USC Bazaar - Day 1
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Hah... Another nice opportunity for pictures: USC Bazaar @ Science Foyer.
I got to give up on a photography appointment for the surgery department dinner gathering at KK Hospital; the timing clashes with the honors class sports day. Josephine, sorry for disappointing you.
I got another lobang to add pixs to my portfolio from Andy, a fellow magician that I have known for 3 years. If I'm not wrong, he is working for Singtel and I am suppose to take some kind of DnD pixs on the 2 March. Browsing around the Net for more pix ideas...
posted byWilliam at 10:36 PM 0 comments
Failure to Graduate
I missed the deadline to check why I didn't qualify for graduation! Darn it. The deadline was 30 Jan and I only read the mail yesternite. Screwed up. This is what happens if you don't check the most-of-the-time crappy NUS email box. Apparently, I have failed my faculty requirement check and major requirement check. Though I know very confidently that I have fulfilled both requirements, it was still a rather difficult-to-sleep night (you know when your mind is thinking and thinking about something and you just keep tossing and turning in bed). I slumbered early @ 2330 with the mind set on waking up at 0730 the next morning so that I can ask the Dean's office and Chemistry Dept office at the first instant they open at 0830.
I am already a regular "customer" at the Chem office. Ema knew me by name and she was quite surprised when she saw my failure to qualify for graduation. After checking the records, she found out that my ISM module was coded as "UIS" so there was a failure to register this module as a level 3000 chemistry elective. Phew... relieved. There was still the faculty requirement to check; afterall, things are more complicated with this requirement. What 3 groups of modules plus 1 from any other + the two CBMs which could be counted as two distinct groups... whatever.
Ok, went to the Dean's office. Lili was there. Just like Ema, she kind of find me familiar too. After I say "William", she went on the say "Wong Yu Kai"? Yup, I got into too much administrative trouble. After checking the records, she said that I am cleared for graduation. Whoa Ho! The reason why the system said that I have not cleared the faculty requirement was that I had not cleared the major requirement, so it was like an automatic thing to say I didn't qualify A, I didn't qualify B. Worries over.
posted byWilliam at 9:29 AM 0 comments
Pixs of the Day - Myanmar
Monday, January 29, 2007
My dad made a pilgrimage to Myanmar for the past 3 weeks. He has been telling me much stories and some realization of Buddha nature upon his return; they are some religious inspirations for me. My dad took some pictures on this trip and some of them are real nice! Here's a visual treat:
posted byWilliam at 8:35 PM 0 comments
Nice Windy Day
Ha... a nice windy Monday. It's a pretty eventful day: went through a super confusing and messy Financial Accounting tutorial, a complexing Financial Accounting lecture, and exciting Reason and Persuasion tutorial and lecture. The philosophy tutorial kind of brought back the USP memories. I like the small class (only 12 in the class), interactive style of today's tutorial seminar. The tutor, Jason, is nice and casual.
The Fest la Vie @ Arts Forum was pretty happening. I think the auction was very well-executed. The bidders were spontaneous and I think the final bid prices were kind of reasonable (sometimes quite high in fact). Lots of external vendors selling food there. If you haven't been there, I think you should make a trip there. There are concerts and auctions going on from 1200-1400 from today till Wednesday.
Over-ordered my dinner @ biz canteen: one bowl of wonton soup and two mantou. The mantou's is super-filling; the dough is very dense. Since the weather was so nice, I walked from biz back to PGP. Hope the weather would be like this more often.
posted byWilliam at 7:44 PM 0 comments
Tennis @ Zi Kai's Place
Sunday, January 28, 2007
The morning was spent at Zi Kai's place playing tennis. We were joined by his brother and three of his bro's friends. What a coincidence, all of us were from TJC and three of us are from Class 15/xx (xx=year). Long time since I played tennis, rusty rusty (groove came back after a while). I spent more time chasing and picking up the balls compared to the actual time I spend running on the court and hitting the ball. Oh well, all of us were of pretty much the same standard (maybe I am the lousiest). We had a good time laughing at each other's blunders and the crazy antics. The end of the session was spent picking up the balls that were hit out of the court. The balls were playing hide-and-seek in the bushes while we, the humans, went on the searching hunt. Fun!
posted byWilliam at 7:32 PM 0 comments
Xin Qin Rong Ji Concert
Saturday, January 27, 2007
I got the tickets from Peter, the new UROP student in Prof Sam Li's Lab. I was from KEVII Hall when I was in year 1 but I did not attend the signature event of our hall. Thinking back, I kind of regret it. I decided to attend the concert this time before I graduate from NUS.
The style of presenting a song is quite different as you would expect from, say, Project Superstar. Afterall, this is a song writing competition not a performance talent competition. The score percentage given to the performance was like 10% only. Naturally, I wouldn't look out for and there wasn't any super flashy performance.
There was interaction between contestants and the judges after the performance of a song, which was a rather blatant adaption of Project Superstar. Not to say this style is bad, in fact, I like the way which the competition was carried out. At least, we have an idea of what the judges were thinking about the tune, lyrics and performance of a song.
The MVs accompanying the songs were quite funny. Have you ever sang in a KTV with a "pirated" video; those third-party company production which stars generic couple running on a beach for example? Yup, these are the kind of home-made videos which were screened. The scenes were hilarious because they are so cliche and predictable. Boy leaves girl. Girl becomes sad. Girl drops a torn-photo of boy down a cliff/window. You get the idea. However, I applaud the committee for their effort to try to inject some creativity into the performance!
Chen Wei Lian was one of the guest performers. And he sang Gu1 Dan1 De Ye4 Li3 Wo3 Bu4 Gu1 Dan1 and one other song which I can't remember the name. Anyway, Gu1 is the song I like best from his album. Hmm... Wei Lian didn't sing very well tonight though.
I thought the theme song of the writing competition is very nice. Click here to get directed to the official website and listen to it.
posted byWilliam at 11:30 PM 0 comments
Stinky Lab + Meet-up
Friday, January 26, 2007
Yes! My blocked nose finally cleared, however, that also meant that I will be able to smell things (duh!). And, our dear Yumin spilled some thiols while doing some lab work. In case you don't know, thiol is the active ingredient in skunk mask that imparts the intolerable, persistent odor. And, we human, can smell thiol at a concentration of 1 part in a 1,000,000,000 (billion!). Whoa, imagine the smell that pervaded the lab. The persistence of thiol is incredible; the fume hood was on, we tried to react the thiol with hydrogen peroxide and sodium bicarbonate and the smell was still lingering after all the effort. At the end, Xiaofeng decided to give out her jasmine tea bags; she hanged them from the drawers so that the jasmine fragrance will mask the pungent smell. Wai Xiang diluted some Dove shower cream with hot water so that the steam from the soapy concoction will also help mask the terrible odor. The lab smelled pretty good after that. Everybody evacuated from the lab after the brief clean-up. Well, at least Yumin provided the excuse for letting us go home early :p The time was 1830.
The evening was spent at the USP Alumni Sharing Session. I think the session was more focused on the selection criteria of the companies. Benjamin, Jet and Ivan are from the civil service and the point I gathered from their presentations was that the quality of the first degree was really important in determining the initial posting and, of course, the salary. From then on, it's a pretty level playing field.
The private sector was represented by Beatrice (P&G Key Account Manager) and Jaclyn (Deloitte Consulting, Strategy & Operations Dept Consultant). These are big company names and according to Beatrice and Jaclyn, they went through like >= 20 rounds of interview to land themselves their job. The quality of the first degree is still relevant since it is the first key that qualifies you for an interview. It seems like one's performance during the interview is the most important factor that determines whether one gets a job. Comparatively, such super vigorous interviews aren't that prevalent in civil service.
After the session, a few of us from the 5th USC MC went to Wala Wala for a beer and the Wala Wings. The wings were not bad, YC highly recommended the wings and they were definitely not disappointing. At $10 for a large plate, I think the value-for-money factor is quite high. Later in the night, we were joined by Benjamin, Jet, a couple of admin stuff and other friends.
P.S. I'm so happy to know that Benjamin and Jet are together.
posted byWilliam at 11:57 PM 2 comments
Crazy Horse to Close
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Right from the start, I don't have a good feeling about Crazy Horse opening its door in Singapore. And man, Crazy Horse Paris is closing its door faster than I expected. In a short 13 months, the cabaret show will be drawing its curtain permanently (will they set foot on Singapore again?) in Clarke Quay. According to press release, Eng Wah Organization, the company that brought in the provocative entertainment, admitted that it was a strategic wrong move; they should have waited at least till the opening of the integrated resorts (IR).
Perhaps, it doesn't take a marketing genius to see that the Singapore market is just not ready for Crazy Horse. Would you pay a minimum of SGD85.00 to watch the arty nude show? I know I wouldn't. $85.00 is a lot of money. The pricing is right for the performance standard but it just doesn't fit the income margin of most Singaporeans. Ya, I know the performance is world-class, but I wouldn't watch something I don't understand. Now this leads me to the second point, do most Singaporeans appreciate the performance? Well, I think not; so the market is niche. Would one watch the show again and again? Did I hear "no"? Yup, no renewable income.
Initially, Eng Wah was saying that the local market would be supplemented by the tourist market. I just don't think it make sense. Is Crazy Horse a Singapore thing? Or well, it might be the first in Asia but would I want to pay at least SGD85.00 and spend one of my holiday nights watching a cabaret show? From my observation, tour groups spend a short 3-4 days in Singapore and backpackers wouldn't have the budget/interest to watch the show. I wouldn't even think tour groups will organize trips to the show since the profit margin for them wouldn't be high. Compared to the Thai-girl shows, Crazy Horse is way too arty for most lay people. It's no wonder Crazy Horse was doomed from the start.
Let us look at reverse-bungee jump, a hype that is slowly loosing steam and I expect it to close eventually too. Way-overpriced: is it something like $35 for 3 min? Crazy, the rate is higher than $85.00 for the 1h+ Crazy Horse show.
posted byWilliam at 10:05 PM 0 comments
Kaypohing
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Don't you agree with me that Friendster may well be one of the largest and most powerful kaypohing tool around? One can browse any member's network of friends and who knows, you might just find another common friend and say," I know this guy/gal; I never knew we had so many friends in common." Or you might find a long lost friend, like how I found my primary school best friend, David, on Friendster. Friendster also allows one to have a mini photo album; for kaypohs, another place that reveals a person's life.
If everyone is truthful about their relationship status, you can find out whether you, at least, stand a slight chance with a gal/guy you like. (Perhaps you would like to set your viewing status to anonymous, so that he/she wouldn't suspect you? But what if he/she is also interested in you and start clicking you? Then you wouldn't know he/she click you...) I have heard stories about people sending cold-messages (like cold-calls) to gals/guys saying that they would like to befriend them. Well, of course, the targets would most likely be pretty gals and handsome guys. Obviously, I have not received any cold-emails.
Kaypohing carries such a negative connotation that I am reluctant to use it. After all, Friendster has killed many of my boring hours by allowing me to peer into a very small part of the private lives of many people. Besides, if one doesn't keep a blog/ haven't been in contact with social life due to work/ busy with study/ too tired/ or whatever that prevents you from updating people of your life, I think Friendster is a nice place (ranked third) for that purpose. The second would be a blog. Of course, nothing beats a face-to-face dinner gathering to catch up.
posted byWilliam at 9:13 PM 0 comments
Still Feeling Lousy
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Not much better after yesterday's sleep. I am still coughing; but luckily the throat has improved much. I suspect there is this virus going around infecting people. It seems like many people around me have been suffering similar symptoms.
posted byWilliam at 9:05 PM 0 comments
Feeling Lousy
Monday, January 22, 2007
Gee... I thought I am recovering well from the mild sore throat after last night's sleep but man, I am still feeling a little lousy this afternoon. Have you ever noticed that whenever you are recovering from a sore throat, you cough more often. Yup, that's what happened to me through out the day: coughing and coughing. After the financial accounting lecture, I went to rest in my room. It was quite miserable, can't rest well because of the throat irritation. Hope the throat will improve a lot by tomorrow.
Financial accounting tutorial was quite fun. Met some new people: Stephenie, Chu Wen and Nen Wen. They look quite fun. Grading is quite strict during tutorial. The tutor said that if we don't speak every other tutorial, be prepared to fail the 15% assessment.
My TA duty payment for last semester is still not here! What the h*** are they doing? My payment for the Nobel Museum guide duty was credited two weeks before 2006 Christmas. It's now 22 Jan and the normal payment day is the 15th day of every month. Don't tell me I have to wait until the next 15.
I had a nice chat with Zikai, my ex-KEVII neighbor. I borrowed Who Moved My Cheese? from ZK; "changes" became a topic of our conversation. Our common understanding: we need to embrace changes with enthusiasm. Like Sniff and Scurry(the two mice that seek out their own new supplies of cheese), we have to sniff out new opportunities and scurry fast during our actions.
posted byWilliam at 8:33 PM 0 comments
Rattles
Sunday, January 21, 2007
There was a date on Zixian's MSN: 4 March Biathlon. Out of curiosity, I re-clicked him to resume the broken conversation. Yay! I think we have found each other. He wants to take part in the race, me too. Both of us have some sort of resistance to actually taking part in the race due to the lack in training or a deficiency in swimming speed. But well, since now we have each other's company, we might as well make the best of the situation and be training partners. I think I will most probably take part in the "sprint" category: 750m swim + 5km run. The full race is 1.5km swim + 10km run: too much for me to handle now, maybe next year. Training is reaching mid-gear liao: ran 5km on Fri and today. I will increase the weekly mileage to about 15-20km in the next couple of weeks. Hmmm, looks like I will be adding one more To-Dos in 2007 and completing in very soon: Complete a biathlon race.
Have you been following the news? The weather is going crazy. Just a couple of weeks ago, the TV was showing The Day After Tomorrow and now the news is showing all that is not so far-fetch fiction. The extremely cold winter in Anhui, China and warm winter in Harbin, China. Even the hibernating animals are being affected. The cold wave that hit India killed many. At this point of writing, the news is showing Adelaide, Australia being hit by a torrential rain that has resulted in flash floods. Not to talk about the Pacific Ring of Fire earthquakes that have been hitting Asia. I still remember reading about a prophecy about 2007 (I have lost the source); it says that there will be a major disaster on the same scale as the 2004 Indian earthquake tsunami. Will it come true? I hope the prophet is wrong.
I wanted to watch Stranger than Fiction over the weekends but didn't manage to find someone to accompany me. Oh well, then I was too lazy to go all the way to Cathay Orchard (only theater showing; movie about to end run) to watch the movie alone. Some time was, once again, spent reading Photoshop literature. To me, PS is just like a lab: filled with all the instruments and chemicals you will ever need to complete reactions and, maybe, discover something new. In PS, commands and tools are your instruments to create something new... the limiting thing: your imagination and knowledge of how it works. And reading PS is like reading academic journals; it opens up possibilities. And from there, you emulate the steps, apply to your own system/images and see how things work out... perhaps a miracle might happen. If you want a glimpse of my PS library, here it is: an Amazon Listmania List.
Hah... financial accounting tutorial starts tomorrow. It has been a long time since I attended a proper class tutorial conducted by a TA. How will it be like tomorrow? Probably a feeling of nostalgia.
Ok, enough rattling. Time for bed. Nitz!
posted byWilliam at 11:54 PM 0 comments
Volunteer Work + Got Tipsy
Sunday, January 14, 2007
I was in Chatterbox on Saturday morning taking some interior shots for club publicity. If you haven't been to revamped USC lounge, here are some pictures of the nice place.
I then went to KK hospital to participate in the craniofacial support group activity. It was pretty fun. It has been a long long time since I did arts and craft. Interacting with the children at the center was fun. I have forgotten some of the kids' names. Some will stick in my mind for a long time: Nicholas, Francis (naughty boys), Amanda (the nice gal who wants to play with the boys but was a little shy) and Eeshane (the little gal who was shy at first but warms up as I talk more and more to her).
The evening was spent at Charlotte's house for a SEP 1st anniversary gathering. It was a pot-luck party which ended with too much food. JY and I thought the situation would have been better if Alec was there. The group plotted against Janice while playing finger-guessing game; and this kind of forced her to drink a more than the rest. And there was JY who never failed to tease Jan's cheatingly tiny sip from the glass. Too much alcohol for me to handle over here. I had some Baileys after dinner and that put me out a little (I'm a poor drinker). My loses during the word game gave me the opportunity to drink a shot of Ruby Red Vodka (nice grapefruit taste) and that gave me the fatal blow. I was feeling heavy in the head and I felt miserable. I rested on the couch while the rest continued with chatting. Darn, I was a little disappointed to miss out on the conversations. Next time, let us chat over coffee/tea instead of liquor.
P.S. Thank you Kaixin, Junyi, Char and Jan for seeing me back. I knocked out immediately once I reached home.
posted byWilliam at 9:44 PM 0 comments
Picture of the Day: Prague Bellmaker
Thursday, January 11, 2007
posted byWilliam at 10:06 AM 0 comments
Bereaved
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
I read about the demise of Bruce Fraser (1954-2006) to lung cancer while I was surfing for some photoshop techniques. To me, Bruce is a wonderful digital photography teacher; I have read most of his books. He is able to understand and sort out the complex nature of digital photography and, in particularly, the application of photoshop to photography, and make sense of the theory and techniques to us. His books are devilishly illuminating. I was still waiting for his book on Photoshop CS3, I will never get to read it now.
Tommy Wonder (1953-2006) is another idol of mine and my magic teacher. Incidentally, he lost the battle to lung cancer too. Tommy was a greater thinker in magic, his sleight of hand is world-class and his methods ingenious. I will always remember this Teacher.
posted byWilliam at 7:13 PM 0 comments
Changed my Shaving System
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
I forgot to bring my Gillette shaver to PGP. And darn, the shavers in Georgie's Mart is so over-priced. I saw a gilttering copper box on the shelf while shopping there, it says: Shanghai Flying Eagle Razor Blade Factory (translated): $2. Heck, I thought I might just make do with the cheap double-edged razor (and maybe suffer some razor burn, nicks and cuts) until I reach home on Sat. The razor looked a little itimidating to use initially, I had to unfold the thin razor from the paper package, unscrew the holder and secure the blade to the handle. This is quite unlike the convenience of modern cartridge twin, triple or quad blade shavers. Surprise! Shaving with this razor is an enjoyment in itself, I like the control which I must exert to get a good shave. You really gotta be careful with this "safety razor" and the shaving result is quite smooth.
This razor is one seriously old piece of technology and was invented in 1895 (telephone was invented in 1876). And yup, it has picked up another follower even though there have been multiple redesigns, hundreds of millions of dollars in development and marketing costs, and a thoroughly confused and frustrated consuming public. I am going to stick to this old-school shaving system for a very long time.
P.S. I didn't suffer from any razor burns, nicks and cuts from the first shave!
posted byWilliam at 8:40 PM 0 comments
Day 1 of School
Monday, January 08, 2007
Ok, I didn't get the personal finance module. The bid point for financial accounting suddenly shot up to 1150 and I was left with 1400. The max bid for the single seat in personal finance was 2060. By right, if I haven't bidded for financial accounting then I would triumph the guy/gal by over 500 points. But anyway, financial accounting is quite fun too.
John Holbo, the lecturer of Reason and Persuasion is a funny guy. His lecture notes are filled with comical drawings of Socrates, Plato, and a few other historical characters (don't ask me who these people are, they are not so famous as the first two, so I don't know; I think he illustrated the lecture notes himself). Besides, he talks in a very interesting manner. He blogs at Crooked Timber and John & Belle Have a Blog. The first philosophy module, Negotiating Moral Issues, I took was in year 1 in USP. Nuyen, Anh Tuan was and still is the lecturer; he never failed to amuse me with his jokes too. Who says philosophy/philosphers is/are boring?
I enjoyed the big lecture theatre during lessons today. Although it can get quite boring with no-one taking the modules with me. Luckily, I met Zi Kai (know him from KEVII stay) during the Reason and Persuasion lecture break, now at least can talk cock with him.
posted byWilliam at 8:17 PM 0 comments
Some To-Dos in 2007
Sunday, January 07, 2007
2007 is going to another milestone in my life. I will be graduating from NUS and going back to the army. What a break! Four years have passed since my disruption. I'm pretty excited about going back. Crazy maybe. The army gives me the opportunity to be fitter. Hmmm... I thought of accomplishing some things this year and here they are
1. To graduate smoothly
2. To beat or equal my 2.4km timing of 9:24
3. To beat or equal my pull-up record of x36
4. To dead-lift 120kg once
5. To squat 80kg three times
6. To run in the Army Half-Marathon and the Marathon (No timing goal, I just want to complete the events)
7. To become more and more proficient in Adobe Photoshop, and eventually, taking the Adobe Certified Expert in Adobe Photoshop CS3 test by this year.
8. To learn to drive
9. To learn to swim more efficiently by taking up courses if need to
I will add more To-Dos whenever they pop-up.
posted byWilliam at 10:35 PM 0 comments
Photography Session @ Courts
Saturday, January 06, 2007
I met up with the USP production team for a poster photo-shoot at Courts Bukit Timah. The photographer was Sarah and I was the assistant. It was quite fun being the assistant. I gotta setup the light-stands, mount the strobes (first time handling them!), setup the light modifiers (softboxes, honey comb, umbrella), pull the power cords, stand around with a reflector and some nitty gritty stuff. Actually I was quite surprised to see Sarah working without a light-meter with the strobes. She had relied exclusively on the LCD screen. Perhaps she has got the experienced to determine the exposure from the LCD but I highly doubt it. The LCD is very poor at determining the exact exposure of a picture. Some speculations: the exposures are not-consistent and lighting ratios are quite messy. But who cares anyway if the pictures turn out to their liking? Maybe a technical junky like me will.
Eugene got a summon by parking outside Courts. Apparently, there is a inner Courts- parking-lane and outer government-parking-lane. He had parked on the outer one and exceeded the coupon by an hour. Fine: $10.00. Quite suay for a good guy who volunteered for the production. Lunch was back at NUS Mac cause they need to put some stuff back at the club-room. The revamped Chatterbox is so nice with a Zen feel. Fellow USPians, go take a look if you haven't. They have got 2 8-(sofa)-seater project rooms and 2 study rooms. An air-conditioned dining area for your da-baoed food and a big meeting table if you need to call for a committee meeting. It's way-better than the NUSSU lounge and The Space. Do bring a jacket, Chatterbox has one of the coldest air-con in NUS. USC MC, Well done!
The year-ones are so interesting to talk to. I can see myself in them who was so onz the last time. Julia is performing in the production. She has completed the production cycle. She was the stage manager then the head of production then went off for NOC and now she's back as an actress. We both think that it's fun to be part of the club as a year 4 cause we're participating as a member and working in a committee.
It's pretty low pressure for me now in the last semester. 2 UEs which I'm going to SU + 1 Level 5000 core + 1 FYP. Finally I'm going to study modules that interest me thoroughly: financial accounting and personal finance. I have been reading investment books but never a formal education. Hope these modules will do me good in the coming year.
Nagging: I can't find single sheets of Lee color correction filters (#244 and #441) in Singapore. Called the suppliers recommended by BK and they only have rolls! It's insane to buy a roll cause all I need is to tape up the flash for matching tungsten ambient lighting and fluorescent lighting. Found an online lighting gel store and I feel the seller is quite genuine and sincere. Ok, buy from him! Filters + shipping + handling = USD11.95. Not too bad, still affordable.
posted byWilliam at 10:56 PM 0 comments
Janice's House-Warming
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
posted byWilliam at 12:39 AM 0 comments