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Been Busy, trip to orthopedics

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Epp Bones!

Had not been regularly updating since the end of my papers. Had been working & meeting up with cilents during the past few days. Not to mention trying to clear up jobs & commissions I’ve recieved as a merchant & designer in the rather profitable MMORPG I’ve been playing for about 5 months, called Second-Life. So far I’ve made about $500 SGD from the game, which has a real economy, entertainment & merchant processes. I mean, what’s the best thing to do but to play a game & be paid for it? Haha only if I wish I can convert the money I earn in Counter-Strike FPS to real cash. Joining Second-Life is free for now, but you need a credit card or paypal account only to verify your age for the mature grids during the registration process.

Dropped by the orthopedic department at TTSH today given a referral letter from the polyclinic last year regarding a slight deformation in my lower legs. The bones just curve slightly inwards, giving a bowed look to my legs. Though this had been bugging me around for quite sometime, I guess I never really find the time to go down to the doctor’s considering this is actually being quite important, but undeniably not urgent on the contrary. Did an X-ray (like the very few times I actually get to experience this in life) & it was like WHOA! so that is how I go tick-tock & THAT’S how my bones actually look like.. whoa totally cool!

The doctor suggested a form of surgery which involves plugging in a wedge like bone structure into my leg to straighten it out. This too will put me on a wheelchair or crutches for about 6 weeks to 3 months tops post-op. Not to mention a funky cast I gotta try very hard to keep clean & ink-free from my class. I don’t intend to go under the knife this semester holidays, as my I can’t afford to go against my current agenda, but will do so on the next which would be around September.

Till then, lets be bowed!

78th Annual Academy Awards results

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And so we have it the results of the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

  • Best Supporting Actor: George Clooney, Syriana
  • Best Visual Effects: King Kong
  • Best Animated Feature: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
  • Best Live Action Short Film: Six Shooter
  • Best Live Animated Short Film: The Moon and the Son
  • Best Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Best MakeUp: The Chronicles of Narnia
  • Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
  • Best Documentary Short: A Note of Triumph
  • Best Documentary Feature: March of the Penguins
  • Best Art Direction: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Best Original Score: Brokeback Mountain
  • Best Sound Mixing: King Kong
  • Best Original Song: Hustle & Flow
  • Best Sound Editing: King Kong
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Tsotsi, South Africa
  • Best Editing: Crash
  • Best Actor: Philip S. Hoffman, Capote
  • Best Cinematography: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
  • Best Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain
  • Best Original Screenplay: Crash
  • Best Director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
  • Best Picture: Crash

Scuba Diving Course Comfirmed

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March World Domination Plans

And there we have it – the March Plans for World Domination on paper! With the exams over, time to look forward to the various activites & events lined up for the march holiday (particularly chores). Did some grocery shopping with mum today afternoon at NTUC as lunch at the rather popular hainanese Chicken Rice store in BM. As usual I was the one made to carry all the groceries back home.

I guess was so caught up with exams & chores the last few weeks that I even forgot that it’s my birthday month. *sigh* I can always remember the younger days when I always look forward to my bday even 3 months in advance, dreaming on the presents & exciting places my parents will take me to for the day. I guess as the older you get, the hassle & hassle of life just eats into everything of life, including the very joy of your birthday.

But at least things aren’t so out of hand, my parents already planned birthday celebrations for me in the midst of my frantic schedule. Initially I didn’t pay much attention to them on their suggestions & plans to dine at the “Village” concept restaurant this year at a Far East group building near China Square. But it was changed to a international dinner buffet at Trader’s Hotel after we got some niffy 25% discount vouchers courtesy of Singtel.

Got a reply frm the student Intranet Mail today, comfirming my registration for my NAUI (USA) Scuba Diver Course. Heres their official letter in glory, with the schedules:


Hi Student
We are pleased to inform you that your place in the Scuba Diving Class B has been confirmed.Date/Time:

  • 13 March 2006 9.00am – 12.00pn (Theory 1)
  • 13 March 2006 1.00pm – 4.00pm (Theory 2)
  • 15 March 2006 9.00am – 2.00pm (Pool 1)
  • 15 March 2006 3.00pm – 7.00pm ( Pool 2)
  • 16 March 2006 9.00am – 12.00pm (Theory 3)
  • 17 & 18 March 2006 8.00am – 3.00pm (5 Open Dives)

Venue : T741 (Theory)
We hope you enjoy yourself.

Cool, tomorrow, Saturday another full day to get on unfinished (piled-up) chores. Ahha at least the exam stresses are over now.

End of Semester & exams…

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SP Admin Block

Sis blew the family living room computer’s DVD drive together with it’s intellimouse, MSN refuses to log me in, the stupid SP student intranet is hanging Firefox again, the Steam Network just keeps rejecting my password, my correction tape ran dry midway in the exams today. Dammit just when anything can get any worst.

I am no longer a freshman. I guess I set too high of expectations for myself, hoping at least an A grade or better, but I guess as what my lecturers say, year one is the best time to score, given the relatively easier paces & period of adaptation. Moreover its the only way to guarantee a secure place in college too.

*sighs & ponders*

And there we have it, the semester in closing. The semester exams are finally over, with some high & low hopes here is a summary of the papers and results of them:

  • Engineering Maths – Easy paper, hope to score in this module
  • C++ Programming – Toughest paper, pray can skim thru with borderline A
  • Engineering Materials – Very managable paper, but hard to score the DIST
  • Electrical Technology – Very confident to do well in this paper at least a B+ to A

*oww* I am just feel kinda spent now… maybe its the 10km I ran today on the treadmill after the last paper, just gotta keep myself up & don’t be so moody tonight even in the tiredness.

Somehow… even when the exams are over with quite optimistic grade expectations, I just don’t feel like celebrating…

Torino Winter Olympics 2006 closing

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And so there was, the closing of the Torino 2006 winter Olympics in Italy, marking another entry in the olympic history. It was a good event, especially notable are the cross country skiing, speed/figure skating & adrenaline rushing blobsled events. Not to mention the rather interesting bialthon & curling event.

Torino Winter Olympics 2006 closing
Torino Winter Olympics 2006 closing fireworks

Too bad Singapore is a tropical country, (with a real obvious lack of snow on the equator, together with the sports which goes with it that is). The thing which always set the conventional Olympics & winter Olympics apart are the rather perceived “unique sports” which we people in the tropics are often alienated too, maybe that is why I personally find the winter Olympics more interesting to watch. But otherwise the Olympic spirit & sportsmanship will always live on no matter the event. Its just the Olympic ambiance. With that, here are the final results of the games:

  1. Germany – 11 Gold, 12 Silver, 6 Bronze, Total 29
  2. United States – 9 Gold, 9 Silver, 7 Bronze, Total 25
  3. Austria – 9 Gold, 7 Silver, 7 Bronze, Total 23
  4. Russian Fed. – 8 Gold, 6 Silver, 8 Bronze, Total 22
  5. Canada – 7 Gold, 10 Silver, 7 Bronze, Total 24
    Full List

Till then, we will meet the winter games again in 2010, Vancouver.

IT Show 2006

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IT SHOW 2006 returns as the No.1 Largest Exhibition ever held in Singapore occupying 3 entire levels of the Suntec City Exhibition Centre, sprawling over 7 Entire halls of more than 270,000 Sqft.

9th – 12th March 2006
Entire Suntec City Exhibition Centre

Level 3
Level 4 (Halls 401 – 404)
Level 6 (Halls 601 – 603)
12 noon to 9pm Daily
FREE ADMISSION

The interesting thing in answer to large overcrowded exhibition halls are the new 4m wide walkways spanning all 7 exhibition halls, that will definitely be a welcome, no more bumper to bumper human traffic!

Official Site

Flavours of Windows Vista

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Windows Vista out in Q3 2006

Due to be out in around Q3 this year (despite rumors of a December 7th release). It will be out in time when intel launches their Core Duo 64-bit Merom processors. This new generation operating system, the successor to WinXP will be launched primarily as a 64-bit OS (though 32-bit versions will be released too), allowing better & faster computing power for the future (with at least 8x the increased computing boundaries of 32-bit systems, e.g from 4GB RAM to 64GB RAM in the future).

So a general advice now is not to buy any 32-bit PC or laptop now or in 6 months time, it will be 2 generations old.

With that, here is the juice:

  • Vista Starter Edition – A low budget “crippled” version, also MS answer to piracy.
  • Vista Home Basic Edition – Like WinXP Home
  • Vista Home Premium Edition – Like Media Center Edition, with TabletPC functionality
  • Vista Small Business Edition – Designed for small business without IT staffs.
  • Vista Professional Edition – Similar to WinXP Pro.
  • Vista Enterprise Edition – Designed for large institutions.
  • Vista Ultimate Edition – Everything Pro & Home has plus extra features.

Do note that in European markets, Vista Home Basic Edition & Vista Professional Edition will be labelled as Vista Home Basic Edition N & Vista Professional Edition N. Both will ship without Windows media player because of antitrust rulings against MS in the Europe.

Extended A1 subscriptions, free music downloads, free movie downloads, Online Spotlight and entertainment software, preferred product support, and custom themes are the currently rumorred extra features to be included in the Vista Ultimate editon.

Hehe on a hindsight, hopefully Fujitsu-Siemens will release a Merom 64-bit Tablet PC by year end, cause I had been following up with their tablets since last August & they are by so far the best to fit my needs. Would be upgrading just in time when both Vista & Merom are released then.

😎 Update! January 2007

After a store roundup, Windows Vista OS is available now in Singapore selling in SLS at these following rates!

  • Vista Home Basic Edition (OEM DVD Edition) – $145
  • Vista Home Premium Edition (OEM DVD Edition) – $185
  • Vista Business Edition (OEM DVD Edition) – $229
  • Vista Ultimate Edition (OEM DVD Edition) – $309

MS Office 2007:

  • Home and student 2007 – $189
  • Office Basic 2007 – $269
  • Office Small Business Enterprise – $369
  • Office Pro 2007 – $489

The difference between the regular boxed version (you find in larger software stores) and the OEM version is mainly the packaging, price (up to 2x more for the boxed version) but what you get software wise is all the same. The OEM version is meant to be bundled with new computers.

Always remember, stop piracy, buy original.

National Vertical Marathon Updates

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National Vertical Marathon

Taken from the NTU Union Site, particularly how to check whether your mail-in registration is successful.

All entries should be made on official registration forms or photocopies of the original form. Incomplete forms will not be entertained.

The Closing date for registration is still 3rd March 2006 (Event day 12th March 2006)

All other mail registrants can check our website for confirmation of participation 3 days prior to the event.

Participants should call and enquire, if his/her name has not been posted online 3 days prior to the event.

Registration is on a first come first serve basis and will close once the quota for each category is reached.

Any enquiries can be made to sc-nvm06@ntu.edu.sg or by contacting Jasmine at 97953001 or Kenneth at 93830543.

Do note however, that there is no reciept on the mail/cheques you sent to them its only through the online listings 3 days prior to the event where you will know whether you are registered or not.

Top 50 things to do in a Final Exam

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Had some spare relaxation time before my paper today, went around surfing for stuffs to keep my mind free & clean & chanced upon these few funny articles.. haha hilarious!

The 4 links above opens in new window, enjoy!

Semester Exams here I come!

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Semester Exams here I come!

Why must the dumb school place this semester’s billing period smacked where our exams are? As if we don’t have enough things on our minds already. Even it’s a good strategy to get people to pay up or get booted from the exam hall, I believe such payment matters should be best dealt at the begining of semester & not the end where time should be better spent studying & not doing payment matters at the bank!

CCA point check: 98 points accumulated so far (as in SAS) for semester 1 & 2 year 1, so that is umm 2xA merit grade? 😀

Tomorrow will be my first paper, Engineering mathematics, had been doing quite some revision & mugging on the past semester papers. Mr Eric our lecturer said that EM1 is definitely a favorite for distinctions in our class (so as he thought) & he is trying to push for a great number of distinction recommendations for us, that if we get an A grade at least. Frankly its seriously quite an easy paper as compared to ‘A’ Level Maths C. But lets not get too complacent here, however, its ultimately a distinction I want for this paper, as I guess hard work will definitely pay off. & though I personally more geared towards studying smart than studying hard, its the exam-smart strategies you have which places you apart from the rest.

All looks good for tomorrow’s paper here I come!

East Coast Long Beach Seafood

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Big Crab Claw!

Wohoo, big fat meaty crab claw! Dinner yesterday was at East Coast Seafood area, mainly because mum & dad had a sudden urge for long-lost seafood & I guess they think I needed a good feast after my MR X-Country Nationals. Thinking about it had had been years since we came here & eat. The restaurant in question is Long beach seafood, though I grew eating mostly Jumbo Seafood, so that brand still sticks in my head.

Contrary to that almost 10 years back where we always frequent the place with our cousins for almost bi-monthly sumptuous seafood dinners, not to mention cycling around east coast & building castles on the beach on such gatherings when we were kids. Now everyone’s all grown up all busy with work & stuff, yes those were the days.

The quality of seafood was excellent, reminiscent of the seafood I grew up eating. Especially if you are craving for local delicacies such as chili crab and black pepper crab, which does set you back quite a reasonable bit as such seafood does costs a premium. The chili crab sauces are thick and bets paired with fried mini buns. The crabs themselves are meaty and worth the value. With the seafood aside, you get the usual fair of “ze-char” al-la-carte fair of chinese dishes, such as fried vegetables, noodles and hot plate meals to complete the entire dinner, all washed down with good servings of Chinese tea.

SAA Macritchie X-Country

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SAA MR X-Ctry 2006

And so there were we, or me on a very hot Saturday afternoon in Mac ritchie after lunch for the SAA National X-country championships. The rest of the team was late but I was there early around 1pm to check out on the admin stuffs & such anyway, such as the availability of safety pins.. duh. It is also then where we are informed the 10km Mens open will be cut down to 5.3km due to a landslide & muddy grounds on the 10km round route.

So as I thought even the 5.3km trail we ran on was still soaking wet after the late afternoon rain, nature’s answer to the scorching early afternoon sun. & a good way to stain & get my new DS-Trainers muddy.. haiz too bad I don’t have a trail shoes & only my DS-trainer road shoe to run, I kept slipping about 10-20% of my strides due to the lack of grip & slippery-ness the trail was after the rain, resulting in a more demanding journey, physically & mentally, not to mention a longer time through the trail then expected.

Under 17 girls Cat

Knowing the best way I can pull up in the race is the concrete path part, where my road shoe will have the advantage, that is if I can keep my mud soaked shoes dry to perform optimally then. & while everyone was just ploughing through the mud & water like a bulllock on steriods, I was very much more conservative, running along the more solid drier sides & avoiding puddles, at a compromise of speed of course (with the exception of splashing mud water from other runners arghh! I am trying to keep my shoe clean here dude!) I left the trail at a disappointing watch timing if 12minutes only to start my game of overtaking people on the concrete road path of the race.

Overall I overtook the roughly the same number of people who overtook me in the trail, with the exception of some rather faster ones resulting in a rough maintained position with the one I started off with, I finished in a rather disappointing but satisfactory 23mins 22secs on close to the runner’s 50-60th percentile & 40-50% percentile in my Team. Thats all for sports this 2 weeks, this will be the last event till the end of my semester exams, next on the lineup will be the NTU vertical marathon at Suntec City (12th March 2006).