okay, today, i passed my basic thoery test(driving) and my advanced final theory trial test. So, i booked for my final theory test:) Just finished my c-language homework: fibonacci series in a recursive loop:

#include
main()
{int fibo(int n);
int fib, n;
clrscr();
printf("\n\nFibonacci Series:");
printf("\nEnter the number of term to show");
scanf("%d", &n);
fib=fibo(n);
printf("The number is %d", fib);
getch();
return(0);}
int fibo(int n)
{if(n==1n==2)
{return(1);}
else{return fibo(n-1)+fibo(n-2);}}

It's such a weird hour to blog... i slept in the evening...

Day 1 part 2

There was this Narita express which brought us from the airport to a place called Shinjuku. The train was quite fast at times, making its way through both farms and commertial areas. Then, we had to get another ticket and transfer to a local train. We looked quite lost at the train stations and we had to approach the counter staff everytime we wanted to buy tickets.
At last, we managed to reach our own train station, together with all our luggages(which were miraculously squeezed in to the packed trains).After reaching, we had to make our way to the hotel.

Well, we asked the station staff, who kindly pointed in a particular direction (language barrier;so that's like the best he could do for us). After walking for some time, we got lost and my mom asked this lady who was walking in a hurry to the station. What impressed ma was that although she was in such a hurry, she willingly stopped and gave us directions! So, we got to the hotel, eventually. Most of us were quite tired from all the travelling.
Then, we spent about 5 minutes trying to draw diagrams of rooms(and stick men) in order to enquire more, although we'd already booked our rooms. Well, the rest of the day was simply spent in the room, bathing, brushing our teeth, having our meal and resting. Finally, at about 7, we went out to look around the neighbourhood of the hotel.
It is then i came to realise that it's really hard to live in that area, if you don't know japanese.
Now for pictures!

Me standing along our room's corridor.


Me on my cosy bed. I wish i can sleep on it everyday:)
Cold air comes in from the window and warm air from the aircon(at night).


View of a street from the hotel room. note that they have these zebra linings when there's traffic light.Oh ya... and a lot of them travel around in bicycles. It's really a lot of them.

Radio and switch controls near the bed.

Thank God; The numbers are not in Japanese:)

The high tech toilet bowl

Japan Trip: Day 1, part 1

First day... We went to Changi Airport, after miraculously managing to finish our packing up. Once we reached, we met up with the others and did our check-in. I had to check my our luggage, to see if my mom was trying to sneak in any liquids, gels or blah, blah blah.. Well, it wasn't long before i manages to spot peanut butter bottle and moisturisers. We had to check in those which could carry more than 100ml. Well, rather than this 'liquidy' restriction, which is now practiced in many international airports, i think it's better to check every single 'liquidy' stuff that is not checked in . It should cost around the same, since there'll be no need to distribute free zip-lock bags and hire staff to do that.

Then, after boarding, i was quite disappointed that our plane doesn't have that personal entertainment system that i got to enjoy on my New Zealand trip (On Singapore Airlines), back when i was in Secondary 4. Till this day, it has been the best 'flying' experience that I've ever had!! They even had ice cream on board, together with tasty cheese biscuits to go with the latest movies, albums, games, MATH questions to solve... Seriously, i can't ask for more... Although i really enjoyed my time New Zealand, i do agree with a lot of my travel mates who commented that the SIA Boeing aircraft offered the best staying experience in the entire journey.

Well, back to my japan trip: All i have to say is that i pretty much enjoyed their radio channels, which the airlines i traveled to India in didn't offer. Well, after about 2 hrs, we landed in Bangkok.

I remember studying about some airport in Thailand and the competition it poses to the Changi Airport, but this time, i got to see for myself how good it was. It was really big with wonderful architechture, a lot of shops and so on. Well, in the 2 hrs that we had in the transit, we spent about an hour just strolling to our depature place, taking photos along that way and so on... here are some: There were a lot of people taking photo at this spot...

Then, after a longer trip (about 6hrs) and some problems on the meals we ordered( cos our travels agency didn't do their job well) we arrived at the tokyo airport. As ususal, there was this long immigration queue to get through. Collecting our baggage was okay, the trolleys were not really available nearby, but the toilets were nice, though.

Next, we decided to take a train to our destination( we had a choice of limousine bus too), since we felt that it was a must to experience those speedy trains in japan.

---To be continued

I came back from Japan yesterday night, and slept till 3p.m today, since i didn't get much sleep there, and also since i had to rush to SGH after coming here yesterday night.My mom had a minor wrist fracture in Japan...But apart from that, it was a very nice trip, the four days there. I shall describe the trip in detail later. Now i have several things to attend to : My C-lang lesson tmr, Driving test n voluntary duties, unpacking, organising...

I'll be taking off this evening to Japan, but i still have quite a lot of packing to do:(

After cheking the relavant website, i found out that the aeroplanes that i'll be taking probably won't have the in-flight entertainment system. So, i'll have to entertain myself for the 10 x 2 hours:(

About 3 days ago, i saw a lot of smoke coming out from a house nearby, so, here::

Okay, i've quite a lot of pictures to post, and i'll have to post them later on, when i come back from Japan.

I can't believe it!! It has been one whole year since i stepped down from council!!! Really, it seems like i've stepped down a month or two ago...
I can still remember the feeling of that blazer and white shirt, on me...
Well, Let's just hope that the side gate will be open tomorrow:)

Today was a quite a nice day...
To start with, yesterday night, i got bored of my bed and decided to sleep on the floor. Yup, it was quite a different experiance and i had a very good sleep.The only thing was that i couldn't really turn around, since the space was only like a meter wide:( But still, i may try it again, maybe next week...
later on, i went to nyjc to collect my SGC and CCA Records(Thanks to my friend who reminded me:)) Then, came the shiok part: Initially, i was called by my friend to help him in math olympiad trining, but when i went there, there were like 3 of them!!Whoa.. luckily it was not really a question-asking session... It was more like i told them (nearly all) the stuff the stuff that i know,. that would be of help to them in SMO. Word hard guys!! Several more days ahead!!
Well, i was just thinking that it is rare to see people spending so much time for SMO training. Hope they bring back something, for this is their last chance to participate.(They'll be too old next year, i think).

i've a new external harddrive!!!
100GB, should be quite useful for the coming 4yrs at NUS...
So, here are the results of my experiments on it:

EXPT1(through the port near CD-drive):
time it took to trasfer 6.99GB worth of files: 10mins 2 secs
so,
Average time it takes to transfer 1 GB: 85.7 Secs
Average speed:11.6MB/sec
Time it took to delete this data:~5 Secs

Yup; it's certainly good that blogger automatically saves it's posts, just like in gmail, where the mail gets saves autometically once in a while:

This autosave feature means that you have a safety net for the cases when you're
working on a new post and the power goes out, or your browser crashes, or some
other calamity occurs.

Today was nyjc's college day, and i got my 4-distinction award! But i had to rush down to NUS for the ECE @ NUS orientation. So, i'll have to collect my sgc on monday.
And i finally met up with my classmates!!yay!haha.. Although only some. I guess i'll have to start the engineering journey in NUS alone, since the guys are like 3 or 4 yrs older than me, and no one's from nyjc:( But will have some ny ppl joining NUS this yr, and i'll have to really make a lot of friends during orientation, like i did in nyjc's Zion. Woah..that seems like so long ago o.0

i getting more and more stressed now leh, my C-lang getting more complicated. It's like although the computer recognises some of ur mistakes, there are some that it doesn't recognise
:( And i'm really having a hard trying trying to figure those out.

:)

{Conversation 1}

friend1 says :
so why elec engineering?

.:YOGA:.=>Yttrium(Ar=88.9058)+Oxygen(Ar=15.9994)+ Gallium(Ar=69.723) says :
i wanted to shock myself

friend1 says (11:20 PM):
u havent changed






{Conversation2}


friend2 says:


u neber change at all m ahha



.:YOGA:.=>Yttrium(Ar=88.9058)+Oxygen(Ar=15.9994)+ Gallium(Ar=69.723) says (5:13 PM): oh, my display pic?





friend2 says (5:14 PM):
ya haha






conclusion: d(yoga)/dt=0
Integrating both side to solve this differential equation,
yoga=constant

Wah...i think i need to buck up already.. I realise that i've been slacking more and more during these days. I realise that the more i slack, the more tired and sleepy i become. i really won't be ready for my uni studies with this kind of mindset. I've to start warming up already...

I went running today... the usual Bishan park route. 10Km long. Just about 4 mins after i started out, it started raining and so, i had to take shelter in below a flyover on the way. I was later joined by a few motorists. We waited for about 40mins for the rain to subside. And i continued my journey to the end of Bishan Park.
At the end, i decided to drop by a forest trail that i noticed when i went cycling a few days ago. It was very scenic and calming. Try it!! There is this part where the trail curves along the end of the lower pierce reservoir. It just felt like i was walking on water! But i think this only happens just after rain...
Overall, i had a good time despite the rain. But my timing was quite bad-1h06mins:( But i guess it's okay for someone who hasn't been running for the past 5 months.

okay... i shall blog later, i think there's something wrong with my comp. :(

Hi everyone...
I've just got myself a long-term social visit pass till 24th August. So, that's one big thing off my mind. The process of getting the student pass should be smooth in the first week of august:)

Heard that nyband & CO got Gold for SYF this yr Congrats!! :)

And i had to do another driving trial test today, so that i can take my basic theory test when i come back from Japan. The Japan trip is pretty much confirmed now: I'll be departing on 26th may and i'll be back at Singapore on 30th May. Yup. that's the plan for now.

And here's a song that i heard on the radio, it's quite soothing to hear:

My blogging frequency has decreased of late.... haha,
It's just that life now is quite normal la, boring. Well, what can i say here...
My mom promised to get me a laptop if i get into EE course in NUS. Now that i got in, it's time to redeem the offer:)
I can only apply for student's pass on august, so i'll have to keep on extending my social visit pass till then:(
I went down to get my NYAA bronze award today-I was thinking that it'ld be a mini-council reunion, but turned out to be a council=>mini-solico reunion...;) The certs will be sent to our college, but we've got the badges now. I'm thinking of doing the silver NYAA in NUS, but it'll look very weird if i'm the only one from a UNI getting silver, standing among those kids. I'll have to process the thought first....

I just got an offer from NUS for their electrical engineering UG course:) And i just accepted it:)

I shall just update on the main events-I went for USP interview on saturday, Harris'ld have had his turn today. Well, it was quite relaxed, i didn't experience any inconvinience even though i'd forgotten to bring my interview letter. I shall keep my fingers crossed(X) till the results arrive.

Next, i really really hope i can remember to attend the NYAA prize presentation ceremony this coming tuesday. I was just thinking of asking ms chiew or mr tonny lim, "What happened to our nyaa??", when i received the sms:)

Third, my mom and i are planning to visit Japan. Here's the rough plan: We'll be off on 23rd afternoon and arrive in Kansai international aitport, stay at Kobe for 24th and 25th, get ourselves to Tokyo, stay there for a few more days and come back.

Lastly, my retainer; Well, let's just say that i've been devoting myself to it more than i ever felt like: Every night, and of course i wake up with all of my poor teeth aching:( Hold on to your gums!! It's only going to be for about four months!!:(

NYJC's 30th anniversary celebrations were great. They've spent a lot of money, at the carnival, the food, the transport(shuttle busses), the decorations and souviniers... A lot of effort was put in too. The whole school, J1s and 2s were assigned duties, such as monitoring the carnival games, etc. So, the whole college has put in a lot of effort into it.

Hello... Today was an interesting day-Went to my dental appointment in the morning, but i shall talk about the driving test that i took in the evening first-
This is just my basic theory trial test, but since i didn't study much for it, i had trouble scoring at first(you need to score to pass<45/50>). On the first time, i got a miserable 44 out of 50. Fail. But i just need one more mark to pass!!! So, i went down to get myself booked for the next test-The money is entirely refundable, so i was planning to clear it today. Before going in, i took a few quick glances at my book and went it. But it wasn't too well-45 out of 50-just pass :~ On my journey there, i met a few nyjc juniors (ytss ppl), glad to know that they are doing well. One of them taking H3!! How exiting!!! So proud of them:)
Then on my way back, i met Shawn-ny 27th sc senior, and walked to bus stop with him, chit-chatting.
Now for my dental stuff: The dentist gave me my new retainer. And i should wear it for like 6 months more:~(((
The reason why don't like wearing it is that it feels really uncomfortable to have such a thing in your mouth, hindering proper speaking, eating, (the natural)saliva-swallowing,..etc.
It's basically the same reason why i don't like wearing jewelleries- It's just uncomfortable:(
Now i've to do my c-language homework-to create a program to calculate income tax.

Was just trying to get a snap of lightning through my window... But it seems too difficult:( Video should be easier: I just need to press the button, go to sleep and come back to earth after sometime. Then there's the time lapse between the moment when the button is pressed and the moment the photo is taken, which is necessary to get a good shot at night time.
Well, here's a (mathematical) joke about fermat's last theorem that has been on my mind for some time now:

"Do you know," the devil confided, "not even the best mathematicians on the other planets-all far ahead of yours-have solved it? Why, there's a chap on saturn- he looks something like a mushroom on stilts-who solves partial differential equations mentally; and even he has given up"

-Arthur Porges, "The Devil and Simon Flagg

Went to immigration today to get my student pass cancelled-I'm now on a visit pass:) I had to exchange those lovely green cards for a white card:(

Just came back from my secondary school-This thursday, i'm having a dental appoinment and the coming tuesday is a public holiday. So, i'll only have to go there next thursday. It'll just be nyjc till then! I'm going to (mini)lecture on gravitation!! So exiting!

Just went for a cycling. My mission was to get myself to east coast park, by following the water canal that runs along the MRT depot between Ang Mo Kio and Bishan. I found out from Google Earth that it'll lead me to the ECP. Well, i didn't really get there since i had to do a bit of exploring and figuring out directions (and considering possible shortcuts). But next time, i should be able to get there in an hour.Once i've made a trip in my bike, I'll be able to run! YaY!!

I just realised: I'm having an interview for usp programme on the coming 28th and nanyangjc's 30th anniversary is also on the 28th. Since my interview is in the morning, i might be able to come for the anniversary.

Today was a super-hectic day, a lot of things packed. This morning, i went for driving theory lessons one and two. Both teachers were trying to keep us awake by their jokes, but throughout the lessons, especially the first one, it became quite obvious that only the ladies were laughing-Really! Every single guy around me just kept a normal face. But the classes are not boring lah, i managed to stay quite awake throughout the two lessons. Since i'm allowed to take as many lessons as i want, and as many trial tests as i want, i'm going to pop in whenever i can. It's one way to make sure that i can pass my basic theory driving test.
Then, i went to my dentist. Since it has been soooo long(see previous post) she has changed place to near somerset MRT. But it's still the same sofa, paintings and all. As i expected, i need to get a new retainer for my upper teeth:( - the lower one still works. so, i needed to do that disgusting mould thing again- the previous time, i nearly vomited.This time i had better control over myself, somehow.
Then, i got myself enrolled for a C-language & C++ language course.about $600 in total, but it's not bad since it's going to be one-to-one and 64 hours in total (excluding practices). It's mostly in the morning, so that i can continue my voluntary works in the evening, which bring me to my next paragraph.
I'm soon going to start helping out at nyjc. But before starting on that, I've seriously got to brush up my chemistry, and if possible, my physics and maths. I've a feeling that I'm growing dumber, day by day.Well, I've some marking to do today, must go ytss tomorrow. I need to get my planner out.

Finally-I'm getting some life:)

Dental appoinment

I used to wear braces in secondary school, but i was done with it in Sec 4 that time.. So, i was given a retriver (to continue to hold back the teeth for some time), which i've only wore for like 3 months or so. I've been too busy lah... haha, nice excuse. And i've a dental appoinment in 2 hrs' time.. dunno what the dentist is going to say. I better brush and floss my teeth before i go in.:( More later, I'm busy right now.

HOMEWARE store Ikea will become the first retailer in Singapore to charge for
plastic bags in a bid to reduce waste.
From April 22, shoppers at the retail
giant's two outlets in Alexandra Road and Tampines will have to pay a nominal
five cents for standard-size bags and 10 cents for larger ones.

WoW. I thought this would take a loong time to catch up in Singapore , but it's good that a giant store like Ikea started on it. It'll be good if other stores start practice it too. And slowly, it'll spread to Malaysia (there are ikeas there, right?) and... I was just thinking about those developing countries where plastic bags may just have been introduced. But well, for these countries, it'll be good to start saving Earth from a young stage.

It's good that my mom has stocked up on those plastic bags. Now, I'll think twice about using those superstore plastics bags as rubbish bins (and not for something more useful, like shopping).

As for me, i've just been entertaining myself by doing maths. And i need to get my library books returned by 18th april. (why do i keep thinking that it's supposed to be 21st?)

YaY!! I've finished my marking! But it took a long while though, about 5 Hrs. I've just managed to get my mom to let me go to nyjc for 3 days per week. But on a condition that i'll continue my running at least 3 days per week and swim at least 2 days per week and relearn to play the keyboard(i learnt it in primary school, but i guess i didn't touch it from then on). Hmm... She seems to have forgotten about the C-language lesson that she was about to sign me up for. If i do sign up, i can't get a official cert since i'ld have to be studying under social visit pass.
Well, better start teaching at ny soon...
gotto mug my driving book now...

Today is my first day at ytss, helping out. My JC friends have mostly gone to NS now. 3 of them who had been helping out are going to step into NS tomorrow. So, that leaves me with quite a lot of work to do, quite a lot of marking, i guess. Yup, there's a lot of marking in secondary school than in JCs. Well, I'm just going to give it my best shot. It feels really great to be doing some real work. I'm going to finish (at least try to) all the marking i have by tonight. It feels really cool to be sitting alongside my teachers and talking with them.
By the way, i also signed up for driving course today, wah, it's going to get super expensive, but somehow, my mom doesn't seem to mind (so, i guess i won't mind too =) ).
Today, before getting to ytss from Sembawang Mrt, i dropped by at sun plaza to check out the library there. But instead, i ended up going into the popular bookstore. It had been really a long time since i last visited one and so, my popular card has been sleeping in my wallet. Well, at this time, I've nothing to buy, really. Maybe some more red pens to keep up with my marking??
Also, i dont' know if I've mentioned this, but a few days ago, I've got an offer from Australian National Uni for my BEng/Bcomm double degree. But i guess i'[ll have to wait to see what i get in NUS and NTU, before i make any decisions...

P.S Man, I'm super forgetful these days. Just super forgetful. My long term memory is working quite well, but my short term memory is really bad. Better get my 07 diary out and start using it.

Went to the national library with my secondary school friend. I was half an hour late and he was an hour late. So, i used the time to complete my Samurai Sudoku. I finally finished it!! In total i've spent about 6 hrs on it. Maybe i'll try another one, but right now i think i need a break from sudokus. Anyway, my friend seemed to be desprate to get his hands on those newspaper microfilm archives that they had, so we asked around for it and finally ended up at the 11th floor. It was quite high tech, after choosing our microfilm reels and filling up some form, we were led into this room where they had a lot of machines to read the film. As we were first timers, we were taught how to use the thing. It's a must-see for those in Singapore!!!
And here's my first exercise on c-language programming. It's a programme that adds up 3 integers. Initially, i found out that it closes too quickly without giving the person time to see the addition. So, i added in the closing thing. Oh, btw, you'll need a compiler to build the program.

#include
int main()
{
int a, b, c, d, e;
printf("Enter the first value:");
scanf("%d", &a);
printf("Enter the second value:");
scanf("%d", &b);
printf("Enter the third value:");
scanf("%d", &c);
d = a + b + c;
printf("%d + %d + %d= %d\n", a, b, c, d);
printf("okay, to close this thing just put in some integer and press enter");
scanf("%d", &e);
return 0;
}

Hey! I'm training to be a Samurai!!! Yesterday i spent 5 hrs doing a samurai sudoku!!here: after 2.5 hrs:


and after another 2.5 hrs:

I've been stuck at this for an hour la...it's sick.

try it! http://www.samurai-sudoku.com

Came back from council campfire yesterday.. so fun! I'll try to make it next yr. I'm also thinking of facilitating in LTC, but have to convince my mom first. I'm still very surprised that the 28th relay systems works well. Maybe there needs to be a new e-mail system or sth to last longer. Finally, i got in teaching at nyjc, which should occupy me throughout these holidays.
bye! off to figure out c-language programming. i shall put up some of my practices...

I'm really getting sick of my computer... The first time i started it just now, it failed to detect my sound system. So, i restarted it. Then, it did detect my sound system, but failed to detect the modem. So, i couldn't connect to the internet. Then, i had to restart again and everything went well till i opened the browser. It automatically restarted. Finally, now, it's seems to be sorking fine... hope it stays this way...
I'm going to learn c programming on my own, together with flash and Cinema 4-d. good luck to me.Tml going for council campfire:)

Wah.. my blogging frequency has decreased lately... I guess i've had a lot of things to do lah,
I started to prepare my room for university studies, had to pack up all my stuff and make more space to make it seem like a more spacious room.
Then, i went to play badminton with my friend at Yishun Stadium. We'd booked the stadium at 10-12 in the morning. Wah.. we shouldn't have bookes at all lah, waste of money. after 11 there was just no one in the sports hall apart from us. so we went on playing till about 1pm(and lost track of time). Then we went to visit our secondary school. Well, it was just supposed to be a visit, but we ended up doing much more. First of all, i came to know that the previous principal of my secondary school is now a principal in srjc. wow! He's really a great man. Then we met up with our junior(1 yr younger than us) who came back to be a relief teacher there. One of my friends was also there, having jsut started on relief teaching. I thought of doing teaching also, but since i'm under student pass, i can't work here. So, i've been thinking of doing some voluntary work at nyjc. My secondary school is very far, takes like 45 mins to travel there. Think about how much time and money i can save.
I also went down to enquire at the driving school. The whole thing will take 8 months, as i was told. And i wonder how my uncle did it in 3 months.Well, better do it now, since i may not have time when i enter university or when i get a job.
And today, i've had some back and leg pains due to the tiring badminton game. Maybe it's because i've not exercised for long. But next time, i'm not going to waste money booking...Must book on a weekday, at around 11am...I went doen to my Secondary school again, today for some moticational talk. The teachers are already making arrangements for me to do some CIP there, but dunno if my mom will let me go. Well, i'll just have to manage driving lessons, swimming, the teaching and still regularly visit the national library to do reading up.

Oh, man, google really has super good april fool jokes, The BEST i've ever ever seen so far!!! Very well developed-and since it's google (which is already far-fetched with its range of free services), the gmail paper one wasn't so farfetched, but i got it when i found the TiSP. Here:
First of all, google TiSP: click here Do click around and explore-it's really quite well developed(FAQs, press releases, testimonials...). Cool parts of it:

... #3 Grasp both ends of the spindle firmly while a friend or loved one flushes, thus activating the patented GFlush™ system, which sends the weighted cable surfing through the plumbing system to one of the thousands of TiSP Access Nodes....

Professional Installation Service
You can also choose to request our professional installation service, which dispatches an army of factory-trained, sub-contracted nanobots from the TiSP Access Node. The nanobots travel with exhilarating nano-speed through the sewer system and into your home to perform the installation service, which should be complete within 15 minutes. Note: For your own physical safety and emotional well-being and in consideration of the nanobots' working conditions, please make absolutely certain that your toilet is unoccupied at the scheduled appointment time.

Then, there is the Google Gulp: click here
then, Gmail paper!!!

Haha.. Happy April Fools day, every one!!! This is one fine day for some fine pooling fooling!!! I'll do a proper blog post tmr morning.

I was reading the math book i borrowed., Mathematical Journeys. Very interesting and it starts everything from the beginning and gets each chapter up to Olympiad-like standard. There was this simple game mentioned, Nim. Fun game, isn't so mathematical, but if you want to win, you'll be need to express the numbers using binary representation (And I'm not going to tell you more).

Next i found some stuff that I've been looking for, mainly the paper in which i copied down some math stuff at nyjc library, the day before GP paper. I remember that i was just browsing through this mathematical gazette magazine while i came across this article talking about whether e^pi or pi^e was bigger. I had noted down the major parts of the proof at that time, but only managed to find that paper today as i was flipping through one of my memo pads. Here's the full version of the proof:

Also, i went cycling today, saw my teacher along the way. Today was quite adventurous, there were some parts where i got to drive at high speeds. It was better that the previous downhill since this one was longer. I also went to explore this park near potong pasir station and found many runners there, it's a good place to run. Only thing is that it's not sheltered (it's a park, remember?). Then there was this time when i got onto a raised platform at a high speed; my water bottle flew out of the basket infront (and due to faulty breaks, it took me about 40m to stop). I tried it again with some strategy and this time, my bottle did the jump but landed back in. Cool huh?

Updates...My refrigerator spoiled the day before yesterday. the freezer was alright, but the main compartment was at room temperature. After a few of my experiments, the technician was called in to fix it. He replaced some parts. Well, it has been loyally serving my family for about 6 years now, so it's expected.
Today, i went down to the national library. After searching for my mom's library card yesterday night(found it in my previous wallet), i did some cleaning up in my room. Oh yes, and i also finished reading the novel. Actually, there were 2 novels in that book, but i don't feel like continuing to the next one, so that's 45 cents worth of stuff(refer to previous post)...Like the previous time, i went to read some newspapers and then, since i had lots of time this time, i went to explore the other parts of the central lending library.Magazines, fiction and non-fiction... since there were not enough good math books available for borrowing, i got myself 2 of them, Mathematical journeys, and another book on Olympiad. I've read them before at nyjc library, but i just wanted to try some more problems. And besides that, i got myself a Macworld magazine!! And i spent some time looking at math stuff at the reference floor. finally, i discovered the tangent rule (you know, we have the since and cosine rule...). These rules, i think, just try to relate the length of the sides of a triangle (any triangle) to it's interior angles, using the respective trigonometric function.
One more thing: I went down to the immigration authority to check on the procedures on getting my student pass renewed for NUS( if i get in). Since the one for nyjc will be expiring on the end of next month, i'll have to cancel my student pass before that date(31st april) and they'll give my a month more to stay here . Hopefully, i'll get my posting results by then preferably by 20th May. Or else, i'll have to apply for social visit pass. Well, i'm glad that Lavender (where the immigratino building is) is just a bus ride away from home :)

I've been reading a novel, to entertain myself. Quite interesting. Seems like, i bought it ages ago. This is what i can remember: It was the opening day of the Big Bookshop at Toh Payoh and by luck, i happened to be there. i remember that i bought a whole lot of things there, an encyclopedia, dictionary, an atlas... And there was this novel, by Dick Francis. The book i bought has two of his novels, For Kicks and Flying Finish. According to the label on it, it was supposed to go at $12.90 (it's a hard cover book). Guess how much the price was: 90 cents!!! FOR A HARD COVER BOOK!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????.Well, after coming back home, i started reading it a few days later, but went to sleep after the first 2 pages or so.
Also, i remember that they were selling this encyclopedia that came in several volumes (about 20 or so). I'm not sure if it was Britannica, i remember that it was being sold for about $40! I really thought of buying it, but I've already bought a lot and think: What a kid who just started working on his secondary school science textbooks supposed to do with all those volumes? They would just rot in a corner, like this novel did, till i picked it up a day ago.

Cycling!!!

I went cycling this evening- normally, during my runs, i'll run over to the end of the 2nd Bishan park and turn around. But now, since i've my cycle with me, i decided to explore a bit. I found out that beyond that park, there was the lower (or upper, i forgot) reservoir park. And i went into and around it, and did some more exploring. In the middle, since i've not been riding my bike for so long, some parts of it sort of rusted, but after some oil, it seamed to be doing fine.
At Bishan park, there was this dog show competition going on. I stood a while with my bike near me to watch the dogs run around compete. When i tried to set off, i had trouble turning my bike's handle. Even on the road, i had to use a lot of effort to turn it. I was thinking that i should have sent it for servicing before riding it. But after forcingly turning it a few times, it became okay. So i continued to explore. Throughout my ride, i noticed that the handle was only abnormal if i stopped for some time. I even stopped at a bus stop to examine it closely, but found nothing wrong. Maybe it's because that particular joint is getting rusty. I loosened (not by my hands of course, i did something else :)) the nut at the joint, and after that it was pretty fine.

Came across some monkeys along the way. Some of them are really bold; there was one that 'shouted' at me as i drove by( NO, i wasn't so near it, i was just being a good boy, by smiling at it as i went past). Also, i encountered some really steep slopes along the way, so fun! there's nobody to catch me speeding in my bike:)

shrinking photos

Okay.., I've not been blogging for a long while now, some updates:
I'm now able to appreciate the weather in Singapore a lot more.

I'm done with the NTU entrance application. Somehow, i finished writing the essay (it took me very long since i wasn't very much used to writing about narratives) and filling in my non-academic particulars (i had a lot of difficulty squeezing them all into 200 words. They have quite a good counting system that's different from the one that Microsoft word uses. for eg. "council05 to o6" is considered as 3 words while "council(05 to 06)" and "council (05 to 06)" are counted as 4 words; very smart...)
AND i also managed to get an appraiser to write about myself :)
I was offered some scholarship stuff at the end and was brought to another site at where there was another looong form. I nearly fainted when i saw it; I'm going to start working on it tomorrow morning. The scholarship form needs another appraiser. But the essay there is of the same topic, weird... i also had a lot of trouble getting my passport sized photo to their stringent specifications. My best is this: Below is the original



and below is the edited one:

Went down to nyjc this Monday, hoping to get my testimonial, but it wasn't ready yet. So, i ended up helping some J1s prepare for their math block test. It was fun. I enjoy teaching and in the process, i enjoy making things complicated. ;)
I'm going to start calling them up tomorrow for my testimonial.

I also need to do the essay for the university scholar's programme, and send in my supporting doccuments to NUS and NUS, and prepare things for my appraiser.

Yesterday. Since it's past 12, the day before yesterday, i went down to sch in the morning, expecting to get my testimonial and SGC, but ended up having to write my name down for them to print it. Now, i need to go back on Mon to get it. Can't wait to see it.. :)
Next, I filled up the NUS application at night. My printing system got screwed up when i tried to print the acknowledgement page. What actually happened was that i had clicked 'print' before the page finished loading. The trouble was that the page was longer than i expected it to be, since i didn't realise that my filled up form would be below the acknowledgement page. So, out of 9 pages, only 5 printed properly, with some parts of pg 6 missing. After this printing, i wanted to order a print of the last few pages, and i did it. For some reason (i forgot), i canceled this printing job and was trying to get it to print some other pages. The cancelation message somehow never got to the printer so it got sort of 'stuck'. And i couldn't print. So, after a long time of trying to troubleshoot all by myself, i gave up and tried to get my old printer to print. That worked, but the ink is low quality, i'll explain in the next post. But after struggling to get my new printer to continue to print, i figured out somthing: I couldn't save that acknowledgement page, getting a screenshot would be good, but it's quite long, i got it anyway. And since restarting my printer didn't seem to work, maybe restarting my comp would- but that page would disappear- so it won't. Finally, i saw this "send this page to gmail/ blogger thing" when i right click on the screen. Sending it to blogger didn't seem to work as well as i wanted it to, but sending it to gmail worked! it was excellent! that's all.

1:19 A.M

I thought of blogging now but it's such an ungodly hour. I'll get some sleep (or maybe do some maths) and come back in the morning. I really wonder how so many ppl can be online now...It's crazy...
Briefly, i went to sch and at night, applied to NUS. There, done.

oh man... i think i left one of my cables in India, the one that i'm supposed to use to connect my handphone to my computer...terrible, terrible....It's supposed to be in the cables bag, together with my camera's mini-tripod, but it's not there, though the other cables are. Let's just hope that it's stuffed somewhere elsein my baggages. I did a through check before i leave and the last time i saw the cable in india was like 1 month before i left. It's going to get more screwed up-they are moving to a new house right now. They did the house warming yesterday.

NUS, NTU, SNEC

Went to NTU open house on saturday and NUS open house on sunday. They were quite fine and one thing that i couldn't help noticing is that they gave away so much free stuff! And due to the paper quality of the prospectus and flyers, they should be quite expensive. I estimated that i got about $40 worth of stuff from both unis! Now i know where my money goes to if i get into an uni. I also got to get a much clearer picture of what uni will be like. NTU has a lot of accomodation facilities while NUS is short of them (as i heard from a few of the students there). Well, it's surprising that they let us stay in Prince George's Park residences during the Pre-U Seminar. I heard it's for the USP people, but not too sure. Should be expensive, though. Also, i heard that nus is a little short of students to participate in their overseas programmes, i heard from a few of the students there that it get really competitive once you are in. Well, i guess i've to get in and see for myself.
Also, i've sent in my application form for Australian National University. Should be getting a reply in 3 weeks' time.
Today, i went to National eye care centre to get my colour vision deficiency cert updated, i was still having the 2001 version. So i had to do some test alogside with it. My short sightedness seems to be stbilising. My left eye's power is 50 deg below my left spec lens, so it's now overpowered. and my right eye has gone worse by 50 deg. Since the last time i got myself a new pair of glasses was in september 06, i expected my eyes to be worse by about 100+ deg. Glad that it came out fine :)
I had to get the back of my eyes checked. They dropped some eye drops to dilate my pupils, sothat the doctor can look at the back of my eye. My left eye responded very well to the drops and only needed 3 drops. But my right eye was more stubborn and needed 6 drops (that's the max that they can give to a patient. I was getting quite worried cos my right eye became painful just after each drop while my left eye felt pretty normal). Because of those drop, Overall, i had to wait for about 2hrs. The report came out to be fine, my eyes are perfectly normal, apart from the red-green colour vision deficiency and the shortsightedness. (Nope, they didn't mention the stubbornness of my right eye) And there was also this test where a machine blew a puff of air onto my eyes to check the pressure. I had to do it several times as my eyes kept blinking.
Lastly, i've been reading my math olympiad notes till late in the night. I only slept at about 3 am yesterday night and ended up waking up at 10 in the morning. My sleeping pattern is all screwed up now. But it's so fun!

Forgot to blog about this: on tuesday morning, i felt my bed shaking slightly, due to the earthquake in Indonesia. I was quite doubtful at first, but after being unable to shake my bed in that same way by shaking myself on the bed, i was convinced that it's something unusual. It was just for about 4 seconds. I was thinking of running down, but no one was panicking. So, i didn't bother. Then later, i saw in the news about the quake in Indonesia.

I went down to the idp office today, that's where they help you to apply to Australian universities. I was told that i can be guaranteed a place in any of those unis. So, i was thinking of going for ANU. My first option has been NUS, so far. What i got today maybe one-sided view. So, i'm going to NUS tmr, or during the open house to know more about their programmes. Going back to India for IIT is nearly off my list for now :)

I've been reading up a lot on universities. Also considering some scholarship programmes.
My bicycle has rotting for the past 6 months. I just pumped the tyres with the pump, which was also rotting. The cycle chains are all rusted, i haven't tried it yet, but i really need to send it for servicing sooner or later.
I've been thinking of applying to the university scholar's programme at NUS. I know i'm not going to get it, but i'm just going to give it a try. It's going to be a very good experience, if i can get into it.

Well, it turned up slightly better than my optimistic expectations, AAAA (dunno if they sell this battery, maybe i'll have to fix 2 AA's together)But my GP is a C6, quite bad i think. Could have done better. S-papers, okay, expected, both merit. That's all. Now to run around applying for universities. So fun!

and here is the marathon certs that i received:

my first 42.195km!

Still super busy-i'll be quick here:
Pessimistic expectations:
Math-B
F-math-A
Physics-B
Chem-C
GP-D7
S-papers- U for both

Optimistic expectations;
math-A
F-math-A
Physics-A
Chem-B
GP-B4
S-papers-Physics-U
math-s-Merit

I've been super busy since i came back. It's really wonderfull to be back-no pollution, low traffic, nice people, Rain( haven't seen it for 3 months). Lots of things to do here-updating the computer,fixing back my room, unpacking, organising and so on. No time for patient blogging.