here i am back in sch today. was in the lab since 10am, slightly late though. Dr Lua showed me what i had to do. pretty simple stuff, just running the set-up via two computers, which control the laser pulses and the movement of the test cylinder. reminds me of Locke and the few guys inside the strange hatch thing, of the tv series Lost.. guess the brainwork will come much later, when i write the report.

anyone wants to go PC show with me tmr? it's at suntec city, i should be going in the afternoon. sms me by tmr 2pm yah?

29th May 2006: 57.2 kg

my extended FYP..

which actually feels like another thing altogether.. it's not directly related to fish swimming, nor underwater propulsion. just has a very short meeting with the research fellow (i'm now in sch), or rather a briefing to dictate to me what my two months will entail. basically it is just to go down to the lab every mon, wed and fri to assist in conducting of experiments, of which has already been set-up in a dark room (usually the tough part in any project). i will then use the results to write out a report. he gave me one journal article (only one! and it was published in 1977.. i'm gonna go find more) which i have photocopied and gonna read on the way back home. "Rotating elliptic cylinders in a viscous fluid at rest or in a parallel stream," by Hans J. Lugt and Samuel Ohring.

well, at least it doesn't involve any brainwork, untill i start writing the report. i shall resolve to write it progressively, and not wait till july to start.. hee.. oh, and i need to start planning on how to fit in my training. maybe i could cycle to sch in the morning (like real!!)

my movie collection

a list of what i have so far. not much though. but feel free to borrow any that u are interested in. (at no cost)

DVDs
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
2046
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Star Wars trilogy (episode 4,5 and 6)
All Quiet on the Western Front

VCDs
war:
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Windtalker (2002) starring Nicholas Cage
Tigerland (2000) starring Collin Farrell, abt the Vietnam War
We Were Soldiers (2001) Mel Gibson
Hart's War (2001) Bruce Willis, Collin Farrell
Hamburger Hill
Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)
Deer Hunter (starring Robert de Niro)
Thin Red Line (1998)
Apocalypse now:Redux (produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
The Longest Day (1962)
Band of Brothers (2002) a 10-part series abt the 101st Airborne Division in WWII
Napoleon (2004) 4.5 hr miniseries

Drama/Thriller:
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Remember the Titans (an uplifting movie based on a real-life drama. stars Denzel Washington)
Almost Famous (2000)
Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
S.W.A.T (2003)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) this remake stars Denzel Washington
Crash (2005) won Best Picture Oscar
Munich (2005)

Romance:
In the Mood for Love (Maggie Cheung and Tony Leong)

Comedy:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) George Clooney won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in this comedy
M*A*S*H (1969) "Hailed as one of the best comedies ever made"
Fanfan La Tulipe (2004) a French comedy set in the mid-18th century

had weird dreams over the past few nights.. why?? i'm not under any concievable stress these days. my driving test is over, my FYP issue is more or less settled.. i can't get around this, can't think of any logical reason whatsoever.. strange..

God, grant me peace in my sleep.. and heal my back.. i wanna start serious training for osim triathlon soon..

Yippee!!! i passed my driving test.. my first attempt.. beamz!!

got 18 points, just passed only.. hee.. but the point is, i passed!!

i finally moved out!!

Yes, i have moved out liao.. returned the keys this morning. felt a weird sense of relief after i stepped out.. haha, don't know why.. gonna have to start adjusting to living at home now. got lots of stuff to unpack from my boxes, then i have to sort out my navy uniforms, shoes, books and notes, get a suitable bag, get a good haircut, start to get in shape.. etc etc..

i'll try to update here on this blog whenever i can, meanwhile call or sms me if u wanna catch me. right now, i'm using jason's laptop as i wait for my father to drive over to help move jason's stuff home. =)

remember this?

I am a..

Centrist!!

CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government

control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on

the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention

and sometimes support individual freedom of choice.

Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind,

tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what

they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

I tried out this thing called "The World's Smallest Political Quiz" to find out which category i fall under. Got the link from this Wikipedia page, go take a look and try it out!! =)

but take note that some of the questions asked are not relevant to our country. for convenience, i replaced Social Security with CPF, and draft with NS, National ID card with NRIC. though they are not 100% similar, and the underlying issues are quite far apart, but it's only a brief quiz.. no harm done..

=)

We will not walk in fear, one of another..

I couldn't resist it!! i know that the movie opens next week, but i saw last fri that the dvd is already on the HMV shelves. i bought "Crash" that day instead, cos "Good Night and Good Luck" was $55.95.. so jason and i decided to go catch the movie at the picturehouse instead. but then today i went to the website b4 i left my room to meet jason, and made a snap decision to buy the dvd.. go look at the website, it has nice music. hee..

so to offset the cost, i decided to rent out the dvd. since it's such a great movie, i'm sure pple are willing to pay a small amount to watch it. there will be different rates, depending on how close our friendship is. hee.. so just msg me here, and i'll get back to you.

a short synopsis on what the movie is about: (from the back cover of the dvd)
It's 1953, and the piece of talking furniture called TV is still a novelty in America's living rooms. On it, Sen. Joseph McCarthy uses fear, falsehoods and belligerence to become arguably the most powerful man in the land. On it, newsman Edward R. Murrow, who's had his fill of the senator's tactics, fights back.

can't watch the S-League match liao.. just realised that the TJC dance performance is on the same day, and i promised Ms Wong that i'll go watch. hmm anyone wants to go with me? i've gotten pam to ask around. let me know by thurs night can?

Coming soon..

3 movies i'm looking forward to, all opening on the 25th may. X-men: The Last Stand, the final chapter of the trilogy abt mutants and their quest for survival in an increasingly skeptical and weary world. Glory Road, a feel-good inspirational movie abt basketball and blacks. and then there is Good Night and Good Luck, showing only in the Cathay Picturehouse. Saw the poster there. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor for the recent Academy Awards, it's a movie based in the 1950s, the start of the Cold War.

And 25th may is the day i take my first driving test, and the day my exam results will be released.. hee..

p.s. anyone wants to watch an S-League match this friday? should be 7pm. Young Lions vs Woodlands Wellington.

what a scorcher!!

just watched the FA Cup final highlights on channel 5. what an amazing match. it's always the exciting matches that i miss.. man.. haiz..

but gerrard is wonderful!! what a magnificant player, such an inspiration to others. created one goal and scored twice. and the second goal was one of the best goals i've ever seen. wish i can be half as good as him. an all-round player with good pace, creativity, and a delightful shot. wow.. england's hope for this world cup rests on him, now that rooney is injured.

anyway have a match coming up soon, on the 27th may. i don't even know if i have enough pple playing for this match, and i'm supposed to be in charge.. well well..

this is really weird..

was at 7 eleven opposite ikea ytd, after shopping with jason. needed a drink after that stressful session.. (shopping with jason is always stressful) so i took a root beer and went to the cashier. it was $1.20. then the cashier told me that it's 2 for $1. i said "huh? do u mean 2 for $2?" "no, now having promotion, 2 for $1." ermz ok.. so i went to get another one. doesn't makes sense to me, but whatever..

then outside while drinking one can of root beer, i got jason to buy more drinks.. hee.. so now i have 5 cans of soft drinks in the fridge, and i hardly consume soft drinks.. i dunno what to do with them.. haha..

when you need someone to stand up and be counted...

you'll never walk alone!!

Yes!!! we are the champions!! FA cup that is.. and steven gerrard created one goal and scored twice to bring the game to a draw, b4 beating west ham at the penalty shootout. a bit like me hor, see this.. scroll down to the 26th march blog entry, and u will see the similarities.. hee..

world cup will be here in less than a month! even my driving instructor was talking abt it.. caused me to lose concentration once, hee.. anyway, i'm looking for pple to join me to go catch a S-League match. how abt this friday? involves the table leader Young Lions vs Woodlands Wellington, at Jalan Besar Stadium, the only one in singapore with artificial turf. been wanting to catch a S-League match since.. dunno when.. and i think it's been ten years since it's inception. such a long time liao, didn't even realise that, haha..

i think i understand why "Crash" won best picture at the recent Oscars.

the truth that most pple don't see

Awesome article here, from the Financial Times. sad that we have to rely on foreign media to get the "real" news. and to think that we (including myself) that foreign media holds an unsavoury agenda against our country, or are seditious, or have intentions to meddle in our domestic politics.. haiz..

click on the comments below to see more. =)

monday

spent a day with some frens today. rachel's going philippines at the end of the month to study medicine, so we got together with jessica and derek to spend the afternoon playing board games at settler's cafe in holland v. kinda cool, $6 for free flow of drinks and gameplay, and student discount for the meals too.. i'm still a student!! haha.. then we went to watch an "art film" at the cathay picturehouse. couldn't understand the movie at all. and it cost ten dollars.. argh.. whatever..

my bro is sleeping on my bed now, he sprained his ankle just now at rockclimbing, and asked if he could stay in my room. he had planned to sleep in the climbing gym in SRC for these 2 months or so, as he does his VA at gombak, but he needed someone to help him and take care of him tonight. thank god i wasn't at home, as i was planning to go queensway to look at shoes tmr, so i let him have the bed and i'll sleep on the floor later. he's going to see the doctor tmr, i'll probably go with him since i'm not doing anything in the morning.

shall do my blog entry abt the elections tmr or some other day, kinda hard to think abt such issues in the dark. the lights are off since my bro is asleep already. had some other things to blog abt, but they disappeared from my mind now that i have to look after my bro. another time then.

hmm actually i put up some tealights, leftover from jason. but it's still kinda dark. i didn't know i have problems thinking in the dark till now.. haha..

just for laughs

The one question that stumped countries

In a worldwide survey, a single question was asked: "please give your opinion about the food shortage in the rest of the world."

The survey was a huge failure because:
1) In Africa, they did not know what "food" meant.
2) In Western Europe, they did not know what "shortage" meant.
3) In Eastern Europe, they did not know what "opinion" meant.
1) In South America, they did not know what "please" meant.
1) And in the US, they did not know what "the rest of the world" meant.

HAHAHAHAHA...

now i remember why i stopped talking to u...

this is a non-political blog entry

just wanted to rant abt the news i've been watching on tv and reading in the papers and forums.. felt unusually pissed by the blatant biases of certain media reports.. so i just want to air my comments abt media reports. this is not abt politics whatsoever, so i hope i'm not flouting any rules here..

first, let's touch on public housing. if someone makes a statement that challenges the real cost, shouldn't the proper reply be to release the correct figures to the public? instead of throwing back a challenge for him to verify the costs? shouldn't the onus be on the minister? so we got to see a minister shifting around the qn and not answering it on national news, throws the axe back at the opposition, and then promptly tells the media that he has ordered HDB not to entertain any queries from the opp candidate.. isn't that great... why couldn't the minister use the chance to educate the public abt the real costs? makes me wonder..

and then abt the forms. is it really that impt a subject? so much so that no less than 7 ministers had spoken abt it. didn't the person in question came clean and apologised? why can't we just move on from here? (go listen to the podcasts in mrbrown.com, real funny..) what happened to real issues? isn't the incumbent party the one who asked for the opposition to debate real issues? and they really did.. i was at a rally on sun evening where the opp candidates gave some very good suggestions on health care and cost of living, most of which (not surprisingly) didn't appear in the papers or the news.. and the incumbents didn't bother to rebut most of these suggestions, rather they prefer to play up the "forms" issue.. "first world" indeed.. my heart goes out to him, the victim of this heartless "character assassination" plot.. hmm perhaps i was once a victim too, that's why i sympathize with him.. well well..

the incumbents claim that the opposition only appear just at election time. what abt the MPs themselves? they only turn up at certain social functions, they don't do walk-abouts or door-to-door when it's not elections too.. so what is there to compare? they claim that they understand the hearts and minds of the pple.. then why ban podcasting? why use such a repressive method? is there really such a need for this draconian measure? and the incumbents claim that their selection policies ensure their new candidates are the best they can find. but so far the new candidates have yet to prove themselves. i have heard and seen some of the opp candidates, and i can say with my hand over my heart, that they are worthy of being elected into office. they are sincere, connected to the ground, knowledgeable, and have a wide range of experience. (i said "some") in contrast, the new candidates in white has yet to show that they have new ideas.

and the thing abt using the lift upgrading as a carrot.. what nonsense.. a lot of pple have spoken up asking why such funds, coming from taxpayers all over the island, are being used as an election tool. what is the logic? aren't the pple living in opp wards singaporeans too? some of them did their time in NS too. how can they divide up singaporeans like that? the govt is being so unfair here.. moreover, the upgrading works being done nowadays require co-payment by the residents, which means that they need to pay abt $2K just to have a lift on every floor. what happened to the funds? and when the markets and food centres are upgraded, the prices of food and vegetables go up so as to cover the increase in rent.. pls think thru this "carrot" carefully hor..

it's disheartening whenever i read the newspapers and see skewed reporting.. when so many pages are dedicated to a certain party, even when they are not talking abt real issues, impt ones close to the nation's hearts. i just pray that singaporeans do not prove Li Ao right.. that we are "stupid"!!

i'm back!

Just got back from an election rally. first time i attended such a thing, kinda cool. was drizzling slightly when jason and i were walking to the venue after dinner. good thing i brought an umbrella as instructed by him. anyway it stopped raining just b4 they started speaking, though the ground was slightly wet and we had to sit down so that the pple behind us can see the stage.

and i was amazed by the turn out! and this was abt 15 mins b4 it started.. there were a lot more pple after that.. can't capture it on my camera cos it was too dark, but i took some videos. if u are interested, drop a msg in my comments section and i'll email it to u. can listen to how big the crowd is. =)

anyway i'm very impressed by that party. most of the speakers engaged the crowd easily, and brought up many issues relevant to the election, both at the micro and macro scale. very little mudslinging, just a couple of snipe remarks here and there. if i'm not wrong, there were a total of 9 speakers, and there could be more if not for the cut-off timing of 10pm. they spoke in a wide range of languages, not sure if it was pre-arranged or if it's standard practice, but i think it is very good. there was english, mandarin, tamil, teochew, malay, hokkien and even a bit of hakka.. too bad they are not contesting in my ward though.. =)