Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Finally I've managed to write an update in this neglected blog of mine. It's been over a week, but here are some updates on what I've been busy with.
I've not only been working, but working on my magazine as well. And after receiving some votes from both lecturers and my group members, and the votes were all praise =D I guess the winner is going to be the 6th design and I quite liked that design myself too =) After all that is probably my most original design. Anyway, Beginning from several days ago, work was filled with thoughts about the magazine.
Work was no walk in the part either, I had to hurriedly learn a new CAD program, Solidworks. And it was only last Thursday that I am "officially" using solidworks! 2 days to learn a CAD program with nothing. At least I had one tutorial for 3D max and AutoCAD respectively, but solidworks is so much simpler, the program is nearly idiot-proof. The designs that I've drawn so far, are all rave =)
Anyway work was extremely distracting, whilst I was working there were so many trains of thought running simultaneously in my mind, about them, about her, about my mag, about new innovation, thermobaric applications to pulsonic plasma, to pulse-detonation and scramjets, to the microfluidic monolayer electrodes that I was working on, to What I want to study in the near future..
Actually after working as a researcher for some time, I've begun to have an interest in chemistry, because my supervisor was talking to me about what I could do in the future and I asked is there a need to do up till PhD level?
So what kind of industry or occupation requires a PhD? Since I am an engineer, he told me some examples about the electronics industry, such as wafer fabrication, probably new circuit routing and design of chips, things in a micro-fabrication factory that a Masters level cannot handle. Even as a chemical engineer, basic process technicians or machine operators merely requires a degree or a Masters, but if you want to go further into management or R&D, you need a PhD. Do I want to go that far?
Then I had visions of me doing a PhD in materials or chemical engineering. Suddenly I thought of my secondary school days and how poorly I did at school. I wonder what Ms Tan Wenyi will think if she finds out I've decided to do a PhD in Chemistry.
There are only several teachers that came to mind. Haha, I can still remember all the negative forecasts that all my teachers had over each of my subjects. How I struggled with A-maths and Chinese. The disappointed faces of my science teachers when my test papers came back with a less than satisfactory grade and everyone else around me were hitting top grades. Since I was in the "top-class", not getting an A was disastrous.
Nevertheless, Ms Tan Wenyi was my Chemistry teacher and she was very patient with me even though I wasn't that strong compared to the better students like YY, Lek or SY in Chemistry. So every time I didn't get an A, she will give me that "crossed" look and I would smile sheepishly giving some lame excuse. Anyway, she also helped me whole heartedly with my ASYF* project for the NSTS** competition, my project, Antibiotic properties of Aloe Vera. We didn't win though, but the process was very exciting and I learnt a lot along the way, being in the Science Talent Group helped a lot. We got extra privileges to go to the W3 Life-science Cluster to participate in the life science course at River Valley High. That was back in 2001. 5 Years ago. Ms Tan Wenyi supported me through all that. I doubt back in 2001, I had any inkling that I will be doing chemistry in my future and now I am at doing just that. Organic synthesis and chemical engineering.
*ASYF - Asean Science Youth Festival
**NSTS - National Science Talent Search
I eventually got an A at O levels though. The future is in chemistry. Haha, now I got this vision, if I ever do chemistry, I will go and find Ms Tan Wenyi or "Mrs?" in 10 years time. She'll probably have kids in secondary school by then.
"Hey, hi Ms Tan! Do you remember me? Back in CTSS 2000 with the lowest grades in class."
"Hey, of course I remember you, how are you now?"
"Oh I am doing my PhD in chemistry".
"????"
Haha, yeah dream on. I doubt if I'll ever do Chemistry IF I even decide to do a PhD. The future is full of uncertainties. That scenario above was just a fantasy.
Sunday was a holiday, yet I woke up with this great sense of unease. What's wrong? Anyway, yesterday was the heat of talking-point, the elections 2006, but I was too tired to really be bothered about it. Ok, fine, the PAP-controlled Local media are waging a campaign against SDP and other contesting political parties. I've actually read one of "the New democrat" that the SDP is selling for their campaign and I agreed on several issues that they had shown, such as the PAP policies of "Foreigners get the jobs, locals go to NS"The foreign talent are killing Singapore, but the nitty gritty truth is that, we need them to survive.
But why so many gripes? Why not? I am not feeling very patriotic recently, firstly I work so hard in polytechnic to see all the awards go to the foreigners. Damn PRCs. Secondly, I am going to lose 2 years to dumb NS whilst seeing all the uni places and jobs go to the foreigners who come here to study and grab our eventual jobs.
Why pay a demanding local when a foreigner comes cheaper huh? You'll ask. Hell, I would probably do that too. But the Singapore elections 2006 seems a tad boring compared to the elections in other countries, such as the states or in Taiwan, where things are really heated up and people all geared up and in great gusto. It's just boring here. What? Some public rallies? That's all? Where are the road marches? Where are all the posters on every lamp post? Where are the jubilant applause and fanfare and throwing of flower petals? Where are all the leaflets falling from the sky?
If you ask some ignorant or uneducated Singapore, "who is Steve Chia Kiah Hong or Goh Meng Seng? Or Lim Swee Lian Sylvia or Mohammed Rahizan Bin Yaacob?", they may not even know! If you are a Singaporean, YOU BETTER KNOW people like Chee Siok Chin, Low Thia Khiang, Steve Chia or Chiam See Tong. I mean, the GE '06 is just plain boring. Yea, yea, you have a scandal, like James Gomez who failed to hand in the minority form and is now under investigation for "attempting to deceit and cheat the election process and discredit the government". I mean, huh? That's the hottest point that scandals can go here in Singapore? Where's the fun and fiesta?
Ok, so here's the brief final results, of the total 84 parliament seats, 82 went to the PAP (People's Action Party) lead by Mr Lee Hsien Loong who contested for all 84 seats and won 82 with 747,860 vote, 66.60%. The WP (Workers' Party of Singapore) contested for 20 seats and won 1 with 183,604 votes at 16.34%. The SDA (Singapore Democratic Alliance) led by Chiam See Tong contested for 20 seats and won 1 with 145,902 votes at 12.99%, and last of all, SDP (Singapore democratic party) led by Dr Chee Soon Juan contested for 7 seats and won 0 with 45,634 votes at 4.07%.
A total of 1,123,000 votes were tallied, with 26,727 spoilt votes and those who not vote at 97,000. Final results, PAP won 82 seats, the SDA 1 and the WP 1, SDP 0. Any wonder why? Actually, I wouldn't have voted for the PAP myself because of my grouse with their ever-increasing GST prices, CPF-induced illusions, increased cost of living, government-controlled media, price-locking of HDB-government-controlled housing and of course, mandatory 2-years NS with unfair treatment of white-elephants and other expatriate-cases.
But the quality of the opposition this year just plain sucked! I mean SDP had interesting issues to raise. But all their tactics were raised at anti-PAP sentiment (led by Dr Chee Soon Juan, any surprise?). Such as bringing up of the NKF issue, the cost of living, the minister's pay, the NS for locals and jobs to foreigners, the bottom 8% of the population and proposal to peg the ministers pay to the bottom 8% and comparison to other presidents such as Bush and Blair. I found it damn funny, they're like small school kids saying "I don't like you, don't friend you!!!"
Can you imagine a party like that leading Singapore? I wasn't too clear about the SDA though, but upgrading of lifts to woe resident's votes? How much more short-sighted can you get? Actually I was a tad supportive of the WP and would have considered voting them, till that stupid James Gomez screwed everything up.
http://singaporedemocrat.org/
So all in all, PAP wins, with walk-overs in 7 GRCs. What's the point of voting? It's been a PAP monarchy or anarchy ever since they came to power. Maybe in the near future we have the PAP saying "WE ARE THE LAW". If they can remove the Jury from the supreme courts, they can do more.
For the rest of the day I was just doing the magazine omg. I think I am nearly falling sick?
Monday was a company declared holiday! The whole of May is a great month to work because we only have 19 working days! Haha, anyway, I initially had plans today, but the other party cancelled it last minute at 2am. (my hours are all screwed up because I am working on the mag!) So last night I worked till 4am again. This time happily finishing the Mag team 2006 picture as well, and I have to say I am quite pleased with the work I've done.
So Sanjay was online chatting with me till about 2am, then I hit the sack for a nap and woke and we decided to go out to Bugis to check out SLT and catch MI 3 at the same time.
Mission: Impossible 3 synopsis
Super-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from active duty to trains new IMF agents. But he is called back into action to confront the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team - his old friend Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), transportation expert Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), background operative Zhen (Maggie Q), and fresh recruit Lindsey (Keri Russell) - to travel the globe pursuing Davian and rescue Hunt's love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan).
The movie wasn't too bad, a 3 star from me. The action sequences were very Hollywood signature, the fight scenes American, the plot sub-developed, the character-development barely superficial but overall an interesting action-movie.
The plot tries to be "Ocean's 11" with some really nifty theft-like jobs, where they break into the Vatican, the first rescue-job with only 4 men assaulting a big factory to save a captured agent and some really-high-tech weaponry like automated gun-turrets and a inside-agency betrayal to attempt a twist to the plot.
Then the plot goes into something like "true-lies" where the agent has to steal something to get his captured wife back and when he wakes up drugged and escapes he does a series of quick-thinking mixed with high-tech approaches to solve his problem, like running through the street with a gps-enable handphone tracking, escaping the building with nothing but a walkie-talkie and a small knife, very "The bourne Identity", overall well, nothing over too spectacular, nothing fully original as well.
Well after that show we went to SLT and SLS, and I bought another hp rx1950 pda for dad. Anyway dad is a little bit sensitive today and its best not to show him too much at all to begin with no matter how proud I am of my work because all he抣l do besides complimenting will be to get you to help him do something similar for his school.
Then it was back home to work on my mag, finally finishing the first draft in PDF format and man, did that really tax the processing power of my AMD FX64 processor! Hit the sack at 12.45am.
I am tired, been working on my mag whenever I get back from school and the weekend was spent working on it. Talk about 48 hours straight.
Further updates to be posted when I find the energy to do so.
5:01 AM
