Webcam of the Nuerburgring track. Every car and racing enthusiast's Mecca. Refresh page to get latest shot. Who knows, you may get lucky and spot a rare supercar.
Monday, April 09, 2007
A new hope?
Into the last week of my 2nd semester in NUS, I now blog.
Let me sum it up: 2nd sem is a disaster to me.
I've been stuck to gaming. DotA (Defense of the Ancients) has extended its claws to me at the beginning of the semester and has since slowly encroached into my personal time. Time usually spent for revising and completing tutorials became time spent to learning how to use a new hero. Time reserved for sleep became time dedicated to mastering item builds. DotA has me gripped so tight, that I rapidly lost the will to study and revise, especially during the weekends. Long hours would be wasted trying to beat the computer AI (yeah, I couldn't play with others yet as I'd get owned, but that has changed), leaving the pile of undone tutorials and unread lecture notes piling higher and higher. Suddenly, I couldn't understand a thing whenever I attend Math/Electrical Engineering lectures and tutorials. The tutor/lecturer would be jabbering on in front with weird figures and graphs and I would stare blankly ahead and blindly copying. Each self-promise made to catch up after these blur sessions was broken by the desire to play DotA. To get another kill, to survive another gank... just another game... it all seemed so fun and harmless then.
The bane of my studies. DotA is an extremely popular multiplayer game in South East Asia, rivalling Counter-Strike. I was warned from picking up the game. I now understand why.
I was wrong.
My mid-term test have returned average to low scores, with the exception of Materials (MLE 1101), which is a slightly easier module.
And now the finals lie less than 2 weeks away, while I still have yet to grasp the very basics of at least 4 chapters from my Math and EE. Sheets of tutorials with copied answers mock me whenever I open my folder. They seem to look down on me, knowing that I couldn't fathom how the answers that I copied came about in the first place.
Motivation is a problem this semester. I am sooooo unmotivated... =( Every week it's just lectures and tutorials, a week of break, more lectures, tutorials, labs, and then the dreaded exams come. After that the results are released, the CAP scores computed. And the cycle begins for the next semester. It's like there's no cause for me to study anymore, other than getting good grades... So what about good grades? A first-class degree? A slightly better paying job in the kiasu-society of Singapore?
My thinking totally changed an hour ago.
I came back from Clementi with bags of foodstuff, stocking up for the reading and exam weeks, as well as the special semester I'll be taking. Bought a bug spray as well to kill the nasty ants that have been appearing out of nowhere on my table of late.
So after some mass spraying and with my room reeking of Baygon, I decided to check my NUSmail.
There was an e-mail on FSAE dialogue, as well as a link to a FAQ page.
To those who are oblivious to what FSAE is, it stands for Formula-Society of Automotive Engineers. Basically, it's a team of engineering students with a passion for cars and motorsports who come together to learn and build a race car. Recruitment will begin in the 2nd year, and it will be a 3-year commitment for each member, concluding with the construction of the race car as their final year project. They'll then bring it to the States for an annual international race with FSAE teams from universities around the world. For the record, NUS FSAE has done well in the past few years.
People who are close to me now how much I love cars and racing. It's the reason I'm doing Mechanical Engineering in the first place. It's the reason why I'm hoping to specialize in Automotive Engineering when 3rd year comes.
Will FSAE be the cause that I am looking for...?
The Singapore Police Force chases with a Subaru Impreza WRX! o_O
My last update was... approx 2 months ago? o__O damn must be the December holidays too busy having fun, and now that 2nd semester of uni has started, too busy doing work. =P
My apologies to my readers though(as if I have many). I shall now begin a quick summary of what interesting things happened in my life that has eluded blog posts thus far.
Some friends may already know this, but I spent 10 days in China during my semester break. Of those 10 days, 2 were spent in Shanghai. Wheee... my first taste of what modern China looks like. Shanghai is... is... modern. LOL alright that doesn't do the metropolis justice. Shanghai is VERY MODERN. How's that? Yeap, skyscrapers everywhere, beautiful neon-lit skyline at night, but the most breathtaking feature has to be the highways(or expressways or freeways or whatever they call it in China, 高速公路 I believe). Because Shanghai(it's the 8th largest city in the world btw) sits around the Huangpu river, a huge bridge is constructed to traverse the deep waters. And the bridge is built so freakin' high, as to allow big ships to go underneath it, so highways linking the bridge have to spiral round and round like a helix up 10 stories high to connect it.
Here we are at morning rush hour, "spiralling" up the highway until we reach the level of the bridge.
More pics of Shanghai trip, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Readers like pictures anyway =P :
One of the popular shopping streets in Shanghai. Yeah it's cold at night.
This one was taken using my handphone. I didn't have my camera that time. Deeply regretted it. This is the famous "Shanghai beach" 上海滩 (it's just the Huangpu River in case you're wondering).
One of the highlights of the Shanghai trip, the ride on the MagLev train. While the only track is the one linking the city to the airport, it managed to reduce a 1-and-a-half-hour trip by road(taking into account traffic)into a 7-minuteblitz, reaching a top speed of 431 km/h.
If you liked Linkin Park's Where'd You Go, you'll like this too.
If more rappers make songs like this, the world would have been a better place I guess...
In case you find the song sounding familiar, it shares the tune with Tatu's Gomenasai, shown here superimposed to Advent Children by some YouTube user.
Exam season is here. Back home STPM and SPM has begun, and here NUS is midway into its reading week. Everywhere you turn there are people sticking their faces in books, notes, and laptop screens.
Envy my uni friends back home who are already done with their exams and enjoying the start of their hols. >_< Never mind... 2 more weeks to go. Just 4 papers! >_< *trying to console myself*
To Mun, miss you loads, and hope you have a nice time on your new job. =) It's nice to see you smiling and happy again, having something to do. An idle mind is a devil's workshop you know... keeping occupied is the best way to stave off negative emotions and feelings.
To my juniors back home reading this, if you're taking the big exams, good luck to you. All the very best. Come to NUS if you can haha.
Finally, something funny to lighten the mood. Denmark's method of reducing speeding on their roads.
Why don't we have something like this in Malaysia? LOL. For the full story and uncensored video, click here(WARNING! DO NOT CLICK LINK IF YOU'RE EASILY OFFENDED).
*Just added* --> go to http://www.wikimapia.org, register yourself as a user, and contribute to the world map! It may be a few years outdated(satellite images must be expensive) but damn it's more detailed than Google Earth, at least beyond the US of A.
Now I know what people meant by 24 hours in a day is not enough.
Or maybe my time-management skills need polishing.
Everyday in NUS is work work work. Written tutorials and internet "e-tutorials" to be done, lecture notes to read, Tan Yin Toon-thick textbooks to digest, wtf...
I don't want to be a mugger who studies 24/7, that's like no life. I want to go out gai gai, hang-out with friends for late-night suppers, "enjoy" the freedom and independance that comes with being a uni student.
But if you are to even get close to a decent grade here, that's a "dream", especially for stupid people like me.
Yeah I'm stupid. I can't catch things as fast as many people here. I'm not even furnished with the basics! People here with Further Math background are finding the Maths difficult, how bout poor old "armed-with-only-Mathematics-T" me?
I heard people say before, "going uni after Form 6, your first year should be easy, as a lot of things are learnt during your Form 6 years..."
I say bullshit to that.
I never learnt C programming, vector integrals, material mechanics, bla bla bla (insert-a-cheem-sounding-topic-here) in Form 6 before.
It's not that we DON'T WANT to take it during Form 6. Have to take tuition outside for it leh... so mafan. In Taylor's College for example, you get good qualified lecturers to teach.
Whine... whine... whine... Rant... rant... rant.
Engineering is NOT easy. Let me say that again, engineering in NUS is NOT easy.
Be prepared to give up a lot in your life if you are planning to come here for Engineering. Yeap, if you think your weekends are for you to kick back and relax, think again.
The mugging is only just beginning then.
But so much things are sapping your time away... so you end up sleeping late.
And so happens your sucky schedule has many lectures at 8 in the morning, in that blasted lecture theatre that has a malfunctioning thermometer(read : damn cold), with a lecturer hell-bent on finishing 1 chapter per lecture session.
You couldn't concentrate well, and have to go back and read through the whole damn thing again and again, trying to make sense of it. Time spent trying exercises gets wasted on comprehending the lecture.
More time gets wasted.
And the cycle repeats. EVERYDAY!
And the work keeps coming in.
!@#$%
I needed this post. Venting stuff helps.
P/S : Actually life in NUS ain't as terrible as what I made it out to be. I exaggerated here and there lah... but when the stress mounts, it feels like what I wrote above sometimes. I'm still healthy and surviving, don't worry =)
Was busy basically. Whoever the heck that said Uni life is easy ought to be shot. MAYBE it's easy for Arts students lah... but engineering... =___='''
Midterm exam results was so-so only for me. NUS ain't some cheap school with crappy students. The scholars are nudging the bell curve high up. I'm doing all I can to stay above-average. Don't know how them smart people can pull near perfect scores... mug books everyday?? NO! They are active in CCAs(co-curricular activities) and STILL manage to do so well. Talent... I tell you, it's all in the genes, and I don't have 'em. T___T
Then basically after exams one would expect some respite, but not so here. Tutorials still come every week, lecturers still go at the speed of light, and nothing ever slows down. Studying here is like being a machine... you input knowledge and you output them in the form of assignments and tutorials. And as machines, you're expected to be tireless... no rest for the wicked then.
Some car show organised by the NUS Motoring Club a few days ago attracted my attention, so I popped over and took a look around. Nothing interesting except for the modified Evolution 9 from some Singapore tuner company.
Very beng-ish car... brought in by Garage-R.
They have this Suzuki Swift Sport Edition too... never saw it on Malaysian roads before.
Wtf they even brought in tyres and rims to sell... cash and carry anyone? Rich Singaporeans students bah...
The rest are just some random pics I took in university, just to give you readers a taste of what NUS is like.
Central Library is the biggest library in NUS and serves mainly arts and engineering students like me. Here we see is the main floor with terminals at the right being computers to aid you in your search for books/journals/whatchamacallit that you want.
A hazy day in Singapore. It's been nearly 2 weeks the haze has hit. Nobody on the running track today, though in the evenings/nights you can see people jogging round it. See the tower in the background to the left of the pic? On a good day(read : no haze) you can see the words "Singtel" clearly on it.
Welcome to Engin Fac. Pic taken from the 7th and top floor of one of the many blocks of the faculty.
Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in Prince George's Park Residences. It was held 3 days after the actual day though. See the lanterns hung near the lamp post? It has riddles written on paper for anyone to solve.
They even serve Chinese tea LOL. Just look at that table! But then I guess it's because alot of PGP residents are foreigners who never experience the feel of being a Chinese and celebrating Mid-Autumn.
That's all for the time being. Take care y'all. Oh, and I miss you... =)
I'm
home! Weee~~~ 1 week break but I'll be going back to Singapore to sign
the Ministry Of Education(MOE) Tuition Grant thingie with 2
sureties(mom & sis) on Friday. Sucks... means I can't have an extra
weekend back in Malaysia.
Yesterday was 1 of the craziest days of my life... *shakes head*. Lucky I don't have to go through it alone...
So updates updates. Nothing much to say actually... I've done 2 tests
before my break, Statics and the Einstein module. The former had 2
structural questions, of which I did 1 incorrectly -- made some wrong
assumptions -- and the latter had 40 MCQs in an hour. So even though
it's open-book, could hardly finish in time So in the end... got a B. Boo~
Got 3 more tests coming up when I go back. So terpaksa haul back some
heavy textbooks from NUS. Celaka... holiday mood also spoilt when see
those books, plus I still have online tutorials to deal with...
Some of my closest friends in NUS. Malaysians all of 'em on Merdeka
Night celebrations. Behind L-R : Wai Loon from KL, studied Form 6 @
SMKSAS; me; Elaine Teoh from KL, studied JC in Singapore. Front L-R :
Wooi Kuan from Sabah, studied JC as well; Yik Jun from Ipoh, studied
INTI @ Nilai.
The place where I'll don my mortarboard and graduation robes in 4 years...
And before I sign off, a short message to a certain someone...
Thank you very very much for
the present, and for the great time you gave me that day. Although it
didn't end so well, but I was very happy to see you again. You are truly a gem, and I'm glad you stuck with me through all these times. I truly appreciate it...
I've been meaning to update, but life here in uni has been catching up on me, or rather, catching me off-guard. The initial 2 weeks was fine with just lectures, but when the tutorials came in, woah... =P
The previous entry only contains 2 measly photos of my place in PGPR. This time round, I present you readers with pics pics and more pics.
The night view from the outside of PGPR, on my way back to my room, looks nice hor?
Friday night basketball games... usually damn crowded, 95% are guys from China, you need Mandarin to survive here.
Here fishy fishy~ reminds me of the koi pond back home =D These aren't as fat though... The structure beside the pond is supposed to be a canteen, "upgrading works in progress" it seems.
We had "Rag Day" at the end of Orientation Week. Basically it's just a day for all the student halls and faculties to come up with a float made of recycled stuff & a performance thingie. Massive crowd... even the President of Singapore showed up.
Rivalry was in the air as competing faculties and halls cheer on for their teams and jeer at their opponents. Kiasu-ism man...
In the end Kent Ridge Hall(KR) swept most of the awards. PGPR had no deal in Rag as it is a student residence not a student hall.
And then we had NUS Breakers' Day some weeks after.
It was damn packed. The event was about some record-breaking stuff like how many paper cranes can NUS students fold in an hour(7000+), what's the fastest paper-crane-folding speed(forgot how much already =P), and -- the most interesting one, the one that most people came for -- how fast can NUS students finish a truckload of milo -- 350 liters.
Needless to say, the prospect of free Milo for all is a powerful crowd-puller. We were supposed to finish the truck in 10 minutes. So when the signal to start was given...
The people in green are the NUS Breakers, trying to pour out Milo as fast as possible while we thirsty students filed by in lines, trying to down as many cups as possible in 1 pass... before looping to the back of the line and have a go again. =D
Unfortunately, as you would have predicted, with so many students crowding around the truck and Milo being capable of flowing only so fast through those teeny weeny container nozzles, supply was wayyy behind demand...
And we managed only 29 minutes 59 seconds to finish the truck. Luckily it wasn't 2 seconds longer. Paiseh man...
But what the hey, it's an entry into the Singapore's Guinness Book of Records anyway lol.
It's been more than a week I'm in NUS, Singapore. My mom stayed around for a week(at my aunt's house) helping me to settle in and left on Monday. I've been allocated a room in Prince George's Park Residences(PGPR), staying on the top floor(8th) of the 2nd block. It's cool up here, but taking the lift takes some time as there is only 1 lift servicing each block. Oh, there's 20+ blocks in PGPR by the way, so it's like 1 big apartment cluster with food courts, sports facilities and various other amenities. PGPR is only but one of the choices of acommodation on campus. There's the student halls with their vibrant hall activities as well, but I prefer my peace and quiet(especially when work and assignments start piling up).
View from Block 2 Level 8. You can see the shipyards in the distance. Sometimes you can hear the ships blowing their horns at night. NUS is located on the southwest side of Singapore.
Welcome to my humble room, where I'll stay for at least 1 semester. It's quite clean now, compared to when I just moved it. The cabinet you see on the left is self-bought-and-assembled. So is the table lamp. The two plush toys on the radio(and the radio itself) don't come with the room either. The laptop's newly bought in a NUS PC Fair, Toshiba Tecra. I got myself a printer-cum-copier as well.
Fortunately I passed my Qualifying English Test, so no extra english modules for me. Band 5(that's me!) and 6 holders are exempted from taking module EG1471 English for Academic Purposes. For those who missed the test in July there's another test held today, good luck to them candidates. =P
For this semester I'll be taking 5 modules or subjects. There's Physics, Mathematics, Programming Methodology, Statics and Mechanics of Materials, and a self-chosen module -- Einstein's Universe & Quantum Weirdness. Funky huh?
They have a very unique way of letting students choose which subjects they want to study here in NUS. Using a Centralized Online Registration System(CORS), students are given "bid" points according to their respective faculties, and have to "bid" for modules they want to read. Needless to say, it's all very confusing, but at the same time, allows great freedom and flexibility for students to pursue subjects of their interest. It also makes students responsible for their own choices, as bid points are akin to money in the real life, and are accumulated through the semesters.
Internal shuttle buses ply the routes in NUS and they're all free. But quite abit of walking still needs to be done as the faculty buildings are really big. Libraries here are really canggih too, but I've yet to really start using them. =P
Nothing much to say except that I don't find myself homesick or whatsoever. Maybe I've grown accustomed to independant living considering how my parents travel and my sis works. Though I do miss my friends and her rather much. But I'm sure with the superfast speeds of broadband here, communication won't be much of an issue.
Lectures start on Monday, better revise soon. Till next post, say Happy Belated Birthday to Singapore who just turn 41 on Wednesday. Heh.
So in the end... got a B. Boo~
You are truly a gem, and I'm glad you stuck with me through all these times. I truly appreciate it...
take care.
