Update 2

Hmmmm, you are still with me? Well this shows that you are a true friend who is truly concerned with my life, or you are a true friend who is truly bo liao. Anw, no matter what, you can see that I AM truly bo liao.

 

OK, continue my MAJOR update, this time mostly in chorological (dis)order. During the week right after my exams, I've been administering exams to other people, i.e. I've been an invigilator for an outside exam. The job is kinda exciting as you can watch other pple suffering the same suffering you suffered for the past few suffocating weeks. But the excitement quickly died off when you have to travel from Boon Lay to Expo Hall ONE(!) everyday for 8 days.    

 

Most notable during these 8 days is the stupid aunty (1st timer invigilator) who enjoyed pointing out the faults of everybody. Even I 5th timer lao jiao also ganna fault, and it is not one time but a few times! What "put the answer paper properly la" and "cannot sit at empty candidate's desk la". Wah liew eh, as long as the paper is there, who cares if it's put upside down??? (And I didn't put upside down lor, I just didn't take the pains to align the papers carefully so that they are parallel to the sides of the table. Liddat also tio gan. WTF.) Cannot sit at the candidate's desk??? First, I must state that we are allowed to sit. Maybe she was concerned that I might give unwanted pressure other candidates nearby. But, the nearest candidate 360 degree around me is FIVE DAMNNED DESKS AWAY!!!!

 

Aunty, for goodness sake, don't let me see you again, ever.

 

Other than that, it has been quite fun: made a few new friends and a few hundred more bucks.

 

In the meanwhile, I had been busy with production stuff. I've been tasked with (re)writing the ending of the production script. Other than that, meeting and coordinating the tech crews with the directors. Other than that, give some advice here and there, help out here and there. Other than that, nothing le. Haha! Slackest Inner Circle staff around. Anw, I had been helping out the Sound Crew to source for sound effects and music. Quite fun. Get to hear some rarely heard beautiful music. Enjoy. I love production!

 

Then is the Interhall Contract Bridge Competition. Our captain was very nice, and never gave us any pressure.  He told us that it is just a game, just enjoy lor. However, whenever you made a mistake, he screws you left right upside down like nobody's business. (Tangning, relax la. =P) Anwz, we got 7th, 2 positions below what we got under my leadership last year. Not I good lah, is just that the overall standard increased alot this year. But still... HAHA!

 

Then there are books. National Library Board is very kind nowadays; it let us borrow 8 books instead of 4. But BEWARE, it is a TRAP!!! The borrowing duration is still the same! Nowadays, who the hell can read 8 books in 3 weeks?! It's trying to make you over borrow, return them overdue, and they make $$$! Lao3 gan1!

 

Anwz, the books I read for the past few weeks are some books on script writing, Cell by Stephen King, State of Fear by Michael Critchton, Matrix and Universe X (Marvel) comics (they call it graphic novel),and I've just finished The Philosopher at the End of the Universe by Mark Rowlands. If you want me to recommend I would recommend the last book. It tries to explain philosophy concepts using examples from movies such as Matrix, Star Wars, LOTR, Terminator, Minority Report etc etc. (All my favorite movies.) And it is quite a gem I stumbled upon 'cause its categorization is not at the usual 100.00 for Philosophy, but 791.43 for Movies. I'll summarize something from the book for you guys to think about.

 

The Problem of Freewill: Are we really free? Free as in do we really have the freedom to decide what we want to do, eg eat, sleep, walk, talk etc etc. Tom Cruise in Minority Report said that we are, but the philosophers state that we aren’t.

 

Why? Because everything we decide to do has a cause, and every cause has a cause. Eg. I decides to eat. Why? I'm hungry, Why? I long time never eat. Why? I've no money. Why? My parents didn't give. Why? Blah blah blah times infinity until BIG BANG! and the universe is borne. Therefore it is inevitable that I decide to eat and since it is inevitable, my decision is not free. This is call Determinism.

 

There are counter arguments and counter-counter arguments for the above topic (and in the end, it is concluded that we have no freedom). If you are interested, you can read the book or argue with me.

 

(You see, I really have no choice but to torture u peps with this philosophical mumbo jumbo. Don't blame me!)

 

 

Update

Five weeks...

 

...with no exams to study.

 

Recently I've been suffering from chronic fatigue, which leaves me with little energy to write blogs after doing the things I want to do. However, a friend told me that a blog is good in a sense that it updates your friends about your life. So... well, here's my feeble attempt to do a MAJOR update with the little energy I've left.

 

(Despite that I believed otherwise, I confirmed recently that there are people reading my blog as friends feedback to me that they did the Deathnote Personality Test... erm... at least I hoped that they read the rest of my blog lah.

 

Actually I shouldn't have been so pessimistic. The blink blink star besides my msn nick would have attracted the attention of anyone who is interested in my life whenever I write something. As a matter of fact, I think that it attracts too much attention. Maybe that's part of the reason I stopped writing temporarily. For those who know me, you know that I don't like attention.

 

How do I know that the blink blink star will attract too much attention? I know because I always have the uncontrollable urge to click on other pple's blink blink stars whenever I see their blink blink stars blink blink. Ya, so to all friends who have blink blink stars blink blink and think think (Haha!) that no one read your blog, don't, because I'VE READ YOUR BLOG. )

 

Yup, now I've updated you guys about what I think about the MSN blink blink stars, I shall end this blog entry. Have a nice day!

 

 

Update 3

Let us continue with the update.

 

A few months ago my time deposit acct matured and now I've a few thousands bucks sitting in my saving acct doing nothing, slacking. I always feel a bit uneasy when someone or something is more laid-back and relaxed than me, so I quickly asked my FC, Financial Consultant (haha!) out for a chat once our exams are over. My FC recommended investing in mutual funds as she earned lots of money from dabbling with it last time. (The money is virtual though. =P) So I listened to her advice and had been doing some research on funds for the past weeks, armed with her lecture notes(!) and the website she gave me. (She refused to help me do research as I didn't pay her! Sobz!) Now I have a target in mind, and going to go into the market soon. Wish me luck! (Btw anyone has anything against HSBC Chinese Growth Fund?)

 

Then there are movies and meeting up with friends. For movies, you named it I watched it, at least for the more well-known ones. As for meeting up with friends, there is one particularly interesting one - my SC, Spiritual Consultant. As we are chatting halfway, she suddenly popped up with this question:

 

你觉得空虚吗？

 

I was quite surprised actually. If she didn't ask you won't feel it. But once she asked, you will find that it is surprisingly true. Then she proceeded to say that it is the same for everybody. That's why there are people trying to fill their hearts by finding relationships and taking drugs and still end up feeling quite empty. The reason is because there is this space in your heart called the God Space, and it can only be filled up with faith in God.

 

What do you think?

 

Anwz despite her words, God will be the last thing I'll filled my heart with. Meanwhile, I will stuff as many other things into my heart as possible to make me feel 充实.

 

Talking abt 充实, maybe I've went out too many times with friends doing the same thing again and again - namely watch movie, eat and drink coffee, it is getting a little boring. I think it is time to find some new fresh things to do. One of the most interesting things I did during this holidays is the visit to the Singapore Science Centre, together with the bestest friend of mine, Chioboo (self-proclaimed =P), who happened to be my FC too! A fun-filled day finding out how gentically similar we are to a chimpanzee; posing as a prince/princess at a... treehouse; extrapolating how ugly we will look when we are 60 years old etc etc... All in all, SSC is a great recommendation to all who find it bored watch movie and drink coffee everytime you meet up with friends. Tips: Go there earlier - according to our exp, 4 hrs are not enough to explore the entire place!

 

The places I wanted to go next, not in order of preference, are: museum, zoo, night safari, art museum, bird park, fort canning, discovery centre, treetop walk (this one seems particularly interesting =P). Anyone interested in any of the places, feel free to msg me or leave a comment k? =)

 

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who made this holiday an enjoyable one for me: Zijun, Xiangbin, Yinghow, Youjie, Fiona, Yi4hui4, Adeline, Chioboo and lastly all my hallmates. Thanks buddies! For those friends I didn't get to meet during this holidays, I'll made it up to you sometimes k? (Haha! I doubt anyone managed to read until here anyway.)

 

K la, other than the fact that I was bed-ridden for the past Thursday and Friday from gastric-flu virus infection, there is nothing much else to say le. Cya and hope u pple have had a enjoyable holiday too! Happy working/ schooling!

 

 

Random...

Coincidence (or 'sychronicity', as Carl Jung would say it) - Yesterday i noticed a friend's msn nick which seems quite interesting... something about "Waiting for Godot" blah blah blah. So I searched the net to find out wth is it and finally learnt something abt it from the Wikipedia. Hours later, while I was flipping through a book of collection of scripts by 柯思任 (where I found 《独在家乡为异客》) in McDonald at 10pm, surprisingly, I noticed a quote from "Waiting for Godot" again! I decide that Life is trying to convey some meaning through this coincidence.

 

Before I reveal what the "Waiting for Godot" is, first the quote:

 

Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?

Estragon: Yes, let's go.

[They do not move]

"Waiting for Godot" is a very famous play that is mentioned almost every scripts book I read recently. (Today I just found another reference to it in another book.) As to what it's trying to tell, gotta wait until I read the script after I get it from my friend.

But from the little glimpse I had of it in the Wikipedia, it states that the play trying to tell us that

Life has no meaning.

**************

A little joke I heard from the manager from the resturant I ate in just now ：

A teacher teaching a 4 yrs old kindergarden kid maths.

Teacher: Boy, what is 2 + 2?

Little Boy: [Brought up his fingers and count] 1, 2, 3, 4. Teacher, 4.

Teacher: Cannot use finger count. Put your hands behind your back. Now, what is 3 + 3?

Little Boy: [Moving his fingers behind his back] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Teacher, 6.

Teacher: You are still using your fingers to count. Put your hands into your side pockets. Now, what is 5 + 5?

Little Boy: Erm... [Having some difficulties] ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11!

Teacher: !!!

 

This is the most expensive meal I paid for in my whole life: $32/pax! The food is so so, but at least the service is good - got manager to tell dirty jokes.

 

Death God Personality Test

http://www.deathgod.org/main.php?x=inter/p1

 

Damned. I want to be L.

 

 

 

Fast Forwarded 月记

My Year 3 life starts on 7 Aug 06

 

>> Decided to try out not going for lectures again after last sem's fiasco, though I've also decided to discipline myself to attend every tutorials, unlike last sem. 

 

>> Up til now: lectures attended - 0.0%; tutorials attended - 100%.

 

>> Had been very low profile during FOC due to the high percentage of english-speaking pple in my orientation group (diff frequency) , but glad that at least I got to know some of them better after school started.

 

>> Went back to bridge club for a few weeks. Feels good seeing old faces again.  

 

>> Meet up with quite a few old friends during school days. Always feels good chatting with them. But somehow recently the break-up rate is quite high. Maybe at the age of 23/24 is when people find out what they really want... or maybe it is when people find out that they don't know what they really want... or what they want is not really what they want... Well, whatever.

 

>> 4 weeks ago finally there is someone willing to take up the role of Producer, so there is a Hall Production despite the f*cked up new Hall Allocation System (HAS) that NTU has.

 

>> Always loved the feeling of being in a drama production, theatre, working together with other people, so I've decided to join Production again this year despite that most prob that I won't get points for it.  

 

>> Pondering which post I want to do. I had been Props Head last year. Props Head is something you do once in your lifetime and you won't ever want to do it again. (It's fun, but it's damn xiong la!) Logistic is not fun. Publicity Head also done before liao. Director... dun even know how to act, how to direct?? Therefore... I'll be the Technical Director!!!

 

>> I volunteered to my Producer, she happily agreed, then she asked me what is a Technical Director suppose to do. I told Tech Director is in charge of all the Tech Crews and a bridge between the Crews and the Directors. She happily said OK! But she dunno that actually there is no such thing as a 'Technical Director'. *sinister smile* The nearest thing to a 'Technical Director' is Technical Manager (only exist in US) whose job is same as that of Stage Manager in Singapore. The next nearest is Production Manager, whose job is the same as that of Producer.

 

>> So here I'm, holding a non existant but seemingly important post in the Production Team, up there together with the directors & producers in the Inner Circle. And the best part is, no one know what a Tech Director is suppose to do! So... arrows? "Eh brother, Tech Director is not suppose to do this la, ask producer / sm / director / props head please. I'm sorry..."  Haha! I love this post!

 

>> Read some local chinese scripts collections while trying to find a script for our production. Found out that reading scripts is just like looking into the mirror. 人生如戏，戏如人生。Some recommendations: 《戏戏相关》 and 《亲密关戏》 by 海燕等人。(海燕等人 is a group of chinese drama enthusiasts age between 25 and 35, all graduated from HwaChong.)

 

>> Recess has came and gone. Spent most of it discussing script, finding/ recceing theatre, doing tutorials, preparing for quizzes, preparing for presentation. No time to meet friends.

 

>> I realised I have an innate fear of presentations. I felt low morale weeks before the presentation. I felt very scared just minutes before the presentation. However, at the time when I was presenting, strangely I didn't feel scared. I just said what I've painfully prepared without major glitches. Yada yada yada and that's it, end of slide. Hmmm... Maybe there is nothing much to be afraid about presentations.

 

But still, I hate presentations.

 

>> >> >>

 

>> 8 Oct 06

 

 

Self-thought-up qian bian ti

Kinda bored lately, and mind has been wondering about while attending and doing tutorials, hence giving birth to crap like these:

 

白天要做的工作会给你什么感觉？ （猜一个字）

 

Which word start with 'S' can kill?

 

******

 

The 2nd answer is S-word.

 

The 1st answer is 显 ..........

 

 ......

 

Btw, these qian bian ti are copyrighted.

 

 

Philosophic Ramblings

What are the 2 most essential inventions, inventions we cannot do without, that rob away the freedom we wanted so much and making us slaves to the society?
 
Clock. And. Handphone.
 
The concepts of time and communication have been the deepest-most roots that gave rise to the tree of our civilization, the super glue that stick us human beings together.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Time keep the society synchronised - what people do what at what moment, as a result, civilization was formed. 'what moment' = time. We have a bad word for people who are out-of-sync: LATE. We are being frowned at when we are late (unless we are 'punctually' late). Therefore, when the clock rings, we have to force our tired bodies to wake up no matter how much we hate ourselves (and others) for having to wake up.
 
We are chained by this thing that we can't see, touch or hear. Time.

 

* * * * * * *

 

There was once a time where none of us here has handphone. None. But it has changed since. Dramatically.

 

Ask yourself, deep down in your heart, how do you feel when your handphone ran out of batt?

 

"Yeah! No one can contact me le!"??? Most probably is the exact opposite, isn't it?

 

Ask yourself, deep down in your heart, how do you feel when one of your friends don't have a handphone (Endangered species, this bunch.)?

 

"Dun have dun have lor." ??? Wait til you want to contact him. Feel the deep frustration within you. (Beware of the dark side.)

 

Handphone -

The device that tell people do what at what time. Vice versa. And that is the bad part.

The handcuff you can't bear to take out.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Bonus question

This has absolutely no relations with the above crap. Except that it may be just another crap.

 

While I was shopping in Bugis Junction last Sunday, I saw a very interesting pen. Innocent looking, but when it writes, no words come out; the words are invisible, until you shine violet light on the words using the pen's cap.

 

Question: What can such an interesting pen be use for?

 

If you are thinking along the lines of writing secret messages (as it's advertised), forget about buying the pen. It is a waste of money.

 

However, if you are thinking along the lines of using before and during tests and exams...

 

*sly smile*

 

I bought one on the spot.

  

 

Jiefeng's World

A world where the spirit of a girl who died 9 years ago stands in the middle of a tug-of-war between the forces of Good and Evil. What had happened to her? More importantly, what will happened to YOU. You choose the path. You make the choice. In Jiefeng's world, how the story ends depends on YOU.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Recently, as I walked slowly browsing through rows and rows of  boxes DVD movies on the shelf of a movie rental store, I get a feeling that, inside these boxes are exciting and exotic man-made worlds that we will never have a chance to experience in real life. And they are strangely beakoning you to step inside them, into the worlds that the directors, script writers have painsakingly crafted. As soon as you put the DVD into the player and switched on the television, you are transported out of the real world and into the minds of other people - into the world they had imagined.

 

* * * * * * *

 

That night, my job was to accompany one of the actoress at the top of a very dark and spacious rooftop. We were talking cock until the freshies approached. I hid, and she transformed. It was the last scene. The spirit of the poor girl at a crossroad: salvation, or eternal damnation, at the decision of the freshies.

 

At that moment in time, the line between reality and fantasy blurred. The world I was in was only as big as the NTU's Innovation Center and South Spine, where all the characters were doing as they did in my imagination. The freshies were inside my mind, interacting with the people I thought up, deciding their fates even. 

 

At that moment in time, I'm inside my mind too, eavedropping on and curious about what the characters inside my mind were doing.

 

At that moment in time - Satisfaction.

 

 

 NTU Hall 11 Mystery Walk

DEVIL / ANGEL     

 

 

Interesting Hoaxes

The Fat Squad

 

In 1986, Joe Bones found the Fat Squad. The staff of this organisation is deldicate to helping their client lose weight by standing guard beside them 24 hours a day. Should a client ever be tempted to snack, the fat squad member would be right there to prevent it. Joe Bones boasted, "Once you hire us you cannot fire us."

 

The Society For Indecency to Naked Animals (SINA)

 

G. Clifford Prout was a man with a mission, and that mission was to put the clothes on all the million of naked animals throughout the world. To realize his dream he found SINA (it was left unexplained why the society was "for indecency" not "against indecency").

 

Religion of Jedi Knights

 

As the 2001 census geared up in Britain, an e-mail began to spread declaring that if 10,000 people listed their religious affiliation on the census form as Jedi Knight, then the government would be forced to acknowledge 'Jediism' as an officially recognized faith.

The British government dismissed the suggestion as nonsense, but thousands of people decided to try it out anyway.

As the census got underway the Office of National Statistics found itself flooded with forms from people who solemnly declared themselves to be Jedi Knights. So many Jedi entries arrived that the ONS eventually gave the aberrant listing its own classification number: "896." The ONS claimed that it did this merely to assist with the filing of the forms, denying that it had officially recognized Jediism as a religion.

 

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/

 

I Ching (易经）aka The Book of Changes

I Ching. Based on the philosophy of Tao, which offers a means of examining the universe

through the principals of interconnectedness - or Jungian synchronicity.

 

Wikipedia - There is a flow in the universe, and it is called Tao. Tao flows slowly,

however; it is never stagnant and is incredibly powerful and keeps things in the universe

balanced and in order. It manifests itself through change of seasons, cycle of life, shifts

of power, time, and so forth. Tao has a strong and deep connection with cosmology and the

natural world. Tao is the law of Nature. The concept of Tao is based upon the understanding that the only constant in the universe is change, (ie. I Ching, the "Book of Changes") and that we must understand and be in harmony with this change. The change is a constant flow from non-being into being, potential into actual, yin into yang...

 

From my understanding, Tao encompasses every single thing in the universe, including

knowledge of the future. When we throw the coins, we are in tune with the Tao; everything is connected at this exact moment to select the exact wisdom appropriate in a book created by the sages of China over a period of five thousands years - The I Ching.

 

The I Ching serves to break down preconceptions by forcing us to correlate our situation

with a chance sequence of six readings; and in the calm of withdrawal into sacred time and

space, we can free the mind to take account of all infomation whether or not it conflicts

with the preconceptions, awaken it to unnoticed similarities and connections.

 

Hokkien Shows!

Hokkien Star Wars

 

Hokkien Lord of the Rings

 

Hokkien James Bond

 

 

The most cock thing you will ever see! =P 

 

 

Tests

 

You Are 5: The Investigator

You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

What Number Are You?

 

True true.

 

  

 

Your Love Life Secrets Are

Looking back on your life, you will only have one true love. You're a little scarred from your past relationships, but who isn't? It's important to you that your lover is very attractive. You like to have someone to show off. In fights, you seek compromise and back down from conflict. You always try to smooth things out. Getting over a break-up doesn't take long. Easy come, easy go. Your Love Life Secrets, Revealed

 

Hmmm.... The 2nd line is obviously fei hua (and it admit it itself). The last line, I dun think so.

 

 

Your Pirate Name Is...

Arch-Pirate Dagger Dan What's Your Pirate Name?

 

 LOL!

  

三十六计

○总说

 

六六三十六，数中有术，术中有数。阴阳燮理，机在其中。机不可设，设则不中。

 

○第一套〖胜战计〗

 

第01计  瞒天过海    备周则意怠，常见则不疑。阴在阳之内，不在阳之对。太阳，太阴。
第02计  围魏救赵    共敌不如分敌，敌阳不如敌阴。
第03计  借刀杀人    敌已明，友未定，引友杀敌。不自出力，以《损》推演。
第04计  以逸待劳    困敌之势，不以战。损刚益柔。
第05计  趁火打劫    敌之害大，就势取利，刚决柔也。
第06计  声东击西    敌志乱萃，不虞。坤下兑上之象，利其不自主而取之。

 

○第二套〖敌战计〗

 

第07计  无中生有    诳也，非诳也，实其所诳也。少阴、太阴、太阳。
第08计  暗渡陈仓    示之以动，利其静而有主，“益动而巽”。
第09计  隔岸观火    阳乖序乱，阴以待逆。暴戾恣睢，其势自毙。顺以动豫，豫顺以动。
第10计  笑里藏刀    信而安之，阴以图之。备而后动，勿使有变。刚中柔外也。
第11计  李代桃僵    势必有损，损阴以益阳。
第12计  顺手牵羊    微隙在所必乘，微利在所必得。少阴，少阳。

 

○第三套〖攻战计〗

 

第13计  打草惊蛇    疑以叩实，察而后动。复者，阴之媒也。
第14计  借尸还魂    有用者，不可借；不能用者，求借。借不能用者而用之。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。
第15计  调虎离山    待天以困之，用人以诱之，往蹇来返。
第16计  欲擒姑纵    逼则反兵，走则减势。紧随勿迫，累其气力，消其斗志，散而后擒，兵不血刃。需，有孚，光。
第17计  抛砖引玉    类以诱之，击蒙也。
第18计  擒贼擒王    摧其坚，夺其魁，以解其体。龙战于野，其道穷也。

 

○第四套〖混战计〗

 

第19计  釜底抽薪    不敌其力，而消其势，兑下乾上之象。
第20计  混水摸鱼    乘其阴乱，利其弱而无主。随，以向晦入宴息。
第21计  金蝉脱壳    存其形，完其势；友不疑，敌不动。巽而止蛊。
第22计  关门捉贼    小敌困之。剥，不利有攸往。
第23计  远交近攻    形禁势格，利从近取，害以远隔。上火下泽。
第24计  假道伐虢    两大之间，敌胁以从，我假以势。困，有言不信。

 

○第五套〖并战计〗

 

第25计  偷梁换柱    频更其阵，抽其劲旅，待其自败，而后乘之。曳其轮也。
第26计  指桑骂槐    大凌小者，警以诱之。刚中而应，行险而顺。
第27计  假痴不癫    宁伪作不知不为，不伪作假知妄为。静不露机，云雷屯也。
第28计  上屋抽梯    假之以便，唆之使前，断其援应，陷之死地。遇毒，位不当也。
第29计  树上开花    借局布势，力小势大。鸿渐于陆，其羽可以为仪也。
第30计  反客为主    乘隙插足，扼其主机，渐之进也。

 

○第六套〖败战计〗

 

第31计  美人计      兵强者，攻其将；将智者，伐其情。将弱兵颓，其势自萎。利用御寇，顺相保也。
第32计  空城计      虚者虚之，疑中生疑。刚柔之际，奇而复奇。
第33计  反间计      疑中之疑。比之自内，不自失也。
第34计  苦肉计      人不自害，受害必真。假真真假，间以得行。童蒙之吉，顺以巽也。
第35计  连环计      将多兵众，不可以敌，使其自累，以杀其势。在师中吉，承天宠也。
第36计  走为上      全师避敌。左次无咎，未失常也。
 

Now watching a china historical drama called 《孙子兵法与三十六计》, which depicts what happened during the warring states. Very interesting. =)

 

 

What is Happiness?

Happiness is meeting up with friends, especially those you haven't met for a very long time. Happiness is making something you carefully planned becoming a reality. Happiness is watching a very good movie. Happiness is playing DOTA, and win. Happiness is sipping mocha frappe in a quiet environment. Happiness is walking around the school campus in the middle of the night. Happiness is tasting delicious food. Happiness is seeing people rehearse for the script you wrote. Happiness is having a good chat. Happiness is doing all these with your friends. Happiness is no need to study for exams. Happiness is being free to do what you want. Happiness going out with family. Happiness is doing something you like. Happiness is working, when you enjoy every minute of it. Happiness is having no sickness, because sickness is the no. 1 cause of unhappiness. Happiness is having a good book to read. Happiness is having no worries. Happiness is watching animaes. Happiness is being so happy that you can think about what happiness is. Happiness is...

 

Try to be happy ok? =)

 

 

Gong Qi Jun

Watched a few of 宫崎骏 's animaes recently - 哈尔的移动之城, 龙猫, 天空之城, 飞天红猪侠, 神隐少女. They are not terriblily exciting, some people even say it is boring. But strangely his animae has a unique kind of appeal that is different from all other animaes. Most of the stories doesn't make any sense (A living cat bus? A pig/human riding fighter plane? Flying castle? A girl trapped in a strange realm?), but stirs your imaginations, and you will wonder what the author is trying to tell you. Then, the scenes are beautiful, the music are smoothing. While you are watching it you will feel very relaxed - it is like in a art gallery and a concert at the same time, and the pictures are moving.

 

    

 

Ahhh... watching relaxing movies in the relaxing holidays. This is life. 

 

享受人生. =)

 

http://comic.sina.com.cn/kongbai/gong.shtml

 

 

Daisy Music Video

A bit outdated here, but well, good stuff must share mah. Nice music + beautiful scenery + handsome actors + pretty actress + cool professions (assassin, artist, detective) + good plot = good movie.

 

 

http://aiselo.net/jeon/MV/M0003104_700.wmv

 

 

The Man in the High Castle

Just finished the above book, which was written by Philip K Dick. The most well-known work by Philip K Dick is Minority Report and most of his stories have the idea that the universe is only apparently real, an illusion behind which the truth might dwell. (And I love this kind of stories.) Since I think you guys won't bother to find this book and read, I'll just share the story with you here.

 

This story is set in the present times, with one major difference: Allies have lost the Second War World. Nazis and Japanese rules the world, each taking half. The minority people living at the Nazis' side are kinda sad. The Jews and the Blacks are persecuted. The entire African continent is wiped out - it is now a radioactive wasteland. It is hell. People in the Japanese side are generally ok, and eastern cultures and philosophies now seep into the west.

 

One very good example is that the chinese I Ching, The Book of Change is widely used as an oracle by the general public throughout the world. It possess wisdom accumulated for thousands of years - it knows everything: past, present, future. It knows the Way, and people consult it on all matters.

 

In this alternative world, it happens that there is another book that is very popular: it is a novel called The Glasshopper Lies Heavy. In this novel, it depicts a world where allies won the war. Everyone who read the book was facinated by the world depicted in this novel. It becomes a bestseller in areas not controlled by Nazis.

 

So towards the end of the story, the main female character finally found the author of The Glasshopper at the High Castle. She demanded the truth about the novel.

 

"The oracle wrote your book, didn't it?"

 

The author admitted it. He consulted the oracle for at every history's cross junction. One by one he made the choices. Thousands of them. Historic period. Subject. Characters. Plot. It took him years.

 

The main female character, Juliana, then asked, "Why would the oracle write a novel? Why one about Germans and Japanese losing the world? Why that particular story and no other one?"

 

In the end, the two of them finally asked the oracle these questions:

 

"Why did you write The Grasshopper Lies Heavy? What are we supposed to learn?"

 

After they tossed the coins 6 times, they arrived at this:

 

Sun at the top. Tui at the bottom. Empty in the center. The Inner Truth  hexagram.

 

"I know what it means without using the chart. Do you?"

 

"Yes. It means, does it, that my book is true?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Germany and Japan lost the war?" he said disbelievingly.

 

"Yes."

 

The story ends with the author autographed a copy of The Glasshopper for her, and she left.

 

Interesting huh? =)

 

 

A short summary of what I did this week

Played some games - DOTA and Unreal Tourament.

 

Watch My Sassy Girl, a movie I downloaded long long time ago. Very nice and touching story! 4 stars.

 

Planning and finding cast for mystery walk. Rehearsing the cast. Orientate them.

 

Shopping for props and makeup at Bras Basah and Bugis Village.

 

Watched Superman Returns. Is the director trying to compare Superman and God? I rate it 3.5 stars. Stories ain't terribly exciting when the heroes inside are almost godlike.

 

Arranged to meet an old friend to watch 千里走单骑 by 张艺谋 this tuesday. Finally found someone who appreciate one of my favourite directors. 

 

Played basketball.

 

Doing handicraft - making crosses (props) from wood. Cut wood until hand pain.

 

Yesterday is our hall FOC mock camp for senior. Did a tech run for mystery walk. Cast turn-up rate only around 50+%, but I am thankful for those who turned up. From the comments of those who went through the walk, I would say I am quite happy with the progress. At least 50+% of the stations are good and ready.

 

Watch a bit of World Cup when we come back. England vs Portugal first half. Boring dao siao. 0-0 until penalty. Watch until I want to sleep. zzz...

 

Today - ate dim sum with my dad at Suntec. Rented 3 vcds: Election 黑社会 2, Daisy 爱无间, Typhoon 台风. Watched 2. Election is not bad, but somehow I feel very sleepy towards the end of the show. The 2nd one Daisy is better. It captures my attention throughout the show. The girl damn suay, meet 2 guys, all bring bad luck. But the story is quite touching. I am starting to think films starring 全智贤 will be good. 3.5 and 4 stars respectively.

 

Next week's highlights will be: More rehearsals, moving to new room (housewarming anyone?), meeting up with friends, Pirates of the Caribbean maybe?

 

Hopefully next week won't be too bored.

 

 

Puzzles

Here are some logic puzzles I heard during the course of my work. And I love logic puzzles.

 

Puzzle 1 - difficulty: **

 

There are 3 identical light bulbs A, B & C in an enclosed room. Outside the room there are 3 identical switches 1, 2 & 3. After you play around with the 3 switches, you can only go into the room once, after which you know which switch control which light bulb, ie, Switch 1 control what, Switch 2 control what, Switch 3 control what.

 

Point to note: when you are outside the room playing around with the switch, you can't see the inside of the room, including the light bulbs. 

 

 

Puzzle 2 - difficulty: ***

 

There are 3 death row prisoners standing in a single file, the tallest behind, shortest in front, and all of them is facing front. The king choose 3 apples from a bag of 2 red and 2 green apples and put 1 apple on each of their heads. The king throws the remaining 1 apple away, whose color none of the prisoners know.

 

Each prisoner cannot talk to one another, cannot turn around, cannot see his own apple. So the scenario now is that the tallest prisoner can see the apples on the head of the prisoners in front of him; the one standing in the middle can see the apple on the head of the shortest guy; and the shortest guy can see nothing.

 

The prisoners are supposed to guess the color of the apple on top of their heads. Upon giving the right answer, they will be freed. However, upon giving the wrong answer, they will be beheaded immediately.

 

So, it happens that the color sequence of apples from the tallest guy to the shortest guy is: red, green, red. And the middle person, upon some hesitation, figured out the color of the apple above his head and was freed immediately. He did not simply guess the answer, he was absolutely 101% sure of the color of the apple above his head.

 

How the hell did he figure out?

 

 

Puzzle 3 - difficulty ****

 

There are 2 rooms, one is filled with traps, tigers, scopions, snakes - after you go in most probably you will never come out again; the other is filled riches and treasures beyond your wildest imagination. We will label the rooms 'Good Room' and 'Bad Room' respectively. However, you don't know which is which.

 

Don't worry though, there are two persons in front of the two rooms to help you. BUT, there is a catch: one of them can only tell lies and one of them can only tell the truth, and as usual, you can't tell who is who.

 

You can only ask any ONE of them one question and ONE question ONLY. You die die want to get all the treasures in the Good Room. So the question is:

 

What question will you ask?

 

Hint: the question is phrase in such a way that it doesn't matter who you ask.

 

 

(I found out about Puzzle 3 on the net long time ago, but alas, I forgot the ask my colleagues...)

 

 

Oh btw, no answers will be given. I won't want to rob you of the joy you will have when you figure out the answers yourself. =)

 

 

Ramble ramble - In search of God

There is one line from the horoscope personality analysis in the last entry: Aquarians 'seek truth above all things'. I can't help but think of the discussion with my christian colleague today about the existence of God today. Frankly speaking, I'm a free-thinker, I've nothing against the existance of God. However, evidence and logic point (quite strongly, I would say) towards the non-existance of God (see here), so for the time being, I would remain a free-thinker.

 

Actually there is this argument by my colleague and a very good friend that may best prove that God exist, and that is the Healing Crusade, which shows that some pastors can actually heal seriously-ill people miraculously. If God doesn't exist, how did these miracles happened? Of course I don't have any good answers to this question. I do have a not so good answer though: the paster is a mutant with healing powers? (kidding =P) But being the 'seeker of truth' (aka skeptic) that I am, I won't believe in God unless I get cancer and is healed personally in the Healing Crusade.

 

Errr... But God, if You exist and being extremely benevolent, surely You won't let me ganna cancer to make me believe in You right? =P Afterall, it is You who give us the freedom to choose whether to believe in You or not, isn't it? And if I don't belive in You, it is not due to the lack of trying, really. If I'm not trying, there won't even be this entry! 

 

But the problem is: if You do not give me cancer (and heal me), I won't believe in You!

 

I think after I posted this entry, I'll be suffering like shit either in life or in hell if God exist. =(

 

Wait. I've a strange thought: From the above paragraph, the high probablilty that I'll suffer in life sooner or later (as most people will) proves that there is a high probability that God exist!!! And if I am going to suffer sooner or later, isn't it better to believe in God now?

 

(Hmmm... another question came into my mind: is suffering the main reason why people believe in God?)

 

But then, if God = suffering, how can I believe in Him??

 

 

P.S. This is just a random rambling of a 峰子，which was inspired by a conversation he had with his colleague this afternoon. I hope that my christian friends won't take offense in the things I wrote. I really meant no offense to anyone. Meanwhile I will welcome any attempts to convert me to christianity; philosophic discussion is always fun. 

 

P.P.S. The colleague told me that we are just like ants crawling on God's hand. Just like ants crawling on our hands don't know what we are thinking, we don't know that God is thinking. At that time I think she sounds quite 有道理. But in retrospect when I reached home, I found that I do know what I am thinking when ants are crawling on my hand...  The thoughts ain't too comforting for the ants =( 

 

Fiona, if you are reading this, what you gonna to say? =P

 

 

I imagine she will say,

 

"Go to hell ." =)

 

 

On the road to self discovery

Aquarius About Your Sign...

Aquarians basically possess strong and attractive personalities. They fall into two principle types: one shy, sensitive, gentle and patient; the other exuberant, lively and exhibitionist, sometimes hiding the considerable depths of their character under a cloak of frivolity. Both types are strong willed and forceful in their different ways and have strong convictions, though as they seek truth above all things, they are usually honest enough to change their opinions, however firmly held, if evidence comes to light which persuades them that they have been mistaken. They have a breadth of vision that brings diverse factors into a whole, and can see both sides of an argument without shilly-shallying as to which side to take. Consequently they are unprejudiced and tolerant of other points of view. This is because they can see the validity of the argument, even if they do not accept it themselves. They obey the Quaker exhortation to "Be open to truth, from whatever source it comes," and are prepared to learn from everyone.

Both types are humane, frank, serious minded, genial, refined, sometimes ethereal, and idealistic, though this last quality is tempered with a sensible practicality. They are quick, active and persevering without being self-assertive, and express themselves with reason, moderation and sometimes, a dry humor.

They are nearly always intelligent, concise, clear and logical. Many are strongly imaginative and psychically intuitive, so that the Age of Aquarius, which is about to begin, is much anticipated by psychic circles as an age in which mankind will experience a great spiritual awakening. The Aquarian philosophical and spiritual bent may be dangerous in that it can drive the subjects into an ivory-tower existence where they meditate on abstractions that bear little relevance to life. On the other hand it can help the many who have scientific leanings to combine these with the Aquarian yearning for the universal recognition of the brotherhood of man, and to embark on scientific research to fulfill their philanthropic ideals of benefiting mankind. When some cause or work of this nature inspires them, they are capable of such devotion to it that they may drive themselves to the point of exhaustion and even risk injuring their health.

Both types need to retire from the world at times and to become temporary loners. They appreciate opportunities for meditation or, if they are religious, of retreats. Even in company they are fiercely independent, refusing to follow the crowd. They dislike interference by others, however helpfully intended, and will accept it only on their own terms. Normally they have good taste in drama, music and art, and are also gifted in the arts, especially drama.

In spite of the often intensely magnetic, forthcoming and open personality of the more extrovert kind of Aquarian, and of their desire to help humanity, neither type makes friends easily. They sometimes appear to condescend to others and take too little trouble to cultivate the acquaintance of people who do not particularly appeal to them. They do not give themselves easily - perhaps their judgment of human nature is too good for that - and are sometimes accounted cold. But once they decide that someone is worthy of their friendship or love, they can exert an almost hypnotic and irresistible mental attraction on them and will themselves become tenacious friends or lovers, ready to sacrifice everything for their partners and be faithful to them for life. However, they are sometimes disappointed emotionally because their own high personal ideals cause them to demand more of others than is reasonable. And if they are deceived their anger is terrible. If disillusioned, they do not forgive.

Aquarians work best in group projects, provided that they are recognized as having a leading part in them. They have a feeling of unity with nature and a desire for knowledge and truth that makes them admirable scientists, especially astronomers and natural historians. They may excel in photography, radiography, electronics - anything connected with the electrical and radio industries - aviation and everything technical. On the arts and humanities side their progressive tendencies can be expressed in writing, especially poetry, and broadcasting, or as welfare workers and teachers. Some have gifts as entertainers and make good character actors (having an ability to mimic) and musicians. The more psychic among them possess healing gifts, especially in curing the mentally sick.

Among the faults to which they are liable are fanatical eccentricity, wayward egotism, excessive detachment and an inclination to retreat from life and society, and a tendency to be extremely dogmatic in their opinions. Aquarians can be a threat to all they survey or a great boon for humanity in general. Circumstances - for example, continuous opposition to a cause they hold dear - may cause the atrophy of the openness of mind that is one of the Aquarian's most attractive traits. They may express a lack of integrity in broken promises, secretiveness or cunning. Simmering anger and resentment, rudeness or, worse, a tense, threatening silence which may suddenly burst out in eruptions of extreme temper, these are all part of the negative side of the Aquarian. This can also reveal itself in a sustained hatred for enemies that is capable of enlarging itself into a misanthropy toward the whole of mankind.

 

http://www.astrology-online.com/aquarius.htm

 

Those in bold is quite true for me, I think.

 

 

Work

My workplace is only five bus stops and one MRT station away from my house. That is the good news. However, I need to take a bus, change another bus, change to MRT, and in total, take about 1.5 hours to reach my work place in Expo from the moment I step out of my house. That is the bad new. Luckily, that is the only bad news. Phew.

 

Basically what I am doing is to register those who came to the exhibition and print out their passes, together with about fifteen others. And the number of people coming to the exhibition after the first day are, well, let just say I am quite free after the first day morning. =P

 

The job would be extremely boring if not for the fact that I was surrounded by my fellow hall mates, and some interesting new friends I made during the course of my work. We entertained each other by talking cock, asking qian bian questions and playing puzzle games. Though the work is quite tiring (sitting there for hours is actually quite tiring, in fact, now is only 10.25 pm but I wanted to sleep liao), I must say I kinda enjoyed myself.

 

Tomorrow is the last day of work. Glad that I finally can get to sleep at 3+ and wake up at 9+ once more. =)

 

 

Think out of the box

But once you think out of the box, the thing you think become the box. No wonder there is a saying: 'Think without the box.'

 

Kinda hard, though.

 

 

Recommendations

Watched countless shows recently, movies in cinema, movies on tv, rented movies, variety shows etc. Some recommendations for ya if you are very bored nowadays, if you haven't watch my recommendations before, if you have a movie rental near your house, or if you can download anything you want from the net. 

 

Old movies (all > 4 stars)

 

Pirates of the Caribbean -

Watched before in theatre, but rented again for my dad to see, and it is still as good. Part 2 coming soon.

 

SWAT - Same as above.

 

Shutter - Recommendation from one of my FOC's bosses. Not scary, but the twists are good.

 

三更 - First 2 parts are crap. But the third part by 陈可辛 is superb.

 

Lord of War -

Watched it long before exam. But still want to recommend it here. It's about an arms dealer trying to make a living. Is he right, or is he wrong?

 

 

Variety show

Love Letter -

Korean match making show for its celebraties, full of handsome guys pretty gals, and it's damn funny. I only got a few episodes, if you know where to download tell me!

 

Drama

Prison Break -

It is about a genius younger brother going into the prison helping his innocent elder brother break out of it. At the same time friends outside trying to expose a big conspiracy about US Vice President. Very exciting.

 

Currently showing

Over the Hedge - I repeat: MUST SEE!

 

X-Men -

Ok lah, if you are fans, you would have watched it. If you are not, watch it if you are free.

 

 

That's all folks. =)

Theory of a Good Ghost Walk

Finally my design and innovation project is over. Now the only things for me to do is play games, write ghost walk script (in our hall we called it mystery walk), play games and play games... Actually now I'm kinda sick of play games, so now only left writing ghost walk script. =P

 

Hmmm... Seems that I've been writing the script for ghost walk for months now and yet nothing has come out of it. Well well, writing a good ghost walk story is not easy business. Let me share with you guys the 'Good Ghost Walk' theory - my idea of a good ghost walk.

 

Firstly, a ghost walk is a... ghost walk. It is not (just) a ghost story or a ghost movie. The people are going through this. So, what does this means? It means there's opportunity for the 'walkers' to interact with the things and characters, unlike the audience of a horror movie. And this is the key - INTERACTIVITY.

 

For example, a typical ghost walk in NTU is about a murder, and the walkers are required to solve the murder. Well, there are interactivity, true. The walkers have to talk to the characters/ ghosts to get clues. But in my opinion, this kind of ghost walk is a under-usage of the opportunity for interactivity provided by a ghost walk. You either solve or didn't solve the murder, but nothing has changed. The murder happened.

 

However I was thinking, why not make the walkers part of the characters in the story? Why not if they solve or do something, the murder won't happen?? Multiple endings will be a good idea.

 

Secondly, a ghost walk must be scary. Let me ask a question: You see a ghost going to murder someone else who you don't know scarier? Or you see a ghost going to murder you (or your friends who are going through the walk with you) scarier? This is the second key - IMMERSITY. 

 

Thirdly, I found a problem with traditional murder mystery ghost walks. There is one killer, there is one victim, so there is supposedly only one ghost. Why the hell when I walk the walk I saw so many ghosts poping out from nowhere? WTF?! It is not LOGICAL! And talking about being logical, unless you can write as good as 佐藤文也  (金田一 's author), there is no point writing detective/ murder story for your ghost walk. (And I can't write as well as him.)

 

Lastly, another question: which is the scariest? A) a killer B) the ghost of a victim or C) a evil spirit/ demon which has already killed alot of people. Lets think about the protagonist in a very very scary horror movie you have watched. 真子 came to your mind?

 

With these ideas in mind I wrote a script that is, I won't say revolutionary, but I would say it's different. So I took my scripts and let my friends read, and they gave lots of constructive comments, like I failed make my story for suitable for local audience by writing about demon - LOCALITY. And the script kinda lack emotions - ya know, when people kill another people there's lots of emotions involved, but since my story is about demon... I more or less didn't emphacize too much on the HUMAN FACTORS. I admit these are good comments, and I will make changes accordingly. 

 

However what makes me abit 心灰意冷 is that got people wants me to cut down on what they called Game elements (which is actually increased Interactivity) and die die want one ending instead of multiple endings. Then they told me there is a reason why typical ghost walks remain as what they are. Then there is another group of friends that tell me that a ghost walk being scary is all that matters. People don't heck care about the story.

 

Well, all I can say is, different people have different ideologies for what constitude a good ghost walk. I can't possibly reconcile everyone's wishes, though I'll try my best, really. Actually I don't mind people don't like my story, but if people don't like my style, I must say there're some ideas I don't wish to compromise. If I'm going to do it, I am going to try out my ideas.

 

If not, I'm not going to do it.

 

 

Over The Hedge

If you looking for a good laugh, watch Over The Hedge!!! 5 stars! Highly recommended! =)

 

 

This week

Recently I discovered a very very very horrible fact -

 

I can't button up my pants anymore!!!

 

Arghhh... I highly suspect this is the result of me sitting an average 16 hours a day in front of books and computer for the past two years (the other 8 hours I'm sleeping). And this is bad. So I decided that some extreme measures are needed... I've decided to tag along my neighbours for basketball and soccer session the next time they go... both sports I haven't played for years until last monday, which I would say is fun and tiring.

 

Did a little part time this week, and its the most interesting job I ever did. Basically you are supposed to use a little eduacational software which teaches complex systems (the ideas behind chaos theory) and give them feedback. The first time I'm paid for studying! And they are very interesting subjects woh - eg. how ants search for food, how traffic jams are formed without accident whatsoever, the fluctuating relationship between predator and prey, dynamic actions vs event actions, decentralisd vs centralised control, feedack, self organization etc etc...

 

So, does a traffic jam move forwards or backwards?

 

The answer is backwards. The explanation 说来话长, so I won't write here le.

 

Then went for a little walk after dinner last night until 12am. Looking for all the dark places in NTU. Frankly speaking, we discovered quite a few good spots, hehehe...

 

What else did I do last week? Hmmm... went to watch an art house film L'enfant (The Child) at cathay picture house. Lian He Zao Bao gave a whooping 4 stars to this movie. All I can say is, none of you reading this blog, I emphazise, none of you here will like this movie, unless you like the MOST art house of the art house films. Haha the movie is not bad lah. To me, no movies are bad. There are only three kinds of movie: Highly interesting, mediocre and highly uninteresting. And sometimes, strangely, watching movies at the very extreme end of the spectrum can be quite interesting also.

 

But this is not something you would want to do everyday of course. =)

 

Lastly, besides all the above, the rest of the time I spent doing data entry for my project, play DOTA, play Heroes 5, write mystery walk, play DOTA, play Heroes 5 etc etc...

 

Canoeing one whole day this sunday. It is going to be another xiong day again... Hopefully I can button up my pants after sunday. =P

 

 

Holidays

Quoridor, Dungeons and Dragons board game, DOTA, Ghost in the Shell, Swimming, Mystery Walk writing, Retail Therapy, Movies (MI3, 小孩不笨), Coffee Bean, Stephen King, DIP project, etc etc...    

 

 

No time to feng yan feng yu at all...

 

 

JJ outing

Had an outing with my 姐妹 (minus 姐) 们 yesterday - dim sum buffet plus Settlers. Hmm everytime go out with them very stress one, they will judge whether you are gentleman or not. Liddat I want to jiak jua oso cannot... sianz... Luckily from their blogs can see that I passed with flying colors, hehe =P (Thanks for the good comments!)

 

Then there's this topic that will be brought up without fail every single time by my 'caring' sisters - "when will we get a dao sao?" Imagine I heard the same question for 6 years since we (have the misfortune to)  know each other liao. Argh! Cannot take it le! Next time I will 乾坤大挪移 the topic to... 小妹 ! (Now your 大姐 and 三姐 pang4 seh1 you, you cannot use the 'da ge must get attached 1st then sisters then can get attached ' defense le =P)  *evil laugh* Watch out man!

 

But all in all we had lots of fun and laughter during our short gathering, except maybe when the conversation goes something like this:

 

Sis: When your exams end?

Me: Friday.

Sis: Mine Saturday, 迟你一天 =)

Me: (Hehe NUS still got pple later then me? Sure anot?) Mine this coming friday leh.

Sis: Oh! Mine is last Saturday. =)

Me: ......  

 

 

And this happened not once but twice lor... Haiz... I think I betta go study le...

 

PS. Come to think of it, lucky they din let us play Snakes and Ladders =P