gibs.

Compilation 2010

2010-12-31T17:35:00.004+08:00

Full Image

:)

gibs.

While I'm Half-Dazed...

2010-11-29T02:00:00.005+08:00

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.

No more of these stupid techniques.

2010-10-11T00:49:00.002+08:00

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

2010-08-24T01:24:00.007+08:00

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 need
Medium-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.

And I have yet to figure out how to get through to her.

2010-08-17T19:23:00.002+08:00

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.

Too many options...

2010-07-04T15:19:00.006+08:00

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.

Update: June 2010

2010-06-22T02:25:00.004+08:00

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.

Graduation, for my seniors, that is.

2010-05-19T19:32:00.006+08:00

Sauntering down the hilltop, I made my way down to the Convention Center to see what was going on, since the Graduation event was making quite the buzz, as expected, of course.

A few things that caught my eye immediately, namely...
- There was this board listing the top 20 students of SP. Last time I checked, SP offered more than 20 courses, so I wonder why some other courses's top students weren't listed.
- Many graduates going for the graduation ceremony (duh), with the girls all formal and lookin' pretty haha!
- Then...

...there stood 6 panels. Each one had the student's name and their achievements listed, in full glory. On which, one of them came from my course.

I used to think of him as the OMGWTF-4.0GPA-and-then-it-stops-there person. Little did I know that his CCA achievements and the awards that has been bestowed upon him, made him nothing short of pure awesomeness. The list was extensive.

Now, this has given me a new goal. I know it sounds crazy. I know I should already be contented at where I am now. But it is very true that humans don't know when to be content, always wanting that little bit more. Besides, if not for another higher goal, I would see no incentive to work harder.

I would like to thank my fellow senior, my fellow coursemate, for re-igniting my will go strive even harder, cos' to be honest, I've not given my 100% for quite some time, and after looking at his achievements, I will do my very damnest to get the one and only - Institutional Award.

FYP, OITP, SCJP, CEH. I'm comin' for ya >:D

gibs.

Y3S1 - Things that i'm looking forward to!

2010-04-17T00:33:00.003+08:00

Ahh, enjoying the 2nd last day of the holidays! Relaxing at my living room, sitting down at the coffee table, drinking on some juice, and my mind is as always chattering with thoughts aplenty.

Damn, the last week of the holiday DID really pass quickly. I didn't exactly enjoy myself, neither was I bored. But the only thing I remember was that I woke up at 1pm and I went to bed at 4am; for at least 3 weeks now. A screwed-up body clock, that's what I hate the holidays for.

I sure hope I did achieve something out of the holidays. This time's slightly different though. I, indeed, was worn out from the previous semester's savage workload and an extremely demanding timetable. I was down with throat infection for a week or so during the holidays, so that's pretty much wasted time right there. Only thing productive that I did was, or rather, is, the music that i've been creating for this past 2 weeks. Damn, creating beats is sure challenging!

Okay, now time for the essence of this post - What I'm Looking Forward To (for this semester)!

1. FYP! An epic battle of epic proportions. Ok, maybe not so much of the medieval vibe, but yeah, basically it's a huge project that we have to do well lest we wanna screw up our grades.
Yep, it's gonna be interesting, not only the process of doing the project, but also seeing how the other groups hold up! Hope no one gets at each other's throats! :S

2. Apparently, there have been some members of my course that have switched classes due to FYP groupings. For one, one of my friends from the other class is coming over! woot! Sadly, one of my good friends here at my class, has went over too. Bummer. Heh, I wanna see how this switches are gonna affect the general class social situation! :P

3. Completing my track. Yes, I wanna complete this damn song so badly! It's been ringing in my head for 2 weeks now, and I'm blaming myself now for being not competent enough to work the software and generate the beat more quickly. Hope the school work won't halt the progress of this track, which I'm afraid might happen.

That's all for now. BTW: I had a great time at cell :)

gibs.

Another assembled-as-I-blog-along post.

2010-03-29T14:07:00.006+08:00

Twitter, as they say, is a fast way of broadcasting one's thoughts to the net, much like a status update on Facebook. Very minimal, very simple, and it gets the job done.
To me, if you place a Twitter update section on your own blog but actually do not add new posts to the blog, then I think it's become a sad excuse for being too lazy to update a blog. I've seen some of my friends' blog become like this, and sometimes, I really do look forward to them blogging again.

As you can see, my blog has no Twitter feeds page whatsoever. Didn't really get the point of Twitter and Plurk; besides, I already can update my status on Facebook.

I was just reading my previous post, the one about self-analysis and girls and blah blah blah, and then it hit me that there was an inherent issue myself; I am not exactly too sociable, which I thought I was (ironically so during the secondary school days). Too many inside jokes? Limited topics to talk about? Me being boring? No way I can figure this out myself; I need someone else to help me out with this one haha :P

Then comes Facebook. Annoying, really annoying ads about 'Meet Your Girlfriend' and other kinds of nonsense ads. I mean, seriously, Facebook? You're gonna allow these people to place these ads?

Anyway, I've had to filter through 1k photos, yet again. I went to help my friend take photos of a certain competition that he and the club went to. Well it was tiring to say the least. Judo. Those guys were fast. Manual Focus was really hard to use, though the 80-200 f/2.8 did give excellent shots when the focus was in check.
I'm done filtering them already, and now I'm proceeding to convert the video into something of more sensible file sizes. 300mb is by no means a small amount of data to upload.

Next, I don't really feel like sleeping. I lack the feel to sleep.

Listening to songs is therapeutic.

Sorry guys, I just don't have the groove to pen down super-lengthy, over-explained, over-complicated thoughts. Maybe cos' I resolved them. Or maybe they haven't emerged yet. Or they are suppressed by the music.

Ah! I was thinking about how to improve my photography! About how to distinguish myself! OK firstly the basic lens is too versatile, so I can't really use equipment to differentiate myself from the crowd, unless I buy a battery grip and use my other lens. Ah how the others are missing out on the MF 80-200 f/2.8 lens, unless they got the modern AF 80-200 f/2.8 ones. Fags lol.
Well, I hope that I do take better shots as I attend event after event. I wish to be 'pro' level, sans the extensive portfolio and godly equipment. When I mean 'pro' level, it's the type of shots and level of postprocessing. Not over the top photoshopping. Just getting the basics right, the color, the contrast, and the composition!

Ok I'll save you guys the agony from reading all this poorly-assembled trash. I'll come back when I have something better. *bows down head in shame*

gibs.

My thoughts, just before I go to sleep.

2010-03-27T01:28:00.006+08:00

Sometimes, I would be thinking of a certain issue, to which I would create and propose possible solutions/choices to myself. And sometimes, I would place my thoughts on a paper (especially if I'm frustrated), just to get a better overview and to let myself think more clearly. And only on very rare occasions do I pen down my thoughts as I add a blogpost :)

Prologue
Hmm, some cute girl that I saw over American Idol got me a teeny-weeny wanting a girlfriend, but as always, reality is a very, very cruel teacher. I was reminded of it again, today, as I left the house for cell (and OH YES I LOVE CELL!!! :D), and it kept rattling in my cranium, thus the impetus behind this post.

For the record, I'm not desperate, so it's not like I'm hoarding every next girl that I make friends with. That's just creepy >.< style="font-weight: bold;">Prerequisites
So, let's just lay down the prerequisites, as in, the must-haves before we even talk about couple compatibility. Hmm, at least these are what I think the prerequisites are...
- Gentleman, duh.
- Adequately smart, both in IQ and EQ.
- Fairly well-dressed. We don't need no over-the-top blazers or the latest hot-pants, by the way.
- Hygenic. The more, the better.
- Self-confidence. No one wants depressed partner who thinks he/she is a loser. Whether the world thinks that he/she is a loser is a different story.

The prerequisites are pretty much fixed, so I think I satisfy most, if not all of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm just keeping it real ;)

Character's the next part of the equation (this one's a big bag of variables lalalalala :P)
Personally, I think how you find someone that's compatible in this aspect, is all about luck. You don't have to advertise yourself to the world to find someone compatible, at least that's what I think. Just as the cliche goes, 'Be Yourself'. I don't even know how that's supposed to help anyone, let alone myself, for that matter.

The Current Plight
The counter reads 9. I guess they weren't meant to be (you know, I kinda hate using cliches; they just don't, you know, explain anything in deep detail; It's so ambiguous that it doesn't add anything to the conversation. Maybe it's created as a courteous manner to say : "Stop prying into my private affairs.". Of course, I'm not half as rude, not even on the inside :P)
ANYWAY, the point is that not how to lament over my previous 'failures', so to speak. For starters I wasn't very attractive, both character and academia-wise, in my secondary school days.

Intermission - The Secondary School Days
Recollecting upon those days only revealed that my behavior could be summed up with one word - Jerk.
Vulgarities were flying out of my potty mouth faster that streamers from party-poppers, to say the least.
It was bad; at the stage of life at which you strive to distinguish yourself from the others, and where your foothold in the social environment was everything; I, for one, did not make the best of impressions to my peers in the school. I guess I was frowned upon for being so crude and boisterous.
Intermission Terminated

Now that I've grown up (another freakin' cliche, but I'll explain to you guys, just to rid of the mysticism), I've grown out of those childish behavior and realized that there were many redundant and bad actions that were deemed not useful, and were thus removed as I ascended through the levels.
Yes, there is much to improve, I must say, but I can confidently proclaim that I was and am a much better person now than when compared to that younger, brasher and more crude me back then. (I know this sounds retarded, but...) Hooray to the current me!

The Choices/Options/Girls
Now, do not misunderstand. I am no Casanova nor Price Charming, nor do I speak or think of girls as a commodity (as the former has a tendency to), so do not violently accuse me of treating them as so; Just because I consider my options with a somewhat checklist-like procedure doesn't mean that I write off people; it's just that they aren't the right ones for me.
Also, forgive me for aggressively defending myself, as I just feel that I should protect myself from the presumptions people make before even knowing the real thing.

As it has always been in the past, there have been dry patches, and it's not surprising to know that I'm in one now. Holidays, no opportunities to meet new people (No, I don't believe in creating opportunities to meet new people; It's a bit, fake.), and thus limited communications with previous friends (doesn't mean that I wanna date all of my other female friends; I'm not desperate =.=).

Now, I find myself rolling back to one of the previous interests. I don't care about how people say that blogging is not a recommended form of penning down your troubles, especially when it comes to these touchy issues, but I say NO. Why should one be made to confide his/her problems into a private diary, only god knows when would someone else read it, only to realize the issues that he/she has been struggling with, and then, which is already too late, give him/her the sympathy and empathy that has been wayyyyy overdue? I say no to such pointless self-suffering and self-torture; Yep, you're held hostage by your own thoughts. (No, it doesn't mean that you have to pity me hahaha! :P)
Okay, I have to stop digressing! Anyway, the point is that this person doesn't want a relationship at this stage of life, which, again, brings me to the cliched saying that one will wait for his/her partner to the 'end of time'. I find that fairly ridiculous, but who am I to judge the power of love? :P
I may wait for her, I may not. Only time will tell.

Still, there are other options. School, CCA Clubs, Church, Outside Friends, it's all a wild ball of choices. I don't believe that anyone has such limited connectivity to the world, and that he/she has so few friends that he/she would end up without a girlfriend/boyfriend. Makes me wonder what those bachelor/-rettes did wrong in their youths. Overzealous academia-slogging? Over-self-indulgence at home? Spending too much time with a clique that suddenly fell apart right before entering into the working world? A "Pragmatic" approach to making friends, that eventually left one with no friends at the end of the day? Too many crises to even begin to comprehend.

To End This,
I would think that this world, with this very real and brutal social paradigms that we live and breathe today, with the same DNA traits as those living in the other, more easy-going cultures in other countries, that both girls and guys, would give a chance. Give a chance to the person that you just knew. You don't have to be so stuck-up before the person earns your trust; just take it easy. Somehow, I think people these days, they are trapped in their fortifications; the same fortifications that protect them from 'bad' people of the world, have blinded them from believing that there are, and there is, still good people around them. Not all men are jerks, and conversely, not all women cheat. I've seen my fair share of 'fortifications' and girls zealously avoiding me, but that's alright; I have done some wrong in the past. But that's not what matters now. All that matters is that I'm a better man now than I was even 2 years ago. I should be fairly eligible. Fairly.

As John Lennon sang in Imagine : "You may say I'm a dreamer; But I'm not the only one."

I might be naive, but I wish that the people here, in Singapore, be more open and be less cynical and hostile to their fellow citizens.

gibs.

A penny for my thoughts; Tsk, I'm just bored.

2010-03-16T23:24:00.004+08:00

I pop by my favourite websites once a while during busy times during the semester, accompanying me through the endless hours of lessons. I was glad - glad that these websites were updated pretty often, often enough for me to have something new when i visited them the next time I was reminded or I thought about the sites.

They continually fed me information on the latest happenings in the IT gadget developments, the newest lenses and camera bodys, the incessant back-and-forth arguments on forums and the continuous stream of status updates on social networking sites.

Come the holidays, suddenly the websites update themselves oh-so-slowly. In reality, the websites were updating themselves at pretty much the same frequency, just that I visit them maybe at least 20x more in the holidays.

It's not that i've suddenly become crazed over those websites; it just so happens that I find myself in front of the same 19" screen and at the same chair and at the same part of the house, for almost a good 8hrs a day. Talk about a 'good' serving of LCD radiation, not that there's any.

It's almost painful to figure out what to do at the computer. Before, you were fighting for time to play those new game releases off the block. Now you wished that you had something else to do. For one, I was bored enough to go back to my blog to update it. Not that it helps. Not even 15 pages of status updates of "OMG AT HOME NOW SO SIANZZZZZZZZZZ" will even assist in helping cure the problem. Yeah, and the comments will only keep you occupied for 10mins, at best.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to propose a solution here. I guess you could find some new products on eBay, research on the models available for old lenses, organize your desktop, compile some photo albums, backup your data, or some other stuff that's productive at least.

Too bad I'm not motivated to start on the self-study program that was recently issued to me. I guess i'll start on it once i'm tired of skating. I'll probably skate soon. No, I WILL skate. Procrastination works against efficiency, tsk.

In other news, I took photos for my friends again! I find it a joy to give my friends a good portrait shot of themselves. Funny how once I was willing to run almost half the field to capture the shot of one of my friends flying the kite. The kite was low enough and the background was right, so I shifted myself into position to capture the shot. The events themselves were really good! The photography experience only added to my feel-goodness haha :) A beach event, A night cycling event, and a grass field event. I like this hobby indeed. See! Even after a year of photography and yet, I AM STILL learning new things! :)

I also went eBay shopping! Grabbed myself some UV and CPL filters, a mount adapter (so that I can use other brands' lenses!), and I bidded 2 same lenses successfully! The elation of getting the lens is indeed gratifying, after having made to wait 40mins before the bid ends, always in constant fear of being bid sniped. Heh, it was a bargain! I see how people get hooked to online shopping :P Damn, I really want that battery grip that costs $50 less online versus in SG! Well, now comes the 2 week wait for the items to ship to my place. Oh well, just what begets a cheapskate that skimps on shipping fees :P

Ah, see! Blogging is pretty therapeutic for me. It exercises my English skills and also helps me somehow rephrase the common rants to something less of an eyesore and bother to read. And for this case, it actually helped me remind myself that I'm not all cameras and computers.

I guess I should go play some badminton and go skate, cos' the icons on this desktop won't suddenly entertain me yo!

gibs.

Reflections 04012010

2010-01-04T20:43:00.000+08:00

"God, it’s 6:30am already. Oh well, time to wake up! " Tossing myself to an upright stance, I rubbed my eyes as I righted myself to a much needed sense of awareness. It's the kind of time where you wished that you would think faster. Sometimes you are really tempted to kick yourself, all because you took that extra 5 minutes of sleep, and it actually put you 20mins behind schedule. Bummer.

The frigid waters of the morning shower made for an even more awakening experience due to the morning torrent, which has made my sleep more pleasurable but has spliced the waters with more 'bite'.

Whilst under the shower, I was contemplating of what would be my attire of the day. Since I had the nifty 'Extra Pulp' T-shirt, I concluded that my black jeans and that T-shirt with a humorous pun with the similarly named movie 'Pulp Fiction', was what I was gonna wear.

Popped into my clothes, waxed my hair, got rid of those ever-growing stubbles of hair, and flew right down for an early morning session of internet re-intoxification. Yes, I barely made it past the day the last time the school's network was down; Boredom had a vice grip on my emotions.

Wishing my mum goodbye with a hug and a comforting exchange of well-wishes, I left for what would hopefully be a bright first day at school. Exiting the lift, the wind hit me with a cool breeze. A fine morning, I must say.

For starters, my bus service just glided past the junction that I was waiting at. I just swore "FML." as the bus deluded me yet again of reaching school on time. You say jaywalk then? Try jaywalking across an eight-street wide road, and yes it's almost as wide as a friggin' highway. Then hope came in the Express-equivalent of the same service! My eyes then shifted to the traffic lights. "Stop already dammit!" The bus was approaching fast, typical of its kind. Just 3 bus lengths away from the junction, the traffic lights switched, thank god :) Nevertheless, I still did the routine dash to the bus stop; Man, I probably got some fitness training through this :P

As the bus darted through the suburbs, deviating from the normal path a non-express equivalent bu service would take, while I appreciate that the bus usually gets me to school quicker, the rough handling, the aggressive acceleration and the rather-lacklustre suspension kinda makes for an uncomfortable sleep. I didn't sleep anyway, cos' I was busy fiddling with my phone, typing this! :)

The first lesson was as expected – non-captivating and listlessness ran amok amongst us. First, I looked around, happy to be around my friends. Then, I flipped out my file to check when the lesson ended. So much for being one of the better ones in my course.

As the hours passed, I was unexpectedly feeling more tired than expected. Lunch didn't help either. It soon dawned upon me that the abrupt change in my sleep cycle was impacting my energy levels. I wasn't gonna get away with waking up 6 hours earlier without any ramifications, cos' I usually wake up at midday during the holidays.

The lessons for the day was mostly boring, but thankfully the last lesson piqued my interest of sorts; unfortunately, my body wasn't holding up very well at all. I dozed off for a bit here and there throughout the day, thankfully the lecturers didn't reprimand me or anything of the sort!

The guys in the class entertain me throughout the lessons, anyday and everyday! Some with their satirical or cynical views, others with small talk that make you even wonder why'd you even had the conversation! Ahh, marvel at the art of pointless conversations.

Another bright spot! My friend actually offered to fetch me, together with another friend, back to our places, cos' we live within the same neighborhood. I couldn't help but doze off, having barely made it through the day.

Now I'm back home, and I have to wash myself up, then I have to settle the work. Thinking back, my life isn't that bad after all right?

~Peace~

gibs.

Woohoo! It's been a long time!

2009-11-24T21:53:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, sorry that I haven't been blogging in a gazillion years!

Anyway, been pretty busy with work and other stuff. Everyday I return home dead tired, but let's just say this semester is good training for sleep deprivation.

Other than that, I've got loads to blog about, just that I can't really find the time to compile photos of the things that I wanna blog about...

In such a tough world, what gives?

gibs.

HITB Malaysia 2009 : Day 2

2009-10-25T15:05:00.003+08:00

Day 2
|Morning
Woke up really early for an early breakfast, heeding Samson's advice to avoid the breakfast crowd at the breakfast buffet.

Pasta bits (They were very salty, and I mean VERY SALTY.)

Ishaan having a casual conversation with Rubern.

Esmund. His morning appetite is remarkeable, and he definitely makes the most out of the buffet :)

The breakfast buffet area.

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Daniel leans over to take a peek at Rubern's screen.

Rubern thinking...

After all of us had finished our breakfast, Samson briefed us about the competition, its rules, regulations and format for scoring marks. Honestly, I was really tired but I still held on nevertheless; Just needed a cuppa' to fix me up :D

The competition venue.

HITB 2009.

That's us! The Terminators!

Waiting for the competition to start...

We checked out the event merchandises whilst waiting...

"Teams, you have 30 minutes to set up your equipment."

Discussing about the strategy.

Rubern waits for his Backtrack 4 to load...

... and the competition starts.

Yes, it might seem very uneventful at the competition, not because I didn't take all the shots, but because it is really quiet, with only murmuring going around, but not any of the big hoo-rah, contrary to typical competition sites.

Other teams at work.

As only three members were allowed to stay in the field, the rest went up to attempt to reverse engineer the daemons.

Ishaan looks 'esmund-like', in his own words.

After going up, we took turns on an hourly basis to swap around team members on and off the field, as the environment down there isn't as pristine as we thought it would be, not because of the competition, but because of something else...

We also set up our routers in our respective rooms so that we can be connected to do some minor penetration testing and port scans. I and Esmund brought along a router each, so all was good :)

Well, you see, we're located in the centre of a grid of 4x3 teams, and guess what? Both teams beside us and the team in front of us were smoking! Firstly, I didn't know you were allowed to smoke in air-conditioned rooms, let alone in a five-star hotel event room! Secondly, they are ruining the air quality, big time. Lastly, They didn't stop at a few sticks, they chain-smoked all the way. Holy bejesus.

Now, for the more candid stuff :)

We went for lunch and helped to buy back lunch for those who were still in the field.
I, for one, particularly liked my 1/2 pound meat burger from Wendys'

Check out the horrid cable spaghetti.

Look-out shot from the room.

Soon, day 2 came to a close. Just took this shot for memories lol.

... this post continues soon, will update with the next day's events! ...

HITB Malaysia 2009 : Day 1

2009-10-19T18:41:00.009+08:00

Here it is! The coverage of my team's expedition to Hack-In-The-Box Security Conference 2009 at Crowne Plaza, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

Day 1
|Morning

We started our day by meeting in the morning at Harbourfront. We had to be there by 8am.

Rubern, the de-facto leader was there first.

Most of them had only haversacks and camping bags, but I and Esmund carried a small luggage each, as I had to carry some networking equipment along.

Not sure what Esmund's reason was though.

We went to Superdog for a small breakfast, I didn't really want to eat cos' I already had breakfast with my dad who very kindly gave me a lift to Harbourfront despite his working place's location being at the other end of the island.

Daniel, the de-facto reverse enginnering guy of the team.

Ishaan and I went to get the tickets as the others had their breakfast.

After the breakfast, we made our way up to the coach bus, which was pretty comfortable. We quickly got comfortable with the surroundings and the plush seats.

Esmund quickly set up his laptop for some serious movie binging.

Ishaan, while had the same intentions, had to deal with some unforseen changes in his immediate surroundings.

Ishaan: WHAT SIA...

Jun Hao, the considerably more adept team member of our contingent.

Me! The photographer :D

Pretty big bus...

Daniel got comfortable, maybe too comfortable :P

We were served a light meal, a cup of tea or coffee, and then we waited for the bus to reach KL...

... and I killed 2 houseflies along the way.

|Afternoon
After getting to Crowne Plaza, we checked in, only to be disappointed that the rooms weren't ready yet. We then chose to stash our bags at the Porter and then decided to come back 4 hours later, at 7pm. Upon looking back at that decision 10minutes later, we all agreed that waiting for so long was clearly a stupid idea.

We then walked around Times Square and Lot 10. Some went to buy clothes, some went to Cold Storage, and some were just idling around.

You might be wondering why there are no photos for this segment, that's because I was afraid that my camera would get stolen.

|Dinner
Checked in, dumped our bags into our respective rooms, then we set out for Times Square (again) for some food! Settle for the restaurant called "Vivo!".

I can't exactly remember what happened for this situation to occur.

The team! (Ishaan taking the photo)

Introducing the Cheng Shen!

Some sorta lemon smoothie with ice cream on top...

Daniel likes to take photos too!

Ishaan and his baked spaghetti!

Me and my baked rice with mushroom!

Someone's dish (can't recall)

Esmund almost seems too happy to show his plate of rice.

Daniel, inspecting his Cabonara dish with his nose lol

Really, really nice dinner we had there!

After the food for thought, we headed over to Borders for some book browsing.

Rubern, feeling happy about the place.

... and Rubern again, this time fixated to the book he's reading.

At night, Jun Hao was ready to deploy his strategy and utilize his tools for the competition the next morning...

... this post continues soon, will update with the next day's events! ...

I need a break from my mind...

2009-10-15T23:20:00.000+08:00

Being too competitve and making too many comparisms, while has made me who I am today and has allowed me to perform fairly well, has inflicted me with a restless mind and a insatiable yearning for more information.

Someone stop this vicious cycle.

gibs.

Meeting other girls helps to keep my mind of just one.

2009-10-10T15:26:00.003+08:00

Well, it's kinda hard to explain. It's like, you have already liked this girl right? Then you get all focused and stuff, and then, you go out to meet other girls... so it keeps your mind off the original subject?

lolwut.

gibs.

3 events that i've yet to post about.

2009-10-10T15:25:00.000+08:00

Trip to KL for Hack-In-The-Box Competiton
Trip to Australia for Holidays!
Primary School Class Gathering!

Gosh, Why am I so lazy...

gibs.

How do you feel about this new cell?

2009-10-04T17:14:00.006+08:00

Kara, the cell group leader asked.

I said.

"It's fantastic. In church, people are more accepting of you."

It's been a long time. A long tme since I was so readily accepted.

I've been judged, and stoned for my wittiness, cynicism, tendency to wear shirts, tendency to use perfect english and bombastic words, and my grade-centric work ethic.

For me, church is more forgiving.

gibs.

I remember that during my trip to Australia...

2009-09-30T00:33:00.002+08:00

... My family and I actually ate 11 bags of chips across 13 days at Australia.

I remember we bought mostly from the local brands, 2x Doritos, 1x Twisties.

And ya, I love their meat pies haha :)

gibs.

I feel lazy to update this blog with the Australia Trip

2009-09-23T19:45:00.002+08:00

You gotta understand, that's over 4000+ photos and 5hrs+ of video footage.

gibs.

Gotta go catch the plane!

2009-09-01T19:54:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'ma stop right here, gotta go pack and go soon. Cya in ~12 days!

gibs.

A simple video of my room.

2009-09-01T15:51:00.002+08:00

Just fiddling around with my camcorder's manual functions... I didn't know my camcorder had a manual mode till today! Haha!

gibs.

Some basic drum rolling I guess?

2009-09-01T14:55:00.002+08:00

gibs.

Regular Update!

2009-08-31T15:21:00.005+08:00

Yep, made it a point to wake up at 9.30am today cos' I've got loads to do today!

Packing for the Australia Trip, Straightening things up at home, and preparing for the exams later!

Alongside that, I've got some good news...

- Just installed my 2GB DDR2 RAM module into my home computer, now it runs so much faster!
- Cleaned up the dSLR and the lenses for the holiday! Loads of photo-snappin' !
- Finally downloaded the melbourne+adelaide map to my phone! It took 25mins, alright.
- Got some tips from both J and my bro's girlfriend on how to drum better! Better keep ya pinky finger in!
- Finally installed a 2.1 system in my room! 30W per satellite and 50w to the subwoofer! Sounds pretty good too!

- Found my travel adaptor for the headphones! I'm becoming oh so picky about sound quality nowadays :P
- Got exam tips from Alvin! Thanks a bunch Alvin! I feel so much more assured after looking at the notes!
- Caught up with many of my primary school mates! This warrants a separate post for itself! Rocking :)
- Had an awesome time with my cousins when they came over to my place for a family gathering! :D

That's all for now folks! Gotta get back to my packing!

gibs.

Another Uneventful Day...

2009-08-27T13:06:00.002+08:00

...spent on studying at home. I do appreciate the rainy weather though :)

gibs.

4000 Views!

2009-08-27T12:17:00.001+08:00

Yay 4000 Views, thanks guys for reading!

gibs.

As I lay in bed...

2009-08-26T02:23:00.000+08:00

... I pray that I do not have another freakishly-lucid dream that would make my mind more confused than it already is.

Spare me.

gibs.

Avatar : The Last Airbender (My Favourite Moments)

2009-08-26T01:20:00.004+08:00

Isn't it refreshing when you can just let your mind go and just submerge your consciousness into the worlds so beautifully illustrated by cartoon writers?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, from the easy-going Aang, the lame yet funny puns that Sokka always pulls,and the strong and yet oh-so-motherly Katara.

A part that I really liked is the scene where Iroh celebrates his late son, Lu Ten's birthday. It was very real, and it moved me. It reminded me yet again to treasure the ones we love, for they are not forever. Nothing is.

There's this scene where Sokka was hallucinating badly due to Cactus juice he drank. Hilarious.

Another scene in which it tapped into my softest part of my heart is...

Kataang.

If only life was this simple.

gibs.

Seeing Double? : GOSIG RÅTTA

2009-08-26T01:07:00.004+08:00

I have to be honest, I got quite an array of soft toys at home. I started collecting since the young days, and it came down to this.

First, I got the grey RÅTTA from Ikea. On the next trip I saw the black RÅTTA. I knew I had to have it.

Here's the link to Gosig RÅTTA!

Seeing Double?

gibs.

Finally, they got the UI right.

2009-08-26T01:05:00.002+08:00

Time to do some posting, my friends :)

gibs.

I'm not posting till Blogger gets their UI right.

2009-08-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

Somehow, everything's gone haywire with the posting UI for Blogger... everything's out of place.

gibs.

Friends of DISM, I am not gay.

2009-08-12T20:58:00.000+08:00

Yep, as the title suggests. I'm not gay kthxbai.

gibs.

There's a mock test tomorrow, and I'm not ready.

2009-08-11T19:15:00.001+08:00

There's the ELSA test for tomorrow. And I have no friggin' idea what's gonna come out. Damn I hate this feeling of helplessness.

gibs.

A Part of me wants that dream to happen again.

2009-08-09T23:57:00.003+08:00

It's a strange feeling. Somehow... I want the dream to happen again.

Happy? Weirded? Shocked? Aghast?

My mind's still a blank. It's so... perplexing...

gibs.

I've never been in such a daze.

2009-08-09T12:00:00.003+08:00

As my emo-ish swinged, staring at the yellow curved ceiling, thinking about the tragedy that my friend is going through after a break-up, I fell asleep as I tried to reason out the issues, trying to comprehend why most relationships end up in a catastrophic failure. It doesn't matter how they broke up, be it a SMS, a clandestine meeting or a simple letter. Breaking up is not fun to witness. Of course, I would like all relationships to end up well, but the real world isn't that ideal.

As I dozed off, I had a strange dream. Strangely, after waking up, I could only remember a specific event...

As I sat down somewhere, just listening to my music, someone took off the left side of my headphones.
" Hello Gibson " She said. As I turned around...
Gosh... that cute face, smiling at me. There was no way. My heart melted instantly. Adrenaline shot through my blood. Loads of it. I've never been this excited in my life.

(BTW: To all those filthy minds out there, this is not and never will be a wet dream.)

Then I woke up.

It's strange, almost surreal. I'm still shook by the dream. It felt like as if my subconscious decided that for last night, just that night, decided to pluck a strand from my box of desires and then decided to manifest it.

Heck, even I didn't dream of having a life in another foreign country, yet :D

The strangest part - the girl is someone I already know. I didn't know that she could shake the core of my heart with just a smile. It's almost too scary to comprehend.

Maybe I should take a break, just for today.

gibs.

Today, I went to the movies.

2009-08-04T17:47:00.000+08:00

My friends arrived to the conclusion that they should skip all the lessons for the day after the first (as always), and just head on out for the movies after which.

Personally, I don't really like to skip lessons, but once in a while, I like to make exceptions :)

So, after declining to go to 2 of their outings, I decided that I should follow them this time round, cos' it's fun! Also, I forgot when was the last time I went to the movies, so why not?

There were ~15 in total that joined in for the little stint; most of us weren't planning to go back to school after which.

On the way to Dhoby Ghaut, I was chatting with xuan when I finally got a taste of my own medicine - a generous dose of geek-ness, in the form of VMWare Network Settings.

After reaching Plaza Singapura, we made our way to Cathay where we purchased our tickets.

We split into two groups; ~10 went to watch 'Overheard', and 4, including me, went to watch 'Public Enemies'. Initially, the other 3 wanted to watch 'The Hangover', but I was adamant about watching it, cos' I feel that it's just another feel-good comedy, which I think isn't worth the money, even after the guys offered to pay my ticket. Amazingly, they decided to acceed to my request and go watch 'Public Enemies'. I'm glad that they let my have my way; Thanks guys :D

Since we had ~1hour before the start of the movie, we headed back to Plaza Singapura for a meal, a very painfully expensive one. You may ask why I decided to pay so much all of a sudden; well, I haven't eaten Carl's Jr. before, believe it or not. So I decided to try it out! Paid $8.80 for an ala-carte sandwich and also shared the cost of a side-order beef chill cheese fries. The sandwich was good, as it was meaty and the meat certainly had a good taste to it. The fries, however, wasn't as good as I would have expected it to be. The cheese didn't carry a punch at all, and the meat with chill, which tasted good, gets a tad bit boring after eating it halfway through.

Would I go back to eat there again? Probably not until I'm feeling a bit richer or when I'm feeling lucky for the moment I pass by their franchise :P

'Public Enemies' was cool. Christian Bale and Johnny Depp acted their roles very well, with the former being the hunter as a FBI agent, and the latter being the hunted as he was a felon at large. The movie progressed really well, with good character development and shoot-outs between the felons and the FBI agents.

The ending, however, wasn't as dramatic as I would expect it to be, since this movie was supposed to be as historically as possible. On that note, I forgive them for the unflattering end. Otherwise, the story was illustrated very colourfully; I understood the plot quite clearly as it progressed.

One point that I need to note: The cameramen did too much scrolling around horizontally while filming the scenes, which then caused one of my friends to suffer from motion sickness. Even I felt a tiny bit queasy, despite my Quake 3 CPMA conditioning.

After the movie, we split up shortly after walking to Plaza Singapura. I headed on over to the Yamaha store there at Level 6.

Wow. They actually have a wall of cymbals! This is extremely rare in Singapore as most importers aren't assed enough to place all of their shimmering bronze pieces of art. I was, in particular, looking out for the Zildjian A Custom EFX Crash cymbal. Then I sighted upon its unmistakable lazer-cutted holes. WOOO!!! I FOUND IT!!! But I was met with disappointment, as those guys there didn't allow anyone to try out the cymbals. Tsk.

Went home, shortly after, thinking about how much I spent, what I did, and what to do next.

And you know what's next; That's right, time to get back to work!

gibs.

Give me a break already.

2009-07-30T22:06:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, people won't give you a break, even when you're sick. Did picking up the work left and doing it by themselves ever cross their minds when they kept pestering me about work...

gibs.

My parent's lowdown on Drums.

2009-07-25T02:16:00.006+08:00

It all started when I wanted a drumset.

Knowing them well enough, I knew what I needed to prove.
1. I will stick to drums. (no pun)
2. It won't cost an arm or leg.
3. It won't be excessively noisy.

So, I set out to accomplish these tasks, by doing what I do best - Research.

I believe that I should always make an informed decision on whatever my purchase shall be.

So after around 3 weeks of research, I finally got the full picture about drums and such.

1. There is no such thing as a 'best' drumset. Each drumset creates its own type of sound, so there can only be a 'drumset that best fits your preferences'.
2. Drumsets are highly modifiable. Drum heads, for one, can radically change the character of the sounds each drum makes! Also not forgetting, you can expand your drumset with more cymbals, toms, cowbells, half-tambourines, and really a whole lot more!
3. The range of cymbals out there is mind-blowing. Almost every other cymbal sounds different, but there are varying differences such as stick definiton, darkness and deacy of the sounds... and I thought that computers have the widest range of configurations...
4. Drums are about one of the most HDB-unfriendly instruments, along with trumpets too, as they are very loud.
5. Mesh heads come to the rescue! Replace your normal drum heads to these and your drumset is only as loud as your sticks impacting on these silent surfaces! (apparently my parents aren't too convinced on this point, and they don't want to see the evidence that i've built for this point)
6. Drums can be cheap, if they are second-hand. Budget drumsets that are second-hand can usually be had for around $500, which in my opinion is pretty affordable, in comparism with other instruments.

The Negotiation

There wasn't much of a negotiation really. They really held on to their reasonings that I already long debunked. What's a kid gonna do when their parents are stubborn?

"You cannot accept no for an answer izzit!?" My dad exclaimed.

"I just want to prove a point, just hear the mesh heads for yourself!" I said, with a quite irritated voice.

And then he didn't want to come to the computer to hear it.

I shut my laptop, grabbed my charger, and went up.

Before leaving the Living Room, I told him "I don't want to risk shouting at you."

I was pissed, damn right.

I guess all that talk about reasoning was hot air. Since they couldn't win with reasoning, they switched to denial of facts as a weapon.

Though I didn't and I haven't got the drumset yet, I firmly believe I had a decisive win. A triple whammy - Cheap Second-hand drumset, takes up less space than the average drumset, and comes bundled with mesh heads.

Still, I am determined, and almost passionate about proving them wrong.
I'm gonna stick to drums, and improve on my drumming skills, so much so that they'll be made to eat their own words!

When I was young, because I had bullsh1t grades, I had no bargaining chips. So understandably, I couldn't ask for many things. Since my academics are great now, I finally have leverage.

Call me wilful, call me rude, but that's the trait that they have inadvertedly inbued in me.

gibs.

2 week. 3 projects. 14 days of !@#$%^&*!!

2009-07-17T10:45:00.002+08:00

Heh, this is gonna be tough. It might even be tougher than the toughest i've experienced, which is for me, the first Semester of the first year.

gibs.

I can't help but feel hurt, sadly.

2009-07-16T23:51:00.006+08:00

All it took was a dead link on my link list, Google search, a name, and a curious self to answer the question - Where has this person's blog went to?

Did a simple Google search on the person's name, and alas! The blog with an ever-changing link was there! Same contents and format, but a different URL.

There were new posts, of course. As I was glancing through the list of links that the person had placed on the blog, there was one that stood out. It read 'HUBBY'.

I should have refrained from clicking on it.

Once I hit the button, the former blog's owner's name was plastered upon the latter's blog. It read - ' I LOVE (place former blog's owner's name here) '.

As much as I tried to tell myself it didn't matter, the damage had already been done when I set my eyes upon that phrase.

" It's been quite a while now since I've given up on pursuing you, and I'm not looking for your sympathy either, but even memories of infatuations linger on, Ethel. "

gibs.

The tides are surging ahead...

2009-07-11T14:46:00.002+08:00

Yes, the season has come for the work to flood us yet again.

"Every now and then it comes, engulfing us in a flurry of panic and stress. Some embrace it, some would just like to get over with it, and not many come out unscathed."

In this case, I've got many projects I am required to do in order to keep my grades up.

SAPD Task1 / SAPD Task2 / CLI Task2 / WSC Training / GEMS Contract / GEMS Presentation / JPRG1 Task 2 / NETS Project

Uh huh, and this is why Year 2 is harder than Year 1.

"As it retreats, we all feel a sudden relief from the agony that we were drenched in. While we rejoice in the liberation, we must not be caught off guard from the next wave, be it a week later or months later."

gibs.

... Just labelled all my posts.

2009-07-04T02:13:00.002+08:00

Yup, I was bored enough to go through my ~140 posts and label all of them for easier navigation.

The links to each label will be placed up shortly.

gibs.

Too many drum options to choose from...

2009-07-04T00:55:00.006+08:00

I'll get straight to the point.

~ $600

Pearl Rythm Traveller

This set is really compact and it also comes with mesh heads too! My only reservation is how to muffle it without buying a muffle set (ie. Stuffing the toms with sythetic cotton is better than playing on a rubber mat. ). And I don't really like the cymbals that come with it. No throne for this set.

Peace Legion

I don't know a lot about this set, so I'm quite skeptical about its hardware. I'll probably stay away from this set, as many SOFTies recommend other sets like the one above. Although everything's in (ie. Throne, Cymbals, Sticks), I'm still not completely sold on this.

Ludwig Accent

I saw this set at Swee Lee the other day. Seems like the bass drum I saw there looks more like a 16" then a 20" as stated on the Ludwig website. Still, I've got word that this brand is good. I can't remember what hardware comes with this, ack.

Gretsch Blackhawk

Saw this at Music Theme, and it looked pretty sturdy. Don't know too much about this set either, ack. And, no throne and cymbals in the price, but the guy's offering me a Paiste cymbal pack and a throne, all added up to $1k.

Tama Stagestar (2nd Hand Set)

I don't really have a lot of info on this model, but it seems like many SOFTies are recommending this model. As usual, without any additional info, I'll stay skeptical.
Plus, I don't know whether the set would still be there when my parents decide to buy a drum set for me. The seller has thrown in the full set, complete with throne and sticks, so that's a plus.

~ $1000
Tama Imperialstar

I'm pretty convinced this might be the set I want to get, provided my parents don't mind the slightly higher price tag. Meinl Cymbals (3!), together with drum throne in the price tag! Cos' I'm pretty sure I would get a ride/crash cymbal if the set i'm gonna buy doesn't come with it. That alone, and the cymbal stand would easily be another $300; do the math, and even if I were to get a lower end set, this would still be a better buy. Plus, I like the decal that's on the bass drum (although not displayed on this image)

Pearl Forum.

Don't know too much about this set either, but highly recommend by many SOFTies.

BTW: SOFTies refer to the forumers at SOFT.

As you can see, I'm still pretty much a poorly informed consumer for Drums, and I don't like buying things whilst being poorly informed.

Still, everything hinges on my parent's decision - To buy or not to buy.

gibs.

List: Regretted Buys

2009-07-04T00:29:00.008+08:00

Well, I don't have many items in this section... but i'll just list them anyway.
If there comes a time where an item previously bought becomes a regretted buy, it shall be added to this list too :)

(In no order of regret-ness)
1. Palm Tungsten E2 - 2006 - $350

Well, it has entertained me for years before the laptop and the i780 came, after which I regretted buying it, cos' the i780 can do what this thing can, and much MUCH more.

2. Belkin Nostromo n52 - 2004 - $40

I never really used macros in the first place. And the keys were too hard, although its ergonomics were really good. Still, I barely used this at all.

3. Mini Domo-kun Plushie - 2008 - $7

Its condition is good, and it still retains its squishy-ness, but everytime I look at it, it reminds me of a past I'd rather not be reminded of.

Last update: 04/07/2009

gibs.

And I'm assed enough to open NetBeans...

2009-06-28T14:27:00.003+08:00

... just for the sake of trying out abstract classes and interfaces.

All just for preparation for the MSTs. Ugh.

gibs.

$350 for a 7-peice drumset? Nope.

2009-06-27T23:12:00.004+08:00

I was just surfing around when I saw this...

... and how I wish drums were this cheap.

MST Revision - Many lapses of information!

2009-06-26T22:17:00.003+08:00

I can't seem to catch everything that's required for remembering! It's less of 'I can't remember this and that point', it's more of 'Crap! I thought that point isn't required for remembering!'.

It's a pity that some of the modules don't have any sample tests as resources for us to reference to... man... I'm worried. Really worried.

gibs.

"Hey where has the WS class relocated to?"

2009-06-20T15:53:00.004+08:00

* In this case, "You" refers to a person whose identity I would prefer not to reveal.

All I was just asking for was where the venue has changed to. It was not like as if I was asking you to walk me there. You didn't even bother to feign forgetfulness. Even a stranger would bother messaging back, even if he or she didn't know the location, let alone an accquaintance.

Therefore, In view of your 'graciousness', I shall return my 'gratitude' in the form of deleting you from my phone, MSN and Facebook.

On hindsight, I felt that you weren't interested in being friends at all. It almost seems once someone is your Best Friend, either he or she stays that way or you'd just detatch from that person once he or she decides to take it a step down. I was quite surprised that you didn't do anything to stop our friendship from depreciating. From best friend, to friend, to accquaintance, to coursemate, and now, Stranger.

Now, let me make it clear.

You have lost all of my trust. There is no turning back. This is closure.

Fin.

gibs.

The time to study for exams...

2009-06-20T15:43:00.003+08:00

Hey guys! Sorry for not posting for at least a week now...

Anyway, after all the rushing around for the week, I finally have time for myself, or rather the time to settle down for studying of the exams...

There are loads of stuff for me to post about, but due to the time crunch due to the exams, I am unable to devote so much time for other stuff...

However, that doesn't mean I won't post them; I'll work on them later.

Anyway, back to chewing down the notes for the exams! Damn, I haven't even read through two modules yet!

gibs.

The Holidays!

2009-06-09T14:05:00.003+08:00

... But I haven't planned for it yet. Actually, i was wishing for another week of school so that I could plan for the holidays, but now since we're already in the holidays, why do I even bother.

Man, I don't want to waste this holiday away.

gibs.

Yesterday's Posts : Is there not another way around? (1)

2009-06-02T19:30:00.005+08:00

I'll probably start a series of posts where I look back on what I posted, and then comment on them, for the sake of today's relevancy :P

For this first post, I'll cover this post : " Is there not another way around? "

Girlfriends take time, not just the time taken to spend time with each other, but also loads of time taken to woo them. Not forgetting all the effort and the uncertainty of whether your efforts would go to waste.
Why the hell was I even complaining. This IS the fact of life. It's called courtship.

~~I'm not really complaining about the process though,~~
Yes I was complaining.

cos' I understand that they wouldn't go out with another guy who's unsatisfactory... or worse, a guy that's irritating or has undesirable traits. ~~What I do wonder is that time is what that's required, copious amounts of time and unfortunately time is what I do not have in large volumes.~~
I'm pretty damn sure I'll enjoy the time with the ones dear to me :D

Even if the relationships hits off well, I believe that if both sides don't spend enough time together, the bond would weaken or even break due to the climate of the polytechnics, namely the large variety of people that both sides could choose from.

Maybe I could give up the idea of having a girlfriend for now, but it seems to me that a lack of time is a sad excuse of holding off dating till a later time, maybe till University or even worse, till I start working. In the case which I do become an eligible bachelor, I hope that I'd get a girlfriend, but that seems to me as a last resort.

Maybe I should find another reason, or possibly another more formidable and concrete excuse which I can continue fooling myself from the undecided nature of my emotions. Maybe I should just 'make' time for dating, ~~but how do I make time in my already hectic schedule?~~
Correction: Ever since I dropped Dip+, I've got more time to myself, and I'm really glad I made that move :)

I want to forget about dating, but I just can't. Get out of my head already.
It's pretty much dependent on how i'm feeling. Lonely equates to a bigger want for the significant other, and vice versa.

Argh, I'm still pretty much confused about dating as I was then as compared to now.

gibs.

Today's Sightings.

2009-06-02T16:18:00.004+08:00

Well I basically...
- ... saw CSiak on the way to the first class, greeted him with a hello, across the foyer.
- ... noticed that one of my classmates' MSN personal message was rather hostile and mean, I wonder who was it for...
- ... installed some new WM apps for my phone... man, WM's interface is kinda bad, but the 3rd party apps do make a huge change.
- ... got my phone to successfully connect to the school's network!
- ... cleared my who-do-i-currently-like cache. It was pretty compelling for me to do so :) Now, the ruckus has to stop already, unless they want me to openly denounce those false statements.
- ... did some preparations for ELSA Practical Test.
- ... stayed back for my friend so that I can have a good time chatting with him on the bus back home.
- ... noticed that the early bird of the class wasn't around, and I realized this the moment I entered the first class.
- ... played some Maplestory, cos' it's fun, and my guildmates are funny too lol
- ... , as always, subconsciously looked out for my fated significant other.

Man... clearing it had to happen, after what I saw today...

gibs.

Probably the most meaningful post I've made on eGen.sg

2009-05-29T20:18:00.001+08:00

" To be happy, that's the most important for me. Even when i'm sad and lonely, I find solitude, which brings me to a warm smile admist all the gloominess and despair.

Find that inner sanctum, and you'll be good to go :) "

gibs.

Some clearing up...

2009-05-29T00:54:00.005+08:00

Reinstalled my Vista and patched both SP1 and SP2 into it... finally I was assed enough to format the whole thing and get over with all the driver issues and missing .dll files. Took some time though, around 4 hours to get most of the stuff up and running again... apparently my friend's hypothesis suggested that my computer sucked, therefore the extended time it took for the pateches to implement.

Hah, had some fun recently, got back to MouseHunt, hanging out with the guys more often, although I still withdraw myself once in a while, cos' I do enjoy being alone at times... best of both worlds yea? :D

Java Assignment's been done for now. I was surprised that my software was more fanciful than most of the others' in the class... felt odd, cos' I expected most of follow the WCD way of designing GUIs, as most aptly paraphrased from Vincent Goh - "... the look and feel ..."

ELSA's been bothering me, causing me much worry as I don't want it to screw my grades over :S Just did some fdisk-ing, e2label-ing, mkfs.ext3-ing and fsck-ing in Ubuntu. ( fsck is FileSystem Check, not its rhyming but otherwise vulgar sibling. )

And last but not least before I go to sleep, I could never comprehend how some guys in my class actually go to FC6 just for the sake of sightseeing, if you know what I mean. :P

Truly, unmistakably, the mark of a !@#$%^& .ch . Nope, I won't understand.

' ...and I don't fancy A***** anymore, so stop the ruckus ;) '

gibs.

Have I changed for the better?

2009-05-17T21:35:00.006+08:00

As I was chatting to my friend, she mentioned this...

oh, i just remembered something
have you noticed that you have totally changed after the the holiday of semester 1
yep i intended for it.
why?

Why is a good question.

Looking back, I have changed quite a fair bit.

- Made some adjustments to some existing friendships to set the record straight.
- Improved relations with the rest of the class.
- Started wearing t-shirts. Picked up other very strange expressions (Like alucard would say: "We need a common protocol to transmit messages across efficiently.
- Any other solution would be not optimal" ).
- And just around the corner, the whole .ch thing.

Yes, I feel that i'm in a better state after all the changes, but the real question is...

Have I lost my identity to the crowds?

gibs.

Chilling out on a weekend :)

2009-05-16T19:17:00.004+08:00

Today's been nice. Although the weather hasn't been exactly cool, but, still I'm glad I got some work done! Come to think about it, it's been 6 hours of work on my Java Assignment!

I'm a bit fatigued by it though, all that coding and picture alignment... god... even setting up the game files for the program took at least three quarters of the time.

Amazing how much information I harvested yesterday... sometimes I really wonder whether I have a life, considering how I'm living my life.

Everytime I feel like I need to know more about people, I'm tempted to use Google, and I'm remorseful.

The internet is a disgustingly powerful tool.

Now, back to the work.

gibs.

Wierded.

2009-05-16T01:57:00.004+08:00

One too many weird occurrences inspired me to blog.

1. A weird sexually suggestive japanese game became a conversation starter lol, cos the person I was talking to was playing that game. Not me.

2. Two of my GEMs classmates rather me lend my laptop to them over others in the class whom they already knew. lolwut

3. I got invited into an MSN conversation with my friend being the conspirator and his other friend who was in the conversation... it was odd to have to intro oneself online without any initial real life intro... but I later confirmed that my friend had a good intention, but was however generously garnished with other hidden agendas. He's a (ch), through and through :P

gibs.

2009-05-11T15:28:00.004+08:00

# ## ###

UPDATE: Hmm, seems like someone pranked me :(

gibs.

Prologue: Week3.ThoughtLog.Search("girls");

2009-05-09T01:10:00.005+08:00

- Just to get this clear, I am by no means a pervert whatsoever, it's just that I found some of these events rather amusing :)
Here goes...

Monday
Talked about girls on the bus ride back home with my other friend, but just a teeny little bit only.

Tuesday
Saw some pretty girls on the bus... ok lor... life still goes on.

Wednesday
Figured that I haven't been liking anyone since last Sem Term 2. At least the state i'm in is better versus before that.

Thursday
Passed by some 'chio' ones here and there, but life goes on...

Friday
Ahh the most eventful of all days..
- I was distracted by some passing girls whilst engaging with QY in some java topic, and I wanna quote him directly for this, as it best represents his emotions.
"Wah gibs looking at girls leh! I didn't know he look at girls!"
- * Apparently they thought I was somewhat a studious geek with no 'life' whatsoever, but hey presto! *
- During lunch the 'master.ch' 'levelled me up' as i switched seats to the other side of the table (inside joke LOL).
- Alucarddis said "HUH!? Really ar? gibs look at girls ar?"
- Got 'caught' by QY 3 times whilst looking at girls :S

I don't get it. Why are they so surprised? Behind this grades, laptop and face still lies a person who, despite under pressure of being the model student, isn't always fixated on grades and results. I haven't lost touch of the trivial things in life, and I'm glad i've taken it wayyy easier ever since :)

gibs.

Adam's Midnight Cycling Event

2009-05-07T23:48:00.008+08:00

Yes, I know i'm about a week late from posting this, but I'll post it anyway.

As titled, Adam had plotted out the cycling path and had invited the class to join him in his (arduous) quest to cycle all the way till morning. Only 4 turned up. Stan, Kev, otp, and me.

It didn't exactly start out on the correct footing, as Kev and otp were late, but still, it didn't matter too much. We were worried whether we could rent our bikes in time to do the overnight cycling. Luckily, we got to ECP roughly 30mins before the bike rental shops closes.

Ahh the bikes... since Kev isn't too stable on bikes, we decided to rent a two-seater one, and thereafter we rented another 2 individual bikes. There were a few hitches though; the shop attendant didn't give his best service to us, forgetting to give us signal lights and he only would give them after repeated prompting. Geez.

So we set out. Soon we were gliding along East Coast Park, taking in the cold fresh air. We stopped at the Hawker Centre to grab a bite, as the next pitstop was quite far away.

Here's a shot of the two-seater bike.

... and the other two bikes.

Along the way towards Changi, we sighted upon long and dark winding roads which were dead slient. It was cool, yet creepy. Then there was the long straight running alongside the airport, where we got to experience the majestic orchestra of the jet engines revving at full throttle. Awesome. Once the long straight ended, we had to use the beaten path (ie. Roadside concrete pavement) in order to get ahead.

Well, things were looking fine while we were travelling towards Changi Village, but the hunger pangs struck me. By the time I got there, I could say I was hurting pretty bad...

I have to thank Kev for this man... he helped me buy some food when I was mostly incapable of doing so... Yes, it hurt that bad.

"No time to waste!" Even though the food was spicy, heck, I couldn't give a damn! Shoved down the plate of Nasi Ayam as fast as I could swallow. I don't remember chewing on the rice... just spoon scoop rice, spoon in mouth, swallow, repeat.

Shot while we were at Changi Village.

By then I was already a bit tired from the cycling, but I still had to carry on.

Here's where it get crazy, and I mean MAD crazy.

We cycled past these places in sequential order.

Loyang, Tampines, Bedok Reservoir, Geylang, Kallang, Singapore Flyer.

I was very doubtful that I would be able to make it there. But I did. But by then all of us were tired. So we decided to take a ~45min break there, with three of them sleeping and me keeping up as a self-declared watchdog.

While they were sleeping, this watchdog took some shots...

Yep, otp's the one sleeping in the courtyard while kev and stanley were sleeping on some wooden raised platform.

About an hour later, we decided that it was time to head back to ECP. This is where the strain of long hours of cycling took its toll on me. We took the Kallang, Eunos, ECP path to get back. By Eunos I had barely enough energy to stay focused, all while cycling on the road. I swear, if I got knocked down by a car that day, I wouldn't be surprised. Once I hit ECP, otp had to help me walk my bike back to where they were going. I was wasted, through and through.

Left the place soon after they got there, due to obvious reasons...

Hindsight
Props to otp, stan and kev for their amazing endurance throughout the event. It's amazing how they were able to do all that while keeping strong and focused.

Props to otp for planning out this crazy-assed route (which according to him is very normal for adventures/cyclists/*enter physical fitness maniac description here*. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like cycling, it's just that cycling overnight, long routes, and me don't get along at all.

Props to kev for his courage to cycle with us, even more so as this was his first time cycling! Must be an eye-opening experience for him... imagine cycling that route as your first time cycling experience!

And otp and stan, please don't mock at me for my physical inability to follow through the event all the way. It's not nice, and it hurts me too :(

gibs.

My Skating Adventures 18-04-2009

2009-04-22T22:36:00.003+08:00

YAY another skating adventure!

This time I covered more distance, from midpoint of ECP all the way to the canoeing area at the other side.

But there's a twist. This time round I had to fight up some steeper gradients and control myself whilst gliding down some relatively frightening downhill portions of the track.

Well, I'm not gonna say I conquered them all without breaking a sweat. There was one uphill part where I almost fell due to the speed bumps on the track... geez why'd they put speed bumps on an uphill track...

There there were two downhill portions... for safety precautions I dropped my pride and adopted the slight-squat with hands 90 degrees to the body. That's the safest posture.
Thankfully I didn't fall whilst going down, or it'll be bad.

And I'm not gonna lie that I didn't fall. Yes, I fell, but it was not at a high speed, so at least I didn't get injured.

That's all for now. Tomorrow's another skating adventure. Cya then!

gibs.

Don't think I didn't hear you, F.

2009-04-22T22:30:00.006+08:00

Please, you don't have to make enemies with anyone who's not your friend.

Don't be scared of what it is. If you're still wondering why it has degraded to this state, look no further.

gibs.

UPDATE: Whoops! Seems like there was a complete breach in the reservoir of emotions... this is gonna get interesting ;)

My Skating Adventures 13-04-2009

2009-04-18T23:48:00.003+08:00

*Yup, I know that this post is, as again, wayyy overdue, but i'll just write about it anyway*

Today, I went out with my friend to East Coast Park to skate! Yes, another opportunity to better myself at skating!

At first, I was optimistic about being able to keep up with my friend, which was on the bike. But right at the get go, I was left behind in his dust... argh.

I was trying my best to keep up with him, but I just couldn't. Well, better luck next time, where my strides are longer, where my legs are stronger and, most importantly, where my balance is much more stabler.

... and surprise surprise! I didn't fall down this time round!

gibs.

My new material wants!

2009-04-12T02:18:00.003+08:00

Yes, It has been a long time since I wanted something expensive... but I think y'all have already figured out what I want...

A DRUM SET!!! I DUN CARE IF ITS ACOUSTIC OR ELECTRONIC, JUZ GIMME NAO!!!

* straightens my shirt *

Right, where was I? Yeah, I want a drum set, but it costs at least $500 for electronic sets, and $1000 for acoustic ones. Gosh.

But before I even get to buying it, I still have yet to skate well enough to justify the purchase of my skates from my parents... but that doesn't mean I'll give up skating once i've skated enough, no no no. Skating's my sport man :)

gibs.

Some shots I took with the D60...

2009-04-12T01:39:00.005+08:00

Well,guess I have to put up with the stock lens till stocks of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 arrives.

Anyway, I took some shots with the stock lens...

No touch-ups for this photo (not that I know how to do it properly though :S )
Still, I think this picture invokes a feeling of surrealism in me. Turns out that my shaky hands gave this photo a nice effect.

And another...

Talk about looking at my hall in a different light (pun intended lol).

gibs.

Here's to a new semester!

2009-04-08T02:19:00.003+08:00

Finally, we are year 2 students!

As the holidays comes to a close, we anticipate the new semester and what has been placed in store for us!

New modules, new time spend with your peers, new friends, new schedules, new lecturers or even a new discovery of your significant other!

Here's to the bright and eventful future ahead of us!

gibs.

My Skating Adventures 31-03-09

2009-04-05T23:21:00.004+08:00

" Yes I know this post is about a whole week later, but who cares, let's just get to it shall we? "

Finally, a decent attempt at speed skating, but alas, it was accompanied by more than the falls then I expected...

This time I wasn't out alone, two of my good buddies came with me to do some skating at ECP, although one was completely new to it, and the other claimed that he didn't skate for a very long time. Heck, as long as there were people with me, I'll be more than glad :)

Since there was a beginner, we couldn't cover much distance, but since the other dude didn't want to waste his money, he skated for some distance ahead, then skated back, and we carried out this many times.

While this might sound innocuous, I chanced upon this situation to skate faster, since I couldn't do this at my home's surroundings, and ECP's just a long straight with very gentle curves. That was where the pain started.

Falls
1. Rolled backwards, luckily I had my bag to cushion me.
2. Blades rolled ahead whilst transiting from downhill grass to concrete. Butt went perpendicular straight to the ground, with very VERY painful results. Damm, my spine still hurts.
3. Blades rolled ahead (again) while descending from a gentle slope downwards. I was really frustrated when this happened.

Man, I really hurt myself when I was out there.

gibs.

I forgot to attend the NUS Prep Programme Breifing!

2009-03-27T16:03:00.003+08:00

Dear, oh dear. F$%K! How the hell can I forget this important event!
Woke up at 1pm, popped up the laptop, and then as I read my emails, I glanced past the alphabets 'NUS'. Then it hit me. I was supposed to be at school at 10am to attend the briefing.
10 minutes later, I was out of the house.

45mins later I was at school.
Then the teacher briefed me about the programme, but she made it very clear that as I did not satisfy two criterion, I stood a small chance. But I wasn't gonna give up that easily. Still I asked her questions regarding the programme. Before I left, she reminded me again about my low chances, but I just smiled that away :P

Even if they were to split 5/5 to both courses, I still have some chance in entering. Besides, universities judge based on batch, and not solely on GPA and O'level results.

Well, it's a really good prospect to be an NUS student before you even graduate. Wish me luck!

gibs.

gibs On Drums! (n00b version)

2009-03-25T23:15:00.011+08:00

Well, this is what you get after 5 days of drum practice (that happened last week).

Well, i'm still a noob at this... but i'm still elated to know that i've picked up a musical instrument! :D

UPDATE:
That's not my drumset. I might wanna get one though, but an electric one.
However, as always, I don't have much money LOL
Whoops, looks like the cramp I got from skating 2 days ago affected my kick-ing. Well, there's always tradeoffs in life :)

gibs.

Google Earth phail?

2009-03-25T14:01:00.005+08:00

So it seems that both Marsilling ans Ang Mo Kio MRT stations are located offshore. Riiiiiight.

gibs.

My Skating Adventures 23-03-2009

2009-03-23T22:02:00.004+08:00

Yes! As much as in am surprised about it, I acutally bladed on back-to-back days! And I haven't got the dreaded muscle cramps, though I could still feel a little stiffness on both my ligaments...

Anyway, today I've actually put the tilted paths and unrelentingly bumpy terrain to good use! Now I use them as balance practice... below's an example...

___....___...._....___...._...._____....____

Terrain Legend: ___ = Flat Surface / .... = Sewer Hatch

So basically how I practice my balance is to switch from foot to foot after gliding past each hatch :)
It's like glide left, over hatch, glide right, over hatch, glide left, etc...

So hopefully my surroundings can work to my advantage... hopefully.

Fell once which attempting to go down a steep gradient, my bad for being a smart ass.

gibs.

A curious internet boost.

2009-03-23T16:05:00.004+08:00

Well, well, well. Singnet gave me an unexpected speed boost, when I was only supposed to get 3mbps.

* If you haven't figured out the significance yet, I'm only supposed to get 3/8 Mbps, which is ~375kBps. Now, compare this speed to the picture.

gibs.

My Skating Adventures 22-03-2009

2009-03-23T00:37:00.004+08:00

Yep, today since I didn't have much to do at home, I decided to pick up the slack, popped in my rollerblading gear and made out a plan to excercise around the neighbourhood for at least 30mins.

Now I know you must be thinking, "Geez 30 minutes? What a wuss!". But be warned, my surroundings are not of the best places to skate around.

Sewer hatches, lightning conductor hatches, tar lines occuring oh so often at every straight stretch I sight upon; You name it.

I used a regiment of 10minutes of skating, followed with 1minute of rest, and so on, till I hit 30minutes.

Fell 3 Times.
1: Didn't engage a heel brake properly, fell to my side.
2: Didn't place my weight properly on my left foot after coming out of a corner, thus tipping over.
3: Overestimated a corner's curve, turning in too much, and ramming straight into the walkway's metal pole. Ouch.

Well, as usual, I get sharp pains after the 20minute mark every 5 minutes or so, so much so that it becomes unbearable, that I had to hyperventilate to skate my way back home on the last minute.

The pain lasted for at least 30minutes after the blading was over, but all was back to normal after which. I better find a solution to this pain before going on my next round.

gibs.

Out with the old, in with the new : i780

2009-03-21T01:07:00.004+08:00

I said goodbye to 3.2Megapixels on the go last week, but invited in Windows Mobile, Wi-Fi and GPS into my mobile arsenal.

Sweet, sweet Samsung i780.

gibs.

1B02' - My Result Slip. (no pun)

2009-03-19T00:48:00.005+08:00

This is what kept me up for another 1hr after 2am, whether I wanted to sleep or not.


Module Code - Credit Unit - Grade
---------------------------------
MS505A - 2 - B  (LoveRelations)
LC0818 - 2 - A  (CRS)
ST2104 - 5 - A  (WCD)
ST2402 - 4 - A  (ISE2)
ST2406 - 3 - A  (NETF)
ST2407 - 5 - A  (DBMS)
SP0802 - 2 - B+ (IDEA)

SEMESTER GPA: 3.952
CUMULATIVE GPA: 3.891

ALLOWED TO CONTINUE IN THE COURSE

Thank the heavens that my GPA didn't drop.

gibs.

As occupied as I try to be...

2009-03-16T23:44:00.004+08:00

What happens when you have too much time on your hands? You kinda waste it. Lots of it.

Some go to work, some hang out with others alot, and some just stay at home.

Well, time to get things in perspective... so far I've been able to keep myself occupied so far... but there are times where I get a little too emo...

Even if they say that relationships would hurt if they don't work out, i'd try again and again, with a resolve yearning for those sweet moments... I've been alone for way too long already...

gibs.

Sunday doesn't feel like it. Not at all.

2009-03-08T20:13:00.002+08:00

It's sad.

My parents are away, my brothers are out, and i'm left at home without anyone to talk to. Thought about asking my friends out, but I wouldn't wanna encroach upon their family time. Went around AMK with the intent of finding good handphone deals, but left the place disappointed. Got the dreaded 'home headache'.

It's 8.10pm. And they aren't at home. Not at all.

gibs.

Guide: How to convert your videos for your Creative Zen!

2009-03-06T17:02:00.021+08:00

Since I was fed up with the converter that Creative provided for my Zen, I decided to go figure out the video settings required so that I could convert videos using other codecs so that I could save time, instead of relying on the fixed formats and settings that Creative's Converter had, which had only 3 presets.

But alas, after around 6hrs of tinkering and reasearch, I finally struck gold! Yes, liberation!

Since I couldn't find any guides online teaching others how to convert videos to the Zen other than using the 'PSP/iPod' presets in other software that didn't come free (i didn't even bother trying), I felt that it would be good if I wrote a guide on this.

The Guide To Converting Your Videos To Your Zen via VirtualDub

1: Get The Software Required
What You Need
- VirtualDub (you can use VirtualDubMod if you don't intend to change the audio stream from the video source)
- DivX Codec (if it's already installed in your computer, then ignore this step)

What You Might Want
- LAME MP3 Codec (important if you want to convert movies, as most movies come with AC3, which the Zen doesn't support. If your player supports AC3 Multichannel (which most don't), then you can ignore this step)
- AC3 Codec (important too, as VirtualDub requires this plugin to read files with AC3 Audio, which most movies come with)

For a good gauge, if you encounter problems such as "No audio decompressor" when importing movies, then you have to get the AC3 Codec.

2: Install The Software
Install the LAME MP3 and AC-3 Codec (if you downloaded them) by extracting them first, then right-clicking the .inf file and selecting the 'Install' option.

VirtualDub doesn't require any installation (amazing for such a powerful software eh?). Just Unzip it and load VirtualDub.exe (or VirtualDubMod.exe).

3: Load the desired video to be converted
Click 'File', then select 'Open'. Find your video and open it.

In this case, I used a clip from South Park: The Movie.

4: Configure The Audio Settings
Go to 'Audio'. You can select either Direct Stream Copy or Full Processing.
*If the video source has an audio stream that is not supported by your player eg. AC3 , select Full Processing.)

Once you have done so, Click 'Audio' again, then select 'Compression'.

Here I recommend the usage of LAME MP3 Encoder. Select any bitrate you like. Do note that the higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality, and conversely, the lower the bitrate, the worse the sound quality. I personally would stick to 192kbps.

5: Configure The Video Settings
Select 'Video', then click on 'Compression'.

Once you're in there, you will see many options, but fret not! Select the DivX codec, then click on the 'Configure button. (if you're using a dual-core system, select the dual core option to save time later when encoding.)

Here's where it really gets technical.
- Change the certification profile to 'Unconstrained' for maximum compatibility of video sources.
- Make sure the encoder preset is checked. The higher the preset level, the better the video quality, but it takes longer to encode. Likewise, the lower the preset level, the lousier the video quality, but it takes less time to encode. Under the rate control mode
- Under 'Rate Control', select '1-pass' for the mode. For the bitrate, the maximum bitrate the Zen will accept to play is 1000kbps. I would recommend setting that to 800kbps.

Now, switch to the Video tab. As for many videos, you will need to change the resolution to one within 320x240, as the Zen won't play any video that's larger than that. Select the 'Custom Resize' radio button, and enter in the resolution accordingly.

Inputting 320x240 on widescreen videos would make them stretched vertically, that's why a aspect ratio calculation is recommended. You can view the source video's details by right-clicking the video, and the selecting 'Properties'.

Click on the 'Media' tab. In this case, the video's resolution is 720x480.

To make it fit the player, the width must not be larger than 320 pixels, and the height must not be larger than 240 pixels.
You can use this tool I found online to help your calculations out. Once you've popped in the resolutions in the DivX settings page, click ok, then ok again then move on to the next step.
* The width must be a multiple of 4 and the height must be a multiple of 2. This applies for both the source and the output video, as the codec won't accept files that have not met the requirements as stated.

5: Encode The Video
Once you're done with the settings, click 'File', then select 'Save As AVI'. Choose your location in which you want the encoded video to be. When you're done, click Save. Uncheck the box below. (I will explain the batch encoding part later).

Here's the good part. VirtualDub allows you to see the estimated time for the encoding to be done, whereas Creative's Converter leaves you in the dark. And the conversion can be faster, or slower, depending on the settings you made.

About Job Control
You can preset all the settings and files before converting them all at one go. You can also choose whether you want to computer to shut itself down after converting the videos, which is especially useful if you don't want to wake up in the middle of the night just to turn off the computer. To add jobs like this, check the box when in the 'Save as AVI' window. Once you're all done, hit the start button!

Well, I hope that this guide has helped those who wanted something else other than using the Creative Converter. If you think that I have missed out some parts or If you think I have done a good job, just comment on this post below! Cheers, and have fun while at it!

* South Park: The Movie is the property of Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros. I have no intention of infringing copyright laws whatsoever. *

gibs.

What I was thinking.

2009-02-28T21:38:00.004+08:00

Well, it's only the 2nd day after the exams, and I'm already complaining about being way too bored. Instead of bothering others by asking them out for a cuppa', or organizing group outings, or engaging in any social activity for that matter, I shall list out what has been on my mind ever since, well, a very long time.

Heck, you could consider them as goals, objectives or aims. Wait. They all mean the same thing. Cutting to the chase, here's an insight to my thoughts... the critical ones come first.

1. Organizing a holiday together with my parents. A Must.
2. Spending more time with the family, as always. Imperative.
3. Thinking of what to do during the holidays... any ideas?
4. Probably get in contact with my Sec School mates. Sweet :)

(In no order of importance)
- Mastering some computer tools... man I never get around this aim.
- Wait around to see whether my latest attempt at finding my significant other has not gone belly-up.
- Think about how NOT LONELY I AM with barely any human interaction at home. (No, the maid doesn't count)
- Think about what phone to choose... this is a tough one.
- Where should I migrate to? Australia, NZ, US... this one's a really tough nut to crack. I'd probably need a pile driver for this one.
- Hope that my current state of life doesn't change, cos' I like it the way it is (: (Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow has not yet come, We have only Today. - Mother Teresa )

Well, that's all for now. Hope I had entertained you for at least the last 5 minutes. If for any instance that you felt that it was 5minutes well spent, Thanks and Be My Guest :)

gibs.

Dear _____.

2009-02-26T22:12:00.004+08:00

Dear ______,
I ____ you.
You have a nice ______.
You make me _______.
You should _______.
Someday I will ______.
You + me = ________.
If I saw you now I'd __________.
I want to ________ you.
I would build a _______ just for you.
If I could sing you any song it would be _________.
We could __________ under the stars.
Love,
_______________

(P.S. ______________.)

oh and I am __________ (going/not going) to post this under my notes and see what you write about me.

My friend made this... and I can say it was beautifully crafted and, almost purpose-built for a confession. I just felt that this was more than deserving for posting :)

EDIT: After having read one of my other friend's intepretation, which I was disturbed to say the least, I guess this message's objective... is to invoke the most honest feelings.

gibs.

Anyone care to share a sunset with me?

2009-02-16T14:18:00.002+08:00

It's been quite a while now... enjoying a sunset. I might just go see a sunset at a beach... maybe soon, maybe this week.

gibs.

1B02' Study Week woohoo!

2009-02-13T13:48:00.004+08:00

Yes! I've been studying most of the time this week! Never felt this motivated and empowered with the all the knowledge. Ahh, i've almost felt the moment where work does not become boring anymore, in which the case becomes where the pain in the work is not felt anymore, thus allowing me to study for even longer hours without procrastinating hehe :)

While at school blogging, I was previously doing some DBMS, trying to beef up my SQL coding skills and ERD deriving skills, i'm also thinking on what should I go read again in the ISE2 book... all the work... painfully boring, but hopefully it'll become fun for me soon!

gibs.

Fleeting thoughts...

2009-02-09T23:55:00.003+08:00

Gazing across the horizon, enjoying the picturesque sunset, and just biding my time. I set my mind free beyond the tangerine expanse of the sky. As I lay down onto the patchy grass, I thought to myself, “Where have I gone wrong?”

As I pondered over and over, I acknowledged the fact that I didn’t know girls and their ways that well, but I didn’t mean any harm to anyone. I just could not comprehend how my acts would mean any harm, no matter how many times I thought through it, either emotionally or logically, it just didn’t get to me.

Yes, I do admit that I might have said some hurtful things, but I sincerely did not mean to do any harm. I have treasured my friendships all along, and yet, somehow, most probably a misconception, crept up and everything fell apart.

Looking back, if there were things that I could have done/not done, I would be willing to change it for the better. As of now, I would even be willing to make up for all the wrong I have done.

Maybe I could have tried harder to keep it together, maybe they were right, or maybe it was just doomed from the start. What a dilemma, and a depressing one indeed. Sigh.

gibs.

How are you defined and remebered by others?

2009-02-06T22:48:00.004+08:00

Being partially motivated by my GEMS friend's opinion of my blog, which is that this blog is painfully technical and, thus making it boring to read. Well, I couldn't agree more! While this might provide a substantial amount of technical information and analysis, to many others this is just plain abstract and the posts only scream 'if technical is not your thing, you're better off reading something else'.

Luckily, I thought of a relatively juicy topic (at least that's how I feel).

How are we defined and remembered by others? Are we defined by what we do and say, or are we defined by others around us? In public situations, some adopt a persona that is different from their original, as they think that it might benefit them by doing so. Some do, some don't. So, in retrospect, it is actually quite tough to judge a person, so we must learn not to be too quick to judge. In bitter irony however, most people are blinded by first impressions and first impressions only. I, sadly, have been judged by some solely on first impressions, and when I don't do it right, which I did, they condemned me straight to the abyss. I can only sigh in the pitiful state it has deteriorated to.

While interacting with others on a daily basis, how do others remember you by? Do they remember you for your tactical wit, your sharp judgement, your technical prowess, your quirky and bubbly spirit, your seemingly consistent yet effective small talk skills, etc...
Or do people remember you for your cynical remarks, your arrogance, your rolling eyes, your ever-suspicious judgement of others, your dismissive attitude, etc...
Ugly as it might be, for all we know, we might be remembered by others for our misdeeds to others, or on the flipside, we may be remembered by our good points.

Personally, I hope I'm not remembered for all the wrong reasons. I mean, who doesn't?
This might sound overly hopeful, but I hope I would be remembered most people as a friend that can lend a listening ear to others, and while he may not be always there, he will always help out others in time of need.

To the readers who know me personally, what traits of me do you recall when you remember me? I would like to hear from you! While you may remain anonymous in the comments section, I would greatly appreciate if you would comment on me, as it would greatly help me in my self-discovery. Thanks!

* The term 'rememberd by others', specifically points to what traits others see in you, and has nothing to do with death.

gibs.

Singtel's mio Home Plans - Agressive Maybe?

2009-02-03T12:49:00.006+08:00

From the past 2 months now, Singtel's mio Home offers has went from mostly muted to an all-out 'war' against the pervasive monopoly that Starhub has over Singapore's pay-tv market. Despite Starhub's well-rooted stronghold, Singtel has nevertheless went on headstrong with its attempts to break Starhub's monopoly. Before December, mio TV did not receieve good public sentiments; it was plagued by constant jitter of its' IPTV transmission, did not have many channels nor enticing packages, and the imposed minimum monthly charge that came with it which was $16.05, was not exactly value-for-money.

Realizing that mio TV's uptake was low, Singtel decided to bundle it with its' internet plans, and then with mio Home. The notable inclusion was the latter, my explanation as follows.

mio Plan brought about much needed publicity and this move was only expected as Singtel needed to compete with Starhub's Triple Pay service, the Hub Club, which encompasses its CableTV service, its internet cable service and its mobile service, and also the home VoIP line which came free. This meant savings for consumers who took up all 4 services. mio Plan, on the other hand, only covered 3 services, with mio TV out of the equation. This meant savings for mio Plan, but did not bring savings to added mobile lines within the same household.

mio Plan

Hub Club

mio Home finally brought Singtel's offers on equal ground with Starhub's Hub Club. This plan bundled mio TV, ADSL internet service and a residential fixed line or add $3 for a VoIP home line (unlimited calls). This also brought progressive mobile savings (ie. the more mobile lines you have, the more the discounts on their base price!). Here's where it gets interesting - Singtel has been very agressive when it comes to enhancing their mio TV offers. 2 weeks before December, they offered free Video On Demand for the entire contract length! Last week, they even bundled 2 Supersaver Packs (channels), which meant that mio Home subscribers get up to 34 channels free for 12mths! And the pricing isn't that bad either. Starting at $39.90, it makes mio Home very affordable, considering that the base package has 3mbps, which costs $32.90 by itself. That means that you pay $7 for mioTV and residential line (or $10 for mio TV and VoIP line). The savings come in the form of mobile line discounts - Up to 30% with 4 or more lines, and up to 5 lines can enjoy the discount.

So the idea is that you get tied down to Singtel for 2 years, but you get 12mths of free 34 channels. The battle for pay-tv has only begun. Good deal? You decide.

gibs.

* This is a non-paid blog post, I wrote this in free will.

Pastor Ben and his sermon - Superfluous Eruption of Passion and Righteousness

2009-01-31T23:51:00.005+08:00

Well, since it was a Saturday, I went to LSBC for my Youth Service, and thus was expecting some songs of worship and an insightful yet painfully boring sermon.

Things went as expected for the first 40 minutes and so, where I got to sing my heart out for my God, and every time I sang more, the more I opened up to their teachings and such.

However, once Pastor Ben got up to the stage to deliver his sermon, we were taken by surprise by his unorthodox methods of going around delivering his points and his persona was very well receieved by the audience, which was mostly teens to pre-adults.

He went on to talk about the revival of the faith of God in the hearts of the youths, and also talked about how we can go around to achieve 'Holiness'.

One thing that I was very impressed was that he approached issues such as pornography addiction, divorcing and the lack of a spiritual compass, phrasing it in such a way that was listenable and understood by the audiences, be it an immature kid or a pre-adult. He got his point across in a very effective tone of voice, one that was overflowing with vigor and conviction.

Then came the unprecedented. He requested that the youths close their eyes; the reason for this I would come to know in quick succession. Then he asked for those who were seeking to wash their pornography addictions away to seek for God's forgiveness. He applauded those that raised up their hands, and also added that nobody else was looking. Suddenly, I heard coughs and vomiting noises all around; I assume that was God absolving their sins. Then he asked for those that 'hungered for God's love' to walk before the altar and kneel down. Then many went to the altar and did so. Then we sang for the last bit before ending it.

*I only just got to know the real definition of porn, and I'm ashamed that I've got the wrong definition for so long. Damn.

As my eyes opened, I saw many people that were still on their knees, some happy, some crying, and some heads' still on the ground. I had no idea how God supposedly expunged their sins and gave them faith. At that moment where God expunged their sins, I was getting nervous, as I was new to this overenthusiastic type of worship.

When I said 'supposedly', It doesn't make me any less of a christian, It only means that I've not fully bought the idea of God, yet. But as a christian, I have sought God to make me fully believe him, as I believe that there's an unknown factor that's preventing me in fully believing in God. What a dilemma.

gibs.

Speculating the future of Singapore's Internet Access

2009-01-24T00:32:00.005+08:00

I've been reading up on how FTTH is going to vastly improve internet speeds and thereby empowering the end users, which is us, to download HD videos without waiting for more than, say 30minutes. They say the deployment of FTTH would arrive in the coming years (eg. 2-5yrs), and this has set me thinking about how the competiton (ie. Starhub) would react to this. Singtel would most certainly gain the upperhand on the almost otherworldly speeds that Optic Fiber can bring to users, but all is not lost for Starhub, as I would explain later on.

Let's begin by explaining the existing infrastructure of Singapore's Internet Access. We have two main modes of internet access, which is ADSL and Cable, with the latter dwarfing the former's bandwith capacity by at least 4 times (or more), but the former makes it up for its responsiveness and its reliable speeds.

These are last-mile services (ie. How ISPs get their data over from their nodes to your house), and are not nearly as fast as what FTTH can give us, but are much cheaper than running a Fibre up to each house. However, these two technologies are not exactly that slow.

For ADSL, the entire telephone network is already digitalized, and as such, ISPs can supply faster broadband speeds through this medium. Currently, Singtel utilizes ADSL2+, providing a maximum speed of 25Mbps, which is not easily achieveable as your house needs to be really close to a DSLAM before any chance of that happens, and that's also assuming your home's telephone line quality is pretty good. Problems mainly lie in line quality for some.

For Cable, Starhub is currently using DOCSIS 3.0, providing users with up to 100Mbps, but to achieve this speed, your neighbourhood's traffic must be low, and as always, this speed is very hard to even reach. This is further aggravated by the fact that the bandwidth is limited by the block or neighbourhood, which means that for example, Starhub allocates 30units of bandwidth to a block, and each user takes 1unit of bandwidth, it usually ends up in the case of 50 or more people scrambling for a pool of 30units. Long story short, Starhub is not probably allocating enough bandwidth to its users.

FTTH will be a new frontier, as it would easily outpace both DOCSIS and ADSL in terms or scalability and bandwidth, but it comes at a price. Initially, equipment and installation would be expensive, but as the uptake of FTTH increases, the installation and equipment prices would gradually fall. Potential maximum bandwidth of FTTH currently would be 2488Mbps, but don't expect Singtel to have a plan with speeds like this, as this kind of link would be used to link up a neighbourhood, and not directly to your house.

So, what can Cable ISPs do to combat this new kid on the block? Well, for starters, Starhub can go ahead and digitalize the entire medium, increasing the theoretical max of the bandwidth to go up to around 1000Mbps, but don't count on users' bandwidth requirements to stagnate ever. With IPTV, more bandwidth is required to stream 1080p content over the internet. Digitalizing the entire medium also effectively forces everyone who is using a cable point for TV to purchase a Set-Top box to decode the digitally compressed channels. Whether this is economically viable, we'll leave it to the ISPs.

As for ADSL2+, they also can digitalize the entire medium (ie. phone line), and change its mode to VDSL2+, and not forgetting the upgrade in required equipment too. This is certainly achieveable as DSLAMs are connected to the backbone via Optic Fibre already. The benefits sing to the tune of up to 250Mbps at DSLAM, 100Mbps at 0.5km and 50Mbps at 1km, which still casts a huge shadow on ADSL2+. Digitalizing the entire medium also effectively forces everyone to hop on to VoIP, as the standard voice channel is occupied by data streams. So theoretically, Singtel can do a double-whammy on Starhub by deploying FTTH for high-end users and VDSL2+ to accomodate mid-end and low-end users. FTTH would certainly be deployed, but as for VDSL2+, I guess they scrapped the idea since FTTH would be the way of the future anyway.

So, that's almost all that I have learned today! Phew that was around 2hrs of reading, and I've learned alot about what might happen in the future! Hope you guys enjoyed the article!

gibs.

Disclaimer: This source should not be used for professional advice and I do not guarantee the truth of all the technical details in this post. If there are any errors, please comment on this blog, and I will ratify them.

Goodbye my Diploma Plus - Certificate in Business

2009-01-18T22:56:00.005+08:00

It had to end. Damaged my Sem2 MSTs, lost loads of sleep, lost even more time, scheduled test on Week 15, and an exam that's the same goddamn timing as all of my other modules' exams.

Well, at least I gave it a shot, right?

gibs

Been really busy. Tsk tsk tsk.

2009-01-01T16:55:00.003+08:00

Man, It's been really hectic this week... settling project after project... against many factors not working to my advantage... I just hope that this would end soon... time to get over with my work.

Maybe this would give you some insight about my work...
- ISE2 Security Product : I have yet to confirm the validity of my product.
- IDEAS : Almost done, just left the User Experience Checklist and the Custom Background.
- CRS : So far so good. I have not beefed up my intro with sources yet, though.
- DBMS : I have yet to practice more ERD exercises to further improve the project.

One thing to keep me from losing my sanity is that all the others in my class are also doing the same thing, so I guess that if they can deal with it, so can I.

I guess being the leader for most of my projects is a double-edged sword - I have to look through everything before it gets submitted. Also another good/bad point of me is that if my work or the work i'm gonna submit is not done with my best, I am reluctant to submit it. I guess this explains my stressed-up characteristic these few days. Luckily I can blog still :)

It's just a pity that I have no time to improve my media-creation skills (ie. FruityLoops, Photoshop). I haven't even got to Vegas and 3DsMAX yet. Dammit.

gibs.

3 Weeks' Holiday - They come, they go.

2008-12-26T13:27:00.003+08:00

Well, as the holidays come to a close and the new term's around the corner, Let's see what I have achieved in that 3 Weeks...

- Got the MIO package installed.
- Repaired and re-repaired the HTPC.
- Decommissioned a hard drive and DVD-ROM drive.
- Spent time with my cousin
- Spent time with some of my best friends.
- Celebrated Christmas the christian-style :)
- Improved on my HighEnergy beat.
- Realized that I could still Rollerblade even after 1month of not practicing.

Well, that's not too bad, but I still got some aims that I wished to achieve during the holidays, namely the goal to figure out the settings to make my AR1021 work like the MIO Box does... ahh I miss those days where the 1000+ connections could exist with perfect stability of the network setup.

Well, I felt that I have spent this holidays pretty well... very fulfilling :)

gibs

My first true christian-ish Christmas!

2008-12-23T22:31:00.004+08:00

I was invited by Joshua to his Christmas party, and although I initially wasn't too enthusiastic, I went anyway as I could get to see my best friend after a very long time.

I arrived on the venue 30mins before the start of the activities, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he also invited other friends, but from his polytechnic. Well, I got to know them; they were pretty funny and it was fun talking to them.

Then came the food - Awesome! They prepared a lot of food! And to top that, all of that tasted really good! Man, I enjoyed the food so much I could not help not voicing out my pleasure of consuming that feast! One thing though, they said grace (did I describe it correctly), which I haven't heard since a very long time, since my house's primary religion is Buddhism. I felt that it was good to say grace, It actually heals the soul, reminds you of your faith :)
*i'm no evangelist, so don't blast me.

Then came a sobering and enlightening video about a reformed drug addict that managed to get out of his compulsive habits of drug abuse of with the help of God. Somehow, I'm not readily agreeing on phrases such as "Praise to the Lord" or "God is our saviour", or any other form of worship...

To complete the experience, we ended the day by singing Christmas carols and it was complemented with musical instruments played by resident musically-adept friends. Sometimes I do get jealous of their expertise in that field, but I guess my skill in FruityLoops will prove to be as or even more useful than what they have achieved. I hope.

All in all, the experience was very fulfilling, uplifting and ultimately, enjoyable.

What a lovely family time.

gibs

I achieved something today!

2008-12-23T22:07:00.003+08:00

Finally, a day in the holidays which is the most productive of all the other days!

Fixed and decommissioned 2 devices : 40GB Hard Drive and one DVD-ROM. Well, they lasted for at least 5 years.

Also I've did some homework, well just FumE. I might work on the other stuff later... ahh just a filler post. Well, how about I work on blogging about an event I haven't covered yet?

gibs

The 4B Class Outing

2008-12-18T00:03:00.004+08:00

Despite coming from their neighbouring class, 4A, while in Secondary School, I was equally, if not more eager, pumped and excited to see how my friends have been doing after taking our separate paths after our graduation. After all, at least half of 4B constitutes of 2A students previously, and as you expected, I was in the same class as most of them :)

Venue and preparation for the gathering was pretty much an impromptu act in itself. Had our lunch at White Sands and bought a whole load of drinks and snacks before heading our to Pasir Ris Park.

I was pretty stunned at how they looked - Wayyyy better than they were all in school uniforms, with pinned-up hair and awfully tidy clothes. Those girls... man.. I only have one word to describe them - Rockin'.

The Attendance!

Some random shots!

... and I still love macro shots...

While I was there, I was very intrigued by the wildlife on site, and I proceeded to snapping some of the lovely moments!

While enjoying the sea breeze and also having a great conversation with my best friend, we stumbled upon an area with low-tide, and with it brought splendiferous sights!
... JELLYFISH!

... Dead Crab!

... A rock that looks like it came from Atlantis!

... and to top it all off, a pint-sized crab! Cute!

Zoomed In!

While we were there for a good 6 hours, we had alot of fun with each other, hanging out with each other...
The sea breeze was always there, caressing both our body and soul. Coupled up with a semi-wet weather which although threatened to rain, fortunately didn't.
We cycled for a bit, talked to each other alot and most importantly, had loads of fun!

Here's my best friend trying to balance on a really long semi-buried pipe.

After a long day together, it was time to head back to civilization.

We had dinner at Burger King, after which my dad called to inform me that he was ready to pick me up. I thanked synziara for her absolute perseverance that made this gathering happen, in spite of a good number of unenthusiastic classmates that fortunately didn't attend. Feeling a tinge of sadness, I waved everyone goodbye.

Now I know why they say that you'll miss the Secondary School Days.

gibs

Another mean forumer, probably another Singaporean.

2008-12-15T17:05:00.005+08:00

As I was surfing around the web today, I encountered a forum thread, in which that a user had problems with his ADSL setup... I suggested that it might be the line problem, but I was slammed and was even maglined to be deliberately giving wrong information by two other forumers. They made it sound like as if I had a malevolent intent to propagate wrong information to others. They even made sarcastic remarks on my incorrect suggestions. I admit I was wrong, but was all that condemning and sarcasm necessary?

Well, If it was a Singaporean behind that computer, then i'll pass on being irritated over this. As I like to call it - Sunny island, cold people.

I've encountered many Singaporeans now, asking total strangers for directions, on places, offering fellow polytechnic mates planks at food stalls and even talking to another person on the bus whether they are tired or not. Weird? Probably in Singapore, but my previous trips to NZ and Australia have enlightened me on the social climate of Singapore, which in bitter irony, is anything but warm and sunny. It almost disgusts me to see many Singaporeans being so mean and unfriendly to other strangers. This is also one of the reasons why I wanna migrate out of this place.

However, there is hope. I have come across other gracious Singaporeans, and I am pleased that people like them do exist. I intend to spread this gracious behaviour amongst my peers and I hope that they would be able to pass this good deed across to their peers and hopefully, it'll propagate and make a real difference, making Singapore a better place. Singapore might have a world-class infrastructure, a Government that has excellent foresight and planning, and a whole lot of skilled labour, but improvement in the social climate is what Singapore really needs to become the best it can really be.

Ending this on a less harsh tone, the only thing I have to say for them... Why Cant We Be Friends?

gibs

mio Issues, resolved.

2008-12-11T02:49:00.007+08:00

Yeah, I've been busy these few days trying to fix up the mio Box and the other two services, namely the IPTV and the mio Voice. Turns out that my Tecom just won't work with the two new services. Dang. For the sake of the other services, i'll just have to make a painful sacrifice of giving up the ridiculously reliable connection that the Tecom can give me.

The problem was, sadly, due to shoddy workmanship of the building contractors, who when 17 years ago, cut corners with the phone wiring and apparently, according to the experienced technician that came down today, the cables were improperly installed and therefore caused crosstalk and the inability to use 2 out of the 3 pairs in the 6P6C wires running to 2 of my phone wall jacks, effectively rendering the loopback connection riddled with distortion and static. Thankfully, the issue was ratified at the end, but on one condition - all but two of my phone jacks do not have Analog/DSL signal, everything else is VoIP'ed. In my case, that's pretty negligible, considering that I won't be moving my mio Box's location anytime soon. Also, It was comforting to know from the technician that I have excellent phone line quality :)

Before any Starhub fanboy yacks at me, or any other people that are anti-mio for that matter, valiantly proclaiming that I've made a huge mistake by signing on 32 months of mio Home, these are the calculated risks that I've have taken.

1. Singnet's Internet service has been very reliable for me, not even a SINGLE drop. I repeat, not even ONE in 6 years of internet service. With that, I have full confidence that VoIP would work like a charm, considering that Singnet's got what it exactly needs: Low Latencies.
2. With Singnet's reliability in mind, I also trust, although not as much as I trust VoIP, that IPTV would work well. However, I have my doubts - How long can they hold on to a 14.7MBps connection throughput?
3. With 3 (and most probably 4 in the near future) Singtel mobile lines already billed to this address, this is where the saving begins. 25% for 3 Lines (30% for 4 and 5 Lines).
4. The new 2Wire box has WAYY less problems than the previous silver one, which had loads of problems and such.

AND before someone starts bashing me, saying that Singtel's DSL service is mostly unreliable, getting multiple drops everyday...
FOR GOODNESS SAKE, CALL A SINGTEL TECHNICIAN DOWN TO YOUR PLACE ALREADY. THEY EXIST FOR A REASON - TO FIX DSL INSTALLATIONS!

Moving on, I packed up all the mess that the installation process has created and quickly moved on to making sure all the services were up before I went over to my cousin's place. Rewired all the LAN connections, tied up all the loose wires and double-checked all my equipment to see that they are in working condition. Installed my Gigabit adapter in my Torrenting Server, and as expected, worked like a charm. With all but 3x Cat.5e/6 cables and a Gigabit Switch, i'm looking forward to faster LAN transfer speeds - I don't like waiting 3 minutes for 1GB to get from my server to my thumbdrive.

Now, I'm currently at my cousin's place, blogging in a cold room, with air-con probably set to 23C, 34% battery, eyes that feel like they're burning, and a snoring aunt right beside me. Now you know why I can't sleep. Going down now, cya soon :)

gibs - I hope you enjoyed reading! / Missing my previous Tecom setup :(

ATi 4350 & UVD = HD Awesomeness!

2008-12-08T13:48:00.008+08:00

WOOT! Right after the ISE2 MST, I swooped down to Sim Lim Square and got my Powercolor 4350 for $75! Time for some UVD goodness!
... but first, some pictures!

The Powercolor 4350 SCS Version! It was a pleasant surprise as SCS-type cards have a huge passive heatsink! The Best Part: I got it at no extra charge versus the vanilla 4350!

The Package

The 4350 with the huge heatsink!

Don't think that with just 80 unified shaders, it's just of no use. It lays waste to many NVIDIA cards just with its UVD, which decodes h264 and VC-1 video streams, and in effect almost offloads all that decoding work from the CPU to the GPU! Its graphic performance might not be as good as 9500GT or other graphics cards, but for 75 bucks... just look at the results below...

Test Setup
Pentium 4 2.4GHz
Powercolor 4350 256MB
1x1GB DDR Ram
Philips Cineos 32PF9531 32in LCD TV (720p)

With DXVA

Without DXVA

(pardon for the choppy images, I was remote controlling the computer :P)
100% vs 41%! It was from totally unplayable video to judder-free, clear images!

I give this a 5/5! Awesome performance at cheap prices!

gibs.

" I'm sorry, but it has to be this way. "

2008-12-02T21:21:00.004+08:00

It's sad, but I'll have to make hard decisions in order to uphold my ideals. There are certain things which have trespassed my tolerance threshold and I have to make a decision, for it cannot go on that way anymore. It'll be painful, it'll be unpleasant, but it has to be done.

I hope that I will have the willpower to follow up what I have set in motion. God, be with me on this one!

gibs

my new hoots! SONG DAH!

2008-11-29T15:44:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, despite of my throbbing headaches and my severe lack of sleep, I still muscled onwards to SITEX 2008, and as the title suggests, I did buy some stuff.

A PROLINK Gigabit NIC for $10! One thing, I hope it has jumbo frames though.

What are these chips for? Maybe I should ask the NETF teacher :P

What are these 3 metal pins for?

A week ago, I ordered from Play-asia and I got...

A TOSLINK Cable, and...

A HDMI Cable!

After SITEX, my friend and I headed over to Changi Airport to get...

DOMO-KUN!!!

For $6.95 it's really squishy and cute!

Anyway, today I decided not to study as I believe that my entire week of slogging over studies has prevented me from getting well. Well, I hope that i'll feel better by tomorrow; I can't be slacking all the way to the exams you know...

gibs