A Crying Shame

It’s been a couple of weeks since I reached KK, and I must say, the place really looks awfully different...especially with all the new buildings being proposed, or in the process of completion…most of the new structures have generally been shopping malls…all I can say is…typical…According to my expert resources, this could eventually lead into a serious epidemic in our little town...Can you say “urban sprawl”?...

Anyway, I’m currently doing a portion of my industrial training here…it’s been good…I have a good boss/employer/mentor (which ever works), so work should be interesting, as we like to always keep things fresh around the office. To be honest, some days, I wish there would be some mondo-serious problems that goes on in the construction site, just so I could kick up my report to another notch, or as that gay guy from queer eye would say, “jzush it up”, but that would just be selfish…I guess there really is no substitute for quality.

So aside from work, I’ve been doing the usual chillin’, although I find myself very lethargic most of the time…I guess my body is telling me to take a time-out…but hey, who sleeps anymore.
Here’s a story to wet your appetite, last night me and the gang were out for supper, but amidst the chaos of finding a place to chill, I guess someone failed to appreciate the fact that the gang would have preferred to hang pass midnight (I’m exaggerating of course, nobody is really to blame). So there we were in the all too familiar awkward situation of “So where should we go now?”…the usual places were thrown into the mix (the customary Salims and Damais), but somehow those places don’t seem to hold the same esteem/pizzaz it used to for us (don’t ask me why, I’m equally baffled). So, being the usual me, I tried to shake things up (as you all know how much I like to keep things fresh)…you know, test the waters, see how far we were willing to break from our vicious cycled called “routine”…I then proceed to suggest something that would put the most astute businessmen to shame…I said, “How ‘bout we head off to 7-11 for some slurpess”, different opinions were thrown into the discussion, but the general idea was “Hey, that’s really just half a plan”…I then replied “you know, we all could just sit on the curb, after all, we don’t get tickets for loitering…better yet, how ‘bout we head down to say, Tg. Lipat to savor out slurpess”, yet more opinion were circulated around…but the suddenly, there was a sense of glee penetrating within this group that has rarely been seen, a sense of curiosity and the little adventurer in all of us were eeking to just break loose…but still a couple of chicks express their utter disgust at the very thought of the idea…so hence the debate continued…but boy was I so close to making that wining basket…the votes were leaning to my side…until another friend of ours entered the frame...and said the magic words…music to the groups ears…like a magician uttering the magic “abra-ka-dabra”…all the had to say was “I just swung by upper-star and the place is practically empty with plenty of parking”…at that moment…there and then the game was lost…I guess you really can’t teach old dogs new tricks...not that I liken my friends to a common bunch of mongrels…they’re more like cocker-spaniel…just kidding…The game of basketball has many quirks…in the history of the game…there have been a million attempts of that glorious “wining shot”…from journeymen to all-stars have all went in seach of that “Mythical basket”…but only the ones who make it will be remembered…the rest will be “just another guy who attepted a shot”…Oh well, at least you can’t blame a guy for trying…

One of the best skits I've ever seen...

SNL - Mike Myers & Nicole Kidman
Uploaded by djoik

Inspired by Iris...who claims to have been proposed when she was 5...or something like that...

A Stoke of Brilliance

This post has been a long time coming…it’s a gift to my dear readers…for I have traveled the long hard road and emerged on top…now it’s a cause for celebration… by the way, I was kidding about the ‘gift to my dear reader’, I don’t rate my blog that high anyway. So, it’s Monday, and I just finish 2 of the most grueling weeks of the semester (but expect more to come)…sigh…I have been scrambling to finish my assignments by week 6…3 were due on Monday, normally, it wouldn’t be too much to handle, but the Goliath of them all threaten to wreck havoc across my world…this assignment (transportation engineering) was the toughest challenge I ever face thus far…our objective was to suggest a geometric design for a class 2 arterial rural highway. Well, no sweat one might think, I’ve done similar assignments in surveying courses…however, this was different. Unlike previous assignments I’ve ever done…no numbers were given…just a contour and a page describing terrain and of course…class of road. This might be a drive by for your average engineer…but definitely overwhelming for a sophomore like me. I won’t go into too much detail about the mechanics of design, because I can only think of one person who will understand (hahahhaha), but the approach of the assignment was so broad…It’s like… ‘Should I do this? If I do this, would this happen? However, if I don’t do this something else might happen? But if I don’t this, that will just be ridiculous…’ so on and so on and so on….

Anyway, Serene called sometime early last week…and we chatted a bit…she probably sense my usually ice-cool demeanor starting to show cracks…I think she immediately inform the chief commander…Dad…He called not long after that, and we had a chat…I talked about some of the difficulties I was facing regarding the assignment, and he describe some of his experience dealing with geometric road design…I must say, our conversation helped…firstly it calm me down (don’t forget, I had another 2 lab reports due)…but more importantly, it helped me throw away some of the traditional high-school thinking approach to problem solving (which I’m sure we all faced that at some point in our tertiary education)…

In the end, I finish it…I lost a lot of sleep…but it’s finished…I don’t know if I did a good job…but it’s finished, and tomorrow, I’ll happily slip it into the assignment box…and that’ll be the end of 2 crazy weeks…until the next 2 crazy weeks come along. Well, the assignment was really a reality check…1) it’s always going to get harder from here on, and 2) fresh graduates will always struggle once they enter the world of engineering practice, so it’s important not to get to ahead of oneself.

The chief culprit of my misery

My worked station which looks like a natural disaster (this is after i cleaned it up)

On a lighter note…last Wednesday was the Engineering Faculty’s Dean’s Merit Induction Night…nothing too Spectacular…just an informal function, were we get to socialize…the room was packed…I barely had enough space to move around…but do take note it was a small room…so, small numbers…but one should expect that from such an exclusive ‘club’…hahahahahha, just kidding…. Anyway, I could barely hear any of the speeches…so in the end, I just slipped to the back and ate as much on trays as possible… very Malaysian.

That's Raymond on my left (the first Malaysian I met in Newey) and his genuis friend (no kidding, he scored an average of 93%)

For some reason my friend Heng is known as 'The Singapore God'

My gloating certificate

Never Trust a Man to Do a Woman's Job

I realize something…men thrive in routine…I’m sure we heard this notion a million times, but I couldn’t help noticing this fact while shopping for groceries these few weeks. For the past few weeks, during shopping nights (Thursday evenings)…I’ll always bump into my ‘transportation’ lecturer at the butcher section around the 7:30 slot…and as I head towards the cashier around the 8:00 slot, I’ll bump into one of my lab instructors… and the fact that I seems to run into this particular cycle…well, I suppose it’s because I’ll more often than not, be at those particular places at those particular times… Man…I guess I’m not as flexible as I think…Normally my shopping routine revolves around, getting a loaf of bread, followed by a carton of milk, and then to the deli to buy some cold cuts…after that…everything else (according to what I think I might need)…
That’s precisely why men should never be entrusted with grocery duty…If memory serves me right, when the whole family goes out grocery shopping…Dad will head to the confectionary section…with a probability of 0.87 (don’t ask me how I generated those figures, trade secret), that he’ll be holding a packet of ‘tau sa piang’ or those caramel biscuits upon exiting that aisle…times when dad was given grocery shopping duty, he basically lived by the principal of ‘entering and exiting’ as fast as possible…women will tell us grocery shopping is an art…like an A+ project, we have to take time to ensure everything is done to perfection… ‘Enough, but not overdone’…that’s why when Mom goes shopping…we’ll never starve… so women, trust us with pulling the trolley but not with it’s contents…we’re strong but apparently not very ductile…
Anyway, I’m doing a little geology this semester…it’s a rather interesting subject…we study various rock and soil specimen…one thing about geology is that many parameters cannot be quantified in field test (i.e. fracture, hardness, strength…etc)…so engineers and geologist alike have come up with quite a number of ingenious methods of defining those parameters…what I like to call ‘the average joe’ test…test as simple as scratching rocks with a pocket knife, smashing rocks against each other, and my favorite one I call the ‘spit drop test’…like the name suggest, we dap a small drop of spit and observe if the specimen absorbs the spit. Engineers sure are a resourceful bunch (as they would all profess)…Anyway, I know this guy…lets call him ‘Ir. A.’ …who uses a similar test to check for quality of fabric…since there’s no real way to test for quality…what Ir. A. would do is dap a little spit on the fabric and observe how much spit is absorb by the fabric… He must have used his resourcefulness and above average analytic skill to associate quality of fabric with its permeability… I wouldn’t expect anything less from an engineer…

The Demanding Family

…kidding…!!!...hhhhmmmm…seems like you guys underestimate my position as a sophomore…it’s harder then it looks…I haven’t quite found my feet yet…still trying to get use to the new schedule and work load…and the other thing is that…I don’t have THE GOLD MINE of FAMILY POTRAITS that you are have somehow assumed I have…hahahah….sorry…but it’s true…remember…half the time…the family wasn’t together…it was only towards the end of Sam’s stay that we were in the position to calmly have a meal together…the family portrait seems to be the only one I have…I think it look just dandy…none of you guys complained when I showed it to you…hhaahhaha...anyway, I’ll try my best to fill in the voids.

It seems that this couple have some sort of syndrome that prevents
them from looking at the camera. (not the first time it happened)

Wombats seems to have some kind of afflilation with Sam...Jia Ming seems to
be reminded of Sam at the sight of a wombat...

Meng Haw the gallant horse

"Mabo's" Church...hahaha...kidding...just a traditional aboriginal church

Toast to the host...and hostess

Typical evening in the house

The Three Sisters...if you ask me, they don't resemble faces at all

Candy store...i never seen so much candy in one place at a singular time...
must be a great place to be during the Christmas season

Winter Break 2006

First I apologize to my faithful readers…I know I have disappointed my small but very supportive fan base…and those of us in the business know it’s all about the fans…anyway here are some of the long awaited highlights from my winter break with the family…I have to upload them quickly or else some fans might start boycotting me…hahahah…plus I pinky promise Serene I’ll upload them first thing when I get home.

Circular Quey revisted

Lunch at the fish market...yummers...good stuff

Opera House revisited...picture taken from the Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge with the sunset backdrop

Couldn't be any more blokeky...

The guys staring at the gigantic reptile thing...not a T-Rex by the way...

I was the guinea pig...since none of them wanted to get on the mechanical contraption

The much anticipated family photo...dinner prepared by me...but the credit was controversially given to Sam and Jia Ming...

This has BROTHERLY LOVE written all over it...!!!

Afternoon tea at Leura , Blue Mountains in a place called Eagle Boys...hahahaha...nah...it's called bygone beauts...which included scones (you have to say it the scottish way) with strawberry jam and cream accompanied with tea...yummers...

Goodbye to a Friend

Oh STEWART, What a turbulent friendship we have endured.

It’s hard to imagine that our friendship has lasted so long…

One and a half years…alas, it’s time to bid each other farewell.

So many memories I will cherish…

I remember the first time I met you…

I was shocked at the price you demanded for our collaboration,

I had no choice…but since then, we have come so far…

You were indeed a friend that brought out some of the best in me.

But you were a difficult friend as well…

Your theorems and ideas far exceeded mine and constantly left me dumb-founded.

Persistent you were…forcing yourself onto me when I wanted nothing to do with you.

Sometimes I found myself toiling and slaving over you…sometimes…sometimes even having sleepless nights just trying to understand you…

BUT STEWART…you shall haunt me no more…for today…we part and say our final goodbyes…

Goodbye STEWART…I'll cherish our time together…I shall always try to remember everything you had taught me…

I will miss you dearly my friend…

I’m sure at some point in my life, I shall need you again…but I hope it will be few and far between…

So long and farewell my friend…

Change of Season...The End of Something...

…and just like that, semester one was officially over, at the engineering student hub, with me sliding my final assignment of the semester into the assignment box…it was rather an anti-climactic end. In my head, the whole thing played out so differently…I had imagined the day with the sun shining brightly…and as I walked up the stairs in the ES building, the music of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture began to play…as I slip my assignment into the box…a huge BANG!! Followed by confetti falling from the ceiling…none of those happened…in fact it was a cold gloomy late afternoon…and not a person in sight at the student hub…Still, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of accomplishment as I turned my last assignment in…I MADE IT!!...after 13 weeks…it was done…surreal at times…I have to rub my eyes to make sure it really was over…I prayed to God that somehow I’ll make it through this semester…AND I DID!!!...what a feeling…now it’s time to gear up for exams…

During the beginning of the semester:

So full of enthusiasm, ready for any challege... I'll take you on MAN...!!

(that's Bob's reflection on the mirror)

That's what a full semester can do to a man...sure took the wind out of me.

I'm not usually one who takes self-portraits...but since Dad bought me such a good camera, Mom and Dad probably expected me to use it once in a while...plus, it's probably good if they had some idea how i looked like now...behold Mum and Dad...I give you...your Son...rather rugged looking i would say...hahahahahah

Tribute to My Group Mates

You know what, between you and me, I really hate group assignment…I mean I don’t mind doing laboratory work as a team and writing individual reports…but doing everything as a team…research, report…etc…just doesn’t cut it for me…the fact that I have to rely on somebody else just annoys me.
Well, this semester, I was force out of my comfort zone…for PHIL3910 (technology and human values), we had to do group assignments together…which included a 4000 word report on appropriate technology as well as group presentations every fortnight…
To be perfectly honest, the first time we work as a group, I was highly skeptical…for our first presentation, we had to give a brief description about values systems and value inquiry…during discussion, we all just stood there…chatting while other groups were scrambling to find talking points…I was a little worried…but we made it through that round…Over the course of time…we learn to gel as a team…but I suppose, the biggest motivation is that we felt that to pass this course, we really had to rely on each other…slowly (actually rather quickly)…we harness out presentation prowess…our lecturer seem to be always impress by our presentations…
I just got back from my groups last meeting, to finalize our group report…let truth reign…again, we started rather late with this assignments…but in the end…I was pleasantly surprise the quality of the report…since I was the only 2nd year among 3rd year students in my group…I learn heaps about putting together a proper report…not to mention tons of cool words (mostly engineering technical term)…I know I wouldn’t have done nearly as good as a job is the task of putting it together was thrown on my shoulder…
But alas, today signaled the final collaboration between 5 of us. All the work needed to push us this far has been completed…we’ll (at least me, since all of them are 3rd year chem. Eng students) probably never work together as a team anymore…I prayed for a good group to be in…and I got it…
Wazza, Walshe, Jess and Karan…was fun working with you guys… but its goodnight and good luck…adios amigos…catch you another time…

V for Vendetta

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot

I finally watch ‘V for Vendetta’ just the other night. I have to say that I was quite impressed by it, I really enjoyed it. However, I think it’s one of those movies that you either love it or hate it. In a nutshell, the movie is about V, the central character, a one man army who dons a Guy Fawkes mask, hell-bent on bringing down the then pseudo-Nazi British government. I believe the true value of this movie lies within the symbolism rather than the plot itself. I liked the movie so much so that it prompted me to do a little research for myself.
Firstly, we have to know the history of Guy (a.k.a Guido) Fawkes. Since King Henry the VIII’s reign, England was divided between the Catholics and protestant with the fractions bitterly fighting over the throne. After the death of Queen Elizabeth I, James I became the successor to the throne (in 1603). The Catholics thought this would signal the end of their persecution, however, to the contrary, King James had no intention of granting leniency toward the Catholics.
Fawkes was Catholic and a soldier who fought for Spain in the Netherlands. His reputation soon was noticed by Thomas Wintour who invited him to join 3 other men (the whole group eventually raised up to 13 members) who form the initial gun powder plot in 1604. By March 1605, the group had rented a celler under the parliament and began stock piling 36 barrels of gunpowder. However, their plot somehow leaked into the government, but, the conspirators still went ahead with their plans. Parliament was due to meet on the 5th of November, and it was that day King James men discovered the stock piled and captured Fawkes (who was standing guard and was in charge of lighting the fuse). He was tortured and interrogated. Fawkes was tried on January 27th, 1606, and executed on Janury 30th.
After the failure of the gunpowder plot, King James decreed that anniversary of the plot’s failure should always be remembered. The celebration is now known as Bonfire Night. It is unclear however weather people celebrate its failure or its attempt in these times.
Thus this brings us to ‘V’; V is a very unique larger than life super-hero, unlike most super-heroes who hide their character behind a mask, V’s mask projects his character. V has no alter ego, the man behind the mask died in Larkhill, so in other words, V simply is V. But V isn’t just a character, he is in ideal, he is the physical embodiment of Fawkes ideals- Fairness, Freedom, Justice and Tolerance. In fact, he represents every man’s desire for the world. Even though he wears a Guy Fawks mask, he is not trying to be Guy Fawkes, he is however trying to succeed where Fawkes failed.
But, there is still one thing viewers cannot overlook, despite all that V stands for. Though his action, V really is a radical and a terrorist. Even though he captures the audience with his charisma and charm, V is the bad guy in the eyes of the government who sets the law (which defines right and wrong). The beginning of the movie starts by V blowing up a building. His motivation is; “The building (Parliament) is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. Alone a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world”. Besides that, V is sadistic and murderous. He tortures and kills people without hesitation. V knows this, that’s why he introduces himself as both a Victim and a Villain. A Victim because he is who is though the governments biological project, and a Villain because he is directly attacking the governments regime. It hard to condone or justify V’s acts as a terrorist, despite V’s good intentions, all terrorist share the same ideals, that an act of destruction sends a message that would resonate. The only consolation I can give is that, V’s target isn’t the people, so he doesn’t intentionally harm civilians, instead, the aggression is all targeted towards the government itself. Unlike terrorist of today, their target is the people, and finding ways to maximize havoc. The root of all terror acts today is spawn from the seed of evil. You can see it clearly from the trail of one of the caught Al Queda member (the Frenchman). It is clear his acts are purely out of hatred and not gearing towards creating a better tomorrow. I guess you would have to look at V in a different light, and the circumstances which surround it.
V also recognizes that order can only come after chaos. This drives him to do what he does. Like the way he tortures and brain washes Evey to make her see his ideology. That is freedom cannot be achieved without feeling the pain that comes before it (that is true for almost all of us). We need not look far to see how this applies. All the nation power houses had to go though a chaotic period before shaping their identity. The Europeans have their Renaissance, the Americans had its Civil War, the Japanese went thought the Bakumatsu and China also had a Civil War between Chan Kai Sik and Mao Zhi Dong. All these shaped and gave each country its identity and culture. None describe this ideology than went V said “…The world that I’m apart of and that I help shape will end tonight, and tomorrow a different world will begin, one where different people will shape it and the choice belongs to them”. He accepts his role as chaos and destruction of the old world, and when it was finally completed his role as he knew it was over.
V is more than a menagerie of ideas, he is the driving force that puts all that ideas into action. By each act of vengeance and vendettas, his vision will one day be fully vindicated.
I end with extracts from Valerie’s autobiography:
“…But it was my integrity that was important. Is that so selfish? It sells for so little, but it's all we have left in this place. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch we are free…
…It's strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and I apologized to nobody…
I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Except one…An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.”

Valerie

Confession of a Lazy Bum

It’s been a long while since I updated, well I was really busy the last couple of weeks. It was the usual suspects, assignments, assessments, reports and all those stuff that goes on at mid term. Well, since those things were out of the way, and I’m now relaxing in my room on this very fine term break, I really haven’t got any good excuse. But, I have been some what busy with my PHIL 3910 essay, I have two of them, one on ‘Appropriate Technology’ and another group project on ‘Urban Planning’, even with those two things going I confess I still had time if I wanted to blog, however, everything I tried, it seem that my creative juices seemingly just seeped away, leaving my mentally fatigue to even think. Anyway, it’s all good now. I did quite a bit of research on the matter, even loaned 2 books from the library, ‘Factor 4’ which I talk about in my last entry, and ‘The Conserver Society’ by Ted Trainer. The book is about alternate methods for sustainability (much like Factor 4), however, his ideas seem to take a step back rather than forward, suggesting quite absurd ideas. One of his ideas was to build houses out of earth (translation-MUD), cheap, durable, provides good insulation…rather intriguing, but…did he notice…it’s MUD whatdup with that? Call me a kool-aid drinker, but technology should push men forward not back, needless to say I never finish the book, didn’t even go a quarter…too bad…I’ll live.
Other than that, I’ve been hanging around Bara a lot. TV is good, I watch a lot of very interesting documentaries. One of them was about the debate on ‘Nature Vs Nurture’. It all started when a psychologist went in pursuit of the beautiful idea that nurture provided the fundamental blocks of the human psyche rather than our inherent nature. His experiment involved a boy (whose penis was accidentally burned off during circumcision). The doctor advised the parents to raise him up as a girl. I won’t go into the details (maybe some other time), but needless to say, it all went horribly wrong…the end was tragic, the boy committed suicide. Although this prove one turning point in the debate, I big lesson here is-when individuals pursue a beautiful idea without considering the variables involved (in these case, the human element/emotion), the results can be devastating. Much like Capote’s pursue of his work for his book ‘In cold blood’, again not going into details, Capote manipulated the whole situation so he could get his way…it is said that the whole ordeal traumatized him so much that he could finish any of his future works. I quote from the movie ‘the last epigraph he chose for his last finish work reads: “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones”.’
Speaking of which, I have been trying to get hold of the book ‘In cold blood’ ever since I saw the trailer for the movie ‘Capote’, found out that the library has about 7 copies of the book, but somehow, it always seems to be loaned out…I even went to library today to check out myself. As expected, it was all loaned out, my guess, either by psychologist or law students writing a thesis (book was located at the psychology/politics/crime section, it wasn’t with the rest of his literature which incidentally was all loaned out as well), or just some curious bloke like me. I even discovered an entire new section in the library. It’s called the ‘Open Stack’ area, I don’t really know what they keep there, probably rare books, but they already have a rare books archive…or maybe it’s just a secret stash section, it is located in a rather strange position, you have to open a regular size door at ground level and walk 2 flights of stairs to get there. They did have one of his books there, but it’s a 3 day loan. I have to get hold of it somehow, I’ve become rather obsessed with it…I just got to find out what happen on that early morning November 15, 1959. The head is consumed by the whole thing; all the thoughts just keep circling in my head what happen, why…?? Question that I just got to know…

Oh well, maybe next time…will be heading down to Sydney tomorrow for a well deserve break…keep that stove sizzling and those oven burning…

Paul's recommendation of the week

I had a pretty interesting conversation today. As I was walking back from class, I met Mike (a.k.a HK dude, remember him?). So we do the casual small talk, I asked him:

Paul: So where were you from?
Mike: Lunch at the union.
Paul: I didn’t know you had lunch here, didn’t you have breakfast this morning.
Mike: No, woke up at 9.
Paul: Dude, you got to eat your breakfast, that’s 5 dollars down the drain man.
Mike: No, it is not! In business terms…have you heard of “sunk cost”…

Mike then proceeds to fill me in on the concept and implications of basic economics and this mysterious thing called “sunk cost”. Yada yada yada…was a fairly long conversation, would not go into too much detail. But in a nutshell, “sunk cost”, apparently is cost that cannot be recovered, or something like that…read the following….

Paul: So what you’re trying to say is that since you paid your fees in advance (i.e. a full semester)…that means you won’t experience a loss, because whether you go for breakfast or not, that money can never be recovered…hence, it would not affect your decision on having breakfast or not…thus rendering the idea of having breakfast or not irrelevant in terms of cost…HOWEVER, if you were to pay your fees in a daily basis, and somehow not choose to go for breakfast (after paying that particular day’s fee of cause)…that would be a sunk cost…which in terms equate into a loss…hence making ones decision to skip breakfast more relevant…

Mike nods…which means…I nailed the idea of sunk cost dead on…I don’t know about you…but something fishy is going on if that really translate into modern economics… I wonder…

He proceeds to ask me what does a profit mean?

Paul: When you record a turnover in your business…i.e., recover the losses from your previous expenditure of setting up the business (including on going expenditure)… passing the point of sustainability.

Mike: Wrong, it means, if you want to earn 10 dollars, and in fact you do, you have no profit. But, if you earn 20, you have a 10 dollar profit…

That smells even more fishy...someone in the business field…enlighten me on this subject…

Anyway, as my title head suggest, I have 2 recommendations this weeks (not that it’s going to be a weekly basis thing)

“Enron: The Smartest People in the Room”…This documentary is based on the book of the same title…it chronicles the rise and fall of one of history’s biggest corporate scandals…I was always fascinated by this subject ever since I saw the Hallmark movie about the same subject. This documentary reveals some shocking revelation about the scandal in detail. The ambition, greed, deception and lies of a few men (maybe more)…I highly recommend this documentary to people in the business sector…or those who are just interested in the subject. Might be hard to get your hands on a copy though (especially in Malaysia…I think)

“Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use”, by E. Von Weizsäcker, A.B Lovins, L.H Lovins. This book is truly a gem. Its the “unofficial” text we use for our PHIL3910 course…we don’t have to read it, but it’s recommended. At first I was skeptical, probably because I didn’t really want to bite more than I could chew… but I was really taken by surprise, this book is really interesting…the gist of the author’s idea is that, quote “Resource productivity can-and should-grow fourfold. The amount of wealth extracted from one unit of natural resources can quadruple. Thus we can live twice as well-yet use half as much”…one of the key topics is energy and resource efficiency…a lot of examples are given for the construction sector…I highly recommend it to engineering (generally most), especially those in the construction field (reasons as stated above)…and also urban planners and designers…Sam, I think you should give this one a shot…could be useful information, it does touch in the subject about sustainable architecture. I know you have a lot of reading loads…but still I think this one is worth while…some things are very technical, but you’re a smart boy, you should get around that one easily…and Dad, I think this book would might be of high value to you, especially since you have so much experience in this field…you will definitely find this book relevant and possibly a revelation…at worse, would be very interesting to read about, and have a few debatable points…though this book could be hard to get your hands on in KK…but if you could…
Anyway, that’s about it…long post No.2.

That's me on the left (obviously), Chiko (I think),

Karen (fellow Civil Eng.), Chris and New Guy

The Death of Week 4

Phew...(taking a deep breath)…what a week it’s been, both socially and academically… as, some of you might be aware of, I just concluded week for (also known as hell week, at least in my case this semester)…I can’t help but feel a sense of relief after toiling and slaving over the previous week. I feel like a boxer, receiving several japs…but in the end I came up trumps…still standing…hahahahahha, take that week 4. Some of the stuff included a lab session, our 1st philosophy group tutorial (which involves group discussion and presentation)…and to top it all, 2 assessments…I must say, I feel very physically drained. Lab was pretty good (but that’s not the hard part…the report is)…we did our thing…finished and left…tutorials was a whole new experience for me…I never really had to do any serious group work before…but to make things even more interesting, we had to do a group presentation…man, I was really worried at 1st…my group seem really slack…in the back of my mind I was thinking…oh no, doomed…I never really liked group work, especially those that you have to depend on people…the idea that the fate of my grades rest also in other peoples hands irritates me a lot…which is probably reflected in why I always excel in single matches (tennis)…cause winning depends on me and me alone…but then again, in the working field, I would be forced to work coherently with the other bodies (i.e, architects, contractors, developers…etc etc), so it’s probably why they made us do all these in the 1st place…well, but in the end, we did deliver a pretty decent presentation, and our lecturer looked satisfied…so yeah…good on us, maybe we work well with pressure. Assessment tests were good, I think I did alright…should be good, anyway, test are normal for me now, we get them so much that you sort of become immune to all the emotions affiliated with it.
Well, that was a mouthful, having said that, my weekend was pretty productive, I went for this event called “Jazz In The Park” at King Edward Park…it’s basically an event where people go to that park to listen to a band play jazz music…I have a funny story to go with it, when me and some friends reached Civic Station, I clearly said, “Follow the formal dressed people”…and so we did, once we reached the top of the hill, Mike (HK dude), said that we were going in the wrong direction…so we headed back down wondering aimless to other parks around the area…so frustrated we were that we ended asking one of the station workers the location of desired destination. He kindly, pointed us in the right direction (which to my dismay), was the exact path we were taking before old HK dude opened his mouth…see, never trust a business person to do an engineers job (not really an engineers job, but we certainly have a better sense of direction than our business counterparts). I have to say, JITP was awesome, I’ll be the first to admit that jazz isn’t my cup of tea (unlike my other siblings), but there’s something about life music playing in the night…it sort of lifts the atmosphere. Sadly most of my closer friends weren’t able to share the moment with me, cause I couldn’t really convince any of them to go…not really their culture…so typically, I got replies of, “Lazy” or “What for”…most of my night was having small casual conversations with other people that I know. Still, it was great to say the least…the band played classic jazz number by crooners like Frank Sinatra, Sam Cook…to their own jazz renditions from Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, and even Patti LaBelle…I wish there were more stuff like these in KK, would definitely love to go to events like those…the only one I can think right off the bat would be “Christmas By Candle Light” in Sutera. Even that one is in principle, meant for the Mat Sallehs staying at the resort. Disappointing to say the least. Still, I only missed that event once since it’s interception, so I do treasure that event a lot.
Well, weekend was pretty much doing my lab report…proud to say…I’m finished (well almost)…all that is needed is some revising and editing…plus a front cover and a table of content page…I feel good…that’s probably one of my biggest assignment this semester…so yeah…good…oh, and I’m proud to announce that I’m now a member of SSA (Singapore Student Association)…hahhahahaah, it all started when someone told me there were free pizzas at the common room tonight…I thought, this was a college event…well, I was wrong…still joining the thing only cost like 5 bucks…and I ate like maybe 15 AUD worth of pizzas…moneys worth…oh yeah…I might joined them for the winery tour at Hunter Valley…I went last year…it’s a good trip…maybe might buy a bottle or two…
Anyway, this is a long post to make up for my negligence…Week 5 is way less stressful than 4…just another number…good time for a breather…
P.S, Federer won again, Pan Pacific/ Pan Pilot…or was it Pacific Life…well, it’s a “Masters” event, so…it’s big…at this rate…World no 1 again?...
Dad, I must make you swallow your own words…recall “I think 2006 will be the beginning of Federer’s downfall”…you thought wrong…you thought wrong…

3 Post In 2 Days (that's more than i've done in the past 4 months)

I’ve been tagged by Iris…well, she tagged me a long time ago, but I only found out a few moments ago, basically because I haven’t been blog browsing outside the family circle lately…I should do so more often, or at least periodically…it’s always pleasant to see how my friends are doing…and, sometimes funny stories appear which can be amusing, and quite often I find something inspirational…food for the soul…
Anyway, Sam’s blog – brutally honest…

TAG: Five Simple Pleasures in Life

1. Relaxing with a nice warm drink of ginseng (or hot choc)

2. Smelling the cool, crisp and fresh air of early spring (at least in NSW)

3. Long hot showers (do a lot of my thinking there)

4. Beating Sam in a game of bball ( I would have liked to have said tennis, but since he hasn’t found a way to beat me yet…picking tennis would be like picking up a cat fight with a 5 year old…hahhahahaha)

5. A good and stimulating conversation

*6. Sleeping in...

*7. *Calculus*…hahahahah, nah

Well, that’s about it, got more but have to limit myself to the very good ones…I tag, eeeerrrmmm, my whole family…this could be very interesting…

Entropy: the secret of life...

End of the day, feeling good…just had dinner, a rather late one, no reason other than the fact that I can…hahahahahah…no more 6:30 dinners for me anymore…Had fried rice… Kylie Kwong style…feeling mighty proud of myself…I’m full, satisfied and contented… On another note, I was reading through some of my philosophy lecture notes…this subject is like nothing I ever done before…it’s abstract and lots and lots of text…very uncanny for an engineer…had to read through say…40 pages for week 2 lectures…very intense stuff, and confusing…after all, it’s philosophy…and because of people like Plato and Socrates, philosophy subjects are always very mind blowing to the simple minded (like me)…but, because of modern technology and people with a lot of free time, there are lots of places where you can find external reading…hence “Wikepedia”…that’s one very handy tool, I was finding it difficult to understand some of the concepts there, but through “wikepedia”, most of my problems are solved…anyway, just to give you guys an idea of what this course is about…we’re studying the effects of modern technology upon human civilization and society…e.g like how technology effects societies’ economic, politics, culture…etc etc. Some of the things we learn are quite interesting…like how life can be explain by the 1st law and 2nd lar of thermodynamics…I won’t go into it, simply because I don’t think you guys want to hear it…and it’s quite complex at a certain level…even I don’t fully understand it…well, now I’m just gonno chill out, watch a flick and drink my ginseng…

The Weekender

Week 2 has just ended for me…now begins the second of my long weekends…in case you don’t know by now…I have Fridays and Mondays off…which translate into…well, long weekends…nothing really much to say, but I guess, life here is getting better by the day…my first week was just a disaster, full house lectures…odd hours …lecture materials I didn’t understand…it was intense…everything was so hectic…I never had to go through 8 hours of class in a day before…well, not since high school…I’m in uni man, give me a break…but on the bright side, 2 days off…anyway, first week was really hectic…couldn’t help but feel overwhelm by the whole task at hand…so much work, assignments…and knowledge to comprehend…did feel a little deflated by the end of the week…man, I need to be inspired…somebody, inspire me!!! Hahahahhaha…which I could buy inspiration from the supermarkets…maybe I’ll just listen to Bach…
On the other hand, week 2 has been really good, starting to slide into the whole system…real smooth baby…started to have an understanding of what the lecturers are talking about…and getting use to the whole 8 hour thing…must be the first week syndrome (did I talk about that in my last post)…anyway, life is sweet…well, sweeter than a week ago…oh, and I’ve been eating much healthily, had two proper meals already…courtesy of Bobby, my room mate…which is good, he cooks to release his stress, I eat to survive…sounds like a perfect match…
Well, Bob’s going down to Sydney this weekend, which means I’ll have the whole room to myself…gonno be good, will have some personal space to chill, play the guitar or something…or watch a little NBA this weekend…good match, Wizard Vs Sixers (Sam will probably listen to it over the radio…poor kid)…other than that…nothing much…will just plan to kick back and relax this weekend…meet up with some friends and all that…till then, we’ll see what the weekend will have installed for me…

My new pad

Left side : Paul's corner

Right side : Bob's corner

Back At One

Hello everybody, I’m back…man, it’s been a while since I blogged…say…just under 4 months…hopefully putting up a post this early in the semester is a sign of good things to happen (but experience told, it’s better not to keep your hopes to high)…Anyway, let me just start by updating you guys about what’s going on in Newey…
Well, I just got to start with the room…what can I say, the room is awesome…huge…it’s like a mini apartment unit…my pad has everything to survive…a kitchenette, toilet, bed, storage, desk, phone line and ADSL…how cool is that…all I can say is…life is sweet… this is truly the way to live…but on the downside…the people here are quite anti-social… our college had a welcoming bbq…which translate into…free food…but like only 20++ people turn up…which is a real bummer…guess I’ll probably stick to my old circle of friends most of the time…but I must say there are some really friendly blokes as well, only my 1st week here…and I’ve been invited to Mardi Gras…will think about it…hahaah…but I do love this new life-style…eat when I want to…and stuff…however, my eating habits are really poor at this point…must be the settling in process…haven’t had much fiber (i.e fruits and vege)…aside form the salads from all the dinners I’ve attented (so far…3)…been eating a lot of sandwiches and frozen food…this is bad… got to change this…change this soon…
School’s started…and my 1st week has ended…1st thing that pops to my mind is that…the transition from 1st year to 2nd year is really huge…boy, do they expect so much more from students now then they did in 1st year…the contents are much tougher and workload has significantly increase... I was quite overwhelm during this 1st week…to be absolutely truthful…I’m already stress out…which I really shouldn’t be…dude…it’s only the 1st week…most people are still having the holiday hang-over…I worry too much… way too much…but I guess that’s how I felt this time last year…so I’m sure it’s just the early year syndrome…I’m sure as the semester progresses…I’ll be fine…just have to work out a plan to fit in all the studying and assignments…not to mention a bit of socializing…cause that’s what Uni is all about…good news is my room-mate is such a study-holic…still, I think both of us are in the bludging mode…last night we didn’t get anything done (but then again, like I said, 1st week…shouldn’t over-stress ourself)…just hang around with our respective lap-tops and watch movies and stuff…sigh…I just hope I’ll be able to survive this year…sounds like a tall order…but I should be fine…
2006…I’ll beat you…hahahahah
P.S…going to Sydney this weekend to chill and de-stress…and buy some Asian groceries…so Meng How and Serene… you’re gonno see a lot of me this year… be prepared…hahahhahhaa