the.output

Defender Mk I

2010-06-12T21:15:00.015+08:00

This is my very first NXT project, and the idea was to build an automatic defence gun as a proof of concept and also to get myself familiar with building with the NXT and programming it.

I named my creation the Defender Mk I. This project is built on the premise of exploring how to build an elastic-powered gun using rubber bands instead of building a gun using the supplied parts in the NXT 2.0 box.

The Defender will scan using the ultrasonic sensor to the front of itself 50cm, with a coverage of 60 degrees for any objects that come within. If an object is within this threshold, it will engage it with its gun. The coverage parameters can be tuned in the code.

The rotating platform uses one servo motor, and the gun mechanism uses two. There were several design considerations and observations made when I built the gun:

The weight of the gun with the two servos at the rear made the gun rather unbalanced and I had to mount the gun further to the front to keep it balanced.
A rail system had to be built and integrated into the barrel for the rubber band powered 'firing pin' to move back and forward smoothly.
I had to use a rubber link for the two shafts that makes up the arm that holds back the 'firing pin' so that the arm would not slip and release the 'firing pin' prematurely as the rubber bands has quite a considerable amount of elastic power pulling the 'firing pin' forward.

My Girlfriend Shrank Me: Accelerato

2010-03-22T00:58:00.004+08:00

My Girlfriend Shrank Me!

2010-02-23T00:01:00.006+08:00

Ok, I'm gonna stop writing about my life stories (too damn lazy to do it anyway), I can keep them to myself...

Instead, I have decided to play around with photo editing, and post my pictures here!

Here is my very first one...

An Update

2009-10-05T00:14:00.007+08:00

Hello, I just realised my blog is rotting as I haven't touched it for a super long time... so now better shake it up a little bit, wipe off the dust.

Finished my FYP in early July, then off to ICT for 2 weeks, then started looking for a job. Looked around for awhile, then managed to get a job at ST Electronics (Info-Software) as a Software Engineer. It has been 3 weeks since I started working there, and I'm really lucky to have great colleagues around me, to help and guide me. Really fun and friendly folks, happy to be in the team!

Got my FYP result, and got only a credit grade... quite disappointed, as I thought it would be a definite distinction. Really put in quite alot of hard work, together with my team. I feel responsible as I led them in the project... a bit sad. But good thing is all my team members have already found a job before the results got out, and I would say I'm happy for all of them. Haven't got time to meetup with them for a meal, should have one before Beng and Guowei fly off to japan to work...

My dear sweetheart celebrated my birthday with me by surprising me with a steamboat feast on the actual day after work. Needless to say, the both of us had a great time stuffing ourselves with all the delicious mushrooms, shabu shabu, prawns, veg in miso soup goodness!

In the weekend, she bought me a super yummy piece of Tiramisu from Galbiatti's in Rail Mall as my birthday cake. It seems to be our favourite cake as I bought this cake for her as her birthday cake too.

Thank you, honey! I really enjoyed the birthday treats, and the super weekend spent with you. I love you! =)

Icekimo

2009-04-23T00:00:00.001+08:00

Tucked away in a quiet corner in Sin Ming, off Upper Thomson road is a little, cool ice cream parlour called Icekimo.

All too often, we see the overrated and overly expensive ice cream brands in our shopping centres, and sometimes it is just too much to spend for a small, nice little cup of ice cream. What's more, Icekimo closes at 11pm! This is really great, for Singaporeans that go around finding food at this time of the night.

Plus, Icekimo sells a variety of local flavours like Durian and Champedak (like Jackfruit), my personal favourite. I have never in my life tasted Champedak ice cream until I found Icekimo. The first time I stepped into Icekimo, the name on the small plastic label struck me, and immediately I wanted to find out what it tasted like. It was heavenly! I personally recommend this.

There is nothing like a trip to Icekimo to end a day, and best to share this joy of eating wonderful ice cream with your loved one. Today marks 9 months together since I first met Eunice, and the reason I want to write about this place today is because this was where I brought her on our first date. A wonderful first date that will remain forever in our memories, only to be etched even stronger by the taste of ice cream and that magical twinkle in her eyes... I love you honey :)

Rating: 9/10
Hunt Date: 25 Sep 08
Location: 8 Sin Ming Road, #01-03 Sin Ming Centre

Geylang Lor 17 Dim Sum

2009-04-22T22:56:00.008+08:00

On outings to Geylang area, parking is always a problem, especially when its during the peak hours and also even during supper time. However, a little bit of frustration is always worth it when you know you will be having some great Dim Sum very soon!!!

The shop is air-conditioned, although many still sit outside. And the crowd tells the story of the food. Dim Sum for 2 comes up to about 20 plus, close to 30. Well, that's for us, we food gurus are really big eaters, and once we opened the pages of the menu, I had to stop Eunice from ordering too much hehe...

That night, we ordered Siew Mai, Prawn rolled in cripsy strips (not too sure of the name... look at the pictures OK? write a comment for us if you know the name!), Deep Fried Fish (the one with the mayo), Cripsy Crab Legs, Fried Dumplings.

I give the Dim Sum a rating of 7.5/10.
Hunt Date: 20 Sep 08
Location: Geylang Lorong 17

Round Island #2 Trip Log, 29 Dec 08

2009-04-21T03:17:00.003+08:00

Hmm... yeah, I forgot to log this down. And time really flies... the trip took place in December!!! And now its already almost May.

See photos of the trip here. The photos are arranged in chronological order, for ease of reading and viewing.

This trip wasn't planned thoroughly, though we had thought of having this ride for quite some weeks before it happened. The setup for the ride was simple: Because Dean and I live near each other, I rode to his place and we proceeded down to town, where we will meet Ivan. As Ivan live in Tampines, he rode down to town alone to meet us.

I really have to apologise to my fellow brothers for losing the trip log... I really couldn't find it. Luckily we still have photos haha... next time somebody else should do the logging... everything I do meh? Log, blog... tedious leh! (Hmm... I shouldn't KB so much for now, after losing the thing.)

Dean and I reached Dhoby Ghaut MRT on time, at noon. We had to wait an hour before Ivan reached... hmm nothing new haha. Then Dean and I decided to go wait for him at our favourite Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee shop. We had our noodles after Ivan arrived.

Next, we cycled up the hill and reached Mount Emily park. A small park, but lots of shade from the huge trees there. Goofed around a bit before we descended the hill, and went to the Rochor beancurd shop, our favourite Dao Hwae shop. It was here that we made our impromptu decision to ride into Sentosa.

After finishing our Dao Hwae, we then proceeded on through the Chinatown area, and reached Capitol Tower. Took some interesting photos there, and one with Dean trying to swim in the drain... hehe... Next we went on Keppel Road and carried on to Sentosa.

We stopped at the gateway just before the admission toll gates, and took some photos. We were thinking... will we actually get to enter Sentosa FOC since we were on bikes? Yeah right! Like there is ever a free lunch. We cycled past the toll booths, but there was still a booth at the side of the road further down the road, and the guy inside was like waving us to stop. I at one point felt like making a run for it... but then thought, nah... we were on bikes, too easy to catch us on the way in. So we paid our entrance fees dutily.

We made our way to Siloso beach, and took some photos at the rocky shore near the car park. It was near sunset time then, and I must say, it felt really good to enjoy such a wonderful day, riding with my buddies again. We proceeded in-land to find a trail, but failed... any trails we found were only fit for walking. We then proceeded out of Sentosa. Took some more photos on the gateway bridge, then stopped again at Vivocity as it started to rain. After doing the necessary water proofing, we simply headed to Seah Imm Road FC to have our dinner.

After a sumptous meal, we then headed back to Dean's place by taking the long West Coast Highway route, but taking a shortcut by cutting in hong leong gardens and crossing the AYE overhead bridge to clementi side. This is where I split from the two of them, heading home for a comfortable hot shower before joining them at Dean's again. That night was really great, Dean drove us out to have supper at Boon Lay place FC, just next to Boon Lay shopping centre. We had the famous nasi lemak. I was surprised because the stall attracted long queues even though it was a weekday night! We then went back to Dean's and watched Tropic Thunder before crashing into deep sleep...

Always great to ride along side my fellow musketeers, looking forward to our next one!

An Abstract Model of a Cat

2009-03-22T01:21:00.006+08:00

Picture (a).

This is an abstract model of a cat. It has all the basic features of a cat: A head with 2 ears, pair of eyes, some whiskers, a nose. Four legs, and a tail (Not visible in picture (a)).

To implement a specific breed of cat, simply adjust the size of the eyes, the nose, add some whiskers if needed and change the fur colour as required.

A thing to note is that this abstract model misses an important feature: a mouth. Because all breeds of cats have mouths, I have decided to add in such a feature. Therefore, an improvement was proposed and a mouth added to the final and improved version of the abstract model, as showed in picture (b).

Picture (b).

Bruce Schneier on Security

2009-03-14T05:06:00.004+08:00

10min video on security from an expert. Could be useful for your 358 exam revision...

Application Threat Modeling

2009-03-06T00:10:00.003+08:00

Check this out, could be useful for 358 AS3...

Application Threat Modeling

View more presentations from Marco Morana. (tags: risk management)

Disconnectedness in a connected world

2009-02-18T03:23:00.005+08:00

I write this in the hope that maybe I can talk some sense into you before you click. Yes. Before you click 'send' to pass on that e-mail.

Some questions to ask yourself, what exactly are you reading? Do you really believe you will suffer from bad luck if you do not pass it on to 10 people? Do you really believe you will receive a free laptop? Who is at the receiving end of the CC recipient list? Could it be somebody who is being sabotaged to drown in the countless flooding e-mail replies?

I am astounded by the fact that there is a long line of people who pass on chain mails... I wonder if it is maybe they have too much time on their hands? Or maybe they think its fun? Maybe they are simply disconnected.

This disgustingly long line of chain mail distributors tells us that they are disconnected. The brain from the clicking finger, that is. Yes, the Internet is free. Your bandwidth is of unlimited usage. But please do not complain when your internet experience slows down, because you are contributing to it. Don't complain of receiving so many junk mail when you are in fact a perpetrator as well.

How much is your time worth? Your value of time may be worthless but other people's worth per unit time could be much more. To me, there is no excuse for being gullible, inconsiderate and ignorant at the same time. This is a big problem with the Internet. All of you are behind your monitor screens typing and clicking away happily as the "people" factor gets pushed out of the equation. People start to get rude with one another, do stupid inconsiderate things and treat it with a simple click.

If you want to be a part of technology, then keep up with it (which includes being responsible) or else go fly a kite.

Valentine's BBQ

2009-02-15T00:00:00.004+08:00

On the night of Valentine's day, Eunice and I had a mini-BBQ at my place, away from the crowd and over-charging restaurants. We absolutely love mini-BBQs like this, and saved quite a bit too...

Looking at the food we had, my mouth waters again haha... just take a look! We had halibut fillet marinated with lemon chilli sauce, black tiger prawns marinated with sambal chilli, otaks, saba and chicken wing mid-joints marinated with kikkoman sauce, taiwan sausages & marshmallows!

The mini-BBQ was a great success, and I really enjoyed cooking and eating with Eunice :) I love you hun! Looking forward to our next mini-BBQ hehe...

伍佰-忘情歌MV

2009-02-09T22:25:00.002+08:00

I dedicate this song to my dead PC haha... really like the music that comes from this wonderful piece from 伍佰.

sudo

2009-02-04T13:23:00.004+08:00

Comic from xkcd.com

Welcoming the CNY

2009-02-03T01:07:00.002+08:00

It was a great CNY period, as I went around visiting and for the first time, I went around with Eunice to her grandma's place and great grandma's place... and I met alot of very friendly people. All her family were very warm towards me, and treated me as one of the family. I felt very pleased that I was received so well =)

Surprisingly, this time I didn't eat alot of goodies during all the visiting, but it is after the visiting period that I am stuffing my face with all the goodies... all the leftovers at home haha...

Hmm... right now, still in the CNY mood, abit quite hard to get back into sch mode but i'm moving along haha.

Happy Mooo Year people... may all of us be prosperous and happy!

Google Chrome

2009-02-02T03:18:00.002+08:00

PC vs Mac... Spoofed!

2009-01-14T01:22:00.001+08:00

year++

2009-01-05T01:33:00.003+08:00

Hello people, I wanna use this opportunity to reflect on the past year's events and talk about what I'm thinking for the new year ahead...

2008 was a year of mixed feelings, or maybe I should say at first I thought it would be a bad time after having ended a 2 year relationship. But then I (again) realised the importance of having friends and family, and appreciating them. My good buddies were always there to lend a hand and listen and talk with me when things go wrong. And no matter what happens, my family will be there for me.

What was a sad end to a relationship eventually led to a turning point in life for me, as I found someone whom I now love so so so much. I met Eunice in July, and since then I have never regretted meeting and knowing her, nor have I regretted loving her with all my heart. Having her makes me feel so fortunate and happy, its truly a wonderful feeling. All the time we spent together, it was truly the time of my life. I am grateful to have her, and thank her for loving me. I wish that we can be together for eternity...

I have been working hard at sch and having my hard work pay off really feels good, I think that my interest in computers is something I can do for a long time to come. Hopefully I can find a good job and start earning money to repay my parents for bringing me up all these years and paying for my education.

2009 will be a year that I truly prove my worth, to be able to really earn a living for the first time. Going out to work, earn my worth and get ready to do the things I really want to do. I hope the economy will not be so bad when I get out from sch in july. For now, 2 more modules and a FYP to complete first hehe.

I wish everyone a happy new year, and may your goals and dreams become reality.

Double the fun

2008-12-23T01:29:00.007+08:00

On the 21st Dec 08, Eunice and I went out to east coast park (ECP for reference in this post, not the expressway).

We bought some snacks at IMM's Giant before driving there, and bought ourselves lunch from Mcdonald's drive-thru. Then we drove towards the end of ECP where we found a place to park along the road and yet very near to the beach. We then set down our picnic mat and had our lunch. The weather that day was really great, it was very cooling and windy.

Then later on we went to rent a double-bike for 2 hrs (1-for-1) and we really had a blast cycling through ECP together. Its really great to be able to do something fun together with her like this and yet give ourselves a workout. I have to say it's probably the best time I ever spent at ECP... sharing joy and laughter and feeling so close to her, the wind in our hair, the sun gracing us gently.

These few days spending my time with her during the holidays, i feel like im living the time of my life.

========== Side-Rant ==========
Something annoys the both of us greatly, and that is the transformation of ECP into refugee settlement camps. The pollution of tents all over the park makes it look very messy and crowded... it has now become a shelter for the homeless. Go to our neighbour in the north where land is abundant, don't do this to our precious landscape.

Near-War Experience & A Happy Day

2008-12-13T23:27:00.009+08:00

Hello! I just had a super great day at JB with Eunice and her parents, I'm really happy because it's the first time going out with them, and things went really well :)

========== Near-War Experience ==========

Leaving the best for the last, I shall first rant about some really scary experiences we had, and they took place at possibly the world's worst immigration checkpoints... Hang on to your seats as some really serious ranting is about to happen... No offense to malaysians, I have nothing against you. But please do something about your non-existant government.

The horror starts right from when we got down the bus to get our passports stamped at the malaysia side. The queue starts right from where we got off the bus, and stretches all the way to the counters. I estimate the length of the queue to be roughly 60 to 70 meters... Ok well, maybe its because its a saturday and many people are going over to shop and eat... I don't mind to queue a little while, but is it so hard to make us feel comfortable while we are at it? Don't they have some money to install working air conditioners? Don't they have money to hire people to clean the fans? Do they even have the brains to separate the queue lines with fences so that we will know where to start queuing? (No, the couple section of fences right in front of the booth doesn't count.) And why is there a person paid to give out white cards while he can be chopping passports? Haven't they heard of automation? Or maybe the word "organisation"? Or "order"? How about "common sense"? I don't feel a little bit welcome at all. Instead I saw stupidity, laziness and outright retarded-ness. They do not deserve tourism in their country. At all.

Fast forward to the time of escaping back to peace and prosperity... The same thing happens at the counters. This time, the queue starts right from the landing of an escalator. And then its madness and chaos. Its just a crowd, all squeezed together... I felt like I was in a concentration camp, just that there weren't any Nazi soldiers. Things were reallllyyy crawling, there were like a million people trying to get out of the war zone, and the "brilliant" government of malaysia built a little hut with about 6 counter booths. Imagine a small gate, and trying to get a billion sheep to cross that gate. They even have a few immigration officers standing there doing absolutely nothing at all. Some of them were trying to look important while some were just keeping the snail passport choppers company, happily smiling and talking while we were dying out there. At one point I was actually scared for the safety of my honey, because the mob was getting impatient and pushing towards the booths, hoping they can maybe overrun the checkpoint. I wouldn't be surprised if one day a stampede happens and people die. While queuing up to get their passports chopped. It will be the joke of the millenia. Cockroaches will still remember and laugh about it after humans go extinct.

I was relieved to get out of that hot, sweaty pile of human jam. Although I have been to malaysia before, this is undoubtedly my worst experience (at the checkpoints). I'm amazed that a short bridge can separate a first world country from a third world country, order from chaos, heaven from hell. I'm no great supporter of PAP, but let me say I am so proud of what my government has done. Lucky us Singaporeans that we have a government, because our neighbour has none. The stark difference you will experience, the moment the automatic doors slide open after you get off escalators that actually move: Cold air. Order. Peace. Singapore.

Word of advice, DO NOT go to JB during the weekends unless you are planning on committing suicide. I wonder if the new checkpoints will prove me wrong about malaysia not having a government... I wouldn't count on it to allow myself to go during the weekends yet. Maybe someone can be a guinea pig and tell me? If you manage to come back alive, that is.

========== A Happy Day ==========

Now for happy things!!! =) I'm gonna talk about what an incredible day I had with Eunice and her parents... I'm so happy because its the first time I went out with them and everything went really smooth. They are a very nice couple and we shared many moments of joy and laughter. I feel great to be able to have them accept me, feels wonderful! I can feel my relationship with Eunice getting into a higher level, now that I have met her parents. And out of accident, I also met her sister and brother-in-law =) I have now met all of her family members (met her brother, sister-in-law and their new born baby awhile ago), and just yesterday I was at her place and I met Eunice's 7 year-old niece and 4 year-old nephew, whom I really enjoyed playing with haha... they are such cute little things. Now back to the JB trip...

We shopped for the entire afternoon after having lunch at Secret Recipe, at City Square. Her parents were really generous and nice, treating me to lunch and dinner. After we were done shopping at City Square, we went to Holiday Plaza to get DVDs. In order to get them, we had to get to the third floor, and enter a room that is well hidden away from the public, especially the polis. In the room, we were greeted by a very friendly guy which provided us with superior service in finding the movies we wanted, being very patient in looking for missing titles and taking care of all our pirated needs. I have to say I was really impressed. We bought 32 movies in all, and with free delivery to our homes, we didn't have to worry about being caught.

The last item on the iternary of the day was a sumptuous dinner at Teman Sri Tebrau, where we had stingray, cereal crayfish, kangkong, sotong and penang char kway tiao :p Just listing them out makes my mouth water again haha...

Another reason that I am so happy is because Eunice and me really had lots of fun shopping, talking and laughing about all sorts of stuff. Everything is so right when I'm with her, we can agree on anything and this connection feels so magical... everytime I hold her hands and look into her eyes, I feel so lucky to have her.

I love you, Eunice :)

Keeping the door closed and locked

2008-12-12T00:28:00.006+08:00

Hello everybody! EXAMS ARE OVER hahahaah...

I'm really excited with the lineup of activities eunice and me have planned for the holidays... cant wait to do all of them!

I have wanted to write this post for a damn long time, but haven't really got the chance to do it. This article is more for people who are not so aware of how to keep their Windows PC (especially XP and older) safe and sound. For those who are more aware, maybe you can exchange ideas with me, and I can add them in here.

I have thought to myself a long time ago, why do people's PCs keep getting bugged down with viruses, spyware and other malware? Is it because they surf alot of porn? What could be the reasons? After many experiences of troubleshooting infected PCs (some FUBAR-ed...), I have come to realise the 3 grave mistakes people make, which led to their PC's horrible deaths...

Performing daily tasks using an administrator account, especially web surfing. Most people don't even know what is an administrator account.
Windows not updated. Most people simply don't care or don't know how to do it.
No anti-virus software installed, or not updated. Most people have a few months of trial period on their anti-virus and just leave it there to rot after it expires, because they have to pay to renew the license.

Now I shall share with you how to do things the proper way. This is how I have kept my computers safe for years without ever needing to reformat my disks.

Use the admin account only for installation of programs and other admin tasks. Create a limited account for your normal work (especially web surfing). If you have to download files for installation, use the limited account. Trust me, the little amount of trouble from switching accounts is worth it.
Set your Windows installation to update itself automatically. This will allow your Windows installation to be patched with security fixes regularly. The malicious software removal tool which is updated monthly will also be provided automatically through Windows update.
Set your anti-virus software to update its virus database regularly. If you can afford to, then pay for an extension of licenses. If not, just simply download a free anti-virus solution from the internet. e.g. AVG free

Take note that these are simple solutions for common day-to-day security problems people face at home, and should be rather easy to practice once you get used to them.

Many users are simply not aware of what to do, and a little education can help alot. Do not be ignorant about these matters, knowing what you should practice as a user can help save alot of your precious time. You do not want to keep reformatting your hard disks right?

Tips to save money #2

2008-11-23T23:25:00.003+08:00

Here is the second entry, and this time I shall share some knowledge about...

*** Saving Electricity ***

Switch off lights / fans / aircon / appliances when not in use. (You can keep your fridge switched on...) Keep a habit of turning off these things everytime you leave a room for sometime.
Try not to use the aircon so much, use a fan to cool yourself. Aircon is the killer as they REALLY consume alot of electricity. Yes, I know... sometimes it gets really hot in Singapore, but try to cut down.
Appliances on standby mode consumes electricity too, keep the power socket switched off if possible.
Try to multi-task: download huge files when you are doing your work on your computer to avoid having to leave them on overnight. Computing power in home PCs for today's standards can easily accomodate this, even for gaming or watching streamed videos at the same time. If you do not like to wait for your computer to boot up, you can put it in hibernation mode instead of leaving it on for a few hours, this can reduce power consumption. Hibernation mode consumes less power than standby mode.
Learn to shower with cold water, you save power by not having to turn on the water heater. Plus, its refreshing!

The Matrix...

2008-11-16T02:11:00.005+08:00

on Windows?!?!?! I wouldn't want to live in Windows...

Tips to save money #1

2008-11-14T02:55:00.010+08:00

Hello people... times are hard, so I thought of sharing with people some tips to save money. On this mini-series (hmm... "mini-something" sounds like a sensitive word nowadays), I will have a few posts on saving money, each will cover different aspects...

If you have any more that isn't here, please let me know and I will share it here too!

*** Saving Water ***

When bathing, shampoo and soap your body before washing off everything. You can also wash your face with facial foam (if you normally do that at all) too and wash off everything together. Position the shower head above your head, as the water will wash everything down, for a more efficient bath instead of holding it in one hand and moving it around your body.
Do away with aquatic pets... changing of water in tanks means using up alot of water.
Don't you dare fill up that bath tub!!!
This is a little extreme... flush your toilet only after a few times of pee-ing. If you are thinking of shits too... you are sick.
Put a filled water bottle in your toilet cistern (away from the moving parts) and you can save quite alot of water.
Eliminate bad habits like letting the water run while you brush your teeth, while you soap / shampoo etc.

The run for my love

2008-11-11T04:01:00.004+08:00

As I run along the quiet streets of the already asleep neighbourhood, I can only hear music in my ears.
But what runs through my mind are images of your sweet pretty face,
and they certainly motivate me to run ever faster.
Every step I get closer to my goal, every drop of perspiration I sweat for you.
Red lights don't stop me, but watch out for speeding taxis!
Block 542! I break into my final sprint, the last bus rushing back to the interchange.
In between hard panting, I feel vibrations coming from my pouch.
It can only be my love, her sweet voice greeting me just as I enter the void deck.
The familiar routine of the lift ride, the long corridor I must walk to reach my dearest.
At last I see her, my angel smiles upon me.
All tiredness soon fades away with her presence.
A long awaited kiss, tingles my heart and soul.
I'm home.

Stoning in class

2008-10-17T14:19:00.001+08:00

im just trying to keep myself occupied actually. SImply cant focus anymore due to my 4 hr sleep from this morning. Just cant wait to see u at 6pm later honey!

Tired Pok

List of POKs

2008-10-17T04:28:00.003+08:00

This is Eunice-Juncheng language. Nobody else will understand... here goes!

TDP!!!
Clumsy Pok
Lousy Pok
Tired Pok
Stupid Pok
Honey Pok
Silly Pok
Crazy Pok
Candy Pok
Toot Toot Pok

Night Cycling Trip Log, 20 Sep 08

2008-09-21T00:59:00.008+08:00

The gang went night cycling in the early morning of 20 Sep, around midnight. We started off from Ivan's place (Tampines), and headed for Pasir Ris. We wandered off into Pasir Ris park, but then realised that we couldn't connect to Changi beach park, so we came out onto the streets and went along Loyang Ave.

We wanted to stop at Changi V for a cold coconut, but then realised the whole FC was under renovation... so nvm we just stopped for a quick drink from our bottles and carried on. Soon we were at Changi Coast Rd, and cruised for a relaxing 8km before we reached East Coast park.
Then after reaching East Coast park, we headed for Mcdonalds, which was our turning and resting point. We had some food before we set off back towards Ivan's. From East Coast park, we cut out through East Coast service rd, and through Bedok before finally reaching Bedok Reservoir rd. From there we took a shortcut through the industrial estate before reaching Tampines new town.

Recently we bought a GT Ruckus 2.0 frame for Dean, and throughout the journey we were planning on how to build his new bike... stay tuned for developments of project X...

We clocked slightly less than 50km, finishing at around 5.40am. It was really good to ride a new route, on Changi Coastal rd, as its really relaxing with the cooling night wind. Thanks to Ivan for bringing us on this interesting route :) Its always great to ride with the guys, hope we can do this more often.

BirthdayBoy Update

2008-09-18T00:29:00.003+08:00

v1.0.3 has been released. Check out the BirthdayBoy page for download and release notes.

A bright night

2008-09-16T03:13:00.005+08:00

On the 14th September 2008, we went to Little Guilin and joined in with fellow lantern wielding and sparkler swinging people. While most of the people were having a great time, some people were having a greater time trying to burn down Little Guilin haha...

We lit up our lanterns as soon as we got there, but decided to light up some candles on the ledge by the lake after walking a mere 20 metres lol...

Under the bright moonlight and shiny stars, I looked at her playing with the candles just like a little girl... It feels fantastic to feel her presence... just wanna hold her close, smell her scent, watch her hair flowing in the cool night breeze... this is love.

Dian Xiao Er Wonder Duck

2008-09-15T04:16:00.010+08:00

Hello, this time we hunt down "Ten Wonders Duck", from Dian Xiao Er in Vivocity. I have to say the overall food here is excellent, and definitely worth the queue. Oh yes, they open for dinner at 5.30pm, and soon you will see a queue forming at the door.

On the hunt, we ordered a small "Ten Wonders Duck", a bowl of winter melon soup, and traditional sliced fish. But the main target we were there for was the TWD. Just thinking of how to describe this dish, my mouth is watering this very moment haha... The meat of the duck is simply tender and super juicy, soaked in the gravy that is cooked with herbs. It almost melts in your mouth! Its really wonderful, and I got hooked the first time I tried it. I give this dish a 10/10, its a must try!!!

There are other outlets of Dian Xiao Er, but I have only been to the one in Vivo, and I heard that the one in Marina Sq is not as good as the one in Vivo... so just try it in Vivo.

Hunt Date: 10 Sep 08
Location: Dian Xiao Er, Vivocity

==========Disaster Report==========
That night we also went to have a mango dessert at Kim Gary, I don't even want to remember the name... for its ridiculous! The ice is not even well shaven, its like throwing a whole block of ice into the bowl, add a few strips of mango on top, and some red bean fillings like at the bottom of the ice (like ice kachang but doesnt even come close, pathetic attempt). The only thing that is tasty is the mango syrup on the ice. It costs 5 bucks, which I would have given to charity instead. It was a disaster, and we condemn the dish. We covered the bowl with a serviette because it was declared dead.

Joo Chiat Bak Kut Teh

2008-09-15T03:33:00.005+08:00

This mission was rather impromptu, we were just exploring Katong area for nice food on a wet day, and we stumbled across an ulu shop along Joo Chiat road. I remembered when I was still serving, that my friends in the army drove me here for Bak Kut Teh after a unit run in east coast park.

It was rather affordable, the both of us shared a bowl of Bak Kut Teh for 10 bucks. Eunice said that the soup was not peppery enough. I thought that the Bak Kut was really good, though I agreed with Eunice on the soup. In th soup, there is seaweed-like vege (fa chai) and green vege (dunno whats the name haha) which makes the whole thing even more yummy.

This BKT is not bad, and I believe it has been here for many years already. Business is not bad, even with the bad weather, we can still see people coming in the early evening. I give it a 8.5/10.

Hunt date: 14 September 2008
Location: 328, Joo Chiat Road #01-02

Bugis Assam Fish Head

2008-09-15T03:31:00.005+08:00

Hi all!! Haha havent been blogging for sooo long :S
Today I will talk about one of my personal favorite dish: The Assam Fish Head....Damn. Even the mention of it makes me hungry.

This dish is simply made from heaven. When JC first brought me to this eating place, I could tell that they serve good assam fish head just by the smell and look of it from the other patron's tables. You know there're some dishes you just can tell if it's good just from the look of it. I know we shouldn't judge just by the appearance, but food wise..the appearance always tell us the whole story :)

Anyway back to the food huunt, after we ordeered for our dish, I just couldnt wait for it to be served. When it was finally here, I was super duper excited and tried the curry fish immediately.

Man....was it orgasmic!!!!! The fish is just so tasty. There was a tinge of sourness in the spicy curry and the fish was so so juicy and succulent. It was not too soft and there was no fishy smell or taste at all. Overall, it's something to die for.

Haha. I would rate it 10/10. Definitely one of the best assam/curry fish I have tried. Price is at $20 for one and it can be shared between 2-4 persons. But cos I love it so much, I wanna just enjoy it with my dear JC. Haha the other time we brought his friends along, couldnt really get to eat much for 4 ppl. Well...JC maybe we shd go back again soon..im craving for it NOW! :)

A day with the animals

2008-09-12T01:12:00.013+08:00

Today, we went to the Zoo! I totally had fun, and it was a blast seeing how Eunice had fun and was so happy.

Haha she was just like a little girl, so excited to be at the Zoo. I think that its great for us to learn more about the animals, and how some of them are being endangered by humans...

To end, I would like to dedicate a quote for mother nature: Extinction is forever, Conserve!
View more photos here.

85 Bak Chor Mee

2008-09-11T01:44:00.008+08:00

This dish is pretty well known to many people, especially to those staying in the east. Located in the heartlands of Bedok is a food centre that opens till late into the night, feeding hungry Singaporeans numerous choices of good food. We have come all the way here for possibly the best Bak Chor Mee in Singapore.

The form of this BCM comes in soup, and boy does the soup taste yummy!!! The meatballs are so juicy and bouncy, that it makes you wish there were more in the bowl. The BCM does not come standard with De Kwa (Pig's Liver). But after you try this, you will find out that there is not a need to have De Kwa in the dish because the dish is complete.

The largest serving is 3 bucks, and I feel that I can finish 2 bowls almost everytime I go there for BCM because the portion isn't that big. This is a must try, this BCM scores 9.5/10!

Note that there is another stall located next to it that sells exactly the same thing. I have not really tried that stall, but their business is pretty good too, just like this stall. So no harm trying it...

Hunt Date: 3rd August 2008
Location: Blk 85 Bedok North Ave 4

Things we are gonna do!!

2008-09-08T01:48:00.003+08:00

1) Kite flying
2) BBQ-ing cum chalet trip :):):)
3) Zoo!!
4) Continue with our food hunts
5) Party together one day :P
6) bla. loads. lazy to think alr. lol

One month in a minute

2008-09-01T03:29:00.005+08:00

On the 23rd of August 2008, we celebrated our first month together. Everything happened so quickly, so fast. Time really do fly when we are enjoying ourselves (I seem to like this phrase alot). It feels like one minute, but one month has gone past just like that. I just love how she looked when she received the bouquet from me...

That night, we went for a nice half-meal at Graze, in Rochester Park. I say half-meal because I was just so broke... so we shared a cripsy black skin cod fish, and a HUGE plate of desserts, with many small assortment of desserts. They call it the dessert platter. I have to say the food is really great, though expensive. I will bring Eunice back there again for another meal in the future, and maybe it will add another entry in The Food Hunt Log... hehe.

Honey... I love you. I wish there be many many many many more months like this =)

Balestier Bak Kut Teh

2008-09-01T00:11:00.010+08:00

For our very first food hunt mission, we drove to central Singapore in search of the famous Bak Kut Teh: Founder Rou Gu Cha, buried in the shophouse-lined streets of Balestier.

As Eunice knows where the place is, it was not hard to get there. We parked in Shaw Plaza and crossed the road. After a 20 minute wait in the queue, we finally got to our seats.

Hi all. This is Eunice here, the guest blogger on this blog :) Since this is my debut entry, I shall let u guys know more about me first ( though i dunno how many ppl would be reading this, I might end up talking to myself). Ok, I'm Eunice, Jun Cheng's......gf? hahaha. *shy*. Err what else about me..Ok..boring stuff. I'm doing Biz Ad in NUS. Currently in year 2. And my motto in life is to study not hard but smart, but play hard :). I aim for perfection in life, and some say I have very high expectations in life. Well, I see that as a plus point. Hehe. I am an extremist in that I can be super duper playful and sacrifice sleep if I have to or go home everyday at 5am just to stay out and have fun. But when it comes to studying, I can be pretty hardcore too. Some people might find me weird cos' I have many 'things' about me which lots would not be able to understand..such as err I better not say. Haha. :) Three things in life i love. FASHION. MUSIC. FOOD. Anyway, I think im talking too much about me here. Of cos, apart from the 3, I love him too :)

Alrighty, today's food topic. BAK KUT TEH. I can alr taste the bak kut in my mouth as I recall back to 2 weeks ago. It's simply heavenly. What can I say. You have gotta try it!! I think it's one of the very very best in Singapore! The smell of the pepper lingering in the air as we queued to get a place in the eating place. It's air-c0nditioned, so you wouldn't needa worry about sweating like a pig after consuming the heavily-peppered dish. And also, the soup's refillable. The soup....is orgasmic!! The pepper taste will just fire you up after the very first scoop of the soup. The meat is so tender and soft..but the portion might not be enough for big eaters. But i think this fact is complemented by the simple mouth-watering tasty soup. It's really a must try! Affordable certainly, it costs approximately $15 for 2 people's share, i give it a 9/10 :)

Hehe thats my sweetie, Eunice. She will be the resident blogger from now on, and as she is also my deputy food hunter, we will be doing food reviews and sharing with you our food hunt adventures. Do stay tune for our next mission, on the food hunt log!

View more photos here.

Hunt date: 22 Aug 2008
Address: Founder Rou Gu Cha Cafeteria
347 Balestier Road, S'pore 329777

The Food Hunt Log

2008-09-01T00:01:00.006+08:00

This section is a directory listing of all posts about food hunts. Eunice is the deputy food hunter, and will be blogging with me here.

A day with nature

2008-08-17T23:59:00.008+08:00

The day started with the sky turning dark and rain fell. I was feeling a little down because Eunice and I had planned to go kite flying in Botanical Gardens... But we met up anyway at BB, and we had lunch and then decided to go anyway. When we arrived, the sun came out to greet us =)

At first, we wanted to buy a kite but we couldn't find it in BB central, so no kite flying for today. So we just bought a cheap loaf of bread to feed the fishes, tortoises, ducks & swans. It was really fun, because we fed them at every chance we got, through all 3 of the ponds! I was surprised to see a huge catfish in the pond...
It was really a blast seeing how much she enjoys feeding the wildlife. Even though we just walked around the gardens and fed the animals, it was a truly enjoyable time. When we reached the final lake (eco-lake), we think that the surroundings was really very beautiful. The next time we go back, we definitely have to bring some snacks, a picnic mat, a kite and maybe scrabble! Haha...

View the entire album here.

Time of my life

2008-08-07T17:11:00.007+08:00

Hello... been really busy this few weeks, with assignments and dating lol...
I think i'm really lucky to have met a very special person, a wonderful, super sweet girl =)
We met on the 23 July 2008. (Important date for me to remember so I'm putting in down here in case I lose my memory in future...)

Her name is Eunice.

I think its really amazing to have clicked so well with one another, we just seemed to enjoy food the same way, think the same way and even talk the same way! Needless to say, these couple of weeks getting close with her, i enjoyed the time of my life. And when you are enjoying yourself, time simply flew past with a blink of an eye.

I told myself that I wouldn't get into another relationship so quickly (a few months... quick?), but... love seems to hit you when you least expected it.

And of course, I have to give credit to Anthony, my good buddy for introducing her to me haha. Thanks bro!

Want to show you something interesting: Eunice and me saw this truck just outside the cheese prata shop... We were joking about how the driver must be very lazy and tries to send 2 truckloads in 1 go... Hmm... I wonder what will happen if this truck clears a corner fast... hehe

The gang hits BT!

2008-07-17T00:39:00.009+08:00

Hey... This time, finally got the guys to come BT with me... I was trail guide that day, and damn was it wet! But isn't it great to have mud splashing onto your face when your tearing through the trail? LOL...

This is Dean wearing my helmet, and his tankee googles. He needs a full-face to go with the goggles!

Near the start of the trail, Ivan fell when trying to clear a drop-off from a pipe... I was damn worried that it was severe, because he had trouble dis-mounting from his bike for sometime... He smacked his right knee into the frame, and from the look of it, I could tell it was really excruciating... My bad man... I should have warned you of the pipe earlier.

The guys were really shagged out by the time we got to the stairway to heaven (lol what a name i made up...)

The guys thought I was crazy to do 3 laps in a day... but really that's because they only went there for the first time. I also felt very drained when I hit BT the first few times.

All in all, it was a really fun day, I always enjoy riding with the guys. Hope we can do BT again soon...

One With Nature

2008-07-11T14:32:00.003+08:00

See how dirty my lover and me got after doing 3 laps at BT... Im happy that after some time, I have begun to develop my mountain biking skills.

Im seeing improvement in my climbing, which I thought was really hard at BT, but actually I was climbing with a wrong body position. My butt was seated, which was causing more weight to be on the rear wheels. I was very worried that the rear would lose traction without more weight at the rear. This caused me to have a really light front, and frequently lose control when trying to negotiate an ideal line of attack. I eventually found an optimum climbing position for me, which is to hover above the seat, lean slightly forward. Only when I need a last burst of fire to conquer a steep uphill then I will throw my body forward.

I absolutely love doing the trail at BT. I love the feeling of conquering the steep uphills, and being able to take a smooth quick line on the downhills.

Now I gotta show some love to my bike... its still waiting for a shower!

Bored Sunday

2008-07-07T17:49:00.002+08:00

Just fooling around in the car park, feeling real bored even after a lap at BT.

Biking

2008-06-28T18:15:00.009+08:00

This section is a directory listing of all posts about Biking.

Round Island Trip Log, 23 Jun - 25 Jun 08

2008-06-27T13:42:00.042+08:00

This is the first round island cycling trip undertaken together by Dean, Ivan & me.
At first, this trip was just supposed to be from my place in Bukit Batok to Ivan's place in Tampines, but somehow it became an extended one. As to how that crazy idea came about, you will read about it later. Now, I shall describe the first day's events. Feel free to look at the above map for reference.

Riders & Roles:

Dean (Guo Wei) - Water supply
Ivan - Technical Advisor / Subject Matter Expert (SME) / Tampines Trail Guide
Juncheng (Me) - Navigator / Cameraman / Tools & Equipment Bearer

Day 1, 23 Jun
====================================================
We set off about 1730 hrs from Bukit Batok. We then traveled up north through Bukit Gombak and then past Choa Chu Kang via Brickland Rd. We then took Old Choa Chu Kand Rd, passing the Home Team Academy and reaching Lim Chu Kang Rd. LCK Rd is a huge, straight and wide road that can be used as an emergency runway for aircraft. We stopped for a couple of quick photos:

From this point onwards after the long wide road ended, we encountered many speeding heavy vechicles which was really dangerous for us as the roads were rather narrow. We constantly checked our rear to make sure a bus or cement mixer would not run us down. Neo Tiew Rd was the road we took after LCK Rd. It is a long, narrow and winding country road which was very shiok to ride on, if not for the heavy vehicles.

After that, we reached Kranji Reservoir and we stopped for a breather and a couple of photos too. That time was just before last light, and we managed to get sunset shots.

Shortly after the sun had set, we carried on towards Woodlands. We could not get on the road because there were many vehicles stuck on the roads in the Kranji industrial areas. When we hit Woodlands, we continued on pavement, which was rather annoying because we had to slow down and siam the rush hour people...

We followed the MRT tracks all the way till Yishun where we stopped for our dinner at Northpoint KFC. Dean had KFC while Ivan and I had Burger King. Met Dennis at the Burger King, which was really a great coincidence. The last time we saw the bugger was back in secondary sch... Dean complained that his tube was leaking, so we decided to check it out under a HDB flat, and by the time we got there, it was nearly flat. We had only 1 tube with presta valves, and another with the schraeder valve. Dean's and my wheels can only accept presta valves.

Before we reached Yishun, Ivan took the lead for awhile and while trying to avoid the people on the pavement, he went onto the grass beside a bus stop. We followed suit and a split second later we felt mud splashing onto us. We exclaimed our horror while pedestrians looked on with puzzled faces. We later wondered if the mud we spun up had splashed onto any innocent bystanders hahaha... (See how dirty the bikes were, and we weren't even hitting the trails!)

From Yishun Central we proceeded to Yishun Dam, through Yishun Ave 1. We stopped at Yishun Dam for a drink and photo:
From Yishun Dam, we proceeded into the Seletar camp area and took a dark shortcut to Jalan Kayu. We were worried about dogs because we couldn't really see much without headlights. (Gotta have that for the next trip!)

We didn't stop for prata at Jln Kayu, and cut into Sengkang area from the private housing along Jln Kayu. We found ourselves in the outskirts of Sengkang, under LRT tracks. The roads were really empty, we could literally cycle on it like on a park connector! On the road, we took some photos while riding:

We were really having the time of our lives until we heard "FUCK!"... coming from Dean. His brand new tube had burst! We were shocked and somewhat lost because we had no more tubes for his wheel, only Ivan's which is a schraeder; for his own wheels. I then suggested that he take a cab to Ivan's place with his bike and he can wait there while we cycle back. On the left are priceless photos of Dean and his bike "kee chia" (up the lorry) [or rather, up the taxi LOL]...
After sending a disappointed Dean off, the two of us continued homebound. We cycled through the quiet neighbourhood and eventually hit the park connector on the outskirts of hougang. From there, we cruised on the long and straight Tampines Rd that seem never-ending. When we were almost done with Tampines Road, we felt the lactic acid building up in our legs and the sweat streaking down our faces turning cold with the cool night breeze.

Then we finally reached Tampines, and we stopped at a 7-11 in central. Ivan was complaining of a throbbing headache, which was a sign of dehydration. No worries since we were already in Tampines, at most I could try to drag him home hehe... Luckily we had Dean's water bottles with us for the last leg. This is Ivan saving his own life:

Even our bikes need a break...

Finally home! Using Google Earth to calculate the route we took, we clocked approximately 70km .

Day 2, 24 Jun
====================================================
On the 2nd day, we hit the Tampines trail. Ivan brought us there, its my first time riding in a mountain bike trail, and I was really excited. It really showed what my bike can do, and of course what the rider can do too. I really like the wide open space, which was good as you can find your way around easily. We were almost done with the trail when I busted my rear tube while trying to clear a pipe opening... it was a stupid mistake to try to clear the jump when I wasn't ready because it came right after a bend. I was going rather fast, and I drifted to the right side, and made a decision to jump over the pipe opening... Dean was rather glad and making fun of me busting my tube, and gladly took pictures of the ordeal.

I felt like I spoilt the whole thing... having to walk out with our bikes. We then went over to Subway at Tampines Central to change my tube and have dinner. No, Ivan does not have some kind of STD. Those were pedal bites.

After we had dinner, there was a heavy downpour, and so we decided to put our bikes out in the rain to get some of the hardened dirt off. Ivan's mum knew that Dean and me were supposed to ride back home, and called us, telling us to stay for another night since its raining. Dean was reluctant at first (maybe he misses his bed)... but in the end our combined persuasive powers overwhelmed his determination to get home haha... We washed our bikes after we got back to Ivan's.

After we were done washing our bikes, Ivan got down to polishing his bike... it looks so worthy of being displayed in a showroom!

That night we also went for a cool night ride to East Coast Park Macdonalds and had supper there.

Day 3, 25 Jun
====================================================
Woke up in the afternoon, and we were pretty sure that Dean and me were gonna ride home. Then Ivan had an idea, of riding back to the west with us, and crash at Dean's place! Hahaha... I thought it would be a good idea, and I wouldn't mind sending him back in my mom's car with his bike the next day. The route will take us from Tampines through Bedok, and through East Coast Park. It is always great to ride through ECP, as its very cooling with the sea breeze and all. And of course, we get to see jogging babes too haha... After we exited from ECP via Fort Rd, we stopped over at Leisure Park Kallang, which is a new mall situated beside the National Stadium. We decided to have Subway again, which Ivan and me didn't really mind. We had to persuade Dean a little but in the end we all were stuffing sandwiches into our faces.

At first we wanted to park our bikes inside the mall, just next to Subway. We thought it was alright because the mall wasn't really crowded and Sub was just next to the exit. But then a security guard uncle came and kao bei us, asked us to park outside. We reluctantly moved them outside. The double doors were locked, so we thought we could just park our bikes there and keep an eye on the bikes as we can see through the glass.
The uncle then kao bei again, say we should not block the exit... and wanted us to park against the wall which would give us no vantage point over our bikes... I was pissed, and Ivan tried shifting our bikes towards the right a little bit, but still cannot, half the wheels still blocking the exit... WTF!!! The uncle continued Kao Bei-ing... Ivan then shifted the dustbin (there was a dustbin to the right of our bikes) and shifted our bikes clear of the exit. The uncle had nothing to say, and we went in for our dinner.

After we satisfied our stomachs, we continued to town. We stopped at Nicoll Highway Bridge for a few pictures:

Then we reached the Padang, and took more pictures (Ivan looked so shagged out LOL):

After that stop, I ran out of battery life for the camera. We continued through town by cutting up Fort Canning Hill, and went onto River Valley Rd via Havelock Rd. From there we went towards Alexandra until we hit the Park Connector and rode till the end, coming out onto Queensway. From there we just followed the MRT tracks westward and I made a detour back home for a shower before joining them at Dean's.

Endnote
====================================================
All in all, i think it was really enjoyable, totally cool to ride together for such long distances. The fun really wiped out any tiredness from my thoughts. I can't wait for another trip!!! The total approximate distance covered was about 100km.

Points to take note:

We need to have front lights for the next trip, for safety.
Each person must have his own tubes, at least one each. Ivan says its best to carry two each, and I think its a good idea.
It will be good to take note of the time in chronological order when we reach checkpoints.
Dean didn't have a helmet when he hit the trails. He should get one.
We should rotate roles for future trips.

New Love

2008-06-17T13:12:00.005+08:00

I just got my sweeeeet Cannondale F7! Got it from Tampines with the help of my buddy Ivan, got quite a good discount... Can't wait to hit the trails with my bike, but gotta wait till I have more money to buy myself a helmet haha...

Just an update... I have broken up with Jamie, but we are still on good terms with one another. I still miss her, its hard to forget such a sweet, nice and beautiful girl...

So girls out there, I'm now single and available =) feel free to hit on me yeah haha...

BirthdayBoy Update

2008-05-28T02:22:00.004+08:00

Version 1.0.2 is released.
Check out the BirthdayBoy page for downloads and release notes.

Formula Drift Singapore

2008-04-27T23:12:00.014+08:00

Hello people... long time no blog haha...
This post is about Jamie and me going to watch Formula Drift at the Changi Exhibition Centre, today. This is the first ever professional drifting competition to be held in Singapore.

It was a beautiful sunny sunday, but very hot too! Bought Jamie a bottle of sun block the previous day, only to find out that the exact same type of sun block were passed around for free application to the public...

Although we reached the event only at around 1 plus, we didn't miss the heat of the action (missing only the heats), sitting in at the grandstand when the national anthem played only a short while later. After that all the drifting began. At first we could not get good seats because the grandstand was very packed with people. But after the first round, we managed to get good seats so we were able to take some photos of the action.

The picture to the left shows that the mee siam is actually quite good, compared to the fried rice which sucks. (Pre-race in-depth analysis brought to you by Jamie)

Featured Videos

2008-03-12T02:22:00.002+08:00

BirthdayBoy FAQ

2008-03-12T01:43:00.005+08:00

This FAQ will help you with the most common operations to use BirthdayBoy. If you find that you need any further help, please drop me an email.

Which platforms can BirthdayBoy run on?

BirthdayBoy can run most certainly on Windows XP. It should be able to run on any version of Windows with at least .NET framework 2.0 installed.
Do I need to install BirthdayBoy to run it?

No. Just download the zip file, unzip it, and double click "BirthdayBoy.exe" which is located in the "BirthdayBoy-x.x.x" folder.
How do I make BirthdayBoy run everytime I start Windows?

Check the checkbox that says "Run at Windows startup". It is located at the bottom right of the program window. Note that this will only apply to the current Windows user.
When I minimize BirthdayBoy, the window disappears!

BirthdayBoy runs out of the system tray. Look for this icon:
in the system tray and double click it to make the BirthdayBoy window re-appear.
When BirthdayBoy starts, a window tells me that "x not found, program cannot continue!"

i) Make sure you are running the latest version of BirthdayBoy.

ii) Check in the directory where BirthdayBoy.exe exists, make sure that birthdays.dat and reminder.cfg are there. These two files should NOT be edited manually or removed from their default location. Doing so may cause BirthdayBoy to run improperly.

iii) If the files are not there, download the zip distribution again and use the new set of files.

MemoryGame

2008-03-10T23:25:00.001+08:00

My Java programming assignment in year 2 of my B.CompSc. course.
Click here to access the game.

BirthdayBoy

2008-03-10T23:02:00.014+08:00

BirthdayBoy is a simple and easy to use program that reminds you of people's birthdays.

Current version: 1.0.3

Click here for FAQs.
Click here to download BirthdayBoy.
Contact me at this email regarding any bug reports or suggestions.

Release Notes
====================
v1.0.3 (17 Sep 2008)

Bug fix: Integer parsing in reminder.cfg now has proper error checking, and loads default value for number of days to get reminders in the event the value in reminder.cfg is malformed.
Note: The drop down menu for setting the number of days for getting reminders has been increased to having 1 - 31, from 1 - 14. You can overcome the limit of 31 by editing the integer value in reminder.cfg. Valid values range from 1 - 999.

v1.0.2 (28 May 2008)

Feature enhancement: Users can get reminders everyday, everytime they start BirthdayBoy within the number of days set. It used to be BirthdayBoy issuing reminders only on the exact number of days set before a birthday. e.g. A's birthday is on the 7th Oct. If you set BirthdayBoy to give reminders 7 days before a birthday, it will now tell you about A's birthday everyday starting from the 1st to the 7th of Oct.

v1.0.1 (12 March 2008)

Bug fix: Program unable to find files at startup (when program is set to run at windows startup)

v1.0.0 (10 March 2008)

No installation required. Simply unzip and run BirthdayBoy.exe
You should have the latest .NET framework installed on your PC for this program to work.
You can choose whether you want to run the program on Windows startup. It only applies for the current Windows user. Simply check the option "Run at Windows startup", at the bottom of the program window.
The program can run from the system tray. Minimize the program window and it will hide in the tray. To open the program window, simply double click the system tray icon.
Please report any bugs to this email.

FreeBSD Fun

2008-03-10T15:13:00.002+08:00

Hello! Just finished my exams last friday.

I have been having lots of fun with an old machine that I had salvaged from Jamie's home quite some time ago.

Its a Pentium MMX 200Mhz machine, with 80MB RAM, a CDRW drive I salvaged from a dead PC from my dad's office, an old 20GB HDD from my granddad's PC. I bought a cheap realtek PCI ethernet card and plugged it in so I have access to the internet.

After I have all the required hardware in place, I installed DSL (Damn Small Linux) and a bigger version of the DSL, the DSL-n (Damn Small Linux - not). I had some fun with them, they were minimal OSs with a simple desktop environment, but their shell apps were not enough for me to perform tasks properly, as they ran out of an application emulator of some sort.

So i decided to move on and get myself FreeBSD. I seriously had lots of fun tweaking and installing packages to get everything working properly for me. At first I ran RELEASE-6.2, then I found out that many packages were out of date, so I switched to RELEASE-7.0. The system is great (extremely easy to install too), and relatively fast judging that it ran on quite a slow machine (I'm pretty sure there are other hackers out there running even slower machines and using them as web servers or other purposes...). I have the latest firefox browser, running on xfce4.4. xfce4 is really simple (which I really like alot), it has a simple panel at the bottom of the screen which allows me to open a simple text editor (mousepad), my browser, terminal and the xfce menu if I want to do other stuff.

I enabled the sshd (secure shell daemon) so that I can login to my system from anywhere (I also forwarded the port in my gateway), so that next time I can also serve files on my FreeBSD system! :)

return 0;

YOG 2010

2008-02-21T23:38:00.002+08:00

Yay!!! Youth Olympic Games 2010 here we come!!!

Congratulations to Singapore to be host to the world's first ever YOG!
I'm really happy for Singapore, this achievement will really bring more attention and focus to our little island. I am very sure and confident that we will be able to do an extremely good job as host, and we will show the world what Singapore is capable of.

Majulah Singapura!

return 0;

Celebrating 2 years of love

2008-01-29T17:23:00.001+08:00

On the weekend of the 19th, 20th Jan 2008, Jamie and I celebrated our 2 years anniversary in Sentosa. We really had a great time there, stayed overnight at the Siloso Beach Resort. I was really lucky to have access to my mom's car because she went overseas. My words here will not do justice to the quality time spent there, so I shall let pictures do the talking!

Personal notes: I was worried that the roses could not last that long as I bought them 3 days in advance. I changed the water everyday, added some sugar to the water, and cut the stems under water when I changed the water. Under the influence of the sugar solution intake by the roses, they blossomed nicely, although a few red roses started wilting. Jamie taught me to use panadols in the water instead of sugar... gotta study what effects this will have on the roses next time. If only I have a huge refrigerator to house the roses haha...

return 0;

Black and White

2008-01-29T16:14:00.002+08:00

Hello people, its early into the new year, and chinese new year is approaching... I think I will be doing assignments even when people around me are celebrating...

I want to share with you about the definition of the term or label "Hacker". For this topic, there are general two schools of thought regarding the understanding of what or who a "Hacker" is. I am a computer science student, i love programming alot, i love learning new types of programming languages, i love to play around with linux/unixes. For one school of thought, I most likely will be labeled a hacker.

The other school of thought will think that hackers are bad people who break into bank accounts, wreak havoc on systems with viruses etc. This is the media's interpretation of what hackers do. But for the first school of thought, these bad people are termed "Crackers".

For the first school of thought, the meaning of a Hacker basically means a person who does an "appropriate application of ingeniuty". Please take a look at the following link, credits to Eric. S Raymond. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html
I draw alot of inspiration from his literature at his website.

I hope that the next time you hear the word "Hack" or "Hacker", perhaps you will give a little thought into the understanding of how we feel when we are given a bad name by the media. Comments welcome!

return 0;

New Year, New Chapter

2008-01-01T23:10:00.001+08:00

Hello people, Happy New Year!

I am going to say again that I was too lazy to blog yet again, because of all the partying and driving around, but here goes...

I think I did much better this time for my exams, I scored an overall of 80 & 87 for the 2 modules, which constitutes a Distinction and a High Distinction. I'm all smiles as I saw my results online. Finally I'm assured that I can actually do it, with hard work. I'm going to continue doing this as much as I can.

During the christmas holiday, I received many gifts, and many of them were edible stuff mainly chocolate. I loved them haha... thanks guys! And of course my dear Jamie, who had busted her wallet by buying me SOOO many gifts, nice T-shirts! Muacks :)

I recently bought a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick and I'm having a blast flying jets on my PC! Its so much fun haha...

I'm thinking whether I should change this blog page into a personal homepage, just posting some random stuff with videos... So I don't have to keep posting updates... but heck it, update or not its my own personal diary i guess...

return 0;

Hunter Unleashed

2007-11-30T00:17:00.000+08:00

Just came back from one hell of a thrilling ride! Damn techno music really DRIVES me to drive fast haha...

Met a new Mercedes Benz C200 (I think its 200, there are other C models) Kompressor on the PIE, going home from Jamie's place. The driver really felt like going fast... was keep presurring slower cars on the first lane.
I just suddenly felt the urge to hunt it down with my dad's GS300.

I remember chasing it down going pass the long left bend towards the clementi ave 6 exit, the C200 was really pushing it going around 150km/h... I was not that brave (I do not want to deface my dad's car), so I shifted into manual and cleared the corner with a little engine brake. After that I was in a lower gear and that gave me a clear advantage with acceleration on the short straight before the right bend.

I overtook him and passed a few cars on the 3rd lane, he switched into the 1st. I put the pedal to the metal and left him in the dust. Just as he was catching up, I had to exit so I can go home... I stuck my hand out the window, to say "good race" but not sure whether he saw my gesture...
During this short but exciting street encounter, I think I did some excess of 150 - 160km/h...
Damn it feels good to hunt down another...

return 0;

Lightspeed

2007-11-23T02:06:00.000+08:00

Hello... damn it i gotta keep blogging or i will become to lazy to blog again. And the video player is not helping too haha i will just think that aiya nobody reads anyway so just let them watch vids haha...

Exams round the corner again! Time really flies. This time round I would like to get a High Distinction for my C++... hope i dun make stupid careless mistakes in my paper. Focus!!!
The other subject, databases well Im not sure about that one... some parts can be tricky.

Holiday season draws near, which means time to be broke again haha (when was i not???)...
So many things to buy for my dear dear but not enough money...
Gotta find a cool place to dine with Jamie for her birthday. Any suggestions?

return 0;

Transport Problems

2007-11-05T23:25:00.000+08:00

Hello all...

Just a week ago after class, I walked out of school as usual but only to find that my front tire is flat... Well... no choice, I had to leave it locked and later drive from home to pick up my bike. Luckily after I had removed the front wheel I was able to fit it into the back seat cabin with relative ease... I changed the flat tube with a new one the following day.

Then a few days later, my left gear shifter lever broke!!! You can imagine the utter shock and disbelieve I experienced when I was on my way home and trying to change gears! Hmm... I know I have to change it, I will not leave it broken and the chain rattling all the way on my trips to and from school. I thought that bringing my bike for a gear lever transplant will cost me alot, but when I brought it to a nearby bike shop, the old malay uncle only charged me 18 bucks!!! He was a really nice and friendly old chap, did the transplant (not just the left, but the pair as they come in a set) in just half an hour. Lots of cool high performance parts for high-end bikes in that shop... gonna go see what I can get my hands on when I'm ready to own a real good bike for leisure.

I was really worried that my cheapo bike is going to fall into pieces just like that after a few months of riding, but now it seems everything is back to normal... for now haha... I spray the metallic rust-prone parts with lubricant frequently, make sure all the moving parts are moving ok... so I guess if you take care of it, it should be fine.

Jamie hurt her back at work while carrying some stuff a couple of days ago... hai so careless... I hope she gets well soon. My poor gal. Been having a painful sore in my throat for a couple of days... hope I get well soon haha... really painful when trying to swallow food :x

return 0;

Up to class

2007-10-25T13:44:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks back I was on Bradell Road and driving my dad's GS300.
I caught sight of a Saab 9-5 Aero coming up fast trying to pass me on the 2nd lane on my left side mirror...
The 9-5 is turbocharged, but the GS300 has a 3000cc engine so I put the pedal to the metal and I managed to keep ahead of it until I switched lanes and suddenly a very slow car cut in front and I had to brake hard.
Im really thankful for the powerful & responsive brakes :)
After the 9-5 passed me, he(?) had to maintain the 9-5's pride and as soon as we reached the slow weaving section nearing the split junction going to AMK & Thomson, the 9-5 having superior handling and much less weight than the GS300, quickly manuevered clear of the section and I lost sight of it...
I miss the older 9-5 that my father used to own before the GS300... it really handles superbly and its 2.0l engine is really torquey with the turbo...
Just another memory entry of my street encounters :)

return 0;

forward( );

2007-10-11T16:57:00.000+08:00

Hello... finally found some time to post.
Got a D and a C for my previous modules... D for distinction & C for credit... :)
I could have gotten a better grade for the C... but well, just have to look forward and give it my 150% for this session.

Assignments are coming in, but I feel that it is not as bad as last session where some assignments are really killer ones... Hope that my feeling is true...

Just signed up on facebook... heard from anru that there are many great apps there... well for me its just another place for me to spend my bo liao times haha... but I found many friends there not on friendster so its a real good thing.

I hurt myself very carelessly yesterday... scratched myself on my shin when walking past an old PC lying around... and I nearly fell off my bike while going to school... was trying negotiate down 2 steps when my right feet slipped off the lousy plastic pedal... as a result my big toe kissed the floor and cut itself :x...

Went jogging with Jamie yesterday, I really hope we can jog together every week. Its great to know that she is willing to do some exercise, its good for her. If only she is willing to go cycling with me...

Ok going to get some rest now, gonna code some more tonight...

return 0;

Round the corner

2007-09-28T11:26:00.000+08:00

Hello people haha i have been lazy and didnt really wanted to post anything new... but now i feel like i should or else i might just forget it.

Recently met up with frankie to fix up his boss pc, and the power supply has really been giving me lots of problems. I vow to never buy another cheap PSU. Through my experiences, I feel that the PSU is a very important part of the PC and we should never just get a lousy one and wait for it to die out in a few months time.

Frankie's grandfather just passed away 2 days ago, my deepest condolences to frank.

I remember seeing my grandfather pass away numerous years ago on his deathbed, cant remember how many years... He died as a result of lung cancer, and I think it must be because of his heavy smoking habits. My grandmother died a few years later, due to brain cancer. It might be due to the 2nd hand smoke from my grandfather, but I won't really know. I feel a heavy heart everytime I think of them, because they really dote on me alot, taking care of me in my childhood years. My grandfather would buy toys and stuff for me, bring me to see the doctor (I was frequently sick during my childhood years), bring me to get a botak haircut at the indian barber. My grandmother was always there to make sure I had my meals on time, the yummy teochew style porridge I will forever remember. Their cooking is really the best... I will say that their cooking is even better than teochew restaurants'. Hehe I remember my grandfather always chasing me out of the kitchen, which I really liked to play in when I was a little kid. I would lie that I needed to use the toilet in the kitchen but actually I just wanted to stay there to watch them cook.

I really regretted not going to spend time with my grandmother during her final years in the new flat in teban gardens. Back then, our flat was very old and the government was renewing the estate, demolishing the old flats and then building new flats for us. We had already moved out with my dad, and after my grandfather passed, only my grandmother was left with the new flat. I remember promising my grandmother that I will go stay with her once in awhile... a promise I never fulfilled. Its funny how people will only regret something after a person whom he loves is gone. Luckily my aunt was able to take care of my grandmother when she started to become ill. My aunt's place is a huge apartment in bukit timah and it was in her place that my grandmother finally passed on.

Rest in peace yeye and popo.

School is starting next wed, and Im not happy that I have saturday classes again... it means that I will not be able to spend more time with Jamie during the weekends... and my schedule looks to be more tight than last session. Hope I have time to blog sometime soon...

if(me.birthday.month==date.month&&me.birthday.day==date.day)
me.age++;

return 0;

Freelancer

2007-09-13T23:15:00.000+08:00

Hello, I earned 170 bucks this week by servicing a laptop and a PC! Yay! Finally my skills with PC has paid off by adding some weight to my wallet haha... Anybody need help with their PC can intro them to me okay? I charge much cheaper than market price for servicing.

I feel like reviving an old PC at home, but I don't have a working monitor to go with it... I was looking through ebay and I found CRT monitors at 15 bucks! Seems like I can get a good buy, but I don't really have space for it on my table... and Jamie will definitely give me hell for cluttering up my table :x

Actually I just want to have a so-so PC running unix so maybe I can use it as a server or something. Its real fun to play with unix systems, you will definitely learn more skills by playing with non-windows systems. Hmm... I think I will run some kind of Sun OS, its really good for running servers.

Just got back from a late dinner with Jamie, I picked her up from work and we went to chomp chomp for a feast! We had stingray with kangkong (yes, from Lucy's), goreng champedak!!!, chicken wings, and satay! On top of that, Jamie ordered 2 huge cups of sugar cane drink, a "small" one and a BIG one. The 2 cups costs 5 bucks!!! Well the super hot kangkong made us finish the 2 cups of sugar cane with much ease hehe... I love to go food hunting with Jamie. Its so fun to eat with her :)

I have made up my mind, and I'm going to stop my aikido training until I finish my degree. Logically its not feasible to continue training when my schoolwork is so much, and I want to spend time with Jamie. And the fees are paid per 3 months. Every session of my course is 2 months, and about 3 weeks of rest. I can't possibly pay 3 months just to train for about 3 weeks right? And its disruptive for my progress too. I believe that training in any martial art needs to be as often as possible, and one must be fully commited in order to progress. And i personally think that turning up for training only when I am free is quite rude to my Sensei. Many people do that but I look at it with a more martial attitude. So aikido will have to go... I made a promise with Ramlan that I will go back to train when I finish my degree... hopefully I don't lose my interest till then...

return 0;

Assault Completed

2007-09-10T13:11:00.000+08:00

Hello, just finished my exams last friday :) so happy...

The last paper on algorithms & data structures was quite hell... it was like doing A maths back in O levels... so little time, yet so many things to write :x lost 10 marks due to lack of time... should have written like a man possesed right from the start haha... well what the hell.

Results are due to be out about end of the month... Im quite anxious about the results actually... I wonder how much marks Im going to get for all my effort plus the assignments which nearly killed me sometimes. Im praying for the best.

Right now Im back at work for my dad, Aiesha, in charge of admin has gone to have her baby, so I can't really rot at home and game away haha... Today is the first day back at work and Im doing a very huge lot of tedious work engraving nameplates... luckily I have my laptop here to keep me company haha. Ok back to work!

return 0;

Mad Coding

2007-08-23T21:28:00.000+08:00

Hello... PHEW!

I just finished my last 2 assignments for this term... I suddenly feel so much lighter and happier now... though my exams are just round the corner :x

Been programming like a man possesed for the past 2 weeks... I have never programmed so hard in my life. Anyway its an assignment about routing algorithms using Dijkstra's Algorithm. I have really put in alot of effort in it... hope I really get worthy points for it (it takes up 20 points of the overall subject grade). During the process of writing the program, my eyes have been opened to many new things in the C language, which I havent formally learned before... picked it up myself *proud* haha...

Yeah... gonna take a short break now... go play some games (damn... when was the last time I seriously gamed?) before I start studying for exams.

return 0;

Bug Brain

2007-08-18T04:26:00.000+08:00

Its 0427hrs, where is the bug???

return 1;

Back in green

2007-08-16T21:57:00.000+08:00

Hello,

Never thought I am going to be wearing green again so soon... many memories start coming back as I was going through my gear... All the fun times and hard times together with such good friends I have made back then.

Bon voyage to Anthony, stay safe.

Been frantically coding away these past few days and nights (wee hours in the morning too)... Its like back in poly rushing my programming projects late through the night. Jamie says its not good for me, but hardcore programming is REALLY done past midnight... and I don't really have much time to waste.

Hope I can complete my last 2 assignments for this term in time... Now back to coding.

return 0;

Happy National Day!!!

2007-08-09T13:01:00.000+08:00

Hello!

Happy National Day to all Singaporeans, foreigners are welcome to be happy too.

For the occasion, I am going to make a wish for the well-being of Singapore, and I pray hard that the political system can one day be fair and democratic, so Singaporeans can be happier people!

Thank you, thank you...

return 0;

Starting over

2007-08-06T23:44:00.000+08:00

Hello.

Been very busy these few weeks, just finished a couple of assignments and I feel very stressed out and tired. I think I really need to sleep more.

Jamie and I will be entering a new phase of our relationship, its a very delicate transition phase I would say. She has just started on her new job, and now spends more time with her friends from work. We are going to give each other more personal space. I feel funny though, I haven't spent so much time away from her before... I see it as something good, and we have to get used to it. I have learnt from my past relationship that if you don't give each other enough space, it will come to no good. I cherish her alot, so I know what to do.

So, yes my friends I will find some time to meet you guys and catch up soon, as soon as I have time away from my school work. So sorry to all of you, I always neglect my friends when I'm attached, I have to admit.

Damn, skipped yet another aikido class today... just finished up on my assignment. I'm really afraid I will lose touch with aikido forever as I continue my studies. I pray hard that day will never come.

return 0;

First attempt

2007-07-30T09:59:00.000+08:00

Hello all! Quite a few things happened lately, let you in on them.

First, on the 20th July Jamie & me celebrated our 1.5 years of love. For the occasion, I decided to do something really special for her, and that is to wrap a bouquet for her. She really likes flowers and for the past few months have been asking me how come I didn't buy her any, so for the special occasion I did a big one.
I went to a nursery along thomson rd and got 40 roses: 20 red & 20 white. I got the freshest I could get my hands on from the huge cold room... its really cold I felt like I was in switzerland or something haha... and I also got some small little purple flowers (I dunno the name) to go along with it.

After I went home, I trimmed away all the excess leaves from the roses, and positioned the roses and the complementary flowers together. It was quite tricky as the whole lot was a big bunch and I didn't trim the thorns at all... so it took some skill there although I got pricked a few times.

After I was happy with the look of the bouquet, I rubber banded it and left them with their stems underwater overnight. The next day just before I delivered my masterpiece(?) to Jamie, then I finished the bouquet proper with wrapping paper and plastic. I bought two layers of wrapping, a transparent plastic layer with little heart shaped patterns on it, and a purple cloth-like layer.

To tell you guys the truth, I really had no idea what I was doing at this stage, I just tried to wrap them around the flowers and make it look ok. And I think I didn't do too bad huh? What you think?

Next, I just attended my aikido club's 5th anniversary camp at pasir ris PA holiday chalet. I only attended the last day cos I had school on sat... too bad. Anyway I really enjoyed myself together with my friends, eating and chatting and training. I really have to thank benson and company for driving us around and treating us to great food! Looking forward to many years of training together.

I managed to finish the important code of my sorting assignment on the way to the camp in the mrt and in the early morning of sunday when I couldn't sleep :x I only slept less than 2 hours... After I reached home last night I slept from 10 plus all the way till this morning :) I feel good! haha

return 0;

Buffer Overflow

2007-07-22T00:00:00.000+08:00

Hello people... its been a very crazy week, rushing through my assignments, preparing for my dear & my 1.5 yr anniversary, trying to get enough sleep haha... yeah so there wasn't time to blog. Now I have managed to squeeze some time out and here goes...

Im going to say what happened in ascending order of time.

So last weekend, I mended my gi, fox jeans buttons and a shorts with a hole. I even broke a needle in half for pushing it too hard against the patch and the gi (cos the gi has some linings that are much thicker).

The patch was actually cut from my brother's gi sleeve, cos he dosen't
practice anymore :) My sempai tommy saw my mended gi and told me that it wouldn't give a nice image to visitors and guests of our federation... he said I need to uphold the image of the federation, with the logo on my gi... at first I thought that it was a neat idea to
diy fix my gi rather than spend money on a new one... but then I think what tommy sempai said was true... hmm... what you guys think?

Then there were fixing the buttons for the fox jeans, cant believe that such "strong" buttons can actually break off from their base just like that... I simply used thread to secure the big button and used another button from the sewing basket to replace the small one.
Then there was the shorts with a split, at the most obscene place you can have a split on a pair of shorts... this is simple too... just sew it together like trying to join two pieces of cloth side by side. It looks ugly but nobody will notice it unless they are face to face to it haha...

Then we went to jurong west and collected a huge shipment of items from US...

they are actually items bought online from old navy. Jamie bought me a very nice t-shirt that says "everyday is sunday" hee i like it so much, and FOUR pairs of slippers of different colours! How cool is that? They will probably last me till dunno when haha... Jamie got herself a pair of cool shades, yay! now we can stroll down orchard rd together and i can wear my pair of oakleys and she can wear her pair. How cool :)

return 0;

Holy Food

2007-07-12T12:27:00.000+08:00

Hello... yesterday I had 2 encounters with holy food.

The first is holy donuts. You can buy these holy donuts from the donut factory, which is in the basement of raffles city shopping centre. Oh im sorry, you don't only buy them, you have to queue for them. yeah... you say, of course. when you go and buy something from the supermarket you queue, when you buy food from a canteen stall you queue. OH NO... you have to queue before the shop opens. maybe an hour early!!! its absolute madness. i should bring a little foldable chair the next time im going to be part of this madness... i was surprised the riot police wasn't there to control the crowd. too bad i didn't have my camera with me when i was queueing... you will be amazed at how long the queue gets! the shop opens at ard 1230. you will see people actually start queuing at maybe 10 plus. at 1, the queue looks like the whole country waiting to enter the national stadium at ndp. i wonder if the people at the back actually get their donuts before the shop closes, or rather, before the donuts run out.

This is what holy donuts look like. can you see the holy aura around it? look closer.
Oops sorry dear, i forgot your glazed flavoured ones... hee next time k haha...
Congrats my baby for getting the marketing job at singtel! I was very sure you would get it. Now I can wait for my dear to feed me haha...

As i said earlier I had 2 encounters with holy food. The other is holy laksa. Jamie ordered it for me while i was bringing the donuts to her. When she told me it costs 7 bucks plus (1 buck for adding hum) I exclaimed a "HUUUH?!"... I didn't know laksa costs that much, not in a hotel. Its from a little coffee shop like shop along killiney rd just next to singtel concentre. it tastes ok... but I think the katong laksa from bugis is still better... and way cheaper haha... no pics here sorry.

And about the aura around the donuts, i was kidding. the aura is actually the holy aroma emitting from the holy donuts. this, you have to join the holy queue for it...

return 0;

The crowdiest place on earth

2007-07-10T23:02:00.000+08:00

What is the crowdiest place on earth? I think it is Vivocity... :) Jamie seems to love it... so much shopping to do there haha...

We also had a selection of 2 ice creams and 3 tapas at bakerzin... It was so delicious we had to eat it before we took photos of it... Oh the rum and raisin ice cream was really good.

Btw, I saw 2 really cool cars... an M3 & M5, parked almost together... how rare? And modified.

return 0;

Getting into the Drive

2007-07-06T10:36:00.000+08:00

I noticed that I really need to brush up on my mathematics... all the logarithms and stuff I threw away long ago. Its actually very important to revise and know how to do all these calculations and proving and stuff. I can remember a long time ago, I used to say "Hai... all these math problems really give me headaches, why the hell do we need to learn these? is it really necessary?" Oh hell yes now I know... Without these math knowledge I wouldn't be able to tell people whether my algorithms are faster or more efficient...

Damn it... I have to keep running to the phone to answer the calls! Why does the admin assistant always falls sick? Btw, I am working for my dad on the days I don't have sch so I can earn my pocket money :)

This module of Data Structures & Algorithms is beginning to look pretty challenging... I guess I really have to put in some hard work if I want to do well. No more late night gaming and stuff. Gotta study!

Anyway I want to make a public service announcement to all road users out there:
Please have some lane discipline! Keep to your lane and don't make other people out there worried about whether are you cutting lanes. If you need to overtake at least use your signal! Are they malfunctioning? Or maybe your brain is. How I wish I own a tank and can just drive it on the road like a car, and when I see people without land discipline I just ram or crush them over. Reinventing the term "Road Rage" haha...

return 0;

First Lecture

2007-07-03T17:12:00.000+08:00

Today I had my first lecture. I cycled to sch at about 1, it feels quite hot... and I brought an extra tee and a face towel with me. After I reached sch my tee was wet so after I locked up I went to the toilet and wiped away the sweat and changed into a fresh tee. Wasn't so bad after all... I'm ready for lecture.

The classroom is quite small, just enough to contain about 30 people and the lecturer was actually late 5 mins... he looks very young for a Dr... most of my classmates are actually from their 1st year, instead of being straight into the 2nd. This module, data structures and algorithms, I have actually studied in back in poly and it was based on java. This module however should be based on C i think... today is the intro lecture, topic 1... I learnt about proofing mathematics using a few methods... I couldn't really catch most of it cause I really sucked at math... gotta do some revision on my own. exponents, logarithms etc... hope I don't die.

There were a few people who came quite late for class... one guy even came 1/2 hour before the lecture ended... I'm beginning to feel like im back in poly... its very much the same except its much less stressful here... I only have classes on tue,thur and sat... and 2-5pm everyday for these 2 months... anyway I wonder if these few people have any interest in lecture cause they can come to class without anything and sit in late... maybe they were only interested in the snacks during breaks. SIM actually provides snacks and drinks for us in between classes. I think its only appropriate considering the amount of sch fees I have to pay haha... they should provide buffet lunch before classes lol...

The lecture ended early, at 4... damn its really slack! I really wanna do well in sch so I better put in much more effort than I did back in poly. hope my other friends will do the same when it comes to grouped assignments.

The ride home was much better than the one to sch as the clouds shielded me. Some stats from my cyclo-computer:
Dist to sch: 4.32km
Total Dist cycled: 8.71km
Total Time on bike: 38mins 52secs
Max speed: 40.5km/h
Avg speed: 13.4km/h

End of Line

Weekend with Jamie

2007-07-01T18:33:00.000+08:00

Hello people, I am now sitting in a quiet corner in AMK library, and I found that I could use wireless@SG to go online... Im actually waiting for Jamie to finish tutoring at about 9 so we can have dinner together.

I brought my camera out yesterday and we went to Serangoon central to pick up a bag I bought for her online from taiwan...

Then later we took a train to town, alighted at dhoby ghaut and transfered to city hall. We then walked to funan IT mall and I got myself a targus notebook backpack. Now I can carry my stuff together with my notebook and cycle to school without damaging my notebook :)

Then later we went to marina sq and walked around abit. It was around 3pm then and both of us felt hungry. We saw this place called "Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee". Jamie told me she ate at a similar one but it was at killiney.

Damn it... there is this couple suddenly sitting on the sofa I use to put my notebook on and the guy is trying to make out with her... so exciting haha... GO GET A ROOM! ITS A LIBRARY...

OK back to the story... have a look at the kolo mee we ordered... damn... I feel hungry just looking at the pics haha...

Then later we had a two scoop ice cream cone from azabu sabo...

Durian & Lychee. Fabulous.

Hee what a great weekend it has been... I love spending time with Jamie... love you baby!

Orientation Day

2007-06-29T14:49:00.000+08:00

Hello all, today I attended an orientation programme for my course. I tried cycling to school for the first time and it wasn't that bad. Though the morning sun was quite hot, I cycled slowly, taking my time and taking in the sights and sounds of a typical morning through the neighbourhood.

I took a little less than half and hour and I didn't really sweat alot, quickly locked up by bike by the main gate and went into the atrium. The atrium is this huge courtyard in the center of school that is air-conditioned. Caught my breath and proceeded to the lecture room where the briefing is going to be held.

The whole group of students that turned up for this programme was about 100 people and too bad I didn't really see any pretty babes haha... anyway, the programme was rather boring, just all the talk cock session about the admin issues which were all in the handouts given to us. To my surprise, the school provided lunch at the end of the programme which was just in time to fill my growling stomach :)

I met my BMT friend, Jack. I was a little embarrassed as I couldn't remember his name, mistaken him for an alvin... Sorry for my bad memory haha. Three other friends from the engineers Cheong Peng, Wilson & Yong Sheng were also in the same course as me, what a small world...

There was one thing which bothered me a little which is I am admitted into the course going into the 2nd year. But I have an IT Dip and Cheong Peng studied some networking dip and he got admitted into the 1 1/2 year. And he told me he hadn't studied java and in his schedule he dosen't have the module! And I have to study it again... I don't understand... I'm not jealous or anything like that... but actually I'm glad I get to study it again haha... its kind of like a refresher for me and I like programming so I guess its not such a bad thing after all...

I received a free gift from the school at the end of the programme... a USB optical mouse from University of Wollongong... cool looking mouse :)

On the way home on my bike my cyclo-computer was malfunctioning... I think I will have to re-calibrate the sensors... the next time I cycle to school I will tell you the real distance and time taken to school.

Oh I need to go fix a shelf I bought for Jamie from carrefour.

See ya.

Hitler's car was stolen!!!

2007-06-28T10:31:00.000+08:00

Must be the Malaysians... LOL

Stay tuned as I will post new vids from you tube here.

The harder way is the cheaper way

2007-06-27T23:33:00.000+08:00

Hello people... ever since I planned to study at SIM, I have already thought of a way to save money everyday.

How?

Don't take any public transport!

But how can I walk 4km (I checked google earth) to and from school everyday?
I will have to wake up at insane times to make it for my first class!

Take private transport then!

Haha...

Reborn

2007-06-27T11:35:00.000+08:00

Hello all, I have finally resumed blogging again.

I just thought that I should not abandon my blog and since I'm already out of the army (YES ORDed 7th May 2007!!!) I have much more interesting stuff going on in my life right now.

I will post the happenings with photos very soon.

Anyway I will be starting school next week monday in SIM. I will be studying for my Bachelor in Computer Science (Digital Systems Security) offered by University of Wollongong. This coming friday I will be attending a orientation program for the course. I think it should be a couple of hours affair and I should be back home for lunch (starts at 10) haha...

Stay tuned while I go crazy with my camera...

Hello...

2006-08-25T20:31:00.000+08:00

In case you are wondering, I'm not dead yet.

It's just that I don't really have much time to blog. When I book out, I will be with my darling Jamie.

Jamie and me have been together 7 months and still going strong :) I just love her so much.

I don't really blog because the things I do in army, I can't really talk about them... and I'm just plain lazy hee.

Both Ivan and Guowei, hope you guys are doing well. I know both you guys and serving NS will be no problem. There will be time for us to meet up, don't worry haha.

And Anthony, hope you are still doing well, haha end up my oakleys out of stock... now I become tempted by your 25% discount liao haha... dunno by the time I save up enough you still working at oakleys anot... Wish you all well.

After this post I will become inevitably lazy once again so don't expect a post soon :)

Recent reflections

2006-04-28T13:33:00.000+08:00

Hello... its been a long time since I've blogged.

Just let you in on some recent happenings...

First, its almost 3 months now that I have knew Jamie. I just love her so much. I am starting to have lots of duties to perform in my unit... I'm very worried that I might not have enough time to spend with her.

Second, my mom's car just got into another accident... its the 3rd or 4th time already hai I feel so sorry for the car. So sway... My dad's car received a few mysterious scratches in the bonnet and the rear bumper, ouch. I curse the culprits will not be able to continue their family lineage. If they are able, it will be a retarded lineage ;)

Third, I'm beginning to worry about my university education. I have problems getting into NUS & NTU because my results are really damn bad... regret for not studying hard enough and playing too much during my poly years...
I might try SMU, although its quite troublesome (with all the interviews and essay writing) but its still worth a try. But then again I have seen SIM offer an IT degree with Digital Security Systems, and I think it would be a good thing to study because it's an in-thing in the IT world. The degree is offered by the University of Wollongong... (did I spell it right?) My only worry about this is that the uni may not be recognised well by local companies. Any advice?

I have been thinking about some issues about the army. I have a few friends among my circle and they have signed on. The money they are getting is quite good... I have always told myself don't sign on for the money because you can earn more in the civillian world. Actually I would have signed, but there are quite a few issues stopping me. When I sign on, it would be because of my love for my country, my sense of duty to my country. Yes, I'm a patriot whether you believe in this kind of thing anot.

The things that has kept me from signing on are...

1) This army is a draft army. Which means not all are volunteering to be soldiers. There will be lots of NSFs who are unwilling to serve. All this people will make my life in the army not a very pleasant one if I ever sign. I want to be in an army full of soldiers with passion to serve their country. Full of people proud to wearing that uniform. Full of people willing to die in the war front for their motherland when the need arises. Look at the US Army, that army is one with proud soldiers and believe in what they do. Well I guess we don't have a choice that our army has to draft. Our country is simply too small. We do not have enough people that would volunteer to be in the army.

2) There are many dark things that go on in the army (I do not know about other armies), which are ridiculous. The things that some of the higher command do that make you wonder how they got that shiny rank on their shoulders. Our army is one that is untested. We have to really go to war and then we will see which leaders really have substance. And some things will then work out when we learn from the hard way.

3) To be in the army, you must commit yourself to your duties. But I have something more passionate burning in my heart. That is my love for Jamie. I won't be able to spend time with her if I sign on. I choose her over the army.

I will add-on to these points when I discover more from what goes on in the army. Hope these points do give you an insight and maybe help in your decision to sign. If you have anything to comment about these points please leave a comment.

End of Line

Three-Stripe Chevron

2006-03-08T20:22:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone, it has been sometime since I blogged... haha I'm beginning to become lazy...

Recently, I have driven my dad's car a few times, and have yet to do a car review... I have also passed out as a CBRD Specialist. Jamie and I have done up a blog together, you may want to take a peek over here.

Finally, I have become a Seargent and no longer a trainee... no more senseless tekan I guess haha...
Many new challenges await me as a section commander, as a leader. I remember the days back in BMT, my Seargents seemed like gods to us. We were just recruits, botak and blur. They have taken good care of me back then, for that I thank them sincerely. Their dedication in their work and making sure we were ok, just pulls strings in my heart.

I remember just yesterday under my darling's flat, I was in my uniform, and a small boy was walking towards me.

He said: "Soldier."

I smiled at him, looking at him grin back at me. Its hard to describe my feelings I had. It was a sense of pride greater than when my instructors said well done to something I have done. It gave me a deep sense of meaning to be wearing this uniform. An identity that I am proud of, to be able to serve my country.

To my fellow specs that have passed out together with me, and especially my buddies wearing masks alongside me:

With Pride We Lead!

And of course, to my dear dear who has given me her endless support during my commanders' course, I love you. Muack!

End of Line

Ring of Fire

2006-02-19T18:23:00.000+08:00

Dear Jamie, I dedicate this song by Johnny Cash to you.

Love is a burning thing
and it makes a firery ring
bound by wild desire
I fell in to a ring of fire...

I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

The taste of love is sweet
when hearts like our's meet
I fell for you like a child
oh, but the fire went wild..

I fell in to a burning ring of fire....

End of Line

V Day

2006-02-19T10:11:00.000+08:00

Yes, I know it's a bit late to blog about V Day now... but I was too busy being in love haha.

The circle of energy is complete, I am truly alive again.

I won't say much, I shall let the pictures do the talking...

So happy haha... so many gifts from a girl.
She is so sweet... I love you Jamie.

End of Line

Whee

2006-02-18T13:34:00.000+08:00

This blog entry is by me. :)

And this is us. :)

Still wondering what I'm doing here? Hee. Nothing actually.
Pictures tell stories. :)

Reunion Dinner

2006-01-28T20:00:00.000+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all my dear friends!!!

Yay! Its such a nice feeling being able to sit down with my family to have a dinner proper... serving NS really had me missed out from lots of stuff.

Haha my sister just likes to make funny faces at the camera... "Hai take what photo? I'm famished!"

End of Line

Pushed Too Hard

2006-01-27T19:15:00.000+08:00

Hello...

I just received news from my dad that the sold Saab's suspension system was found to be wrecked. The buyer had to fork out about 2k to repair it. So much for all the GT style driving, oops. LOL...

Hai the new ride has already arrived, but my dad just won't let me drive it... he insists I will need to take the car out in his presence so that I can familiarise it, before I can take it out myself... what the hell... I think I can learn it all by myself just alright... after all I am a car-crazy idiot...

Oh Jamie, when can I get to see you?
End of Line

The Last Drive

2006-01-15T11:31:00.000+08:00

My dad's going to sell his Saab 95... He told me not to drive the car out because the buyer has already paid the downpayment, he wouldn't want to risk having me crash the car...

Me? Crash the car? No way... The only time I really damaged the car was when I drove it for the first time, scratching the bumber a little bit. The car forgave me on that one. (Most importantly, my dad forgave me haha)

Anyway I couldn't be bothered and took the car out for one last drive. Since this is the last time I'm going to drive it, I might as well do a "Car Review" for it as a tribute. The car has not let me down once whether is it in street challenges or close accident encounters.

This is a shot of my dad's car asleep. A few days ago my dad got somebody to polish it.

Now its alive! I just love the HID headlights, its very bright and really gives you a good view of the road at night. They are aimed abit too high though, lots of drivers thought I was high-beaming them... Too bad, they can't be tilted lower, its factory set. Next time whatever car I'm gonna get, they must be fitted with HIDs... it really makes the car look alive and aggressive, ready to smoke ah-bengs driving corollas... If not, it would look as if its tired, like an old taxi... Its the attitude of the car.

I liked how the wheels look. It looks clean and simple, yet gives a sporty hint of the car. On the 17'' wheels are Michelin Pilot tires. I think the tires and the stiff suspension really adds up to good handling. It gives me confidence when I clear a tight expressway exit at 80km/h.

The rear looks great too, I think. The boot can only be opened by a press of a button in the cabin, or a button on the remote lock. On the right side of the boot tells the engine specs in brief: 2.0t
It means that this car boasts a 2.0 litre engine, and it is turbocharged. I really enjoyed the presence of the turbo, it gives a nice amount of power when I floor it. Hearing the turbo whistle as the car is being put through it's paces really gives satisfaction.
The engine puts out 175bhp and does the century sprint in 8.5s. But I remember when I do the century sprint, it seems much faster than 8.5s... Maybe its an illusion from the speed.

The interior is generally good, leather all round. The controls for the driver looks very much like what you see in an aircraft cockpit. By the way, do you know Saab builds aircrafts? They are putting aircraft technology their cars... just like Ferrari puts F1 into their cars. Simply cool. The steering feel is very comfortable, very much power assisted; I can easily steer the car with my index finger even at low speeds. But I would prefer it to give me more feedback to the tire grip feel so that I can push the car harder on corners.

Speaking about pushing the car hard on corners, I think I have credit to why one of the tires looked like this -->

Take a look... the tyre is literally fucked up. I can even see the wire mesh!!! You may ask me how come I would take out the tyre for just a simple photo shoot... The tyre was blowing air out like an aircon unit when I arrived back home after the last drive is done.
I didn't do anything funny like drift the car... all I did was drive it like I stole it. LOL...

Luckily my dad didn't kill me, he just scolded me a little... he even patiently reminded how to change the tyre with a spare. He had taught me how to change the tyre once.

I apologized to the car for making it look like a go kart... a puny spare on the front right side. Note the yellow sticker warning the driver not to push the car past 80km/h...

My dad bought this car at 139,000. He is selling it at 60,000... the car's value depreciating so much... so sad... Having drove the car lots, I am attached to the car emotionally. I will miss it. My father got a Lexus GS300 to replace the 95... hopefully I will like the car. Tell you more next time when I introduce the new ride with my "test drive" hehe...

End of Line

The Clumsy Idiot

2006-01-13T11:27:00.000+08:00

Hello... I have been spending the last few days outside of camp, so shiok! Lots of things has happened to me these few days, some of them good and some of them to balance it up.

The good thing is that I finally bought my Driving Force Pro steering wheel for my PS2. It feels so real just playing it... the rubber grip on the wheel, the realistic force feedback, the full 2.5 turns lock to lock! The pedals also feel real, with a bit of resistance when you jam brake. Although it costs a hefty $345, its totally worth it.

Looks ugly eh... yes that's my right leg. How did I get myself to become like this? Did I try to do some crazy stunt with a mountain bike? Did I get into a fight? Did I try to become like Tom Yung Goong? No... I fell like an idiot.

I was trying to run from the anchorage's side to get across to the queensway shopping centre. Because it was raining, so I was waiting for the light to turn green so that I didn't need to wait in the rain and I can go across in one shot, thus minimising my exposure to the rain. Just as the lights turned green, I started running. Less than 2 seconds, I tripped. There was this chain emplacement, you know, the 2 concrete poles that holds a slack chain across to prevent vehicles from entering. I tried to jump over the chains (there were 2 of them) and I missed by abit...

My shin was now the pivot point of my body, as the momentum of my running action brings my body falling over, face first. But I would say that my break fall is first class, with no injuries on both my hands except a little scratch on my right elbow. As my shin was the pivot point, the chain will inevitably cut it. I was actually quite stunned by the fall but I quickly resumed my run across the road, partly because I didn't want to waste my extreme effort, and partly I didn't want my face to be remembered...

After I reached the other side, I stopped because I almost couldn't take the pain... I lifted my wet jeans over my knees so that I could see my wound, and I scolded myself in my mind for being so clumsy and stupid. Morale of the story? Don't run in the rain and try to jump over hurdles like an olympic athelete.

I just got tricked by my mom last night... she promised that she would let me use her soya bean - soaked Motorola E680 after I took it for servicing. I was very happy because the phone was repaired and it is a very good phone to me, with lots of great features. And then she said she wanted the phone back. WHAT THE HELL???

Can I ever trust women again? Ok... its alright. She has a Nokia 7610 with her, so I asked if I could use that instead since she has got back her E680. No. Because she claimed that the battery life span of the E680 is short, so she needs the 7610 to back it up. End up I got a korean phone... an Ikomo. It looks like one of those pocket calculators you would get for your little brother at $2. So sad... my dad was there and he sympathised with me. He said he has a good phone and will bring it back tonight for me, from his office. Hope its a good one...

End of Line

Seletar the Kampong

2006-01-07T13:02:00.000+08:00

Hello people... I just reported to my new home, Seletar Camp just yesterday. It was a very drastic change.

When I was in Nee Soon Camp at ETI, the bunks there were really nice... it was like some kind of chalet! Everything looked so new... the toilets were great, we even had our own personal reading lamp over our heads on our beds. And every bunk had a "exocutioner", its a small machine that has a blue flourescent tube light that attracts insects and kill it with the electric fence.

Yesterday when I reported to Seletar for the first time, everything is a big change to us. The whole place looks like some kampong area... there were nice colonial style houses along the long road leading to my unit. Then comes the biggest hit. Our bunks. They looked like old primary school classrooms... except that there were beds and metal cabinets. Our bunks were so dirty that most of us were sneezy when we were cleaning up the area for the first time. The amount of dirt will scare the balls out of you... it was like sweeping sand out of a beach.

The cookhouse also looked very old... and I heard that there is a particular toilet behind it that no one dares to go in. Rumours said that an uncle went in to shit and never came out himself... I believe there are more to these rumours... Seletar is a very old camp, right from the british times and during WWII i think... well it explains the colonial style houses outside. I hope I won't have any encounters myself...

There is only one improvement and that is the beds. The apparently new mattresses were really good, it even felt better than the ones we had in ETI. After we finished area cleaning, I laid down and immediately dozed off haha...

That's all for now... I won't be having much next week, because my course starts the next monday on the 16th. I'm happy because we will be receiving our risk allowance even as a trainee. I will be receiving 700+ bucks as a corporal hahaha how cool is that?

End of Line

The Blue Beret

2005-12-31T16:49:00.000+08:00

Hello people... the year is coming to an end again... I wish everyone a very happy new year ahead. Booked out on thursday night, having a long weekend till tuesday.

We got our blue berets... after 4 weeks of basic engineer training. The beret was presented by CO of ETI. The beret felt good... it wasn't like my blue beret when I was in my secondary school days as an active sea scout. It was softer, and I figured it would be much easier to season and wear. I think having the beret looked much better than the jockey cap... I think jockey caps are for recruits haha... It will make me look more soldier like i think.

The presentation was quite a simple ceremony actually, the CO donned the blue beret for us individually. After the presentation, we were read our postings. I was in total suspense again... because I really wanted to go to EOD. But it turned out I didn't get in... there were the 9 lucky ones. I wasn't one of them. Fuck!

I was posted to CBRD (chemical, biological & radiological defence) along with 23 others... I was glad at least I knew alot of people from my platoon that were going there. Well... since I got the job I will train hard over there... at least I will have an extra 200 bucks (risk allowance) in my pay haha... I will be able to do much more shopping with the extra cash, looking forward to it... So I will be in seletar camp soon enough... it's actually further than nee soon camp from my house.

After everything, we had our cohesion night event in camp... because our OC wanted to invite the CO. How dumb... we could have had it at marina south, having the seafood steamboat! So we had a bbq and some food catered to us. It was ok... everyone was having a good time as the officer cadets from CTW were looking on with envy haha...

Hmm.... long weekend... I feel like going clubbing somewhere... you know, get to know some girls. I really need to learn more about it, I'm not a clubber person. And learn how to dance haha...

That's all for now, have a nice weekend everybody.

End of Line

Long Week

2005-12-26T20:19:00.000+08:00

Hello people... just had a freaking long week. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas to all my friends out there by the way. And to Ivan and Guowei, Merry New Year hahaha... To Anthony, hope you are having a great time in Australia with your family.

Why a freaking long week? Well, so many field practices... Actually I wouldn't mind having lots of practicals. It is actually the stores that will kill us. Engineers have the fucking most stores in SAF... some are very freaking heavy... whether heavy or light, its way too goddamn much... Just thinking about doing stores simply turns me off. On top of that, I spent my Christmas eve in camp, in green. Doing guard duty. SAF loves me. Luckily I was clever enough to choose a good guard shift. I was basically slacking the whole time hahaha... didn't have the opportunity to draw ammo because I didn't have to do sentry or prowling... or else I will shoot everyone and book out lol.

My sidewinder steering wheel is not workable anymore... dunno want to get a new and better steering wheel anot... I won't play driving games without a steering wheel... it won't be shiok. Now I have a dilemma... dunno want to invest in my PC or PS2... if I invest in my PC, then I will get a Logitech Momo Force Feedback. If I invest in the PS2, then I will get the GT4 steering wheel, the one designed for the game one. Then again... I'm also saving for my Oakley Dartboard... I will see again. Surely an answer will come when I get my inspiration.

That's all for now... tell you more when I return with a blue beret, after my passing out from the basic course.

End of Line

Running the ring

2005-12-18T13:11:00.000+08:00

Hello... hai so sian. My stamina really sucks. I mean for my 2.4km run. I simply can't run for long distances. So sad.

Already 2 IPPT I have taken in Nee Soon camp... and for both I clocked around 11:15... so pathetic. The worst part of it, as long as you can't achieve 9:44 (Gold standard) then you will have to take all the other IPPTs through the course, which is another 2 for me. How the hell am I going to survive that... every 2.4km is like hell for me. As long as I can't get gold, I won't get my 100 bucks for the silver standard, because I still have another 1/2 a year to go... When I get posted to my unit, they will want me to keep trying for gold. WTF... "We will give you the opportunity to try again."

What cock... And my friends that have got gold will get their extra 200 bucks for the first year with their next pay I think... They even have nights off next week when we take our next IPPT arrrgghhhhhhhhh!!!! Can I change a pair of lungs? Or maybe I should drink 98 Octane...

I found out that running on the running tracks is not really suitable for me... I simply can't find the energy when running on track. In SISPEC, we run the 2.4km along a stretch of road, it's like a rally track on tarmac... I clocked 10:27 then for the final test. And I could really feel the difference, I felt more energetic on the road. Well it sounds like a lame excuse right? If you can run means you can run... cannot run means cannot run.

I don't have any problems with my static stations, I can easily get full points for those... except that my right ankle is beginning to feel the stress, particularly in the standing broad jump and shuttle run. I had twisted it 2 times during SISPEC, once in the EOD physical trial... I dunno whether want to report sick for the next once anot... but I'm afraid that the MO might see my injury as quite serious... I don't want it to affect my chances for getting into EOD. How???

Haha it has been a long week in Nee Soon camp... 6-day week with 2 days of live firing... and me being aimed to be trainee Platoon Sergeant for my platoon... So much sai gang to do. But I'm glad I didn't get into any trouble. Although sometimes the platoon can be a little uncooperative, but I managed to control them most of the time, with the help of the 4 section commanders under me. Haha time to pass on the 1st Sergeant rank to the next unlucky guy. He will be more jialat than me, because next week we have lots of practicals, so alot of stores to take care of.

Dunno whether got time to blog next week anot... I'm serving guard duty for Christmas eve!!! So damn bloody unlucky... and I was random picked. Counting down to christmas in green, carrying a rifle. So depressing... I think I might shoot Santa if I see him in camp LOL.

End of Line

Trying to unleash the beast

2005-12-03T12:47:00.000+08:00

So miserable... there is something very wrong with my mom's car...

It used to be much more powerful... it used to kick back my head against the headrest when i floor it... The sweet whistle of the turbo is now gone... I just don't understand...

I looked back into the rear view mirror, and saw a yellow gold BMW M3. I thought, maybe I can lure the beast to show me something, and perhaps let me hear the roar of the engine.

The light turned green. I switched to tiptronic mode and floored the pedal. The familiar strong hum of my mom's passat came to life, but something is amiss... It sounds strong, but why am I crawling? The car just feels so weak... It came to me: the turbo is not working. No whistle, no kick...

I was flooring it, and it felt like forever to get up to speed. Then the M3 noticed my intentions and switched to my left and then I heard the powerful roar of its powerplant as it passes me with ease. I think I saw a smirk on the idiot's face... he dosen't know that my beast is sick. So intimidating was the M3, but what a disappointment on my part. I could have put up a good fight with the turbo still working, although I will definitely get trashed after a few seconds into the fight...

Then later on the PIE, I tried to follow a rushing Honda Accord Euro R through its lane cutting advances, but the car is just struggling through its paces. Its like having a whole in its heart... so sad.

I concluded that my mom's car is not safe to drive... there may be some fluids leaking from the turbo. Luckily I still have my dad's Saab 95 2.0 Turbo haha...

End of Line

The Exorcism of Me

2005-12-01T23:50:00.000+08:00

The following is a shot of me being possessed by demons.

This is how I looked like after I listened to Ozzy.

I realised my mistake and quickly turned off the nightshot on my camera and the demons ran away... or was it the classical music I switched to?

Yes, I'm bored.

It's a right-hander's world

2005-12-01T12:47:00.000+08:00

Hello people... today I want to talk about how biased the world is. No, it's not about why foreigners are taking away our jobs or why that fuck face has a babe beside him.

What I am talking about is that the world only cares for right-handers, just simply they are the majority. Why do I say so? Just take a look around you. Appliances all around you are designed for right-handers. What is your right hand holding onto now? A mouse. Have you wondered why is it not on your left? Your nice speaker system on your desktop, where are the controls? On the right speaker. The power switch on your monitor? Right. Ok, maybe you say that I am too sensitive to all this minor things...

A big problem for me actually is that guns are designed for right-handers. By now, you should have guessed that I am a left-hander. I have to adapt myself to shoot with my right-hand. Because empty cartridges fly out from the right side of the weapon. If I shoot with my left hand, the burning hot cartridges will fly into my handsome face and imbue nice & exquisite burn marks. Although it sounds like I'm whining about me not being able to shoot with my left hand, all this has actually made me ambidextrous. After some training and self-persuasion I managed to get myself to be able to shoot with my right hand. Now I can shoot with both hands.

The morale of the story? It may not be a bad thing if you are a left-hander, but rather look on the bright side of things. Things may just turn out good for you. At first I was a little angry at why everything is so right-hander oriented. But then after awhile, I began to think of it as a window for self-improvement. Self-improvement as in I can learn how to put my right hand into good use like shooting, rather than only clicking away on a mouse or some miscellaneous activities...

Haha... thank you for reading my bullcrap. Have a nice day.

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3 Days Leave!!!

2005-11-29T12:34:00.000+08:00

Hello... haha you must be wondering what the hell am I doing outside of camp... I just got 3 days leave!

After we reported, we were told that were a week early to the start of course, and there is a previous batch of people that still occupies our bunks so we couldn't stay in... so they OC decided to give us a 3 day leave clearance. Haha I was so fucking happy when I heard that, a 3 day break is like something too good to be true, and it happened immediately on the first day at ETI. Looks like the engineers really takes care of its men. LOL.

We used the day to settle our admin stuff, left our huge and heavy duffel bags in a lecture room so that we didn't need to carry it back home. The place where our block is, is just simply fantastic. Right at the first storey is an e-mart. This is the first time an e-mart is so close to our living quarters... and we can visit it anytime when time permits. Another very good thing is that we, as future specialists are allowed to visit the specialists' mess, FOC!!! I hope there is a pool table in there, haha...

After everything is settled, we booked out after dinner. I almost forgot to mention the food, the food in mainland is much nicer than in Tekong. It has to be because of the caterer, Singapore Food Industries (Mainland) compared to Food Fare Industries (Damned Island). Hmm... looks like I'm really going to enjoy unit life...

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