Tranqulity Gold v8

Saturday, September 24, 2005

I'm leaving on a jet plane

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here with all my stuff
I hate to say goodbye to all my friends,

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The groups' waitin', they're callin' out

Now the time has come to leave
One more time, oh, yes I gotta go
Pray for me and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come
When I won't alone,
far far away from here I about to go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
But soon I'll be back again
then we can catch up once more
Oh yes, I can't wait to go

I'm leavin on a jet plane,
for the mountains of Sabah
Oh yes, I can't wait to go...

*Left for Sabah 7am 24th September 2005*

12:10 AM

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

This week has been crazy, and it's about to get crazier. But isn't that what's life all about? Life is always crazy, it has been one meeting after another running here and there, meetings here and there. First I go to school, then all of a sudden I seem to get my hands effectively full of all sorts of matters and have to give directions, instructions, attend meetings, run here and there to get work done and before I know it, half the day is gone before I even get a chance to sit down and start on my project, but somehow or rather I miraculously finished soldering my prototype board today! That itself is an achievement but I'll elaborate more on that later. What I need are clones of myself or robots to carry about my individual tasks.

These few days, preparation for Sabah is nearly complete, the BME society is in full swing and FYP is at it's fever pitch, yet t's only the 7th day and we're all going crazy! And I think these few days I've been talking too much, they think that I am very happy and cheerful these few days, but is that the case?

I don't know but when I went home today I felt suddenly empty, but I guess the breaking of this news has finally completely closed that chapter and episode in my life.

So my prediction has been right, and symptoms have shown. This is probably going to be a long entry since I am not going to write for 2 weeks. I have firmly rejected since the realization of futility, but she still seems to be holding on to the faintest of threads of hope that are non-existent. Why does the other her come into my mind now?

After fighting a writer's block for over a month, I've finally gotten to writing my essay theme. But is it too late? We'll never know without trying right?

I don't know why I am so good in finding out things that I don't want to find out. It's a curse. I'm not growing old anymore, and I feel that I need to clear my evils. I'm leaving the school soon and there are several loose ends that i need to tie up in my life. I think I should leave Ngee Ann with as few enemies as possible.

I've been very busy this week, rushing to complete tasks throughout the whole day and I am multitasking multiple expectations on my back simultaneously. I've been running up and down, giving instructions to everyone and juggling my project but the busier you are, the less you seem to achieve ain't it?

But remember: You're only as stressed as you want to be.

Sabah in 3 days. Much needed break to Kinabalu and fresh air.

8:52 PM

Saturday, September 17, 2005

I've finally finished my Kinabalu shopping!

Hi-tec all-black, thermally-insulated, waterproof, Kevlar boots!!! @ $130

8-led headlamp @ $8, and OutGear 40-litre backpack with all-black raincover @ $50!

Sabah here I come.

8:31 PM

This year marks a first for the Singapore Writer's Festival (SWF): Bloggers are invited to give talks at the event. This has raised some eyebrows. We all know that "blogging" language is considerably different from "writing" language.

Writing also used to be a rather "elitist activity". To earn the rank of "writer", is not easy, at the very least, you are expected to have perfect grammar, a sizable vocabulary and a strong command of the language.

I remember several years ago, when I first started blogging. I didn't bother about my language and grammatical articulations much, I used to get criticism from other grammatically-correct bloggers or English teachers, reprimanding that that wasn’t real writing.

Now, what constitutes good writing? Writing is a form of communication and good communication is when the message is brought across succinctly and accurately. The message that the author is trying to get across must also be insightful; we all know that the best writers are often brilliant thinkers.

Good writing engages you and traps you in the bubble within the author's world; good writing makes you learn, be it new perspectives, giving you knowledge or simple entertainment.

An English teacher during the SWF talk was concerned about the Singlish in most of our local blogs, especially among the youth.

Personally, I find it thoroughly refreshing that blogging is encouraging writing for the masses and is no longer considered a daunting and snobbish activity. Critics may argue that it mars the beauty of the English language, but variety can be a blessing as well.

That is not to say that bad grammar and spelling is to be condoned. It shouldn't, but what I am saying is that an inability to write perfect English should not stop one from expressing oneself.

As long as a reader exists, a writer will continue writing.

Still there is an evident case of blogging in Singapore that has shed much negative light on the subject recently, we have cases of the scholar being sued by A*STAR, we have the 2 youths being arrested for racist remarks in their blogs, we have controversal socialites and their glamourous blogs that have brought both glory and bane.

So why do we blog? I've answered this question some time ago but I fear my blogging will take a negative decline. But still sometimes cringing at the uncomfortable usage and destructive propensity of the English language in some blogs are inevitable.

I fear that this blog will be forced to close again in the near future and may never be ressurected again. For blogging has become a near-treacherous activity. It serves to undermine your integrity, cast shadows of doubt and raises eyebrows and more questions that we all wish to avoid.

I don't want to be leaking confidential infomation through blogging, which I have accidentally and unintentionally done so in the past and accidental or incidental defamation is unavoidable when comments, purgory and insults are personal and directional.

A blog is powerful, but with power, it becomes dangerous, and people have fallen.

A new era has been ushered, and it's time to see the light.

I will probablly stop blogging eventually when the time comes.

7:01 PM

Friday, September 16, 2005

Today she came to class. And I realized that I still had feelings for her. But it will never meant to be.

9:55 PM

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Totally swamped with work this week with no time for anything else. But I've been playing GOOGLE EARTH since yesterday night and have been completely hooked on it and now I’ve managed to get my class hooked on it too =D It's so fun! It's even better than a game, get it at http://earth.google.com/

It's a Earth-simulation map that looks and works just like a SIMS game, Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

10:24 PM

Friday, September 09, 2005

I am so tired, falling sick but I will prevail! Must have completely over-worked myself, but no body said life was easy. Doesn’t mean that when you're sick or tired you can rest. When work has gotta be done, work has gotta be done! Today I went back to school again and we started working on our FYP project. I have a reason to feel good! My project was the only student-proposed and a lot of the students didn’t know it was mine and tried to vote for it! Yea! Feels good to be wanted? At least something you came up with. 100% FX originality!

Then there was much publicity about my exploits amongst the lecturers and the project that I will be doing. Talk about stress-expectations. But yes! I live to deliver, darn if this headache goes away quick, my productivity will improve, but the human body only has so much of a limit. Even mine. Failure in nuclear batteries. So look for good things to come, more work to be done! Work always comes first. Health next.

The Mitsubitshi EVO Spacewagon!!! For all you family daddies with children and an uncontrollable urge for power at your fingertips without the lashing from your wife. Want an EVO? But have children? Get this! Only for a limited run of 2500 units worldwide only. 2.0-Litres of MIVEC-Turbo intercooler EVO Power! The usual brembo brakes and all the works. Perfect for the man inside the family man.

10:42 PM

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Today's IAP presentation went well and smoothly and it's finally over! I've managed to up the ante and I expect myself to do the same for our FYP project. Top Quality work for top quality grades! Did you expect anything less from me? But overall it has been a great and fruitful experience.

Maybe I do have that as a reason to feel good. But I did feel satisfied with the quality of my presentation and improvements can still be made. Then we hung around, I've been acknowledged and then it was a great lunch at SIM, a gracious lift given by Jeremy and then back at the Bme centre, where we started our project discussion. So later we left together later than everyone else, but now is the time to get serious! The short period that we'll be travelling overseas, we'll be handicapped by 10 days compared to everyone else. START WORKING NOW!

Anyway, now everyone is more advanced than me! Some have gotten themselves a 512mb Trek thumbdrive and FX-8 cameras. Darn haha. But life's good now.

HOT NEWS! MINDEF finally chosen the F-15T Strike Eagle as the next generation fighter for the RSAF! Rafale lost! I was so sure of this deal yea! Eagle rocks! Many airforces have been much eagerly awaiting MINDEF's decision because it has been known that MINDEF is a fussy buyer that evaluates it's needs and weapons capabilities that it will be purchasing.

Next HOT news! Microsoft sueing GOOGLE for attempting to go into the internet and software arena. Interesting enough? But the above news is still hotter than this one.

11:01 PM

Monday, September 05, 2005

Ever since the comex fair, I've only slept a few hours. Haven't slept since Sunday. That's 48hrs non-stop as of right now. Incredible. I've been drinking coffee like water and rushing through my report and presentation. Yea! Close to approaching 48 hrs of full FX run-time! I am running on nuclear batteries man! If I don't sleep tonight, that'll be sun-mon-tue, 72 hours of full run-time, not sleeping for 3 days. I wonder if i can push another day? I will prevail! Work must be done! So what if you are tired or sick? Work still has to be done and time ain't gonna wait for you!

11:52 PM

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Let's see what happened these few days, did'nt have the time to blog because I was swamped with work.

The last week at work brought about a bittersweet passing. My heart was reluctant to part with the place that I've grown fond with, the bonds with the brilliant scientists that I've forged and the priceless memories of the hard work toiled and the great interpersonal relationships formed.

I was swamped with work countary to the believe that it was all free-and-easy for the last week, I spent my time consolidating my data, tabulating my results, giving several presentations to subgroups and to the directors themselves.

Short summary of the week en passe.
Monday, work + training, slept at 1
Tuesday, work + presentation, slept at 2
Wednesday, presentations to boss + Student excellence award presentation, slept at 2
Thursday, data processing + staff dinner, slept at 3
Friday, final subgroup and camp, didn't sleep
Saturday, Yellow Ribbon walk

My body finally fallen sick due to exhaustion. Total time slept throughout the week, probably only about 24 hours. I slept 24 hours for a whole week! Totally maxed out my own stamina and nuclear battery.