I think TMnet has too much monopoly over the broadband internet services in M'sia. This is because the state of broadband internet has deteriorated to the point where everybody complains about the miserable state of their connections. And since Taylor's uses this misersable service, the connection in the Web sucks as well.
Since the new state government has decided to give free 20 cubic meters of water to everyone in Selangor, I think the next thing they can do is to give us all good quality broadband connections. To every house, if possible. Free would be good too.
Saturday 29 March 2008
Friday 28 March 2008
stuff to hurt your brain
Last week I checked out this really thick book from the library. It is bloody thick, you can use it to bash someone's head and the fella won't know what the hell hit him. [I nearly did that to Matthew, if and only if he didn't let go of the book.]
Anyway, the stuff in that book can hurt your brain, even one like mine which likes difficult stuff. Some of the stuff in that encyclopaedia can really give you information overload. So, Andrew, stop complaining about overloads when I've tried this book that can really, truly overload your brain.
Oh, by the way, try looking at the snowflake/hexagon thingy on the front of the maths book cover. It is actually something called a Koch island, which I happened to see while overloading my brain on the stuff in the heavy book. The island has a coast that cannot be differentiated. Not now, not ever, not forever. Unless Koch rises from his grave to tell us something...
And that's the crazy thick book that hurts your brain.
Thursday 27 March 2008
my class
There is one major problem I have with my class, although they don't have much of a problem with me. How slow can a class go?
I mean, the common knowledge is that in any group of people, the speed of the whole group is limited by the speed of the slowest of the group. Unfortunately for me, my class seems to be going along at a pretty slow pace. Slow to me, definitely, slow to the teacher, not sure, to the class, maybe too fast. The most common question in any class, be it Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Spec Maths, is:
I mean, the common knowledge is that in any group of people, the speed of the whole group is limited by the speed of the slowest of the group. Unfortunately for me, my class seems to be going along at a pretty slow pace. Slow to me, definitely, slow to the teacher, not sure, to the class, maybe too fast. The most common question in any class, be it Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Spec Maths, is:
One more time please?
or
Teacher, can repeat?
In all fairness, I'm considered to be relatively far ahead of my peers in class, just that I don't show it off. [Trying to keep a low profile here, you see.] And then again, I can fit in with the rest of the class [ponteng LAN for CC trips], quite unlike some of my other classmates who are just as advanced as I am, and probably even better than me.
So, the question comes back. How slow can a class really go? I can't answer that. But I think that if the class can go any faster than its present pace I'd be really happy. Really, REALLY happy.
Monday 24 March 2008
dumb literature
Nobody actually knows how my English teacher really teaches English, or how she managed to secure her job here at Taylor's for more than 20 years. I mean, she likes to fish for details or points when she teaches. Especially when she teaches Lit. Take for example the short story Altar of the Family. First she repeats the story which half of us have read half asleep. When she starts asking questions, she starts the fishing process. Maybe it is her style of teaching, maybe not, but what I'm sure of is that this process can be extremely annoying. Who can stand multiple facts being repeated while the teacher tries to get hold of that single elusive point? Besides, this repetition of idea after dumb idea usually spawns a lot of nonsense that throws the class into laughter, disrupting the lesson entirely.
[Not that I'm against the nonsense, but the nonsense is simply............ nonsense. Pure nonsense that drags time in our favour. Lovely.]
Sometimes, the search for that single point is dragged very far. Even when we can't think [and it shows in the ideas we throw at her] we still find some way to force out some dumb idea that seems realistic and practical. Other times when we try to suggest something logical it gets thrown out the window to some distant land that nobody would ever find.
Although Lit is supposed to make people think I don't even suggest my teacher's method of teaching Lit is to be followed. Not now, not ever, not even forever.
PS. Tomorrow is something miserable called watching a movie. Bend it Like Beckham. I must try some way to get my sorry ass out of that class so I don't have to watch that movie again. Watched it once, "strongly disliked" it.
[Not that I'm against the nonsense, but the nonsense is simply............ nonsense. Pure nonsense that drags time in our favour. Lovely.]
Sometimes, the search for that single point is dragged very far. Even when we can't think [and it shows in the ideas we throw at her] we still find some way to force out some dumb idea that seems realistic and practical. Other times when we try to suggest something logical it gets thrown out the window to some distant land that nobody would ever find.
Although Lit is supposed to make people think I don't even suggest my teacher's method of teaching Lit is to be followed. Not now, not ever, not even forever.
PS. Tomorrow is something miserable called watching a movie. Bend it Like Beckham. I must try some way to get my sorry ass out of that class so I don't have to watch that movie again. Watched it once, "strongly disliked" it.
Sunday 23 March 2008
paintball - yesterday
Paintball at 1 yesterday. I just love the way some people like to give last minute informs to the organizers. At 11 am [2 hours before] Andrew calls. "Gotta practise for piano, so I can't come for paintball." Really wtf.
Anyway, at 1 pm, the head honcho comes. First thing he does is to revise the payments for paintball. Granted, he is a better negotiator than I am, so I can't bear a grudge against him for that. I'll come back to this problem later.
It is interesting to note how many people are really interested in paintball, yet have not touched the markers before. During the pregame briefing, out of the 18 present, only 6 were old hands. Thus what Tim said is true, you can skip the briefing if you have heard it once.
Ok, now to the game. The first round was real crappy, with the blue team winning on default, default here being running out of ammo = lose. That really sucked, big time.
The second round was the best round for me. Some think it was stupid, others think it was clever, I call it battle stress. What happened was that the opposition [black team] had my teammate pinned down in center field, whilst I was on the right flank. Checking my ammo, I found that there was none left. Some temporary insanity then came over me, and I decided to use the focus on center field to flank black team, with a giant bluff. As I crossed over to their side, I just pointed the empty marker at them, point blank. Since at close range pointing the marker at your target means that they are out, this temporary insanity managed to give me a 4 kill streak. Although I must say that this "melee Rambo" isn't really that good, because you need a good distraction first, and if the opponents see through your bluff, you're dead.
Trying the same trick a second time didn't work, because the marshal caught me without any ammo. Then again, I still managed to take one guy with me, but I think that shouldn't count. [The guy hadn't had any ammo either.]
On the 4th round, Daksha, Jun Jen and their gang left, Kay Li and Gwen pulled out, leaving us with 15 players in the field. To most of us, this was the real thing, because the crazy ones and the old hands were all in the game. At first the blue team had us black team pinned down. [A switch of team was necessary to keep the players balanced.] Crouching behind a pile of tyres on the left flank, Brian and I were pinned by fire from center field and left flank. The game then changed when I advanced, taking advantage of a lull in fire. Now I was hiding behind a collection of barrels.
Kesvick then advanced. Using the gaps between the barrels, I sniped the guy as he came forward to hide behind a couple of tyres. Oddly enough, after at least 8 shots, he still didn't get off. "How many shots does it take to take you out?!" I shouted. Then Calvin advanced, but I got him with 3 in the side. Sniping at Kesvick was still not effective at all. And he was still there calling for backup. "Guys? Guys!"
But the game ended soon after. Brian came out to tackle Kesvick, and I came forward to assist. Together, between the both of us, we "meleed" the rest of blue team, which was by then down to 5 [not including Kesvick]. So endeth the last round.
The other FFK fella was Matthew. When I called him after the second round, his excuse was classic: I forgot. Bloody hell. Who forgets this stuff, especially when it is a class event after all?
Now to the last problem of the whole day. Payment. Ok, so it is better to split the rounds to conserve ammo for those who aren't going to finish 300 rounds. But it is harder to do the maths for the extra rounds. Well, if there is a next time for paintball, we'll just have to plan way ahead to avoid logistics problems. And to avoid spending close to an hour just working out the shortfall of cash.
One more thing, though. Next time, I'm never ever gonna invite Kesvick. His friend is all right enough, but Kesvick is just too annoying to everyone. Even to his own teammates.
Anyway, at 1 pm, the head honcho comes. First thing he does is to revise the payments for paintball. Granted, he is a better negotiator than I am, so I can't bear a grudge against him for that. I'll come back to this problem later.
It is interesting to note how many people are really interested in paintball, yet have not touched the markers before. During the pregame briefing, out of the 18 present, only 6 were old hands. Thus what Tim said is true, you can skip the briefing if you have heard it once.
Ok, now to the game. The first round was real crappy, with the blue team winning on default, default here being running out of ammo = lose. That really sucked, big time.
The second round was the best round for me. Some think it was stupid, others think it was clever, I call it battle stress. What happened was that the opposition [black team] had my teammate pinned down in center field, whilst I was on the right flank. Checking my ammo, I found that there was none left. Some temporary insanity then came over me, and I decided to use the focus on center field to flank black team, with a giant bluff. As I crossed over to their side, I just pointed the empty marker at them, point blank. Since at close range pointing the marker at your target means that they are out, this temporary insanity managed to give me a 4 kill streak. Although I must say that this "melee Rambo" isn't really that good, because you need a good distraction first, and if the opponents see through your bluff, you're dead.
Trying the same trick a second time didn't work, because the marshal caught me without any ammo. Then again, I still managed to take one guy with me, but I think that shouldn't count. [The guy hadn't had any ammo either.]
On the 4th round, Daksha, Jun Jen and their gang left, Kay Li and Gwen pulled out, leaving us with 15 players in the field. To most of us, this was the real thing, because the crazy ones and the old hands were all in the game. At first the blue team had us black team pinned down. [A switch of team was necessary to keep the players balanced.] Crouching behind a pile of tyres on the left flank, Brian and I were pinned by fire from center field and left flank. The game then changed when I advanced, taking advantage of a lull in fire. Now I was hiding behind a collection of barrels.
Kesvick then advanced. Using the gaps between the barrels, I sniped the guy as he came forward to hide behind a couple of tyres. Oddly enough, after at least 8 shots, he still didn't get off. "How many shots does it take to take you out?!" I shouted. Then Calvin advanced, but I got him with 3 in the side. Sniping at Kesvick was still not effective at all. And he was still there calling for backup. "Guys? Guys!"
But the game ended soon after. Brian came out to tackle Kesvick, and I came forward to assist. Together, between the both of us, we "meleed" the rest of blue team, which was by then down to 5 [not including Kesvick]. So endeth the last round.
The other FFK fella was Matthew. When I called him after the second round, his excuse was classic: I forgot. Bloody hell. Who forgets this stuff, especially when it is a class event after all?
Now to the last problem of the whole day. Payment. Ok, so it is better to split the rounds to conserve ammo for those who aren't going to finish 300 rounds. But it is harder to do the maths for the extra rounds. Well, if there is a next time for paintball, we'll just have to plan way ahead to avoid logistics problems. And to avoid spending close to an hour just working out the shortfall of cash.
One more thing, though. Next time, I'm never ever gonna invite Kesvick. His friend is all right enough, but Kesvick is just too annoying to everyone. Even to his own teammates.
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