zelauto

A Sign of the Times...

2009-01-19T07:23:00.003+08:00

Amazingly, Singtel saw it fit, along with splashing the usual ads on their site, to include a neat little table to get subscribers up to speed on 'SMS' lingo.

Aw Yea == Oh Yes
Aw Naw == Oh No!
BTW == By the way
CUL8R == Call you later
EZ == Easy
E2EG == Ear to Ear Grin
H&K == Hugs and kisses
LOL == Laughed out loud / Lots of luck
LTS == Laughing to self
L8R G8R == See you later alligator
2MORO == Tomorrow
CU 2MORO == See you tomorrow
ROFL == Rolling on the floor laughing
SHID == Slaps head in disgust
SOHF == Sense of humour failure
TTFN == Ta ta for now
oxoxoxoxo == Hugs and kisses
YTLKIN2ME == You talking to me?
YYSSW == Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, whatever

....

What on earth? Some of these phrases sound oddly like the disembodied bits of java and C code that I find myself facing in 15-111 and 15-123... It gets even worse when some people spew out miles of those code like a runaway for loop!

Never mind that I'm an Electrical and Computer Major (possibly considering a Computer Science minor), in possibly the capital of Computer Science madness - Carnegie Mellon University. There's just got to something more to life than more of the same once I step away from the keyboard.

Maybe it is really a good thing that the people I meet in the United States still are surprisingly less glued to Instant Messaging (aka MSN) and text messaging than the average Singaporean I know. Let the beauty of natural human language reign while it still remains.

Sparks fly!

2008-12-05T11:33:00.002+08:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.... and in between 2 crazy midterms, I miraculously find time to update my now dormant blog.

I love my laptop after all. Sparks fly!

.... It's amazing how much static charge I generate in dry, dry Pennsylvania. My laptop's fingerprint sensor actually sparks sometimes when my hands come close to it. So..... assuming the laptop was actually unplugged, it's interesting to wonder how many µcoulombs of charge the whole case holds... and what a nicely charged-up laptop feels like (:

Le Revolution Terriblement

2008-07-14T09:32:00.001+08:00

219 years ago, the Bastille fell;
1 month ago, my Bastille fell.

Me and my PC!

2008-06-04T22:02:00.013+08:00

Sharp-eyed readers of my facebook profile may notice that I DID manage to install my Coolermaster Hyper TX2 CPU fan/heatpipe in the wrong direction! Nevertheless, thanks to its very efficient design, the processor temperature did not rise above 68 degrees C despite the fan pointing the wrong way and the airflow in the case being totally messed up. That figure already needed a specialized programme called Prime95 to achieve... because even my Need for Speed Carbon Game could not even fully stress out my processor. Thankfully the said processor can take up to 90 degrees C before frying...

Nevertheless facing the wrong way would mean that the fan would be fighting the opposing airflow from the case fan at the back of the computer. Will probably reduce the lifespan from the mean time between failure of 30,000 hours... besides the point of messing up the airflow inside the case...

Behold the sight of the processor sans cooler!

and sans motherboard...
...as I decide to have some fun with it...

Front Side view. Note that while they assemble the chip in Malaysia, the actual core silicon is still done in US/Israel/Ireland...

The rear view.

Didn't know that I could write my initials with thermal paste. (It's just a continuation of O level physics, where the 65W of heat from my processor is conducted through the metal cover/heatspreader of the processor to the metal base of the cooling fan. The thermal paste helps conduction by filling in the microscopic air gaps between the two metal surfaces with a heat conducting material...)

The Cooling fan/heatpipe back in place...

And the finished computer with the cables tidied... and most importantly, the fan pointing the RIGHT way...The maximum processor temperature is NOW 62 degrees C!!!
... any takers?

Macs work out of the box... so do zelPCs

2008-05-31T02:00:00.000+08:00

My bums itching at home in KL.

I'm learning to cook - previously useful for avoiding the buttery in Cambridge, now moot considering the compulsory meal plan in Carnegie Mellon, iron clothes, read up on books ... and the like...

But I know that as I lifted my pencil on the 20th of November 2007, I heaved a sigh of relief that it would be the last exam I would have to sit for about a year. Granted that 4 months of research in IMRE made the year worthwhile, I figured that I'm bored from bumming around. Nuff said. And that took one month! Apparently under a similar experiment, nitroglycerin loses stability after a week of unemployment. Guess I'm patient enough then.

Earlier this year, I made an emergency computer after the Whitebox computer bought in 2004 refused to resume from Hibernation. Yes folks, 10 pushes under my lovely 'supervision' and that stinking white old cow refuse to wake up from its terminal sleep. So considering the fact that THAT NASTY COMPUTER had sprung surprise after surprise on my previous trips to KL, (How 'bout a laundry list of exhausted motherboard CMOS battery, a blown power supply etc.) I set myself the task of building one MYSELF to replace it.

It worked.

It would have worked a lot better if I had an original Windows XP CD (our old printer had no Vista driver available, so my new Vista installation just collected dust). With all the hardware installation, the driver overlaps soon started crippling the computer's ability to function. Hence it is a little slow when booting up. Apart from that, it works great.

What's inside:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66 GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Coolermaster Hyper TX2 CPU cooler
OCZ Freeze Thermal Grease
2GB Cosair XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM (5-5-5-18 latency)
320 GB Seagate HDD
Abit IP-35E motherboard
Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 (256MB GDDR3 RAM)
Samsung 20x IDE DVDRW drive
Coolermaster Centurion 5 ATX Tower Casing with side transparent window
Coolermaster Extreme Power 380W (real power, not like the lousy rubbish they stuff in cheap OEM computers. Lest you think it won't blow up, look back a few lines.)
Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM 32 bit edition)

sounds good.. I'm trying to decide if I should make some to sell on Ebay. Or If you like what you see here, feel free to offer a price for my machine. Or if you have a new desktop computer in mind and want to see what price I can quote vs. the big players like HP/Compaq/Acer/Dell etc... just reply to this post. I'll try to think of something to suit every need...

...sure beats bumming around at home and getting bored!

Count my Blessings

2008-05-14T14:14:00.009+08:00

More than anything else, guess I still owe God a lot of thanks for the wonderful things he has given to me.

It's been 2 tumultuous weeks since I first bid a sad farewell to Cambridge. Kind of embarrassing when I was like telling people around me where I was going for university. Whether or not they wax lyrical at the sound of Cambridge, it sure beats getting asked what kind of fruit I'm going to (for those of you whose eyes missed the last post, I'm now going to Carnegie Mellon, which can't even boast succulent cuisine - it's voted the top 10 colleges with the least edible food by the Princeton Review!)

At least the Carnegie Mellon University Singapore Students' Association did mention that we'll be seeing more Starbucks and B&Js than we'll see in our sunny island (or at least more than I get to see), courtesy of a compulsory dining plan. Still the rest of the food is supposed to be rather mediocre *will have a pleasant surprise if it's not* Ah well, it's a sacrifice after all - I'm sure the other 2 universities, Cambridge and Cornell, which I wanted to go to would be able to boast far better food. Then again I'm going to Carnegie Mellon for its Electronic and Computer Engineering Course - it's like the second best after MIT, being tied with Stanford (yes, the ranking says computer engineering, but then, Carnegie Mellon only offers Electrical and Computer Engineering) - the link doesn't require a password unlike the previous case.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/enps05_brief.php

So thanks be to God then, who guided me since March 27th last year in my hunt for the right college. Coming fresh out of a finallist interview for the Stanford Club of Singapore Book Prize, I was so high on cloud 9. For almost 9 months afterwards, STANFORD! and Die Luft Fehreit Weit (As the Wind of Freedom Blows) became my rallying cry as I marched through the SATs and A levels. The first disappointment came on December 15th when I was booted OUT of Stanford with a nice terse email.

And then came the good news from Clare College in January that I got into Cambridge. So happily thinking that I would be in Cambridge, I set about applying to A*STAR brandishing my Cambridge letter. So happily I got through both rounds 1 and 2. And then came the process of telling everyone that I got into Cambridge, dreaming of punting down the River Cam (and dunking someone special inside!) and exploring Europe.

BUT as previously mentioned, the carpet got pulled away too soon. Had to junk that dream. Nevertheless, as the figments of my imaginations of Cambridge fell away, Carnegie Mellon came back to the fore. Carnegie Mellon, the 'nemesis' of my former dream school (It gained a one up when its robotic-controlled SUV "The Boss" edged out Stanford's "Junior" during a DARPA competition with $2 million as prize money). Oh how interesting life has become. Thanks be to God once again for leading and guiding me through this tumultous path.

No Cambridge for Old Man!

2008-05-02T16:27:00.003+08:00

Alright folks... I'm not going to Cambridge.

Someone once told me Cambridge has no clearing admissions in July, simply because virtually everyone they make the offer to accepts it! (ok.... everyone except for the Ivy-league applicants)

So here I am... rejecting Cambridge.

Bye Clare College! Bye punting down the River Cam! Goodbye to stopping by in Abu Dhabi en route to UK and getting my favourite Lebanese Bread! Bye to the opportunity to tell the world that I'm a Cantabridgian! And above all... bye to the one on one Cambridge tutorials. Needless to say, I'm really gonna miss YOU from across the pond!

This news was certainly most sudden. Guess it was my fault for not telling A*STAR that it was a 4 year course. Oh well, best not to dwell too much on it. The other problem of course, is that Carnegie Mellon is too good an alternative to Cambridge!

Yup, for you people who suspect me of mental insanity by passing up Cambridge, Carnegie Mellon isn't bad. It's been voted the 2nd in the US for Computer Engineering by the U.S. News and World Report, alongside ex-crush Stanford (I want to do Electronic and Computer Engineering). They are THAT good. Just that they're really unknown. When I said I was going to Cambridge... everyone went ooo and ahh. And now with Carnegie Mellon, I get people asking me what sort of fruit it is! Ah well, guess my ego was getting fatter than my prosperous waistline! Carnegie would really fit the bill in lowering that while not compromising on my education.

Alright... so my journey to the land of the free starts on August the 16th, instead of September 30th. There goes 1 and a half month's worth of summer. On the bright side, I can do shopping for winter clothes when I get there instead of having to buy it in Singapore (should save a kg or 2 in check-in luggage). Just hope that they have enough 'Asian-sized' outfits for me!

It's really too bad that they get a bit prescriptive on the freshman welfare with the banning of cars! I would have thought a carpool / car journeys with a few buddies would be an apt way to form bonds, but I guess the Tartans had different ideas. Guess I'll have to wait one year to get my Honda Civic/BMW 3 Series/Volkswagen Golf (all used of course, unless any reader feels earnestly compelled to sponsor a flashy, new ride for me).

Those of you with longer memories might remember me considering NUS after my 2 years in NJC (National University of Singapore and National Junior College respectively, for you foreign readers). After all, they both have National as the first word! However, given this opportunity courtesy of A*STAR, I guess it's too good a chance to pass on, given the quality of Carnegie Mellon as a whole.

1.5 years of comatose

2008-04-19T23:07:00.003+08:00

It's been a long time coming... but I'll be back in KL before heading for Cambridge/Carnegie Mellon University/Swarthmore College (thanks to A*STAR!). Decided the sordidly dilepidated blog needs work!

1.5 years of absence is a rather long time hence expect a torrent of content as I inundate my many experiences onto my online diary. (THERE you have been warned!)

If you DO manage to get to this point, stay tuned!

Sennheisers at last

2006-11-13T22:50:00.000+08:00

Finally decided to replace the ill-fitting earbuds on my Rokr phone with something better. At first I was thinking of a pair of panasonic earbuds. And then there was Wikipedia. Somewhere within an article, I picked up the fact that circumaural headphones (those earphones that fully surround the ear) were the best audio devices. A look at the $500+ sennheiser 600 series convinced me that it was the best class of headphones to get. Unless of course, I wanted to risk deafening myself with static from an in-ear monitor.

But then I started browsing for candidates and realised that the cheapest models began at $40. So the stage was set for a battle between the Audio-Technica ATH-M20 and the Sennheiser HD201. First up - scouting online reviews. The impression that quickly emerged was that the sennheiser was more towards classical while the audio-technica was an entry level studio monitoring headphones. Both will, of course, look weird when it is revealed that the source of sound will be nothing but my humble Motorola Rokr E1. In the end, I settled for the german sennheisers.

In this case, the feeling of settlement was far from concrete. Especially the excruciating search for the Sennheiser headphones. It was virtually non-existent in both sim lim square and orchard road. Some vendors who did have it were happily hawking it at 50-69 dollars. What a rip off. To put the icing on that bitter cake, one 'nicer' fellow was asking me how much I wanted to pay for a $70 headphone that should have cost just a little over half that amount.

Finally at the Singapore Motorshow, I showed a glimmer of brilliance when I theorised that the lifestyle-oriented Suntec City had a higher probability of stocking the Sennheiser HD 201 than the entire hardware mecca of Sim Lim Square. But it did. I found one within a few minutes, guided by store owners who pointed me towards other stores that did stock the model. So here am I happily savouring the rich sound from these iF Award 2005-winning headphones. Not a bad deal at $39.90.

The strings and piano backings to most of the songs showed a great improvement with the timbre of the sound sounding much fuller than the tinny earbuds. The large drivers (the small 'speaker' inside the earphones) also sounded really relaxed while doing their job, so much so that when i pulled off the headphones, they were much louder than I had expected. My motorola earbuds, on the other hand start to distort their sound way before the maximum. However, the bass wasn't as powerful as the professional studio monitoring headphones, as many people have noted. Nevertheless, I usually prefer less bass in my music (Don't really know why, my ears just hate excessive rattling, boomy bass), so this looks to be a nice audio investment - seeing that the construction is really quite impeccable with durable plastic joints and support structures. But I'm still within the 'break-in' period for these headphones, so I'm still holding my breath for the world-class sound that forms sennheiser's trademark to come emanating out of the earphones in a few days time.

My Tribute

2006-08-03T00:32:00.000+08:00

Warmth -
The radiant beams from my teacher's face,
the compassion and care that can't be replaced;
A warmth that flows through the entire school,
To stir up a passion that will never cool.
Injecting life into inanimate pages,
Unleashing wisdom kept through the ages;
Right through the task, be it comprehension or essay,
Helping those up, who stumbled along the way.
How amazing her forbearance must be,
As we fire our questions in a mad flurry.
To the teacher who gave me the means
To spread my wings and soar-
Mere words fail to express my gratitude within,
Thank you Ms. Tang, I could not ask for more.

Post speech Day

2006-04-13T22:43:00.000+08:00

You could have called it the final bow, the supernova, or any other spectacular celebration that perceeds the end of an era. To me, that was what speech day 2006 meant, in more ways than one.

Monk's Hill, the school which has upgraded my quality of secondary school life from economy (on board Afghanistan Airways ;) to Singapore Airlines First Class, will now been gobbled up by Balestier Hill Sec. So sad. Even sadder are my dear sec 1 juniors who have to endure 3-4 years there. I still remember one of the sweetest things about MHSS that Vanessa told me. The sec 1s' parents were all thumbs up for us. Their only concern was the state of their children in Balestier Hills. Well at least we fielded a 7A1 scorer to match 46 premier schools on MOE's Annex A. YAY!!! Balestier Hill, weighing in at over 3 times our size apparently did not. SUPERNOVA. At least if we leave the scene, we shall fight to the last man, oh and disappear in a blinding flash of light.

Can't bear to think what the little ACS (J)s will do to our lovely school. For 48 years, we were at one with our environment. We even got the NEA's Hibiscus and Orchid award!! Now after air conditioning the hall (which was designed for natural ventilation), they pollute our scenic Monk's Hill (and the neighbouring madrasah) with car exhaust fumes.

The end of the other era was that of my easy years in Secondary school. For too long, it was like living in a fantasy world of caring teachers and easy scores. Now as JC comes around, I am thrown back to a jarring reality of how difficult the subjects are. Sure NJC still has one of the most friendly teachers I can think of...but how do you expect them to be a staff room away when you need help...especially when they have to juggle a few classes. Then add the lecturers who keep rotating like some never ending merry go round. Still takes getting used to. That's before you factor the A level syllabus which is almost exponentially harder than the O levels.

Still for Monk's Hill I shall continue to strive. THE WILL TO WIN. What a nice motto! Simple yet powerful. At least that's one way of showing NJCians that a Monk's Hill exists can never be extinguished.

njc

2006-03-29T11:42:00.000+08:00

Before I go any further, I would like to apologise to all readers for the nearly 2 month break in blogging. So where was I?

Njc's been pretty great as a JC. Sure you can't match the close-knit environment of Monk's Hill. But then again, sooner or later, I'll need to face up to reality. Best to start now. NJC then seems to be the nicest JC (what else should the n stand for?) Although competitive, the opportunities were still abundant. Probably more than Monkshill, if it wasn't for the competition for places. Nonetheless, I thank God that my teachers are still real nice and supportive.

In fact the whole joke about the mugging is pretty much a mouldy news article. Well, most indicators currently point on towards AJC ;-)... In fact with NJC's character development programme, you'll be in the thick of more outdoors activities for a lot of the time. Even the PE there has such a standard guaranteed to leave you as drained as an iPod playing continually for 24 hours.

And of course who could forget class 06S04? Not with our lively class spirit. We are together! or at least we were until the classes split again for the 2nd intakers. This years demand has been so phenominal as to drive the cutoffs down to 5 points. Still remember all our bonding sessions, our class outing, lunch by the prata hut AND OF COURSE OUR DEAR TEACHER MR. KOH!

For NJC, bring on the next 20 months!

SEVEN UP!

2006-02-10T23:37:00.000+08:00

After a long break from blogging (almost 2 fat months), I have now decided that my O level results would make a good time for a post. 7 A1s! still waiting for the truth to sink in.'

Never in my projections did I expect such a stunner. I mean the teachers were like egging me on since last year. "7A1s 7A1s" and of course with the pressure mounting, I would have at least thought that hitting the seven would be a possibility.

And then of course the exams came. Social Studies was a roller coaster. All the funny questions about ang mohs (aka Caucasians) working in Singapore as foreign talent. A lot of the sources were from forums. Looking back 3 years to when the papers were set. It was 2002 and guess what? I not Stupid had just appeared. To make the 'problem' worse, along came the structured essays and to everyone's horror, all the unexpected questions came out. Even those 'expected' topics were so twisted they were virtually mutilated. By the time I came out with the points, the clock had decided to squeeze my hands and I was left with an unfinished essay. At that point, it must be added that I did not do myself any favours by writing till the examiner walked past to collect the sheet. I was warned by him about the cancellation of my last page should this situation arise again. What a great start.

The next nightmare exam came in geography. At first it wasn't too much of a problem. It was 1 hour and 10 minutes into the 1 and a half hour paper that I realised that I might not be able finish. So I spent the next few minutes trying to chop my contents to fit the remaining 20 minutes. Jitters come whenever I feel something's missing, especially from a script that makes its way under the nose of some marker in England. Than along came physics with a whole bunch of questions on mobile phones. One must have thought the setters saw it as a fad. Not to be outdone, chemistry came up with its own killer questions. One of which was so biology-based I was feeling sorry for the non-triple science students.

The next two months then became a nice gentle period of suspense. Would I do well or crash in C territory? Thankfully JC life was so vibrant I was kept occupied. But the day of reckoning had to come. Mine came with a nice frothy, gastric filled stomach. Breakfast went down the toilet. Then was a nice long wait for the next 6 hours while an extremly helpful classmate 'counted down' the remaining time.

My teachers undoubtedly deserve credit for their clear teaching and dedication to helping me grow throughout my years in Monk's Hill Secondary School. Though we were small, yet we were closely knit together unlike any other school in Singapore. Yet I would also like to thank the Lord my GOD for his exceedingly bountiful grace upon me in granting me such a good score in spite of the unexpectedly tricky questions this year.

Finally the broadband works

2005-12-19T15:34:00.000+08:00

To all readers, for the last few weeks, there has been a mini-upheaval going on in my house. Along with it went my broadband. Finally, a real 1 megabite per second in KL is not a dream, or an intermittent reality. IT IS REAL.

Oh and my greatest thanks to the telekom malaysia technician, he came armed with a modem and a Toshiba Satelite (nope it's just a humble laptop, not a body orbiting our earth) just 14 hours after I phoned Telekom Malaysia, probably a Malaysian record. Indeed, he got the line to work, but he used his own modem. (Hey that's cheating, I thought he was supposed to help US...). Well, he did give a number of an IT vendor (suspected accomplice). What a near-con, thankfully after a few settings change, the modem was humming along as per normal. And he said it was lightning struck...

...well, if Singtel was ever permitted to offer broadband services in Malaysia, it would have easily captured 50% of the market before the Malaysian government noticed. Oh and I hope the VDSL people get their sevice running. Last year when the fastest speed in Singapore was only 3-6 Mbps, the Malaysian broadband seemed laudable. Now its such a lame duck. Not when Starhub has a 30Mbps line running through Singapore, and it keeps crashing...

On the topic of internet, anyone who wants to LEGALLY have free music on their computer can go to Mercora.com. I only found it a few weeks ago from the TIME mag. Besides that, I've recently got a skype connection. Anyone with skype please search me at zelauto.

In the mean time, the holidays are ticking away. 2 weeks left. After that, NJC has thankfully accepted me for a good 3 months. Still wonder about Solaris, their yellow house. Could we get sponsorship from SUN Microsystem? Hmmm, maybe I should send them an e-mail.

Fireworks

2005-11-22T10:38:00.000+08:00

What else can I, or should I say? The O levels just blew past in one shot. 2 weeks and the 'pain' was over. The pain of doing 'the same thing' since my prelims. I need a challenge! But first I'll just go have FUN over the whole holiday. Well there's not much left - like 7 weeks. Best to make best use of this time.

Well NJC, here you go. You've got an eager student (prospective but very hopeful). Well Physics, I'll probably have fun figuring out starting a nuclear chain reaction. hahahaha. Chemistry - I'll just see if thermium nitrate explosive do exist. and Bio , What bio? Adios Amigo, no need to see you again. Economics, let's hope it gets interesting, because I'm going to have a real nice look at how US has such a ballooning trade deficit with China. And maths. Ah the nuts and bolts of everything in science. I'd say that for life, but all the artisans (to quote the Venetians) will probably claim their rice bowls for that title.

Moving on, wonder whether I'll get into NUS. Their pseudo F1 FASE race car seems like a worthy project. I mean the Malaysian A1 team is so boring. The cars are all IDENTICAL. Well engineers, let us all go to sleep. Where is diversity? how creative can you get with the body setup? In the end, it's more a driver's thing. So yeah NUS, if you want to help me here. Please e-mail me at zelauto@gmail.com . I'll be really grateful.

2005-10-20T17:35:00.000+08:00

THE BLOODBAATH

The Baathists invaded their neighbour Kuwait,
Violating the rights of a sovereign state;
Planning to replace an established government,
With an evil regime led by a tyrant.

The atrocious works of the oppressor’s hand,
Spilled innocent blood all over the land;
Saddam slaughtered without care,
While torture was rampant everywhere.

The UN’s warning Saddam did not heed,
Although it warned of consequences for his greed.
It took a major military defeat,
Before he finally pondered retreat.

As a parting shot in leaving the fight,
The forces of darkness set the oil wells alight.
Oil slicks caused an environmental catastrophe,
While its fluctuating prices rocked the world economy.

Entrenched in his wayward course,
Saddam still feels no remorse.
The typical, egregious tyrant,
He will always remain unrepentant!

What a bloodBAATH! What more can I say. Just look at his arrogant demeanour in court. Face it, your misdeeds and evil will eventually come to haunt you!

Happy Teacher's Day

2005-09-01T13:06:00.000+08:00

I would like to wish all my lovely teachers who have taught me so well over the past year and a half a happy teacher's day with a self-written poem.

Your constant dedication, love and care,

That you shower upon us throughout the year;

The priceless experiences that you share,

Leaves fond memories we’ll always hold dear

Since our first day when we arrived at Monk’s Hill,

You tirelessly nurtured us to survive any test;

Equipping us with knowledge and a strong will,

That wherever we go, we will rise to be the best.

Yet there are the times when we’ve let you down,

When we repay your kindness with apathy;

Just before exam, we go shopping downtown,

Ruining your hard work in a moment of folly.

Still, patiently you try to turn our lives around,

To transform us from a child into an adult;

Despite the many challenges that abound,

You’ve help us to survive the precarious tumult.

Today we promise to make your sacrifice bear fruits,

To strive to work hard, to stand out from the crowd;

With your imparted wisdom, in us, taking roots,

To grow up successful, to make you proud.

Phyto the Nanyangers

2005-08-22T18:36:00.000+08:00

Finally after a whole mess of hours preparing our hearts and heads out for the NUS Chemistry Communications challenge, we the humble phytologists of Monk's Hill Research Lab have come up with some 'Power' stuff to stop Nanyang, and the whole mess of competitors in their tracks (except for NUS high, who had a magazine full of knowledge bullets in their Gatling, CHIJ St. Nicks, who stuffed hot dogs all over NUS, and RGS, who did a very good job impersonating the BBC.) So there we were, the 'Kampong people from a hill of Monks who showed 'em that our data on Phytoremediation was no faker. And then it turned out that the professors decided to goad us a little. Now Janice started kicking up a fuss 0.0032seconds after the request about them being so self-knowledgable. Well, I'm no google search engine, but I gave them the stuff they asked for and they were 'satisfied'. It didn't help that the airconditioning there was colder than Snow City's and we were chattering in our blazers.

Anyways, we still made it into the FINALS. Majulah Monk's Hill!

Studying or playing,
Our motto we proclaim,
THE WILL TO WIN,
Success to attain!

If by now, no one here has a clue who this blogger is...
...here I am
<--not bad for a Motorola V3 Phone !

Happy 40th Birthday Singapore

2005-08-09T21:58:00.000+08:00

Time seemed to have flown since the last national day. This year, I can say with 'certainty' I was more or less 'immersed' in the celebrations. Too bad I couldn't contribute with a Muneri Valibaa. But never mind, I 'drama-jacked' the play and made quite a good undercover ad for Osprey scouting. At least Planet Monk's HIll now knows that a Scout's Uniform is good for something. Not bad eh. Now even the guides couldn't come up with any ad more useful than this. Osprey RUlz.
As I make my retirement
Osprey unite together we fight.
We show them how we people fight!
We walk to the fight to show our might,
Cause ain't nobody gonna beat our stride,
We from, we from...
...Osprey!

...Osprey!!!

Term 3....100%

2005-07-15T22:08:00.000+08:00

Can't believe it's already been 3 weeks into term 3 of Monk's Hill. 1 years ago, I was seriously wondering when term 3 was going to end, now I don't think so. This is working out to one tight squeeze of a term for me. Everything from Victory's interhouse to our humanities team will be happening within the same day. What a pity, I won't get to see "LIVE" Our team demolishing the other 4 schools (how nice that would be for a Monk's Hill Grande Finale). As a consolation, let's hope the Victory Soccer team can deliver double-digit knock-outs.

Term 3.....throttle at 100%

2005-07-15T22:07:00.000+08:00

School 100%

2005-07-15T22:00:00.000+08:00

It's the summer holidays!!!

2005-06-07T10:08:00.000+08:00

Finally back home at last in KL for 3 lovely weeks. To everyone out there watching, I've just returned from the Monk's Hill Sec 3 camp and what a blast it was. The Victory Tsunami drowned the other houses by such a large margin, it looked like a massacre. Take their 214 points and pit it against the no. 2 of 180 points and you get the perspective. But that was only half the fun. Adam, Faiz and I 'dutifully' belayed 60 sec 3s throughout the course of the camp. Not bad for a bunch of kids whose mean weight probably matched out light frames.

To everyone else trying to unseat me in the O level Prelims (yes JaNs and AdAm, I can already feel u 2 chasing me from 350km) either way, I'll be undertaking a 'Holiday Developmental Program' so let the race continue.

Just before I sign off, 1 Reminder to all those in my maths study group, get your brains cracking. You can't expect to pass the O levels by bumming around.

Exams over

2005-05-16T17:21:00.000+08:00

Finally, It's over
Expect more activity over here now that the exams have finished....
...at least until I get the results. Then it'll be a 3 way fight between Adam, Janice and I for the Championship. Wonder whether either 2 are going to get me this time. They're getting closer.......................and closer..............................
On a different note, spotted the same usual suspects- Hena, Jesslyn, Reema, Ellen and yes, Shu Min (as judge hahahaha) in the MHSS homepage. Wish mine was there, but it certainly seemed as they had an easy job compared to POOR me. Not when I was stuck telling Andrew that he was supporting the other side all along during the debate, and moderating 4 excited boys who were rearing to fire off their views. Shu Min had it easy.........nevermind, the elite club (Sec 4/1 hahahaha) has its own drawbacks. On the other hand, I've got a hunch that my 'lovely' essay on the Monk's Hill website might not see a reader.........for everyone else who is even remotely interested, search under departments for English and click reflections. Oh and be prepared, this must be one of the longest pieces of writings on Monk's HIll Website.
But wait, I can see MT O levels around the corner by the 30th of May. Guess it's study time again in a few days. So for the rest of you all, hang on, it's only a few more days.

Mid-year Exams

2005-04-28T18:04:00.000+08:00

Just a note to all of you out here...
...In light of my mid-year exams, don't expect to see much coming within the next few weeks.

Monk's Hill Rulz. What a pity we had to go.

Bye Bye Monk's HIll

2005-04-15T22:16:00.000+08:00

It was like a big shock when the news of the merger was announced. One week on, the news still has an errily surreal feel to it. The Monk's Hill that I had loved so much despite only coming there a year ago has now been taken from me. Granted, it was probably the best school that I have ever attended. Everything about it from the teachers, to the lovely scenery to the unique atmosphere, is just irreplacable. I am so gonna miss that place.
The tears that everyone could see, was only a small part of the sadness within me.

Day 2+

2005-03-29T17:22:00.000+08:00

Ok, kinda figured out where all the nifty extras went. Page still looks as plain as a text file. My apologies to whoever visits, you'll be waiting till at least next week for anything of real importance.

Hi Every1!

2005-03-26T14:00:00.000+08:00

Finally gave in to the new trend of blogging after ignoring it since 2001. Anyway, dun expect much from here, it's just a portal for my own musings. So to every1 who thinks there's a goldmine here, dun expect much, but I'm always available at zelauto@gmail.com