Final Year Project

We finally managed to start our first experiment on my steel beam specimen today after going to the lab for the past 2 weeks to do the experimental set-up. Experimental set-up was not an easy affair as we had to adjust the steel frame which took almost a day and wore us out easily from screwing and unscrewing the nuts to hold the frame. Another day was spent on moving the concrete blocks and steel beam and aligning them to ensure that the load cell can sit at the position that we want it to be at. A good 2 days was spent on placing the necessary equipment and making minute changes before we can even start on our experiment proper.

Unfortunately, the screws holding the steel specimen gave way and we couldn't achieve the failure mode that we aimed for and have to do additional fabrication for my second steel specimen. I'm praying that the screws holding the specimen does not give away again in all the experiments as that will mean that we do not get the data that we want and will not be able to come up with a decent final report.

2008

2008 is coming to an end and I am not keen on celebrating the New Year for a few reasons. Firstly, I will have only 1 semester left before I join the workforce. I will also have to do job-hunting during the final semester to ensure that I have a job waiting when I graduate. Lastly, I will miss this place after I graduate. As much as I like to bitch about NTU not being my first choice for university and a bad culture being in place at NTU, I will miss the friends I have made at university as they are a different bunch of people from my Army, JC and secondary days. Some of them have made a far profound impact on me than they have realised and I'm thankful for that.

With the end of 2008 nearing, it is time for a resolution which I'm still working on but the resolution currently which I have in my mind will need a lot of time and planning before I incorporate it as my resolution as I want to go right into tackling the resolution and ensuring it does not fail. Failure will result in me giving up my Saturdays for the army. A thought which I'm unable to come to terms with.

Held hostage

I'm crafting this post at this time of the day at 1.40am, Monday to be exact because I have been waiting like an idiot since 12am to access the results through D. audit but it is not updated. The administration played me out big time after I dilligently settled my hostel bills and school bill and the payment for school fees was not reflected on my studentlink so I wrote them an email a MONTH ago asking them if they had cashed in the cheque and they wrote yes.

If it is not my school bill, it has to be hostel bill but the payment is reflected but I haven't settled my monthly aircon bill which is at $1.78 ONLY and the payment is due next month. When I access examinations link, I get this message saying that I'm barred from VIEWING THE EXAMS RESULTS AND NEED TO MAKE A PAYMENT. What the hell is happening? It's because of this I wasted 2 hours refreshing the degree audit hoping they will make the change but there has been no change. Exams link will have made my wait less painful. Thank you, SAO.

I'm logging in again at 2am to check my degree audit and if they don't update by then, I'm going to try to sleep and finish my experiment tomorrow and go to the office on the hill and give a piece of my mind.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I read this book when I was in the army. I borrowed it from my bunk mate and finished the book in 2 to 3 days as it was good from start to finish. However, I forgot the story and couldn't remember most of the lessons except the characters' names. I bought the book today and finished a quarter of the book.

My philosophy on books is simple- if you are going to read the book, buy the book as it cuts down your trip to National Library, saves time and helps you to appreciate the finer details of the book. Tuesdays with Morrie is one such book that I knew I have to buy because I know I will re-read the book. Not updated. Why must this happen to me?

Bad habits

It is hard to change a few bad habits especially when you are so used to it that you feel reluctant to change them. However, the bad habits have to kicked before they become part of my life. I’m still at my beginning stage and have made considerable effort and strides in being aware of these habits and making it a point to change them.

Experience has taught me not to tell people who are not close of what you are trying to achieve or overcome as this might lead to people either passing negative feedback or making you feel uncomfortable. I will rather keep my mouth shut than let the whole world know about what I’m doing.

Travelling

I just started on 2 tuition assignments and these assignments restored me back to my usual monthly fee I used to draw 2 years ago and I felt the pinch when I did not have tuition for the entire of this year. By God’s grace, I managed to get 2 assignments for this December and for next year and I’m settled for next semester. Though tuition makes me a richer and happier man, the traveling to the obscure locations can take a toll on me. Although the I-pod makes a good traveling companion and the books help me to get away from staring at aunties engaged in meaningless conversations, the traveling stretches the lesson to 6 hours if the travellng time is factored in.

I should not complain about the traveling as the time traveling is well compensated but time is time and it can never be a good substitute for money no matter how attractive it is. I usually will be tired from my tuition lesson. The best I can do is to make full use of the traveling time and work it to my advantage.

Obama

I borrowed my sister’s Obama book written by a Chicago political journalist who had the chance to monitor and write on the Senate race in which Obama contested. The book was an eye opener as it mentioned a few things about him which I will have glossed over in the mass media or will not have been mentioned in the mass media. Besides learning about how he was once a heavy smoker, stayed in Jakarta and Hawaii for a few years and did voluntary community service in a black neighbourhood, it also helped to deepen my understanding of the American political system.(Though it is still confusing). The book also showcased how naïve politics can be and how far people can go to attain power.

The book provided a few examples of the candidates in Obama’s Senate Race on how they will go to any extent to humiliate and use any words to get themselves noticed and trump their opponents. For example, there was this candidate who made the bad move of continuing to use offensive and strong words against Obama when Obama supported a Bill in favour of abortion and this was at a time when Obama was a crowd favourite and the opponent was soundly beaten in the Senate race.

Another thing I learnt about this book is that being in the public eye is not easy especially if you are popular and you have to make plenty of sacrifices. I wonder if I will have handled the media circus and the people fascination as well as Obama although the man was close to breaking point at times when it overwhelmed him. I will love to talk more about the book but I choose to end my post here as I will rather readers of this blog will read the book themselves firsthand unless you are not an autobiography person.

The promise

This will be my 160th post and I promised myself to put more thought into my blog posts and do a few rounds of editing before I post the blog entry. To improve, one needs to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate countless times on the task that one undertook so that the person can excel in that task. The standard of my blog posts has dropped considerably by my standards and this is due to the slack attitude I took in crafting blog posts. One of the reasons I started to blog was to improve on my writing style and what started out as a promise turned into a mediocre, pointless task and my writing style has deteriorated and it has to improve before it worsens into uninteresting, boring and aimless posts.

Discipline

Blogging is like any task. It requires discipline to excel in a task. It takes courage to take the first step but discipline to finish the task. Starting on a task is always simple but finishing the task is difficult as finishing the task encompasses encountering setbacks and difficulties and overcoming them. I made the first step to blog 2 years ago and I will have to gather the discipline to constantly improve on my blog posts and this will be the perfect time to work on my discipline.

Bad habits

In the past, I had promised myself to start changing a few bad habits. As always, I usually start out optimistically but will fizzle out shortly due to a lack of mental stamina. I have decided to be more conscious of a few bad habits and constantly remind myself to be aware of the bad habits so that I will make an effort to change the bad habits. I prefer not to talk about these bad habits in my blog as I find it pointless and a waste of time to tell the readers of my blog on my bad habits as some of them are BASIC.

Another reason for my failure in overcoming my bad habits is that I tell myself to change a lot of bad habits and the danger of undertaking many tasks is the loss in mental stamina and will power. I hope that I will not get back to my old habits before new year’s day eve as I do not want them to be part of my resolution. Now, I understand how a drug addict out of rehab feels as he usually finds the easy way out.

Resolution

I suddenly got reminded of my new year’s resolution and I have not come up with one for next year. For some years, I did not bother to come up with a resolution as I felt it was unnecessary and at times told myself not to cheat myself and come up with a resolution for the sake of just that one day. For other years that I came up with a resolution, I simply forgot about the resolution by the first week and will not feel guilty about following up on my resolution and promise. 2009 will be special and I hope to achieve to what I set out to achieve and start to give more thought for my resolution so that I will set my heart to achieve the goals.

If you ask an average student from my college on what is his definition of education, chances are he/she will tell you or imply that education is simply a matter of chalking up A's and ensuring that you ace every subject. If you were to probe further and ask him why he chose the university track, there are likely to be a few possible answers. An university education is sought after and important in landing a well-paying, decent job. University education is chosen as it betters your chances of employment compared to being a junior college or polytechnic graduate.

I hate to be a doomsday prophet or the person to bring the bad news but the university education in the country or at least in my college is not bringing out the best in students. The education system sure is lauded as one of the best and people do send their kids to Singapore to study but it is not the best for various reasons.

The lecturers play a huge part in the education system and if they are unable to stimulate the interest of the students or not able to effectively communicate well with the students, the system in place is almost a failure. The accent of lecturers can be forgiven as long as they can be understood and if they are going to bore the hell out of the students by not stirring up their interest and talking in a monotonous tone or reading from the slides, the university education will be a total disaster.

Most students in my college have a myopic view of the world and their world revolves around Singapore, studies and television which preaches bullshit. It's hard to have a stimulating and engaging conversation with an average NTU student as they are most likely going to provide childish and immature answers or they will try to engage you in a meaningless gossip talk.

It's no wonder that most exchange students get appalled when they come to our beautiful campus expecting intellectual and interesting people and end up getting disappointed having to communicate with boring and not so engaging locals who come across as immature.

One of the reasons in my opinion in the short-fall of the students' intellect is our lack of exposure to a variety of programmes like music, theater, movies, books and people as we tend to keep to our studying and over worship the mass media which is unable to expose us to the different aspects of culture.

Education should be wholesome and not limited to only reading the theories from your coursework. It involves engaging and discussing with people on any issue from studies to politics and exploring the unknown to gain a deeper insight and perspective and not limiting ourselves to what we know because education should never be limited in anyway.

There has to be a change and the change has to come now. Something is terribly wrong with the world. We have given too much value to money than it deserves. Our lives are shaped by money and the decisions that we make usually involve money. Why do we attach so much importance to money? Does money have to be a motivation for us to strive? Does money have to be the deciding factor when we choose our job? Does money have to be the factor in chasing our dreams?

Gone are the days when people used to attach importance to integrity, honesty and sincerity. People now feel that money is the only attribute which decides your 'status' In fact, some high society people lack the basic human skills and behave like barbarians.

Many people have told me that money can buy everything but it can never buy love,friendship,trust and honesty. Money attracts people but it is unable to buy the love of your life and the friendship of your comrades because these qualities are priceless. If they are bought off, then these qualities are either fake or cease to exist.I can't imagine using money to buy off my friends and the love of my life because when the money dries up, they will cease to exist in my life.

We have to change now and act now and not dedicate our lives to chasing dollars and cents and making it our sole aim in life.I'm not disputing the fact that money is important but there should be a limit to how much importance we place on the 'paper'. It is not going to follow us to our grave when we reach the ultimate stage of life.

One of my addictions is books as I can't resist buying a book which is awesome and yet cheap and one such book which I bought on impulse was A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseni, the same author who wrote Kite Runner. A Thousand Splendid Suns follow 2 female characters and their troubles and worries and it interwines fiction with real events.

The book in my opinion makes the average reader sympathethic to the Afghan women during the Taliban regime who controlled every aspect of a woman. The Taliban rulers were a bunch of wankers for misuing the Qu'ran to their advantage and making women suffer as a result and giving men the upper hand in every issue even when they are in the wrong.

I guess the only foolish thing the Taliban regime did was not to hand Osama over to America as demanded after the 9-11 incident and that launched America into a war against Terrorism. Although the war is debatable and might be considered unethical, the Taliban regime was defeated and the women were finally free from oppression.

The book in my opinion is not as good as the Kite Runner as the Kite runner makes the average reader think about himself and the issues of courage, morality and values which the Thousand spelendid suns is not able to do so but the book is still a must read nonetheless.

I find myself behaving like a steel member: buckling under compressive load. Just like both the flange and web, my mind or body is either going to buckle under the weight of the FYP. There is no shortcuts to this subject where I can throw smoke bomb and still score a decent grade. It requires painful reading and understanding of steel design and research papers before I can even start on Uncle Chiew's research paper. Just like the steel member, I have to toughen up and increase my compressive strength to withstand the compression load.

I hope Uncle Chiew is happy with our progress tomorrow. I'm sick of the weekly meetings with him and it always give me and J.M goosebumps when we enter his office. I have been trying to understand the stupid research paper which has 10 examples and I have so far understood only 2 and my concepts have been so-so. It gets confusing with each example and the steps are not for the weak hearted.

I'm addicted to Nirvana and can't get over some of their songs. They are an awesome band led by the charismatic lead singer, Kurt Cobain who led a troubled life. From the lyrics, I can see that much thought has been put into it and his words still echo even after his death. His lyrics can be depressing at times and that is however the hallmark of a great musician if he can make the fan think about his lyrics.

It was weird. I will usually update my friend on the soccer results but it was the other way around. I can't believe that the New Paper will continue to dedicate 20 pages to sports especially on Sundays and Mondays when soccer is suffering a silent demise.

I was severely tested when the booze was staring at my face. I was prompted, coaxed and encouraged to take a sip but I stood my ground and did not take a single sip of the alcohol. It does more harm than good and I do not want to subject myself to the poison again. I hate to be a slave to the poison. I have begun the battle against alcohol.

I'm coping well without Soccernet and cable television considering the fact that I love to watch and catch up on soccer. The sport has lost its appeal when money took precedence over passion and more people are making and milking money out of loyal fans. I can't stay loyal to a game which is tainted and have decided to move on.People may say I'm crazy but I remain true to my conviction. These are testing times but I have to remain strong. I can't give in to unneccesary temptations.

Another burning question which has been a puzzle to me is why is John Lennon more loved than Paulie although both are great musicians and amazing song writers? After a few sms replies, I came to a conclusion through a friend that John has always been open with his ideas and is seen as anti-establishment compared to the quieter paulie and it cemented his place when he was assasinated. Think of JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Ghandi who lived on Earth for a short period of time but made an impact felt around them and the world and their assasination cemented their hero status.

Greed is the downfall of man. Greed caused the collapse of Lehman Brothers and losses for banks all over the world. It was too good to be true when the investment banks were making record profits a few years ago and the CEO bosses were earning record bonuses. The bust occurred and everyone tried to run for cover but the damage was already done. Why can't man learn from the Great Depression and be contended?

Technology is the new God. I find myself submitting to it all time.

My handphone rules me for the most part of the day. The computer is the machine which I simply cannot live without. TV is my next best companion. What more can I say?

Quotes from Inspiraci

When Man needs God, he seeks God
When Man doesn't need God, he thinks he is God

Man was made to be simple
but Man want to be complex

I want to give in to my temptation but I know I should not. It's only 2 floors but I know that trip to the lounge will make me forever addicted to the crazy circus. I couldn't resist the net to check out the live score and it read 1-1. This seems harder than ever but I will survive.

Saturday nights are effectively one of the most unproductive part of the week where it's impossible to do some studying when we are supposed to be good students and catch up on revision and do some reading for next week but what if you hate the modules which you are taking? Bite the bullet and endure the pain or fuck the bullshit and live your life. Option two seems very inviting but it seems very difficult to choose.

Education comes at a price but the education I'm receiving is not worth the price. This education prepares us for tests, quizzes and exams. This education is about those who can adhere to the rules.This education is about those who can mug and those who can't. This education does not prepares us for the school of hard knocks. This education I receive in my opinion is trash. I learned more from the Godfather than from the 4 years that I spent in classes.

After Sulaiman of Abu Dhabi United bought Man City and pulled off a spectacular transfer coup by buying Robinho, I suddenly lost interest in EPL. Sulaiman also made a bold claim that the club will soon buy the best players in the market to compete for premier league honours.

This news might be good for Man City fans who can finally think of challenging their city rivals but the question of whether Abu Dhabi can stay committed to Man City remains unanswered. It's pretty scary to know that Abu Dhabi can just exit at anytime and leave the club with a mountain of wages to pay.

I have to agree that $$$ is the defining factor between champions and losers. The only clubs whom I think will win the championship are either Chelsea and Man U cos they spent a lot on quality players and the EPL is turning into a stock market where passion and loyalty takes a back seat and $$$ is The factor.

The only likely scenarios which I envision for the next few years is that the transfer wages are going to spiral out of control and the next talented player on the planet will be commanding a staggering $200 000 per week and the subscription fees and ticket prices are going to increase and the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

I'm not going to be a slave of this crazy circus and pay $$$ and going to do something bold which I will have never thought I will do: CANCEL my sports TV subscription.

Love

You can't explain it
You can't define it
You can't attach a meaning to it

You can savour its sweetness
You can explore its unknown

You can only understand it
if you only experience it.

(Untitled)

Fools have clained you are an imagination
Imbeciles have made money off you
either by proclaiming your prowess
or by lambasting your existence

You are judged more than anyone
You have come to realise that man become delusional
when they can't become you.



Proverbs from Inspiraci

God created imperfect man because a perfect man will be akin to being God.

Technology- the greatest timewaster of our generation.

Technology has brought the world closer and a lot dumber.

Is there a God?

If million of people pray to you, whose prayers do you answer?
Do you have a yardstick to help you?
Do you do balloting
Or do you simply not answer them?

The Man with a mind

He created trouble
He broke laws
He was unconventional
He was respected not because of the things he did
but because of the unique thing he possessed
A mind of his own

Trouble-makers

Life was simple when God created the world
Life was simple when God beautified the world
Life was still simple when God created the men
Life wasn't simple after God created women

Love-Hate relationship

I long to be free from you
I yearn to break from your clutches
I want to but I can't
I still need you
I still want you
I still love you
cos no matter how much I hate you for snatching away my freedom
I still end up loving you, dear handphone

Responsibility is a burden. Is it exactly a burden? Who wants to take responsibility? As far as I know, most people will rather shun away from responsibility because of the implications that come attached with it. An example will be the familiar army scenario where most people will rather do their own thing than to venture out because of the responsibility that comes with it if you screw up in the venture.

Why do some people then do not shun away from them? It takes courage to accept responsibility. Some of these courageous people die. Some live to tell the story but all of these people who took responsibility should be given a pat and even applauded for having the courage to take responsibility because they are great in their own right unlike average men.

What constitutes a good friend? What makes the friend special? In my opinion, a true friend is one who will be there for you all the time and will never leave you in your darkest hours. He also accepts you for you are and will never attempt to change you in any way because he will never embark on a mission to change you. If he makes the effort to change you, either he feels that he wants to help you or has started to dislike you for whom you are and try to make you into someone whom he can like. The other qualities are important but the person who cares about you is the best friend in your life.

I was lunching with a few friends today and the topic shifted to what makes a lasting relationship. One girl mentioned that love is the crucial element to a lasting relationship as only love can make a relationship lasting. That statement made me ponder as I wanted to fully acknowledge the fact and come up with reasonable explanations and counter arguments. The more I thought about it, the more the sentence made sense. If there's no love between two people, there can never be a relationship and the relationship exists either in the physical, sexual or emotional form.

However, after maxing my brain cells, I told the friend that there can be lots of love between two people but the relationship can only work if there's tolerance, understanding and patience from both parties. Males and females both get misunderstood because they think that they are not loved but in actual fact, they love each other and this misunderstanding leads to quarrels and unnecessary fights.

The subject of happiness also cropped up in the conversation where the people who are constantly seeking happiness are the ones who are happy than the people who have found happiness. This statement can be argued both ways because there is no right or wrong answer. However, I will have to go with the first one because I feel that if you have attained happiness, you will have no purpose in your life and you will feel dejected with having no purpose in your life.

One of my army friends told me the story of Ted Turner's dad who once threw a party for everyone when he achieved a big feat and he went to his room after that and shot himself. Ted Turner from this experience had many impossible goals as he didn't want to come to a stage where he has achieved all of his goals and will feel meaningless to lead a life devoid of goals. Thus, the pursuit of happiness rather than the attainment of happiness is what makes a man happy in my opinion.

To all the people who read my blog, I will strongly urge you to listen to The Beatles. The Beatles make their own music, pen their own lyrics and have their own distinctive style. I have listened to most of the Beatles songs and I always feel that this group grew over the years they produced their music. The group which talked about love in the early 60s grew up into one where they talked about social and political issues. Their songs always make me sad because I wonder on why they had to break up and I can relate to the fans at that time on how they will have felt when the Beatles split up. I will leave the fans with the lyrics to a Beatles song to ponder about.

Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe
In yesterday

Suddenly
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday
Came suddenly

Why she
Had to go I don't know
She wouldn't say
I said
Something wrong now I long
For yesterday

Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe
In yesterday

Why she
Had to go I don't know
She wouldn't say
I said
Something wrong now I long
For yesterday

Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe
In yesterday

There's only one true religion- The Beatles. I discovered them a few weeks ago and I have to admit that they are the best I have listened to in my entire life. When I first heard of them, I thought they were a boy band but they are not even close to a boy band. They are many times better than a boyband. They write their own songs and compose their songs something which most bands of today do not do today.

Their songs mostly touch on love but their lyrics holds so much of meaning and conviction that it only shows how much of effort, sweat and dedication has gone into their music. Every single Beatle song is unique and the Beatles have even experimented with indian classical instruments and have even incorporated into their songs played by them- a first by a western group.

I sometimes wonder why do they have to break up after 6 glorious years where they have sold a zillion records during that time and they produce good music but like all band break-ups like a certain G N R, ego clashes and personality differences could lead to a break-up. I wasn't born in that era but reading the article of their break-up just saddens me because you never know what could have happened if they had put aside their differences, trashed things out productively and produced good music.

The 4 Beatles did pursue successful solo careers but their group career will always be remembered. There's only one Beatles and nobody can rival or imitate them and this is the time where Liverpool can feel proud of itself of their sons instead of their spanish clowns. To put it simply, they are Britain's best export!!

Another group that I'm very disappointed is Queen who gave us Bohemian Rhaspody, Somebody to Love, We will Rock you and We are the Champions. They were one of the best, energetic, lively and crowd pleasing group who will never fail to rouse up their audience. When people think of Queen, they will think of Freddie Mercury. His stage performance and antics was what made people identify with Queen and I'm not disrespecting the other Queen members but their recent decision to restart the Queen band with a certain Paul Rodgers was not a good decision in my opinion. Freddie died in 91 and Queen was never the same without Freddie but to have Paul ROdgers in the band although under the Queen+ Paul ROdgers music group is not an ethical decision and does not do justice to Freddie. Just like the Beatles, there's only one Freddie Mercury and the remaining members of Queen restarting a band under the band name shows that money talks.

Rap is almost dead!! It is. Gone are the days when people could listen to good beat and lyrics minus the bitches and the fucks. No rapper of today can come close to Tupac, considered an intellectual rapper in my opinion. Only the older players like Kayne West and Jay Z are giving this genre hope but clowns like Souljaboy, Pdiddy(fucker can't rap for nuts), Chris Brown are still in the industry and the industry needs new blood to rejuvenate itself. 50 cents and Snoop are good rappers but not class rappers. Eminem is good but there's a limit to how much I can listen to how much you hate your mum and wife. It has to stop somewhere.

I went to the Esplanade to borrow a few movies over the past few days and the Fugitive is a must- watch. Tommy Lee Jones, one of my fav actors was a wise crack during the show and I don't understand why producers and directors shun him because he's a lovable clown and he has the stage persona!! I don't understand how Syl Stallone, Russel Crowe(besides gladiator) can still act till today. Another must watch is the old Oceans 11 starring the rat pack(Frankie, Dean Martin, Sammy). The plot was similar to the Clooney's Ocean but it was refreshing. This movie had pretty good lines and good cinematography and it had a unique ending and it's certainly better than the new Oceans.

It's been some weeks since my last post and I have been sick for the past two weeks. My tongstils have been reddish and it has become extremely diffcult for me to swallow my food. I will say that I brought it upon myself as I helped myself to chocalate fondue last last friday when my supervisor gave a treat to my colleague who was finishing his attachment. My throat was already swollen but I couldn't resist the chocalate fondue and helped myself to a few servings of the delicious chocalate fondue.

I paid a visit to the doctor a few days later and he gave me MC for 2 days. The problem still refused to go away and I went to see the doctor again after the MC and he prescribed me more medicine. The problem worsened yesterday and my aunt told my mum that it's better if I go to the hospital near my place. I thought it was a good idea and was hoping that they will do something. Instead, it was the worst experience I had with a doctor and with the hospital staff.

The nurse was rude and was very impatient. No doubt, the hospital looked under staffed but I believe there is a certain conduct on how to behave towards the patient. The worst was the doctor as he first pressed for my number and I entered while he was talking to another patient and he asked me to wait outside. While I was outside, I saw a 'clown' in a wheelchair making rude remarks and hurling vulgarties and he was escorted by 4 policemen and I was amused by the entire scene which was a welcome relief from my current pain. When I went inside, the doctor started to talk for me and assumed that my fever was the critical issue when my tongstils was.

I had to repeatedly cut him off and tell him about my tongstils and he took a look at it and perscribed me some generic antibiotics. I bet he didnt have a clue when I showed him my anti-biotics from my family doctor as he didn't offer me an opinion and didn't offer me any suggestions on how to treat the tongstils like a proper doctor should and just told me he will prescribe me medicine and give me MC.My mum was pissed off with the doctor's attitude. After the horrible experience, I told myself to avoid this hospital at all costs even if I'm on my deathbed as the service is pathethic and 2 of my friends have told me that the hospital is bad.

I started my internship a few weeks ago and I have been on a clockwork basis- waking up at 6.30am, leaving my house at 7.30am and having lunch at 1pm and leaving work at 6.15pm. I welcome this internship as it offered me a sneak preview of what my working life will be like and I have learnt a great deal about RC and steel- 2 subjects which I used to loathe during term time but 2 subjects which I have grown to appreciate. My supervisor has also played an important role in my internship as he's very knowledgable and able to answer my questions as simply as possible and been patient with me and guided me when I have made mistakes instead of being harsh with me and putting me down.

Internship has also allowed me to find out more about the good food outlets in Bugis and I can safely say that where to find the best mee pok and fish cutlet though it has little bearing on my internship but lunch is one of the few things I look forward during my course of work.

Classic

It's the classic post with the classic statement. It's been a long time since my last post or it's almost a month since I blogged. I might offer a few reasons for my absence but there's truly only reason- I'm pretty lazy. I guess it all boils down to perseverance and dedication to blog but my laziness has a major part to play in me not being able to blog for the past few weeks.

I caught the Champions League Finals between Chelsea and Manchester United and my gut feeling told me that Man U will win the title as their football this season is second to none and they have been playing well for the past few months and though Chelsea has caught up with Man U, they just didn't have the edge over Man U. I saw the delayed telecast and I was pissed off with myself for not watching the live telecast as the game was very entertaining as both sides had equal number of opportunities and there was plenty of drama such as Ronnie scoring and then Lampard equalising.

If I had wanted Chelsea to win, it will have been for Lampard as his mother passed away and I felt that he went into this game wanting to win the champions league more than any Chelsea player. However, the goal was a fluke as it took 2 deflections but Chelsea could have killed off the game IF ONLY they had not hit the woodwork and I will say that Man U were very lucky in the 2nd half and in the penalty shootout when things seemed not to go their way and Terry of all players missed the spotkick. It's sad to know that people will always associate this final with Terry's miss rather than Anelka's miss which sealed the trophy for Man U. It's just the irony of football. It was heart- breaking to see John Terry to cry uncontrollably but that's the cruel fate of penalties.

There were plenty of clowns in the match, particularly Tevez who started a stupid controntation, followed by Drogba who slapped Vidic. I didn't know what went through Drogba's mind but what were you thinking when you raised your hand? Sure, it was a pretty tense affair but you are a professional football player who's earning thousands of pounds and you should have ocnducted yourself in a civilised manner instead of being a barbarian. I hope that he does not move to Milan as Milan do not need trouble makers at the moment.

Talking about Milan makes me very upset. This was the team which won the Champions League title last season and they failed to qualify for Champs League and will be playing in the UEFA CUP of all tournaments. This club is fit for the Champions League and it's been some time since I can recall Milan playing in the UEFA cup. A look at the squad will show that the average age of their players is around 30. I have a strong feeling that the coach is going to replace half the squad as this season has been simply disatrous and forgettable. What Milan needs is young and hungry players.

I borrowed a book which features letters written in the capacity of P.M to world leaders by Dr M and it's pretty interesting. The book claims that the letters are personally written by Dr M as most leaders do not draft their letters. Although I admire his command of the language and his fearlessness to speak up, not all of the comments and viewpoints should be taken seriously as some of them in my opinion are not true like the fact that how he stepped aside giving an impression that he's not power hungry but HELLO. A prime minister who has been in power for more than 15 years!!I do not know what to classify him and the episode of Anwar is another indication of how power crazy one can get.

The late Heath Ledger who got noticed in 1999 with the hit teen movie 'Ten things I hate about you' had it tough as he received movie offers which he felt will not advance his career and he refused them at a time when he was short of cash and apparently survived on instant noodles to sustain himself when he ran out of cash. He felt strongly that the roles he chooses now for the monetary gain will be doomsday and his patience eventually paid off when he received good movie roles like Brokeback mountain and Dark Knight.

The late Tupac Amaru Shakur strongly believed in himself and his ideals and refused to compromise on them so much so that I would say he died at a young age due to his unwillingness to compromise on his beliefs. There's a beautiful quote in one of my favourite 'Only God can Judge Me' song by Tupac which sums up his entire life which is 'I rather die like a man than live like a coward' He stayed true to this quote by living life on the edge and never held back his words and I truly respected him for staying true to his ideals.

These two men are some of the people whom I hold in high regard as they believed in something and never let go of them even when their ideals or beliefs were against their advancement but if they did not believe in themselves, I don't think they will have risen to such a great level.

Many people have doubted me. Many people have cast their reservations about the decision. Some people may be skeptical. Some people may not be down with my decision but all I can say is that I believe that the decision that I have undertaken was made with the strongest intention and I will stick to it through thick and thin. I have never felt strongly about an issue and this is the first issue that I have such strong feelings. I know that this decision is going to impact my life in one way or another but if the Godfather did not make the decision to enter into Mafia, I don't think he will have become the Godfather and realised his potential. I believe in what I'm doing and do not give a fuck about what people might say because they have to first respect my decision before I can bring myself to hear them out. As Tupac said, I rather die like a man than live like a coward.

When you are living in a room full of dirt and filth without cleaning it for a month or so and this does not include mopping the floor, you are bound to be in for a shock as my roomie and I decided to clean the room randomly and we were faced with massive amounts of dirt. The fan was dirty. The floor was dirty. The windows were dusty. The walls had small insects residing on the surface. It was basically a room nobody wants to stay but after a hour of sweeping and mopping, it feels DARN GOOD to let your feet touch the clean floor.

On the exam front, it has been madness as I had 3 papers in 3 days with the first of all papers-Computing. Nobody likes Computing. If you like computing, either you love it or you must be lying as I feel that it's a waste of my time and I do not mind taking 2 G.Es to make up for the stupid subject. My seniors who have taken the subject numerous times will rather take 2 G.Es because it's a stupid subject but fortunately, I had a senior friend to teach me and my friends and I completely understood the stupid User defined functions in a hour. The 40 something page was condensed in a hour lecture given by friend and with me practising the questions, I can safely say that I can clear the subject but I hope that i do not count my eggs too early or the chickens or whatever..

The 2nd paper was R.C and this paper was surprisingly OK as the questions were not very difficult but I made a mistake with the first question and I'm hoping that this does not cost me dearly. The third was another stupid subject-CE Management which I studied intensively with my friend over 2 days and covered the entire syllabus skipping a stupid chapter which our gamble paid off when it didnt come out.

A few words of advice- do not take multiple exams or back to back exams within a few days as it's exhausting and can fuck up your mind when you finish the last exam because you badly want to sleep after the paper or you will crack under pressure. I may sound profound or bullshitty but my situation will be an example to people who want to do heroic things to think twice unless it's your FINAL semester.

After my last paper, I caught the 2nd installment of Bourne trilogy. I had to force myself to watch the movie as the first 10mins was not intriguing and felt that it could not match up to Identity but I was so wrong when the car scenes came up and it was so engaging. The 2nd installment in my opinion was good and it's a pity that I caught onto Bourne very late as it's a cinema movie. I will be watching the last installment when I'm taking a break from studies.

On the soccer front, I can't describe what I'm feeling because a season which promised so much for Arsenal went up in smoke when they self desructed due to lack of mental stamina. However, I can't stand clowns like captain Gallas for being emotional, Eboue for being happy go lucky with his tackles and giving me a heart attack, Fabregas for not showing effort. The only person whom I respect is Walcott. He gives his best in the Arsenal shirt. The team have to raise their performance for next season.

The only thing which we possess is our mind and we need to have a mind of our own. We should never let anyone take control of our mind as that is what we have and what makes us unique. I believe that we have a mind for a reason. I'm zonking out. Goodnight, Singapore.

I'm pissed with Arsenal for failing to play catch up with Manchester United as they have lost a lot of points over the past few weeks. I'm pissed with Fabregas for his excessive recent showboating and immaturity which is costing the team as he's the man who makes the team tick. I'm pissed with Gallas for not leading by example and showing his emotions unneccessarily. I'm pissed with Arsenal for not having committed players who can carry the team on the shoulders and do wonders when called upon. Manchester have Rooney and Ronnie. Liverpool have Gerrard and Carragher. Chelsea have Terry and Drogba. Arsenal:>>>>>>>> I rest my case.

I'm pissed with myself for falling sick at the crucial time when I'm supposed to be fit and fighting to the finish line. I'm pissed with myself for not being able to complete the required chapters for today as my body seem to be ailing and my mind zonking out. I'm pissed with myself for being behind time. I'm pissed with myself for being addicted to Godfather again. I'm pissed with myself now that I'm wasting my time crafting this silly post.

Classic

The time has come for me to craft my CLASSIC long and overdue post due to a number of commitments which made me avoid blogspot for a good 2 months. This semester has been pretty Ok but lately the killer subjects such as R.C and structures 2 have shown me how difficult life can get. R.C is one subject that I wish I had not taken. The start was good but the journey is beginning to get tougher and tougher with each passing day. Structures seemed simple but I guess the phrase Do not judge a book by its cover is very apt as the concepts seem to be a bit tricky and abstract but managable. The only modules which I enjoy at the moment is HRM and the film module. Although HRM is similar to the management module which I took last semester, the tutor makes the subject come alive in class and he's one of the tutors I will highly recommend for this subject as he's simply passionate and knowledgable and does not believe in reading from the slides and the lecturer who prefers to substantiate with examples to reinforce the concepts. However, his dramatism might put people off if it's not appreciated.

Films has always been my passion and the film module has made me appreciate the finer art of movies. The lecturer is very good and explains every single concept well and her choice of movies tie in with the chapters she had just lectured which shows that she has put a lot of effort into her choice of movies. It has also exposed me to a few good movies like Crouching Tiger, Chunking Express and Monsoon Wedding which I will not have seen on my own accord. It's another must-take module for those film enthusiasts.

On a serious note, the Malaysian elections has made me realise how lucky I am to be a Singaporean. I didn't know that politics can be so dirty with candidates slamming each other shamelessly, politicians threatening voters of the consequences directly and candidates using underhanded tactics to win the elections and in your face corruption. It was pure entertainment for the average Singaporean who was not used to such things as we are protected from such crap and it allowed me to reflect and made me appreciate of the importance of good governence and low corruption. I can't wait for May as Anwar will be contesting in a by-elections and him being elected into Parliament will mean more spectacle and mud-slinging and dirty linen being displayed in public will make my entertainment for the month of May.

Jumping to books: I'm currently hooked on the Tupac book written by his middle school friend who had a chance to get to know Tupac. I can only say that Tupac's death was too tragic as he was in his prime and he had already a number of songs under his belt and he's known for his lyrics calling out for action and attention to social problems but his first shooting made his subsequent songs very thuggish. Tupac was also known to be a voracious reader who reads almost everything and his musical tastes might shock the average reader and he's known to be very interested in acting. I guess his Gemini roots has a lot to play in his music and books taste!!

It's a month since my last entry and I have been busy with my toastmasters commitment and school work so much that I only went onto sharescan last Sunday. Sharescan pretty much offers the same old serials and movies with the exception of a few new movies. I managed to get wallstreet which I heard was supposed to be good and will be watching it during the festive period. I would strongly recommend the movie Before Sunset, a love story and the entire movie featured just 2 people having a deep, insightful talk. The movie was set in France and I would say the director managed to showcase and portray France well in the movie as it acted as the perfect backdrop for the movie. I can't dare say that the back alley in Deskar or Geylang can be comparable to the French back alleys.

Another movie which I caught at the cinema would be the new Johnny Depp movie, Sweeny Todd. Johnny's acting was superb and unique but the plot was disappointing to the point of being stupid. Our lead character was imprisoned for a wrongdoing which he did not commit and he would come back to London to seek his vengence. It reminds the viewers of a typical Count of MOnte Cristo except in this case , it's a barber and he would kill his customers by slashing his customers' throats after giving them a perfect shave and using their flesh to make meat pies. I can understand the vengence but I can't understand why would he want to kill all his customers. Hello!! Just because you are wronged does not mean that you have to hate the entire human population.

I'm sad that Heath Ledger died 2 weeks ago. For the uninitiated, he was nominated for the supporting actor for Brokeback mountain and he would be playing the Joker in Dark Knight. He was one actor who has gained my respect by playing unconventional roles and does not play the same role more than once,afraid of being streotyped. I read the article on him a week ago and found out that he used to survive on ramen noodles and water and he turned down the offers which he felt would be detrimental and streotypical at a time when he needed the cash. You have earned my respect, Heath. May your soul rest in peace and I would pay tribute to you by watching Dark Knight once it comes out.

It's 3 weeks into the new year and I can safely say that the resolutions or goals that I promised to undertook are on the verge of being broken. I guess it requires a lot of discipline to stay true to the goals. Issues like fitness seem to have been forgotten but I would be given a grim reminder when May comes when I have to take my IPPT.

The new semester started 2 weeks ago and it seems that 2 months have passed as I had to juggle studies, toastmasters and an investment competition which ended yesterday. I would say that the competition was an eye-opener as I did not know pretty much anything about mutual funds and I had to read up on mutual funds. I thought our group sucked at the prelim rounds as we gave a bad presentation but we were shocked to hear that we qualified for the finals.

We worked harder at our presentation for the past week and kept improving our speeches. When we finished our presentation, we got one of the loudest applauses and we did pretty well for our Q and A except for the first question which I fumbled. When the results was announced, we were disappointed to learn that we did not get the top 3 and the reason was a certain percentage was allocated to how well your stocks performed and the stockes I picked performed badly for the past 2 weeks.

That important component overided our presentation component and effectively gave us 4th place. I could understand if I lost to a good team or if I had performed badly but if we gave a good performance and we lost out on the decisions we made 3 weeks ago, it just seems to unacceptable but LIFE has to go on.

After the competition, I rushed off to COT and was just in time for the event. I would say it's the best COT I have attended as the speakers were good and the content was good on which they spoke on and I took home a few pointers to ponder on.It pretty much sums up my Saturday.

I met up with some of my friends for drinks at Orchard Starbucks and I was queuing up for my drinks when I saw a very attractive woman with shades on standing behind me. I figured out she must be Eurasian. What irritated me was that the service staff bothered to ask her how was the day and did not ask and felt that they were discriminating. When I sat down with my friends and was having drink, my friend remarked that the attractive woman was Andrea Fonseka when she took off her shades. Upon closer examination, I realised that it was indeed her. She still looked hot without any makeup and I couldn't keep my eyes off her during the entire time she was there with her friend. When she went off, she lighted up and I guess that's one of the reason she cannot be advertising for any smoking campaigns. Ha.

I just caught Warlords on the recommendation of a friend and it was very good. Jet Li's role suited him very well and Andy Lau was good as usual but Takashi's role suited him well but did not have much scope as Andy Lau's or Jet Li's. This movie was an eye-opener as it was my first Chinese war movie and though it's still behind its hollywood couterparts in terms of war cinematography, it was still pretty decent and it had a pretty good plot where Jet Li would pull in Andy Lau's bandits into the army to fight the enemy. After watching the movie, I still have a hard time deciding whether is Jet Li a bad or good character due to the complexity of the character but I shall not spoil it for those who have not caught it.

It's certainly much better than I am Legend where Will Smith is starring in it and the movie raised my hopes at the start but the ending let me down. For those yet to catch the movie, please do not watch the movie or else you would regret spending $8 on the movie. The only saving grace of the movie was the german sheperd dog.

It boils down just to a few more days before school starts and I better clear watching my movies on my computer before the new semester starts as I'm sure I would not have much time this semester as it would be a pretty loaded semester and the horror stories of R.C are beginning scare me. December simply flew without any warning and I felt that it was too short but at least it did give me some breathing space and catching up on the stuff which I wasn't able to do during semester and I hope next week would not be diffcult for me to kick start my 6th semester in NTU. It only seems like yesterday I went through my 1st semester. Time really flies.