Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Didn't go to High St Ken yesterday... instead I sat in front of my laptop 'working' all day. I am almost done. Now all I need is the cooperation of the members in registering and being my guinea pigs...
Jingye cooked dinner for all of us last night... I ate quite a lot since I hardly had anything else before then. Btw, B-Landing's got a new occupant. Jed's moved over from Beit, just for this Easter hols. The Landing has been eerily quiet... about half of my neighbours have gone either back home, or on trips. The most noticeable silence... is that created by the lack of Ruby's shrill 'oou-horhorhor' laughs!
Went to Picadilly today to check out the outdoor & sports stores there, since Jingye wanted to get a waistpouch. Managed to get a rucksack from the Covent Garden market at only 20 quids. Wanted to go to Misato for dinner... but when we got there, we found a whole corner of Chinatown blocked off by a police barrier. When asked, some official explained that there was a 'suspect package'. "!!!!!" We bolted away from that area immediately. Had dinner at the Hong Kong Cafe before heading off to watch Chicago the musical. :) Nice! I liked it as much as I liked the movie. Songs were the same, but with some added live humour. Didn't expect it to be half a comedy as well. Since this time we were seated in the stalls on the first level, I was... kinda... a little blocked by the people sitting in front of me. So I sat on top of my rucksack...
I'm quite excited... we'll be going to Italy tomorrow morning. Rome first, then Florence, Pisa and Venice. If you think that's a lot, imagine my other hallmates' itinerary - Vienna, Switzerland, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg!
Jingye cooked dinner for all of us last night... I ate quite a lot since I hardly had anything else before then. Btw, B-Landing's got a new occupant. Jed's moved over from Beit, just for this Easter hols. The Landing has been eerily quiet... about half of my neighbours have gone either back home, or on trips. The most noticeable silence... is that created by the lack of Ruby's shrill 'oou-horhorhor' laughs!
Went to Picadilly today to check out the outdoor & sports stores there, since Jingye wanted to get a waistpouch. Managed to get a rucksack from the Covent Garden market at only 20 quids. Wanted to go to Misato for dinner... but when we got there, we found a whole corner of Chinatown blocked off by a police barrier. When asked, some official explained that there was a 'suspect package'. "!!!!!" We bolted away from that area immediately. Had dinner at the Hong Kong Cafe before heading off to watch Chicago the musical. :) Nice! I liked it as much as I liked the movie. Songs were the same, but with some added live humour. Didn't expect it to be half a comedy as well. Since this time we were seated in the stalls on the first level, I was... kinda... a little blocked by the people sitting in front of me. So I sat on top of my rucksack...
I'm quite excited... we'll be going to Italy tomorrow morning. Rome first, then Florence, Pisa and Venice. If you think that's a lot, imagine my other hallmates' itinerary - Vienna, Switzerland, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg!
Monday, March 29, 2004
Knowing that I'll be going home, and that my plate is already overflowing, I had better plan out my timetable carefully. A must is the norm, guiding at Sungei Buloh, and perhaps one or two bird-ringing and census sessions, and helping the one of SBWR's adopter schools in their CIP coastal cleanup... and get attacked by mozzies and sandflies once more. I hope to see the otters again. And the crocs. :) Lots of decisions and 'sacrifices' to make... lots of clashes. Already have to put off the APYEN cybermeeting since there won't be any Sundays on which I'm free this month. Gotta meet up with my alma mater and Joe to discuss Project REAP (Respecting the Environment, Appreciating the People) scheduled for July.
There're too many things I need to to... and want to do... wanna go to Pulau Sekudu, Chek Jawa, Ubin, and also Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to try my luck at spotting the flying lemurs...
And of course spend some quality time with my family and friends. Sigh. Two weeks are not enough.
Wanna get an attachment for my scope, maybe a better, sturdier tripod, a slide adapter, and whatever technical gadgets which are cheaper in S'pore... yeah, I know I'm spoilt.
There're too many things I need to to... and want to do... wanna go to Pulau Sekudu, Chek Jawa, Ubin, and also Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to try my luck at spotting the flying lemurs...
And of course spend some quality time with my family and friends. Sigh. Two weeks are not enough.
Wanna get an attachment for my scope, maybe a better, sturdier tripod, a slide adapter, and whatever technical gadgets which are cheaper in S'pore... yeah, I know I'm spoilt.
Sunday, March 28, 2004
I've decided to get a travel rucksack. I was thinking of getting it while in S'pore, but friends have convinced me otherwise. Might as well as get one now so that I could use it while in Italy. Browsing the online catalogues of Blacks and Outdoors, the bigger UK sports and outdoor retail stores, and finding nothing that I liked, I had a sudden pang again, of 'homesickness' for Sydney. I'd imagine walking the 15-min walk to Broadway, to Rebel Sport, choosing from amongst the Black Wolf backpacks. I took a look at the Black Wolf online store - I liked 80% of the rucksacks they had. I suppose, having a passion for bushwalking, the Aussies' designs are more... practical. Will be going down High St Ken tomorrow to see what I can get my hands on.
Gr34t! The APYEN site is running well... no more errors... now I'm left with the contents and images, and filling up the mailing lists and member DB. Gotta make way for Action Plan 2. SingSoc's new domain is also secured... will be revamping the site this hols.
Went to Four Seasons for dinner with the 'ZC tai gor' gang on Friday... 18 people squeezed around a table... oophf! Yummy roast ducks! Mmm... The rest went to the UCL bar for the 'Drink the Bar Dry' charity event... but I went back... Marvin and Viv came knocking at my door when they returned at 3am and found me sitting at my laptop still, 'working' away. Heard that tai gor was real drunk and slept like a log.
When S'poreans say "go fly kite" it can mean something else. But... yesterday arvo... we did just that... went to Hyde Park to fly kites! Wahaha... in London! It was a bad day for kite-flying though... the wind speed was only 2kph, when usually it's around 6kph! Dark clouds... it drizzled a little. Had some successes (ie. managed to get the kite moving upwards and staying there for a minute or so) but mostly it was feats of kamikaze-ness... loops, spirals, and straight crashes down. Took some photos and videos, one a potential MTV vid -according to Marvin- of Viv's hair flowing (actually, more like bouncing) behind her as she ran along. :P
There was this outgoing little dog... looking like a boxer-bull terrier mix... that came barking and 'charging' towards us... so Marvin and I barked at it. The poor thing! I daresay its expression changed to one of shock and confusion as it stopped dead and turned in its tracks, running back to its owner.
Had lunch at some cafe-bar at Holiday Inn... a huge chicken burger and fries... then went to Xiao's place to doll Anna up for her birthday party. Mwahhaa... transformation time! Travelled to Ealing Broadway, on the extreme end of the District Line, to Anna's parents' shop (a Chinese eatery) to celebrate her birthday. Lotsa food... and people... and drinks thereafter. Didn't have nought but a lemonade. ;P Went back to South Ken at close to midnight.
Here're pics of:
Kite-flying
Anna's b-day
Amar's b-day (further down the page; from a few days ago)
and my Silverfish, which I now suspect is a Firebrat since it's darker than normal ones
Went to Four Seasons for dinner with the 'ZC tai gor' gang on Friday... 18 people squeezed around a table... oophf! Yummy roast ducks! Mmm... The rest went to the UCL bar for the 'Drink the Bar Dry' charity event... but I went back... Marvin and Viv came knocking at my door when they returned at 3am and found me sitting at my laptop still, 'working' away. Heard that tai gor was real drunk and slept like a log.
When S'poreans say "go fly kite" it can mean something else. But... yesterday arvo... we did just that... went to Hyde Park to fly kites! Wahaha... in London! It was a bad day for kite-flying though... the wind speed was only 2kph, when usually it's around 6kph! Dark clouds... it drizzled a little. Had some successes (ie. managed to get the kite moving upwards and staying there for a minute or so) but mostly it was feats of kamikaze-ness... loops, spirals, and straight crashes down. Took some photos and videos, one a potential MTV vid -according to Marvin- of Viv's hair flowing (actually, more like bouncing) behind her as she ran along. :P
There was this outgoing little dog... looking like a boxer-bull terrier mix... that came barking and 'charging' towards us... so Marvin and I barked at it. The poor thing! I daresay its expression changed to one of shock and confusion as it stopped dead and turned in its tracks, running back to its owner.
Had lunch at some cafe-bar at Holiday Inn... a huge chicken burger and fries... then went to Xiao's place to doll Anna up for her birthday party. Mwahhaa... transformation time! Travelled to Ealing Broadway, on the extreme end of the District Line, to Anna's parents' shop (a Chinese eatery) to celebrate her birthday. Lotsa food... and people... and drinks thereafter. Didn't have nought but a lemonade. ;P Went back to South Ken at close to midnight.
Here're pics of:
Kite-flying
Anna's b-day
Amar's b-day (further down the page; from a few days ago)
and my Silverfish, which I now suspect is a Firebrat since it's darker than normal ones
Saturday, March 27, 2004
I thought the APYEN site was working smoothly, and would continue to work smoothly (since there is no reason for it not to do so, especially after extensive debugging and error-correcting sessions). But no... the virtual world works in ways which I cannot understand. After coming back from dinner at Four Seasons, I found a line of warnings and 'fatal errors' staring at me. "Whadda...?!!!" Everything was fine before I left the hall! I couldn't figure out what went wrong. I was desperate. I became frantic, since I had only moments ago sent out an invitation to a few committee members to test out the interactive publishing functions on the site... I didn't dare alter the scripts too much since I knew they were correct... I was betting on the possibility that it might be the host server stuffing up...
Then I tried something. I invented compilations of keywords and searched for them in Google. Many searches later, I chanced upon this support forum... and there was a script... that I could run from the root APYEN directory... that detects php faults and even offers solutions! I tried it... and it works! Da beauty!! Woooo!! Muawck! If only I had found it sooner!
An example of what it does:
This error is the result of being forced to use the online cpanel to edit and upload files. I never knew it has this bug. Blast the college server... can't FTP for crap... And sorry for the technicalities... but I'm feeling enlightened.
Then I tried something. I invented compilations of keywords and searched for them in Google. Many searches later, I chanced upon this support forum... and there was a script... that I could run from the root APYEN directory... that detects php faults and even offers solutions! I tried it... and it works! Da beauty!! Woooo!! Muawck! If only I had found it sooner!
An example of what it does:
| Absolute path | Failed | Your absolute path appears to be wrong in configuration.php. Please change it to the following. $mosConfig_absolute_path = '/home/apyen/public_html'; |
| Extra characters in configuration.php | Failed | Your configuration.php seems to have characters after the final closing >. This is not allowed and will cause errors with session handling. Remove everything after the final >. Do not use the cpanel text editor, it has a known bug that inserts blank lines at the end of the file. |
This error is the result of being forced to use the online cpanel to edit and upload files. I never knew it has this bug. Blast the college server... can't FTP for crap... And sorry for the technicalities... but I'm feeling enlightened.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Oh... yeah... I've gotten myself a 'pet' Silverfish. Found it in the bathroom... right in the centre of the floor... nearly squashed it. Thought it was dead at first. It wasn't moving at all! Others might easily have stepped on it. So I picked it up and placed it in a container... and it's now walking round in circles eating paper. Don't know what to do with it... :/ But it's interesting to observe. I think... some may be wondering if I'm really this deprived to have sunken so low... as to keep a Silverfish.
Tuesday... (mid)night... fencing with Amar...
Wednesday... ICSS ExCo meeting, M'Soc elections - congrats Charl, Fong May and Soha! *toast* To the spirit of friendship and cooperation between the S'pore and M'sian societies! Celebrated Amar's birthday at night... drinks all around (all I had was pure lemonade!)... plus a vewy cwazee pwezzie.
Thursday... hmm. Work. More coding. Lab report. Calls from my mom at 1+am... impatient clicks on the SIA website to get my flight ticket back to S'pore... Happy b-day Anna! Stay bubbly!
Today... bludged around. Last day of term. Yippee! Sent out emails. Settling unsettled stuff. Dinner later at Bayswater. Going to Italy next week... it's so soon!
Wednesday... ICSS ExCo meeting, M'Soc elections - congrats Charl, Fong May and Soha! *toast* To the spirit of friendship and cooperation between the S'pore and M'sian societies! Celebrated Amar's birthday at night... drinks all around (all I had was pure lemonade!)... plus a vewy cwazee pwezzie.
Thursday... hmm. Work. More coding. Lab report. Calls from my mom at 1+am... impatient clicks on the SIA website to get my flight ticket back to S'pore... Happy b-day Anna! Stay bubbly!
Today... bludged around. Last day of term. Yippee! Sent out emails. Settling unsettled stuff. Dinner later at Bayswater. Going to Italy next week... it's so soon!
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Yess! Yes!! YESSS!!! w00t... !!
One might be familiar with those scenes in movies where a person punches the air triumphantly and jumps up yelling "YES!"... well... that just happened to me.
It's amazing what one line of code can do... when you've got it right. That brought me one stride forward... but there are still many tiny barriers in the way. I'm now staring at another one of them. When there are thousands of lines of codes, there's bound to be errors... they're very simple ones (a programmer could take a one-second look at it, snap his fingers and type in the solution...) but takes me ages to solve.
At least, I've less to tackle now, having discovered the huge potential of Content Management Systems (CMSes). Rather than needing me to steal others' codes and tweak them - greatly - for my purposes... and wreck my brain and poor Google to search for 'How To' tips on integrating databases and all that... I've now turned to Mambo Open Source for my web-building needs. ;) Saves a lot of trouble.
www.apyen.org's website has been given a new look once again. And this time, it'll stay. Still working steadily on it.
On a similar front... in an attempt to upgrade my laptop's programmes and all... I'm on the verge of abandoning my Opera browser for Mozilla Firefox. Reviews have all given it top notch ratings... and I'm keen to give it a go.
One might be familiar with those scenes in movies where a person punches the air triumphantly and jumps up yelling "YES!"... well... that just happened to me.
It's amazing what one line of code can do... when you've got it right. That brought me one stride forward... but there are still many tiny barriers in the way. I'm now staring at another one of them. When there are thousands of lines of codes, there's bound to be errors... they're very simple ones (a programmer could take a one-second look at it, snap his fingers and type in the solution...) but takes me ages to solve.
At least, I've less to tackle now, having discovered the huge potential of Content Management Systems (CMSes). Rather than needing me to steal others' codes and tweak them - greatly - for my purposes... and wreck my brain and poor Google to search for 'How To' tips on integrating databases and all that... I've now turned to Mambo Open Source for my web-building needs. ;) Saves a lot of trouble.
www.apyen.org's website has been given a new look once again. And this time, it'll stay. Still working steadily on it.
On a similar front... in an attempt to upgrade my laptop's programmes and all... I'm on the verge of abandoning my Opera browser for Mozilla Firefox. Reviews have all given it top notch ratings... and I'm keen to give it a go.
Sunday -
London Games... that brings together S'pore and M'sian societies from around London... to compete in a range of sports... ICSingSoc did all right... managed to bag some wins.
Dinner at Chop Chop at Fulham Broadway.
Am too lazy to blog. I've other stuff to do.
London Games... that brings together S'pore and M'sian societies from around London... to compete in a range of sports... ICSingSoc did all right... managed to bag some wins.
Dinner at Chop Chop at Fulham Broadway.
Am too lazy to blog. I've other stuff to do.
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Am running extremely packed days lately... busy busy busy... lab reports, essays, websites, DBs, email correspondence, meetings, and chuck in doses of revision and note-writing and tidying up my room (it's deteriorating into no-man's land) and I admit, some online chatting as well. And a few odd hours in the bar (hey, couldn't help it! was on duty on Tues and today was Charl's turn).
LSE's M'sian and S'pore Society Night on Fri. To write an account of the 'drama' involved would be to step onto a frozen pond. Just a few words... humour in skits that hint at politically-sensitive issues, however subtle, or however light-hearted it was meant to be, can end up in less-than-favourable situations. They should've known better. The freedom that we students are enjoying, away from our governments ("Big Brother is watching"), can be a dangerous thing...
Am keeping a close eye on the drama of the Taiwanese elections. Somehow, having a friend who's Taiwanese... makes you 'feel' more for them. I've been chatting with Ali... she's a Sydeysider, but nevertheless still a true Taiwanese at heart.
[Ali]: the funny thing is
[Ali]: if you are not concerned about these issues
[Ali]: is seems that you can live happily
[Ali]: but once you start looking at these things
[Ali]: it seems that the world will end tomorrow
[Ali]: the whole division is so great
[Ali]: i mean.....being a singaporean.....
[Ali]: you probably don't really understand the whole thing bewteen the chinese and taiwanese
[Ali]: like...some people just really can't stand them
[Ali]: like truly despise them
[Ali]: something you can't really explain
It's all too true... and perhaps... perhaps it's also a message to us S'poreans - and the citizens of other stable sovereign states - not to take the stability and peace of our own nation for granted. Perhaps... I should be also less critical.
LSE's M'sian and S'pore Society Night on Fri. To write an account of the 'drama' involved would be to step onto a frozen pond. Just a few words... humour in skits that hint at politically-sensitive issues, however subtle, or however light-hearted it was meant to be, can end up in less-than-favourable situations. They should've known better. The freedom that we students are enjoying, away from our governments ("Big Brother is watching"), can be a dangerous thing...
Am keeping a close eye on the drama of the Taiwanese elections. Somehow, having a friend who's Taiwanese... makes you 'feel' more for them. I've been chatting with Ali... she's a Sydeysider, but nevertheless still a true Taiwanese at heart.
[Ali]: the funny thing is
[Ali]: if you are not concerned about these issues
[Ali]: is seems that you can live happily
[Ali]: but once you start looking at these things
[Ali]: it seems that the world will end tomorrow
[Ali]: the whole division is so great
[Ali]: i mean.....being a singaporean.....
[Ali]: you probably don't really understand the whole thing bewteen the chinese and taiwanese
[Ali]: like...some people just really can't stand them
[Ali]: like truly despise them
[Ali]: something you can't really explain
It's all too true... and perhaps... perhaps it's also a message to us S'poreans - and the citizens of other stable sovereign states - not to take the stability and peace of our own nation for granted. Perhaps... I should be also less critical.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Yay...!
My Mama Bears (MBs) have arrived at last. Now I've got another 200MB to last me... erm... another few... months... (maybe?) Thanks Thiha.
So... pics are finally up - Oxford, Flaggellah, Oriental City, waterbirds in Hyde Park and a few shots from Kew Gardens, and all the other misc shots.
There's also a new sketch... it's the labrador retriever at the bottom right of the page.
My Mama Bears (MBs) have arrived at last. Now I've got another 200MB to last me... erm... another few... months... (maybe?) Thanks Thiha.
So... pics are finally up - Oxford, Flaggellah, Oriental City, waterbirds in Hyde Park and a few shots from Kew Gardens, and all the other misc shots.
There's also a new sketch... it's the labrador retriever at the bottom right of the page.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
People strolling through Hyde Park along the Serpentine in the cold, grey and drizzly Monday afternoon... would have seen scattered teams of students tossing bread into the river, yelling out timings, and pointing at and counting the waterbirds frantically. In the field practical "Ideal Free Ducks", we determined how natural selection acts on duck feeding behaviour. The weather, though, was bent on making this potentially-perfect outdoor prac a miserable time for us. Nevertheless it was great fun watching the Canada geese peck at each others' backs for the bread, Coots chasing Moorhens, Black-headed gulls ambitiously trying to snatch the pieces of bread from midair, and the regal Goldeneyes diving for the sinking pieces...
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Was on bar duty tonight. Business was 'low' so there was lots of free time. Thanks everyone who came down to support... :)
At first... Amar entertained us with his artistic talents (my, we've finally discovered that you *do* actually have talent!)... by attempting a caricature of a lovestruck Lionel. I've a temptation to scan it in and post it up... :P
Then... in the absence of a deck of cards, we resorted to a series of silly guessing games and riddles...
"She's wearing red... he's blue... yellow... teal... what colour am I wearing?"
"Orange!"
"... ... ......."
"[holds up a pencil] If this is a stick, and [holds up another pencil] this is a stick, [joins the ends of the pencils together] is this a stick?"
"You can be happy, but you cannot be sad."
"You can look at the floor, but you cannot look at the ceiling."
"You can have the spoon, but not the fork."
And more such games... I suppose S'poreans are already all too familiar with 'em. ;)
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Was on bar duty tonight. Business was 'low' so there was lots of free time. Thanks everyone who came down to support... :)
At first... Amar entertained us with his artistic talents (my, we've finally discovered that you *do* actually have talent!)... by attempting a caricature of a lovestruck Lionel. I've a temptation to scan it in and post it up... :P
Then... in the absence of a deck of cards, we resorted to a series of silly guessing games and riddles...
"She's wearing red... he's blue... yellow... teal... what colour am I wearing?"
"Orange!"
"... ... ......."
"[holds up a pencil] If this is a stick, and [holds up another pencil] this is a stick, [joins the ends of the pencils together] is this a stick?"
"You can be happy, but you cannot be sad."
"You can look at the floor, but you cannot look at the ceiling."
"You can have the spoon, but not the fork."
And more such games... I suppose S'poreans are already all too familiar with 'em. ;)
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Friday's lab session saw fruit flies whizzing past our heads, half-dead flies walking on the benches, and half-alive flies which are stuck onto a microscope slide having their eye facets counted by us squirming humans... peering down the microscope. We could control the direction of a fly's movement. We amused ourselves by trying to make them walk from one end of the chamber to the other... forcing them to walk in reverse as and when we wished.
Such is the fun of an animal behaviour practical. We'll be studying the ducks in Hyde Park tomorrow.
The Essentials of Animal Behaviour book which I had brought and read in my secondary school days... is proving to be extremely useful. Little did I know that I'd be needing it in my future studies. Yep... our current module is on animal behaviour. Some interesting stuff there. ;)
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Oriental City, inconveniently located in Zone 4, 18 tube stations' distance away, is a food paradise! Its shops, foodcourt and supermarket, and 'roadside shop'-style stalls, is reminiscent of everything to do with food back home (except the prices). Thai, Malay, S'pore, Beijing, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese dim sum... you name it, they've got it. Dishes can't get more authentic than this in London. We thought we'd only be there for a few hours, but we stayed there for the better part of the whole of yesterday - eating, shopping in the supermarket, playing in the Sega games arcade, and eating some more. Mmmm... the grilled satay... that's *real* stuff! We had sooo much during lunch that we did away with dinner... :D
Such is the fun of an animal behaviour practical. We'll be studying the ducks in Hyde Park tomorrow.
The Essentials of Animal Behaviour book which I had brought and read in my secondary school days... is proving to be extremely useful. Little did I know that I'd be needing it in my future studies. Yep... our current module is on animal behaviour. Some interesting stuff there. ;)
--------------------------------------
Oriental City, inconveniently located in Zone 4, 18 tube stations' distance away, is a food paradise! Its shops, foodcourt and supermarket, and 'roadside shop'-style stalls, is reminiscent of everything to do with food back home (except the prices). Thai, Malay, S'pore, Beijing, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese dim sum... you name it, they've got it. Dishes can't get more authentic than this in London. We thought we'd only be there for a few hours, but we stayed there for the better part of the whole of yesterday - eating, shopping in the supermarket, playing in the Sega games arcade, and eating some more. Mmmm... the grilled satay... that's *real* stuff! We had sooo much during lunch that we did away with dinner... :D
Thursday, March 11, 2004
IC Fencing Club's AGM was also held yesterday. Was asked to go but I didn't... couldn't. Besides, I haven't been that active with the club this term, ever since the BUSA league season was over and we were kinda demoralised from the fact that we couldn't enter the Shields (although it was expected from the beginning). No more travelling to faraway colleges with heavy fencing gear, and no more late competitions on Wednesdays... is a welcomed release from commitment. Though it is making me increasingly lazy from the lack of exercise and now I've no motivation to attend the training sessions... not good...
The elections are over... heartiest congrats to the new SingSoc ExCo members, and especially to Kaileng our new President!
It was a close fight for many positions, and there were many unexpected outcomes. The seniors in the electorate were so... scrutinising... couldn't help but feel an ouch for those who were out in front being questioned by them *makes squashing motion with finger*. Especially those in the rounds for Vice-Pres.
It's not easy being last candidate to give a speech... in the last half hour of an AGM that lasted from 1pm (we were there since 12) till 6pm. I was prepared... knew what I wanted to say and all, but by the time my turn came, I (we) were all so tired and mind-boggled, that I didn't really say what I had intended to say... but nevermind that, it worked anyway. (Also... I feel kinda bad... sorry Viv...)
The newly-elected 22nd ExCo was treated to a dinner at Stick and Bowl with the 21st ExCo. Oh boy... the 'internal' jokes they shared... lol. We've got lots to learn. And once more I shall mutter the phrase, "I shalt not be corrupted!"
------------------
At midnight last night, 14 of us went up to Darren gor gor's ( :P ) room to present him with his great big chocolate birthday cake... ended up staying there for an hour or so. Somehow, chats strayed towards the politics of our soc's elections, the oncoming M'Soc elections, and more politics.
I think a bug is in the air. Or it might have been those chocs and snacks and laughs I had. I went to bed a very sore-throaty person.
It was a close fight for many positions, and there were many unexpected outcomes. The seniors in the electorate were so... scrutinising... couldn't help but feel an ouch for those who were out in front being questioned by them *makes squashing motion with finger*. Especially those in the rounds for Vice-Pres.
It's not easy being last candidate to give a speech... in the last half hour of an AGM that lasted from 1pm (we were there since 12) till 6pm. I was prepared... knew what I wanted to say and all, but by the time my turn came, I (we) were all so tired and mind-boggled, that I didn't really say what I had intended to say... but nevermind that, it worked anyway. (Also... I feel kinda bad... sorry Viv...)
The newly-elected 22nd ExCo was treated to a dinner at Stick and Bowl with the 21st ExCo. Oh boy... the 'internal' jokes they shared... lol. We've got lots to learn. And once more I shall mutter the phrase, "I shalt not be corrupted!"
------------------
At midnight last night, 14 of us went up to Darren gor gor's ( :P ) room to present him with his great big chocolate birthday cake... ended up staying there for an hour or so. Somehow, chats strayed towards the politics of our soc's elections, the oncoming M'Soc elections, and more politics.
I think a bug is in the air. Or it might have been those chocs and snacks and laughs I had. I went to bed a very sore-throaty person.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Yikes... script errors, codes missing, streams failing to open, invalid arguments... a hundred and one forms of warnings... but I'm not about to give up. Have been working on the membership interface cum database for APYEN for quite a while already... am so near the end product... just needing to tweak some stuff here and there.
The college server firewall is once again in the way. Come think of it... I can flip through a few pages of a novel before a page is loaded for me to edit online. Then I can flip though even more pages while waiting for it to save. Reload the actual page, note the errors, and load the code again to correct. And again and again. I can forget about FTPing since practically nothing can get through. Arrgh.
I think the colours are too 'corporate'... not exciting enough. Might change 'em later. Take a peep. Ehh...
The college server firewall is once again in the way. Come think of it... I can flip through a few pages of a novel before a page is loaded for me to edit online. Then I can flip though even more pages while waiting for it to save. Reload the actual page, note the errors, and load the code again to correct. And again and again. I can forget about FTPing since practically nothing can get through. Arrgh.
I think the colours are too 'corporate'... not exciting enough. Might change 'em later. Take a peep. Ehh...
SingSoc general elections are coming up... in fact... it's tomorrow. We've been talking about little else these few breaktimes and lunchtimes... we're all excited. Good luck everyone, especially my Linstead and Bio buddies - Darren, Lionel, Cherlyn, Vivian, and Marvin! Wahahaa... myself too, if I may. ;) Best of luck too... to my Malaysian friends running in the M'sian Soc elections!
Ps. Happy birthday to Junsheng... his b-day was yesterday!
Ps. Happy birthday to Junsheng... his b-day was yesterday!
Sunday, March 07, 2004
Dunno why... am feeling extremely lazy today.
Waking up at 2.30pm doesn't make a great start to a day. I would have stayed in my PJs all the way till dinnertime if I hadn't the need to go collect some parcel from the security room... just 100m away from Linstead. It turned out to be more than just a parcel. It was a bouquet-within-a-tall-box of flowers, and some chocs... from my mom. :) Placed the tulips in a tin vase (which came with the box)... and it's now sitting near a corner of my room. Nice.
Anyway, yesterday...
I must admit that I'm lucky I didn't get dunked in flour or got lifted up and turned around. The most I got was cake and cream on my face, hair and ear. :P Zhi Sheng cooks the best local (S'porean) dishes. Whooo... so many of us are wanting to 'bai4 ta1 wei2 shi1'. Char kuei teow, Hokkien mee, some kinda chicken, and chilli crab... and more dishes... which I missed as I had to leave halfway to attend Malaysian Night (well, with my friends and hallmates slaving away rehearsing for the better part of the past entire month... I felt erm, obliged to see them perform!). And this 'sacrifice' was well worth it! M'nite was way, way better than International Night. It was impressive... the acting, the script, the choreography of the dances - the lion dance, traditional Malay dances, and especially the bamboo dance, in which the Linsteadians ruled! There were fireworks to end it off! Well done, Charl, Yi Shan, Fong May, Aaron, Soha and Amar! Very creative. Except for a few minor glitches... the whole thing was near perfect. M'nite ended close to 12am. But even then, 'they' (including the one lucky chap Jerome, who had won a 16-day tour in Europe in the M'nite lucky draws) brought -for want of a milder word- me back to Zhi Sheng's house... ... ...
Left his place at 1am thereabouts. Went back to Linstead... stood outside in the cold and talked... and talked... and realised that we were cold... so we went up to Amar's crowded room... then to Lionel's room... and chatted and watched some Robin Williams' stand-up comedy show... was entertaining, and hrm... educational... in a grown-up sense of the word. *evil g* That was nearly 4am. Yikes... no time to sleep... so... made my way back to my room... my cosy room... ignoring the calling my my bed... and flicked on the laptop - AYPEN cybermeeting. Was surprised that I didn't fall asleep on my compt... and that I could still think and 'talk'... !
Waking up at 2.30pm doesn't make a great start to a day. I would have stayed in my PJs all the way till dinnertime if I hadn't the need to go collect some parcel from the security room... just 100m away from Linstead. It turned out to be more than just a parcel. It was a bouquet-within-a-tall-box of flowers, and some chocs... from my mom. :) Placed the tulips in a tin vase (which came with the box)... and it's now sitting near a corner of my room. Nice.
Anyway, yesterday...
I must admit that I'm lucky I didn't get dunked in flour or got lifted up and turned around. The most I got was cake and cream on my face, hair and ear. :P Zhi Sheng cooks the best local (S'porean) dishes. Whooo... so many of us are wanting to 'bai4 ta1 wei2 shi1'. Char kuei teow, Hokkien mee, some kinda chicken, and chilli crab... and more dishes... which I missed as I had to leave halfway to attend Malaysian Night (well, with my friends and hallmates slaving away rehearsing for the better part of the past entire month... I felt erm, obliged to see them perform!). And this 'sacrifice' was well worth it! M'nite was way, way better than International Night. It was impressive... the acting, the script, the choreography of the dances - the lion dance, traditional Malay dances, and especially the bamboo dance, in which the Linsteadians ruled! There were fireworks to end it off! Well done, Charl, Yi Shan, Fong May, Aaron, Soha and Amar! Very creative. Except for a few minor glitches... the whole thing was near perfect. M'nite ended close to 12am. But even then, 'they' (including the one lucky chap Jerome, who had won a 16-day tour in Europe in the M'nite lucky draws) brought -for want of a milder word- me back to Zhi Sheng's house... ... ...
Left his place at 1am thereabouts. Went back to Linstead... stood outside in the cold and talked... and talked... and realised that we were cold... so we went up to Amar's crowded room... then to Lionel's room... and chatted and watched some Robin Williams' stand-up comedy show... was entertaining, and hrm... educational... in a grown-up sense of the word. *evil g* That was nearly 4am. Yikes... no time to sleep... so... made my way back to my room... my cosy room... ignoring the calling my my bed... and flicked on the laptop - AYPEN cybermeeting. Was surprised that I didn't fall asleep on my compt... and that I could still think and 'talk'... !
*Yawnz*... zzzZzzZZzz...
Had a very long day... a day that didn't have an ending, since I didn't sleep at all.
Just ended the 2-hour-long cybermeeting for APYEN. Started at a rather inconvenient 4am (to accomodate the countries in the Asia-Pacific region). Am quite pleased... charted out and reviewed the strategies for Action Plan II which Andrew (APYEN-Australia) wrote. We've got a better sense of direction now. Singapore, Australia and the Phillipines are on the right tracks... just a little worried about the other countries... haven't heard nought from them.
More about how my birthday and Malaysian Night went... later. Now... I need... some... sleep...
Had a very long day... a day that didn't have an ending, since I didn't sleep at all.
Just ended the 2-hour-long cybermeeting for APYEN. Started at a rather inconvenient 4am (to accomodate the countries in the Asia-Pacific region). Am quite pleased... charted out and reviewed the strategies for Action Plan II which Andrew (APYEN-Australia) wrote. We've got a better sense of direction now. Singapore, Australia and the Phillipines are on the right tracks... just a little worried about the other countries... haven't heard nought from them.
More about how my birthday and Malaysian Night went... later. Now... I need... some... sleep...
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Went to Chop Chop for dinner... had a considerably large plate of hor fun for a reasonably low price... was not bad... and then thanks to a '5 for £5' promotion, I had an Auntie Anne's cinnamon sugar pretzel as dessert. Am so full now... ;)
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Exactly two years ago, I stepped out of my room in my boarding house, wanting to go brush my teeth, and hit my head against a colourful curtain of balloons. On the door was a sheet printed with penguins all over, and with a big 'happy birthday'. Ali and Lil sneaked up in the middle of the night to have those hung up. I have that sheet still. That day, I had three birthday cakes, and heard the birthday song many times over. I remember my extremely-belated birthday pressie which came many months later. :P Some things... special times... have a special place in my memory. I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up to an email from Grace, and a few ICQ messages bearing early well-wishes... and I had the chance to chat with Ali and Mon. Exchanges of "We miss you so much" and "same here..." makes me increasingly 'homesick' for Sydney. I do miss my friends very much so.
Tonight as we were watching Infernal Affairs 3 in my room, Ee-wen went out for a while... and came back with a plateful of donuts. A while later as more people came in, and while we were struggling to figure out the many hazy sequences in the movie, they sang happy birthday. Hahaa... I never know how to react when I'm suddenly thrust into the centre of attention... lol. Was just happily surprised. A simple gesture, that, but thank you all. Tomorrow some 15 to 20 people will be at Zhi Sheng's place... he's organised some form of 'party'... and besides a few friends, I don't even know who else'll be going! I really wouldn't mind settling for a quiet birthday... in fact I'd look forward to one. It's touching to know that I won't need to do my own groceries and mess up my own kitchen... to have my own party. Bleh... not that I would bother... but this heartening fact does put me to shame!
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Exactly two years ago, I stepped out of my room in my boarding house, wanting to go brush my teeth, and hit my head against a colourful curtain of balloons. On the door was a sheet printed with penguins all over, and with a big 'happy birthday'. Ali and Lil sneaked up in the middle of the night to have those hung up. I have that sheet still. That day, I had three birthday cakes, and heard the birthday song many times over. I remember my extremely-belated birthday pressie which came many months later. :P Some things... special times... have a special place in my memory. I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up to an email from Grace, and a few ICQ messages bearing early well-wishes... and I had the chance to chat with Ali and Mon. Exchanges of "We miss you so much" and "same here..." makes me increasingly 'homesick' for Sydney. I do miss my friends very much so.
Tonight as we were watching Infernal Affairs 3 in my room, Ee-wen went out for a while... and came back with a plateful of donuts. A while later as more people came in, and while we were struggling to figure out the many hazy sequences in the movie, they sang happy birthday. Hahaa... I never know how to react when I'm suddenly thrust into the centre of attention... lol. Was just happily surprised. A simple gesture, that, but thank you all. Tomorrow some 15 to 20 people will be at Zhi Sheng's place... he's organised some form of 'party'... and besides a few friends, I don't even know who else'll be going! I really wouldn't mind settling for a quiet birthday... in fact I'd look forward to one. It's touching to know that I won't need to do my own groceries and mess up my own kitchen... to have my own party. Bleh... not that I would bother... but this heartening fact does put me to shame!
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Apparently there's something up with the sewerage system in a part of the neighbouring Southside Hall. Something like residents not being able to use the taps, showers etc., and that there's flooding. As compensation, they've been offered a 4 days' stay at the Holiday Inn hotel, complete with dinners and access to all the hotel facilities. Imperial's gonna give them £10 per day to cover transport and miscellanous spendings. Not a bad bargain for having a damaged sewerage system!
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
At the beginning of this year when I was at Cyn's place in HK, she showed me this article which she'd kept from UNSW's union magazine. It speaks true. It reflects very accurately what is happening in the friendship circles in our lives. It does end on an uplifting tone but nevertheless makes me struggle to hold back tears at memories of times past. Thanks Cyn for digging this up again, and thank you to all my friends for being there... and especially a few in particular. You should know who you are *wink*.
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The Death of Friendship
By Matt Foster
Photography is one of my great passions in life. I love the emotions that can be captured on film, images that will exist for eternity. Yet when I flick back through my photo albums there is often a feeling of sadness and regret as I find photos of people I once considered close friends; now they are little more than strangers. People with whom the conversation once flowed freely now awkwardly stutter mundane questions like "How's uni going? What subjects are you doing? What did you do on the weekend?".
One of the saddest aspects of life is the death of friendships and growing apart from those people who once made you who you are. The realisation that a friendship has died is a horrible revelation. You wonder when it all changed when you sit down and chat with a person and realise that they are not who they used to be, that their values have changed, and that what is important to them is something that you cannot understand or recognise. This is particularly true for me now as I watch my friends head out into the corporate world, and we become separated by the two extremes: those who work to live, and those who live to work. Anger and sadness come together in a cocktail of emotions as I get shoved aside by those whom I once called 'friend', as they engage in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
"Girls come and go, but friends are forever." A quaint sentiment but one that is ultimately flawed. There is little difference between friendships and dating; you meet somebody you like, you get to know each other better. If you're lucky, you'll get closer over time and something beautiful develops. If you're extremely lucky, this could become a lifetime bond, but more often than not the relationship will run its course and eventually die off. The obvious difference between a lover and a friend is a physical one, although it could be argued that the exhilaration felt by a bunch of mates at the park playing footy, or a group of girls shopping at the mall, can parallel feelings of sexual pleasure. Or maybe not.
When do you know a friendship is dead? Not being invited to the twenty-first of a friend earlier this year, when everybody else I knew was, seemed a clear signal to me that somewhere along the line our friendship had dwindled away to nothingness. I spent time trying to work out what I had done wrong, but I could think of nothing. Maybe she just forgot to invite me, but even that speaks volumes. When the sister of your best friend is invited, who had only met the party girl once, you cannot help but think that there is little point worrying about that relationship anymore.
Why do friendships die? Lillian Rubin in her book Just Friends says; "Generally it's true that friends accept each other so long as they both remain essentially the same as they were when they met, or change in similar directions. If they change or grow in different or incompatible ways, the friendship most likely will be lost." Further, psychotherapist Bob Carver believes that friendships can be lost through a lack of attention, un-met expectations or mis-communication.
Of course, new friendships blossom and grow as some of the older ones wither and die. These new friendships should be enjoyed, the old ones never forgotten, and the true, lasting friendships should be cherished. Look back on that photo album with happiness and nostalgia, remembering what that person added to your life and how they helped to make you who you are. Be thankful for the times you had, and look forward to the memories that will be provided by newer friendships, and the true friendships, in the future.
............................................................................
............................................................................
The Death of Friendship
By Matt Foster
Photography is one of my great passions in life. I love the emotions that can be captured on film, images that will exist for eternity. Yet when I flick back through my photo albums there is often a feeling of sadness and regret as I find photos of people I once considered close friends; now they are little more than strangers. People with whom the conversation once flowed freely now awkwardly stutter mundane questions like "How's uni going? What subjects are you doing? What did you do on the weekend?".
One of the saddest aspects of life is the death of friendships and growing apart from those people who once made you who you are. The realisation that a friendship has died is a horrible revelation. You wonder when it all changed when you sit down and chat with a person and realise that they are not who they used to be, that their values have changed, and that what is important to them is something that you cannot understand or recognise. This is particularly true for me now as I watch my friends head out into the corporate world, and we become separated by the two extremes: those who work to live, and those who live to work. Anger and sadness come together in a cocktail of emotions as I get shoved aside by those whom I once called 'friend', as they engage in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
"Girls come and go, but friends are forever." A quaint sentiment but one that is ultimately flawed. There is little difference between friendships and dating; you meet somebody you like, you get to know each other better. If you're lucky, you'll get closer over time and something beautiful develops. If you're extremely lucky, this could become a lifetime bond, but more often than not the relationship will run its course and eventually die off. The obvious difference between a lover and a friend is a physical one, although it could be argued that the exhilaration felt by a bunch of mates at the park playing footy, or a group of girls shopping at the mall, can parallel feelings of sexual pleasure. Or maybe not.
When do you know a friendship is dead? Not being invited to the twenty-first of a friend earlier this year, when everybody else I knew was, seemed a clear signal to me that somewhere along the line our friendship had dwindled away to nothingness. I spent time trying to work out what I had done wrong, but I could think of nothing. Maybe she just forgot to invite me, but even that speaks volumes. When the sister of your best friend is invited, who had only met the party girl once, you cannot help but think that there is little point worrying about that relationship anymore.
Why do friendships die? Lillian Rubin in her book Just Friends says; "Generally it's true that friends accept each other so long as they both remain essentially the same as they were when they met, or change in similar directions. If they change or grow in different or incompatible ways, the friendship most likely will be lost." Further, psychotherapist Bob Carver believes that friendships can be lost through a lack of attention, un-met expectations or mis-communication.
Of course, new friendships blossom and grow as some of the older ones wither and die. These new friendships should be enjoyed, the old ones never forgotten, and the true, lasting friendships should be cherished. Look back on that photo album with happiness and nostalgia, remembering what that person added to your life and how they helped to make you who you are. Be thankful for the times you had, and look forward to the memories that will be provided by newer friendships, and the true friendships, in the future.
............................................................................
Sun night... it was snowing beautifully when we stepped out of that pizza place! BBC forecasted hail. There was no hail. It forecasted 2 days of snow. There was no snow... almost. Just the 5 mins' snow that night made our, erm, night. It wasn't the blizzard that we experienced the last time... this was soft, gentle flakes of snow, and the weather wasn't that cold. :)
Had take-away crepes at the crepery for desert, and went back to support Yi Shan and Soha at the bar. Then... we squeezed into Lu's room to watch a few episodes of Tian Long Ba Bu. There were no English subtitles! Arrgh... had to concentrate so hard on what they were saying... zZzz... watched till early morn...
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Mon... rehearsal for tomorrow's performance. I owe Xiao much thanks... I've rid myself of the chio bu role. Rushed back to Linstead only to miss the much-wanted meal of salmon fish... ended up with some horrible big black bean-ed 'chilli' corn minced meat gravy with rice. Alex was on bar duty... went down... had a J2O... but no chips or nuts. They'd run out. Bah. *Tried* to continue our nightly viewing of Tian Long Ba Bu in a corner of the bar... watched one episode, but gave it up after then. Some chap was playing classical music through the bar's sound systems. We could hardly hear a word coming from the laptop.
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Today... lab was cool. We had a compulsory 1-hour break during lab. Experimenting with some plant physiology stuff and their light-sensitivity systems... 'twas the easiest prac to date. :D
The performance was tonight. In the union bar... with a tiny tiny stage. Everything went ok... we had crepe (again) as dinner before that... and now I'm feeling rather hungry...
Had take-away crepes at the crepery for desert, and went back to support Yi Shan and Soha at the bar. Then... we squeezed into Lu's room to watch a few episodes of Tian Long Ba Bu. There were no English subtitles! Arrgh... had to concentrate so hard on what they were saying... zZzz... watched till early morn...
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Mon... rehearsal for tomorrow's performance. I owe Xiao much thanks... I've rid myself of the chio bu role. Rushed back to Linstead only to miss the much-wanted meal of salmon fish... ended up with some horrible big black bean-ed 'chilli' corn minced meat gravy with rice. Alex was on bar duty... went down... had a J2O... but no chips or nuts. They'd run out. Bah. *Tried* to continue our nightly viewing of Tian Long Ba Bu in a corner of the bar... watched one episode, but gave it up after then. Some chap was playing classical music through the bar's sound systems. We could hardly hear a word coming from the laptop.
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Today... lab was cool. We had a compulsory 1-hour break during lab. Experimenting with some plant physiology stuff and their light-sensitivity systems... 'twas the easiest prac to date. :D
The performance was tonight. In the union bar... with a tiny tiny stage. Everything went ok... we had crepe (again) as dinner before that... and now I'm feeling rather hungry...
