Hitting the Half-way mark

OMG its mid-sem already?! can't imagine 6 weeks of school have already gone by.

so far here's what's been done:

1. 2 assignments for NM2208 (i so swear that i'm gonna become some photoshop / freehand whiz after this sem)

2. NM3216 project 1 (due tomorrow incidentally).

3. oh yes. GEK1036 proposal (done 2 weeks ahead of schedule by accident wouldya believe)

so that leaves me with:

2 more 3216 projects

4 more 2208 assignments

2 2218 term papers

1 2218 presentation

1 1036 lit review

1 1036 main report

1 1036 presentation

1 1036 test

and of course... 3 exams (1036 IS non-examinable after all)

i am SOOO not relishing post midsem break period.

Puzzled...

hmm... there's something i've been brooding (ok maybe brooding isn't the best of words, but it'll have to do for the time being) on the fact that there's people who know me (and yet i can't recognise them).

take wednesday for instance. i was walking with C from the canteen back to 1036, then there was this person who (apparently) waved to me (hey i'm not saying its a bad thing ok, i just found it a little unusual cos i didn't recognise). being the slightly underconfident person i am, i thought maybe (or highly probably) that person was waving to someone else, so i kinda shrugged it off (i also thought my mind wasn't very sharp considering the lecture was putting me to sleep).

so i didn't think much of it till later in the day, when the SAME person waved to me AGAIN when i was at THE TABLE. now i thought THAT was a little strange (cos it probably meant that person recognised me from somewhere)... and well, till now i still haven't figured out who. unfortunately my memory isn't the best when it comes to names and faces, so i can't quite recognise who that person is (frankly its kinda embarrassing).

and yet there's this little lingering doubt - that maybe (just maybe) that person recognised the wrong person, and that i'm not who i was thought to resemble. i mean, i was wearing my usual cap and jacket combination (which i think is a dead giveaway). so that's unlikely that its a case of mistaken identity (or then again it could make a good case for that argument since my features would be concealed).

so anyway, ya. i'm hoping i can figure out who that person is (if i can recognise the person in the first place). and well if you happen to read my blog, you probably know who you are. and well, i apologise if i offended you by not recognising you.

i know this thing shouldn't be bugging me... but well i dunno. i guess things like this make life a little more interesting.

all your table belong to us...

ok a little play on the phrase "all your base belong to us" from a game (i forget which one). anyway... as the post indicates, we had NO TABLE on tues. which was really sad. i don't care if you dissolve the CCA, i don't care if you take down the notice board... but when you take away the table... that's the ultimate (grumbles about all those stupid booths for some v-day bazaar)

on a happier note, i've FINALLY finished the design for my assignment. some people think its DAMN COOL. but hopefully reddy doesn't massacre me (or that i get bad reviews from the class)...

so here it is...

Got (NO) Milk?

ok stupid topic to post about. but i'll do it anyway. i open my fridge and what do i see? a brand of milk my mum's never bought before. considering how i'm one of the most regular consumers of milk at home (ironical since i perpetually seem unable to gain weight), it means that whether its good or bad... its highly likely i'm gonna have to drink it (someone has to). just praying that it doesn't taste like melted vanilla ice-cream (yuck), which one particular brand DOES taste like. and for fresh milk, that's DISGUSTING.

on a different note, i think i'm turning into a techie. just bought myself a video digitiser and a 250GB external hard disk. have set my sights on those sketchpad thingys people use for design (using mouse to draw stuff in photoshop is a bummer). and of course i still need a externally-powered USB hub. sigh. NEED MONEY. wait till vacation after exams. then i can get myself a JOB (this is weird. school's barely started and i'm already planning past the exams). must be the milk.

WHOA SHIT... (to think school's barely started...)

the title says it all. week 2 and already the stuff is piling up. readings i can understand (that's normal). and i figure i WILL be able to finish them (somehow). the scary thing is the projects. so here's a count off of my projects

1. GEK1036 - individual project (80%)
2. NM2208 - 6 weekly assignments + portfolio ( 50%)
3. NM2218 - 1st term paper (10%)
4. NM2218 - 2nd term paper (40%)
5. NM3208 - 1st assignment (15%)
6. NM3208 - 2nd assignment (15%)
7. NM3208 - 3rd assignment (20%)

so that adds up to a total o what? 12 assignments and /or projects... so many of them heavy weightage sia... luckily only taking 4 mods... otherwise CONFIRM die

oh man i feel old(er)...

dunno why, but today i'm just suddenly more aware about my age. ok frankly i'm not THAT old... but age is a relative thing right? in that case i've only got myself to blame if i hang out with people waaay younger (like in church). and the age thing on one hand makes you feel kinda 'out'. i mean, i was one of the oldest at youth camp can you imagine...

maybe i'm starting to be more aware of it cos one of my friends is getting married soon. and he's only 2 years my senior. you know how when you're younger you never thought this time would come so fast (or at least that's what i thought)? the time where you're on the verge of going out to work, finding a job, basically starting anew.

maybe at 22 (going on 23 in a few weeks) thoughts about such things could still be not such immediate worries (since i'm still studying). but the point is that for how much more can i study? at most another 2 years maybe. and then what? i'll be (close to) 25. and still without a decent idea of what to do with the rest of my life.

maybe its just cos i'm aimless. maybe cos i'm insecure. but whatever it is... i feel old(er). not necessarily more mature.

Who Dares Wins.

think of this as the follow up to '1000 points'.

Who Dares Wins. basically its true ain't it? who dares dump the most points gets the module. and that's a shitload of points too. the same 29 buggers fighting for 19 vacancies. no new bidders... just 10 fellas trying to get on the list by raising the next minimum bid (see last post. THAT's why i consider this 1000 points part 2). i thankfully got everything. just a matter of how much i paid for frigging 2208. i paid a frigging 500 times more (at least) than the other people who took the mod last sem. damnit. but since the timetable was built around it...

when you come to think about its sick really. the fact that the whole of CORS is a big gamble. sure you learn to make decisions, come up with contingencies and all that... but the bottom line is that you kill yourself with anxiety (especially if you take modules that are in high demand). you can't help but wonder why there's always so few places available for modules, so much so that we gotta curse and swear and scheme to kill each other (figuratively speaking). i've been pretty lucky so far (the question now is for how long will this keep up). but quite a few of my friends haven't. and i really sympathise with them. REALLY. bad enough there's so much to consider when planning... then top it off with the disappointment of not getting the mods... haiz. and to think all this happens in a top-25 institution that wants to go corporate.

1000 points...

no shit. i dumped 1000 frigging points on a module. i'm seriously beginning to wonder if its really worth it. REALLY. considering my friends got it for 1 last sem (blame it on the fact i have 2300+ points to spend. so call it the 'show hand' theory). NM2208. in deep shit are we.

here's what the points progression was like:

29 Dec AM: 1 point
29 Dec afternoon: 101 point
29 Dec evening: 201 point
29 Dec 11pm: 301 point
30 Dec AM: 301 point
30 Dec noon: 501 point.

should i have bid so much for the module? no point.

p.s. funnily enough i thought the gaming modules might be expensive. turns out i was wrong. at the rate they're going, i can get them for 1 *grin*

results

and yes, like everyone i know, i'm posting about my NUS results. well sorta. kinda. see, i'm not gonna bitch or boast (ironical then isn't it that i'm posting). just that its been pretty ok i guess (and i'm thankful for that). at this rate if my cap does a regular steady increase (which isn't entirely impossible) i should be able to reach honours by... *counts on fingers* year 3 sem 2 (which by when i should've filed for graduation hence making honours option redundant. but what the heck)

updates on my hols...

well... at the start of the hols there was a list of 'to-do' items. and here's a little update:

1. digitise B's concert videos etc (doing in school) - check
2. trip to family court for counselling session (30 Nov) - check
3. YOUTH CAMP IN SENTOSA!!!! (thurs-sun) - check
4. L's birthday on the 9th - check
5. help mum clean up the house? (hmm... i should... but but but...) - check (believe it or not)
6. food hunt on the 17th? - nope.
7. Help out for Christmas? - check
8. DoTA - check
9. DoTA - check
10. DoTA (i'm kidding... too much DoTA is bad for health *grin*) - check

oh... and some other things that came up:

k & c's bbq / chalet thingy - that was good
music min bbq at my place - that was BETTER
youth camp video completed - that was BEST
mission trip videos (to be done from wed-fri) - here we go again
SG5 gathering on the 28th - looking forward to that

By Dose is killing me...

gargh. what a time to get the flu. i'm supposed to be off to youth camp tomorrow... and now, i'm SICK.....

to top it off, we got amazing race from church to camp (at sentosa). GARGH. sick how to go?!!! die lah die lah....

ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH

FREEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!

Over. Finished. THE END.

my exams are OVER!!!!!! bwahahahahahahahahahaha

so now what's next?

1. digitise B's concert videos etc (doing in school)
2. trip to family court for counselling session (tomorrow afternoon)
3. YOUTH CAMP IN SENTOSA!!!! (thurs-sun)
4. L's birthday on the 9th
5. help mum clean up the house? (hmm... i should... but but but...)
6. food hunt on the 17th?
7. Help out for Christmas?
8. DoTA
9. DoTA
10. DoTA (i'm kidding... too much DoTA is bad for health *grin*)

Library Critical Mass Theory

Critical Mass Theory you may ask? well... let me explain...

ever had the feeling that there're just too many people in the library and you can no longer study there (hence deciding to move to somewhere else)? well, that's the basis for Library Critical Mass Theory.

Theory:

a library, though having an extremely large capacity, can only hold only so many people studying (which we i'll refer to as the critical mass). The critical mass often is less than maximum capacity of the library (or any other study area for that matter), the value being a percentage of the library's maximum capacity

so when the studying population EXCEEDS the an area's critical mass, the people who have low distraction tolerance quotient (most likely to be affected by changes in study environment) will begin to leave and probably search for somewhere else to study, as they find it increasingly difficult to do productive work there. This movement of high distraction quotient people (which can be considered a form of diffusion) will continue till the studying population is below critical mass.

thus critical mass can be expressed in the following formula:

critical mass = studying population / total capacity * distraction tolerance quotient

criticisms:

The problems with this theory is that critical mass is not an exact value per se, but is dependent very much on the individual's distraction tolerance quotient (how else would people decide to up and leave?). Also, this quotient is adjustable, and often the tolerance increases as exams get closer (thereby possibly leading to an increase in what they would consider 'critical mass' value). based on this there is only a very remote possiblity that studying population would be equal to total capacity. but that is likely to occur in worst case scenarios.

p.s. my exams aren't THAT far away, and i'm no genius, but its good to spout convincing / impressive bullshit once in a while doncha think?

Can it get any worse?

out of the frying pan and into the fire. all 6 projects finally wrapped up (and good riddance to them too). but... that just means that the exams are upon us... *cue scary music and people screaming*

well... slacker that i am, due to the wonders of peer pressure, i have been forced (and really, i do mean forced) to mug... something i've never quite done before entering uni. its not helping that this year's freshmen are raising the kiasu quotient, which is pushing everyone else above their normal comfort level.

but anyhows, let's just get through the exams people... then after that we've got a good month's worth of hols (or thereabouts anyway).

Projects are driving me CRAZY...

gah... i'm down to the last 3 projects for the sem i so swear that they are driving me NUTS.

how do i know?

1. the minute anyone mentions 'fast, effective and soothing relief' (or any 2 of those 3 words) in a single sentence i'm reminded of my stupid tiger balm project for advertising. believe it or not, conditioned response. it ALSO reminds me that computers used for editing videos in the labs have a thing against me (particulary those at the lab at YIH). i think i'm the only person ever to encounter a million and one UNIQUE problems (apparently all the errors i 'produce' have never been encountered by any other users). how many other people possibly need SOMEONE ELSE to press the buttons for them and convert the file for fear of encountering errors if i did it myself? (i'm still in disbelief)

2. anyone who mentions interaction in relation to poking gets me thinking about BOTH my projects for NM2217. because poking as input are related to both. granted the first one's over, but the programming for the second is driving me (and possibly my lecturer) bananas. me because i can't make the program do what i want, him because i keep bugging him to help me make the program do what i want.

3. birth rates and pregnancy. never, and i mean NEVER mention anything to me vaguely hinting about birth rates and the like. because it will remind me about my NM2101 project on theories. which i was the compiler.

ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH ARGH... this is SICK. barely a week or so left till the reading week (and the end of classes officially) and i'm STILL working on those #%%&$$#%# projects. ARGH ARGH ARGH...

stupid projects... #$&*^$#^#$@

Er... now what?

right now, i'm feeling a bit lost. i've just finished a project (meaning i'm now down to 3 from the original 6 - WOOHOO!!!). the problem now is that i don't know what to do. i've spent the last few days on the project and now... nothing. i know i should be ecstatic that i've got 1 less thing to worry about, but now it's just a matter of 'what comes next'... what DOES come next?

well there's filming on thursday... but apart from that...

Stepping up...

"When the game's on the line they'll step up". The "game" here referring to the cause. apparently i was proven wrong. They didn't. and that's why it didn't go through. and now the poor 19th has to work it out all again. props to you guys, really. there's a lot of effort put in, a lot of time spent, and to have to do it all over again is just terrible.

but like i've always said... if you need me just let me know.

Evolution of programmers....

programming. BAH. after 4 years, the nightmare is revisited (sure there was programming last year, but that wasn't so frustrating. so THAT DOESN'T COUNT).

and as any programmer should know, the worst part of writing programs is compiling. especially when you click compile and you're met with the accursed error screen. then you have to slowly scroll down the page and peer at the screen looking for the part where it all went wrong (envisions programmers everywhere screaming in agony as they recall their traumatic experiences).

so anyway, i have come up with what i would like to term the theory of (programmer) evolution. so anyway, here's the lowdown... people have often regarded programmers to be weird people, who live in their own world, speak their own language and are extremely boring. being a former programmer myself, i've learnt that programmers have to be very patient. it takes much self control not to smash the computer to bits with a sledgehammer when the compiling error screen pops up one time too many.

with that in mind, the process of natural (or unnatural) selection for programmers would kick in. i figure that all the impatient programmers would have given up the profession due to excessive frustration or in extreme cases died of high blood pressure (resulting from the same frustration). of course there would be the other ones who went insane (but maybe those had sanity issues to resolve in the first place).

so what would be left are those who are very good at what they do (since the error screen would turn up less often for them) or the very patient ones, as those programmers would continue slogging on regardless of how many times the compiling error screen popped up (of course in the worst case scenario, it would be those programmers who are dead to world, who have no sense of emotion whatsoever).

Thus the high level of patience of the surviving programmers would make so of them extremely boring people. one can't help but pity their girlfriends / wives since these guys (sorry to stereotype here but i think most programmers are guys) are infuriatingly patient and unlikely to lose their cool (especially when they're in an arguement).

so yes. i should think that most programmers have a decent level of patience and self control.

Untitled...

funny how sometimes you title an item as 'untitled' (considering that gives it a title itself, thereby making it NOT untitled)... ARGH ok i'm spouting nonsense (then again i ALWAYS spout nonsense, so go figure).

but anyway...

the last post in this blog just highlighted how terrible stuff is this sem (ok i realise things can be worse, especially if i happen to be in engine instead of arts *prepares to dodge rotten flying vegetables*)

but this is really driving me nuts. and i mean really. but then again that's what everyone else probably thinks too. but then... come to think of it previous sems i could always say i was lucky. i think this sem it's the retribution. but on the good side, i have nice project group people (which always helps). though we're a bit slow off the mark, but at least they're nice. and they get things done.

i realised that this sem seems more serious for me... not just because of becoming year 2. but even then... i miss all the times i could do my 'MSN nonsense'... cos now all there seems to be is a lot of project meetings late at night. GT's been busy so i've lost a crapping partner (and maybe even a mugging partner). and i'm trying to think of a replacement (no offence to GT). come to think of it, ever since everyone got so busy i've lost almost all my crapping partners.

just for once (or twice, or 3 times, or even more than i can imagine) i would like to let loose. to be able to know that i can do crazy things over msn and online. instead of just project meetings and blogging for homework. i just wish there were more opportunities to do this: *bang head against wall* or even this: *runs screaming and throws self out the window*... i know it's stupid, but it's ME. it's WHO I AM (recalls that a few days ago tried to throw himself in front of a bus to stop it leaving. before anyone thinks i've gone nuts - i think i pretty much am to begin with - it was only TRIED, not did. otherwise i'd probably be touch-typing this from a hospital bed. with a stick held in my mouth as a 'finger'. *attempts to dodge rotten flying vegetables being thrown by concerned friends*)

recently i've decided to add another 'action' to my 'repetoire' - *decides to go into hiding*. whether that really happens remains to be seen. but for the meantime sometimes i sympathise with the text on one of the t-shirts i almost bought a while back... "Sometimes i just wanna put on my bunny suit and SCRRREEEEEAM!!!!!" (promise to get a pic uploaded if i can find it).

Not working out at all...

some people have been noticing that i'm looking stressed / drained / tired. i don't deny that i am. just not as bad as they make it out to be.

a lot of things are happening right now. some within my control, others not. some are simple, but for the most part all are a hell of a complicated. things aren't shaping up nicely this sem. not at all... here's a brief breakdown:

1. NM2217 group project (thank God it'll be over by week 7)
2. NM2217 individual assignment
3. NM2101 project
4. NM2216 group project (of all the unlucky shit...)
5. IT1001 project
6. NM3215 project
7. THE ISSUE
8. CG issue 1
9. CG issue 2
10. THAT question
11. laptop under repairs...

ok, for reasons of sanity and privacy i'm sorry that 7-10 sound so ambigious. but that's how it is. i can't spill the beans on them because they involve others, and only those who are *somehow* involved in any particular 1 will know what i'm talking about (or at least begin to guess). but there is no one that is involved in more than one of them (surprising, no?)

anyhow, i'm trying hard to keep it together. and also trying to help the others keep it together. i don't know if that's such a good idea, but seeing as how i'm *somehow* involved in all of them (many by choice - which on hindsight might have been a bit of a mistake)...

just let me keep my sanity at the end of this sem. that's all i'm asking.