Rolling on

Blog title changed

2010-04-02T19:50:00.000+08:00

I always post new entry at busiest times. Anyway, I changed the title (or CM if you prefer). I am not sure it is just a temporary thing. I sure had some changes in my fundamental beliefs. The change in beliefs occurred way back in time. But, lately, I realized I am not living by my new beliefs fully, as in I am not making full use of the possibilities these new beliefs offer. It might be because of inadequate confidence in it or just that I was iron cast by my previous school of thoughts. If this kind of thing happen too frequently, well, it's me.

Joy to the world

2009-12-21T08:58:00.003+08:00

My favourite version of "Joy to the world", everyone. I don't understand why other versions make it so horrible with unnecessary emotions that are only relevant to love songs.

Merry Christmas to everyone (who celebrate christmas). :)

Magic Works

2009-12-21T05:30:00.002+08:00

This is supposed to be an unimportant soundtrack of Harry Potter 4, Goblet of Fire. I remember it was played in the movie for less than 10 seconds. But, I think very nice that it is worthy of being released in an album. Enjoy :)

New lappy

2009-11-20T06:45:00.007+08:00

I am surprised how laptops have improved over 4 years. I was prompted to buy either a laptop or a desktop 4 years ago. That time, all my friends were crazy to get laptops. I resisted buying any to save money in my first year in polytechnic because assignments could really be completed by staying over in the lab after classes or going to school on Saturdays (NUS students will be surprised but yes, it is). Then, our beloved prime minister installed 5-day work week policy. Lab operating hours were drastically reduced and I was forced to buy a computer.

I remember then that laptop specs at that time were way too uncool. 20GB harddrive, no dedicated video card, 256MB ram, 1.2GHz. Even higher-ends were like 40GB, 512MB and 1.4GHz. So, I got a (then) super cool desktop with 19'' flat monitor, 2.2GHz, 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, 256 MB Geforce, well, at the price of a laptop.

Today, I think laptop specs are very much comparable to desktops. At least, they have very acceptable specs (maybe because my experience with PCs started with 20GB HDD, 256MB ram era). I again originally didn't want to buy a laptop in university to save money (well, am I too frugal? that probably has to do with family background, family culture, income and the perceived need, so u can't blame me for that). I also happened to get hold of a lappy for free for one semester when it was needed most. That was another reason I didn't happen to buy one.

But, I bought one now. FYP and those increasingly utilized Soc labs gave me no other choice. To my very pleasant surprise, lappy's today are way too cool even compared to deskops 4 years back at half their price. Consider these - desktop vs laptop, more than twice better specs, almost half the price.

It is very very rare in life to get what you want when you want it. Think about it. When you are thirsty walking on a hot street, you don't have an iced cold lemonade. When you have one, you are inside an iced cold shopping mall. At least, you don't get it at the time you want most. But, I got this rare luck. I found a Dell lappy at very reasonable price and specs. Almost perfect, just a little bit more (of course, Dell purposefully did it). What's needed? a carrying case, upgrade from 2GB to 3GB Ram, upgrade from 1yr to 2yr warranty. Add these and the price is increased such that I would rather get a fujitsu. I thought I would visit some retail store. Without much anticipation. Just to see if the deals they have are better. Spot on. Challenger promotion, the exact same model, $100 less with all I need above. I was happy.

Well, life is never perfect, I wanted a blue color but they only had black ones (or pink). But, it's ok. I tell myself that most of the time, I will be looking at the screen instead of the back of it. Btw, it is SGD 1300, core 2 duo P8700 2.53 GHz, 3GB RAM, 500GB HDD, ATI Radeon 512mb (not bad, can play dynasty warriors 6), 14'', 2.4kg.

Studying econs

2009-11-20T06:42:00.003+08:00

Oh no. I just realized that I bought the wrong text book. I wonder why the same author must write two confusingly similar titles "Economics: Principles, Applications and Tools" vs "Survey of Economics: Principles, Applications and Tools". Damn you, Sullivan.

Rollarcoaster Ride on Moods

2009-09-04T03:43:00.006+08:00

Looking back, I had a chain of rollarcoaster ride mood swings. From "riding along", to "life is a misery", to "a life of should's", to "utter discontentment", to "reflections", to "happy kta", to "rolling on", to "contemplating suicide" (just philosophically), to "compromised plan", to "bored of life", to "religious belief changes", to what now? I am thinking a life without passion, or a life with the passion denied is meaningless. A life in which one is merely responding to what comes by is meaningless. A life composed primarily of "jobs" to earn a tiny fraction of time for what one really enjoys is meaningless. A life of investments which bear fruits that are only to be re-invested is meaningless. A life of should's is meaningless. A life in which one is not true to himself is meaningless. A life one doesn't enjoy is meaningless. A life of defeats so overwhelming that one has to resort to be contented is meaningless. And, well, a life which needs not be meaningful is, of course very obviously, meaningless.

Go out there and just do what you like to do. Fear no consequences, the worst being death. That's what I am telling myself. But, am I listening?

Old is gold: You'll be in my heart - PHIL COLLINS

2009-08-31T20:30:00.002+08:00

This long forgotten favourite of mine popped into my mind this evening. It is so nice that I feel goose bumps as I listen to it. :-)

Ellen again

2009-08-16T04:15:00.003+08:00

Wow, this is the perhaps the only clip that you can see Ellen in serious mood. This must be so personal to her (fyi, Ellen is publicly homosexual). I agree with her, not only in that context but also in any way that people are held accountable for their genetics. Maybe because genetics are not yet fully understood or maybe because choice and destiny are heavily intertwined in some cases, people don't feel as compassionate about "mental disabilities" as they do about outright, visible physical disabilities. My opinion is we can don't bother, we can don't help, we can don't sympathize, but we should lift accountability.

Ellen Degenere's commencement speech

2009-08-16T03:31:00.002+08:00

I love Ellen shows, I like her personality and her sense of humor. But, I totally don't understand why Tulane University invited her for commencement speech. She began to sound almost serious at multiple points during the speech, but she didn't get serious at all. She might have delivered hidden profound messages but honestly, I didn't get any. Please enlighten me if you do. It could also be that the university administrators just want to end the ceremony with something light and fun. Anyway, the speech is funny.

Nostalgia

2009-07-27T02:27:00.003+08:00

No, I am not feeling nostalgic about anything right now. In fact, I am thinking about the opposite, why I almost never feel nostalgic at all.

Some of my friends, especially one, feel nostalgic about almost everything. Actually, that prompted me to think why I don't. Looking back, I, just like everyone else, had numerous transitional periods of life. Each of them brought me a better life, a better environment, or most importantly, a better me. Naturally, each better always eclipsed its former, the lesser counterpart. I almost always find myself prefer the new, better phases of my life over those where bad, inadequate, inferior, and sometimes even embarrassing pasts were buried in. When it happens, only the very best memories, which is often none, are worth carried over. Call me a loser if you must, but I prefer to leave those unpleasant pasts in the past and pretend that they never happened or that was not me. People would tell me "be positive, see the bright side, it is how you view things that matters", and so on. At least to ensure that their help didn't go in vain, I tried to distort my recollections. Well, the good thing is at the very minimum, their advice helped me during conversations. But, deep down in my true self, I cannot disguise my disdain. So, bygone be bygone, I keep them secret. Over time, people would find out some. Over time, I would divulge some. But, that is better than reliving those bad memories at their fullest.

And, it might seem like a blessing to have each phase always better than its previous, not worse. Well, it is not necessarily so if they came later than when they should have. That mounts additional regret and remorse when I contemplate about my past that my present didn't start earlier. Am I asking for too much? Whatever it is, nostalgia is not really my cup of tea.

Old is gold: There was life before the computer

2009-07-15T10:48:00.004+08:00

I just love this piece.

There was life before the computer

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account!
And if you had a broken disk,
It would hurt when you found out!

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut--you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu!

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!

A token of appreciation (but you must donate a minimum amount)

2009-07-10T09:11:00.006+08:00

I was on mp3. So I didn't hear what the auntie with a small poster of a charity organization mumbled. She was with a bag to slot coins into (I don't know how to call it. They don't use tin cans anymore), so I reached my wallet and fished out a 50 cent coin. She mumbled again, so I took out my earpiece. A magazine of some sort, $2. So, I walked off.

Nearer, My God, To Thee

2009-07-07T01:44:00.003+08:00

I am not a christian but I love the music. Almost every religion has its own value. While I think Buddhism is more logical and scientific, I am sure it is Christianity that is better at rescuing a person from his or her deepest abyss of emotional crisis.

Terrifying Dreams

2009-06-28T23:17:00.007+08:00

Most of us often have bad dreams. Ghost story dreams are also not uncommon. But, the dream I had this afternoon is definitely not typical. It was so terrifying that I woke up totally traumatized.

It was significant because it was just so realistic. Normal dreams often include some elements of absurdity, like being transported from place to place. But, in this dream of mine, I woke up in the exact same settings as I fall asleep and there was nothing atypical that I can use to identify it as a dream. It was in the afternoon that I decided to take a nap on the couch in the living room. Then, I woke up (in the dream) in the exact place as I fall asleep. My mind functioned just as I was awake. I thought why not I move to bed and continue to sleep! :) So, I entered my bed room. There, I vividly saw a person shadow cast by the afternoon sunlight. At first, I was more surprised than scared because that shadow was not of a stranger. I could easily identify the silhouette. So, I was like why is he or she here! I turned, and to my horror, no one was there! I turned back; the shadow was still there! O... M... G...

I was terrified. I felt like I encountered ghosts in real life (which I had never before). I really wonder why that dream could be so real_ the couch, the afternoon, the fact that no one else was home, the decision to move to bedroom, the fact that the person shouldn't be there, and my surprise are all consistent. It was a while until I woke up. You guess it. I had not woken up yet. It was yet another dream. There, I woke up from the couch (what a dream!). I felt the presence of someone but I can't see him or her (this time, I can't identify the person). Well, that was common for me. I often dream that I feel the presence of a person, sometimes even being touched. But, no matter how many times I encountered it before, it was still very unpleasant and I am horrified every time that happens.

After a brief moment of horror, I woke up, yes, again to another dream and from the same couch! There, to my great relief, I hear door unlocking sounds. I thought, finally, my roommate was back. Well, no, of course. Ok, I didn't see any scary monster stepped in. Actually, I can't remember who came in and what happened afterward. Most probably, it was just my roommate (in the dream).

Only after the third wrap, I truly woke up. I was totally traumatized by this series of dreams. Please agree with me that at this kind of mental distress, it helps to have someone around to talk to. My helpful roommate came back today at 10:30pm.

This is not the first time I had terrifying dreams. There is another one (well, another series) I can still remember. It was not spooky. In that one, I kept waking up from one dream to another. I was sleeping early on that day with my roommate studying at his desk. I would wake up and talk to him only to realize that I was dreaming. So, I would try to wake up again and talk to him. But, to my dismay, I would realize after a while that I was still dreaming. After a few times, I started to notice that the arrangement of furniture in the room changed slightly each time. By taking note of the furniture positions, I could start to identify them as dreams. But, the bad thing is I could only identify dreams but I couldn't find a way to wake up! Again and again, I would try to wake up, see the furniture only to learn that I was still dreaming. This happened at least six/seven times. You could imagine how desperate I was to wake up. Finally, I did wake up. That's why you are reading this post today.

Buddhism's Reincarnation and The Law of Relativity

2009-06-20T01:22:00.004+08:00

I used to be a believer of Reincarnation. Reincarnation is a magic bullet in Buddhism that can dismiss any inconsistencies in Karma. It is also a powerful mechanism that can bounce all responsibilities back to yourself. Why aren't all bad deeds seen repaid in this life? Simple, it will be done so in the next life. Why does he enjoy everything in the world while he hasn't done anything imaginably good? Because his past life was saintly. You won a lottery? Well done, you offered a meal to a monk in a past life. You broke your leg? Too bad, you asked for it, who asked you to be a bully before you was born. A nice final stroke here is that without practice, one cannot observe this series of disconnected consciousness.

I believed in reincarnation because it was not proven wrong. So, being a naturally obedient person, I took it as "innocent until proven wrong; true until proven false". Science cannot prove it wrong because science might be wrong_ no matter how remote this possibility is. Remember that fundamental principles of science are not yet fully proven. But, reasoning, commonsense and logic need not be proven. Why? Because should they be invalid tools, the concept of reincarnation as well as the entire family of beliefs about Buddhism will collapse automatically. Buddhism at its root is simply reasoning, commonsense and logic.

The law of relativity is a commonsense. I will take Physics and Einstein out of my equation. The concept of relativity just makes sense on its own. To observe an event, the observer must be in a frame of reference, and there are no special or privileged reference frames. How events are observed necessarily depends on an observer's reference frame. So, for a person in his current life who cannot relate himself to his past, the past does not exist. Even if another enlightened being can observe the person's past life, it is true only for his frame of reference. For the ignorant, there is no past life and he will cease to exist when he dies. It won't be logical to say that the enlightened being's view is absolute and whatever is true for him can be brought over to the ignorant.

Even if it is indeed absolute, if one cannot feel something,it is as good as that something never exists. Just to give you an analogy, say, I owe you 1 million dollars. But, the loan repayment condition is that I have the power to decide when to repay it. Then, I can postpone the repayment indefinitely and it is as good as the loan does not exist. So, no matter how entangled a person is to his previous consciousness, if he cannot feel it, it is as good as it never existed.

So, I think the concept of reincarnation is unsound. Because of this, you can say I am technically a free thinker (though I would still declare myself as a Buddhist). I still adhere to other Buddhist concepts for their own merit, for my won peace of mind and for those around me, if not for their truth and validity.

I can be very unsuspecting....

2009-06-14T23:21:00.001+08:00

Haiiz... just that. Pls dun ask for more. :D

Second most popular google search

2009-06-08T10:17:00.002+08:00

Someone told me about most popular google search terms in Singapore for the past month. The first hit, I can't remember for sure, is Mas Selamat. Well, ok. Fine.

But, the second hit got me. It is "NUS exam results". LOL.

Shall I congratulate my tech-savvy friends or shall I thank NUS for being such a conducive environment towards technology or shall I be just mesmerized by the prowess of Google?

I don't guarantee the accuracy or even the citation of this result. The skeptics may check Strait Times 3 May 2008 issue for verification.

I made her duck

2009-06-05T14:21:00.001+08:00

Just want to share this amusing sentence of ambiguity. I read it in a Natural Language Processing text. It was used to demonstrate how ambiguous a sentence can get (although pretty surely, our daily sentences won't be that bad unless we are intentionally concorting them).

Just in case you don't get all the possible meanings of the given sentence, "I made her duck" can mean
1) I cooked the poor creature for her
2) I created (perhaps a doll) a duck that she owns
3) I get her bent down
4) I learnt transfiguration magic from Prof. McGonagall

Hope you like the sentence :)

RA2 addiction

2009-06-05T10:40:00.000+08:00

RA2 and Yuri's Revenge

Grrr... I am so addicted to those antique games. They are just irresistible. This was partly why my blog was dead for one month. It all began with RA3 (command & conquer red alert 3). I bought RA3 from Yangon (too lazy to download) only to find that my poor desktop, bought 4 years ago, doesn't have a good enough graphic card to support it. So, what did I do when I cannot play RA3? I played RA2! (By the way, RA2 is one of my all time favourite games). I have already played it for several rounds, each time assuming different strategy. Previously, I liked to turtle (for non-gamers: turtling means you prefer to use heavy base defenses to sustain yourself until you have enough forces to take out ur enemy easily). Now, I prefer aggression. I would send all my forces as soon as the game starts and take out my enemy's resource collection facilities. Well, it works for RA2 but it is not really working for Yuri's Revenge extension in which campaigns are set up with enemy bases heavily defended and their resource collection facilities simply behind their defense lines. Even if I can lay waste to all their resource collectors, they have enough initial capital to simply rebuild them all over and enough initial forces wipe out my puny base :-s

I should be doing other things... :-s :-s :-s

The blog is not dead

2009-06-01T09:23:00.001+08:00

As the title suggests . . . I will post something soon. :D

Yangon Airway Flight Reservation

2009-04-24T23:47:00.003+08:00

I was checking my email when I saw the Yangon Airway's Web Clip Ad on gmail. I was surprised that they offer online reservation because credit cards or online payment options like PayPal are normally not possible in Myanmar. So, I went on to find out what kind of reservation and payment options they have in store.

I quickly clicked the "send" button without selecting anything much. Little did I know that I chose Yangon as both a departure and destination city.

So, here I got this friendly wink.

Still curious about payment options, I changed destination city to Bagan, again oblivious to the fact that my flight date is 1st Jan 2009.

So, here is what I got.

Epilogue: Finally, I got all the input fields correct and was informed that a confirmation email would be sent to me. Just too bad that I put a@b.com as my email address there. Anyway, I love their sense of humor. :D

Queuing to study?

2009-04-20T00:58:00.006+08:00

I have seen ppl queuing for movie, for bus, for food at canteen or restaurant, for free gifts or shows, for atm and for so many other things but today is the first time I saw ppl queuing to study! I always thought I am a relatively studious person but seeing a whole bunch of students waiting for the library to open on a Sunday made me realise the otherwise.

The library closes at 4:30 pm but the university is nice enough to open a 24 hour study room at level 6 after the library closes. But, it only opens at 4:45 pm. So, when the library closed, we (ssah, ko tlt, ko ak, etc and me) moved up. To my dismey, I saw a crowd of people queuing there to enter the 24 hr study room. It was not a small crowd. It was a huge crowd, a crowd enough to fill up the entire study room. Worrying we might not get a place, we had to join the queue. Considering that this is a Sunday, I was totally shocked by the proportion of super studious students in Nus. But, since I felt that there was no point queuing to study, I moved to COM1 where I know there are some free 24 hr tutorial rooms for students. It was too bad that I couldn't convince SSAH group to go with me to COM1. So they remained queuing to study. A memoriable experience indeed.

A tribute to my friends taking MA1505

2009-04-19T23:22:00.006+08:00

Sorry ppl, pls click on it to view.

I hope it will give you a smile, a break from headaches and a feeling that you are not alone :D

FYI: MA1505 is an infamous math module in NUS. It is hell difficult (at least for me; but I am sure many except math geniuses would agree with me). I suck at it. I studied so hard and I got B in the end. Bad memories of it are haunting me until now. I can recite its chapters except the first three- sequence & series, fourier series, three dimensional space, functions with several variables, multiple integrals, line integrals, surface integrals and partial differential equations.

But, of course, MA1101R and ST2131 are also equally tough. Among these toughest modules, I think MA1101R is the easiest but ironically, my grade for it is also the lousiest. So, not to forget my friends taking MA1101R, good luck to you ppl as well :)

I will try again

2009-04-09T16:44:00.001+08:00

I will try again. Yes, again.

Lagging behind in AI

2009-04-09T03:25:00.003+08:00

Weeks after weeks, I tried to catch up with my AI lessons but I just didn't manage to study those thick chapters in phase with tutorials. The mounting pressure to score some class participation credit in tutorials was overwhelming. But, the problem was that even if I go to tutorials, I won't be able to participate in any manner except possibly by looking stupid or by asking some dumbass questions. So, my policy was that if I hadn't studied the material, I would simply spend the tutorial time studying it instead of going to tutorial class. Therefore, in accordance with my own policy, I didn't go to any tutorial class since week 3.

But, alas, last Tues, I found that I could do some of the tutorial questions! Well, it was because I have already studied the materials which is about conditional probability in another module. So, I happily did some of those questions and marched into the class, proudly hoping to score some participation points at last.

Then, I met a friend in the class. He told me "hey, I don't know what he (prof) is going to do this week. He hasn't uploaded the tutorial questions" . . . . . . . I had nothing to do but to bang my head to the desk. I was doing last week tutorial questions!

The epilogue was that the professor distributed printed tutorial questions and discussed them , about which I completely have no idea. I think I managed to look more expressionless than stupid. And, hey, in one question, I answered Bayes formula without any idea how it was used. Btw, for whoever it is concerned, I heard him saying "shirley also never turn up". :P

Interesting Paradoxes

2009-04-08T02:18:00.008+08:00

Wanna share some of the most interesting paradoxes I have read. Full details can be found at wikipedia.

1) Out of merely 57 randomly chosen people, there is 99% probability that there is a pair or more with the same birthday.
Some reasoning: It only states that a pair or more have the same birthday. It means any pair and take note that there are a lot of pairs possible. It does not state such a probability on a particular person. So, if you are in a group of 57, having a person with same birthday as you is far less than 99%.

2) Suppose you have seen a dice fell on six 10 times. If the dice is fair, is it less likely for the next roll to be six?
NO. Landing on six for 11th time is exactly as likely as landing on any other numbers.
Some reasoning: This is a consequence of independent events. We know that and it is true that getting six for 11 consecutive times is very unlikely (1/6)^11. But, this case is different. The dice has already landed on six for ten times. So, in a way, since the unlikely case has already happened, the next roll has no unlikeness anymore.

3) A tortoise and Achilles run a race (of course, Achilles is much faster than the tortoise). The tortoise gets a head start. We reason as follows that Achilles will never overtake the tortoise. Since the tortoise is ahead of Achilles, Achilles needs to get to the position of tortoise before overtaking it. Achilles will need some time to get to the tortoise position. But, when Achilles reaches the tortoise position, since some time has lapsed, the tortoise is now in a new position. The same thing happens again when Achilles tries to reach that new position. This keeps on happening and Achilles will not overtake tortoise.
Some reasoning: This obviously is incorrect. Achilles will overtake the tortoise at one point. There are a lot of explanation to this problem from many viewpoints here and here. But, one simple reasoning I can think of is that for increasingly smaller distances Achilles needs to cover, the corresponding time taken will also become increasingly shorter. So, there will be an infinitely small distance he needs to cover and the time taken for that distance would also be infinitely short. An infinitely short amount of time means instantly. So, he can cover that distance instantly and can catch up the tortoise.

Stolen credit

2009-04-06T21:29:00.005+08:00

Taking credit on someone else work is a delicate yet challenging social problem. It is especially more difficult in casual settings where no tangible benefit is visible at hand. In my opinion, a work is a work and the recognition thereafter, regardless of how important or unimportant it might become, should be respected and treated as such. If I need to use someone else work, I will always give credit to the owner; more so if I don't have any contribution in it, more so if it looks as if the work is mine, more so if I have a personal relationship with the owner, and even more so if it is a help to me.
But, somehow, some people don't share the same view as me. I am not a saint. So, I must say I was irritated. I felt betrayed. And, every time this kind of problem arises, I do not happen to tackle it as aggressively as I think I should have. It could be due to my shyness. It could be due to my modesty. Or, it could also be due to the intrinsic difficulty of the problem. I said the problem is especially difficult if there are no tangible benefits. It is because if I take on it aggressively, I might ruin my reputation more than that I could have built from the recognition. So, usually, I just keep quiet, more or less. This time, again, I kept quiet, more or less.

Addendum: Well, I guess I will need to tone down the "always" qualifier in the sentence: "If I need to use someone else work, I will always give credit to the owner". I just realized that in one of my assignments, I too adapted an algorithm I found online without citing it (ok, didn't think of citing it is more accurate). Although I have conscientious reasons for not doing so, I think it is still a mistake on my side. So, I shall take this as a "karma".

KTA, Stop Procrastinating!!!

2009-04-05T01:07:00.000+08:00

Well, very likely, I won't.

A Lha Gabar Myay

2009-03-31T03:02:00.002+08:00

A nice remix of a good old song I used to hear in my childhood. I just wonder what Myo Kyawt Myine is doing by nodding before a laptop. :D

Four types of NUS modules I dislike

2009-03-31T02:25:00.006+08:00

"Certification" modules: Those who were already good continue to be good and are certified as such. Those who were lousy continue to be lousy and are too certified as such. The course essentially does nothing else.

"DIY" modules: We expect students to learn everything themselves because we want them to be self-learners, so much so that we won't even give directions and guidance.

"Breadth" modules: This is an introductory module, so we cover the basics of everything. But, when we test, we test the depths of everything because we need to distinguish the distinguished.

"Structured" modules: University students are responsible adults and are therefore expected to meet hard deadlines with harsh penalties for split second lateness. But, since these adults are incapable of their own learning, we introduce a well-structured deadline-based study schedule for them.

Birthday

2009-03-24T04:36:00.004+08:00

First of all, must thank my mom for offering items that start with my name letter to Buddha on my birthday. Guess what. They are

1) Kant Kaw Nyunt leaves

2) Kyauk Pa Yone Yow

3) Kya San Kyaw
Never thought she can be this creative. :D

Had birthday celebrations last week. Yes, there is an s there. Two, in fact. Nothing really special (but of course, my birthday is special! h`h`). Had dinner with friends. I split into two groups because it's hard to find a common time slot.

Both dinners were fun. Very fun indeed.

Received a lot of very nice pressies. Love all of them! Thank you very much: mighty KTS, lovely SSAH, roomie KZYT, cuties J & S, friendly KPW, brainy TLT, geeky KZL, smarty LMK and adorable ASDK. LOL. Hope you can decipher the initials. And, btw, there are default double quotes if you have forgotten. Oh, some ppl should give me credit for special treament in the name list ;)

All right, birthday is over. Let's get back to NUS.

月亮代表我的心

2009-03-15T01:01:00.005+08:00

This is one of my favorite songs. I was reminded to re-listen to it by my chinese class. Here are my favorite versions on youtube.

Original pure cheese by Teresa Teng herself

Remix by Kim Chiu

A great version by yuquanchen (not a recording artist but she has a great voice non-the-less)

Piano Rendition

Original artist might not have meant it but I like this explanation of why moon represents one's heart

Lyrics in Hanyu Pinyin (now that I can read Pinyin h`h`h`. Those taking chinese class may add tone marks as an exercise)

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing ye zhen
wo de ai ye zhen
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing bu yi
wo de ai bu bian
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

* qing qing de yi ge wen
yi jin da dong wo de xin
shen shen de yi duan qing
jiao wo si nian dao ru jin

* ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen

* ** ni qu xiang yi xiang
ni qu kan yi kan
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

Repeat *

Repeat **

Life is not worth living

2009-03-07T19:50:00.004+08:00

Well, that's what I am feeling these days...

Addendum: never-the-less, I will have to continue rolling on at least for now. So, ... haiizzz... forget it...

A Compromised Plan

2009-02-16T03:42:00.002+08:00

After a few days of thinking, I've come up with a plan. I don't know if it would work but it is the most satisfying plan so far. I cannot tell you what it is exactly but the visible outcomes of the plan would be -

- There won't be any immediate quit
- I'll try to live happily again
- I'll try to be nicer to you

A Philosophical Question

2009-02-15T03:31:00.006+08:00

If life is an unfair game, why does one continue playing it?

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A Lwan (Lay Phyu)

2009-02-14T22:55:00.002+08:00

Another favourite of mine together with lyrics. The lyrics are my original efforts, btw.

A lwan - Lay Phyu

အလြမ္း
=====

ဒီအတိုင္းပဲ တေျမစီမျမင္ႏိုင္တဲ့ဘဝေတြမွာ
ထင္ရာဆက္ေလွ်ာက္လွမ္းမယ္ဆို ဒို႕ေတြၾကာရင္ေဝးသြားႏိုင္တယ္
အရင္အတိုင္းပဲ ၾကယ္ေတြမျမင္သာတဲ့ညေတြဆိုငါ
ဘယ္သူမ်ားဖန္ဆင္းေလလဲ အိပ္မက္ေတြကေယာင္ေျခာက္ခ်ားမက္ခါရယ္
မင္း . . . ျပန္ဖို႕ေတာင္စဥ္းစားရခက္မယ္ဆို
မင္း . . . ခဏေလးျပန္ေတြ႕ၾကဖို႕ခက္ေနရင္
ၾကာရင္အိပ္မက္ဆိုးေတြမက္ခါ
မိုးေျမလိုကြာေဝးႏိုင္တယ္ေလ

(chorus)
မင္း . . . ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေမ့ေတာ့မလား
ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေသြးေအးထားမွာလား
ငါ့စိတ္ေတြအလိုလိုထိုင္းမိုင္းေနတယ္
မင္း . . . ဒီီတိုင္းအလြယ္တကူေမ့ပစ္ေတာ့မလား
ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေသြးေအးထားမွာလား
ငါ့စိတ္ေတြအလိုလိုထိုင္းမိုင္းေနတယ္
မင္း . . . ျပန္လာဖို႕စဥ္းစားလို႕ေပးပါကြယ္
ၾကာရင္အိပ္မက္ဆိုးေတြၾကားမွာ
ငါ့ရဲ့အသက္ရပ္တန္႕လို႕သြားႏိုင္တယ္

ေခၚသံမ်ားလား သန္းေကာင္ယံေမွာင္ထုမ်ားေနာက္ကြယ္မွာ
နင္တေယာက္မ်ားျပန္ခဲ့တာလား ငါ့မွာေမွ်ာ္ကာစိတ္တဇပါကြယ္
အာ႐ုံမ်ားလည္း ႏြံေရေတြလိုေနာက္က်ီ႕ခါရယ္
နင္ျပဳစားလူ႐ူးေစသား ငါ့မွာအိပ္မက္ဆိုးမ်ားစြာလယ္
မင္း . . . ျပန္ဖို႕ေတာင္စဥ္းစားရခက္မယ္ဆို
မင္း . . . ခဏေလးျပန္ေတြ႕ၾကဖို႕ခက္ေနရင္
ၾကာရင္အိပ္မက္ဆိုးေတြမက္ခါ
မိုးေျမလိုကြာေဝးႏိုင္တယ္ကြယ္

(chorus)
မင္း . . . ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေမ့ေတာ့မလား
ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေသြးေအးထားမွာလား
ငါ့စိတ္ေတြအလိုလိုထိုင္းမိုင္းေနတယ္
မင္း . . . ဒီတိုင္းအလြယ္တကူေမ့ပစ္ေတာ့မလား
ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေသြးေအးထားမွာလား
ငါ့စိတ္ေတြအလိုလိုထိုင္းမိုင္းေနတယ္
မင္း . . . ျပန္လာဖို႕စဥ္းစားလို႕ေပးပါကြယ္
(မင္း . . . ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေမ့ေတာ့မလား
ဒီတိုင္းဒို႕အျဖစ္ဒို႕ေသြးေအးထားမွာလား
ငါ့စိတ္ေတြအလိုလိုထိုင္းမိုင္းေနတယ္) . . .

Old is Gold: English Lesson

2009-02-14T15:04:00.002+08:00

Warning: This video is not suitable for minors. Viewer discretion is advised.

Don't blame me for something inherent

2009-02-05T17:06:00.006+08:00

You have the right to say it.

You have the right to hate it.

You have the right to disgust it.

You have the right to riducule at it.

You have the right to not agree with it.

You have the right to not forgive it.

You have the right to not understand it.

And, YES, you have the right to want me to change it.

But,

You don't have the right to ask why.

You don't have the right to blame me for it.

You don't have the right to say it is not inherent.

You don't have the right to compare me with someone else who doesn't have it.

And, NO, you don't have the right to force me if I choose not to change it.
Also, NO, you don't have the right to blame me if the change is not successful.

Nothing special. Just venting out my occasional frustrations. :)

A Pun?

2009-02-03T23:28:00.005+08:00

In my first CS1102C lab, I introduced myself to my juniors as "Tha Aung". And, here is an email from one of them. I dunno whether he or she meant to create a pun but it is a good one anyway. :)

(not to insult your intelligence but if you can't immediately figure out: TA = "Tha Aung" OR the lab TA, teaching assistant)

Please move to the rear

2009-02-03T22:44:00.004+08:00

A creative (or rather desperate) attempt to make ppl move to the rear of the bus. Seeing that, I do think Singaporeans really need to be more considerate in this respect. Effective or not, we shall see.

P.S: I didn't get the answer. The rear had free room to spare but it couldn't motivate me enough to move past *all* other standstill passengers.

New Year Resolutions

2009-01-31T00:01:00.003+08:00

Just a re-affirmation.

- With renewed vigor, re-confirm something very important for my life (doing)

- Re-evaluate some friends and forgive their mistakes, if any. Get rid of past prejudices towards them (done)

- Re-evaluate myself and forgive my mistakes, if any. Get rid of past prejudices towards myself (with some success)

- Believe in myself (with some success)

- Eliminate my habitual procrastination (hmm....)

- Read one book per month (if I consider Andrew Matthews as one)

- Learn to play piano or violin (a bit delayed)

- Declare and convince myself that First Class Honors is "sour" (think so)

- Live happily (hmm....)

- (Addendum) Look nearer for greater things (with some success)

Wish you all a happy new year, by the way. (you can count this new year wish as a CNY new year wish) ;)

First day as a lab TA (teaching assistant)

2009-01-30T01:59:00.016+08:00

First of all, don't think too highly of a lab TA's responsibility in CS1102C. I am not responsible to go through the exercises as in tutorials. On odd weeks, there are take-home labs. These labs are to be attempted by the students themselves at home. I just need to be in the lab for 1 hour to answer any questions the students might have. Students can even don't turn up for these labs. On even weeks, I need to invigilate a 2 hour sit-in lab (kinda a mini test). I don't need to answer any questions in these labs. Ok, at least, that was on paper.

So, I was quite relaxed. I thought I would just glance through the questions and try out some tougher portions. But, yesterday, I received a document from prof. It is a powerpoint document which contains hints about the exercise. He told us to go through the slides. . . Well, that was like "okie...". That just forced me to try out the questions thoroughly, didn't it?

So, anyway, although my efforts are not recognized (I will explain later why), I did a solid preparation so that I would have no problem going through the slides. Besides, I also thought of this. Even though this is supposed to be attempted by the students themselves, should there be any student who find them hard, I don't want to disappoint them; I am one of the persons they would approach. I might not be perfect but I will do my best to help them.

Before the lab, I expected tough questions. CS1102C is notorious to be tough, so is CS1101C (pre-requisite of CS1102C). So, naturally, my initial impression was that students trained by CS1101C (I was not because I was exempted from taking the module) would shoot me tough questions. But, as I said, I prepared well and I was confident.

During the lab, there were some disappointments.

- First: my partner TA didn't turn up.

- Second: I started punctually. My quick survey showed that no student needed me to go through the how-to guides. Basically, they are unimportant instructions like how to connect to school server, etc. So, I was about to go through the slides. But, prof suddenly appeared and asked me to wait for students to come in. I think by then, it was already nearly ten minutes past the starting time. He then gave a short briefing and when he left, twenty five minutes were gone. I was slightly uncomfortable with the amount of time left as I still have the slides and the Q&A (with no partner TA). I learnt that my partner was just assigned this morning so he would only come in next week.

- Third: Almost no student seemed to have attempted it. I don't blame them for not attempting it. I understand the busy schedule of NUS students, being one myself. But, this is an optional lab. I wonder if they hadn't tried the question, why didn't they simply don't turn up? There is no attendance. They also don't need to come for the hints because no marks are awarded. I mean if they hadn't tried the lab, instead of coming in, they can use this time to try it. Well, perhaps, they just came because this is the first lab. No matter what, I felt I was caught in between. They hadn't tried the question yet I was not going to let them to, because I would soon be disturbing them by going through the slides.

- Fourth: I tried to make it short but I failed to. The slides gave only hints but they covered quite a large portion of the problem. I don't know how to go through them without explanation. I tried to see if what I was doing was unnecessary but the feedback was poor, or my skill to elicit it was.

- Fifth: No tough questions but no eagerness to participate either. Again, that's exactly why I am irritated. If they don't feel like participating, they can just don't come. What's the point coming in just to ignore me point-blank? Well, maybe they just came for the first lab.

- Sixth: When I finished exactly at the end time (yes, I took too long), I had a number of students with trailing questions from the slides. Answering them took 20 minutes. My soft heart took another 15 minutes. Shutting down the equipment took 5 minutes. I missed my lunch.

Why am I so reluctant to help? Because I was told not to. How? By not paying me. It was made clear that lab TAs for CS1102C will only be paid for the time during class. No outside class preparation work will be paid. Don't get me wrong. Money is not the driving factor here (although I cannot deny I want it). It's because I cannot handle the emotion of feeling stupid. For every extra minute I work, a little voice in my head tells me "You are so stupid. The school doesn't recognize it. Students are just using you. Or, you are just being a busybody."

Don't worry. I am not feeling too bitter about it. I wrote this long because I was so bored with my data analysis assignment. Anyway, from the next lab onwards, I will do my best to help my juniors within the allocated time.

Addendum: I think this post sounds like a complaint. I am sorry if so. I don't mean to. I just wanted to write my experience and my feelings, especially the conflicting emotion I had.

Painfully boring Data Analysis

2009-01-30T01:53:00.001+08:00

Title explains it all...

But, don't worry, I have Lay Phyu as my company. :D

Rationality vs Omniscience

2009-01-22T17:33:00.001+08:00

Had to make a very difficult decision today. Actually, I made a decision yesterday and changed it today. Ok, I cannot change it back anymore. It's very true that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. After I made my initial decision yesterday, I felt a little regret. After giving it a lot more thoughts, I changed my decision. Now, I kinda regret again. So, I think it must be because the two options have almost equal pros and cons.

Ok, I shall not make this a mystery. It is whether to go for internship with Standard Chartered Bank in this school term. When I started NUS, I was very keen to do internship for one semester. I even overloaded one extra module in each semester to offset the lesser MC obtainable in the internship semester. But, as each semester passed, I started to question this disposition. Many ppl choose to go for internship during holiday which is 3 months long. What is the point of giving up one semester of study (at the same time taking in a lot of module scheduling conflicts) to do internship? Nevertheless, I was still quite firm with my attitude . . . at least until the opportunity presents itself.

If this opportunity came before the school started in January, I would not have given much thought and would have just taken it. But, when the person I was corresponding with did not reply my emails in time, I was forced to register for modules. As I did, I was also force to plan for next year modules as well. As I planned, I realized that the number of year 4 modules I can choose are quite limited.

Things would have just gone smoothly if the reply email did not come. But, it did and it did just in time. Sometimes, I wish things are not that flexible. It just make decisions harder when things are too flexible. If the person from SCB did not offer me remote work and holiday internship possibility, I would not need to think too much. If the school said it is too late to go for internship (now is 2nd week of school), I would not need to think too much. If the person from SCB replied just a little earlier (or later), I would not need to think too much. If it is impossible to re-schedule my modules such that I can graudate in time, I would not need to think too much (now it is possible if I am willing to take quite a bit of risks and willing to choose modules I don't really like). If the internship pay is a bit higher :P, I would not need to think too much.

Now that things are just too flexible, it all boiled down to chooing six months internship + unpleasant final year (vs) 3 months internship (probably) + smooth-sail final year. Of course, apart from module choice problem, I am also bothered by the fact that if I do internship this semester, I will be out-of-sync with my friends and very likely even out-of-sync with everyone I have acquainted with in School of Computing. I don't mind making new friends but the idea of not knowing anyone in every class I take makes me uncomfortable. Well, I know things might not turn out to be this bad; I might enjoy the final year even with these conditions after all. If that is the case, how about choosing holiday internship? It might not be inferior to six months internship after all. I swayed from one decision to another. Every time I swayed, I regret choosing one over the other. Finally, I tossed coin. Call me superstitious or childish. All the rock-scissor-paper games and coin tosses (including the final one I made up my mind to obey) consistently suggested me not to go. So, I finally chose not to go.

Ok, eventually, one choice will turn out to be better than the other. But, I remember my first AI lecture. Rationality is not omniscience. A path chosen rationally with limited viewpoint of the environment might be inferior to one made with complete knowledge of everything (omniscience) but it is still the rational choice one should follow. So, I have chosen a path "rationally" by tossing a coin. It might turn out to be a bad choice or a good one. But, one thing for sure is that I can't know it at this moment.

I might have made a wrong choice in your opinion. If so, please do not comment for I can't change my decision anymore and I don't want to be remorseful.

First time rollerblading

2009-01-19T02:06:00.003+08:00

Had a "fun" afternoon with my poly fyp groupmates. We went for rollerblading at east cost (Thanks Hendri for arranging this). You guessed it right. This was my first time rollerblading. You can imagine how cool (lol, you know what I wanted to write but no gap for goals) I look with the wheels on.

We had one "excllent" instructor, Hendri who doesn't know how to break :P , and three students. It was damn difficult to balance on those wheels. For the first hour, I just kept walking and balancing near a railing. After the first hour, one student kinda gave up and got a bicycle instead. Another student had a little prior experience and he was then ready to venture out into an opened lane. So, I had to burn my boats and follow them.

My performance in second hour was not that satisfactory. But, abandoning the railing proved faster progress. It was kinda demoralizing that while I was struggling to balance myself, Hendri was riding past me back and forth so many times, Roger was doing quite ok and Sandar was enjoying her bicyle ride. LOL. But, thanks that they don't wander around too far away from me. By the end of second hour, I don't know if I learnt rollerblading or not but surely, my feet were very tired. When I took of the roller blades, the first thing I felt was "I got my feet back!". :D

We had our dinner at Mac. It was an enjoyable afternoon. It would be more enjoyable if I weren't tired by two consecutive days of insufficient sleep. I hope they also enjoyed the afternoon as much as I did. Alright, until next time. :D

Recovered!

2009-01-17T14:29:00.002+08:00

Was down again for a moment. But, have recovered now. :D

Misery post

2009-01-16T16:19:00.004+08:00

Someone might be expecting a misery post today. Yup. It is indeed so (notice i am trying to use less of this word ;P) but not as much as before. Plus, I am reading Andrew Matthews. Don't worry. Cheers.

(Addendum: I meant to say I am not writing a misery post although today is not one of the best days)

Old is gold: I need a hero

2009-01-15T21:46:00.002+08:00

Awesome song. It is energetic yet also mysteriously sad.

Wrong direction

2009-01-12T02:01:00.002+08:00

I think I am still going in the wrong direction. Sometimes, I wonder why it is so difficult to be happy. Ooops, I just complained :P

I am now buying tissue packs from aunties

2009-01-10T11:09:00.011+08:00

It is not uncommon for any person living in Singapore to be approached by some students on a street or to be approached by some uncles/aunties in a foodcourt, both asking for donations. I believe that it is the inner core in all of us to care. It is within our reach and we generally would not hesitate to donate small changes, 10/20 cents, 50 cents, a dollar or two.

But I noticed myself that while I frequently donate to students with tin cans, I tend to be pulled back when it comes to buying a packet of tissue (well, now they give three) from an aunty for one dollar. I think I never bought one during my first two or three years in Singapore. Well, of course, their tissue packs are vastly overpriced but they aren't selling tissues, are they? They are asking for donations while doing something useful for me in return. Very often, it is not only me who do not buy from the uncles/aunties; I would see them winding their way around the tables only to receive hand gestures, polite or inpolite, until they are out of sight.

There can be a lot of possible explanations to it. One obvious reason is that we simply don't like to be begged when we are eating. But, some time ago, I read an interesting alternative. When we are asked for donation without so-called "a token of appreciation", our minds are dominated by social norms. In social norms, donating a few coins or even some dollar notes is not really a big amount. However, when we are confronted with an item of some economic value, our market norms kick in. Monetarily, it is the same amount, one dollar. But, it seems a lot more than the one dollar I slotted into a tin can, simply because the market value of a tissue pack is much less.

Nonetheless, it is fairly commonplace in Singapore to sell all sorts of items from chopsticks to cookies for charity. I once offended a close friend by hesitating to buy a cookie. It was just because of the market norms in my subconscious mind; I am sure I would not have hesitated to donate the same amount or even more if there were no cookies. But, I understand that sometimes, I just have to follow the crowd. If something doesn't come to me naturally, I will just have to force it with my conscious mind. I am now buying tissue packs from aunties in foodcourts.

Pachelbel - Canon in D

2009-01-09T14:55:00.000+08:00

Love this piano piece.

Look nearer for greater things

2009-01-09T12:11:00.005+08:00

Realized in the past few months that I've been ignorant of things, great things, that are just right next to me. But, from now on, I will look out for them. And, if it happens that you also haven't been doing it, let me advice you to do the same. ;)

Page 15 Lyrics

2009-01-08T23:59:00.003+08:00

As lyrics for Lay Phyu's lastest album, BOB, are not yet available online, my obsession with the song Page 15 has led me to write down the lyrics myself. Let me share them for the benefit of everyone. :) Let me know if you spot any mistakes.

By the way, fyi for some ppl, this song has definitely and decisively replaced both Put on your sunday clothes and "Kyar put".

Page 15

အတိတ္ေတြက မဝါးေပမယ့္
ငါဒို႔ႏွစ္ဦးဇတ္လမ္းမွာ တခ်ိဳ႕ေနရာက
အေကာင္းအတိုင္း ရွိေနဆဲပါပဲ
ဟိုတကြက္ ဒီတကြက္ ပိတ္သားထက္
အရင္လို ၾကည့္မေကာင္းေပမယ့္ ျမင္ရတယ္
အဓိပၸယ္ မရွိတာ သိေပမယ့္
တခါတေလ တိုက္ဆိုင္မႈေတြရွိလာေတာ့လဲ
အမွတ္တမဲ့ မင္းကိုလြမ္းပါတယ္
အေပါယံ ရွပ္ထိေသာ ဒဏ္ရာမဟုတ္ေတာ့
လြယ္ကူစြာနဲ႕ ငါေမ့မရဘူးကြယ္
ေတြးရင္မွတ္မိအံုးမယ္ ထင္ပါတယ္
ႏွစ္ေတြလေတြက အေတာ္ၾကာျပီပဲ

(chorus)
ဘယ္စီကိုမင္းေရာက္ေနမလဲ ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမလဲ ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ ငါသတိရပါတယ္
ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမလဲ ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ ငါသတိရပါတယ္

အတိတ္ေတြက မဝါးေပမယ့္
ငါဒို႔ႏွစ္ဦးဇတ္လမ္းမွာ တခ်ိဳ႕ေနရာက
အေကာင္းအတိုင္း ရွိေနဆဲပါပဲ
ဟိုတကြက္ ဒီတကြက္ ပိတ္သားထက္
အရင္လို ၾကည့္မေကာင္းေပမယ့္ ျမင္ရတယ္
အဓိပၸယ္ မရွိတာ သိလည္းပဲ
တခါတေလ တိုက္ဆိုင္မႈေတြရွိလာေတာ့
ငါအမွတ္တမဲ့ မင္းကိုလြမ္းပါတယ္
အေပါယံ ရွပ္ထိေသာ ဒဏ္ရာမဟုတ္ေတာ့
လြယ္လြယ္ ငါေမ့မရဘူးကြယ္

(chorus)
ဘယ္စီကိုမင္းေရာက္ေနမယ္ ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမယ္ ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ ငါသတိရပါတယ္
ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမယ္ ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ တခါတေလ ငါသတိရပါတယ္

ေတြးရင္မွတ္မိအံုးမယ္ ထင္ပါတယ္
ႏွစ္ေတြလေတြက အေတာ္ၾကာျပီပဲ

မင္းေရာက္ေနလဲ (ဘယ္စီကိုမင္းေရာက္ေနမလဲ)
ိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမလဲ (ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမလဲ)
ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ သတိရပါတယ္
ဘာေတြကိုမင္းလုပ္ေနမလဲ ဘယ္သူနဲ႕မင္းရွိေနမယ္
ေတြးမိပါတယ္ လြမ္းေမာရင္းနဲ႕ စဥ္းစားရင္းနဲ႕ တခါတေလ ငါသတိရပါတယ္

ဟိုး.... သတိရေနတယ္....

Lay Phyu rocks

2009-01-03T11:19:00.003+08:00

Wanna share three of my favorite Lay Phyu songs. 3215 ppl will recognize one. :)

Lay Phyu is a famous Burmese rock singer and he is one of my favorite (or most probably favorite) Burmese singers.

Track 11 - Lay Phyu 11

03-A Chit A Kyaung.mp3 - Lay Phyu

Page 15 -

Vacation days

2008-12-15T12:28:00.005+08:00

I am indeed having fun. Thks shirley for your concern, but it is gone. Some quick updates below_

- I am already having fun. So, tut tut to those who are waiting to do so. :P

- Tut tut again to those who didn't pass the exam. I am deeply sorry. But, is it necessary? :P I know you are as happy as always.

- I am now in Myawlamyine. The view from the new bridge that crosses Than Lwin River is quite nice. It is now the longest bridge in Myanmar. It's a pity that I didn't bring my camera because this is supposed to be a short visit to my grandma and not a sightseeing trip.

- I am looking forward to the dinner at LLC and the KHY trip. Looking forward to meet the two AFV victims in ygn also.

- It's too bad that my other trip with kzyt and ssah has to be canceled. But, I will try to get around in ygn with the two of them.

- I am looking forward to a gathering with my high school friends also. I haven't met them for a very long time. I hope I can remember their names. :D

- @Justin: Apology accepted, none the less. Don't worry about the tickets. They are already booked, 25th - 27th. You may worry a little about the accommodation, however.

Fun moments after exam

2008-12-10T01:06:00.007+08:00

After deepest despairs of NUS exams, I have been enjoying fun moments. Tomorrow (or rather today), I am going back to my hometown and will have even more fun. =D yay.

It seems this holiday is one of my happiest- probably because I had so much stress this semester, probably because CS3215 incident has inadvertently freed me from the need to go for first class honors, probably because I've thrown away my "life is a misery" thought (it's not easy but I keep shrugging it off) or probably because of the two monkeys I've been with these days. :P

But, I am sure I am very happy. Even before exams, my two friends (ok, ppl concerned may thank me for not using the word monkeys again), and I had already had some fun by going to a movie together. There, someone enjoyed buying a new jacket but someone else enjoyed wearing it. It was not given as a gift, fyi :P . I also had a funny moment. I wanted to buy a flip flop but found the prices were too expensive (even after some discount). So, I didn't buy. After the exams, I happened to buy one with about the same price when I was shopping for a birthday present. Only after I walked out of the shop, I realized that the shop belongs to the same chain as the one I didn't buy from. And, I lost the discount. :(

After that one day of fun, I had to go through one of the worst ordeal of my life. During that period, there were times I wished I slept and wouldn't wake up but as I have written in my other post, I survived it with the help of friends. At the same time, someone else also had a little bumpy road. But, he or she guaranteed to continue smiling and I am glad that he or she will. There were also some unfortunate incidents. I feel sorry for the canceled trip but that person is as happy as always; and, I am glad that he or she does. :D

After the exams, everything was so fun. Even visiting Myanmar Embassy (aka) "the last place I want to go in singapore" was fun. We had a big crowd and non-stop laughters. But, I should send my condolences to those who know nothing else but to score goals. Tut Tut. I remember how ppl desperately begged me for food and how I heartlessly didn't give them food. I also remember when we were having ice-cream on the way back, someone was so uncivil to say "let's take our time" when someone else was rushing. Haiizz.. :P

Two days later, I went to shop for presents for my mom and dad. It was so sweet of the two of my friends to come along with me and to help me choose what to buy, especially for my mom as I dunno any woman stuff. Well, they know because one is a woman and another is a womanizer. :P Joking. Actually, they came with me because they also had things to buy. LOL, hehe joking again. Anyway, I am sad for someone who didn't get a computer casing because of my highly psersuasive un-sale tactics.

We went for a movie some days later. I was late but they bought what I expected, Madagascar 2. The cartoon was very funny, btw. I think this sequel is even better than the first movie.

There were much more fun but it's getting late and I need to sleep "early" to catch a not-so-early flight tomorrow. So, I just want to say I am really happy. Tomorrow (or today), I will be going back to my hometown and I will be back to Singapore on 31 Dec.

So, all my friends, you can contact me with email during my stay at my hometown. I will try to check it once every 2-3 days. And, by taking this opportunity, let me announce again that this blog shall hibernate until next year! :D

Old is gold: By the river of Babylon

2008-12-03T22:06:00.003+08:00

This song is associated with some memorable experience for me :D

A better version

Evidence of a new AFV case in PGP

2008-12-02T18:24:00.006+08:00

A new case of AFV (angelic fever virus) is found today. The victim name is Justin. :P

kyi: alrighty

u may go

shar ma shay net

Justin: lol

gar

a friend comes to chat with me

ppl just wnat to chat with me

:-s

kyi: because u r always shar shay

so, they come and chat with u when they are bored

Justin: they love me

kyi: [some text]

Justin: they need me

kyi: [some text]

Justin: they need me to be happy

kyi: [some text]

Justin: see
?

kyi:[some text]

Justin: they just love me

they love me :)

kyi: [some text]

Justin: see

they love me par so

kyi: crap

:-s :-s :-s

Being unable to help

2008-12-02T11:18:00.004+08:00

Being unable to help someone is one of the worst feelings one can ever get. But, I shall no longer complain. I will try to make myself better so that one day, I will be able to help as many people in as many ways as I want to.

Pre-Reflection: Very Special Thanks

2008-11-30T03:16:00.006+08:00

As I promised to you all, especially to my two friends, I am going to publish reflections I had in this semester in coming days. Although originally planned to be a part of my reflection posts, I think I more urgently need to give my special thanks to my friends this separate post.

I had 2 days of emotional turmoil after CS3215 meeting, 3 days of hell before I took ST2131, and 2 days of extreme guilt and confusion after I took MA1101R. In these days of misery (here, I used this word objectively), I survived only because of the invaluable support, both tangible and intangible, from my friends. I also want to make a confession that previously, I only valued tangible support from friends. But, after this incident, I realized that their intangible morale support is equally important as well.

So, without further ado, let me give my thanks to -

Tian Shuang: For patiently and effectively entertaining my continuous bombardment of ST2131 questions. Without his help, I simply would not have completed my study in the short amount of time I had.

Tian Huat: For providing me two crucial sets of notes for ST2131, and giving me guidance on which topics I should pay more attention to. The guidance meant a lot to me when I was in complete darkness of unintelligible lecture notes and tutorial questions. And, the notes proved to be extremely useful for my cheat sheet.

KZYT: For being with me and patiently listening to all my non-stop mourns and groans when it was confirmed that I would have to let go of a lot of things, and giving me understanding and soothing words of comfort at the same time.

Shirley: For lessons I indirectly learnt from her, for all the morale support, understanding and encouragement she gave me during my desperate times, for giving me an important benchmark information about ST2131, and last but not least, for simply being so cheerful, energetic and positive that her excess energy, joys and laughters spreaded to me when I needed them.

Justin: For lessons I directly and indirectly learnt from him, for helping me cope with heavy losses while he was suffering losses no less than mine, for providing me morale support, understanding and encouragement, for sharing me "do your best and have no regret" philosophy, for helping me find my way out of my own guilt trap, and for simply being so calm, organised and positive that it gave me a direction when I was lost.

YC: For answering my occasional queries about how badly one need to perform to fail an examination. :-)

SSAH: For morale support, understanding and encouragement she gave me. Although I didn't happen to talk to her during that period, the encouragement she gave me previously was non the less very helpful.

Hendri: For listening to my complaints from time to time and giving me encouragement and suggestions. Again, although I did not happen to talk to him during those days, his suggestions were non the less very helpful.

All other friends: For just being my friends. Although I did not happen to talk to them during that period, I am sure they will support me in one way or another if I did.

(side note: I am thankful to all my friends, and the order they appear is not sorted by the value of their help because their helps are invaluable. And because there were many events and I wrote this only after one week gap, pls understand me if I forgot to mention any friend or any help)

Evaluation of last paper

2008-11-29T16:13:00.008+08:00

1) The paper is easy. No, not because I can do well but because my objective evaluation says it is an easy paper. It asks a number of "algo execution" questions which can be answered quite easily if one studied once-taught-in-class algo's well. Most other questions are "algo derivation" that one needs to derive and modify an existing algo to fit the given special scenario. There was only one "develop algo from scratch" question but it is dynamic programming (those who have studied the same course know, hmm... probably know :P , it is easy) and it only asks recurrance relation formula and the problem is easy.

2) I didn't do very well because I've never "executed" some of those algos (because there are so many) in hand and it took some time to do the execution in exam without prior practice. And, due to that, I couldn't finish some questions.

3) But, I can say there were no hippcups. I managed to calmly skip some questions that I could not immediately come up with a solution without panic. I returned to some of them later in the exam and managed to do some. Those questions I could not finish could make my grade slip to lower than my goal but I am satisified because I did my best, I did not give up and there was nothing else I could do. Another factor that attributed to those unfinished questions is me being slow in thinking. But, this is what I am born with and although I cannot say I am completely happy about it, I understand that there is no point mourning over it also. I shall forgive "life" so that I can be in peace.

4) I give my "tut tut" to those who haven't finished the exam hell. :P
Additional "tut tut" to someone who tried to cover up wrinked clothes with wrinkled jackets. :P

5) I give my "congrat" to someone who has been jailed in PGP and set free just today. :P

Last paper but not last supper

2008-11-29T11:17:00.003+08:00

Ok. Less than 2 hours away from my last paper. I've set a goal and I hope for the best. I tell myself that I can do it. But, I also tell myself that I've done all I can. Should there be any hiccups, it's fate.

Mental preparation

2008-11-28T23:19:00.002+08:00

After I looked at the past year paper for CS3230, I realized that I need to mentally prepare for this one also. But, not for failure but for lower than A grades. And, to not make the same mistake like in MA1101R, I have also set a goal. But, it's really very difficult to do these two things at once. They are contradicting to each other...

bawa ne yin pyi chit me thu

2008-11-27T01:35:00.002+08:00

Just to complete my list, here is one more. May 3215 people rejoice for the last missing piece

Put on your sunday clothes

2008-11-26T21:05:00.002+08:00

This is another favourite of mine. I put it here according to the request of someone. :P

Give it to me (Madonna)

2008-11-26T16:13:00.002+08:00

Here is another one. 3215 veterans will smile to hear this. :P

Madonna - Give It 2 Me_85103 -

J'en Ai Marre (I'm fed up)

2008-11-26T02:44:00.005+08:00

My habit of searching for any language random best songs on youtube has given me quite a treat. Some of them even made it to my favourite list. Here is one of them. You probably won't have heard of it (but it was big in France). I hope the upbeat rhythm can cheer up all of you including those who are already cheered up during this exam period. :P

Addendum: Probably to a smile for some of you, part of the song means "I'm fed up with your complaints. I'm fed up with all those cynics" ;-)

Jen Ai Marre - Alizée

Bad papers

2008-11-24T15:43:00.007+08:00

Sigh... After much hope to get at least a B for MA1101R, I had to reduce my expectation again to a C. This sem is really bad for me. FYI, I've already let go of my wish to get a first class honors but now it seems that I will have to try hard even for a second upper. I let go of first class because I no longer want to suffer the pain but now I am really disappointed; not only first class is gone, but also the suffering remains.

Addendum: It's all right now. I don't feel bad anymore. I felt so bad because
- the grade difference was huge
- I screwed up during exam and
- it looked like the whole difference is due to my mistake in exam
But, now I think of it, even if I didn't screw up, I could have raised only one grade. The rest is due to insufficient preparation time. So, no more guilt and I am ok now. Hahaha.

And, the fact that I screwed up was at least partially my fault.
1) I admit that I slacked during that small amount of crucial time I had to study (didn't try as much as I should have)
2) I "gave up" during exam. I confused "let go" and "give up". After I have done all the obvious questions, I tried every remaining question with messages like "no, u can't do it. It's for A student", "u have already gotten what u wanted" echoing in my head. Because the thought of whether I didn't do my best really bothered me, I had to return to my previous self and look at all the questions in the paper. Yes, I found that should I didn't have that give-up attitude, I could have done two additional questions. That two additional questions is likely to raise one grade. I shall treat this as a harsh lesson.

First time in my life

2008-11-22T16:52:00.002+08:00

Today marks the first time in my life I _
1) Feared of failing an examination
2) Walked out of the exam room without looking at the paper a single more glance
3) Walked out of the exam room without slightest urge to check an answer
4) Walked out of the exam room without talking to anyone
5) Don't feel bad about not being able to do well
6) Can genuinely laugh immediately after a bad paper
7) Would feel very happy for a C grade

I need to learn to let it go

2008-11-20T02:00:00.004+08:00

Perhaps, it's time I learn to let it go and cherish what I already have. . .

Don't Give Up

2008-11-20T00:09:00.003+08:00

Don't give up. Yes, Just don't give up. This is to everyone who needs it (including myself). Please, please just don't give up.

I will not speculate any outcome right now. I will not. I swear.

Trying hard and trying smart

2008-11-18T21:19:00.002+08:00

Life would be much less miserable if one can choose which. However, the harsh reality is that one can't. This position that I have gotten today come from my persistent hard work. I am not naturally talented. I do things very slowly. I learn things very slowly. I don't like being so. But, yes, it is a truth; it is a truth I don't like; it is a truth I am most sensitive about. So, I am thankful to all of you who would say "no, it's not true that you are not talented", thank you for hiding me from such a bitter reality. I also do so from time to time because the pain is unbearable. And, I don't deny that even after countless evidences, I am still wishing that it is not true.
There are several occasions when I could not perform relatively simple tasks and people around me were surprised. Deep from my heart, I know the reason. I am just not up to the task. The fact that I've been performing tasks of beyond my ability today is through my keen interest in knowing how things work. I remember in my high school, my math teacher said 0/0 is indeterminate and no one else but me questioned why. When I am given a problem, I am happy only if I can solve it myself. Even if I can't, when I get the answer, I always seek the knowledge of how the solution is thought through. It is with those pieces of knowledge that I can solve seemingly unrelated and difficult problems. People think that I solve them on my own but I just used other people solutions.
Being that this position I have gotten today is hard earned, I have extreme resentment towards those who don't try hard enough and say they can't do it, wishing for sympathy at the same time. It is outrageous that people with gifted abilities can forgive them and they expect me to do the same. I am different; I don't have gifted abilities and therefore, I can't be so generous. Moreover, those people damages me in a way that undermines my efforts. When I say I can't, there is really no way I can. But, because of those people who don't try, my "can't"s are always under valued, not understood and seen weak.
Why am I writing all this? Today, I had a meeting with my prof for a project module that went dismay due to three irresponsible, don't-try-but-cry-for-sympathy people. I will write their names here so that should you encounter them, you can avoid them at all cost. Su Huan (U065017L), Lu Ying (U065182Y), and Sheng Yexiang (U065113M). In short, the conclusion the prof got was that they tried their best and it is unfortunate that they couldn't contribute. But, what about me? I contributed even though it is beyond my capability. During the discussion, the prof messages were that we (me and two other teammates) are better, more capable and therefore, so long as they did their best, he would give them the same grade as us. But, it is vastly unfair to me because I am no better and no more capable than them. I just tried. I just tried very very hard incurring a lot of time for other modules. I admit that when the prof said we were better, I could not help but felt the joy of "being talented". I might be really talented after all. But, the joy didn't last long for I know the truth. The joy turned into anger when they started to "cry for sympathy". Prof was easily convinced. Maybe he has a heart for not-so-capable people. But, where were those people like Prof Stan when I needed? No one, nobody sympathized me when I tried my best but couldn't perform. Sometimes, they sympathized me but their message always was that hard work cannot be taken into account; only results matter. In reality, it is true. Would you buy a poor quality product just because the manufacturers "tried very hard" to make it? You might blame me for being so cold and heartless but I blame you for being so cold and heartless because you don't value my efforts. Of course, if I am one who is naturally capable, I won't have any problems sympathizing those shameless people. But, I can't. Am I revengeful? Maybe yes. Anway, in the end, prof concluded to penalise them only slightly and everyone in the room were ok. I also said ok because I couldn't sort things out quickly whether I was satisfied with the verdict or not. After the meeting, I found that I cannot be satisifed with the verdict. I know I am heavily influenced by emotions right now. That's why I am writing this post to release them. Now, I feel a little better but I will take today as one of the days of utter injustice in my life.

Thought dream

2008-11-17T23:53:00.006+08:00

Hmm.... I don't know if it is normal. I just had a thought dream. It was like a dream but I don't think I was really asleep then; and I didn't see anything, it is just thoughts. A thought of being criticized by a person I don't really like swept through me and I rebutted bitterly. But, I don't know where that thought came from as I was totally not thinking about that person or that criticism. . .

All-flavour feelings

2008-11-17T19:50:00.002+08:00

Never in my life has I felt like right now. I am now disappointed, angry, happy, sad, sorry, stressed, confused, lonely, unsatisfied, unmotivated, motivated, tired, bored, hurt, neglected, cared, . . . (maybe more, maybe not). Yes, mostly negative; in line with my blog title. I am yet to do personal reflections but definitely not right now at this emotional state.

Reflection of my attitude about life

2008-11-15T02:07:00.003+08:00

So many things happened this semester. Well, they might not look very eventful. Just a normal semester doing projects, and studying. But, I am sure there were several events that made me reflect a lot of things. I haven't tried to identify specific instances but I just felt that there were many. I will do so after when I can cool down from this hectic schedule.

Be contented

2008-11-07T17:41:00.011+08:00

They say "be contented", "be happy for where you are now", "don't compare", "look at those who are worse than you".

I say "how pathetic to be so". I am not contented. I am not happy for where I am now. I compare myself with everyone above me. I don't want to look at anyone below me. I would rather lose the so-called "happiness" than stay where I am now.

Being contented is admitting defeat. I will never admit defeat.

The ultimate happiness in life is getting what you want. Contenting with what you have is just a feeble imitation of happiness for pathetic people.

(dear readers: sorry for this kind of occasional complaints) :D

Way too slow

2008-11-07T17:35:00.001+08:00

I am just way too slow to score in math exams... sigh...

Taking pride in being "too honest"

2008-11-04T11:34:00.007+08:00

I often hear phrases like "People hate me for being honest", "My bad habit is I am too honest", "Sorry, I was too honest", etc. Sometimes people say "I hate being too honest" but with big smirks on their faces.

I believe most people would accept the fact that we don't always like to hear truths, and it looks "incorrect" that people don't like truths. But, I think it is correct to don't like "some truths" if they don't benefit anyone. Ok, before you continue reading, if you don't like my "life is a misery" philosophy, I shall apologize you for I am using it (yes, again) to analyze this topic. So, this is my reason to think it is correct. Life is miserable; there are plenty of unpleasant and bitter truths. So, people just want to avoid as much as possible from those truths. And, it is understandable. No matter how happy a person is, I believe there is one or two areas he or she is sensitive about or at least annoyed with.

When people say "too honest", they are referring to hurting others by saying those truths. Now, I want to ask them, "Would you be honest about something that would affect your own interests?". I shall worship them if they say "yes" and really do it. To me, those who claim to be too honest are merely taking refuge under the virtue of the two words "honesty" and "truth" to hide their lack of tact.

I believe in a famous Asian value, saving face. Saving face is usually connoted with bad labels like "beat around the bush", "conservative", "inefficient", "lie", "suck up", "lame", etc. But, I see it differently. It doesn't deserve those labels if we apply it correctly. When a fact is apparent to both parties, it need not be communicated; it just creates awkward, embarrassing moments (to recipient), and probably some "fun" (to speaker) but nothing else. More often than not, an average person is able to sense his or her shortcomings after some time. There is no benefit to yourself or to him/her by communicating these apparent facts, unless you are doing it for your own personal amusement (and, if that is the case, it's time to reflect your character). Of course, jokes among friends are counted out. But, I acknowledge that sometimes, we need to be direct especially when the person isn't aware of his/her weakness, that weakness can be fixed or that weakness is detrimental to you, himself/herself, or a third party.

So, if a truth does some benefits, by all means, we have the right to say it. But, if it doesn't, why would we add unnecessary miseries to this already miserable life?

Elaborate Thai Commercials

2008-11-01T16:15:00.002+08:00

I didn't know Thais like to create such elaborate commercials. Enjoy.

Living in a life of "should"s

2008-11-01T01:44:00.004+08:00

Well, back to normal and my misery posts. This time, I want to talk about how many of us live in life of "should"s. Please don't give judgments too quickly. I don't mean we can do whatever we like to. It is those "should"s that keep our lives and community enjoyable. That's why they are "should"s.
But, more often than not, those "should"s cross their boundary. I've seen a lot of people who just live by the law of "should"s. I should wake up. I should study. I should earn money. I should be polite. I should work hard. Well, ok so far. I am not too much against those kind of "should"s. But, it's not ok when......... I should enjoy myself. I should make friends. I should listen to music. I should play. I should take a break..... I hope you see the difference. Sometimes, I have conversations like this-
me: I like reading. Especially, I like harry potter books.
he/she: I don't like reading. I like going out with friends because I can make more friends, I can know more places.. .. ..
Duh... Don't I like going out with friends? Of course, I do (maybe not as much as him/her). But, my point here is not about liking or not liking it. If that he/she says he/she really enjoys that, fine, good for him or her. But, I don't buy it. There is nothing more miserable than forcing oneself to false enjoyments. That's what I mean by "should"s cross their boundary.

I don't understand why we should take those shoulds to our own personal time. I do abide by those shoulds in many ways but I won't let them intrude my true self. If you know me personally, please don't speculate with whom I've had those conversations with for I am always very careful to ensure all examples are fictitious. Let me end this post with a conversation I had with my imaginery Mr Should.
Mr. Should: Why are you writing this kind of posts in your blog?
Me: I like to write them. Why?
Mr. Should: Argh.. No one will visit your blog. They aren't interesting. You should write more interesting stuffs to get readers.
Me. ... ... ... ...
(I write this blog as much for readers as for myself... I wish Mr Should could understand)

Resurrection!!!

2008-10-28T04:52:00.003+08:00

This blog is resurrected as of today. Well, this is irony because it has never been dead. But, I am gonna call it resurrection anyway because I cannot find any other pompous words.

Another irony is that today, I am not going to write about misery. Today is one of the few days of my life that are not miserable. Here is why.
As part of my software engineering project module in NUS, my teammates and I have been working on a Static Code Analyzer program (which contributed to much of my misery these days). We have two preliminary and one final demonstration for this project. The first demo was a let down. It was mainly because the other sub-group of our team run into trouble and we had to scrap one of two main components of the system. Time was so tight that we couldn't fix small but crucial bugs. That lead our demo into dismay but thanks to our very considerate and understanding tutor (who knows the situation), we weren't penalised. I remember someone vowed to return the gratitude by doing a good job in second demo :P

So, that's it. Today, we had our second demo. In short, the demo went well. The tutor was very satisfied. We were also very happy. The most rewarding moment was when our system flawlessly handled two test cases ,which according to the tutor, most other groups run into trouble. There was one comment the tutor made which I am not sure I should be happy about or be offended by.. "You guys kinda surprised me" :-s hehehe
I think he was surprised mostly because it was a big jump- from errors for even the simplest test cases to excellent results for tricky ones. Anyway, I am very happy. Of course, many Thanks to my great teammates Justin and Shirley (fyi, they are both Burmese :P ) for all the great work and also for understanding me during my most miserable times :D
(Addendum: I give my thanks and appreciation to the other sub-group as well for their contributions, support, cooperation, understanding and most importantly, their sincerity to help).

We will continue to work hard and I hope we will earn similar congrats from our prof in the final demo.

Hibernation

2008-09-13T14:18:00.002+08:00

This blog shall hibernate until further notice.

I am too miserably busy to write my miseries in this blog :P

Old is gold: Animusic

2008-08-23T03:01:00.001+08:00

Creativity unrivaled . . .

pipe dream

Fiber bundles

Effective Communication

2008-07-27T01:07:00.002+08:00

Communication skills are essential in today's world. Learn from one of the world's most important people, President Bush, on how effective communication skills can be put into use.

Javascript Garbage Collection

2008-07-20T03:41:00.004+08:00

It was 3am in the morning and I was saved by this blogpost
http://blog.grimpoteuthis.org/2005/01/dhtml-leaks-like-sieve.html

A javascript stunt I did in one of my projects backfired and my browser memory was blowing up every time I clicked a button. But, thanks to the aforementioned blogpost, I learnt the problem. In summary, the problem is that if there is a circular reference involving both a javascript object and a browser native object (like a DOM node), both will not be garbage collected until the browser is closed (not even if the page is unloaded, not even if the tab is closed). The solution is to painstakingly find those references and break them by setting nulls. Should you happen to do some javascripting that involves DOM nodes, you might be interested in it. Read the post for more information.

Creative Swearing

2008-07-09T10:49:00.003+08:00

The following is a swearing, really.

Person A: "Is your mother your grandmother". [OR] "Your mother is your grandma".
Person B: "What?"

big or small circles

2008-06-30T22:24:00.003+08:00

There was a person who studied so hard to become a doctor. His hard work paid off. But, he was unhappy. Many of his classmates with lower grades went into finance industry and their five digit incomes made his salary laughable. So, he immediately abandoned what tried all his life to obtain. Again, he made it; he became a banker with five figure salary.
At graduate reunion party, he enjoyed a lot of admiration from his classmates. Those who were still practicing medicine inevitably felt small when the banker crowd shared their success. He felt very relieved for he made the right choice. Now, he was the center of attention; he no longer needed to feel small. In fact, he made other people feel so. He enjoyed the remainder of the party among the rich crowd.

That's my recount of what I read in a book a few months ago. Please pardon me for the total destruction I caused to what is, otherwise, a fine piece of literature, but I hope I made the point.

After the story, the writer continued with his analysis on the doctor-turned-banker's feelings. If I remember correctly, it goes something like this.
A circle looks small when surrounded by larger circles but the same circle looks large when surrounded by smaller ones.
Should the doctor learned how to surround himself with his doctor classmates, he did not need to become a banker yet he could still remain happy and keep the job he truly dreamed of. So, sometimes, we need to learn how to surround ourselves with smaller circles.

I am not going to criticize his reasoning. An opposite but equally true statement is that we need to surround ourselves with larger circles if we want to improve ourselves. No, I don't think either statement is truer than the other. They are just different interpretations on the same situation, both aiming to be larger. Sometimes, I do feel a need for smaller circles. I don't need to bully anyone. I just need to think and realize there are a lot of people in worse situations than mine. But, every time I give myself such a break, a longstanding dilemma always surfaces_ is happiness=laziness?

[fill in the blank] cycle

2008-06-23T23:44:00.003+08:00

When I am cold and private, they say I am "anti-social".
When I try to be more friendly and talk more, they say I am "fake".
When I try to adjust the level of friendliness to not sound fake, they say I "try to please everyone".
When I complain about all this, they say I just need to "be myself".
When I am myself, they say I am "cold and private".

Note: "They" don't refer to anyone or any group of people in particular. No, definitely not even if you suspect I mean "they" are you.

A new day at Las Vegas

2008-06-23T00:30:00.002+08:00

one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist . . . or so it was said. None the less, it is amazing.

Old is gold: super trouper

2008-06-07T16:07:00.001+08:00

A filler post before I have something to write :-)

First Love Unlimited?

2008-06-03T01:50:00.005+08:00

I love this song but I don't understand a single word of the lyrics. It might be weird for some but to me, I mostly listen to songs just for the sake of melody and the sound itself, and rarely for their lyrics and meanings.
Sadly, I don't even understand the title. So, I will just give it the title of the hk movie which I heard it from. Btw, will appreciate if anyone can translate the title and the lyric meanings for me. Thanks!

Enjoy the "First Love Unlimited" :-D

First Love Unlimited (piano) -

Google icon changed

2008-06-02T03:53:00.005+08:00

I noticed these days that google icon (the one displayed on the browser tab) has been changed to a new, more "stylish" one.
To me, the new icon lacks google's distinctive personality. It feels more like the icon of those websites that you reach if you mis-spell your url.

Google icon before

Google icon after

Graciousness

2008-05-02T23:23:00.015+08:00

Last week, I went to school almost everyday to study for my examinations. One night, on my way back home (around 10pm),I saw a very old lady on my bus. She had quite a bit of items with her, one small luggage and three bags. Some of them looked quite heavy.

Bus 96 from NUS to clementi stops at clementi interchange but most people get off at clementi mrt(one stop before interchange). However, I always ride to interchange because my house is nearer to it. At mrt stop, I noticed her moving things feverishly. I thought she was going to alight but she didn't; she was just moving her items to a seat near the exit.

As the bus moved to the interchange, I saw her getting everything ready to get off (almost like people will kick her off if she was slow). Seeing her in such an uneasy state, I asked "auntie, where are you going?" (well, if she is taking another bus, I can at least send her to the boarding berth; or if she lives near interchange, I don't mind sending her to her house). But, she just mumbled something like "nevermind". As we were talking, the door opened. As if a "red alert" mode is initiated, she quickly started to take things down.

Okay, I mean she doesn't need to be this "hardworking". It is not like people were rushing her or anything. In fact, I was offering help. One other passenger also offered help. Singaporeans are very polite. I am sure even if there is no other passenger around, the bus captain would be kind enough to stop the bus and get her things down.

Since there was no time to talk, I just grabbed the luggage and tried to ask for a heavy-looking bag which was blocked by her. Surprisingly, while she could just give a nod and let me carry on, she refused (quite strongly). Well, I asked for it. I hate this kind of awkward situations. I like to help people but I cannot get myself hurt (in this case, embarrassment) in doing so. Since I was in it, I had to continue. So, I thought, nevermind if you don't want me to get another bag, I will just finish my current job; and, I brought the bag down. Behind me, I saw she and another passenger alighting very awkwardly, both trying to get hold of a bag. Apparently, she kept insisting to take it back from the passenger who had already fall into the same situation as mine. By that time, all I was thinking is to end it as quickly as possible. So, I asked her again "which bus are you taking?". Finally, to my great relief, she said her bus number. So, I quickly went to the berth, put the luggage down and . . . (I wish I just went off)

No, I didn't learn. I still tried to get an eye-contact with her to see if she needed anymore help. But, she just calmly reached her place, put the bags on the floor and looked away from me. No "thank you" (I didn't expect it anyway); but not even an acknowledgment nod. Maybe I am too sensitive but that is rather embarrassing for me.

Later I thought if she had any valuables in her luggage that she didn't want a stranger to carry it. (actually, the luggage doesn't look that valuable to any reasonable person). Or, maybe she is just too used to doing this all by herself. Well, no matter which is the case, she could have politely refuse my help by a simple smile and a short excuse. I understand if a person doesn't want help, the best way to help him or her is to not help. That will not only get her what she wants but will also keep me from losing face.

The moral of the story? Ok, I think many people are not polite in rejecting help. We might be so in receiving help but I think the counterpart is also as important. The mere act of offering help, regardless of whether it is accepted, deserves an appreciation. As a return, the recipient should at least respond in a way that will not hurt the helper.

For example, I way too often see old aunties and uncles standing on mrts with all nearby seats occupied by young and strong individuals. That's an ugly scene, indeed. But, what's uglier is when uncles and aunties stubbornly stand while a kind soul has already given up a seat. I sympathize those poor people. That's a very difficult situation, isn't it? You have given up your seat and it is rejected. Shall you sit back? or keep standing? In these cases, I really don't know what it would hurt the uncles or aunties to just take the seat. If they are alighting next stop and really don't want to sit, they should explain it and thanks the person who is willing to give up his seat for them. Simply shaking head and refusing to take the seat without any reason makes things very difficult for the person.

Sometimes, some people not only fail to return this kind of appreciation but also ridicule the helper with what-a-busybody look.

That's why I am afraid to help people. . .

win in style

2008-05-02T02:22:00.002+08:00

I just wonder if the answer is incorrect, how the hell he is going to put his face.....

Touring around the world

2008-04-20T01:44:00.016+08:00

........ with Google Earth.

Google Earth has always been an amazing application. But, looking at plain bird-eye photos gets boring after a while. Well, that's no longer!
Now, it has several features that can really give you the feeling of touring around the world. They've got photo-realistic (their term) 3D builings in major cities and I can assure you, they are fantastic. Stay high above and enjoy the view, or zoom down near to ground and enjoy the tour, it's your choice. Want to know some backgrounds? Just click on the buildings.

This is a view of New York City's Manhattan Island.

They don't forget Singapore, of course. But, I must admit Singapore view is not one of my favourites.

And also look out for peculiar curves like this floating around buildings.

Click on them and , the scene will fly in to the correct height and position, and the next thing is you will be seeing great views like this.

To one of my best indonesian friends (I only have one indonesian friend :P ) and also one of my best friends, there is one panorama for Batan Isand too.

If you are suffocated by city life and skyscrapers, visit natural scenes like grand canyon.

Or if you don't know where to start, open Places panel, expand sightseeing tree node and select your favorite place and click play.

Finally, don't forget to visit google campus.

I am about to put a link here but google makes it unnecessary.

No, you oughtn't

2008-04-11T22:24:00.005+08:00

Just want to share a piece of work by Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking Glass) that I came across in my mathematics textbook. It's both thoughtful and funny . . .

`You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing you a song to comfort you.'

`Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

`It's long,' said the Knight, `but very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else -- '

`Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

`Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called "Haddocks' Eyes."'

`Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested.

`No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. `That's what the name is called. The name really is "The Aged Aged Man."'

`Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?' Alice corrected herself.

`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called "Ways and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'

`Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.

`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really is "A-sitting On A Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'

So saying, he stopped his horse and let the reins fall on its neck: then, slowly beating time with one hand, and with a faint smile lighting up his gentle foolish face, as if he enjoyed the music of his song, he began.

Old is gold: destress with an eyed cold lemonate

2008-04-08T15:57:00.004+08:00

Security dilemma

2008-04-03T01:10:00.007+08:00

These days, I've been seeing a trend where unrelated websites share the same set of user accounts. Look no further, the blogger website that you are seeing now uses gmail accounts. The so-called advantage is convenience; use one account to access all services. Sounds good ah. But, just give it a second thought. Isn't this such an obvious security flaw?

Ok, we all know that blogger is legitimately owned by google, so this particular case is no big deal. But, let's disregard our knowledge that blogger=google. Go to the login page of blogger and you will see almost no accreditation by google to prove that blogger=google. Just a message "Sign in to use Blogger with your Google Account" and a copyright statement at the bottom of the page. No certificates, no verification links, ... nothing. If this is microsoft, i could have follow the crowd and say "defeats the purpose" but this is our beloved google. Microsoft has a similar thing, passport. But, at all passport authentication sites, there are always some sort of verification that shows that it is indeed microsoft passport.

I am not comparing microsoft and google. I am just wondering about this potentially dangerous practice. I mean if google continue this practice, someone could have just easily set up a legitimate-looking website with links to create gmail account and say "sign in with your gmail". . . It is not only google. Some other sites are also sort of picking up this trend. Well, to me, the immediate victim seems to be msn. I way too often see people sending me links to some services to be signed in with msn account but they absolutely have no relation to or authorization from msn. That's equivalent to giving out my msn password, isn't it? And if this trend continues, ppl will start to forget about checking the validity of the sites asking their password.

I tried to google a few times about this but I couldn't find anything related. Am I missing something? Is there something that would automatically prevent this disaster? Enlighten me. . .

Ice rain in china

2008-03-19T03:32:00.006+08:00

A so-called ice rain in south china created several natural ice sculptures. They can easily beat the Snow city at Singapore Science Centre. :)

The phenomenon is caused by supercooled rain droplets. The droplets are liquid when they are in the air but turn into ice as soon as they touch something on the ground. It is not like snowing. Snow flakes have already become ice before they reach the earth's surface.

Beautiful tough it is, an ice rain can be very dangerous. Just imagine a road coated with a smooth layer of ice. More information about ice rains can be wikied.
Go to here for more images

yes or no

2008-03-07T02:18:00.003+08:00

As I was writing my previous post, I thought of this difference in burmese and english.
In burmese, a yes-or-no reply to a negative question is question-oriented and directed at the question itself, i.e. a yes means the question is true and a no means the question is false. (see, burmese is mathematical, double negative means positive!). It is not strictly the case but mostly, we reply in this way.
So, if I am asked "you are not a local, right" in burmese. I will reply "yes" meaning that's true, I am not a local.
In english, however, as we all know, yes-or-no answers are answer-oriented. A yes means yes without regard to whether the question is negative.
So, if I am asked "you are not a local, right" in english. I will reply "no".
It took me a bit of time to get used to replying an english question in "english way" and a burmese question in "burmese way" :-D
But if I chat with a burmese friend on the internet, it is quite ambiguous. I dunno which stance the other side is taking :D
Full answers everytime is also boring, right? like yes, I am. no I don't......