Your Father's Blog

2005-06-09T21:08:00.000+08:00

Arrrgh, where has my youth gone to? FXXK FUXK FXCK.

*ahem*

The dream that was Youth
has slipped by me,
but the memories will
remain
forever in my mind.

-----
完

ST reporter detained by Chinese Authorities.

2005-05-31T09:17:00.000+08:00

Usually such a topic would lead to a serious discussion of human rights and the whole "China is evil" debate.

But I'll leave that to people who do that and get paid humsumly. Only 1 thing I want to seriously mention is why in hell is this guy going over to China to secretly attain a sensitive document that has serious implications on our not so concrete relationship with the Big Red Dragon.

Bored. onto the crux of this post.
-----------
Back in August or September, whilst working for HSBC, I had a new analyst join the business management team and I was to train him before I left for ANU. Anyway Parvinder was his name and a Sikh like our brother from another island Sandy. So I like recall him saying 'OH the Sikh community in Singapore is very small and very close.' and stuff like having uncles not even 2 or 3 degrees from his parents.

On a fateful night, I msn-ed him asking 'Do you know a Parvinder from Singapore?' and he goes like 'WTFB%&&%*%' for a bit and then retorts 'Do you know a Chin Chong from China?!'. I was taken quite aback at the time, but it gradually became one of those jokes that became permanently etched in my head. He never fails to mention it time to time esp when my 'Sikh-bashing' skills have exceeded his turban's tolerance, oops there I go again.

Well Mr Deep, lemme present to you Ching Cheong from China!

"Security agents apprehended Ching Cheong, chief China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, on April 22 in the southern city of Guangzhou, " .... "Ching, 55, a Hong Kong citizen and a permanent legal resident of Singapore, is widely considered one of the most knowledgeable correspondents covering China"

He's a HK man, so technically from China even 10-20 years ago.

Here's da article

MeMeMeMEMeMEeee

2005-05-23T05:24:00.000+08:00

Looks like I broke my phase of 'hardwork' and decided to post something! But No, I am typing this in -1 degree weather outside the damn refractory that hasn't opened for business yet. And before that I spent a good 10 hours in the computer labs working through the night to conquer Java.

----

So anyway There Seems to Be a Viral Meme just lurking in small corners of the blogo now, which I think the great Singapore "I also Want" or "Si bei Gey Yan leh" mentality will no doubt boost it to Tomorrow levels and perhaps Boing-yond?

The Thing: Guest blogging on customizable DIY sites (eg. Wordpress etc) and maybe for hosted blogs which allow anonymous blogging. I've seen 3-4 in the making so far. Interesting because a good many faceless surfers would like to be part of the blogs they stalk all too frequently. Of course the quality wouldn't be controllable and potentially embarrassing. Do wonder if this fad will have CNA or ST rushing down to report about the blogging "renaissance" AGAIN. Like c'mon, fxxking world-class journalists didn't pick this up like 3 years ago?

----
My Hands are numb; near frostbitten from the 'Frost and then Sunny' weather. And my jaw has stopped shivering from the lack of heat in my own body. Thanks for listening.
Out.

PS: Forgot to mention that 'Personalized Google' is gonna rock so hard. When will the day come when you can browse through "GoogleWeb" and forgot about waiting for the next buggy Firefox or IE7? I'd love that concept. Using some generic browser and the wonderful java/design of google. If handled properly, it can be secure, fast, cheap (or even Free) and providing what people Need. All good signs pointing to the true age of 'Software as a Service'.

Ok I'm posting stuff unrelated to the spirt of ninlaobei. I'll promise to stop soon.

===
Look's like I'm two weeks late to pick up this trend of anonyblogging. Oh Well. I declare myself Swa Ku.

Cold Canberra Autumn Days

2005-05-19T02:29:00.000+08:00

Feeling: Really No Life sial.
Listening: SP - Machina Machines of God, and a lot of Ministry of Sound

-------

Well first I'll like to congratulate brandon for completing the final hurdles and deadlines for his course.

-------

It's 230AM (+9GMT w/ savings), 4 degrees outside now and about 2 weeks from winter. I'm not looking forward to weeks of temperatures not going beyond 10 degrees C, dropping to minus 10 when the sun goes down and still not seeing snow flakes plastered all over my hall's estate.

2 more weeks and it'll be the end of my first semester in the ANU. I'm up to my neck with polishing up work and notes etc. Procrastination has some part to play of course.

My exams are in about 4 weeks. I think I'll be on schedule to at least maintain the standards I've achieved so far in each subject, bar another horrendous result from 2 assignments due in a week.

I'm not looking forward to spending my winter break in Canberra and will most probably head to Melbourne with Bran's cousin for a few days, and try to get away from at least a week of deep winter weather.

Because I anticipate burying myself in numerous computer lab revisions, making some sense of hand-written notes and digitizing them, those said actions repeated until the 25th of June, this will probably be my last pre-break entry.

Hope you guys will have a ball of a time with your summer breaks and university completion. Do try to update if you can.

2005-05-14T02:00:00.000+08:00

Well that's it. All my work is done!

We love to hate it.

2005-04-30T00:16:00.000+08:00

I met a girl here in Boston who studies in the famous Wellsley College, which is touted to be the "all-women's Harvard" and is infamous for breeding man-eating women. She comes from a wealthy family, and she studies and studies and studies. Starbucks doubleshots, RedBull (carb-free naturally), Monster Power, Adrenaline and SoBe energy drinks are neatly stacked in her fridge. In no manner of exaggeration, she would read a chapter once through, the second time to highlight and the third time to summarize on a notebook. She does not follow the schools timetable, she studies ahead of everyone, eventually summarizing the entire textbooks of various subjects. To aid her, are the energy drinks that ensure that shes wake at 4am, she sleeps with a schedule i suspect, squeezing in 2-3 hr catnaps. Shes a pretty girl, but the grueling schedule and poor diet is evident when you look at her.

I have guy friends who study in the elite Babson College of Business that simply buy their rhetoric papers, then again they buy everything that can be bought. Working hard and a job well done is simply having a passing grade. For them, further education is a rite of passage, a phase of life, the expected 4 year vacation. Heres a joke, Babson students wear a T-shirt that say "Babson students' average GPA is 2.5, (and at the back) but our average annual income is 2.5 million". Sure!!! Hell i could have an annual income of 2.5million upon graduating because my parents spoil the hell out of me (this is not true for ALL Babson students, to be fair).

My point is Cher (maybe not exactly the point, but its interesting haha). People have different reasons and combination of reasons for being in school. For some its choosing a concentration to appease their parents wishes, others really love what they are studying, and for the majority of us further education is our future! Your experience in college will be better satisfied maybe if you agree that the college experience is what you make of it. If the work is not challenging, perhaps you might want to consider transferring out to a harder course or another Uni? Believe it or not, the ball is in your court.

Revenge of the New Phantom Clone Siths

2005-04-21T19:43:00.000+08:00

Ok nothing to do with star wars. Another work-induced bitchrabble.
......

Have gotten down to almost zero work today, will have to put in 3-4 solid hours of solid input into my 2 assignments so optimal time can be spared for a mid-term examinations in exactly a week.

4 days of holidays to go and I'm back to the sickening grind, what is there to do to not make me want to leave this forsaken location. I can only think of the support from my family, friends and my own lofty ambitions.

The facades I put up are tiring me out, the lack of life in the very foundations of this territory stifles my ash-lined lungs. The sky may be as blue as the Sunshine State, but it just feels so ... different. (stop rambling)

The work is beneath me, only teamwork with overzealous fools makes me sick. The faculty is fine, not impressive but well regarded internationally. Just the way I like the ride to be, quiet; unassuming but ending with a bang.

I think I'm one of those that consider the journey/experience insignificant, and desired results/endings to be all there is to live for. All my life was getting from A to B, then marking a new B to arrive at and so on. But I'm never satisfied with the results, let alone the work to acheive it. When can I get my Satisfaction?

Brisbane was great and then some...

2005-04-18T20:35:00.000+08:00

Brisbane (9th April - 18th April)
Had the best time here ever over the last week or so, in the lovely Sunshine State (or the Smart State, how do they come up with these state slogans?).

1st Day
Landed around 945pm, met up with my good buddy Dominic who promptly got me back to his place to settle in and then to catch a late dinner at Three Monkeys @West End. Its one of the cafes highly recommended by locals and international students alike. Very quaint decor combined with a friendly and easy environment. Definitely must go to try out the super chocolate-y hot mochas, decent sandwiches and other drinks.

2nd Day
Went to Church. Every single church here trashes each and everyone of Canberra's in terms of architecture/granduer. Too bad the quality of sermons didn't impress me much.

Dropped by UQ, saw probably 3000 boys and girls participate in WeetBix's Try-athlon. It looked just like a professional event with massive areas for bike stands and cordoned areas for running, except the fans were all highly supportive parents and teachers. Very cool. Should've got more pictures of the setup. Camera ran out of power though. :(

Went back to get Dom's housemates, then skipped over to Chinatown (aka Fortitude Valley), for a massive plate of siew yoke, soy sauce chicken and roast duck. Arrrgh. why did my cam die on me.

Too stuffed to move after, went for a run in evening with Bryan along the lovely Brisbane River. (Alex&Brandon: You'd totally love it.) We ran from Toowong to QUT and back, about 7 kilometres according to my guide.

3rd Day
Went down and spent a hella long time in the city with Daphne. The shopping arcade area spans 4-5 streets, with fringe areas crammed with niche clothing stores and fine dining along the river. Had Viet Beef Noodles for lunch and then preceded to blow about 190 on shirts. All on sale of course. 4 from a discount store ($10 each), 2 from Elio Moda along Elizabeth street ($100 and $50), the cool thing is the shirts were normally going for $545 and $125.

Got to St Stephens Cathedral for mass in the chapel. It finised in the record time of 15mins, fastest ever experienced in my life.

Headed over to Bryan's place and got him almost flat out drunk on beer, malibu, vodka and huge amounts of kahlua. The kahlua wasn't any of my doing. Better luck next time Mr. Tang.

4th Day
Got up a tad early and Dominic drove me down to Harbour Town, Gold Coast. about 60-70 kilometres from Brisbane. Its packed full of factory outlets (Nike, Fila etc), Surf Wear shops (Rip Curl, City Beach...) and a good mix of brands (Mambo, Morrisey, Polo RL, Esprit, moremore and more.) Discounts abound no matter what day of the year. Selection is enough to leave any shopper struggling to cover every inch in an afternoon. Got t-shirts from Nike/Mambo, another Mambo shirt and short cargoes from Esprit. Got the famed Yatala Pies along the way back. Had Steak, Bacon and Cheese pie for tea, and picking up a family sized one for the house.

Had another run with Bryan and Anurax. Had dinner at their place along with Dominic. Anurax really cooked up a storm, had trouble eating the apple pie we got for them from Yatala as well. After some more chatter and the other housemates wanting to do their own thing, Anurax and Dominic settled into what would be a 4 hour GT4 marathon on the PS2. (-tbc-)

-------
I got back to Canberra about 12 hours ago, only to find out my luggage decided to extend its stay in the Brisbane domestic terminals. Fxxk.

I have 2 assignments due next week, with an exam looming on the same deadlines. So I basically have to finish everything I need to do by this Friday. Wee.

School Blues? I beg to differ

2005-04-17T10:31:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure about the other member, but rest assured I'm blue as the Blue Man Group. Its finals week for me here in Boston and I am 2 exams down with 2 more to go. I was lucky to have been let off from my final exam in my hardest class, psychobiology. After such a big weight was lifted from my shoulders, whatever motivation i had in stored for the final push in the exams went flying away too. However, I think the urgency and need to study will hit me tomorrow morning. When I wake up realizing that I have 2 more days (1 day, if you consider the fact that i will be attempting to run part of the famed Boston Marathon and spending the later part trying to actually trying to revive my legs).

Anyways I'll be back in SG on May 15th and will be spending the entire summer there. Its still not clear to me what I'll be doing with my time, but I have a few ideas;

a) losing some of that extra poundage i have put on
b) get a driving licence if possible
c) and tying up the loose ends in my application to transfer to another University.

Oh i forgot to tell you guys that I have been trying to transfer to Brandeis University, they have a superior Neuroscience department and was recommended to me by my Professor. You see my interest in Neuroscience has to do with motor functions and pain, which so happens to be my professor's mentors speciality. Also considered, was the fact that Brandeis University offered me a 1 year direct Masters in Neuroscience upon reaching my senior year as an undergrad. Perhaps this will better boost my chances when i apply to med school in Singapore.

Glad we're back online again with this blog.

TweekEnd AdVances!

2005-04-09T10:10:00.000+08:00

Woah, the school blues hits just about anyone except the bloody members of this blog in America.

Anyway I finished only 4 out of 7 parts in Java, should pass, since 2 of 3 parts i missed were for distinction or higher grades.

The IT study was so fucked up with tonnes of grammatical errors and the overall irrevelance I feared. I gave up proofreading it because my section was perfect imho. lol.

Too tired to consider it'll be the same grade for the team. Anyway got like 90% in the first part hopefully a high distinction wouldn't be too far off after this mess up.

Flying off to brisbane this weekend on a sly from the parents. And they like found out cuz I used my DBS Mastercard. D'oh.

Gonna chase the dragon (or buddha) and knock up some asian surfer chick if I get the chance. Will finally get hold of my Canon ixus 40 and iPod shuffle after 2 whole months of it sitting in Singapore/Brisbane. YaY. erm. I'll like see you guys around then...

L8r.

2005-04-09T06:55:00.000+08:00

I am checking in to say that we are having trouble being motivated. I've just finished a 2000 word film essay, and it took longer than it should have, and it wasn't as good as it should have been. I haven't handed it in yet, but I have no energy to resurrect the patient. Which really shouldn't be the case. Housemate Dave hasn't even reached the halfway point yet.

Easter break ends this weekend, then it's back to work. You know that feeling you get after the June holidays, and you have to go back to school, and it's bloody depressing, and you wish you could just stay home. Well in University I finally have the freedom to not go, and I feel like exercising it. The next 4 weeks is going to be pretty harsh, I'm hoping to get all my work done by early May, instead of late May where the deadlines are. There are several reasons for this.

1) I love being ahead.
2) I've done it before, end of last term, and it was hell, but I got good grades, and I love being ahead.
3) I love being guailan to other people who are not as ahead as I am.
4) I'm a worst-case scenario kinda guy. I always fear falling ill before a deadline, where the work hasn't been done yet. Then I'd be fucked. And so not ahead.
5) I want time to spend with someone when she's in the neighborhood around May.

Reasons not to do it:
1) Tired.
2) Nintendo DS.
3) Not feasible.

About the last one... I have more work to do this time than I did last term, which makes it really scary. I think it would take 2 weeks of intensive everyday writing to get it all done. And I'm not even half-ready to start one of the big essays yet, which means reading time. Which means I'd have to start like now. Sigh.

Hit me Baby One more Time

2005-04-07T21:10:00.000+08:00

Blogpost titles don't really work for this particular rant.

I just spent a whole hour going through my iPod's library and renaming/rating and creating random playlists like Melancholic Mandarin.

Anyway it hit me that I used to listen to so many mandarin songs with limited understanding, and now hearing them again, after all this time, brings back a whole flush of familiarity/memories of late night 阿明-like activities, the minor but all to often encounters with the law, friends of old, secondery school life, and how little I knew about the world ...

Summarised: Everything was so much simpler back then.

------------------------------------------------------------

Back to Current Day musings

I have like a tonne of work and have been turning in less than 12 hours of sleep this week so far. On one end I have an ITechnically-intensive report, which takes up way too much time because of a team member that overestimates the content required (eg. 10 times what is needed for a justification, its not a fricking ethics paper for crying out loud) Well I do suck up all the shit I get from him because I'm such a sweet and understanding person, well not really. He'd probably get stabbed by yours truly after he's past his sell-by date (when he graduates).

Next I have a humongous Java program - an XML to Text/HTML converter, that's supposed to impart the knowledge of an important aspect of object-oriented programming. What infuriates me is that there is an inbuilt functionality to handle the intricacies of XML. But NOooOoo, we have to use a stripped down version of the lecturer's PhD project and build on that. I've done like half of it in the last 3 days alone, am quite proud of it except for the fact it was released to us 3 weeks ago. It took me that long to understand the jargon and complexities.

I'm just rambling on things you guys wouldn't understand, let alone want to. I just had to blog this as a motivation/realisation tool, To spur me towards greater heights of success and affirmation of my pursuit of IT knowledge.

Oh yeah, and I have to like hand them both in tomorrow, like in 8 hours. Wish me like luck or something. Like Totally.

2005-02-22T01:30:00.000+08:00

Here is my guailan timetable:

Mon - Free
Tue - Free
Wed - 10 to 1 is Modern British Fiction, 1 to 3 is Film screening.
Thu - 1 to 4 is Film class.
Fri - Free

Rong Overdue

2005-02-20T19:38:00.000+08:00

This is gonna be short, had a busy week of partying and generally excessive drinking.

My timetable Nothing to be envious about. Have to remember that I'm accredited meaning they assume I'm smart and put me into sophomore courses which happen to be really quite tough. In conclusion, I'm gonna be dead if everyone else is as smart as I've seen in the first year batch of nerds.

Will update tmr I guess, after class.

Cheers!

2005-02-15T17:51:00.000+08:00

Okay I'm going back to the UK for the last time as far as I know! Hope the work doesn't kill me. Lets keep up blogging, flends!

Stuck in airport

2005-02-06T20:22:00.000+08:00

The flight from KL to Sydney has been delayed. 2200hrs. Touched down from Changi at 1830, bloody 4 hour wait for transit.

Had crap italian food which had even worse service. Will post on flickr or picasa/hello it.

Am at my transfer gate, trying to game and failing (firewall), msn is up. It seems like I never left Singapore. Heh.

Going offline in a bit to get some pictures of KLIA. It really is quite nice apart from the bad airport food.

あなたの基盤すべては私達に属するある

2005-02-06T13:03:00.000+08:00

I'm seriously overwhelmed today. The feelings, the hangover, the mad rush and the overall surreal atmosphere. Everything seems slow and calm, I feel like I'm out of my body and have not contacted enough people on my ever-shuffling to-call list.

Flight details today
MH 608
1725 takeoff
Changi International Airport Terminal 2
Will be there about 3 latest, if your coming by 4 is fine. I'll be through the gates between 1630 and 1645.

I wanna say more, but im trying to restrict the flow for now. Hopefully I won't go into the waiting area looking like I kana some mace pepper spray in the face. Say that with pace and it kinda has a race dun it?

Have a good year ahead and many thanks for the drinks, the smiles and any bit of company.

I probably repeated this 10 over times today. Each and everyone of you will be missed, no matter how little I 'select appropriate:know/despise/talked to' You.
Sincerely.

L8r people. I'll try to bawl and deplete my tear ducts now.

私は海賊であり, 港を飲む!

2005-02-06T10:00:00.000+08:00

Thanks for everyone who came out yesterday for my last drinking session @Brewerkz. Fun as usual and some new faces. Always good.

Fabian/Sam : Eh you guys really make me smile all the time. Pity I only got to see/meet you guys in the last 2 weeks. And stop taking long quickies in the men's room.

Jennifer/Sherry: Thanks for coming, I think I came across a bit rude. Didn't get to talk to you much either. I'll get 3 amigos (phil,fab,sam) to do that in my place. HeH.

Alex(andra): Oy, you take care k. The wine was great, but I saw it going for AUD20, so...your sharing a Chivas with me the next time!

Yvonne/Weizhong: Mama and Papa, please do take care and send me money regularly. I'll remember to max out your credit cards before I come back. Cheers! I'll miss both of ya.

Domo: My b00! eh. kidding. Great Bub and even better b00zer. Score a few goals and give me some good news before you go back to Brisy!

Philip: Main man. My one and only...other blood brother. The AB+ brothers failed to assemble again. I'll like to have the days of yore(ok it was just 2 weeks ago) where we had our usual cheap-ass food at Hong Lim and then the multiple rounds of Yakun coffee (KAWW PEEE JIK PWEEI!).

Bryan: I'll miss the post-naruto/anime discussions. By the way my mom says your eyebrows are knitted very nicely. I said 'GAY WHAT!' lol. Not kidding.

Brandon/Kimmimaro: Fwan, Vwo, Fhree. Fhree smacks! Ah Ah Ah. That had totally no relevance whatsoever. Brando you be the best guy to chat about anything under my sun (except hikari koto now though). We'll msn more (thanks for the post again) and hopefully you'll be gainfully employed by an advertising agency or the mother of all creative expression in Singapore... The MDA.

Cheers to you guys for coming and putting up with my antics till late anyway. gtg.

My MSN davidjamescher at the usual Hot letter thing.
My email david.cher at the google mail place.
My website (to be added)

Farewell Cher!

2005-02-06T03:55:00.000+08:00

Have fun, don't play games (I think Bryan will start sooner), and come online lah. What's this off the grid for 9 months nonsense. It's cheap if you just chat and surf. I've been told to tell you not to smoke too much weed. Joking hor!

Bye! Blog here more! I'm gonna start again. We need to get Bryan into the habit. What kinda student is reluctant to write on a daily basis?

さようなら, 私の友人

2005-01-22T18:14:00.000+08:00

Just a Little Background on me from age 4 to 23

I'm still the youngest brat in a pack of 3 boys, in a middle (soon to be struggling in my uni debt)-class family. I've gone through preparatory school in a local church, PAP Chinese-oriented kindergartens, a then-prestigious English-focus junior school, a neighborhood secondary school version of the latter, the singapore polytechnic with the wide spectrum of culture and people that was continued in the Singapore Airforce with the addition of 'non-2nd class' citizens of my dear country, and finally getting the chance to work in a world-class and almost perfect environ of HSBC Singapore. I think I'm blessed to be one of those who can understand and mix around with just about every crowd that doesn't mind a 'HDB'-kid like I am (description quoted from the great Alex on this site). You'd be dead if it weren't little true Arlex. I think thats a tad too much information...onwards...

It's gonna be two weeks before I get on my plane to Canberra for what would be one of the journeys I wanted to embark on for the longest time. Through promises, pleas and the occasional argument I finally did get my parents to give into my 'demand'. The year working in HSBC probably helped a lot in that decision. I'm beyond indebtedness to my parents for this chance. My eldest brother followed the poly route before and was plainly denied the chance after national service. My 2nd brother had to probably bite the bullet and get into the local uni fray. Thankfully he did rather well and is on his way to a Masters. I don't think I'll be ever more deserving than them in any respect. Thanks for understanding and supporting me. Update: 2nd bro's going to California for a 1.5year TAP (tech attachment prog, I think) at Genentech! Generously sponsored by EDB and the company itself. What a slut! Good luck to him! Big brother's kid is on the way, I'm sure she'll be as cute as any other Cher. Too bad she wasn't a he, else I'll pay my brother to have another David Cher in the fray.

Anyway, with the little time left, there's the usual situation of having gotten everything and nothing at the same time. I've got good advice from peers in Australia, good friends from overseas as well as the well-intentioned advice of my mom. All that and I can't even get a fricking coat 2 weeks after deciding to get one. There's more on my list, but it lies far behind me.
What will 2005 hold for me is my greatest fear and hope. I want to end it preferably with joy and the presence of my dear friends again. To the crowd of 1981's, we're 24! My god, I can't believe it. The big 30 isn't too far away now...

I'm probably going to be off the grid for the next 9months due to the expensive internet bandwidth costs of using ANU's network. Internet is NOT* free and thus I think email would be the best way to get me. (david.cher [AT] google's gmail) I'll miss absolutely everyone who I've seen in the last 2 weeks, as well as those whose schedules clashed with my free time. Anything do give me a ring +65 90496968, or a mail at the above.

Soon be on leave from the 29th of Jan, and flying off on the night of 6th Feb.

Just so you know, folks. Cheers.

PS: Anyone care to share their view on who am I? In your own definition, as a friend. Drop me a mail. I'll appreciate it immensely. My heavily research autobiography spans 2000 lines of 'wtf' and 'can't remember'. Do chip into it.

*AUD 0.12 per megabyte. ouch.

The problem with....American Professors

2004-12-03T09:50:00.000+08:00

I have decided to kickoff the first part of a continuing series named "The problem with...."

Here it goes. When i first received my syllabus for Psychology U101, it was indicated that quizes was gonna be 25%, and 3 exams for 25% each. Today i found out she changed the format to make it 50%. Thats 5 quizes, 10 questions and 10 marks each. You will saying, wait a second, thats 1% per mark! And that it is, and she changed it NINJA style, just to get back at the people who skip her classes. Thats very very unfair, my 92% for my first exam, seems nothing compared to these tiny tests which no one takes seriously, and now i need a 92% and above to obtain a 90.5 overall percentile, which still leaves me vunerable to curving.

Thats my problem

2004-12-02T09:15:00.000+08:00

it really has been ages since i blogged here. i've kinda forgotten what we were trying to achieve in the first place! maybe it will be clearer after cher (and bryan) leave. i think it was chronicling our lives in different cities, as students? maybe we were supposed to see how different we'd become. or compare how life was different in all our places, outside of singapore. i think that's really simple.

essential truths:
1) it's friggin' cold.
2) we eat crap.

optional:
in my case, the city is flat and dirty. there are no places to do anything fun, and if there are, they are inaccessible. you are left to drink, and see movies (if you can find anyone who will stop drinking). nothing stays open past the early evening. some cities are luckier than others in this respect. i was just reading about an awesome 24 hour peking duck restaurant in tokyo.

Confessions of a Computer Game Addict.

2004-11-30T10:08:00.000+08:00

Its been awhile since i blogged, and i feel guilty. At first i felt nothing because i studied alot, but now. Ever since the release of the World of Warcraft, i have reason to be guilty. I can feel the addiction creeping in under my skin, i can taste the competitiveness in computer games that laid dormant for oh so long. The late nights and nonstop playing have begun.

I fight sleep by taking expresso shots that i make myself, only to be hindered by puffy eyes that are not able to focus due to the long continuous hours of staring at my computer screen. My wrist hurt from carpal tunnel syndrome, which has flared up, the first time since i quit playing CounterStrike competitively. I played and played, stopping only when my body failed me and when the servers got shutdown.

2 weeks till the finals, and i'm faced with the greatest MMORPG to be made and the best academic experience that i have achieved in all my life. For most, it'll be an easy decision to make. Not for me, i struggle the begining of this week to get back on track and study, only to stare at the game's icon every few minutes.

Let it be said, these are tough times i face, scholarly excellence or virtual dominance. My body yearns to be engulfed in the game and race on, as those who are close to me know what i am like, possessed with a virtual bloodlust. However, it is my better judgement that tells me to moderate or fight it off.

Yes...this is the confessions of a computer game addict. Double click here.

Aussie Applications

2004-11-26T15:30:00.000+08:00

(Nov 2004)
I'm up to my neck in work and vexed by the sheer inefficiency of IDP's administrative system. So I'm calling a day to waiting for remaining apps (UNSW, USyd, QUT, UQ) and taking up the offer by ANU by the end of the month. Finish up medicals/acceptance, make visas and buyin' boxloads of Chiu Chow Chilli Oil are now my top priorities.

...which also means I'll be flying off before the end of Jan '05, missing Chinese New Year and having much less time to catch up with friends. Also my work contract ends in Feb, so the amazing 12 days of leave I have wouldn't be of much help during my uni preparations.

Sorry to those in Sydney & Brisbane, for entertaining the idea of me bunking down with you down under. Truth is I'm sorta happier with this decision mainly for the fact I'd be starting a fresh new phase in foreign place. Much can be said about the lack of this and that in Canberra, and the better life in the other states, I can only say that I'll give a fair report card on 'boring' Canberra next year.

Cheers,
Cher

------------------------
(sometime in September)
I just got my Application accepted by...

The Australian National University, Canberra
Monash University, Melbourne
Macquarie University, Sydney
University of Queensland, Brisbane
----------------

(an old side story about application Acceptance later)

Google Gmail

2004-10-06T11:13:00.000+08:00

Google Gmail (work-in-progress review)
Itz a What? :Free Email service with 1Gb of webmail storage and a 10Mb attachment limit
Wow? : Single-handedly kicked off the free email service revolution to up storage beyond the measly 2-10Mb that existed since you had a Hotmail account.
Get it Now : Yes, invitations are free and everyone and the local Taco Bell has one.

User Interface
First off, the email interface isn’t revolutionary, it’s an evolution of old school design (Hotmail, Rocketmail). Users, who used sort mail in their inbox and skim through long lists to look for a date or a certain individual’s email, can thank Google for bringing Labels into the picture. It’s basically a throwback to how we do things in real-life, we label things, tasks and even people.

One point I would like to bring up is that they have NOT extended the Labels system to the contact list. Prior to this, others and I sent in feedback to have Email groups in one smtp application form or another. It is now so clear that they will do it but in some later date to further jack up their share prices. Sick bxxtards.
Imagine labeling stupid colleagues as Stupid Colleagues, you’d be free to send work-related memos to Colleagues and in addition spam freebie mails to the Stupid ones. Excellent.

Atom FeedsI haven’t had first contact with this but it’d be infinitely useful nonetheless.

Gmail Invites
6 invites are given to any new account within a day or two of perceived usage (eg. Adding contacts, emailing and even creating labels in some cases)

Wrap Up
What more can they do? Plenty more I can’t think of now, but this . VisualID has gone onto the next step in search as well as interface and foresee Google buying them or have their crack research teams crank out something like it.

Purchases of Picasa and Flickr by Google could point to a pixel-based Adsense search as well as a platform to develop extensions like VisualID or their GBrowser, further cementing their holistic approach to having everything entirely residing on the web.

PS: I’m glad they are still on the PC-bandwagon, it’ll be great if a Mac-equivalent of Google emerges!