Musings

Short + Sweet Singapore 2008 Gala Final is DAMN good !

 

Imagine a man who walked into a incredibly posh restaurant with an extremely friendly waiter that provide suicide services. Why did he want to die?

 

Imagine a guy in formal kept staring at an old building in front (and oblivious) of a female shoe polisher. What is the guy thinking about? What will the shoe polisher do?

 

Imagine your girlfriend want you to LOVE her by HURTING (raping) her. Can you do it?

 

Imagine you are a talented composer in love with and loved by 2 women, one as peaceful as the Sea, one as blissful as the Sky. How will you choose?

 

Imagine you are an Indian contruction worker in love with Chinese office girl and in need of money. Will you kiss her, steal her money... or both?

 

Imagine while you are sitting on a bench in a park, a woman flirts with you by acting while dressing as a muslim, catholic, 15 years old student, prositude, mechanic. How will you react?

 

Imagine that you are a balloon in a birthday party. What is the meaning of your existence?

 

Imagine you were once a great cook but now you suffer a stroke and can't move and talk properly and wheelchair-ridden. Your daughter fed you sweet potato porriage everyday and you want to eat Sesame Oil Chicken badly. What will u do?

 

Imagine you were jailed for 3 years for a mistake your friend made. You were released and you saw your friend again. Will you take revenge?

 

Imagine you were a mentally crazy old woman in an old folks home.

 

 

10 powerful stories, 10 windows to different lifes, sorted in order of how I ranked them. Let see how accurate I am once the results are out.

 

Oh btw, after watching 10 short plays in one shot, I analysed my choice of the best and worst shows:

 

 

The last 2 are the last 2 because they are not funny.

 

The top 3 are the top 3 because of they are the funniest. All things (acting, creativity, shock factor, twist, depth, mystery etc) equal or even roughly equal, shows with the best humour are better.

 

When the plays are equally funny, stories with a tint of darkness and slightly twisted (a bit crazy) are the best. 

 

 

I wonder if anyone will agree with me?? Hmmm... 

 

P.S. I checked the names of the actors in the play that I ranked first. One of them, Daniel Jenkins, is one of the professional actors who acted in Pillowman, my favourite play.  

 

  

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Next time my passport expires, I noe wad to do... (No need renew, LOL!)

 

 

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一位有五年工作经验的同事对我说了这一段话：

 

 

“你是新人，工作态度非常重要, 一定要学会怎样做工。Hmmm 要不然，你可以走另一条路，就是...

 

...一定要学会怎样做人。"

 

 

Haha!

 

虽然，我不是很会做工，但是我跟不会做人。看来我还是老老实实的学做工算了。

 

你们如果会做人的话，还是会做人比较轻松。=)

 

 

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I always prefered writing to talking. I LOVE writing letters. We used to exchanged letters wth Angels, Mortals and friends during JC days. Til now, I still kept the all the letters I received.

 

Stacked together, they are about 3cm thick.

 

Now, there ain't anymore friends for me to write to. But I am still writing, this time writing to computers. Surprisingly, they will respond! Most of the time with messages like:

 

"Cpp1.exe - 65 error(s), 1 warning(s)"

 

 

#$&*$%#&*^$*&^%!!!

 

But I still prefer writing to talking. =)

 

P.S. These particular 65 errors can be solved easily by putting a semicolon at the right place. Comps are much less complex than human... sometimes.

 

 

NTU Food Guide - last update 12/8/08

Funny that I never did this before during my 4 years in NTU. Only until when I started working in NTU then I started searching around for good food together with colleagues during lunch time. I guess this is the fundamental difference between students and working class -

 

When asked, "Why do you study?", people reply, "Exams lor."

 

When asked, "Why do you work?", people reply, "Eat lor."

 

Different priorities in difference stages of life. LOL!

 

Anwz over the past 3 weeks the bunch of us had been going to different canteens in NTU. I will hereby attempt to compile a list of best, good, bad, worst and special food in NTU. Note that the compiling process is still on going, to check back for updates now and then. Also, any recommendations are HIGHLY welcomed. I will personally go and investigate before I publish the results. Haha! Also, any Disagreements or Confirmations of the food reviews here are also welcomed.

 

Here is the half completed guide:

 

 

  

====  NTU  FOOD  GUIDE  ====

~ Students need to eat good food , too! ~

 

(For locations of the different eateries in NTU, click here. )

 

 

UPDATES

 

12/8/08

 

Canteen 9: "Do not eat 凉皮. I repeat, DO NOT eat 凉皮, it is tasteless! You can try tomato egg soup noodle though. The soup taste not bad. Not fantastic, but I guess it is one of the specialities of Canteen 9 (other than its ice blended)."  ~iw

 

18/7/08

 

Canteen 1: "Canteen 1's Western not bad." (Pending investigation) ~Yanli

 

Canteen 2: "Canteen 2's Beef Stall's tomato fried egg noodle  番茄煎蛋面 also quite good!" (Pending investigation) ~Yanli

 

Canteen 2: "Canteen 2's Beef Stall's Fish Slice soup dammmmnnnn chui! The meat is old and not 'sweet', while the soup is totally tasteless. DO NOT BUY! In fact, it is highly recommended that you do NOT try any soup base items there, eg soup beehoon, soup mee etc. Just try the Hong Men Niu Rou. It is the BEST!  " ~iw

 

The Palette Western Food Cafe: "Price around the same as Quad ($5+), enviroment slightly better than Quad (in terms of tables, and you can GUARANTEE find a seat there), food slightly lousier than Quad (average only), and it only sell western if I am not wrong. Conclusion: If Quad no seats, come here. Haha!" ~iw

 

 

15/7/08

 

Canteen 9: "Canteen 9's 凉皮 not bad." ~Shea Li (凉皮 is a China dish... it is a kind of Kway Tiao. Pending investigation.)

 

 

12/7/08

 

Executive Cafe: "I personally think that Executive Cafe is not as bad as Max says. Well it is not fantastic, certainly not cheap, but it is fairly decent. If you had a sudden craving for dim sum and is feeling rich, feel free to eat at the cafe. We spent $17 per person, quite filling. Btw, I think they don't charge GST and service charge. What you see is what you get. (I'm not sure cos this meal is paid for by my boss, hee.)" ~iw 

 

 

8/7/08 

 

NIE Canteen: Western food standard (grill fish) dropped alot, alot... =( ~iw

 

Canteen 16: "Condemned. Tables too small, zi cha (ku3 gua1 niu2 rou4 rice) not good." (pending investigation) ~Shea Li

 

Canteen 16: "Indian food (zha chai rice) not bad." (pending investigation) ~Jiang Feng

 

 

3/7/08

 

Canteen 1: "Can 1 has the worst Teh Bing" (pending investigation) ~Singying

 

Canteen A:  "I made the mistake of eating spaghetti at a pizza place, namely Canadian Pizza. Never make that mistake." ~iw

 

 

1/7/08

 

Canteen A:  "I like the Vegetarian Stall's daily specials, especially Fish Slice Bee Hoon, Vegetarian Prawn Noodle Soup and Laksa. The Kway Chup not so good." ~Miaoting (vegetarian)

 

Canteen 4: "The Black Pepper Fish from the Zi Char is REALLY REALLY nice! The sauce is quite special and the favour went into the meat of the fish, which is very tender. Must try!" ~ iw

 

 

30/6/08

 

Executive Cafe: "the Executive Cafe is not good at all! overprice for its little substance..please do not eat there unless u have the money n wanna try out how unfilling the food is..." ~Max

 

 

27/6/08 

 

Coffee Club Express: "The Scone there is damn nice!" ~Apple  (Erm... I don't know what is 'Scone' la... so anyone can try le then tell me?? Haha!)

 

Canteen 1: "Can 1 i think porridge really not bad.. lol!"  (pending investigation) ~Singying

 

Canteen 4: "The Black Pepper Fish from the Zi Char is REALLY nice!" (pending investigation) ~ Apple

 

 

26/6/08

 

Canteen A: "Tried the Indonesian Stall grill chicken & fish fillet set today. Not fantasitic... but well, not bad either. Something different la, can try." ~iw 

 

Canteen A: "The BBQ Drumstick Rice not bad. (pending investigation) "~KC

 

 

25/6/08

 

Canteen A: "The Indonesian Stall grill chicken not bad." (pending investigation) ~Max

 

NIE Canteen: "The Chicken Rice and Western there not bad." (pending investigation) ~Jiahong

 

Canteen 2: "The name of the dessert stall is called '夏日霜' ". ~Max  

 

Canteen 11: "Ah!! I suddenly remember! The 面线 from stall 1 damn good! "~iw

 

Canteen 12: "The Jumbo Sausage meal consist of one gigantic sausage and on normal size sausage, with melted cheese on top and the rest of the plate filled with fries. Average tasting, but DAMN SINFUL!!! Try it if u dare! Next time I will try its pizza. My colleagues love the Korean food there so much that they go there once a week... zzz... "~iw

 

 

24/6/08

 

Canteen 2: "The Fish Soup there (Noodle aka Beef Stall) is also superb!" (pending investigation) ~Meiyu 

 

 

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MAIN ARTICLE

 

Canteen 1

Never try before. An ancient website says porriage good. Haha!

 

 

Canteen 2

Woohoo! The best canteen! Hong2 men1 niu2 rou1 (Beef Meat Trapped in Red Sauce) is a must try! Sorry for the bad translation. Haha! =P Then there is this dessert store that sells favoured shaved ice. I forgot its name, but it is NOT ice kachang. Very special! The texture damn soft. I tried the mango one... Damn nice!

 

The Western is over-hyped. So so only. Tried Fish and Chips and Chicken Chop. Nothing much.

  

 

Canteen 4

Zi Char which won the Channel U Campus Yummy Hunt. Probably the best zi char in NTU. I tried the Hor Fen, quite good, better than many other stalls, but otherwise nothing special... just an above average Hor Fen. Can try.

 

 

Canteen 5

Only went there once recently during exam period. They got sell different types of ready made soups in bowls. Tried the Lotus Soup. Better don't try the Lotus Soup. Haha!  

 

 

Canteen 9

DON'T eat the laksa! Tasteless. Don't know what else is good. But I like the Mocha Freeze there. Only place in NTU that sell freezes?

 

 

Canteen 11

Erm... Never stepped into can 11 since I start work. Really don't know how to tell my colleagues what is nice there... But the Beijing streamboat is something special la. Ah, and the sausage plata! Yum yum! But too bad lunch no sell. =(

 

 

Canteen 13

Famous for its Korean food which also won the Channel U Campus Yummy Hunt. Hmmm the 'Rice and Meat in Stone' (don't know what it is called, chinese they say 拌饭 - mix rice) is quite special. They put rice and meat and vege into a very hot Stone Bowl, then you are supposed to mix them up together. A bit like Pepper Lunch. Not bad, something you don't eat everyday.

 

Tip: Colleague say that MUST mix in the special Korean red sauce from the sauce bottle. And not only MUST, must also put A LOT. I mean A LOT.

 

Erm btw they say don't buy the Korean noodles, cos it taste like maggi mee. Well, I never tried their mee, so I don't. One colleague also said that the Jumbo Sausage Meal from their Western also not bad. I'm going to try it if got chance. =)

 

 

Canteen 15

Over hyped Western.

 

 

Canteen 16

Never try before.

 

  

Canteen A

Sigh. Best known for MacDonalds and Subway?? I heard Jap standard drop le (not that it is very high in the first place), but well I guess it is still the best Jap Food in NTU.

 

 

Canteen B

Best Vegetarian stall in NTU. I also love the sugar cane juice there... and also the extremely short queue for the Western there. Haha!

 

 

Executive Cafe (near Can A)

Soonguan's friend said there dim sum not bad.

 

 

The Palette Western Food Cafe (near Can A)

Who ate there before? How is it?? I never tried.

 

 

Cafe by the Quad

Bake rice sucks. But I personally think the beef spaghetti there quite good. Covered with melted cheese, alot of meat also. Damn gao3. Did some research online before I write this guide. Got people say the $3.50 Chicken Rice quite good also. Erm... if you peeps try le nice can tell me. Personally I won't spend $3.50 to eat Chicken Rice. Haha!

 

 

NIE Canteen

I LOVEEEE the Fish and Chip Spaghetti there! To me NIE Canteen have the best Western in NTU. Hee. Ah... and overhyped Fishball Noodles.

 

 

Coffee Club Express (outside auditorium)

I always only drink Mocha Frappe. Not bad.

 

 

Mayflower Resturant (at staff club)

I am curious who the hell will eat there???

 

 

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This list is by no means exhaustive. If you think there is any food that is really good or really bad, or if there is any place i left out, help me expand this guide by leaving me a comment! Thanks alot! =P

 

 

Plays are drugs

Stage plays are like drugs. Their intellectual, emotional, visual and sometimes even aural stimulations are EXTREMELY addictive. I had never looked back ever since I watched 《暗恋桃花源》.  Just curious, play lovers out there, which play made you visit Sistic average at least once a month?

 

Anw this coming weekend got one "Short + Sweet Gala Night", which consists of the Top 10 short plays (9 English 1 Chinese) out of 40 plays. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

 

Why?

 

Cos I watched all the 10 plays where the 1 Chinese play was chosen from yesterday! There was one I watched le feel damn tulan (WTF is with this play?!? Never seen a worse play than this in my life!)... but lucky it was only 10 mins.There was 2 or 3 that were boring. Another 2 or 3 that were average. But there were FOUR that were EXTREMELY entertaining! 

 

If the quality of the English plays are as good as the Chinese ones, then the quality of the remaining 9 English plays (3 out of every set of 10 for English plays) should also be VERY good.

 

Anw, the 4 short plays yesterday made me feel that addiction once again. Looking forward to this coming Saturday!

 

*Sniff... sniff*

 

 

Oh btw, did I mention there is a Toy and Comic Convention in Suntec this coming Saturday and Sunday?       

 

 

 

Random

I noticed something interesting: If I google my REAL name on Google and press the 'I'm feeling lucky' button, I come straight to my blog!!! Whose else's blog can do that?? Hahaha!

 

I remember one of my Web Application Design exam questions asked about how search engines work. At that time, I don't know. So just now, out of curiosity, I googled about how Google works.

 

It says that Google uses a technology called PageRank which 

 

"relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves 'important' weigh more heavily and help to make other pages 'important'."

 

I realise that up til now, I STILL don't know how it works. Argh, forget it.

 

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After I started working, I realised that with a steady income, possibilities that were not possible before start to open up. I have a medium term plan. After about half or one year at work, I may want to take up some art related courses, eg. drawing, painting, designing, animation etc. If possible, I may even want to get a diploma or something. Is there anyone who is also interested?? =D

 

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These days MrBrownShow is back to its old standard.  The recent 3 podcast are quite funny! Got time go listen and have a good laugh. Haha!

 

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From Wanting's blog:

 

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/qYMsD6kF6QY/

 

困在人生中会有许多种的解释，或困难，或困惑，抑或窘境。《易经》困卦曰：“泽无水，困，君子以遂命致远。”意思是指人在困顿中不应放弃追求，因该好好反思。即使是祸不单行，天灾人祸，或是自寻弊端。人都应坦然的去面对，只要内心坚持中道，纯正而有主见，就会有意想不到的收获。《困》中的男女一直想离开那个房间，却总是无法摆脱一个个困难，当男人在砸落盘时，终于参透了一切，从心中流出一滴血泪。

 

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Anyone interested in watching Angel-ism in August's Singapore Theatre Festival? My friend say good.

 

http://www.singaporetheatrefestival.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=123

 

 

 

 

2nd week

Been through the 2nd week at work. Things are looking up. Getting to integrate more into their circle.

 

BUT

 

I haven't finished the learning beginner programming exercise I was supposed to finish last Friday! And I have been tasked to do REAL work next week. HOW???

 

Argh. Worry about that on Monday. Have a feeling I will be doing OTs next week...

 

Anwz last week has been a good week. Met up with lots of old friends. Had lots of good food: Crystal Jade Palace, Swensons, Pasta Mania, Korean Crusine at Can 13, Vietnamese Crusine at Suntec Food Republic, I had even been to Singapore Flyer! But we didn't sit in it. $29.50 for a scenic view of Singapore. I can't afford it, yet. (But most probably, not ever.) There is nothing much there beside the ferris wheel, but my friend and I had a good chat while strolling to, in, and back from Singapore Flyer.

 

 

 

$$$ depleting fast and soon! 2 more weeks to top up!

 

明天会更好！

 

 

I'm a pussy (I can't believe it!)

Your Score: The Cat

You scored 67% domestic, 36% gregarious, 25% trickster, and 58% intellect!

Domestic, Solitary, Serious, Intelectual: you are the Cat! Cat represents a balance of strength in both physical and spiritual, psychic and sensual powers, merging these two worlds into one. Curious, intelligent, and physically adept, cat people tend to live in a world all their own.

This test categorized you based on four different axes of personality, which were then associated with a different animal. The four axes, as well as all possible results are explained below.

Wild/Domestic: This first axis categorizes you based on how much you are drawn to the outdoors, versus how much you are drawn to civilized situations. Domesticity has many shapes and forms, and varies from the joy of dolphins leaping next to a ship to the steadfast loyalty of a family dog.

Gregarious/Solitary: This axis measures how solitary you are. If you scored high, it means that you enjoy the company of other people, while a low score indicates that you prefer a more solitary lifestyle.

Trickster/Serious: This axis measures how well you line up with conventional trickster archetypes. People who fall into this archetype have a sense of humor and an excitable, highly chaotic streak. Scoring low doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of humor; it just means that you probably don't think dynamite is very funny.

Intellectual/Emotional: This last axis determines whether you are more emotional -- acting based on feelings and instinct, or rational and intelectual -- acting more on thought than on your gut feelings.

 

Link: The Animal Archetype Test

Ranting

Having been through one week as a full-working adult, I realised I am feeling... lonely.

 

Let me clarify, it is not the 'no-girlfriend kind of lonely' lonely. It is the 'no-friends kind of lonely' lonely. There are around 10 people in my project/workplace. The manager / seniors are all very nice, friendly people whom never gave me any pressure. Also, surprising, around half of them are ladies! =P

 

However, the problem is that they are all very experienced and been through project(s), each lasting more than 2 years, together. As a result, it can be seen that they are a very close-knitted bunch. On the other hand, I, am the ONLY fresh grad with ZERO experience. Even what I studied has ZERO relevance to what I am doing. (Wondered why they decided to employ me... Haha!) 

 

So,

 

I find it hard to connect with them.

 

Haiz... miss the days when I still was an attachment student. Don't know anything nevermind. Student ma. Fool around, being childish, playing games nevermind. Sudent ma. Somemore so many fellow students around. Now as a working adult, as a full time engineer, don't know anything? WTF. Paiseh dao siao.

 

A holder of DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING) WITH SECOND CLASS HONOURS (UPPER DIVISION) who knows NOTHING?? How ironical. What have I been doing for 4 years in NTU?

 

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I found that I have a tendency of making stupid or senseless choices throughout my life.

 

I have got an A1 in Chemistry in 'O' levels. I chose to give up Chemistry and take up Higher Chinese in JC. I ended up getting a D for Higher Chinese in 'A' levels.

 

I love hands-on and mechanical stuff more than circuit boards. (I love to do props!) My dad told me don't choose the easy way out just because electronics are hard. Thus I choose EEE at the end of Year 1, and ended up wondering why the hell I choose EEE for the rest of my uni life.

 

By the end of Year 2, I realised I don't really like circuits and semiconductors. Yet for the same reason as above, I chose the hardest, Electronics, out of Electronics, Electrical & Infocomm. Semiconductors ended up to be the only C I got in Year 3.

 

By the end of Year 3, I realised I really don't like circuits and semiconductors. So I finally took the easy way out and switched to Infocomm in Year 4. However, even though all my friends commented that 'Digital Signal Processing' the is hardest design module available, I still chose it over 'Object Orientated Programming', thinking that programming is something I can easily learn in my free time if I really need it in my work.

 

 

NOW, I CHOSE A JOB THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAVE TO LEARN PROGRAMMING IN MY FREE TIME!!! I want to cry..... T_T 

 

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I hate to be a freshie! I dont want to be a noob! Hopefully I can contribute to the team real soon! Anw 'til now my job is still quite interesting. I am staring at codes from 8.30am to 6.30pm from Monday to Friday, but somehow I still love programming. Woohoo! I guess one year down the road I will start to enjoy my job. Hopefully. =)

 

It is paramount to stay positive. Actually, I HATE working.

(But somehow, I have the strange ability to still do ok even in things I don't like.)

 

 

Today is a good day.

Today is my fourth day of work. (For those who don't know, I am now working in NTU. Note: Is 'in' NTU not 'for' NTU. I shall not divulge the name of my company in my blog for security reasons. Anyone who wants to jio me for lunch or dinner, you are welcome! Most prob I will be staying back in Hall too. =)

 

Today, our company president gave a talk for ALL employees, which numbered in thousands, so I have an EFO (Early Fall Out). Actually not very early la, at around 5.30pm... but better than nothing. Haha!

 

Today, exam results release. Throughout my 4 years in uni, I have got a total of 14 As (including FYP and IA), 31 Bs, 5Cs, and finally graduated with a Second Upper for my honours! Congrats me ba.  =)

 

It was quite surprising actually, cos I have a friend who get double the amount of As I have but also got Second Upper. So I guess, for one who stop going lectures in Yr1 2nd sem, I have kio dio once again! Hahaha! Heng I din ganna GPA system. Phew!

 

I am proud to announce that the Skip Lecture Project is a success! Yeah!

 

Today is a good day.