A+ way to get the best of the best in SPM

>>Link<<

I'm sorry, I still don't see how this will help. I foresee a lot of students falling into that A+ category. Unless you're going to use something like a scaled normal distribution graph, this is not going to bode well at all. It's just dressing the salad with a different oil, the taste is more or less the same.

Cleverbot?

"Then there is no use in wanting to life at all, because that is the source of all heartbreak."

Just a quote Wei Ling got off this site: >>Link<<
It's an AI-based chat program.

Poetry

Someone asked me why I write poems in some of my blog entries. I guess it's cos to me, I find that poems are one of the easier methods of expressing emotions. In just a few lines, you can tell the world how you're feeling inside. That being said, poems are also a good way to cover up things, since everything that happens to the persona doesn't necessarily mean that it's happening to you as well. It's a good tool.

First year

Last day of uni today. It had a party mood to it, especially in the ESD2 workshop today. Well, I guess the ESD2 workshop party mood was partly due to the fact that we'd get to launch plastic balls at a mini-Jamie Evans, and we got to see all the Spiderman simulations and Andrew's reactions to our predictions. After that it was all food and drinks, party hats and YouTube videos.

With my first year of uni life almost officially over, I sense it's gonna be more of an uphill struggle for the coming 3 years. I have a plan for that though, it's called studying during summer. Although I wonder how I'm going to achieve that in 35+ degrees temperatures. It should be doable, I'm sure. It should just be a matter of willpower.

Anyway, back to studying for the impending finals.

Update

Got delayed on the trains big time today. Signal failure at Camberwell >.<
Poor infrastructure often gets in the way of decent services. Anyway, managed to hurry to uni in time for Matlab test. I was surprised to know that I can still finish the entire test in about 40 minutes.

Doesn't feel like there's much to say about today, other than that 1 hour delay sitting around at East Camberwell station. Oh wait, the weather was beautiful today. Must remember to buy myself a pair of shades for summer.

Gotta get back to writing up that newsletter.

Burnout

Don't ask me whether that's really true, sometimes even I wouldn't know what goes on with me. All I know is that this close to the finals, I'm starting to blur out, to defocus from the main stuff in uni.

I think I need some help. I know most of you think that I'm some super-genius or something, reality is I'm not that person yet. I might know more, but it doesn't mean it's all uni-related.

I guess... it's back to studying first then.


Focus, focus, it's just another 3 weeks to go...

The Forgotten - part 9

A sliver of silver light
shining forth from beneath the drawn blinds.
Furious typing echoes out into the night.

A spark of life
flaring forth from within.

Slowly, surely.
Something will change
as things always do.

Inside
the insomniac fights on
his wish to live
and he lives to wish
Forever.

News updates

RM42k for a laptop: >>Link<<

Well, once again the great toilet seat story strikes again, this time in the form of super expensive laptops. If they were inlaid with Swarovski crystals and had the equivalent processing power of Deep Blue, I'd warrant that price. But obviously it doesn't, which means someone is fiddling with the accounts. Nice job wasting taxpayers' money.

97% of parents in 7 schools want teaching in English to continue aka the Maths and Science debacle: >>Link<<

What can they really do? I'll be waiting for updates, but till then, it's still going to be a case of government reversing decent policies.

Econs experiments

Play the market. Make the trends. Earn money. Worth 3 hours? Definitely. Especially considering that I got $60 and came out knowing that uni students don't mind taking risks for a decent return, it was very much worth my time.

Thoughts on ESD2

I'm waiting for them to give out the feedback forms. We need to let them know how badly done the subject is so far. It can be improved, although I feel that scrapping it altogether has its merits.

Week 11

The semester is about to end. Most of the major assignments have already been cleared out of the way. Soon it'll be the calm before the storm, a week's rest before the finals blow in. I am constantly reminded of how quickly time flies, of how my life has changed for the better. Of the various responsibilities I took on, of what I plan to make of myself.

Time to prove my worth, time to make my mark.

Quote

Quiet contemplation yielded this sentence:

"Every flaw in the crystal is another facet from which the crystal shines brighter."

Block

Once again, I've hit that mental obstacle on the road to writing a good article for the IESS newsletter. How does Luke do it, I wonder.

Silence

It's kinda quiet today for some reason. Actually it's been kinda quiet since last night. I wonder why.

Even I've been relatively quiet on the blogging front. I speculate it's what happens when we let off steam suddenly.

18

It was a blast today. Got flooded with emails from friends, MSN was going off quite often as well. Even my friends from Malaysia messaged me with their warm wishes! That was quite something to me. And then there was the surprise this morning, after my Finance lecture. Was called over to the Engineering building, where I saw the whole gang already there waiting. I was a little stunned at first, [who wouldn't be?] and then they started singing Happy Birthday. The usual rituals then proceeded, blowing candles, cutting and distributing the cake - Liling had done a pretty fine job of baking a cheesecake!

As the weather started acting up, we decided to retreat into the cover of the Engineering building. Inside, I received my presents - the compulsory card bearing well wishes, clothes [both summer and winter wear :D] and then this.



A Logitech G15 gaming keyboard. Holy shit. I was so amazed when I unwrapped it, all I said was, "Sick."

Well, having tested it for about 7 hours now, I like its feel. It's more fun to use compared to the previous Logitech keyboard I was using, more so when you consider the LCD panel in the middle of the keyboard.


I love my birthday presents this year. And I love my birthday celebrations this year. Thanks to Jun Yeu for getting me the G15, and thanks to Liling for the cake, love you both!

Tiberian Twilight

C&C4 is coming next year. >>link<<

I want it. Badly.

Time

Assignments have temporarily messed up my sleep times. Thanks very much, uni.

...the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. - A. Einstein

South Melbourne beach trip

Late is in fashion. As the organisers put it, there were only 2 people on time [read: early]. Even one of the main planners was about half an hour late, but since punctuality is such a tall order for some of us, names shall not be mentioned.

All in all, I feel that the trip to South Melbourne beach was worth investing ~12 hours of my time. It was good fun bonding on the beach, with the sand and the surf coming together. Even the weather was pretty decent for the week, considering that the past week was cold and rather windy. In contrast, the sun blazed down and the winds were breezes at worst.

Encapsulating the day in words really fails me now, I guess. Back to reality and assignments for now.

Writing

The monotony of uni life has somehow diluted my enthusiasm for writing. Even though I have an assignment due next Tuesday, and a newsletter due within the next 2 weeks, both forms of writing seem to boring for me to touch.


Too little progress, too little time...

Theory proven?

Never envisioned myself being a social researcher, but a certain social conjecture of mine suggests that tensions change when you start relationships within a group of friends. It appears that I have been proven right.

But then again, it's just an isolated case so far. As they say, one coincidence is just a coincidence.

As the sun rays sparkled down,
I saw the truth clearly.

Blitz Paintball

One word sums this up pretty well. Ownage.

Kinda tired out now, all the running, adrenaline and shooting really burns your energy down to malfunctioning levels. Paintballing hasn't changed much since I last played at Oakleigh. There's still those voting boxes near the exit, players still get unlimited lives in most scenarios, gameplay is getting kinda straightforward. Although I'd like to try Little River next year or something like that.

Blitz

It's tiring but fun. Although I gathered more bruises and scrapes, it was good clean fun. Not really a major turnout, but it was still a success so far.

To think that we're only just getting started.

Meetings

They won't start on time, it's ingrained into us that it will definitely start late.

Sad.

Visitors

And so they arrived, the only notices on Facebook.

Became the designated tour guide for Terry and Matt yesterday. Met them in Melbourne Central, and then the first stop they wanted was Smith St.

"Why?"
"Cos we heard there was massive discounts on sports stuff."

Not a bad reason, so we headed off to Collingwood, where the next 3 hours were spent trawling from shop to shop, trying to find Terry a pair of new shoes.

After searching in vain for something that suited him, we left for Docklands, where they were supposed to meet up with some high school friends for lunch. Had fish and chips, which were supposedly inferior to that in Sydney. Then more old friends turned up.

Apparently a lot of my high schoolmates are here in Melbourne. And they meet up quite often. To think that I've been looking out high and low for any of them here. Oh well. But I found out that they are poker addicts with their own poker set, so I'm thinking of inviting them for IESS's Poker Night next semester.

After lunch, went back to the city for bubble tea. There I parted ways with them, letting them wander off with their ex-classmate to Spencer St DFO.

It's always nice to meet up with old friends.