Intangible

A LONG LONG TIME AGO, on the 27th of November, jiaxiang and I went to SITEX to shop. I remember the date clearly for 2 reasons. One - I did tell someone I'm going there. Two - I needed my hard drive back from jiaxiang desperately to watch the movies I stored on it. Three - because I did get to tell someone I'm going there, something bad happened between us. No link.

I wasn't there to *shop*, honestly. I had clearly in mind what I wanted - a 1 TB HARD DRIVE that is PORTABLE and CHEAP. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, they're pretty much mutually exclusive. I could sense the evil plot in those manufacturer's minds : not one brand could accomplish all 3. According to jiaxiang, it is due to "technological limitations". I could choose to buy a Maxtor drive that looks like an elephant but costs $180 only, or buy one from Western Digital that looks sleek but costs up to $230. Even though the specifications are the same (3.5 inch), the size varies like what the peanuts. YES, IT'S JUST LIKE SOMEONE'S WIVE WHO SAID $600K IS PEANUTS.

After walking around for 2+ hours around a damn crowded Expo, I decided to just grab a $209 Seagate freeagent drive. Ok I know that didn't make sense to any of you. It's just something that looks better than an elephant, but that's pretty purpose defeating since I won't be looking at it all the time - it's not THAT portable.

Just so that you've been wondering WTF IS THE POINT OF YOUR ENTRY, I'm going to get to it soon. Jiaxiang wanted his Western Digital Black Caviar 1 TB hard drive really badly. The only reason why I could remember those 4 words so clearly was because he mentioned it to every booth at SITEX. Just to illustrate how fussy he can get, a booth sold Western Digital GREEN something something. Same size LOWER price. I went "EH LOOK TAKE THAT ONE LA" because my legs were wobbling already. Jiaxiang was firm like fuck - "cannot la. this one cannot anyhow de lor. green is for saving power leh. black got different performance de lor"

._.

After walking around for another hour, it became clear that his hard drive wasn't sold at SITEX - because he was looking for an internal one. Apparently IT shows decided to sell those that can be customized easily only, and if we were to get his internal hard drive, we had to get to one of the outlets at.... sim lim square. And so jiaxiang asked me "eh now still early hor. you don't mind come with me to city hall right?" It was 6.30 already, and I could easily just take a train up to pasir ris and take a straight bus home. BUT SOMEHOW, my mouth gaped here and there and said "anything lor lets go".

If you were observant enough, you'll notice that sim lim square isn't at city hall. BUT THAT'S WHERE WE WENT! Imagine me lugging my semi-elephant box while catching up with a hyper jiaxiang. I don't quite get how many cans of red bull he drank that day, but apparently he ran all over funan IT mall (next to city hall mrt) and called someone else, only to realise that sim lim was at bugis. In the end I was so cui that I was 1 level below him at sim lim square - he told me to wait for him while he go get his drive. It was an epic race against time - we reached a shop which closes at 9 at around 8.48. And jiaxiang still behaved as though he was still full of red bull.
We ate dinner somewhere, but didn't say anything through out. He was clutching on to his hard drive, checking it incessantly, making sure he really did get the right one.

On my way home I contemplated sitting on the box containing my drive - it's slightly less unglam than sitting on the MRT floor. I wondered why performance was that important as compared to power saving - saving the earth ftw. I wondered why he couldn't do without that Western Digital Caviar Black, and not simply take an elephantine one like I wanted to. I wondered why I needed a 1 TB drive just because my 250 GB one was left with 6 GB too, not that any of it was used for porn. I wondered why I never thought of pangseh-ing him once since back at Expo.




It's because he didn't pangseh me once throughout the A level year (this very year) when I asked him a BILLION (literally) questions like a nub. Thanks.

9R4MM4R

I *got* nothing better to do.

Q: What will happen to electrons, with kinetic energy of a few hundred eVs, when they are incident onto a carbon film?

The answer was *obvious*, but came with a weird phrasing. It's some MCQ by the way.

A: They see the carbon lattice like a diffraction grating and get diffracted.

OK THAT WASN'T SOME APRIL FOOL'S JOKE. Apparently, electrons now get the 5 senses animals have and are capable of making choices too. They can choose NOT to see the diffraction grating and not get diffracted. This would not be a problem had the other choices been weird too, but nope, they happen to be comparatively more normal. I didn't highlight/bold/italicized the word *comparatively* because you did see it right? RIGHT?

i) They will get *repel* back towards *its* initial direction of approach.
-This option gives you the idea that the question setter has uber grammar phail, but I can't complain because I know my grammar gets more epic by the day.

ii) They will knock out the electrons from the lowest shell and as a result, x-rays *is* being produced.
- At least you know that the same question setter bothered to finish the question. Wait, was he/she the same person who vetted the paper too? VERY unfortunately, I didn't find any logic phail with this option at first sight. Electrons are actually capable of knocking themselves out - being at two places at any one time! Maybe it's because of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle oO

iii) Most of them will pass straight through as there *are* alot of empty *space* in the carbon film.
Uh huh. *WO MING BAI!*

So the options didn't make sense. *Np*, since the examiner decided to be consistent all the way in explaining the correct answer.


Almost impossible to get *repel* back towards *its* initial direction.
Not enough energy to knock out electrons from the lowest shell.
*It* will pass through, but *most of them* will not *pass through straight*. They will get diffracted as the wavelength is about that of the lattice spacing.

WIN



Ok so everyone's grammar is getting lousier by the day, *heng* it's not just mine. I can go on and on about how the *net* butchered the language, or how Singlish done us in for good. I can still imagine myself saying "u imba" thirty years from now too. However, it can never get too worrying, according to many Singaporeans who rightly (yea i tink so 2) believe that Singlish is unique; we ought to be proud of it. No matter what though, don't ever let your speech degrade to this sample MSN conversation-

“hi lol”
“hey ROFLMAOGAG”
“wut up lol”
“u c dakr nite????”
“ya lol”
“rip heath ledgere”
“ya, hez dead, rite?”
“ya, se u on myspace”
“k lol”
“bye rofl”
“k, by, lols”

Pearl

In a random kingdom, there was a king whose health was ailing. This terrible soul had no end to his worries - he needed a heir urgently but his appearance looked so much like your regular douchebag that he could not get married even if he tried (he did try). Whether he's impotent or not is questionable, but the real matter at hand was simply too pressing. He could not trust any of his ministers/officials/what-have-you-not at all, it seemed as though he was the only honest dude out there paying tax; corruption was uber endemic. Sounds like a country close to home, but never mind.

He decided to come up with an extremely lame way of getting a heir - by organizing a competition. He made an announcement through out the kingdom, calling out to people far and wide all across the land (sounds like pokemon intro). Sure enough, attendance was sky high on that day itself since people turned up in droves. Heck, who doesn't want to be a king?

When the millions or billions settled down, he started his speech: "SUP MA' NIGGAS!" Ok fine he didn't start that way; he began something like this: " My time...is nearly...up..." he coughed, just like when Vader told Luke Skywalker he was his father. Everyone listened attentively with abated breath. "I shall distribute seeds...to every single one of you.." - more coughs. "Whoever has the tallest...tree..within the next nine months... shall ascend to my throne..." Before he even finished his speech, his retarded townsfolk ransacked the carts. He barely made it back to his bed breathing.

Jack (nothing to do with the beanstalk), was a rugged little kid who lived with his grandmother. He nearly got trampled to death by the IQ-deficient horde, but he did get his seed nonetheless. Being the good ol' honest kid he is, he sticked to one as compared to some greedy nutsacks who grabbed a handful. He saw this opportunity as a way out of poverty; he was going to try his utmost best to make a giant beanstalk out of it (pun really intended).

He dug a nice comfy hole for this little seedling, making sure that it gets maximum sunlight, ultra-violet radiation and all. He watered it patiently, anxiously checking on its progress on a daily basis. But all was not well for Jack. The seed he took, apparently, was stubborn as a mule. It refused to bud past day twenty, and it most certainly wasn't going to change into a sapling anytime soon. His worries were compounded when he overheard his neighbours growing eight feet tall trees by now, and he suspected them of h4x (anachronistic, I know). Despite all that bullshit, he stuck to his own routine: watering daily and praying hourly. Jack, a faithful dumbass, insisted on not switching seeds - he was sure that his seed was just LAGGING really bad.

Nine months zipped past in an instant (like always). Jack brought along his pathetic pot to the castle gates, queueing up just like everyone. He was embarassed - everyone else had the most brilliant and beautiful flora ever seen, all obviously thriving through out the summer. The king, still alive but not kicking, shook his head slowly as the peasants presented him with their masterpieces. The king got more depressed as each applicant walked passed him; he was clearly not impressed with the abundant and exotic greenery before him.

Jack succeeded in ignoring the humiliation steeming from everyone's fingers, stares, endless mutterings that reverbrated ever so clearly in his head - it was as if he became Daredevil that instant. He finally got his turn to present his work - nothing. The king cocked an eyebrow, and asked "Where's your plant?" Jack kept his head hung low. He could almost feel the king's penetrating gaze boring a hole through him, but picked up the courage and almost whispered "This is all I have got, I tried my best already."

The crowd around him roared with laughter, like duh. Jack felt his ears redden, knowing that he was going to be the laughing stock of town. Miraculously, the king smiled benignly, and offered Jack his crown. Jack could almost hear the "WTFBBQMARSHMELLOWS!" that was mouthed out by everyone; even he himself was so amazed that he felt as if he was floating.

A week later, when the king was on his death bed, minutes away from leaving this material plane, Jack stood by his bedside and asked him why was he awarded the throne when he had nothing. The king managed a chuckle, and said "I didn't hand out any seeds to begin with."







Gambling's never THAT addictive; succeeding is.

RARA

A damn long time ago, there was this little mouse who lived in an oak tree (oak because "tree" alone sounded dumb). You can try imagining a hamster or a guinea pig for that matter; I've never seen mice before except on TV. Ok so one day, the mouse got bored of nibbling stuff. It had epiphany after nibbling on some wrong stuff; it simply had to know how to become stronger in order to face his arch-nemesis : the cat. Now don't get too GP, it doesn't matter one bit what strong really means because I don't know either.

So it started his journey and asked the cat, whom, by the way, was nice on that day, the million dollar question: "What makes you so strong?" The cat didn't hesitate one bit and said " No way in hell am I the strongest, you ought to ask the dog that instead. I run away for inexplicable reasons the moment he barks!"

The mouse felt an overwhelming sense of relief; there was something that could actually scare his bully ! And so it went on and seeked out the dog, and posed the same question. The dog wagged his silly tail abit, before replying "I don't know why either but you definitely asked the wrong guy, you ought to ask the wind instead. There was once I tried chasing the cat, the wind intervened and blew him miles away! I could have tried chasing but that's when I got distracted by a bone, so..."

The mouse never felt more thrilled in his life! He spent the next half a year trying to seek out THE wind, and obviously took really long since, well, it's THE wind. When he finally chanced upon the wind, he tried asking the same question. " That ain't a tough one," was his reply. "The farking oak tree down yonder won't budge at all no matter hard I try!"

The mouse was really, really exhausted by now, but heck, the tree wasn't going anywhere anyway so he didn't mind seeking enlightenment back home. The tree, huffed, swayed, and nearly died from staying too still for too long, but it did answer slowly (like slowly) : " Like duh, it's you. I'm going to die in like, weeks, because you nibbled all my damn roots away. And the bark too, you ass"

The mouse became so wise that it grew another whisker, although that didn't stop the cat from chasing him. Damn.



Size doesn't matter - nothing really, really does neither.

Nay

Yes I epic-failed miserably. Once a week is impossible unless I'm a caveman. On Monday and Tuesday, however, I succeeded in STAYING AWAY for >6 hours in a row. For some inexplicable reason, I can sense my POWERS RETURNING (with respect to mugging) after two long years. While I'm no Superman, my computer's more lethal than Kryptonite anyday.

......

I went back for a visit, and my doctor told me kindly that my eyes getting more and more fucked up by the visit (luckily the trend began only the last visit). I had difficulty in not lol-ing because I only ate 1 Azathioprine tablet daily instead of the required 2 for the past 8 months. It's surprisingly easy to tell someone to STICK WITH IT, but I honestly can't remember when was the last time I actually need not eat an extra 30 mg of synthetic stuff every breakfast. I can't even begin to imagine what is it like for kidney failure patients to undergo dialysis treatment on a daily basis. That's one more reason to get off my Azathioprines.

This visit was funnier than the rest, because the clinic actually had lots of their staff changed. Consequently, I met lots of newbs (not n00bs). The nurse who did the visual analysis with me didn't know how to record down the scores properly, and worse still, wasn't exactly sure of which button to flick to make the slide rotate. In case any of you are puzzled, visual analysis is the incredibly fun eye sight test where the projector reveals rows and rows of alphabets/numerals that shrinks exponentially. I score pretty badly ALL THE TIME, and I honestly doubt it's to do with my eyesight than the incredibly tiny font size.

Those in charge of doing the blood tests were TOTAL NEWBS. They actually bothered to tell me that "you will experience a tight sensation" when they tied the band around my arm, "you will get the cool feeling because of the alcohol swap", but the classic has to be "you can close your eyes if you want to!" when the needle went in. I tried my best to not ROFLMAOGAG, or the needle would have been into a dozen places instead of just one =) I was concentrating so hard on not laughing that I didn't wonder they took 3 x 50 ml of blood instead of the usual 2 tubes --> NEWBS! Being nice is a virtue - I ought to write in a letter someday when I needn't ever step back in there again.

.........

And it's 45 days and counting. I didn't do the actual counting, I saw someone else's blog. All I can think of now is - C U AT LAN!!!!!!!11111111




Take one step at a time, there's no need to rush; it's like learning to fly, or falling in love

Do

I just came back from my cousin's wedding, and saw something really disturbing. They actually featured photos back from the days when both were babies to their school life etc etc. And then I realised that since I don't cam alot, my "preview" might involve a leap from baby straight to ADULTHOOD (provided I get married).

....

There's this queer thing about me; I actually believe in providence in times of desperation. For instance, I'll start praying fervently whenever I lose an item of importance (glasses, thumbdrive) and even "swear" that I'll be more careful in the future to not lose it SHOULD (He/She/It) decides to "help" me find it. For some inexplicable reason, I actually locate these items within 5 minutes of "prayer" 99.99% of the time. That being said, I am a believer - not in fate or destiny or what's written by those in the sky, but simply in inevitability.

Meaning if I did do my homework, truckloads of it, and having no doubts about what I am supposed to know and what I actually do know, I will certainly ace it. Nobody likes uncertainty. It generates unnecessary adrenaline, and your mind gives you a very detailed analysis of what actually won't happen. The only way to eliminate uncertainty is to make things predictable, and that, is what everyone is going to attempt at.

2 years ago on the day I received my results, I actually started worrying on the bus ride back to school because I believed that there was a chance I couldn't get my 6. I started recalling how I BNET-ed during O levels, watched wcg replays of my favourite game, and actually went for LAN right AFTER my practical paper. Simply put it - that wasn't 100% effort on my part. I knew the consequences while bnetting, but I just couldn't be bothered. And then I started panicking right before receiving the slip, again "swearing" that if I do actually get a 6, I will never ever make things come this close again. I did get my 6.

There's only 8 weeks left. Bnet's not the problem, I'm actually tempted to finish my FF9 because I'm on to Disc 3. Wait, that isn't THE problem either. The problem is, just how many times need history repeat itself? None, because I alone can shape fate just as it shapes me.

I WILL ONLY USE THE COMP ONCE PER WEEK FROM NOW ON TILL THE LAST PAPER K THX.


Fuck, I lost my thumbdrive again zzz

12

It doesn't help one bit when you happened to dream about a gunman chasing you down the previous night. I wasn't even entirely sure that it was a dream initially; my mind seemed so fresh from Red Bull and the likes upon "awakening".

Econs wasn't really worth mentioning, because nothing exciting popped up. The most dreaded situation of choosing three out of two didn't really happen; there was 4 really nice ones to begin with.

I went home coincedentally with Tse Mei but decided against saying anything because she had two other friends accompanying her. If I had to say something, it would be "FUCK CHEM" right away. Now ain't I nice for choosing to shut up?

I don't really like chem, but that isn't saying anything because I don't like just about everything related to school. Today's paper 3 felt so familiar - I'm actually watching Discovery Channel! I never really forgotten the slogan it once championed : learning something new everyday. To put it simply, I don't really know if I do know what I should really know.

It feels like expansion packs, one after another. Anybody who plays any game will get thrilled at the prospect of any upcoming one: new units, abilities, add-ons that simply mesmerizes you totally with lots of WOW factors. Except for chem, I just feel like uninstalling the whole lot of them right away. But quitting makes me feel 10x more nub than if I still have SO MANY DAYS to try.

I never did countdowns. I don't actually know how many days are there really left. But I WILL w t f p w n chem by then.

Less QQ, more pewpew.