Pub-lic Holiday Weekend!

21 May 2005- Defeat at Cardiff =( (Saturday)

Went to NUS this afternoon wif GY. It was a rainy day. Almost din feel like moving my butt out of home. Haha. Two of us supposed to join in e lab tours, but in e end, by e time we reached e ISE booth, already 4 pm - everyone seems to be packing up. In e end, by some stroke of luck, we managed to join e ending part of the course demonstration given by the HOD and one of e ISE lecturers - who later claimed that he would be e proud teacher of the real slick and cool animations we saw. We were shown some posters on projects done by ISE students, real broad scope ranging from hospital beds to containers storage to airplane landings. Anything to do with efficiency. At GY's brilliant request, e lecturer showed us e simulations on container transport and runway usage. It's interesting to see the small dots moving around e screen, almost seems to have a life of its own. like you are seeing a microcosm of e real world. Seriously reminds me of the SimCity and SimTower games i played when i was young. But of cos, there's a great difference btw e two. It's not like you can save ur game and "re-load" when u make a bad decisional call. And you may not even get to make e important decisions at all. In games, you got absolute execution. Only the simulation will judge ur decisions, actions and strategies. In real life, no matter how good the simulation of ur great idea turns out to be, it still remains to be spoken whether ur superior has e intellectual foresight and possibly the authoritative will to change things according to YOUR plan. It could be a good number of years, before you can get to some high enough position to try out ur ideas (if your dynamic mind and drive hasn't been worn out by years in corporate lowlands tat is) . And if you are talking about government agencies, it may even be more difficult for you to shine through, taking in mind tat you are already considered to have lower Current Estimated Potential (CEP) by statute, as maybe compared to a scholar, in a particular agency. Sounds like a complaint about elitism? No, it's really an organised system tat's supposed to leave only e guys wif e brains wif all e impt decision making. Only problem? Brains are tricky stuff. Sometimes they shine wif brilliance, somethimes you cant seem to find e slightest hint of it in e very same person. It's something far too complicated and fluid to measure by papers, interviews or even psychometric tests. Yet only from this incomplete tools can we even hope to measure e genius in a person. Tat's life. Urban human life.

Woah. Dunno how i got into tat but time for lighter stuff now. After e demonstrations and locking up e lab (we were last to leave - i was even e one who switched off e lights. Haha..at least got switch off lights in ISE lab in NUS before. A notey point for my lifetime, in case i dun get to use any lab again) , we followed e lecturer as he walked to his office, asking him more bout e course as we walked (actually i got to admit it's GY that's doing more of the asking). Somehow, e question of SMU vs NUS surfaced. It's cos there was admittedly some similarities (other than e letters in shortform) btw Information Systems Management (SMU) and Industrial Systems Engineering (NUS) - common areas that have obviously drawn GY in e first place. E lecturer, Dr Lee (i think tat's his name) gave a good answer. He was saying that although e content may be e same, but it can be expected that e training received from a management school would be much different from an engineering school (no doubt e top 20 engineering institutions in e world). He went on to say tat while he believed the "rival" faculty would also have adequate qualifications, he cited the possibility that they might have their hands tied cos students in management schools usually shun advanced mathematics and their applications. And that may affect their ability in systems design and analysis. Talking bout making a successful sales pitch while staying neutral, nice and diplomatic. Haha...can only hope GY has a clearer idea of how to make his final decision. Happy for him nonetheless that he got into this two courses. (bro u still wishing SMU had ISE? haha)

After tat long talk, we were wandering our way out of e Engineering Faculty, until we made our way to where the Civil Engine people supposed to have their talks. Eh no, we were not exactly interested in e talks, but e results of it - a entire table of almost untouched catered food! Just when we needed some food. There was a nice Malay man and lady there, with some kids, and they told us to take watever we need - they were saying only about 20 of e people came. In e end, I think I gobbled down 4 plates of fried rice, a few curry puffs and countless numbers of chicken wings. Hahaa..shiok. After tat, we went past LT7. Den i realised tat was supposed to be e place for my Chem Engine Open House. Lol. Felt a pang of guilt and regret, esp as GY showed me the stuff in his ISE goody bag. Dam, should have got one of my own for memorabilia's sake at least.

It was already raining when we started eating. We got onto bus 151 and took a long, slumbering ride back to e East....(thinking bout plans of learning bike if we went forward with NUS)

After wat seemed like a bus ride from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, finally reached home at around 8pm. E great news was, I supposed to meet Ryan they all at 9 at UE Square to watch FA Cup Finals. Bo bian. Feel so tired, den need to have dinner also, by e time met up wif them after taking 65 and changing to 139 at Park Mall bus stop, already almost 10 o clock. Good thing din miss much of e match. Supposed to watch e match at the "Beach Bar" near Riverside View and this "DBS Arts Centre", but the screen too blur to even see e players, so Ryan suggested relocating to Robertson Walk. Only den i realised Roberton Walk inside got one big courtyard with more seats, TV screens and space den CHIJMES. But cos we were there late, din really get seats so we were moving around and standing around e places. E real weird thing was, we were standing inside this pub watching e match, when suddenly out of nowhere this woman got seats and made way for tables for us. We were all like, not bad sia! Guess noone expected this VIP-like treatment. Probably she's e lady boss, den concerned bout her business. But she looks weirdly young though. Less than 30 i would guess. So there we were, finally with a place to settle down and watch our match in comfort.

Not long after, a guy approached us with menus. well, nothing new and strange. except he said something bout "he's only helping a fren". A boyfriend of e lady boss??? Hahaha... tat's only wat i ventured to think. And if you think that's weird, the even strange thing was tat our orders take dam long to arrive. It's like middle of e match we ordered 2 jugs of Tiger beer. When first half end liao still haven reached. At half time we ordered potato wedges and french fries. Tat took e entire half! (Of cos the thing was there was extra time) But well, at least the beer was much cheaper than CHIJMES and we got to see crystal clear images of e match so it's ok. Eh....actually still got one problem. The weirdest thing of the night. The match that we were seeing seemed to be telecast at a 3 second delay compared to those televised at e TV screens at e courtyard outside. At first we din believe it, until everytime we realised the cheers from within the pub always came about 3 seconds after the crowd outside had already made e noise. It was like "Waaa!!!!" ...den silence....den "Wa!!!" from inside e pub. Hahah...dam hilarious. Until e point we decided tat if it came to penalties, we must go outside to watch. It wun be much fun to watch a penalty when the people just outside already know e outcome.

True (and sadly) enough they came to penalties. We stood in front of a big screen. After e first few penalties, dunno whether it's cos i drank too much Tiger too fast, or cos too disappointed wif Man Utd's miss, i almost literally blanked out. It was a harrowing experience, as I remember struggling to stand while having some weird sensation stuck in e throat and stomach. I was thinking of just grabbing a seat to sit down, when e entire courtyard "turned orange" and e next moment i felt a slight sensation as my head fell to e ground. After tat split second, I recovered immediately, with some concerned friends by my side. Din really feel any pain from e "collapse" - most prob due to e alcohol - den felt much better as I feel a bit of a cold sweat breaking out from my body. Tat ends a rough and weird day. Must quit alcohol real soon. Feel my body weakening. Maybe cos stayed too long at home.

20 May 2005 - Double "Trouble"

Went Tony Roma to celebrate ravel's birthday (for a more detailed treatment on this topic pls refer to QL's blog). Was nice catching up wif e ex jc classmates like Jill Jie, Andria, XF, David and the two birthday boys, Darius and Ravel. However, dint really get to enjoy a lot cos too broke to order e highly ex food over there. WT, QL and I even spent a few minutes outside e restaurant hesitating to go in. In the end my 2 sun nus, boon and I bo bian share appetizers and stuff to eat. Good thing i had a full western Fish and Chips dinner at Banquet Food Court @ Parkway be4 i went down. Feeling of being poor.

After that, 2nd half of the night we got into this Irish pub in Chijmes by e name of Father Flanagan's, thanks to wt's recommendation. should be cos bf got bring her there before. haha. We shared a jug of Heineken (as usual it's dam ex there) and even got e waitress to help us take group photo. It's a nice get-together overall, but somehow e atmosphere a bit weird. maybe it's cos wt dun really drink or maybe cos ql very fast den "seh", thanks to the insane mixture of beers she took. The girls took their move early, followed by familyman boon hwa. GY and I stayed behind for a while more, just to chat and enjoy a bit of e music over there. nice chill out pub. (but it's ex to have drinks there)


17 May 2005 - Brothers' Day Out

Today quite sian. Supposed to go sim lim square with one of my students to shop for portable hard drive to put some "stuff" in. but turned out that he couldn't make it. was supposed to be last day of his exams today. So in e end i was playing my ps2 at home for a while, den i looked at my ever naughty bro, who also just finished his exam. i dunno why, but this nice "big bro" mentality of me came out and decided tat today is his lucky day.

so with nothing better to do and wanting to get out of home (tend to lame and/or think too much at home), had in mind to go watch kingdom of heaven together. who would know tat reach GV Tampines already, den realise tat movie is NC16. and my cute adorable bro only 13 years old. Try to cham siong wif e ticket vendor, wanting to buy tickets for 2 person oso cannot. demand to see both persons' ID. so sian diao bring him go eat lunch at the new long john silver's. Din no that TM top floor renovate until got so many new restuarants. (and it's by no mistake tat LJS is the most financially "friendly" of them all.)

after lunch tout of checking e movie "procedure" out at Century Cineplex, but no luck. So had this crazy idea of looking for new computer game to buy home to play, if there's a worthy one. and scrap the movie idea. turns out also that the shop "no long there" (haha...get wat i mean?) Super sian ah. Last ditch, i brought him to bedok, cos i rem there got one cinema only 5 bux on weekdays. 5 bux watch anything "masi ei sai" haha. Plus that cinema so ulu, tout maybe will be more lax and i would still have hope of catching kingdom of heaven. Ends up even an ulu cinema oso stand up for its principles, so no choice choose XX2: The Next Level. Think it's e only PG show dat's respectable. Even madagascar also haven out yet.

About the movie? At first glance, Ice Cube doesn't seem to be as stylo-milo as Vin Disel. But e storyline's quite cool though. Started off wif terrorists attacking a XXX Facility under the CIA in Virginia. Show a lot of cool gadgets and gimmickry e terrorists used to get into the base. Den I even pass the remark, they so "li hai" why waste time on small useless base? might as well attack the white house? Hahah...turns out the storyline developed to my hunch. LOL. Secretary of Defense turned traitor and tried a military coup against the President of the United States - the most powerful man on earth. Ex convicts and gangsters in washington DC rising up to the occasion in the name of liberty and patriotism. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed by the blood of patriots, and villains..." some former president said. kind of a enhanced version of a NE movie? haha... well was more amused by e "lone ranger" defeats tanks and hundreds of trained military soldiers stunts....haha..

- this post supposed to be completed and posted on 22 May. 3 weeks late. lol