Me & My Shadow

Gryphon's Cup Champ!

2009-08-02T09:03:00.001+08:00

for the first time, the very first time, August started with a Gryphon's Cup victory and not defeat for RI'03 (Reds) this year, with some good fortune and good play down the stretch, we've not only gone passed the first round of this annual alumni competition, but also clinched the title! but i couldn't play at all throughout the competition due to camps and sickness. haiz. how i wish i were an active part of it.

next year, i hope we can prove that this victory is not a fluke and i shall keep myself free to be part of it. god damn proud of you Reds!

WAH LAO~

2009-07-27T09:36:00.001+08:00

WAH LAO!

FOOT(ODAC FOC) is just over and right now i'm recovering from a viral flu. i dont know if it's h1n1 tho. symptoms are quite mild. hopefully i'll recover in time for Stellar(NYS FOC). FOOT was quite fun and the OG did very well to emerge overall champs. but more importantly, everyone had fun and bonded well. sadly, i had to miss out on finale due to the flu. WAH LAO!

gryphon's cup(annual raffles alumni basketball competition) just started 2 days ago. i'm so happy that my batch has gone passed the 1st round for the first time! and not just that, we are now in the semis! happy leh! GO REDS GO! but hor, cuz i'm sick, i couldn't join them and play. WAH LAO!

NYS FOC is this wednesday and it'll last for 3 days. hope we'll make it fun and memorable for the freshmen and seniors alike. we'll be going to the makan places ard campus and spend some time in sentosa. hmmm, there'll be cooking competition and it'll need camp participants to bring pots and pans from home...WAH LAO!

cuz of camps, i haven't been going to the lab. and apparently, there's been quite a lot of progress thanks to joshua. well done man! watching the video of the flight makes me wanna see it in person. WAH LAO!

i hope this flu will go away and i'll be able to go for Stellar, Gryphon's Cup, and contribute a little more in the lab before school starts...school...WAH LAO!

FOOT seniors camp

2009-06-22T11:31:00.002+08:00

back from pelepah, kota tinggi. the trekking is more dangerous than endau rompin's. but it's manageable. for freshmen joining FOOT '09, just be careful when you trek and have fun =) i slipped from the waterfall and slided down the 60 degrees slope. quite fun, but a little dangerous though.

waiting for photos to be uploaded...

woo, it's been 9 months with lixuan =)

june...

2009-06-16T09:29:00.002+08:00

hmmm, has been to lazy to update for a while...special sem is over. the astronomy exam (11 june) was quite a tough 2-hr MCQ paper. the questions were not at all direct. but most people finished in 45min and by the time i left, 1hr 15min in the clock, about 20% of the students taking astronomy has left. hopefully this module can help pull up my GPA.

just discovered a new mmorpg called Dragonica by IAHgames. it's cute and quite fun to play too. now i'm level 22. if you're playing, join me at Elga server. my character name is yenney (hunter). so i'm quitting 9dragons, which i just started in the holiday.

the RC plane project is make little headway. i hope all the issues will be resolved soon. i plan to go to the lab on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. so if you're in school those days, join me for lunch!

my broadband connection has been quite erratic since last friday. there's been frequent disconnections. i called singtel and the technician is coming today. hopefully the connection stays and allow me to finish my rantings. lol

dun liddat leh

2009-05-17T10:45:00.002+08:00

from Mr Brown: "Someone made a BETTER version of SBS Transit's iris bus arrival web app called Nextbus, and now it seems the app cannot continue because it looks like SBS is blocking the app from making connections to its servers."

so if you block someone from tapping into your server who provides the masses with better services for whatever legitimate reasons or security concerns, why don't you approach the guy doing this, employ him or his idea on agreeable terms and allow this improved service to be available to the masses! this is so much more constructive. right?

but if you just block it, you're just denying the public of a good product(or whatever you may call it) and robbing ppl off of their ingenuity. dun liddat leh...

astrigue

2009-05-14T10:16:00.002+08:00

hmmm, it feels good to see that you've left sth behind for your school during your time. Astrigue started of as a astro-learning camp for primary school kids when I was J1 back in Mount Sinai campus (RJ). now, through the work of batches of astronomy club members, it's both a learning camp and an annual competition for schools. so cool! =)

May

2009-05-07T10:05:00.002+08:00

hmmm, the urge to blog has struck once again. lol

exam's over and now I'm taking a elective course in astronomy for special sem. oh well. I'm quite bored...but I like to stay home =)

3 weeks passed

2009-03-27T17:52:00.002+08:00

haven't updated for 3 weeks. this period has been quite a challenge. tests to study for, assignments to complete, papers to write and, perhaps most of all, mom's operation on 17th March. shuttling between hospital and school, grandma's house and school is tiring and time consuming. but that's little compared to the pain mom's got to endure. thank heavens for a successful operation, thank the doctors, my aunt Sharon. thank heavens for it is contained in stage 1. thanks to grandma for taking care of mom's recovery. I just pray that mom's health will be better than before and that there's a smooth path to recovery. thank lixuan for being by my side.

in school, HW110 and AE1002 have come to an end. effective comm was okay. but I'm not confident of scoring an A, especially for my reflection papers, to boost my GPA. AE1002 end in disappointment of some sort. the glider didn't fly far nor did it land well. I guess that's what we get when we didn't do enough test flights/throws, no calculations and complicating the design of a simple glider. for this module, I feel most sorry for Tng cuz he's been spending sleepless nights just to get the control surfaces to work. I'm now so worried for my sGPA this sem.

S/U dateline is Sunday 10pm. right now, my mind is not made up yet. should I S/U CNYPR? and should I S/U Math1B or Phys1B.
reasons to S/U:
Math1B - I wasn't strong at Math1A, no cheatsheet, 30% on Linear Algebra although it's not very difficult, Fedor has yet to finish the syllabus (left with Stoke's law and Gaussian's divergence theorem, which is a special case of Stoke's law)
Phys1B - expect very tough paper, 10% on term paper, E and M are confusing - EM even worse
HMS2 - not confident of getting A
CNYPR - there has been little progress on this project - there has only been a small research on plane design and presentation of our findings, RC plane was set up but crashed - fixing in progress. so I don't know if all these can justify an A

Next week, 2 more tests coming up - physics mid-term 2 and computing 2. gosh, March is coming to an end soon...

some breather

2009-03-06T13:27:00.003+08:00

phew!some breather at last!

physics test yesterday was okay. am confident of 7 questions. well, I hope I wont get any lower than that. skipped FE1008 lecture just now to finish physics tutorial and it's finally done. now, I can finally do what I want, as and when I want =)

there'll be NTU TKD photo-taking later

now to tidy up my room and see what I'll bring home tmr before a nap

soon soon

2009-02-26T13:46:00.000+08:00

TOC is tmr. yay! can't wait for it to come and be over! ^_^

23

2009-02-24T08:50:00.004+08:00

Just turned 23 on the 23rd. Feeling pretty old...It wasn't very long ago when I first studied in Singapore; it wasn't very long ago that I graduated from RI and RJ; it seems like I just ORDed last month and started uni life last week and the 2nd semester, yesterday...time, unrelenting, unforgiving, ever-changing...this year, I have only one birthday wish and only those who are close know...

the maid, JuJu, is leaving today as her contract expires. Yani has come to replace her. I'm not really bothered as long as she takes good care of my grandma and does the household chores properly.

on a lighter note, Li Xuan and I spent a day in town yesterday. I asked for a water bottle on my birthday and the sweetie customized one for me =)

at...guess where?

That's all for now, back to work...

Feb

2009-02-08T08:29:00.003+08:00

tomorrow marks the end of the Chinese New Year (a.k.a. 元宵节) a pity I didn't get to visit some relatives this year. so generally, it's been a pretty lackluster Chinese New Year. mid Feb, there's a day when guys scream and girls grin -- the overhyped and commercialized Valentine's Day. even though everyone knows that (even the girls), it is still imperative for couple to celebrate it together, exchange gifts(or it may be one-way) with sweet kisses and heart-warming cuddles. because it is Valentine's Day.

this weekend is very very short. I left school at 8am on Saturday and soon, in 2 hours' time, I'll be on my way back to school again (it's just 24 hrs after I got home). the NTU TaeKwonDo Open is really taking up a hell lot of time and draining most of my energy. being behind in lecture is nothing new, but this sem, I feel really stupid. like dumbass/retarded stupid. for instance, I can't concentrate in lecture and understand the notes at even the 2nd or 3rd go. I hope TOC will end well and end soon, I hope it'll be worth my time and effort, I wish I'd never joined...

talk about school work, I was reading lecture 3 notes last night (lecture 5 was over already). I spent 2 hrs reading the notes carefully and looked into every detail to understand everything. I thought I've got it, but I couldn't even do the online quizzes. this is so demoralizing. but i shall presist...many assignments will be due this week (week 6). and many are bracing for the onslaughts of deadlines. like CGL said, "push on yeah"

I'm going to leave home in about an hour's time...grrr

己丑年

2009-01-27T09:15:00.003+08:00

hello all, happy Chinese New Year! I'm loving the short but rejuvenating break. it's a short rest from the daily routine of school, tkd and homework! hope everyone's had a good holiday =)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T23:14:00.002+08:00

I know not many ppl read my blog but to those of you who do visit every now and then or if you just happen to pop by, Happy New Year!

haven't been blogging much lately. but I haven't been really busy either. just lack of motivation to blog during the holidays perhaps. the Dec holidays has been, well, relaxed but not very fulfilling. looks like I just wasted another holiday away.

for the coming semester, which will start in 10mins, I hope to get Level 2 Spanish for my elective! tuition for Natalie and Lauren will be back, training for TKD will resume and there will be IPPT to train for. I'll need to start looking into INSTEP and GIP too.

Ip Man

2008-12-28T16:54:00.006+08:00

Ip Man

watched Ip Man on Friday. the show was good. I like the moves and the little humor injected every now and then. esp when Ip Man was challenged by Jin Shan Zhao in his house - Ip Jr. came out on a mini-bicycle to tell Ip to attack before all the furniture is destroyed. lol

Book Game from Facebook

2008-12-10T14:44:00.004+08:00

This one is quite fun to do. Post it here in the comments section or at your own blog.

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 57.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall, and post your sentence in a comment here as well. Include the title of book and author.

My book:

"Pressure is one of the most fundamental and important variables in aerodynamics, as we will soon see."

Introduction to Flight by John D. Anderson, Jr.

some pics

2008-12-06T12:03:00.007+08:00

just wanna upload some pics to my otherwise boring blog!hahaha

lixuan and I <3

caught this snake in my hall. I wonder if it's venomous!

out to celebrate our first month at billy bombers =)

looks good?

woken

2008-12-01T14:05:00.002+08:00

when November is gone, you know that it had come. and you know...THE EXAM IS OVER!!!and I've been playing RA3 and some silly games =)

yes, the exam is over. I don't think I do very well for it. just hope I can still keep my scholarship with the school. meanwhile, I have to get busy with CNYPR. hopefully "Spot" will take me in and advice me on what to read early. I wish to make Dec my catch-up month. 8 modules, 23 AUs next semester! Effective Comms, Computing, Material Sci, Aero Intro II, Spanish, Math1B, Phys1B, CNYPR...my time table is not going to be merciful...and I think STAR-Planners is really useful.

I'll be going on an ODAC trip to Batu Cave, Malaysia, from 7th Dec to 9th Dec.

gtg!shopping with the girlfriend! :D shit, I left my camera in school...but...SHOPPING :D

2008-10-30T21:08:00.002+08:00

this few weeks have been very stressful. I haven't been this stressed for years. 3tests and 3 major assignments to be done within this 2 weeks, not to mention all the tutorials and new topics being covered. I'm so gonna crash and burn. I was so distracted during bio class this Tuesday that I pen down my thoughts in Chinese. but damn Chinese Star can't work and now I can't type in Chinese anymore. basically it goes like this: everything seems damn easy at the beginning and nobody mentioned that the pace was fast. but as the semester go by, things get harder, like way harder, and the pace never slow down. soon, I find myself in a vicious circle: unable to do my tutorials, not understanding the lectures and not doing well for tests. and BAM! the exam is here.

okay, I should be studying for the chem test tomorrow and stop listening sad songs...

college basketball at 73!

2008-10-27T08:40:00.002+08:00

respect!

I wonder what my life will be when I'm 73.or will I even live that long?hmmm...yesterday was wasted...sigh...

I finally S/Ued my math.hope I made the right choice.now gotta focus on chem and physics...

sick weekend

2008-10-19T12:16:00.001+08:00

been sick, feverish...shit.and had to waste an entire sat away at tanjong gul camp.plehhh

geeeek

2008-10-15T15:25:00.000+08:00

40% Geek

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

FBO!!!

2008-10-13T18:51:00.002+08:00

this is the last thing I would think of at this time...until the call came. omg, I have to get my FBO ready. lmao.

tests are coming and I'm totally not confident. like...gonna get o-small marks for all of them except maybe Spanish Lvl1. abit stressed but otherwise still sane...maybe not so when I get back my grades. afterall, what you get is what you give. who else can I blame but myself?

ps...glycine, alanine, valine, leusine, isoleusine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, serine, threanine, cysteine, methionine, asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamine, glutamic acid, lysine, arginine, tryptophan, histidine, proline...now their stuctures...shit

my lao po

2008-10-02T08:47:00.000+08:00

Heroes, MRO and...

2008-09-24T14:06:00.003+08:00

omg! why my maid go and tidy up my table?! shit. now I don't know where to start...but nvm. I didn't make much progress after Monday anyway. I realised I have quite a number of tutorials to do! oh no! and now Heroes is out...watched the first episode last night. Sylar is just sick...and now Mohinder too. alright. I shall not spill too much...watching episode 2 now! =)

there's MRO (maintenance repair and overhaul) workshop for me for the next 2 days. just came back from the first session...it's quite interesting how things are being run at airports. aircraft maintenance sounds damn stressful. imagine 400 odd ppl breathing down your neck asking you when can the aircraft take off...yuck

had a good chat with LiXuan one Monday and things turned out very well :D =beams blissfully=

recess week

2008-09-20T23:11:00.002+08:00

yes it's here!finally!brought home tonnes of books and clothes hoping that I'll do revision and catch up in my work for the next 7-8 days. haven't been this relaxed for a while...

I admit I haven't been very studious in the pass 7 weeks and I'm quite behind on my work. so I'm gonna use this recess week to catch my breath and cover some ground. hopefully this will gimme some momentum to catch up with the class.

HEROES SEASON 3 WILL BE OUT SOON! woohoo! cant wait to watch it. I wonder what Sylar will do...

one and a half more weeks

2008-09-11T08:08:00.002+08:00

I feel like a little kid waiting for school holiday to arrive! half of week 6 has gone by and it'll be recess week after week.whee! (=

the CN Yang program has 3 mods of math, 3 mods of physics, 1 mod of chem and 1 mod of bio, half of which one can opt to S/U. I'm struggling with math and have some problem with physics. should I S/U my math? I don't want to give up but I can't let it affect my cummulative GPA either. haiz...what should I do besides trying harder? any advice/opinion? Spanish is getting harder too. but I don't want to S/U it. it's just Level 1 afterall and I plan to continue with Level 2 and 3.

going for a ODAC trekking trip to Cameron, Malaysia from 19th to 22nd. it'll be a good break before I start all the catch-up work in the holidays =)

sept I

2008-09-07T01:06:00.002+08:00

skipped Hall DnD for Pee's early birthday celebration. I must say I'm quite disappointed that, among Morpheus, only Garen and I turned up. even the CN Yang group was sad - Ho Fai, Derek and I. but it's OK. bigger portion of the extremely wonderful chocolate cake for those who turned up. and the strawberry cookie/tart, whatever it's called, was damn nice. I had one after another.

I wonder what I missed out of the DnD. pls upload pics soon people!

I need to put in serious(and smart) effort into studying. been too lax on discipline...been a lil non-chalant towards academic work. the chapter on Limits has closed. but I still cant do the tutorials...horrible...

yet another weekend...好想你...

Aug 31st

2008-08-31T11:05:00.003+08:00

in a few more hours, it'll be September...August has been exciting and it's ended pretty well. I'm feeling a little stressed on the academic front and relationship wise, it's a test of patience. things are working out a tad better after I've prioritized my commitments...hope things continue to improve

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends

what a song to start the month...

what time is it?!

2008-08-31T00:35:00.001+08:00

seeing the routine

2008-08-27T13:37:00.003+08:00

I wake up, rush to lab, submit the lab report which was done on monday night, do a new experiment, leave the lab, go for lunch, return to hall, nap, do some work, go for tuition, return to hall...that's my wednesday. and the next day is a horrible 5-hour-no-break-but-lectures session. shit

I wanna do well, I really do. I wanna get my 2nd Dan, I wanna go trekking and more than almost everything else, I want...I truly do.

I been listening to 北京欢迎你 from haoting.com and humming it wherever I go. post Beijing Olympics syndrome?lol

okay. time to stop procrastinating

week 3

2008-08-21T22:45:00.005+08:00

it's more than halfway through week 3, and things are getting different. or is it just me? I have to start prioritizing the events and activities around me and it feels bad to have to let some things go. at times, I doubt my decisions. at times, things are clear; at times, I regret the choices made. at times, I stand firm.

obviously, securing the scholarship is of top priority and that means I have to put in serious effort (that comes with time) in to studying. for the clubs, societies and activities, I've placed ODAC/trek on top of TKD and Wushu. I hope to attain a 2nd Dan in TKD within the stay in NTU. so most probably I'll drop wushu even though wushu seem more interesting (and seemingly less xiong than TKD) and would give me greater exposure to martial arts as a whole.

now hall. Hall III is indeed a very very happening hall. less than a month ago, there was the NTU joint hall bash. and tonight, Hall III is holding one itself. and I just miss both of them. interblock games has already started this Monday and it will last for at least 2 weeks. after which, I suppose they will start training for inter-hall games. I'll stand with my decision to stay in hall for no further than this sem (at least in the short term). I suppose I'll miss out a lot on hall. but staying in hall was something that I didn't expect or intend to. this short stay was just to have fun and know more people.

I wonder...
how you feel about this.
what your fears are.
if you know who 'you' is.
if I'm pushing too fast too far.
if you know what I mean...

2 weeks of school

2008-08-15T11:13:00.004+08:00

been busy and drained for the past 5 weeks - 3 weeks of camps and 2 weeks of school. I've uploaded the photos for the first 2 camps, namely, F.O.O.T.(ODAC) and NYS camp to my facebook and my webshot accounts.

the camps has been fun and memorable. new friends found and new experiences. I feel that F.O.O.T. was the best of them all because the activities were more enriching and meaningful. it was so good that I bought myself a 75litre haversack after that. ready to go trekking any time. NYS camp was short(3days) but very fun as well. and more importantly...hmmm...I'll leave this for another day. Hall 3 FOC lasted for 6days. the amazing race was a great experience and of course the fav activity for Chor Yen-the-glut is the food-hunt at Geylang.

school started 4th Aug. but in the first week, it still felt like orientation. there was lotsa things going on in hall and in school. bash, mahjong sessions, makans, OG gatherings, NTU TKD etc. I haven't been playing basketball for a couple of weeks already. on the academic front, I've overloaded myself with 24 AU this semester. 5-day week and most days see me end at 5pm. for CCAs, I've been joining the TKD club for training on both tuesdays. but I injured myself on both occasions. I'm joining ODAC too. but I'm still not sure how much commitment I'm going to put into each of these. I really want to strive for a first class honours and I'm having some difficulty with studies, esp math.

for my tuition kids, I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you much time. but I assure you things will get better in the weeks ahead =)

I'll stop here for now. piles of work stacking up

on scholarships and tuition grants

2008-07-10T08:38:00.003+08:00

it was only 3 years ago that I started looking at scholarships and university programmes. at times, I resent the fact that some of these prestigious scholarships go to those whose families are well-to-do and more than able to afford an overseas education for their child.

the essence of a scholarship is to provide education for those who cannot afford it. only then will the bonds work out for the organization. not only does it help to create more overseas or local graduates, thus increasing the standard of education on a national/social level, it also helps the organization to retain the talents they have so heavily invested in.

in recent years, many scholarship holders break their 4/6 years bonds. in most cases, these are the people whose family could afford their overseas education, shown by their financial capability to break the expensive bonds, even without the scholarship. so in this case, you actually have one less graduate (local and overseas) and the company does not get any good brain to work for them (this is if the bond-breaking payout is equal to the amount invested in the scholar's education). if the scholarships were reserved for those whose families are not well off, then this scholarship would have served it's purpose well. first it has provided the desired education which the student could not have had without the scholarship and, since breaking bond would prove too expensive for the young lad, the organization would have got a talented young man spending the prime of his life for them, making their investment more than worth it.

but now the question is, how do you qualify those who are "poor enough" for a scholarship?

3 more weeks!

2008-07-05T22:49:00.005+08:00

3 more weeks to school. however, I don't feel that excited or anxious as I thought I would be. it's just "yar...school's here.yup.gotta start studying."

the past week's been pretty good so far. uncle Meng flew all the way from Montreal to see grandma and now he's at the airport catching the flight back. met up with couple of friends whom I have not seen for years. it's nice to catch up with old friends =) some times, all these activities sets you thinking about your relationship with the people around you, wondering how things would be like down the years. you'll see how your friends have changed and grown and how, relatively, stagnant you have been. this particular dialogue triggered some thoughts -
CY,"...things are falling into place..."
XJ,"you should be PUTTING them into place..."
see how passive and non-chalant I have been about my life? all the "let it be" and the "things will happen naturally" suddenly seem so WRONG

made some new friends this week at the F.O.O.T. briefing. interesting people. there are quite a number of poly-grads going directly into 2nd year. I think this is a really smart plan for those who are sure of what they want to do. but too bad I just wanted to get to uni first and took the JC route. the camp should be fun judging by the zesty atmosphere at the briefing. but if we're gonna shout like that for the entire camp, I'll go deaf by the 2nd day. but I hope this is for the orientation only. cuz if that's the culture in NTU, I'll have a hard time trying to focus on my studies.

I've made my way back to the regime again. I think JE sports complex really provide a good avenue to exercise. I shall head there on 1/3/5 for swim and gym and run 5km on 2/4. I'm typing this out so I'll stick to it and not laze off. haha

run run run

2008-06-29T22:28:00.002+08:00

i stopped running AGAIN!

the schedule is a mess and I'm not liking it at all. I don't like it when I have no idea what's coming next. I don't like it when I am not given an option. I don't like it when I have no free time to slack or relac-one-corner. so much unknown, so much wait-for-news, so much I'll-tell-you-later...yuck

it's like a wake-up call when your mind is questioning "what's important to you?" it's like someone holding your face so you have to look at all your deeds and sins no matter how hard to try to turn away. it's like asking yourself all the could-have-been and should-have-been. this is such a waste of time. let's look ahead instead.

okay. I have no idea what I just typed...

anyway, I finally got my pink IC today after a HALF-DAY (!!!) ceremony at Singapore Poly. coincidentally, I was wearing the same shirt as the guest-of-honour, MP Mr Arthur Fong. there were about 250 to 300 ppl, from West Coast GRC alone, getting their Singapore citizenship there today. can you imagine how many ppl are obtaining Singapore citizenship every year? and I wonder if I really look like an accountant with my specs or sound like I'll from China 'cause I can speak Chinese without all the lah-leh-lohs...

July is gonna be a busy month. may be flying to Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen with my folks for a week or so. it'll then be followed by the NTU ODAC camp from 14th to 19th. Gryphon's cup on 2 consec weekends and there may be a camp for the CN Yang programme from 21st to 23rd. and orientation week starts on the 28th.

gotta stay in hall 3 or 16 'cause of the scholarship. I hope I can have the option not to but I'm still waiting for Eugene's reply. when I check the CN Yang Programme website earlier, there were no stated requirement to stay in the hall, unlike the Nanyang Scholarship. when I meet up with the CN Yang programme seniors, the first thing the senior mentioned was "now, y'all are also Nanyang scholars". if you put all these together, it's not hard to tell that they want to include CN Yang scholars into the same pool as Nanyang scholars. I wonder how that would benefit the CN Yang programme...hmmm. but staying in hall should be fun (away from parents!) and if I ever miss home, it's just 30 minutes away.

okay. I'll start running tomorrow morning!

sprained ankleS

2008-06-14T21:40:00.004+08:00

how do you sprain both ankles in a day, within a span of 15 min? ask me. my shots haven't been dropping lately and that's very frustrating. no touch, lousy stroke, bad choices. that's not the kind of game any player would want but we would all go through this kind of phase, esp shooters. not saying that I'm a natural shot but I think it's decent enough. looks like I need more shooting practice and drills

the driving test was quite nerve-wrecking. up-slope was shit but I passed. so basically, I can say I have met all the goals I've set for the holiday - driving license and Singapore citizenship and on top of that, a really nice bonus, a scholarship from NTU. I should get back to my Spanish before school starts. and next up, Gryphon cup.

KAN JIONG

2008-06-09T04:50:00.002+08:00

i'm up 4 in the morning cuz i cant sleep. counting sheeps didnt help, neither did chanting "i wanna sleep" in chinese. too much worries and anxiety for the test later. seriously, it's just a TP test. i cant believe that i'm that screwed up. sleepless over driving test?! and not for A'lvl? what the hell...i think i'll fall asleep while driving...pls pls pls...go to sleep chor yen...

boom chika wah wah

2008-05-31T08:04:00.004+08:00

haha, this is one of the most funny ads i've seen in months tho it's quite old. and I like the background music "Straight Lines" by Dawn Landes

and here's Rachel(FRIENDS) doing it

i wonder

2008-05-29T23:32:00.002+08:00

i wonder...
if you knew how I felt when you broke the news to me
if you felt my pretence when you asked me those questions that pierce right through my heart but I answered them cheerfully anyway
if you knew the words that are dying to come out of my mouth
if you noticed I always hold them back and end up weeping inside
if you ever wondered what I wonder

what it'd have been if...
I were a little braver
I were a little more daring
I had said those words to you

i wonder...
if these words would go to the intended audience
if the intended audience could understand what's been written

or just take this as a chunk of jibberish from a warped mind

splurge splurge splurge

2008-05-28T18:10:00.003+08:00

haven't been thrifty these few days. thai express, billy bombers, ben & jerry's blah blah blah. and wasted money on some ugly pants and shirts which I now have no idea why I bought 'em.
Indiana Jones was not bad though. it's quite worth watching, the ending's a little lame though, esp since I had a Cathay voucher. and I'm going out again tomorrow! this week's seen big big holes in my pockets...I hope those parents get their tuition fees ready to patch up the holes!lol

too bad I dont have pictures to show off~ maybe I can pick up the habit of bringing a camera ard and go trigger happy everywhere, any time. then I can make this journal very colorful! =) now...where's my ixus 500?hmmm...

oh and one good news, offered the CN Yang scholars program~woohoo! but where is the official letter?! mail man (reminds me of Karl Malone), hurry up please!

muxtaapppeeee

2008-05-23T09:13:00.000+08:00

here it is~ just 3 oldies for a start

some update

2008-05-21T13:15:00.004+08:00

oh, been running the 2.4km route ard my house. soon I'll have to come up with new routes before i get bored and stop running again...maybe I'll just post the routes that I have up here:

NTU is only about 5km from my house...only if there was a straight path linking my house to N/S spine...of maybe if I shift my house to street 72...not possible.sigh

and finally, they have decided to increase the mrt ~~strip~~ (opps!) trips. here's the report =) another reason not to drive eh?

NBA Playoff '08 II

2008-05-21T13:09:00.002+08:00

okay. Spurs won despite double double from CP3 and Chandler. West limited to only 8 pts in the last 3 quarters?! WTF. bet they had Bowen on him with his cheapskate defence. haha. I'm such a sore-loser. and guess what, with a 1.7% chance, the Bulls actually won the draft lottery!

NBA Playoff 2008

2008-05-19T07:42:00.002+08:00

NBA is the only professional sports that Chor Yen watches. the 07/08 season was full of surprises, who'd expect the Hornets to go so far under the young and talented sophomore Chris Paul?who'd expect Pheonix to actually benefit from the O'Neal-Marion deal? and again who would expect the Knicks to continue with Isiah as head-coach? everyone knew Chris Paul is great but this is basketball, a team game, and no one thought Chandler and West would step up their game (they should've done that long ago). when the Suns made the deal with Heat (sun-heat...haha if you know what I'm thinking), everyone was questioning the Sun's decision to bring in big O' arthritis who's way past his prime (but his free-throws improved apparently). when the Knicks had so many losing streaks, Isiah should've been fired long ago! (much as a legend as he is as a player, he's no good coach)

okay now, the playoffs is at the last stage of the 2 round. the only teams still fighting for a place in the conference finals are the Spurs and Hornets and both teams haven't win any game at the opponent's house. the 7th game is in New Orleans and I really hope the Hornets advance. why? because the way Spurs won their last home game was very very ugly. basically I thought it was erroneous refereeing. some may say that refereeing is only a small component of the game, it's the way players execute! but no, refereeing affects how the players play and it's impact is often underestimated. besides getting players into foul trouble, it puts a mental block on the players' aggressiveness, which is extremely important in such competitive basketball. without being aggressive, one cannot expect to win games at all.

although I'd prefer that Hornets would advance, I place my bet for the eventual champion on the Lakers. they are playing fantastic basketball (beating Utah Jazz in their house [Utah has the best home record in the season]) even without their young rising centre Bynum. if Bynum were to return to the roster for the finals, Celtics can wave goodbye to their championship dream

pant pant

2008-05-18T19:37:00.002+08:00

first 2.4km run since...ORD. it's been 7 mths since i last ran. my stamina really sucks and those extra pounds didn't help. i have been much humbled...i better start taking care of my fitness soon!

interview skill = 0

2008-05-13T16:00:00.002+08:00

went for the CN Yang scholars programme interview today to get pwned. pushed myself to destruction when bringing up astronomy as one of my interests. turned out one of the prof was no noob in astrophysics! i probably answered only 0.5 of the questions i understood and 50% of what he asked left me clueless. GOOD GAME Chor Yen!

with the way the interview went, i should not be expecting anything...but it would be a lie to say i'm not hoping...anticipation still lingers...

mid-May

2008-05-08T12:00:00.002+08:00

yes! Supernatural is back again! but s3e13 was damn dumb. smjl "Ghostfacers"?! uber lame lah. it was about this bunch of gays trying to film the supernatural by visiting Morton house on 29th Feb and one of them sacrificed himself for their brotherly love. i totally hate the graphics. yes true it's not meant to be high quality but it really sucks. s3e14 is so much better. although it was a little confusing at first, about who's making the phone calls. can you imagine you get a call from someone every close to you but who has passed away? and he/she keeps telling you that he/she wants to SEE YOU!? that's how spooky! and when u get enough of these calls u plug out the phone line but the phone STILL rings!!! just imagine u get that in your home, or office...

driving is such a bitch. i went for the first lesson after my first TP (so now u know i failed). everything was freaking smooth. until...when i turn back into the carpark at the end of the lesson...i stalled. WTF. but nvm...i'll have faith that i'll pass for my next test.

tuition is getting more and more fun. and i seriously prefer teaching JC in comparison to sec sch or pri sch...really.JC kids are like so much more willing to learn. and of course the rate is better too. JC H2 math anybody? but when i go to uni how? i guess i'll cut my pri sch and sec sch students. (i hope they dont read this, but i dont really care) =)

PS. I NEED SHOPPING!

ambition

2008-04-28T07:54:00.005+08:00

what did you want to do when you were a child? teacher, doctor. lawyer, policeman, soldier? I'm quite sure most people have an answer although whether they realize their childhood dreams may be another matter all together. and I'm quite sure I have dreamt about me being in the above mentioned professions. however, I've never seem to develop any passion or desire to make those dreams real. historian, linguist, researcher, designer, engineer? these fields of knowledge are indeed interesting and with my current status and field of studies, aerospace engineering, I'm probably heading for one of the latter 3. but I wonder if I'd get bored of it after the 1st year of work, will I have enough to start my own enterprise, cross-track to politics or will I stick to it to the end? I don't have the slightest idea, much less a vague picture of my future.

I've been reading 《论语》 and it says quite a bit about education and work. in 为政第二, a phrase goes like this “君子不器。” it implies that man is not a tool made for a specific purpose, unlike kitchenware (the one made for alcohol cannot contain oil, or the one for vinegar cannot have soy sauce). hence, he should be exposed to all kinds of knowledge, learn all he can and be an all-rounded individual. hmmm...it really sounds like "上知天文,下知地理. 才高八斗,文采风流." now, I feel really dumb...

okay, back to the point. what do I wanna be in the future? I think work is just a source of income to sustain our lives in this modern era. of course it'd be wonderful if it matches one's interest though it may not be the case. but when interest becomes work/job, responsibility and accountability comes in, I believe those are the things that would kill one's passion. so the ideal situation is to have a big fat sum of money, make investments so that you have a nice income even if you don't work and take up a job of your interest. in that way, one would have no fear of being retrenched and, without financial woes, be able to focus on the interest. but that's just...an IDEAL scenario. (somehow it sounds like "working taitais" to me, when the wife works even though the husband gives her a few K every month. but fuck I'm no woman)

I dont know where my trend of thought has gone. blogger just fucked it up...(the above was retyped)

May Day in sight

2008-04-23T09:28:00.003+08:00

in the blink of an eye, it's gonna be May soon. this week's schedule is the most packed I've seen in weeks. but all that hassle will be gone before Friday. submission of form K (Borang K) to M'sian High Commission was quite a breeze, thanks to BR who gave me a lift and get me there early. so now I'm left with getting the renunciation memo on the 30th (April *phew*) and the Oath Taking at ICA on the 6th and I should be a S'pore citizen then. one surprise, however, is that I'll have to wait for 3mths for my pink IC. I wonder why they need such a long time to get a card done. hmmm...I guess unless I'm good friend of or related to 'you-know-who' I'll have to wait.

but for some reason, Monday wasn't that fantastic. I know it's a silly thing, but it still makes me feel like shit. thus I called up Mr Oh (I hope this never gets to him), my driving instructor, for an adhoc lesson so that I can whack the accelerator. the car swerved, went over the line on the turn and there was risky overtaking blah blah. it definitely felt good until he chided me for driving so recklessly and suggested that I shouldn't go for the test this Thursday. but anyway, the lesson ended well. I'm more used to checking blind-spots now. heh

Monday night saw me taking on a third student. this one's at Dover, seems like my lobangs are getting further and tougher. but as always, I shall prevail! (that's too much Total War) I saw it in him what I was like (nearly) and what I could have been if my folks weren't there to nag at me or if they had just let me go to a neighborhood school, where friends and fiends are one, in those formative years. for that, I'm very thankful.

Tuesday was just a tad better. went for driving lesson in the late morning. it went rather smoothly except that I realize early checks and good anticipation aren't really appreciated for learners. LET'S DRIVE ONLY WHEN THE ROAD IS EMPTY! the rest of the day saw me finishing Neverwinter Night 2 official campaign and a tuition session before my dinner at 2130. I think I'm hitting the right note for the pri6 and I'm not that pissed off anymore. or is it that I've cared less?

two tuition sessions today. let's hope both will go well and make my day.

quando quando quando~

yeah right

2008-04-17T22:31:00.002+08:00

Your Love Style is Agape

You are a caring, kind, and selfless partner.

Unsurprisingly, your love style is the most rare.

You are willing to sacrifice your world for your sweetie.

Except it doesn't really feel like sacrifice to you.

For you, nothing feels better than giving to the one you love.

What's Your Love Style?

when I walk home from tuition, I'll slow to a stroll at a particular stretch of the road. it's not that I'm tired from walking. after all, I've done fast march and NavEx mind you. it's just that, since the possibility of meeting you is a Poisson Distribution with X ~ Po (T) where T is time and X is the possibility, I wanna increase the chances of bumming into you again. fuck, I just wanna see you larh!

addicted to games

2008-04-14T08:10:00.005+08:00

Neverwinter Nights 2, Medieval Total War II, Rome Total Realism Mod of Rome Total War, WahJong and, though much less of it nowadays, FB Poker...bleah

standing there I didn't know what to say...you said hello and you asked my name, I didn't know if I should go all the way...and so I'm dying inside

it's time to start anew

April...

2008-04-06T19:46:00.002+08:00

is the name of the girl in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (shit that was lame)

do you know, we can now view beauty OBJECTIVELY? you know, like...there would be a standard for perfect beauty and it's no longer "in the eye of the beholder". computer programs can identify beauty through math...WOW. i wonder what the perfect beauty would be like...is the hair brunette, blond, red or black? what about the skin? if we are gonna go with one perfect model, and with the current ease of getting plastic surgery, soon you'll probably see the same faces, on similar bodies of same heights on the street. probably cant even tell non-twin sisters apart. ok, i admit this may be a little too far-fetched...but well, you get my point

i wanted to rant about the oh-so-competitive package of pay-TV by Starhub and Singtel but it's pointless. i guess the brotherhood rules...really.what a wonderful package to suck the most outta soccer fans. you must subscribe to both mioTV and Starhub just to watch your team play in Champions League and EPL. come, let's all switch to watch S-League, so kindly sponsored by NTUC Income and Yeo's. or better yet, go back to kampong soccer lah~why watch angmoh run the field while you sit and couch potato at home?stay fit so that Singapore can have more PES A reserve!haha fortunately i'm no soccer fan (umh chio hokkien)

and let's all switch to potato or yam or sweet potato...rice is getting too expensive.omg, my Boon Tong Ki chicken rice!nooooo!how can you let the price of necessities soar, esp after you have raised the GST and force businessmen to top up their medisave(it's their money anyway!) by making a prerequisite for renewal of license?!

Dead Fantasy

2008-03-25T10:26:00.002+08:00

after months of waiting, it's finally here!

Rinoa holds the gunblade!WTF.reminds me of the good o' FFVIII.and the way she darts around to attack reminds me of "Maximum Spider"

this is the first episode:

easily distracted...

2008-03-24T12:40:00.004+08:00

yeah.that says a lot about me...nowadays, I'm trying to revise my JC Math (stuck at bloody trigo currently), pick up Spanish (which I haven't started), and get my citizenship (fucking bureaucracies) and class3 (shit I need to check my blind-spot).BUT!Chor Yen is distracted, as he always is, by TV, poker, and recently,《论语》!yes, I just finished 2 chapters of 《论语》.soon, you'll see Chor Yen speaking in archaic chinese.hahaha

time for a new PC...

and YES!blue sky for Taiwan!whoopee!

Most the Movie

2008-03-21T08:55:00.002+08:00

fking touching...I don't think I'll be that good and kind to sacrifice my son.really.

Carry On Wayward Son

2008-03-18T11:34:00.004+08:00

It's one of my fav guitar-ish songs. Came across it when watching "Supernatural"
Here's the original version by Kansas:

from Guitar Hero 2:

and I was going to post the performance by Amanda Overmyer in American Idol.but decided against it after watching it on youtube.Guitar Hero is better ^^

lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more

oh, pls listen to this from www.mrbrownshow.com

post secrets proposal

2008-03-17T22:28:00.003+08:00

the so unromantic but effective proposal

detol everything!

2008-03-15T23:54:00.002+08:00

i just detol-ed my laptop, my chair and my study desk today.a sense of satisfaction~!haha.i'm gonna detol my entire room.YAY to GERM-FREE!

maybe i been trying too hard, maybe i'm being irritating, maybe i'm pushing too far...maybe~ but i will regret if i never try...definitely~

hmmm, anyone interested in picking up Spanish?

i'm so not a practical person.most would choose to pick up languages of major economic powers like French, German, Japanese(that would be relearning for me) or languages spoken in the SEA region such as Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, or even Korean. if ask why i chose Spanish, i'd say "it's the third most-spoken language in the world after Chinese and English" so Español anyone? =)

facebook an(ti)them

2008-03-13T00:17:00.003+08:00

12/3 equals four

2008-03-12T11:18:00.003+08:00

at first the title was just 12/3...but by the end of this entry, I decided to add the alphabets in...

do you know, the MHC is open to public only from 8am to 11 am?and that is only for weekdays?that's so omfg relack lah...I don't know why but I wanna go Batam!

I remember the times when we took the train to BV and I would take the bus just to be with you...I remember the times I walked to the further bus-stop so that I could meet you...I remember the times I ran to your house even though I know you'd be late...I remember the time when we could capture the lights and sounds and share it with the world but we chose to put the cameras aside...I remember...

oh I should really start having some kinda plans for my HOLIDAY! =)

Fellow citizens

2008-03-11T23:24:00.002+08:00

citizenship application approved.of course they'd approve mine lah! (shit, that's a lil conceited) now i have to go to the Malaysian High Commission to renounce my Malaysian Citizenship, and report to ICA for Oath Taking on 7 April...i hope it'll all be smooth =)
and I'm going to be jobless soon...can't wait.haha.but what should I do after I quit my job?hmmm...

Post your secrets?

2008-03-11T23:21:00.001+08:00

家家有本难念的经

2008-03-09T18:03:00.002+08:00

what does it mean to have a happy family?what does it mean to be harmonious (as the old saying goes)?is it a family that never quarrels?is it one in which everyone is understanding and forgiving?or is it one that knows how to settle disputes and conflicts in a cool-headed, win-win manner?

disagreements are bound to happen when you live your lives together, when life-threads getting so entangled and so inseparable.many emotionally-charged issues would arise and it's improbable for all involved to be level-headed under such circumstances.but what happened to good'o education and logical/rationale reasoning?and in education, we're not talking about a degree or any form of professional certification but the very basic things like principle, values...or in other words, civility...or in Chinese, 家教

there's no chance for a good intelligent conversation/discussion of any issue when the very mention of it get you in tears and all fired-up.nor is the best possible analysis/solution when you're so stubborn with your judgementon issues or particular persons.pouty face, rolling tears and screeching screams don't help...

solutions solutions solutions...where art thou?

8036

2008-02-24T21:05:00.002+08:00

8036 days~
yesterday was quite good, met up with MP guys for paintball and OCS peers for lunch at Seoul Garden...of course, as all saturdays, it ended off with bball at RJ. thanks to all who sent birthday greetings, whether is it through SMS, shaking hands, facebook, MSN or friendster.thanks =)

warped mind of mine

2008-02-16T00:01:00.004+08:00

every day, every other moment, strange thoughts would surface...such as:
commercial for facial products -- "your love is gonna kiss that face of yours, pls have the basic courtesy to keep it clean, aka black-heads/pimple/acne free"
just to quote one...tell me I'm not alone...

just great, compulsorily flexible CPF (quote from MrBrown.com), more ERP gantries (even towards industrial area such as Kallang Bahru), higher rates, gradual but steady (and surely) inflation, stronger Singapore dollar (not really a good thing) and now, ~~increased~~ revised tuition fee for local universities. the 2008 budget would spare each family a few hundred dollars. so dun say government nvr take care of ppl hor~! but in actual fact, the reforms/revisions implemented will suck up more than what they give. and the money will be invested through some nation-run corporation and the resulting profits...eh!got give back to the people one ok! NEW WORLD ORDER PLEASE (shit, there goes my citizenship)

on another note, I hope they have higher subsidy rate for people who make it to the dean's list, and we'll see the day when everyone just dump all the CCAs aside.

with the inflation going on, it just doesn't make sense to deposit the money into banks anymore. seems like it's gonna force people to risk their money with investments or suffer the fate of your dwindling dollar. anyone can teach me about investments?

I'm hooked onto "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas, a 70's band, and chendol at Thai Express...the Thai palm sugar is uber sweet, uber thick...very diabetic. sa-wah-dee-kab~

every day is a Valentine's Day

2008-02-13T23:57:00.002+08:00

if you're happily attached...

from wikipedia on Valentine's Day "...Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are:

Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae): a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome.[1] and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae): He became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni..."

well, on another note, here's an article on the most powerful armed forces in the world: the SAF ENJOY

小时了了

2008-02-12T00:01:00.000+08:00

if we take the PSLE result, extrapolate towards future academic achievements and plot the actual results that I've obtained over the pass 8 years, I would find myself falling further and further into mediocracy. with no prospect of a scholarship and little school records to boast of, it makes me realise how little I have achieved in the 8 years when most other have grown, attained, blossomed. in short, I have under-achieved. or maybe this "小时了了" is just a delusion? could I have been in the mediocre band right from the beginning?

戊子年正月初一

2008-02-07T20:53:00.000+08:00

this year is the year of the earth-rat in the Chinese astrological calendar. so what does it mean for me, who's born in the year of the fire-tiger(丙寅年)?
so according to the prediction provided by astrology.com,

Tiger Overview
The Rat year is likely to present more challenges than the Pig year, for you. Do not be surprised if you occasionally find you cannot get your way this year. In fact there are likely to be many of clashes of wills. The better you can keep your emotions under control, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. The Rat is comfortable with logic, not passion. You will have to carefully pick your battles, as you probably will not be blessed with many, good opportunities

whatever~ but i just wish for everyone to have a peaceful, smooth-sailing year ahead. and i so look forward to undergrad life
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
恭喜发财！
HUAT AH!