not having sleep the whole night, and mind was saturated after paper. I really needed to relax, and I was finally sleepy. I think I fell asleep for 30 minutes. Tried in vain to cram some things after observing a pattern in past year paper. I was unfortunate, because the past year papers were all very easy, practically a giveaway. I was 1 minute early for my paper (still early!) and mine was difficult. I can almost safely say that I failed. I really really don't want to. I pray for divine intervention.

Went to bed at 9.30p.m., and I was sleepy. I expected myself to sleep until morning, and I woke up at 1a.m.. Sigh, I couldn't fall asleep yet again. 4 hours is all that I managed to get after not sleeping for 1 day. You could add the 30 minutes where I fell asleep before the paper but it wouldn't make a big difference. I really need the sleep, as it gives me moral and concentration. I always believe it is not the quantity of hours you were awake that counts, it's the quality.

Unable to fall asleep again, I have decided to study again. I need to do everything possible to improve my standing.

Unusual things that I noticed while sending laundry. I met with 5 dragonflies. 4 in my cluster and 1 near the laundry room. I wanted to help the one near my door because it seems dying, overturned and wings not flapping, only with the occasional movement of legs, but I guess it is a lost cause, because he/she already have one wing broken. Gone. Only 3 wings left.

Then I went down to collect my laundry. I realized that two of them have died. An insect's life sure is short. Oh well, enough of pointless observations. Back to study.


Yeah, I seriously wonder. I went to bed an hour ago, but here I am again, unable to sleep. Tried doing some exercise to make myself tired, but not to the extent that I will sweat. I don't think it would be very hygenic to sweat on the bed right? I keep worrying about the same things. Bed didn't feel as comfortable as usual. Room is becoming stuffy which equals getting harder and harder to fall asleep.

The girl opposite me must be reading my blog. She sat on her table just now! =)



Originally posted at http://xkcd.com/349/.

I think this is true so far regarding my university life, however hard I want to turn it around. Definitely true when it comes to coding. Here is what has happened most of the time during a semester.

Week 1 - I think I'll get A+.
Week 2 - I think I'll be happy if I get an A.
Week 3 - I think I'll be happy if I get an A-.
Week 4 - I think I'll be happy if I get a B+.
Week 5 - I think I'll be happy if I get a B.
Week 6 - I think I'll be happy if I get a B-.
Week 7 - I think I'll be happy if I get a C+.
Week 8 - I think I'll be happy if I get a C.
Week 9 onwards, I'll be happy if I don't fail.

I think this holds true for most of my subjects other than in my first semester. First semester remains the semester to be proud off I guess, but I think that's because of 8 months of rest. Now I should gather whatever time that remains and work up this chart, hopefully I'll feel like how I feel in Week 1. As you can see, exams really made me such a dull person. Or maybe it's the recent indulgence in nerdy jokes? =p Nothing wrong with being a nerd right? You'll end up working for one anyway. =)

The red spots on my arms are not so apparent anymore. I still don't have fever, and that's good news. Bad news was, I went to bed at around 4.45a.m. and was having anxiety attacks again. I didn't managed to fall asleep until around 6+ I think. The sky definitely looked like it was going bright soon. Sigh, I am being deprived of sleep when I need it the most. I want to sleep before 12a.m. tonight, as I have a 9a.m. paper tomorrow.

I think I know how I can make myself fall asleep on time. Usually after a heavy meal, you will feel sleepy right? I know it isn't very healthy, but I guess I have to last through these last 9 days. At most I guess I'll go for regular runs again right after the exams. I still have around 5 hours left to cram as much as possible into my brain. I hope I don't get distracted. I want to succeed. I really want to.


Three days ago, I woke up and there were tiny red dots on my right arm. I dismissed them as my hand being bruised while I was sleeping over it. Maybe they were just a reaction to no blood in the arm for a while? The next day it did recede a little. They were not as red and obvious as the day before.

I woke up this morning and to my horror, there were more red dots on my right arm than before. Not only that, my left arm has those red dots too. Oh no, have I contracted some contagious disease? I told one of my cluster mates and he say it might be dengue after looking at those dots. He told me people with dengue fever have red dots too. My conclusion is better to go get it checked.

I feel healthy, that's for sure, maybe a little weak, but I haven't been doing gym for a long time. I certainly don't have fever, so I am dismissing the case. Also, I haven't been bitten by a mosquito lately. Besides, I need all the time I have now to study for my next paper or else I am going to fail it terribly. It didn't help when my nose started bleeding profusely while I was on a phone call. Luckily this time it was easy to stop. I went to running water and it stopped like in the next one minute or so.

I then decided I should check wikipedia on symptoms of dengue fever. It says that all four conditions must be fulfilled but on my own, there is no way I can check myself for conditions three and four. Condition one is fever, negative, thankfully. Condition two is haemorrhagic tendency (positive tourniquet test, spontaneous bruising, bleeding from mucosa, gingiva, injection sites, etc.; vomiting blood, or bloody diarrhea), quoting directly from wikepedia.

Tourniquet test is basically how easy your capillaries rupture, and those red dots on my right arm seems to confirm so. They have spread to my left arm too. Nose-bleeding is yet another symptom, but it could have been random. Does bleeding more than usual from a pimple counts?

Fever, but I indeed had fever exactly two weeks ago. Remember the 37.8 degrees? To make things worse, that fever started with profuse bleeding from both my nostrils. Even though I eventually recovered from it after two days, two days was a little too long for fever affecting me. I never had a fever that manage to last more than two days even when I was having chickenpox. I had a minor runny nose that extended to a week but that was nothing serious.

Seems like my only hope now is not to have fever. If I am hospitalized, I am screwed, and I think I may shoot myself. I have 4 papers in the next 3 days. I need to keep my cool. Channel all my positive energy to keep myself from having fever. If I really have dengue, there is a 1 in a 1000 chance I might die. The big question then comes to whether I should go to a doctor tomorrow. Time is extremely expensive this exam period. It really is. I also think that all the clinical test might take a long time and it may involve drawing of blood. Maybe not, because if I really have, then it would be hard to stop bleeding from where they drew blood.

Thoughts, thoughts. Maybe I am just too sensitive.


Reminds me of myself, sometimes.

Last week, I bumped into my friend (a senior) while being extremely hungry at the Supersnacks. Turns out he was not buying food for himself. He explained that he saw two dogs that were too skinny being a dog, so he decided to buy them some nuggets, and hopefully they will eat it. He then rush off in search of the dogs, even though the next day is his final year project presentation.

It's exam week and everyone is trying to cramp as much as possible into their brains. There is this girl that lives in the block opposite me, and her room faces mine. She was studying standing up. No joke, she was holding her notes up in front of her, and stood facing the window. While I would feel the itch to walk around and move a little, she didn't move a single bit for half an hour. Literally stoned there with her notes. Worthy of mention. I think I tried this before when I was in ACS(I). I even tried studying sitting on the table instead. =p


Deadlines again, I am less than 3 hours from another deadline, and this one is rather stupid. It's peer review for TR2201, and you are supposed to divide the project into pieces and see how much each person has contributed. It just isn't fair, and I don't know why, but maybe it's the indulgence in nerdy jokes, I find myself having to substantiate almost everything I say. Like GP, it's stupid. Now I have to substantiate why it's stupid. Like I said, it isn't fair at all. Everyone gave their 110%.

Therefore, the heretic Wai Hong has once again decided to be different. Oh by the way, I realize that I need to be writing again in very short time, so I better practice my writing skills. (therefore am blogging, and writing the peer review) Let's hope this takes less than an hour. I should copy down my notes by hand too, as this practices my wrist muscles for writing. This is because, my hand cramped for the first time in a long while during periods leading to my Maths paper.

I think it is terribly unfair to judge your team members based on percentage contribution in a project. This is due to several reasons. I will try to keep this as short as possible.

-No two assignment during the project were the same.
There can be poster design, brochure design, brainstorming of ideas, businesscard design, marketing plan writing, decision making and a myriad more of possible things to do. It is unfair to judge them on a same scale.

-It would be terribly biased, or subject to the 'local effect'.
Let me give an example, there is an earthquake in New York where thousands die but you are suffering from a terrible toothache. You would be more concerned about your toothache since it would be directly affecting you. Similarly, we do not know what our teammembers are actually doing behind the scenes, and it would be unfair to judge them based on the one assignment that they did. We do not see the the hours of effort and research behind it. On another note, we might have done a lot but in ways which our team members will never see.

-Judgement of percentage would then be based on one's perspective.
Oh, sourcing for sponsors, but did we eventually get a sponsor? No. Amount of work done? Objectively, zero. Actually, there was a lot of work involved in trying to source for sponsors of goodie bags. That was just an example. Similarly, I can think that hmm, design is a trivial job, it probably is 1% of the entire project. It just doesn't work that way.

On the basis of the arguments above, I have decided not to judge my team members based on percentage contribution to the project. =)

The rest of my peer review is secret. Also, super Wai Hong was treading too close to the deadline. He finished typing the rest of his peer review by 11.45p.m. and realized that he do not have a PDF converter at hand. He then frantically searched online for a suitable one and luckily there was an online service. He submitted his document at 11.50p.m. and wait for the PDF version to return. It says it should only take a couple of minutes and if I receive no response within 15 minutes, something must have gone wrong.

At that moment, I was thinking, what if it took more than 9 minutes? I wouldn't have made it on time for the 2359 deadline. Luckily, it entered my mailbox 2 minutes after, I double-checked, and made the final submission onto the IVLE workbin at 11.56p.m.. So close. Moral of the story, always have a PDF converter at hand. =)


In case you are wondering why there isn't a study related post part 3 even though so many days have passed, it was not that I didn't study. It was just that I have decided I study well when my laptop is in 'OFF' mode. It's just that sometimes I need some information and then it would be a little inconvenient because I will need to switch it on.

I just blew away a week of good sleep cycle. See, it wasn't really my fault, and I am getting anxiety attacks. It really isn't new, and I had been having such attacks since my JC days. I am perfectly tired, the weather is great, the bed felt great, but I just cannot fall asleep. Thoughts assault my mind, and they are very real. What if I fail again? Checking the facts objectively just gave me that impression. Failure is the ultimate defeat, because not only you do not get the grade points, you need to repeat the module. Yeah, a D is much much much better than an F.

Then I begin to sleep later and later, and the vicious cycle repeats. When I should be sleeping, I am thinking I should be studying. Yeah, I know, relax. I heard those stuff before. I tried to relax, and tried my best to sleep instead of waking to study. It didn't work, and every second ticks, I feel those time running away.

I guess this is the most angelic Wai Hong in the past four years. I know if I continue this way I might go far, but it is still early to confirm. This is just depressing, because I think I have grown. Nope, I am the kid with finer degrees of self control now. =) I haven't played games for two weeks, far from being a Wai Hong.

Still, the period leading to the Maths paper was dreadful. I kept my cool, and continued to try and understand as much as I can as time winds down. Maybe my brain wasn't used to such an abuse after a long time of rest, but I was really mentally tired by the time of my paper, so much so that I do not want to think of Maths anymore.

Yeah, I was unlucky, and all the chapters I had good grasp on came out being of lower weightage. I couldn't do the questions of higher weightage. Calculating the percentage I might get was even worse, because I think I might have got around 20+ marks out of 100, and maximum I can get is 40 out of 100. Doing the full calculation + CA isn't looking pretty as well. I guess at most I'll get 35%, and I guess most normal people would get around 70%. I just have to depend on luck for the rest of the way. I hope I get at least a D. Real hard. I mean, I worked so hard!

Yeah, stress level was skyrocketting after the paper. I get gastric attacks right after the paper, thankfully not during the paper. I didn't sleep the night before too, and am in terrible need of sleep. Unfortunately, food didn't cure my gastric, and I can't fall asleep, thinking of a grueling 10 more days I have to do. I guess I may go far if the effort I put in other modules were as much as those I put in Maths for the last two weeks. I guess there was an improvement in my helpsheet too. Last semester I copied some questions hoping to hit the jackpot, but this semester, I copied all the important formulas, that I might have missed out the last time.

Therefore, no appetite, and cannot fall asleep, here I am again, trying to vent some stress. I guess you know why I don't have a Friendster and Facebook account. =p








It is about time for post number 2. Should have written one for each day right? I should learn to minimize distractions. That means, no music, no new browser windows (yeah, this one always catch me off-guard) no food, no laundry, no phone for the period I am supposed to study. Sounds easy right? I think I am going to try it. I am really doomed if I don't finish all the 11 tutorials for Maths tonight. I am serious. I have to start believing I can do it.

No more peeps to come play basketball with. The last meeting ended last Wednesday. I did play as hard as I could, since it was the last. We want to leave lasting impression don't we? =p I guess I played well even though I scored little. Guarding someone with an NUS jersey is never easy. Fortunately for me, he had been complaining he's getting old, and not as agile as he was. I thought I had a clean block though, but he called a foul. Then again, it was his lane, and my block was from the side, maybe it was a blocking foul. Then again, I made no body contact with him, just the ball when he had it. Oh well, one distraction less now that there's no basketball.

Looking for a great place to study. Library is not a great place to study. Maybe a great place to read, but concentration is easy to break while in the library. I wish concentration is a skill that can be trained. Like in MUD, where you pay gold to get more concentration. =) Then again, it wouldn't be good since everyone will have 100% concentration all the time. Takes out the part of being human.

I didn't understand why Priscilla once told me that eating is a chore. I never felt that way for some time, and was always looking forward to food. I was once labelled 'perpetually hungry'. Lately though, I have had my share of disappointment. I'll be like, 'Oh, it's time to eat again!', get all excited, get down for food, get those food that looks oh-so-nice but the moment it goes into the mouth, tasteless and bland. Then I'll feel oh-so-cheated and disappointed. It has been happening lately. The mixed rice stall food has double standards, today it may be nice, tomorrow it might be tasteless.

Here comes the part where I should actually study.

Things I have learnt today:- (after 163 pages)

-Males pay more attention to quality, females pay more attention to price.
-It is worth the trouble to do research on a product before making the purchase.
-If you are buying a stapler, you have no problem clicking around online. If you are buying 15,000 staplers however, you want to talk to someone.

-Dell rocks now, offering good value for money.
-Singnet 10Mbps plan gives a free Dell Latitude Laptop. No joke. Worth S$2800.
-Singnet 3Mbps plan gives a free Ipod Touch. Not bad still. Worth around S$300.


Last day of school was supposedly yesterday. Yeah, it's really quick, but a semester has almost ended. I am less than 7 days away from my first paper. The stress and everything just piles on. Fortunately though, as time passes by, I think I am getting more and more knowledgable. I think I learnt a lot of new things and how to get things done the smarter way. Yeah, smart is relative, but we can always try and get things smarter right? Like get things done more efficiently?

I realized priority is very important. I know what is the expected priority of me but unfortunately, I am not carrying them out. In fact, I realized I have a different priority in my mind. I always carry out things in reverse. The more urgent something is, the more I don't feel like doing it. The less urgent it is, the more I want to do it and be done with it. Unfortunately, university life does not give me too much of flexibility to do things the second way. Deadlines are always hunting me like a hound.

Coming into the last week, I still think I will fail three modules, though I will try to do as much as possible to prevent that. Hey, I think I am an extremely good boy for many years running. I haven't touched any games in days. To those who know me, that's like a completely different me. Somewhat dull me, but I want to do everything possible to improve my position. I don't want to feel ashamed anymore.

The more I read Joel Spolsky's blog at joelonsoftware.com, the more I agree with him. Maybe that is because I am kind of a programmer at heart. Also, some of the thing he did was rather intelligent and out-of-the-box, and by reading more, I guess I have attained a new level of intelligence. It also make me realize that HR should have never been invented. Taking a HR modules this semester makes me realize HR is almost all nonsense. Not to offend anyone, but I felt thankful that I was not in business, for this is not my cup of tea. MBA should have never been invented.

Most of you know that HR is managing people, and that it's hard, because people are not robots. People have their own emotions, feelings, needs and a lot of things to be looked into. However, because the people that manages these people are people too, they should have common sense to know what is best. To me, having HR classes felt kind of like insulting your intelligence, not that I have a lot of it. I think I am rather a patient person at learning, but HR classes felt something like "you guys don't have enough common sense, so let's teach you all some." What I have really learnt from HR classes is not how to keep employees happy. I learnt more of how some words were changed from years to years just to keep people happy, but underneath the title/word nothing have changed. People should learn to evolve away from HR.

One of my business modules lecturers always tell me, no matter how lovable you are, there are bound to be someone who doesn't like you. That doesn't mean you stop trying to be lovable. =) Doesn't mean that I agree with everything that Joel Spolsky got to say on his blog, but I do agree with some of the HR measures he had put in place. I think I almost read all his articles to those dating back to the year 2000, but I am just a casual blogger, so I think at this point I wouldn't go and search through the whole archive again to quote him. Need time to study for exam.

One of the thing that I thought was quite smart was that pay will go transparent. Now what do I mean? Others will know how much you get paid? Spot on! I know on one hand it is privacy. I know people will try to not to tell people their salary if it is too high or above average. They would only state their salary when they feel that they are underpaid or is indeed underpaid. Now, people who are getting above average pay wouldn't want to get robbed right? On the other hand, transparency will get rid of unhappiness associated with pay. If everyone goes transparent, there is nothing to complain about. If you know Company A pays a lot more than the rest for the same job, by all means go for it! Do you think Company B will put the matter at rest? They don't want their talents all leaving for Company A right? People like to be stingy on the worse things to be stingy about.

By going transparent, you will also know who is overpaid. You know there are some people who deserve to be overpaid, those talents, but you also will know who do not deserve to be overpaid. No more unhappiness because someone has been overpaid and not doing enough. Now, this is something that was never taught in a traditional HR textbook, at least not in the few that I had the chance to come across. I should believe people kept pay secret because they wanted unethical competitive edge against over companies. If no one knows how much they are supposed to be paid, no one will be unhappy right? Think again. In this age of blogs, words spread exponentially. It really gave everyone a voice, and I should think humans are smart enough to differentiate lies from truth. =)

Another myth of HR that I would like to kill is that working in a team is much better than working alone. Yeah, it really is, but you don't have to jam everyone into one hall, and say that that is better for interaction. It is really great for interaction too, except that you are really losing real work time when interacting. I guess this is a debate of whether the worker like to work in privacy or prefer to chat with their co-workers. You can work in team in privacy too, in this age of e-mail, a mass e-mail to all your group members is faster than gathering them together in the office and give a talk. Every small interuption you have, a lot of concentration is lost, and a lot of precious work time is actually lost.

I think Joel told a similar story on his blog. Person A would think it would save a lot of time since Person B knows the answer, it would be best to ask Person B but unfortunately that is not the case. We need some time, to get into a concentration that we don't even feel the chair, and best would be we don't even know that time is passing. I get this too, that sometimes when I am in deep thinking, an SMS from the phone would completely shatter the thought, so much so that I am unable to pick up the thought again afterwards. It might have been a good idea, but it might be lost forever. That's why I prefer e-mail over SMS, because I can look at it with full attention, when I am supposed to. I wonder why people always complain over slow SMS and they expect you to reply immediately. I would if I am supposed to. Sometimes, I am in a greater concentration to actually reply to SMS, so sorry. =)

In one of the illustration Joel posted, it was something like Person A could ask Person B, and use 30 seconds, saving Person A 15 seconds, where Person A could have gotten the answer from Google. Person B on the other hand, got interrupted by the question Person A posed, and therefore unable to get into the deep concentration mode for the next 15 minutes. It was a 15 seconds versus a 15 minutes trade-off. Interuptions are going to be abound when people are starting to work in a working condition where their office is a table amidst a lot of tables in a hall. To think that some companies actually thought of this as unity was quite a joke. I believe creativity is really stifled when you have working environment like that. Like I have said before, working in privacy doesn't mean you are not working in a group.

One thing that I like about Joel's implementation of the company is that people get to own part of the company. They feel at home. The have control over their own area. If you want to do something about someone's area, you have to convince the owner first. No more management type students that comes and say that something is not right and if it was not corrected, you will be fired. What HR department lacks is ultimately what is actually meant by doing a good job, as they will never understand, because they had never actually done the job. Their job is to manage people, but ironically, they rank people as good workers and poor workers when they have no idea of the actual difficulty of the job scope. Understanding is very important. Therefore, HR should never be a degree on it's own. It should at most make itself a minor. People should get a proper degree first to know what jobs require what, then they can manage them. That's what I felt with MBA too. It should be a minor.

Lastly, one of the things that I gave thought about after reading it over there is underpromise and overdeliver. I know I heard of it before, thought of it before, and its not new, but the recital just re-affirmed something. Being the 'yes' man that I am, I tend to overpromise, then work my butts off (torturing myself in other words) to get them done. It also told me why I have lost faith in most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and NUS network. Latest update, on the NUS network, I still cannot play Maple Story properly, cannot stream NBA.com videos properly, and using messengers on NUS network is still a headache.

Problem with ISPs, is that they tend to overpromise and underdeliver. Yes, I have heard it a lot of time. TMnet was boasting of 1Mbps connection. Yeah, we subcribed, got all excited, and found out that a lot of the time it is below 1Mbps. Usually hovers around 250Kbps. Now, we get all upset right, since 1Mbps was promised, and we don't even get half. Keep in mind that Mbps in most ISPs case stands for Mega-bit per second and not Mega-byte per second. Same for Kbps, it is Kilo-bits per second and not Kilo-bytes per second. For the difference, it is just too cruel, but if you really want to know, Google is your friend! =)

Of course you complain right? Then TMNet issues a statement stating that their internet provided are based on a 'best-effort' basis. There are a lot of reasons as to why we do not get the maximum speed and then go on to list all the possible reasons like poor infrastructure (poor copper, maybe due to old wirings), too many people accessing the same resources at the same time, and so on. Truth is, I have heard those before, and I fully understand each one. I am not your common computer freak, I am a future computer engineer. I know that there can be a million and one reasons to which I don't get the best connection, but I will try to do what I can. I will try to minimize client-side problems, like buying new cable, making sure all settings are good and so on, but still, around 250 Kbps. I also don't care whatever they said, because as a customer, I paid for 1Mbps, I expect 1Mbps, I don't get 1Mbps, period. At the end of the day, they didn't deliver, and I try to avoid them as much as I can. They might be able to stay afloat a while, since they are like the only service provider with broadband. I say they won't survive long.

Same goes for Starhub, because though they offer 12Mbps plan, but they stream Youtube videos slow. When using Youtube, it is more like 0.12Mbps. Doesn't matter what they say right? I know there might be a lot of people using Youtube at the same time, but the fact remains is that they didn't deliver. Their reputation has dropped a level in my eyes, because I am upset and felt a little cheated.

I too, have to learn to stop promising, and deliver more things that I didn't promise. Having stated all these, I think I might be on a way to a decent grade for SSB. I am not promising anything. =) Three semesters already, and I still can't wait for holidays all over again.

One question still lingers in my mind that shouldn't be lingering now. I should have either made my mind or studying for the exams now. Should I apply to work for Computer Centre. Yeah, they are using the unethical methods to employ talents for the lowest possible cost again. The job scope is not even available. Remuneration plans, not available. See poor HR skills in the works? I'll doubt I'll go very far in this company. All that you can find about them online is a join us poster. Using my analytical skills and that these things have to do with Second Life, I guess what I'll be doing is coding NUS into the island owned by NUS in Second Life. Also, I do not think that Computer Centre would be generous so I guess they'll say you can earn money from playing the game, which is true, but it is far from anything that hourly pay can offer.

I think I have thought too much for today. I really really don't feel like doing Maths at the moment though I should. It is less than 7 days away. I don't feel like wasting time away, so I guess I'll try to cram as much marketing essentials into my brain before bedtime. Everything that I learn now might be obsolete in the next few years or so. The most important thing I need to know is to learn how to learn. =)


The other sport that I somewhat have passion about, is cross-country, or long distance running. I would like to remind myself that I was overweight during my Secondary 1 year and was failing my 2.4km run everytime, with run times that sometimes exceed 20 minutes. It was due to regular runs that I managed to keep my weight in check, and also managed to somewhat do well. I have been joining the school's internal cross-country competition every year, some years even joining in the mass run after the competitive run. Passion aside, I don't have the talent. Maybe I didn't have the mental capacity after all. I know my body can, but the mind is weak.

Running is really a mental game. Runners know how if they don't run once a day, their stamina is going to drop drastically. It also require us to mentally push ourselves to the limit. Keep on telling yourself don't stop, and take the next step for the duration of the run. The strength of resolution of runners coming back to run each day/or regularly demands respect, as there is a huge mental barrier associated with running. It's not easy that's for sure. Unfortunately for me, I also have a period of a day or two recovering from a run where I am not very productive. Given the chance, (which means no more exams or tests in rest of life) I might pursue running.

Collapsing at the finish line is not uncommon, as I have also had the chance to do the same in my Secondary 3 year. I was trying to improve one position, since the next person in front is nowhere to be seen, and the person behind is nowhere to be seen. Just me and him. A Secondary 3 kid vs. a Secondary 4 kid. (I forget his name now, I'm terribly sorry!) We were less than 1 metre of each other, and we know the finish line is near (even though it was not within sigh yet) turning into road to the car park. Just one last stretch left.

We responded on each other with a sprint, the fastest we both can. I managed to grab the lead for a short while, but I blame my poor form as I am unable to maintain my sprinting for the final 50 metres. The world grows dim, and the only factor pushing me on was that I am seeing the finishing line. Yeah, maybe the crowd and the cheers too. He beat me by less than one metre, and we both collapsed at the finish line, waiting for blood to return to the head. It was a white-out, and suddenly everything was white, you can't see a thing even though your eyes are open, and you can't hear a thing though you know everyone is shouting at you. Just for one position. =)

Of course, another pull factor to join the competitive run is that you get first go at the Milo truck. Milo from Milo truck always tasted better than what you can make yourself or buy at the kopitiam. It might be partly illusion as you are thirsty, but I would like to keep it that way. =) I believe that year, our MRT teachers treated us to buffet, at Seoul Garden. I might have gotten the year wrong though, or was it the next year? =)

Memorable event during my J1 year, it was Christina's birthday. =) And we were raising fund for Fun-O-Rama. =)

Yeah. Don't worry, we'll always be there for you. Promise. =)


This would one of the (hopefully) many parts post. This is not the first time I have been trying this, but then again, my blog is a great tool to help me study. Some people who know their stuff might stumble over and drop their opinion right? I haven't been a good mathematician in a long time. So much so that I think I cannot understand them anymore.

I somewhat have a problem understanding strain tensor, but I think I get the idea already. Now what I need to do is to apply it. I want to finish my exam help sheet by Thursday, since it is drawing exceptionally close already. I still have a tutorial on Thursday.

I have still yet to solve the CS1102C problem that will net me 3%. I do have the solution but that wouldn't be very efficient. Not to mention the big amount of code that I will have to write. When all else fails, I am going to use brute force.

This is about the most angelic Wai Hong you see in a long time. He hasn't been on Maple Story or on any other games. He only logs on to MUD to check latest happenings and hibernated all but one of his characters. Ok, he finally summoned the willpower, and hibernated all his characters. Yes, not even a single one left.


What did I tell you about basketball? It is like ballet. It is a game of elegance, finesse and grace. There is a lot of beauty that is beyond description of words. Everytime I watch people play basketball, not only I learn new things, I also get to admire their beauty of form. Whenever I see a good move, good pass, or a good shot, my heart melts. It is not everyday that you get to see those. Basketball rocks ok? =)

Tracing my own humble beginning with basketball, brings back some great memories. The first time I actually played basketball? I was in Form 1 back then, before I was Secondary 1. I was a librarian, and being the hardworking person that I was, I was there every morning, even on days where it was not my duty days. Drop by to chat, play chess and checkers. Yeah, my checkers used to rock, and my Yahoo! games account had never been defeated back then, but that's besides the point.

In primary school, I played badminton and table tennis as my CCAs, but we were doing it recreationally so we were never really good. I can't believe that I once played badminton against the wall on Saturdays, and I can't believe I can't even do a proper serve on table tennis now. Then I went into secondary school. Taking back to where I was a librarian, on days where you are not on duty and am there, it would be extremely boring. My school-friends of six years have all changed all of a sudden. I had a few basketball lovers in my class, and my class monitor eventually left our school for basketball at Sports School in Bukit Jalil. He was well-built and tall for our age already.

There was only one court in our school, though we were supposed to be considered lucky. We really were. Courts were hot, and every class (yeah, one class) is allowed only one hour per day to book the court. There are four slots from 8a.m. to 12a.m. since we were starting school in afternoon session. Form 3 and above can only book from 2p.m. onwards. My class was 1M, and the neighbouring class is 1E, but we always fight for the courts. Most of the time it is both of us. Since there would be two slots where it won't be booked, we'll try to stay as much as we can. Those Form 2's were all nerds. =p

Beautiful moves are often more graceful when done in mid-air, right? Start of my journey of basketball was a rather tough one, but back then I didn't know right? I was just an innocent Form 1 student. I now suspect that my school principal didn't like basketballers very much. I know the school team have always been involved in gang fights with the boys next door at Confucius. There were a lot of rules where we have to adhere to, and if the principal walk past the courts and it was not free of dry leaves, everyone will be banned from using the court that day.

We all know basketball is a very passionate sport. That move almost always stir angry sentiments from us, fun-loving basketball hopefuls. Trust me, back then we really didn't know. We were just a bunch of obedient school-kids. =) So, a regular day would just be us booking the 8a.m. slot, and arriving to school at 7.50, just after the morning session had their assembly. Sometimes the assembly lasted longer than it should and we would have less playing time. =( Every morning, the courts is filled with dry leaves that the huge tree towering over it sheds.

We were issued 'penyapu lidi', I think there was a pair, and then we'll frantically sweep the courts. Most of the time, we scratch our last finger and back of the hands and it bleeds, as a result of trying to sweep too low. If you didn't know what was one, try and google for an image. We were using those really ancient ones. The lower you bow, the nearer you sweep to the ground, the more leaves are swept per unit time. We ran into danger of sweeping too low, and it always happen. Instead of the broom sweeping the floor, you sweep off a whole piece of skin on the concrete floor. By the time we were done, leaves put in a black plastic bag, and then disposed, would be almost 8.30a.m.. Only thirty minutes left for the early birds.

Ooh, come to think of it, we were rather brave for Form 1 kids. We really are, we were challenging Form 4s and Form 5s. Those were the havoc people. Yeah, those Forms 6s, both lower and upper are nerds. =p We even entered competition organized by don't know who, but I know we had to bow out early, because we were matched with some Form 5s. Our neighbouring class 1E got thrashed too, though by now I forgot who. We also play soccer, but I prefer basketball over it, because our soccer field had some thorny things growing all over along with the grass, and we play barefooted, which means we'll get cuts all over our foots.

Basketball wins. =) Even though it was rough concrete floor where you'll also get cuts should you fall. It was really rough, and that explains the cuts you'll get from sweeping it. Did you know there was test for PE? One of the test is how many free throws you can make in 10. I think there was a 200m dash too. How many cones can you dribble the soccer ball around, and that sort of thing. We need to do well. =)

My first ball? Some 5-ringgit ball that you get from cheap supermarkets. It bounced quite well alright, though later we'll realize that it bounced almost too well, like a rubber ball. (Oh wait, I guess it's a rubber ball.) Repeated plays made the ball no longer round. It is somewhat oval, and soon goes really out of shape.

There's so much beauty to see, even if away from the ball. Anyway, then I ended up in Singapore. Started to run regularly, and don't know why, we would trade recess after PE for basketball. It was like a class thing, and we were all just playing along. Fun. =) Also don't know why we'll go and join them. In fact, I don't even know I liked to play basketball. Besides, it also means no need to go to canteen for recess, which means saved $$$.

I think in our Secondary 4 year, the SARS outbreak was serious, and we suddenly find ourselves quarantined and no need to go to school. In fact, we were prevented from even leaving the compound. Yeah, we can't even get basic groceries. Those semi-prison lifestyle days were punctuated with lots of Playstation games, and basketball. We don't have anything else to do but to study. We literally suddenly have time to play all day long. We played almost everyday, and thinking back, I am amazed by our energy.

Jason has got his ball. A Nike 500, and I still have yet to have a ball. Yeah, I am poor alright, and playing with bad balls make your skills bad. Good balls cost around $80. Where can secondary school kid like us afford? A Nike 500 back then was around $20, but it is somewhat a rubber ball. Not to mention it is also slippery.

Nice blocks are always nice to see. It involves a lot of timing and anticipation of opponent's next move. You need to read your opponent to go for the block. Or of course, you can jump at every opportunity and hope for the best. It's tiring, I know, but when you do end up with a nice block there would be a great adrenaline rush. You feel almost heavenly for a short moment. Not to mention, you would create art for people to admire.

I never could touch the rim before reaching JC. I am also not that tall, and as I grew, I dropped position by position. From center, to forward and now I play mostly as guard. I hardly drive in now, because I don't want to give those tall centers free blocks! =) Kill them from the outside with those long-ranged beautiful shots. Sometimes, it feels great to have some teammate shouting, "It's going in!" after a beautiful release.

After much consideration, I finally went for the basketball trials. Every sports got its own trials, and I only went for the basketball one. I was rather tall for a J1 kid, and at that point of time, I was still growing. There was a person who wore his secondary school jersey and he was really kind of outshining most of us. He'll block you going for lay-up cleanly, and I was not selected to go for trials first. It was when most of them were tired, they went to the rest of us and try to select. The first question I was asked was what's my height. I answered 175cm, as that was my height back then. I scored two balls, and the second one, I got fouled by the defender.

Nope, never got selected. My game was still poor. Sometimes I kind of envy those who have the skills, because that person who was doing well at the trials decided he doesn't want to join basketball team anymore. Me, on the other hand, wanted, but do not have the skill to make it to the team at least. Life's never fair anyway. =) However, I joined the recreational club and played with them every weekend. That is when I start to improve. They were a little undermanned after the trials, with people still not making up their minds on whether to join or not. I do join them for training too.

Ok, Wai Hong's fate is about to change, for a long time to come. He's hardworking at basketball, and I guess that is the general consensus among the rest of the team. He trains extra time after everyone has left and continues to shoot until 9p.m., when the main spotlight goes off and the security guard come and ask you to go home. His shooting was never good, so he shoots almost everyday.

It was also the first time Wai Hong get access to good balls. There was a locker that the basketball team got, and I know the combination back then. I can play anytime I wanted provided I brought PE attire. I bring it almost every day and play almost every day. I marvel at the amount of energy I had as a seventeen-year-old. I never felt tired even though I was playing everyday. I integrated gym workouts into my schedule! That was when I got rather strong too. Unfortunately though, Wai Hong's schoolwork begins to suffer. No passion? =)

People tend to think hardworking is a general attribute. They think that it applies through everything a person does. People see that Wai Hong is hardworking at basketball, automatically they get the impression that Wai Hong is hardworking at schoolwork. Unfortunately, that was not the case, however I wanted it to be true. I get distracted easily from schoolwork, and lack of space for concentration meant that I fumbled at work time and time again. Luckily, a strong foundation managed to carry me far, and passing most test where it mattered.

In the end, due to a lack of talent after the J2s graduated and the J1s not even J2s yet, I was formally accepted into training with the team. Training was always fun, though it is physically draining. Those people who really improved a lot were those who found training to be fun. Those people who are already at quite a high level found training a dread, because they don't improve much and it tires them for nothing. It was supposedly the best years of their lives too, so they want to enjoy as much as they could, and spend less time actually training.

I got my back injured during one of the sprint training where I was leading. Mentally pushing myself, my mind moved too fast. I missed a step as my body couldn't continue to the next step in time. I fell and from then on, had a very painful back whenever I jump and sit down. Going to the doctor is a useless waste of money. They will just issue you with some painkillers. Yeah, that's all. Maybe exempt you from PE for months but then again, PE is fun. I don't want to get exempted. I want to do PE. I really want to. The injury also made me fail standing broad jump, or else I could have got a gold. No games for me, just training.

I finally aced the standing broad jump in the end, but was one short pull-up from gold. Managed a silver in the end. Sigh. Oh wells. I also managed to join the team to KL trip, and that was one of those times when I play in real games. It was real fun too, because I am from KL, I could bring the rest to places and introduce them to things. In the end, I didn't join them when they got back to Singapore. I stayed in KL for a while more. I scored 10 points on my first game. =) Yeah, it was all, rebound, then lay-in, which I did best at that time. We went on to lose most of them afterwards though. One of the highlight was that I almost blocked Sheng Quan on his fadeaway.

Those memorable memories were like one of the last for me. I didn't get listed into the final 11 and I think the back was partly to blame. I kind of missed a chance of a lifetime thing, but I think not including me was a good choice. I hoped they'll advance to at least finals. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. During my training in J2 too, there was a trainer from Sports Council coaching us for gym. That was how Wai Hong got strong alright? It felt great to work with people who know their stuff. That sort of ended Wai Hong's basketball conquest. He still loves basketball though.

I still play quite regularly at PGP though I feel somewhat that I am getting old and do not have the energy to match-up how I used to be. Playing for fun, I still can pull some tricks out of my pockets. =) Hoping to get back to gym regularly and run regularly too.

Reading more on Redsports website and we'll find out that ACS(Int) is actually doing ok at basketball. At least they do not lose every match right? Finally one of the members of AC family going to break the tradition for basketball? Catholic High are still the dominating ones. I heard they won every single match this year, except against NUS, and the score was 72-73. NUS, featuring much more experienced team rather than sixteen-seventeen year-olds, only beat them by one point and almost lost the game even.

I guess these Catholic High people would eventually end up in Hwa Chong right? During my time, HCJC and SAJC were the two giants in basketball. I heard though, the following year, TJC was the champion.

I just so know what the coach is trying to say. Can you guess? =)
How did I miss sooo much of action? I must have been blind or ignorant. Photos are all from redsports.sg. You have to give them credit, because some of the photos are really spectacular.


Hi, I should be studying now rather than updating blog, since it's like less than 13 days to my first paper, of which I am quite sure that I'll do badly but I saw my blog and it looked quite stale already. Honestly, it didn't feel as if that long a time had passed. These few days and just zooming past me faster than speed of light.

Fever and I didn't see a doctor, even though it's free. Problem is, I don't feel like leaving my room with feeling dizzy and with a headache. I know I'll survive the trip to the clinic but then again, why torture myself? Sometimes, I feel that time can be better used staying in the room and study but I had the privilege to find out that it's not true. It is hard to study with a fever, feeling dizzy and having a headache. Lastly, I think the fever lastled a little longer than it should and I hope I didn't catch dengue by any chance.

Thursday night, I got irritated by some weird error. My code was perfectly legal, but I get this 'invalid function declaration' error. Maybe it is a bug with the development environment? I googled and was not able to find a solution. That stumped me for a bit, and wasted some of my time. Somewhat losing patience, I was determined to mail my lecturer and post the screenshot of the error. After a while, I got smarter. Strangely, commenting out the problem function, copying the exact same chunk and place it there again fixed the error. (See, I told you my code was perfectly legal.) Then comes the question, what's wrong with the problem chunk? It's exactly the same code. Some things that I have not been able to understand.

In the end, I gave up on the lab after passing test data 1. I have yet to plan a strategy to conquer the string, but I guess I'll try on it soon as the deadline draws very near. I need to adopt the 'kiasu' mentality, and study hard this week now that the stress in not on me yet. It's hard for me to study when I am stressed out. It's also more productive for me to do the lab now. You know, when my 366Mhz Celeron was due to be dismantled, I transferred some of the gems that I had in that machine. However, I placed it in a temporary folder, and never got to 'clean' it or view them or place them in appropriate places. Yesterday, I have decided to clean my desktop, as a clean and big desk facilitates more work done per unit time.

Then I found those gems. They are some C++ books that I have been looking to find recently, but never found them. Of course, I can probably get them at the library, but judging by its popularity, there would be numerous holds on them. On top of that, some of the nice books titles have slipped my mind, but they were all sitting there, neatly arranged, in a folder that didn't hint its existence. Had I found these books around 8 weeks earlier, I think the outcome of CS1102C could have been changed dramatically and drastically.

Thursday night, I have decided to be super Wai Hong, and played basketball with a fever. The feel doesn't last very long alright, so I have to capitalize when I still have the feel. I started panting very fast, and I thought fever was supposed to be beneficial. Soon, I get the couldn't breathe effect, a little too soon, making me feel a lot older than I am. In any case, I was accurate that night, missing only one shot. Had a spectacular block and one turn-around shot. We lost anyway, because there is this black guy who was both highly aggressive and accurate. He ended up scoring all the points there is on the other team. He went on to shoot 10 3-pointers in a row too. We were playing 21 balls. We were losing 11-6. He made it 21-6.

Legs were shaking and weak after playing. At least I had enough sleep so I can tolerate that. I also had the chance to really feel cold. In fact, I haven't felt sooo cold in a long time. Actually, it was because I was radiating heat. Me, being of a higher temperature, naturally loses heat faster, and the rate of losing heat produced this cooling effect. I guess the only good part about feeling cold is that you wouldn't sweat much. =) I actually prefer cold over hot, if I am healthy that is.

Once again, I tried to watch last lecture by Randy Pauche. Unfortunately, I was unable to keep my attention and I think I watched the front part again, and missed the second part again. He was telling us about dreams and more specifically, childhood dreams. My childhood dreams can now be neatly summed into two words:-

I forgot.
What, then what is my passion in life? I must take a journey down memory lane to find out. Definitely not about grades, since I never worried about them until recently. I realized I am good with computer. You know, back when you are a kid under the age of 10, when someone asked you a computer problem and you solved it in no time, it was an extremely great feeling. One of my ambitions when I was young was that I wanted to be an engineer, because I take a liking to breaking things open to see what's inside, and that facilitates repair at a later date. One of the things I was disappointed with was the magnet. (I accidentally broke an U-shaped magnet and found that there was nothing inside.)

I realized dreams now and dreams then were very different. I am still a dreamer, but without a dream. I always dream of achieving great things, but also dream of having a comfortable life first. I am starting to agree with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I almost always agree with the guy who's behind joelonsoftware. Latest read drew me to his Fog Creek website. I know it's publicity and all, but it kind of tell me the possible dream I want to pursue in the future. I feel that I have to quote from the site. =) If you want to have a look, head over to http://www.fogcreek.com/.

Back in the year 2000, the founders of Fog Creek, Joel Spolsky and Michael
Pryor, were having trouble finding a place to work where programmers had decent
working conditions and got an opportunity to do great work, without bumbling,
non-technical managers getting in the way. Every high tech company claimed they
wanted great programmers, but they wouldn’t put their money where their mouth
was.

It started with the physical environment (with dozens of cubicles jammed into a noisy, dark room, where the salespeople shouting on the phone make it impossible for developers to concentrate). But it went much deeper than that. Managers, terrified of change, treated any new idea as a bizarre virus to be quarantined. Napoleon-complex junior managers insisted that things be done exactly their way or you’re fired. Corporate Furniture Police writhed in agony when anyone taped up a movie poster in their cubicle. Disorganization was so rampant that even if the ideas were good, it would have been impossible to make a product out of them. Inexperienced managers practiced hit-and-run management, issuing stern orders on exactly how to do things without sticking around to see the farcical results of their fiats.

And worst of all, the MBA-types in charge thought that coding was a support function, basically a fancy form of typing.

Who wants to spend their days there? It’s no wonder they couldn’t get any good developers. And it’s no wonder they went out of business when the dotcom market imploded.

We had a different idea. What if the programmers were treated like rock stars? What if management’s number one responsibility was recruiting extremely talented software people, treating them well, and then getting the heck out of the way while they did great work?

At Fog Creek Software, management, not coding, is the support function. Management’s first responsibility is to create an abstraction layer for developers: to create the infrastructure so that programmers really just have to program:

“A programmer is most productive with a quiet private office, a great computer, unlimited beverages, an ambient temperature between 68 and 72 degrees (F), no glare on the screen, a chair that’s so comfortable you don’t feel it, an administrator that brings them their mail and orders manuals and books, a system administrator who makes the Internet as available as oxygen, a tester to find the bugs they just can’t see, a graphic designer to make their screens beautiful, a team of marketing people to make the masses want their products, a team of sales people to make sure the masses can get these products, some patient tech support saints who help customers get the product working and help the programmers understand what problems are generating the tech support calls, and about a dozen other support and administrative functions...”

Do you see why I agree with most of the points? I know my chair isn't that comfortable but I am not in a position to complain about that. The part that say Internet should be as available as oxygen totally blew NUS out of the league. I agree it was because of a different perception. Taking a business module this semester, I finally know why I shouldn't be in business. =) I can see most parts of what this article said about business students are true. I see these in my business lecturer's eyes, and not to mention, a lot of business students. After all, people are writing code are actually doing great things. They are creating something new from nothing.

Programmers try not to reinvent the wheel. Once business people see that it is lucrative, they reinvent the wheel and join in as another market competitor. I guess I can see why going into the workplace will be tough. You will be working with people who don't understand you. Having taken business modules, I guess I understand the business students a little more. I can so guess what's their probable move. =)

Ok, passion number one, make the world a better place to be. Passion number two, treasure time, and try to use time to the fullest. I'll start by making my room my own programming studio. I have even rectified where are the problem places and where it can be improved. There definitely isn't enough leg room under my table. You kick the wall too much, and I can't even cross my legs properly. I should be able to move my table a little back, but it's stuck. Time to stop those leaking walls once and for all! Better NUS network for all. Time to get more desk space and more desktop space too. My room will be no longer be called my room. It is my office, my studio, my heaven.

Next step in achieving greatness too, is to remake my blog design. This might take a little longer than I think it might. I think it's beginning to look old, and I need to move on with time. There is something primitive about my blog. I manually have to update links and such. Even though it is not something that takes a lot of time, do you see me doing it regularly? Yeah, next step of achieving even more greatness is automation. The only reason why I can blog so regularly is because of automation. If I had to recode every page once I made an entry, do you think I'll be blogging now? Even if I was an expert, I wouldn't. Worse, if I am not, I have to go through a Webmaster. Yeah, I volunteer myself if you need help but please remember that coding is not a fancy form of typing. =) It takes time.

Hereby, I should identify the shortcomings of my former blog design that I should overcome in the next. I should be able to make a small blog template updater, which basically does all the linking and wish lists. Better still if they could keep my links in some database. Yeah, still a little primitive, but I can have my program update the template code now and then! Creates a similar effect without having to open another online database. Problem number two, it is not centralized. I know this isn't a very big shortcoming, but I do want to ooze prefessionalism. =) Thirdly, it is almost becoming a clutter. I have always tried to keep the balance between minimalism and completeness. Webmasters always have this problem. You know you can find something on the NUS website, but you never found them, because there's a million and one links on it. It is complete, which is good, but since you never found it, what good can it be? It is something tough to juggle, but maybe we can try. There is no harm.


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. =)

Angel * Carol * Esther * Michael * Mindy * Samantha * Seraphina

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