Hooked on Personality Test
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
posted byWilliam at 8:31 PM 0 comments
"Get to Know Yourself Better" Result
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them. (The question is: do you find me interesting? Very true about the "hiding your true self" part; quite true about being a good listener)
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes. (I think most people would think this is very untrue since I enjoy eye-candies like Jolin Tsai and Fiona Xie. But hey, they are really eye-candies! I am not looking for someone who is super pretty or pretty in the first place. Perhaps one of the "untrues" in this report might be that I am "attractive in many people's eyes".)
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship. (Very true; perhaps true for everyone. A general statement, I must say.)
The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates. (Whoa, when did I ever have lots of dates? Mostly untrue! Sensible tactics they might be, I got a feeling that they are out-of-date and not-that-effective tactics. Very true: straightforwardness.)
Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can. (Yup, very true and accurate. Picked up lots of non-academic skills and knowledge: weight-training, running, swimming, magic, photography, human performance, persuasion, negotiation... I'm a typical jack-of-all-trade. But again, high chance that this is a general statement for most of my friends.)
The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life. (Very true: I have decided to climb up MOE's coporate ladder. Some people might say I'm naive to decide so early even before stepping into the Ministry. Do you know me better than I know myself?)
How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous. (True to a large extent. Afterall, the idea of starting a business has rarely struck me. Perhaps one of the largest risk I'm undertaking in investing a large portion of my savings in unit trusts.)
What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel. (Very true. This shows up very often when I was in the army. In recent years, it has seldom happened. A lot better control of my emotions now, but I think the test revealed my inner self.)
Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve. (Mature? I'm not too sure about that. People still label me "immature" occasionally. Reasonable? Yup, I'm not irrationally demanding. Honest and give good advice? Yup, very true. Perhaps these qualifies me a bit as a teacher. Need to use my heart sometimes? Quite true, there are times when I find myself analyzing too much when I should have followed my heart.)
Go to here for the test. I think the test result has described me quite accurately (or do you find this test giving ambiguous report like most others?).
posted byWilliam at 11:48 PM 1 comments
Struck a Chord
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Did you watch 花樣少年少女 yesterday? I thought I stuck a chord with Ruxi (cast by Ella) who went on a slimming regime because she likes Quan. I was, like Ruxi, a little plump to begin with until I became infatuated with a gal. I went on a slimming and keep-fit regime hoping to attract her; but nah, nothing worked out. The experience was life-changing though. I changed my supposedly genetically-plump frame (I was fat as a baby through sec 4) to a lean-frame and never got the weight back for the last 7 years. I think there is no need for such a strong emotion like love to create a life-changing experience; infatuation is enough.
I couldn't compare to Ruxi in terms of her tenacity to pursue Quan though.
posted byWilliam at 4:33 PM 0 comments
A Short Summary - Digital Lenses
Monday, February 19, 2007
Happy Chinese New Year!
I spent some time reading Amateur Photography, which is a popular UK photographic magazine, and came across some information on lenses. If you happen not to know, there is a small war between "cropped"(C)-sensor camera and full-frame (FF) camera. It's mainly between Nikon, representing the C-sensor, and Canon, representing the FF-sensor. I am on the Nikon C-sensor side. It's not that I am using a Nikon camera that I am saying this. But rather, C-sensor cameras are cheaper and that suits a student's budget. Also, one doesn't need such a good lens to get quality image on a C-sensor; money-saving again! For explanation, read on...
Content Summarized from the following articles (Amatuer Photographer 28 October 2006)
- APAnswers by Barney Britton
- Tamron AF 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di II LD Asph (IF) Review by Geoffrey Crawley
A vintage Nikkor lens might give excellent result on a film camera but not on a digital body. This is not because the lens is below par but it wasn't designed with the digital sensor in mind. Light can hit film from a wide range of angles, and as long as it's properly focused, the film will record a sharp image. In digital sensors, light need to strike as close as possible to 90 degrees or the resulting image can display chromatic aberrations or vignetting. The problem will be much more severe close to the edges of a full-frame digital SLR, but still can be a problem even on those with "cropped" sensor. With an older or cheaper lens, the image defect will get even more severe. Nikon's decision to stick to cropped-sensor DSLRs makes sense since the imaging circle is smaller. Therefore, the edges of the 35mm-format frame will not be shown. The logical design of Nikon's "DX" lenses is based strongly on this reasoning.
Based on the reasoning that photosensors require the minimization of extraneous light and the adoption of the telecentric principle, lenes were designed such that the emergent rays from a lens arrive more vertically at the sensor across its whole surface. In this way, the microlenses which are in front of the picture elements receive the light on the optical axes, giving minimum aberrations and vignetting. Also, any reflections from the sensor's polished surface return vertically and thus can be optimally minimized from the recomputed coating of the rear lens element's surfaces.
Ok, for a more boring article on lenses... refer to my previous post on MTF theory.
posted byWilliam at 9:25 PM 4 comments
Labels: equipment, lenses, photography, technology
Happy Valentine's Day
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Yes, I know it's all a bunch of Hallmark hype aimed at ripping off people by selling chocs and flowers. And I know I am a nice guy and I don't need a galfriend to feel fulfilled. But it still sucks. Really! Perhaps I shouldn't bemoan. I'm not lonely since I have plenty of friends (nice gal friends included). Lots of freedom which is kind of cool as a student. (Yah yah, just some self-consoling thoughts, maybe?)
The Chemistry department people were pretty sweet on this occasion. Jack wrapped up some candies for all the soccer players and supporters and he went round sci fac looking for all of us. I got one of his candy packs and munched up a large portion of it during the night. Min Qi folded origami lilies and gave them out yesterday. Elaine gave out the ever-classic Rocher. It's the first time I gave out roses on V-day. Not to one girl (though I hope to do so), but to all the gals in my lab who have been so nice all these while. Oh yah, I treated myself to a root-beer float after lunch. Be nice to myself. It's V-day!
I came across a super sweet blog. It's a wedding blog that has some basic preparation on Singapore's wedding plus some little thoughts from the Jhong Ren, the guy author. Anyway, I didn't stumble upon the blog for nothing. I was searching for some wedding dinner photography information because I was approached for some services. I need to sort out the rates and the fashionable styles. It's going to be a tough service tender since I have no experience in wedding dinner. Hope I can beat the competitors with my price.
posted byWilliam at 10:55 PM 3 comments
Hofbräuhaus In-House Performer
Monday, February 12, 2007
One-of-a-kind atmosphere in this "traditional" and "true" beer hall in Munich, Germany. The first impression was that the place is quite touristy. The in-house singing and dancing really added mood to the beer hall. This was the first of the two beer gardens/halls that I visited in Germany.
I ordered a roast pork-knuckle with two potato dumplings and homemade bacon-cabbage salad for about SGD20. If you like meat and roasted-to-crispy-perfection pork skin packaged as a heart-attack on a plate, you will like this dish. The texture of the potato dumpling didn't feel like mashed potato; it was a little spongy. I felt weird but refreshing... the dumpling didn't taste much though. Overall, an A- grade. By the way, the picture is a little grotesque (it, kind of, looks like a shot from anatomy lesson), so I wouldn't post it here. A huge mug of beer was shared among Grace, Songning and me.
posted byWilliam at 8:21 PM 0 comments
How I Looked During Backpacking
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Here's a rather unglamorous picture of me during the backpacking days in Europe. Here's a breakdown of my extremely kiasu luggage/equipment.
- On my back, I have a 80-litre (2.9kg empty weight) Jack Wolfskin Trailhead II backpack that mainly contained my clothes, souvenirs, and a 1.5-litre water-bag for long overnight train rides. My tripod went into this bag when I had to take a plane for certain legs of the trip.
- The long sling by my right-side is my tripod in a bag - a Manfrotto 190PROB.
- The red bag is very important; it contained my laptop (besides my pixs, Grace's and Songning's pixs are all inside) and some other important documents like a copy of my passport, vaccination certification booklet, itineraries and the Let's Go Europe guidebook. The paper in front jutting out are papers of short-term usefulness like directions to a particular hostel and attractions brochures. The brown thing is a hat I bought in Santorini, Greece. Then there is an easily accessible water bottle.
- The cuboid bag on my left is my camera-bag.
- I wore mostly bermuda shorts since jeans were really too hot.
- I wore the SAF Gortex boots to protect against the occasional rain. Nothing is more irritating than traveling in a pair of wet sport shoes so I didn't wear them on the trip. A rather "cock" combination with the bermuda shorts, but who cares... nobody was looking.
posted byWilliam at 11:44 PM 2 comments
Pix of the Day - Bluey
Saturday, February 10, 2007
I stopped to look at the sky this morning. It's so blue, so cloudless... so beautiful. I suppose few people would be as bored as me to stop and look at the sky. Or are you too busy with your routine that you don't stop to appreciate the little things around you? I met Shihui at the bus-stop and she said she wouldn't have noticed the sky if I don't remind her how beautiful it is. Don't you think we seldom appreciate what we have? I came across a very meaningful short quote and want to share it with you:
"If we start defining our success or failure by what we don't get, we're in deep trouble. Be thankful for what you have."
Well, since the weather is so perfect today, it reminds me of the super nice weather in Santorini too. At that time, the sky was just as cloudless and blue, though I think the temperature is a few degrees higher in Santorini than in Singapore. Here's another picture from the Greek island. It's a rather cliché shot that shows a white-washed church with blue dome roof. At the background is the Aegean Sea (爱情海).
P.S. Yup, the sky made my day!
posted byWilliam at 11:39 AM 3 comments
Pix of the Day - Santorini
Monday, February 05, 2007
I think I haven't told many of you all that the 2 days 2 nights trip to Santorini was totally last minute (as usual; a common William's action). Well, I have heard about Santorini before I reached Athens, Greece and I have been told by a Greek friend that this island is beautiful. Somehow, the initial plan with Songning and Grace didn't include this paradise. Ok, so while the rest went to the oracle of Delphi, I decided to be a little independent (or anti-social) and went to Santorini alone.
I got an overnight ticket on a slow ferry to Santorini for about SGD36. The 240km ride was super... cold. There wasn't a bed; there wasn't any enclosed room; just pure open seating with huge gust of sea breeze through the night. To imagine how cold it is, here's how I felt: I was wearing a fleece jacket with a windproof shell jacket* and I still felt cold. Naturally, I didn't really had a good night rest with the constant bad wind. To make matter worse, I was also carrying my laptop, my tripod, and my big camera big; three big thief-magnets.
At about 4am, I just couldn't take it any more and went into the first class lounge for some warmth until I was chased out at about 6am (just a bit more to Santorini). If you remember, I caught the sunset at Oia, but I haven't told you that I caught the sunrise at sea on this ferry!
*I was carrying these thick warm clothes in preparation to camp out on Santorini (A repeat of the Kiruna miserably-cold stint, maybe?) These are the clothes that I actually wore daily in the Swedish winter; except this time I wasn't wearing my woolen thermal. But well, found a nice, cheap guest house to stay in afterall.
P.S. Thank you, alexandr0s for the compliment.
posted byWilliam at 9:43 PM 1 comments
KK Hospital V-Work
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Second time at the KK Hospital. Tried to teach the kids how to fold a dinosaur. Obviously, the set of Net instructions is quite deceptive. At a 1-5 scale rating, this dinosaur is rated 1. Easy right? Lijie and I were stuck half-way. Well, perhaps the instructions and illustrations weren't that clear (yea, blame the instructions...). Lijie came to a conclusion that practicing origami trains intelligence by forcing one to decipher the mostly unclear instructions. While I came to a conclusion that you really need patience with these paper animals.
Click here for all pixs related to KK Hospital volunteer work.
posted byWilliam at 12:23 AM 0 comments
Soccer Match - Chemistry Honours VS Staff
Friday, February 02, 2007
Click here for full album.
The final score was 3:2. The student team won! Whoa ho!
posted byWilliam at 9:23 PM 0 comments