Ho ho ho

Guess who I met in Maple Story just now? Ha ha... couldn't have been more coincidental: Same Server, Channel and location - Jin Yu! So long haven't been in contact.

Maple Update:
Cleric (Level 36)
Archer (Level 11)
Rogue (Level 16)

The month long term break (recess, as they call it) is already a week old, and so far, much has been accomplished:

Monday
Went for the Waterways Watch Camp Enviro-Awareness 2005 (Camp 2) orientation (for faciliators). Yup, am no longer food IC... We tried dragon boating, and now I know why dragon boaters usually have HUGE muscles. Even though it ached considerable during the tenacious row, it was only after we went ashore that I realized one arm was inproportionately larger than the other. It could be the result of the rowing, but my theory was that it was simply swollen!

Tuesday
Attended a lunch session with President Howard Hunter of SMU for a rather candid and informal chat. Questions raised by a couple of late comers, however, were pretty formal and structured in tone, and hogged much of the second-half of the session. It ended up more like a press conference than an informal lunch.

After lunch, I zipped over the causeway to Malaysia for a two night stay in Johore. The main highlight of the night? A blackout! Whee... luckily we had candles, but couldn't find a lighter, so had to 'borrow light' from our neighbour. For five minutes, we relished in the candle-lit room. Then, to our dismay (after having acquired light merely minutes ago) and joy, the electricitywas back up again!

Started work on a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Wednesday
Day 2 of my Johore retreat. Lunch and much of the afternoon was spent at The Store, one of the largest shopping complexes in the area. Everything's rather affordable (half the price of similar stuff over here) with the exception of electronics.

Dinner was at the hawker centre near Bestmart. We had a pretty awesome spread of zi char, including two house dishes: The rojak chicken (unfortunately, the prawn paste was quite strong) and the fruit platter fish (which has quite abit of vinegar, so just a kind warning here).

Thursday
Final day in Johore. We had to rush back in the morning as mummy had something to attend to. So yup, no shopping today.

Friday
Decided to meet up with JM and ZR after lunch for a trip down to Sim Lim Square. ZR commented that there was something about the atmosphere that was not quite the same. Prolly was the absence of a significant number of flyer distributors at the escalators (Only two pathetic souls were present on the third floor, usually one of the more crowded congregation spots for them).

We ended up hunting around the place for the lowest cost Win XP OEM (Fuwell's quite reasonable) and walking all the way to Sunshine Plaza for the Wanton Noodles (At 3 bucks, there is great value in the quantity and quality of fried and soup wantons! Recommended!).

We were comtemplating having tau huay (soya beancurd) after dinner, but eventually, convenience and rationale thinking took us to Foodmore instead, where I had the barley and ginko nuts dessert. Yummy and sweet ending to a hectic afternoon. Heh!

28 November 2005

*Updates*

Just back from SMU, having completed my first paper - Stats 'B', which was a killer. Our Prof had posted up some sample questions on the intranet, but the questions we tackled this morning were a far cry from hers. Further probing into another class of hers revealed that they had taken a different paper (Theirs had 17 MCQs vs. 20 for us).

The past month has been spent rushing to complete deadlines as well as finding time to find meaning and life in varsity life.

Just a month away to the end of my term break (And it hasn't even begun!)

All I want for Christmas are:

- 12-figure bank balance :D
- 11 am breakfast (more like brunch) in bed
- 10 gold bars
- 9 online hours a day
- 8 hours of sleep a day
- 7 days-a-camping
- 6 hundred Gigabytes hard disk space
- Heroes of Might and Magic V
- Civilization IV
- Age of Empires III
- 2 GB XD Card
- 1 High-end gaming Platform

More to come after my final paper at the end of the week!

Today

Just concluded my LTB Presentation on 'A Leader I have Known'. It was quite successful (And according to Ariel and Kangwei, was better than my Comms presentation), with just a hiccup during Q&A.

Had lunch at the corner coffeeshop along Armenian Street, and ordered a plate of Char Kway Teow ($3), which tasted quite ordinary, shared some Ngoh Hiang Hae Piah (quite expensive, but the prawn crackers were quite nice) with Kangwei, Shouwen and Ariel ($6). Washed everything down with some barley, which according to Shouwen, tastes like 'the water they use to wash the dishes'. Ouch.

Yesterday

Met Debbie in school for the first time. Looks like Pick N Bite is a great place to chance upon friends.

Got back our Stats Quiz. Surprise, surprise... 92 percent. :)

Oh, but the embarassing thing is, my only 2 (rather careless) mistakes came from the MCQ and not the Open-ended questions... :P

All in a Day's Work

Am quite fresh from my first school-free weekend of the semester, which provided a much needed respite from my hecic schedule.

For a change, I met up with Ruiyi on Friday to hunt for Xuelun's present. As I was there rather early, I decided to check out the Library@Orchard. There is a really cool comics collection here (just like Jurong Regional Library, I'd say).

We had our lunch at the Takashimaya basement food court. The Vietnamese Chicken Curry was reasonably good.

After four hours ploughing through Takashimaya and the Heeren, I headed over to SMU for a Blurt gathering, followed by an introduction to the World of Warcraft ;)

Sunday started off with a lazy brunch with Xuelun at Paulaner Brauhaus (Millenia Walk). Food was great, booze (free flow) was in-house and rather light (despite the fact that it contained 4.5% vol of alcohol). It was a simple affair, with most of the usual group present. Buffet-style, great hash browns (authentic ones, at least!) and yummy sausages (88%)

After brunch (It was nearly 3.30pm!), I went home to prepare for dinner with Cousin Lily (which was at Serangoon Gardens Country Club's Jumbo Restaurant). Traditional Chinese crusine, set (table) meals with great value. (80%)

Current Cost of Integrated Casinos (Resorts) to hit S$5 billion
See here for Channel New Asia's take on the issue.

"...property valuers expect competitive price tender for the site and construction costs to add up to as much as S$5 billion..."

"...This will make the Marina Bayfront integrated resort one of the most expensive integrated resorts with gaming component in the world..."

As I see it, the eventual cost of the project will hit 9, 10 billion SGD if the bidding process drags on. Besides, the bidders might need to make space for provisions, expecially miscellaneous licensing and building permits (especially so since the Marina site will envelope the Marina Bay Waterfront and will no doubt be liable to the stringent judiciary requirements of buildings being consructed next to water catchment areas.

Underneath all the glam, potential operators should also carefully consider the hidden costs involved in the construction and running of the Integrated Casinos (Resorts). Mark my words, 10 billion is not too far off.

All in a Day's Work

Still recovering from flu.

FA Presentation went well this morning, which brought much relief to the team. Next up: FA Project!

The two-presentations-a-day scheme never worked out, and my Comms presentation has been postponed till Wednesday.

Had a super busy weekend, having been preoccupied with my FA presentation.

Also celebrated Grandma's 90th birthday yesterday evening at the RC below their flat. Turn out was very good, and several fellas had a go at karaoke.

Schedule is currently filled until the end of the week, so I'd better go hit the books (and the sacks) while I can. :)

All in a Day's Work

Still down with a bout of flu, but recovering speedily.

Had a pleasant surprise yesterday when I received an invitation to Xue Lun's 21st. My, we are certainly growing up fast. :)

On a lighter note, I joined dad at his group's 60th birthday celebrations, where they were recollecting the days gone by when they celebrated their own twenty first. Now enjoying fulfilling and relatively successful family lives, they are the epiome of The Singapore Story. Envy!

All in a Day's Work

Back from Tae Kwon Do training. It was a slightly more demanding session today (Had no time to relearn more patterns...) Oh well, finally tried to spar with sir. :) Ha ha... first sparring session since a long time ago... :P And earned myself a blister in the process... bah. But on a lighter note, it felt good to be back on my feet again. Heh...

Anyway, due to my less than friendly schedule, I do offer my sincere apologies on the less than informative write ups.

All in a Day's Work

Fourteen days and one Stats assignment later, I emerge from my lair, all weary and dazed.

Just a rough idea on what's on my current To-Do list:

- Stats Assignment
- Prep for FA Quiz
- FA Group Presentation
- FA Term Project
- Comms Assignment
- Plural perspectives Quiz

A scream rings through my head.

Was almost pulverized by an overenthusiastic wave (yes, WAVE) of vehicles as I was crossing the road near SESS with Michael on Wednesday, after Tae Kwon Do Training.

Comms Quiz (on Wednesday also) was a killer. It was 'Fill in the Blanks'. And they asked right about anything under the sun. Sigh...

All in a Day's Work

Wow, I had at least eight people asking me if I was local, three in the morning (when I went for the AIESEC simulation programme at NTU) and another five in the evening (when I joined Yao Long for the network marketing introduction at Boon Keng. Varying comments put me as a Vietnamese, a Chinese scholar (*gushes), one said I have mixed blood (Which may hold some truth :P) Any comments from the panel?

Are you a Mover or a Shaker? (Source)

A mover and a shaker

Larry Boucher has a reputation for staying ahead of the curve

Douglas E. Caldwell

Why do some Silicon Valley companies succeed wildly and others fall into the "dustbin of history" with barely a whimper? Larry Boucher, founder and CEO of Alacritech Inc., says there are commonalities that set the successful high-tech companies apart.

My take on the issue?

To be an industry shaker, the finer things in life might just count. It is no use promising to help each other out when one is indifferent to even insignificant issues such as giving up a seat to the needy.

Start being a SHAKER today!

I can recall an incident last Friday on campus - A worker was trying to push his trolley up a ramp, but the trolley simply couldn't get onto the ramp. As there were many boxes on the trolley, he was worried they might drop if he was to jerk the trolley onto the ramp. Passers-by opted not to notice, nonchalantly by-passing him as he struggled with the trolley.

A simple act, I'd thought. Just help him lift the trolley onto the ramp. Why didn't anybody rise to the challenge?

For the record, I did, and am glad for having done so. It made the worker thankful for assisting him, but even more so, because that instilled in him confidence in the human spirit of forthcoming assistance, and myself, pride on having made a difference to someone's (otherwise tedious and tremendously mundane) life.

Take another example:

I was on the bus last week, when an elderly man boarded the bus. There were many typical Singaporean commuters (you can recognize them by the way they select their seats - by the aisle) on board. Of course, plonked upon the green seat meant for the aged was this young chap, who promptly shut his eyes and began meditating, as soon as the elderly man boarded. The elderly man tried to squeeze his way across the young lad to his seat, but he did not budge. In the end, in frustration, he shook the young fella awake and promptly got his seat.

Me 1, Society 0

Went to Waterways Watch Society this afternoon to plan for our bicycle patrol. It poured, but that did not dampen our spirits, and we eventually started the patrol proper at four. It was fun cycling down to the Esplanade while keeping a lookout for errant picnic-goers and fishermen. :)

Oh well, will be having lessons tomorrow, so better call it a day.

Probably more on the Groupthink phenomena brought up by Prof Kong (during LTB lesson) in future. It's an interesting concept!