gibs.
{ The posts. }
Compilation 2010
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gibs.
While I'm Half-Dazed...
This is what you get when you don't get enough sleep for 2 months. Indigestion, Gastric Reflux, Fever, Dizzyness. Oh my. 20 hours of sleep soon followed.
Lots have happened since I last posted. Internship, Escapade, An Almost-Successful Relationship, Preparation for Scholarship.
I guess after all this time, It only became apparent to me that I already had almost all that I wanted. I can't complain much, really.
The 'relationship', I must say, has really opened my mind to a entirely different set of thoughts, enlightening me more about how relationships work, how one should feel like, and the essence and trust powering the relationship forward.
Though it kinda failed, It's by no means a loss. Well, she... taught me how to be more human.
I'd never thought I'd say this, but finally, all my short-term goals are completed. I'm, just glad :)
gibs.
Labels: LoveStuff, SeriousTalk
No more of these stupid techniques.
You know what? I'm cutting loose.
I'm losing all these stupid techniques, all the 'techniques' I've learned about dating for the past 4 years now, not because I've given up on dating, but it's just that these techniques only get in my way of what I want.
No more stupid 3-day break before talking to her next time, no more try-to-make opportunities to meet up, no more trying to suppress myself from being myself.
I say no; NO to all this garbage, once and for all!
I am gonna be ME, and that's all that freakin' matters. She will decide for herself whether she likes who I am. After all these years, these 'techniques' have not benefited me at all, and while some haters might say I'm ugly or stupid, I know, and I KNOW, that She will not think that I'm ugly or stupid, and that She will accept me for who I am.
If I wanna find someone that's true to me, then I'd damn freakin' well be true to myself first.
gibs.
Repairing the Easun EM-81L/HTDZ HT-81 a.k.a The $50 Ebay 14.37 Shotgun Mic
Here's a simple guide on how to fix the Easun EM-81L/HTDZ HT-81 a.k.a The $50 Ebay 14.37 Shotgun Mic. I got it over Ebay for $50 (SGD converted), and I must say the audio quality's pretty good.
However, if you were, like me, in a rush to unplug the XLR wire connecting on the end, and instead, got the entire battery capsule, then you must have ripped out the connections inside.
Not to worry! After a few hours of tinkering, I've figured out how to disassemble this mic and to ultimately fix it back up again! I figured, well, since I already figured it out, might as well do a step-through of the process and put it up as a guide on the net, so as to save you guys heaps of time :)
So without further ado, let's begin!
What you needMedium-sized Phillips Screwdriver
Medium-sized Pliers
The Mic Itself (of course haha!)
So this is how the mic looks like...

First, remove the bottom cap. You should see the battery compartment.
Now, pull the battery compartment (you should be able to do this, since you ripped it out already)

Now, use the pilers to grip onto the thread.

Remember to let it grip on the thread only, and not the top ring or the body.

Now, grip the pliers tight, and turn
ANTICLOCK-WISE from the body. It's quite tight initially, so just go ahead and use that extra strength. It should reveal a male-to-male coupling thingy that keeps the main body and the battery cover together. Fully unscrew this.
Now, you should be able to see the internals of the mic.

In order to get that electronic board out, you'll need to unscrew two screws that can be found on the back of the mic.

After unscrewing them, you'll have noticed that the switch that controls the mic's mode (ie. Off, Normal, Tele) has raised.
This shows that the board is loose from the screws, which means you can go ahead to remove it :)
To remove the board, first you'll have to remove the thingy that's connected to the switch. It's pretty simple' just wiggle it to the left and the right, but slowly. You don't want to break it!

There, removed :)

Now, press down on the slider switch, like so.

Then, using the Phillips Screwdriver as a lever, slide the board leftwards towards the hole.

You'll feel an obstruction when the board is positioned like this, after sliding it. This is normal.

Now, depress the board down (softly), thus clearing the switch from the screw threads. You should be able to pull the board out cleanly.
There, all pulled out.

Heck, I was told by a shop that does soldering that he'd charge me $20 bucks just to figure out how to get the board out. Rip off :S
Now that the tough part's done, the rest is pretty simple. Just re-solder the wires from the ripped battery compartment back to the board as such.

The copper contacts of the sleeve in the black wire should go to the left contact, while the white wire should go to the middle contact. The green wire should go to the right contact.
Sorry I couldn't come out with the schematics of the circuit, cos' I never learned how to, haha! (heck, i'm IT-trained :P)
You can either solder it yourself, or you could pass it to a shop to help you with the soldering. (i got it done for $5)
Once the soldering is done, just reverse the steps and fix it back!
Points to Note While Fixing It Back-The board should align with the holes at the back, so that you can screw it back in.
-Careful when you're placing the entire setup back into the casing. You don't wanna bend the metal strip supporting the mic pieces.
-Screw the male-to-male coupling thingy back and tightening it with the plier, or else you'll be screwing out both this and the battery cover, which makes things pretty complicated haha!
-Maybe you'll wanna place some superglue between the coupling thingy and the battery compartment, so that it won't come loose again. (damn XLRs are tight-as-hell connectors, rightfully so!)
-Maybe you wanna ditch the XLR and solder your own connector (3.5mm, 6.35mm TRS connectors), so that it won't rip out again. (granted that you have to take care of the loose end after doing so). The connection's unbalanced anyway. I'm talking about balanced vs unbalanced input here; for more info just google it :)

There's a screw at the bottom of the entire setup. Unscrewing it loosens the XLR connector and the wires that are tethered to it.
-And also, don't use AA's with this mic. It'll make removal of the battery cover really hard. Also, there's a chance that the battery compartment might come loose and twist along with the battery cover. You might risk ripping the connections again :S Just use AAA's, like the eneloops i'm using right now :)
Hope this helps you guys out there! Cheers!
gibs.
Labels: Guides
And I have yet to figure out how to get through to her.
A very distant instance. One that can only be seen, yet not being able to become closer to. An insatiable yearning, longing to be cared. Oh how pitiful...
Ahh, whatever with the dramatics haha! Yes, as you have guessed it, this is another one of my memoirs of my pursuits, laced with hints of happiness and, mostly soaked in my own self-pity. Nah, I'm not THAT much of a downer ya :)
Season in, season out. The cycle just keeps on going. Re-aligning oneself to the closest possible girl to try to go out with. But they all just seem too distant to me. I'd liken it to trying to travel from the Earth to Neptune, versus traveling from the Earth to Pluto. Given current technology, it'd still take eons to reach Neptune, let alone Pluto.
To me, however I align myself, they all just seem too distant.
There was this once where I actually lost the yearning for a partner. Sounds crazy, but I equated a partner to simply just a best friend plus intimacy. My bro, who upon hearing that, verbally smacked me out of it, saying that that's just simplifying it and there's much more to the story than that.
The curious thing is that, just like the Forbidden Fruit to Adam in the Garden of Eden, I won't know what's it like until i've taken a bite out of it. And unlike Adam, who could either just grab it or leave it, here I am wanting a partner, but to no avail.
Let me take this chance to reiterate again that I am not a despo, if not I would have settled with that someone back there in the past.
Truth be told, the yearning has pretty much waxed and waned over the years, with more seasons spent in the waning phase as of late. I find myself less conscious about my apparent lacking, but what's the scariest is if I lose the interest to pursue anyone.
My friend told me that for starters, I should stop quantifying the aspects of a relationship, but without this quantifying, I might just go crazy trying to reason out the billion reasons that a relationship can fail, and not finding the right answers.
Cut the pretense, for I do not come with one. All the de facto cultural ways of pursuit are just merely extra baggage, inhibiting possible relationships, but it is truly tragic that we all have to adhere to it.
Now, before I let the frustration of the lack of answers get to me, I'll just leave this as it is, knowing that running away from the problem is not gonna resolve it, but asking a girl out straight up without any form of getting-to-know-each-other time isn't a very good solution either :) (I might just do it for kicks lol)
(I know this post is not organized at all, but well, what do ya expect from a brain dump? :P)
gibs.
Labels: LoveStuff, Rants
Too many options...
I don't even know where to begin. Seminar after seminar, talk after talk, and I still don't know where I really wanna go.
Just yesterday, I went for the PSC and Careers fair, and as usual, I just stuffed myself with brochures of overseas universities and opportunities. Then I went for 4hrs worth of talks telling me about how great and awesome
their country is to study in. I already know how awesome they are. What makes it so challenging for me to make a decision, are the number of options I have... (please don't curse me when I say this but) I have too many options. It doesn't just end at University Admissions; I still have to worry about Scholarships (hell, I don't wanna make my parents pay like !@#$ or take on a study loan), and the most important issue of all - Which country do I want to reside in in the future?
To choose a path which has the university that I want, the scholarship coverage, and the country of choice is harder than anything I have had to decide on so far. Let's break it down sequentially, shall we?
Universities
This one's more straightforward - Just hit the rankings and find the uni that's at least the Top 50, and has a generic course for IT. (apparently, IT Security isn't that big yet) The tricky part is to analyze the curriculum for each and every course, as it is important to know whether the course is more theory-based or practical-based.
Scholarships
This one's really tricky, and pretty troublesome, but it's a lot of cash we're talking about, so the benefit of getting a fully-paid scholarship outweighs all the trouble of filling up the form and writing an extremely lengthy and tact personal statement. ('outweighs' is a severe understatement haha :P) On top of that, each and every country and university has their own scholarships to offer, so there's loads of research to be done in this aspect.
Country (of future residence)
To many, they just go overseas to study and then come back to SG to work. My case couldn't be more different. Not only am I not going to come back to SG to work, I intend to get a job at the country and stay there, for good. Now that complicates things, big time.
To find the ideal university, with the ideal scholarship, and with the ideal country is like trying to align Mars, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Nepture, Pluto and Sedna in a straight line. It's next to impossible. (well, if I do get it next time, you have my permission to diss me over this haha!)
Well, my main problem is the final point - the country of residence. I really have no, and I mean NO monkey idea on which is the best country to live in! Canada? Australia? Europe? New Zealand? Not all is bad though; all these countries have something called the Skilled Migrant Programme, which makes it easier for foreigners to gain a foothold in these countries, with Europe being the most stringent and Canada being the most generous.
However generous they might be, they still have a minimum set of requirements that foreigners have to meet, which is good news. Surely you don't want that low-skilled construction worker to be treated as an equal with you, the educated, refined, language-proficient, highly-skilled worker that clearly can better contribute to their economy.
While that is good news, we still have more pressing issues to deal with, such as which university to go to and which scholarship to apply to, and even before that, find out what are the available scholarships for us to apply to!
Several Paths
Here are the several paths I can take in order to migrate...
1) Study a Local Degree, Get a Job and wait for overseas posting
This is by far the worst case, as there is not even a guarantee as to whether you'll be posted overseas. Not gonna take this chance. Not ever.
2) Study a Local Degree, Get a Job, Actively seek for overseas jobs while accumulating job experience.
In my opinion quite a bad scenario to be in. For this situation, I can only hope that I would be able to get a job from overseas while I'm in SG. The uncertainty is quite big already.
3) Study a Local Degree w/ Scholarship, Get a Job, Actively seek for overseas jobs while accumulating job experience.
Better than 2), but whether I'll be able to get a job there from here is pretty uncertain too, but the scholarship adds to my portfolio. I would have saved my parents on my Uni fees too.
4) Study a Local Degree w/ Scholarship, Bonded to a Job, migrate after bond.
Better than 3), but whether I'll be able to get a job there from here is also uncertain too, but much better chances as the job experience and the scholarship greatly adds to my portfolio. Also, not to mention, I would have saved my parents LOADS of money on my Uni fees.
5) Study an Overseas Degree, Get a Job there, Done.
Much safer than any of the options previously mentioned, but the university fees would cost an arm and leg.
6) Study an Overseas Degree w/ Scholarship, Get a Job there, Done.
Best option. I don't have to pay Uni fees and I get to stay there. Also, if I'm not happy with the country, I could always move to another country after that, as the Uni that I would be attending needs to be well-recognized. Sweet.
7) Study an Overseas Degree, Bonded to a Job there, Done.
This option would only be better if I have firmly decided that the country that i'm bonded to is the country that I want to live in. And it's not just better - It guarantees my job security! :)
One of my biggest concern is whether I would be flexible enough in the future to move to another country if the county I intended to live in previously was not what I wanted. I must be able to anticipate and act quickly to move out, and not be dumbfounded and stuck.
You might argue that I still haven't even completed my NS yet, but my 5th semester is almost complete. With this, I can actually start applying for scholarships already. So how the heck do I apply for a scholarship when I'm not even prepared?
I really need to get this going. Fast.
Just a personal update: I gotta complete my FYP and Projects that are steadily piling up as I speak! And I hate myself for not being able to complete the music that I created. Yes it sounds so good in my head, but somehow, I can't seem to materialize it on the software... damn I wish I could be known for my music, but so long as I don't have even a track to showcase my skills (or the lack of it), my friends will never come to see me in a different light.
gibs.Labels: Education
Update: June 2010
Well well. A month (or two) has passed since anything blog-worthy has hit me. Well well.
Right. ACERs Training Chalet (it's an event, not a permanent location)! OMG Words cannot describe how undeniably happy I was to go into the 'Activated' Mode again! I'll go into it on a subsequent post! And yes, I took photos for the event! This time, I'm the official photographer haha! :)
Yes, my plans for a Music Corner in the house has almost come to fruition! Cleared a corner in a house that has cartons aplenty. Making space in a house that's THIS tightly packed, it's actually harder than it sounds!
It's official. Projects are starting to bite. Yes, I was hoping that i'd enjoy doing all the projects that I would be assigned to in my polytechnic life; but it was not to be. Nope, it won't go down well no more.
Oh right, almost forgot. I got a Pentax k-x! Another two lenses soon followed (28/2.8, 135/3.5) too! Oooolala, this thing can take really great pictures in the dark versus my D60!
Ok that's it for now! Sorry I don't got much to post recently! And thanks for reading!
gibs.
Labels: Rants