Techie Stuff

I’ve been wondering how much fun Windows users have been missing out on the multi-touch experience for trackpad on laptop. Hence I did a little search online. I found that Windows can indeed have multi-touch functionalities too! Even if it’s the older ones that you bought before such a feature became such a buzz right now. Take a look at this article. You only need to update the driver to the correct one and you would be flicking through your images with a swipe or scrolling through the pages without even touching the scrollbar. With Scrybe, (it’s free) you can even launch applications with gestures. It’s a bit tough to memorise all the actions though but with some practice you can do the things easily. I’m still waiting for the update that delivers pinch zoom though. That will be really handy.

HTC Desire

HTC Desire is so damn cool. I can’t wait to grab this to try out. This is coming out in May but I think it’ll be too expensive for my budget to get this. In additional, iPhone 4G might be released probably a month or 2 after, which makes me hesitate in purchasing a new phone at the moment Desire is out. I guess I should look and compare first.

…

I don’t think I was being harsh to the people whom I know personally that are reading this blog. If I am, sorry then.

Home

Time slips by so fast. Kind of terrified to know that my youth has slipped past me unknowingly and it shows on the face already. Comparing with the old me in photos is demoralizing.

But I’m not the only one that is growing old. I realise my parents are growing old too… I could feel a sense of insecurity when my mum spoke about going out alone these days. She used to laugh at my grandmother for disliking to go out alone as she feels lost when travelling alone. Now, she’s gradually becoming what used to be the situation for my grandmother.

My parents ate happily during a meal we had over the weekend. They seemed happy maybe because it’s a treat but I thought of what else would they be happy about. Putting myself in their shoes, I wouldn’t know what else ahead in life can I look forward to. It’s almost like once a couple is married, they are so involved in their children’s life that before they know it, their youth, their dreams are all gone.

A part of me was thinking how fore granted I was thinking that my parents would forever be there for me and I would be taken care of. Perhaps it sounds naive but deep inside, there is an inner me that feels like a child who wants to stay in the comfort of just having parents around. It seems to be the case that I’m standing on my own 2 feet already. Very soon, I’ll be their caretakers. I’m learning to care for the people who have been always taking care of me.

I’ve been blogging for approximately 6 years already. That’s something. Most of my other friends who used to blog at the same time as me had stopped. Not entirely sure what’s the reason. Could be bored of it or wanted his or feelings kept inside. Blogging has its benefits for me back then. When I could say what I want without feeling any restrictions.

I no longer feel this way anymore. Not when you have anonymous visitors reading. They could be people whom you never think they may be reading, are reading! At the same time, search engines are furiously indexing all your “memories” in the depth of their database waiting for someone to type the correct keywords to unearth the historic posts that you mentioned long ago. Seems scary, isn’t it?

However, I’m not implying that there’s no longer anything beneficial in doing this anymore. It allows me to remember what I had done or what I was thinking in the past. Only then can I realise how much I changed. Maybe by the time you’re old, it’s full of memories to recollect and laugh or frown upon. Maybe it’s not all that wonderful but life is a mix of flavours. Sweet, bitter or sour… Somehow, it’s still like a home for my thoughts to drift into.

Funny “Motivational” Pictures

I hope these pictures make your day! I saw them on Stomp.

That expression… Priceless!

 
Says pretty much for itself.

I seriously laughed at this!

Photoshop does wonders.

Yes, I’ll bet on the world.

Oh gosh, remember the white ranger? He is now like that… =/
 
Even bears know the critical spot.

Last of all… This is for all who are taking exams too! =)

Things Have Changed

I was watching Jackie’s “I guess…” variety show on TV yesterday and I must say it was one of the usual funny episodes even without the boobs competition. Trying to put lipstick on while sitting in a rollercoaster is hilarious! That sparks some thoughts of comparing quality of programs between local TV productions and foreign ones. I’m not saying there aren’t any good ones in Singapore. There are some good dramas that are worth watching. But in terms of variety shows, many of the ideas have been imported from elsewhere. Just check out Singapore Idols, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Amazing Race, and etc. Though there are many trashy foreign shows too, but in terms of the ideas like Zhang Fei’s Magic Show Segment, I survived a Japanese Game Show, Ninja Warriors, Jackie’s game segments are all examples of very original concepts. Perhaps there are some constraints that the media authority is enforcing onto the showbiz planning producing a bottleneck in the kind of programs that can be produced. But I suppose in this society, if Singaporeans can’t get their hands on good local programs, they’ll get it somewhere. So why not work hard to be better?

Now, SingTel and Starhub payTV users can get to access programs that each provider is offering so it would minimise the impact on viewers. Yes, I guess this is good. Less money wasted on bidding for rights means less cost passed down to consumers. However, I had a funny thought on this. Let’s hope a good plan will appease customers on both sides. =)  I hope you can understand the simple drawings I did within 2 minutes. Apparently, I think the colours should do just fine without the logos. Haha.

Hmm. If someone lost your belonging and tells you initially that he’s going to return you by buying you one and the next moment he says he’s not buying anymore because he has no money but you see him splurge everything he could in a club, how would you feel? Damn it.

Actually, I think I’m being a bit petty yesterday. I’m sorry.

Hot!

It’s really hot these days. I feel reluctant even stepping out of my room. The value that was topped up in the aircon card is depleting fast and furious. Time to top up again…

I really miss my old wallet for many many reasons. Can you just pop up back to me again? Please please?

I don’t know if I should continue doing that. I don’t feel a sense of belonging despite putting my time in this the past few months… =(

Fabulous Feb

Blogging during my rest period… Can’t stand the stress of my peers in furious progress of the lab project. Maybe I should have target to do something simpler instead of trying to make a piece of silicon be a game machine. I shall re-plan my project. My lab partner doesn’t seem to do anything at all… Sigh.

I thought this year’s birthday would be much lonelier. Why? Because I’m not so involved in hall nor CAC. So I don’t have time to mix around with fr iends here nor there. But to be realistic, I wouldn’t be able to handle all that outings and meet-ups if I am trying hard to cope with my studies. None of my freshies messaged me a happy birthday message…

Nevertheless, I’m still happy to have it celebrated with my OG friends and bao. I should stop indulging in self-pity and move on. 23 years old is just 2 years old adult right? Haha, I’m not so old after all…

People usually wonder why I seem to be that close to my brother. I don’t really know. It’s just that we can talk about anything at all even though our characters are so world apart. I recently wondered why he became so addicted to clubbing. There were many nonsensical replies from him. After much probing, eventually, he finally revealed. “现在我的心里其实很空虚…”

Even for the usual no worries kind of guy said that. I didn’t expect that. Maybe what we need is people who can understand us for who we are and to spend time together…

The late nights have made me more moody I guess. When I feel sad, I’ll feel really sad. Same when I’m angry. I’ll feel like smashing anything in my way… Sometimes it made me feel a little retarded too. For example, I’ll mispronounce a word I usually can… So the point is sleep early right? I wish I can.

Hai… I’m sorry. I really want to go for that outing…

3rd Week of School

I’m squeezing so much brain juice for my subjects but nothing creative comes out. I suppose I’m not into electronics projects. During labs, the lab supervisors just endlessly yap non-stop about how interesting we can all make the projects to be. Yes, it’s interesting but not if they are 22 years old students figuring out a bunch of cold metallic pins stucked in green silicon board and with school notes that are not that any much helpful. E-books I love you. You save my day some times. Fortunately, I have a new companion with me. During the breaks when I put my eyes away from the notes (and facebook), Domo-kun is out to play. He steals my door card and assumes my identity, gets shocked over his own reflection and faints. How cute is that! Haha.

I shall be optimistic.

iPad is out. Fantastic. Check it out. Information available only on US website. What about iPhone OS 3.2? Still in Beta I guess.

Tell Me Not The Things I Do Not Want To Hear

It sure sucks to feel this way. Friends ask me why I don’t want to apply for overseas exchange. I got to go through the long story of explaining because the entire 90% of tuition fees are loaned from bank. My parents do not have the money for my school fees so it’s my liability for this sum of money. If I were to go for overseas exchange, I would require probably another $10 000 to $14 000 or even more if I were to look at countries like US or UK. That’s about half of the entire 4 year course fees I would have to bear. I certainly would not want to enslave myself to so much debt.

My friends then continued to talk about how it will all work out when I get a fantastic paying job in the future… I’ll tell them that the future’s not up to me to predict and all that. However, the full stop comes only after I say even if I want to, my GPA’s not up to it. That’s the sad truth. With that having said, people will just tell me to try harder while on the other hand continue to lament how their CGPA has dropped. However, to me, it’s all very fantastic already… Maybe there’s never enough for the things you get and people may not be truly empathetic to my plight. I try filter out the things I do now want to listen but there is a limit to how much I can bear. Sigh…

>=(

A: I’m just bored, talk to me.
B: (Plugs in earpiece)

What’s the meaning of this? Shutting A out of B’s world? Bored –> Pissed

Just for Laughs

This clip is darn funny. If this was not exaggerated at all, I would really be bewildered by the level of intelligence of the Americans. Here’s some extracts, (*Spoilers ahead*)

A: How many sides does a triangle have?
B: Er, I don’t know…. Four?

A: Name me a country that starts with ‘U’.
B: Hmm…. (pause for damn long)…
A: Ok, how about…
B: What..?
A: United States of America
B: Awwwoh……

A: Is Kofi Anan a coffee?
B: I would think so?

A: Who won the Vietnam war?
B: Er…. we did?
B: Wait…. did we even participate in that?

A: What is Hiroshima and Nagasaki famous for?
B: Well… I would say that it’s judo-wrestling?

A: How many Eiffel towers are there in Paris?
B: Oh, there’s about 10 of them.

LOL…. Best! Haha. Oh, “just for laughs” is coming to Asia! The asian edition will prevail soon I believe. Not sure when.

Maybe when you are feeling all alone, find something to amaze yourself. Believe me, boredom is just temporary. Being alone doesn’t make you the strangest person on earth that people are alienating you or you got no friends. Just somehow somewhere, fate has a plan for everyone else but you. Ha, just joking about the last sentence. =)

The Memorable Things of 2009

Last day of 2009 is here. Most people would be thinking what they want to achieve in the next year. I think back and there’s many things that change my life one way or another. Let me list out an item out of every category.

Phone: iPhone
Not that I want to promote their phone but there are many things from firmware to hardware to ease of use of iTunes on the computer. It just works! I’m using a Samsung phone currently and I’m experiencing so much difficulty syncing my information from phone to computer. Recently, Samsung has updated their software to the so called “Samsung New PC Studio” which spots a new look, additional functionality but gives me the same kind of headache. Interface that lags a great deal and hangs fast if you are entering a directory with lots of songs. Apple, on the other hand has made everything rather smooth. Of course, the older generation may be incompatible with the new memory intensive applications but I need not endure with the frustrating experience of waiting after every click. FYI, I don’t own an iPhone, I just occasionally play with my brother’s one.

Book: Mitch Albom – Have a Little Faith
I consider myself as a Buddhist partially because my NRIC said so and inherited this from my parents. Every year I go to the temple to pray for a few occasions: new year, Vesak Day (sometimes), grandparents’ death anniversary, end of year. It has become a routine thing and I never thought much into why I’m keeping this religion. A few catholic and christian friends came to me to persuade me to convert to their religion and I always find myself questioning some principles of the religion, like why non-believers will go to hell? To quote what Oprah on her show, “If there’s somewhere remote where people have never heard of Jesus, but all their lifetime they have been doing good deeds, they can never be salvaged? They will go to hell?” This are the things that I thought would never be justified. However, Mitch’s argument is kind of different. Through a progressive change, his point of view on religion has changed dramatically over time. I thought perhaps there could be just one god if it exists. People just choose to see God differently. He described how faith could be a beautiful thing and yes, to some extent, I agree.

Song: JS – Officially Missing You (Tamia)
Is it the trend that singers start popping out everywhere on youTube? That could be the case but this one that I heard, oh they are good. Visually appealing too. ^.^ It’s not the kind of Mariah Carey or Christina’s hits that can make people feel ‘Wow’. I think their sweet voices are kind of nice and it’s still resounding in my head. Haha.

Event: 15th JCRC handing over ceremony
It isn’t just a ceremony to me. In my mind, I was thinking that it marks the end of year 1’s commitment. All the meetings, discussions, emails, event participation and banner painting… would be gone. It was supposed to be a load off my chest but on the other hand it made me feel a sense of loss too. A struggle between continuing on improving my studies, relationship or hall commitment. There wasn’t any life user manual to teach me where to go, I had to decide what would be right and hopefully wish it was. Well, after a semester, I think it didn’t go very wrong. I just need to try harder.

There are some other things that I couldn’t fit in a category. The other day I was looking at my Facebook status. Oh, I’ve got 710 friends and I think I know at least 95% of them. That probably didn’t sound too realistic in the real social life. How do you sms or call so many of them? I guess it matters more on how to keep the existing ones in life. This semester, my roomie cooked things for me and bought food to share with me. Well, I thought it’s a really nice thing that you can do for a good friend. I think this is what I can learn from him.

Since young, I always hate my brother because he is always the big bully in the family who will always demand to get things he wants. Proud, impulsive and impatient. He doesn’t like to lose out in anything and therefore, I will be giving in most of the time whether I like it or not. I thought since I didn’t like him, I will think that he probably thinks the same way too.

However, one day this year, my mum tells me that my brother always tell her how I help him out on studies and giving him different opinions of things on how he should work things out. She said he appreciates it much. I was taken aback by that. Is that the brother who is always quarrelling with me, the one who said all those? I just did not think that I would influence him in any positive way because I did not think I have to or should be doing. Because sometimes I get annoyed at always being on the losing end as an elder brother by getting slapped back by his response after giving an advice. I was touched but still, with my ego, I just didn’t admit so. Ha, sometimes little things do matter.

There’s also this little book that I jot down things that happen. I’m not the only author for that book but looking back, it’s fun to have it around. Sweet or bitter, it’s the things that we call memories.

Okay, what a eventful 2009. Happy new year everyone! 2010 is going to be a better one! =)

Mid December Already

It’s already mid-December. Soon there’ll be another link on the archive that says 2010. Many years since I wrote the first post on this blog.

I spent some of the time when using my laptop rearranging the files on my computer. I just cannot stand messy files on my computer but not so much so on my physical desk. Weird right?

Kudos to scrabble team who emerged champion for hall 9! =) G O O D JOB! Hope that there’ll be more champions for other games. Hope pub sec will have enough banners to allocate for painting the champion banners.

Just celebrated my friend’s 22nd birthday. Since he was targeting a phone that he has been talking so much, I thought it would be fun to give him presents relating to that except that. I’m talking about iPhone 3G here actually. So we bought him screen protector, phone casing and even added brochures and things to lead him into believing that he’s going to get that. We did achieve that mischievous effect but turn out that it was a bad timing to be so…

He couldn’t get to register his core subjects because the school system crashed. Just after the celebration, he realised he lost his phone. I hope it’s not the case that his LG phone took a little walk since it realised that we were talking about iPhone as its next replacement. Sigh, next time better think twice before playing this kind of joke on people’s birthday. If not, perhaps induce negative Karma on ourselves. Ha.

I was chatting with another friend and I realise some people may think of me rather differently from what I think of myself. Partly due to the part that in a group, I enjoy listening to people and seldom voice out opinions unless I’m very comfortable with the group. That part of me hasn’t seem to change…

Back from Malaysia

It’s the 2nd time I’ve been to Malaysia. This time I was there in Desaru. It sure takes a hell long time to travel via coach to there. It felt like twice the journey of going from Hougang to NTU and back again if not worse. Probably the hot weather made it more unbearable than the arduous journey that I have to sit through to reach that spot on the map. The heat gets trapped in the coach and I feel like a roasted chicken in the “microwave” coach. Ha. But it was quite worth the money ($60) to relax after a stressing semester of studies. Somehow, the time just seems to pass slower in that area. It sets your heart at peace when you set foot on the sand of the beach, with sea breeze lightly brushing your cheeks. It doesn’t have to be far, just somewhere off Singapore will do. LOL.

Somehow for me, uploading pictures to facebook is always very troublesome. It fails me many times. I do not think that it is due to unstable connection. Anyway, the blog here should be more reliable. Ha. Much thanks to the organiser that we really have plentiful of food to barbeque. Stingray, cheese sausage, sambal sotong, crayfish and chicken wings etc. Not forgetting my all-time favourite of barbeque -  BBQ marshmellows! So much so that I think there were surplus of food especially the fish balls. Xueshen (the one on the right) showed me his tummy after the BBQ – looked much like a 5 months old pregnant lady. I suppose that’s all right if all the food comes just right for your taste! Ha..

There were some candid moments in the room though. I was shouting loudly that I was going to take photo of my friend when he was in shower so that he could prepare for it. Here’s what he shows me. LOL. Profile-picture worthy!

Anyway, the main focus of this trip should be go-karting. Remember the one in Escape Theme park? Yes, similar. I was expecting a really much larger terrain for go-karting. I was even hoping for some cool slopes. There was none. The only thing that excites me was the speed. You can literally go up to super high speed. The turning is kind of hard to master. However, despite the numerous advice of slowing down at curves, I sped up instead. I can feel the tyres gripping hard on the ground, just that I don’t feel that attached to the vehicle when I accelerate at turns though. It makes utmost physics sense. Ha.

There were many other things we did that night except sleeping. Gossips as usual were on the agenda for every group gatherings. Actually, there isn’t much to gossip about. Most of them you can actually confirm visually. Spent time talking with this year’s freshmen. Hearing their problems kind of remind me of my plight last year in terms of academics. Well, we all got to be forward-looking, shouldn’t we? Tomorrow will be a better day. Till then, I’m sleeping now. Yawn… More updates through facebook then.

Magnetic discs kill cancer cells?
PARIS - TINY magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.

Laboratory tests found the so-called 'nanodiscs", around 60 billionths of a metre thick, could be used to disrupt the membranes of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct.

The discs are made from an iron-nickel alloy, which move when subjected to a magnetic field, damaging the cancer cells, the report published in Nature Materials said.

One of the study's authors, Elena Rozhlova of Argonne National Laboratory in the United States, said subjecting the discs to a low magnetic field for around ten minutes was enough to destroy 90 percent of cancer cells in tests.

In a commentary on the report, Jon Dobson of Keele University in Britain said antibodies could be used to direct the discs towards tumour cells.

'This provides an elegant and rapid technique for targeting tumour destruction without the side effects associated with systemic treatments such as chemotherapy,' Mr Dobson wrote. -- AFP

Exams… 50% completed

It’s at this time of the year that I’ll be in a deeper relationship with my laptop. I’m touching it all over and I literally can’t take my eyes off her. She just seems so attractive and powerful. She gives me an avenue for me to alleviate my stress when I need to let go for a while. Allow me to express my confession to you. I love you darling. LOL.

Hail the power of RSS. With it, you can skip the needs to visit website. Just read the updates from your mail reader will do. You can read all your friends’ updates in an instant. However, I still prefer the traditional way of going to the site though. The look and feel of the website just gives me a more familiar appeal compared to the stone cold black text on white background you see in the mail. Haha.

I’ve been trapped in NTU for quite a while. Not quite sure what has been happening in Singapore except for what I’ve read from the updates my darling told me on straitstimes.com. I was thinking the high level of monsoon rain in Bukit Timah probably give the rich ones in that area to change a car. “Oh honey, looks like the car is in a bad condition. Should we get a new one?”, says the husband to the wife. Haha.

Something happened recently that was beyond my expectation. Just when you thought that someone would be nice to you or things will happen in a good way because you prepared for it, then it’s wrong. There can be no telling what the future holds for you, not unless you possess a pair of reveal-the-intentions/future type of eyes. I would like to have them if there were such a thing. Ha.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. Without the black, you can never see how pure white is. In comparison, I found someone else whom I could be worth being a better friend with. Let’s hope I’m right then.

My hair is still so damn short. It’s taking forever to grow back to that length. =/

Should I be more curious to poke further into non-personal matters or should I just stay out of it? Hmm… Still giving it a thought.

Kawaai Ne~

Here’s some pictures to help you destress the pressure for the exams. Although babies could be cute, there are some animals that look just so cute too!

View Full Album

Random

I think mashimaro looks better than the blue bird. Since I don’t use twitter anyway.

Have you heard of bladeless fan that works? Yes, there’s one and it’s even more energy-efficient than the ones that have blades. It looks easy to clean too. It seems like it’s a new technology from www.dyson.com/fans/

This song by Jay Sean is so addictive. I didn’t know he’s a UK-born Indian. But the part when Lil Wayne sings, it’s so irritating. He looks sleazy in the music video.

Is there a faster way of studying like burning the notes and tutorials and ingest them? =x

Blog Updates!

It was time for a change of template. Coincidently, the pictures from the previous template that were hosted for the blog were removed by flickr due user inactivity. I kind of like the new one actually. Colours are neutral to bright. Serves to remind me to blog about happy things more often. Bigger fonts and wider spacing. Good for old people like me. Ha.

However with every change of blog templates, some things will be removed such as the tagboard and my friends’ links. It’s difficult to add back the links one by one. I’ll keep a backup of the links next time then. Ha.

In addition, I realised that I had tried to use proper English for my blog posts since Dec 2005. I recalled that back then whenever I feel like it, I’ll just write, without even having second thoughts about filtering the words I want to say through my mind. Not that I have gotten any better in my linguistic ability but I seem to have gotten used to the part about thinking-before-I-say now. I can’t end up writing stuff that I know will cause outrageous outcomes.

I used to blog about many happy events that happened to me but I seemed to have less of these up here recently. Hmm, I should try to remind myself to keep looking at the brighter side of life. :) Perhaps the best of life is yet to be?

I was also looking at the old photos that were taken when I was young… The one on the left was taken when I won an art competition ages ago.

I think I look cuter! (Thick-skinned) Haha. I realised that such hairstyle is back in trend too. No wonder they says fashion recycles its trend every 10 years. Maybe I should start marking my old clothes when I can start re-wearing them again.

Gee, but those were the times that were so carefree. I want to go back to relive those times again!

Sports day photo. I can remember the primary school teacher’s name. A nice teacher. Funny how sometimes I can remember things 10 years back when I have difficulty recalling events 2 days back. Haha. Except for the 2 tall girls in my class, back then I was about the same height with everyone else! Just that I stopped sooner than other people too. Haha.

Hope that the new friendships that were made stay on~ =)

Repaying Kindness with Kindness

How many times have you recalled paying someone’s kindness back with kindness? Although it’s said that when you do a kind thing, it needs no paying back but if your kindness is received by someone who has a conscience, he or she will feel grateful to you and eventually will repay you with kindness in other forms.

But there are times I just suck. I’ve looked through old emails, letters or even little things my friends wrote to me ages ago. Some of which I had totally forgotten its existence. Reading through them brings back bittersweet memories. Those may be all the childish moments that were spent together, all the naive things done together or all the tears shed together. Their sincere thoughts are all penned down on that little pieces of paper in a hope that it gets through to my heart that I should never forget them. Somehow I felt that I didn’t treat these people as well as how they treated me and I haven’t find the courage to bring them back to my life.

Many times I felt grateful that my friends came into my life. I’m thankful that they had left an impact on me and shared with me what I couldn’t learn from just books or from parents. They were the ones I look up to. However, I was wondering just how many of them thinks that way of me? I know I’m the quiet sort that will just blend into the corner. So insignificant. Truthfully, I may not want to know that answer. Some things are better left unspoken.

But as with every friendship built, there are bound to be some that hurts you deep into heart. Walls are then built, facades are then maintained. Unlike mathematics, there’s no right or wrong how you should handle interpersonal relationships. I hope to find the right formula to keep my dear friends close to my heart and the rotten ones out of the universe as soon as possible.