Day 1 (again)

不知不觉的, today marks the start of Term 2...

I've gotten back the results of my Term 1 exams, including the very much overdue results of UML Assignments

In my University, it's not graded in A B C with all the + and -
Here's the grading we have...

• HD: High Distinction (85% - 100%)
• D:   Distinction (75% - 84%)
• C:   Credit (65% - 74%)
• P:   Pass (50% - 64%)
• And below 50%... well... Henry leh! Won't get below 50% one lah :P

For my UML, I got Credit only...
bleah T_T

My assignments (as a team) dragged me down completely!!
E.g. my Assignment 2 scored a measly 7.5 / 15 t(-_-t)

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On the other hand, my Java got High Distinction!!!
( ^__^ ) v
That's even after I skipped questions in the exam paper =3=
I ish proud of myself keke

So this Year2-Term's 2 subjects, they are:
1) C++ (another programming language), and
2) Shell Script (operating system programming language)...
These are supposedly solo assignments just like Java. I hope to do well in it *_*

But here I am actually very worried about C++
This module's number is 204, and apparently we are assumed to know 114 and 124 which is taught in Year 1.
In other words, 204 is actually ADVANCED C++ !!!
And I know NOTHING about C++!!!

Le sigh~
Life sucks

I really hate myself for not studying hard during Polytechnic and placing myself in such a difficult spot right now...

For now, all I can do is hope it'll turn out miraculously well as it did for my Java ._.

End of Year 2 - Term 1

It has been a roller-coaster ride thus far...

A Hungry man is an Angry man

(Part-Time) University life is extremely tiring and I hope whomever is reading this is either...

1. A hardworking (hopefully smart) kid with good enough grades to enter Local Universities as a Full-Time student, OR
2. You have rich parents whom can sponsor you to study Full-Time, be it local or overseas

Trust me, you will not have the energy nor mentality to study once you've been out in the workforce for years ._.

Back to my story... the last few weeks of school was SHO TIRING

Chionging 3 assignments (2 Java 1 UML) within 2 weeks

This is a phase I'll definitely remember for time to come
I literally slept at 3am-5am everyday just to code my Java assignments...
Funny thing was, I DIDN'T FEEL tired *_*

My guess is that I was so pumped with adrenaline! Everything I wanted/planned to do worked out perfectly fine and was smooth-sailing (;

There was once though where I broke down though );
It was Java assignment 3, and we had no idea what to do!
To quote the lecturer: "Just go Oracle website and download the KnockKnockServer/Client"

Sounds easy? Yes and no. At the same time it was good and bad actually...

• The Good
• Due to extreme limited time constraints (only 5 days instead of original 2 weeks), we didn't have to be taught or understand how it works
• It's a working code! Just have to modify it from an extremely simple text communication to our Assignment's game
• She even told us if we couldn't get the Assignment working at all, just show the basic multi-threaded Server/Client connection (already comes with the downloaded code!) and she'll give us 50% marks
• Let's see... 50% of Assignment functionality (60%) is 30%, just for doing nothing! Lazy people just have to do some reporting and useless stuff to get 50% to pass the assignment. Awesome deal if you ask me
• The Bad
• Fine, we can breeze through the assignment and score some marks which contributes to our overall score. Then what, exams how? Die?
• We barely understand all the new functions and methodology in it! ._.

The first 3 days was awesome as usual and I could get all my ideas out into code perfectly fine... Until I hit a roadblock
I couldn't understand how to get the communication logic to start/stop/flow properly

After being stuck for >12hrs, I called Philip for advice. He kindly offered to help look at my codes after work/school @ 11pm at KH's void deck.
There, he re-wrote most of my server's code for 2hrs and when everything was finally coded...

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IT DID NOT WORK
Philip's coding was flawed in a way that what he wanted to do couldn't be done logically. Since it was already 1am, I thanked Philip for trying even though I ended up back in Square One... and headed home in a cab feeling extremely disappointed

Immediately upon alighting the cab, that's when all the lack of sleep, stress and whatever shit kicked in...
My momentum got disrupted I guess?
I suddenly felt extremely tired and nauseous I had trouble even walking back to my house :S

Once I got back home, I immediately ran to the toilet to vomit...

And again...

And again...

Yup, I vomitted 3 times in a row.

Have you ever wondered what the Merlion is doing? I think it's vomitting

I felt so sick and deathly I just showered and slept without even attempting anymore. That was the first "break" I took in weeks, which finally enabled me to sleep more than 3 hours >_>

I solved the logic on my own eventually, shall not tell the full story here, it's too long

So anyway, the moment I handed in Java Assignment 3...
I literally felt the stress slowly seep away... the burden lifted off my shoulders... tiredness crept in minute by minute

It was as if my mind was forcing my body to hold-on until I tackled all the assignments

Talk about mind over body... I now totally believe in it @_@

Revision Week

I didn't feel the same motivation as when I was doing my assignments.
Guess I'm a hands-on person rather than a NATO (No Action Talk Only) person.

Just can't discipline myself to simply quietly sit down and read the damned notes
Always feel so distracted and sleepy ._.

For the first few days, I studied for 2hrs and watched movies/stone at Facebook for 2hrs -_-
This went on for a few days until I realized I HAVE NOT EVEN STARTED STUDYING FOR JAVA

I mugged UML from Tuesday all the way till the exam on Monday itself and deeply regretted it
THE PAPER WAS SO DAMN EASY!!
I CAN ALMOST LITERALLY SAY OUT THE LECTURE NOTES WORD FOR WORD ( of course I understand, I don't just do blind memory =3= )
YET THE PAPER CAME OUT SO... SIGH DISAPPOINTINGLY EASY

On the other hand, one of my uni mates told me that he started studying much earlier than me. Despite that, he told me this shocking thing, "Henry, we've studied Java for 4 days and I still don't quite understand it yet"

It's currently Monday and Java exam (supposedly much more difficult to study) is just 43hours away...
And I haven't even started studying a single page...

What would be the logical thing to do here?

HMM . . .

Le hmm...

When I reached home, instead of mugging Java directly... I took a 2hours nap and played a few games of DoTA with my Uni mates instead LOL

FIRST BLOOD!

Studying for Java

Almost everyday I have been drinking Large Cafe Latte from CoffeeBean and it's effect now is just warm milk. Caffeine no longer has any effect on me ._.

While compiling my own set of notes on important stuff, I realized my home printer was almost out of ink ._.
Took a cab to school library and met up with Carrie to study together. Barely managed to type+print out the basic stuff before the library closed at 9pm...

I then took the bus home and managed to get some shut-eye for 10min...

Continuing to study at home, even though I still feel very pumped, I took a look at myself in the mirror and saw my dreary sore eyes were bloodshot @_@


THAT'S WHEN I DID A REALITY CHECK...

Pages of Notes to study: 1184
Pages Studied: 324 - Revision notes only (27.3%)
% of Pages understood: 60~70%
% practised: 0%
Time to Exam: 12hrs
Screwed Level: I don't wanna think about it ._.

F M L

F

LIFE SUCKS

T_T

At 2am... I started to feel extremely drowsy... I made a cup of Kopi-O Gao and despite tanking it immediately, I continued to close my eyes subconsciously );

In a desperate bid, I then tried something for the first time in my life, which I've always been sceptical about... Chicken Essence!!

HOLY SHYT THIS REALLY WORKS

My notes and my... potions =3=

Whilst the Large Cafe Latte / Kopi-O Gao only served to slow down my drowsiness, Chicken Essence promptly dissipates it and keeps me awake for 1hr+ for each bottle consumed

I managed to complete a one-time read through of everything I wanted to study by 5am, and promptly went to sleep before my alarm at 6.30am wakes me up >_>

In the end I attempted the exam after barely understanding (without any time to practise too) the 324 pages only

Interestingly, after the exam, everybody I talked to were saying the same thing...
做不完啊！！！


My lecturer wasn't joking when she mentioned during a particular lecture and also the last revision that, for the entirety of the 3hr exam, you literally write from 10am - 1pm, NON-STOP.

My answer booklet has 24pages, 12 for rough writing and 12 for answers.
I asked for an additional booklet at 12.30pm and in total... I wrote 18 pages of code for this exam -_-

I skipped a 5 marks question while I heard others skipped as much as 20+
And despite skipping that 5 marks question, I wrote till 12.58pm...
The 2 minutes was used to write my name / course and etc details

Why is that important? If you are not able to hand in your answer by the time the invigilator comes to your desk, YOU CANNOT HAND IN AFTER THAT

WHICH MEANS YOU FAIL

WTF?!!?

die0r

Like a Ninja!

Did I mention before?

During my National Service Days in Pulau Tekong... I was from "Ninja" Company?

Duty! Honour! Country! Ninja Company!

Last month when I had my haircut, I did a Ninja move =3=

I requested to my Stylist for a wash after the haircut, because I was going out for Mahjong after that ( I got put aeroplane thou >_> )

Didn't want the tiny bits of hair sticking on my face, ear, nose, neck and t-shirt ( it looks horrendous when I walk home with that )

After the haircut, he got his lackey ( trainee ) to do a simple wash for me.

When I got back to my seat, and as he whipped out the hair dryer... he whipped my complimentary glass of ice water in the process ._.

I could see the glass slowly tilting

From upright standstill to 45 degrees

Ice cubes and water slowly spilling out towards me

The lackey gasping with a wide :O

There was 2 choices, and I only had a fraction of a second to decide...

• Save the glass
• Avoid the water

With the dexterity and reflex of a Ninja, I saved the glass from its shattering doom ^__^

AND I got drenched in the process -_-"

My berms and lower part of my t-shirt was totally wet!

The lackey was so shocked he fumbled and stuttered, and tried to dab my berms with a few pieces of tissues. As if that would help -_-"

I brushed his hand off as he got... erm... uncomfortably close...

At this juncture, I could hear a sorry from him almost every 2-3seconds... Poor guy, he must've been so worried he'll get a scolding from his bosses or smth

He then tried to use the hair dryer to dry my berms. Again I told him to stop, because...

1. DOOD.... Are you trying to cook my manhood?
2. It won't work, not if he tried for at least 30min or more

I know for sure about (2) because I had a similiar incident back in 2004 when I first started working in Acacia Call Center for HP.

It was one of those sleepy mornings... I went downstairs to L4 canteen to tarpao my kopi-O.
When I came back up and put the drink packet into my tempo cup, I was already exhausted LOL

Groggily, I accidentally hit my cup that held my kopi-O packet and it spilled all over my pants.

THANK GOODNESS WORKING PEOPLE WEAR BLACK PANTS (well, most of us)

I hurriedly went down to the rarely occupied male toilet at the Car Park at level 3.

There I took off my shoes n pants, and started to wash le pants with the hand soap in the basin

It took me a good 10mins before I finally stopped seeing kopi-O coming off my pants when I wringed them dry...

I started to use the hand dryer to dry it, but OMGLAH it got so hot after awhile that even when putting my hand near it to activate it nearly scalded me!

All the while when I was washing my pants, I kept praying... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NOBODY COME IN PLEASE

CAN YOU IMAGINE IF YOU ENTERED A TOILET, THIS DUDE IS IN HIS UNDERWEAR AND SOCKS, AND TRYING TO DRY HIS PANTS UNDER A HAND DRYER?

That's also the reason why I chose to wear my kopi-o underwear rather than take it out to wash also >_>

So anyway, it tried this hand dryer thing for almost 1hr before I wore it. It felt... wet and warm... very weird feeling.

That brings me to the point, you wanna use hairdryer to dry my berms?

NO THANKS!

(Part-Time) University Life

It has been a month... OK... 5 weeks to be exact, and it's starting to extract it's toll on me.

Every term (3mths) there's 2 modules. Classes and Assignments are done within 2mths, then 1 week for revision, 1 week of exams and 2 weeks term break before the next Term starts.

Almost every week there's 4 days of lessons: Mon, Wed, Thurs & Fri.
Which means 3 days to rest, do Assignments (including meet up to discuss!) and your social activities.

Sufficient? Hardly.
In fact I had to chiong my Assignments till 3-4am almost everyday. The days I don't are simply because I'm too tired to do so ._.


The current 2 modules are Java Programming, and UML (software design methodology).
I can frankly tell you that Java is the reason for all this hell I'm going through.
The lecturer's teaching style implies she expects us to know our basics since we're Year2, and she knows most students have already gone through the other 3 terms of Year2.

IMHO, she simply CBFed.
She just READS WORD FOR WORD through the slides. Heck she doesn't even read everything, she just reads part of it and skips some.

I've got a good idea. Why don't I pay the $2000+ to some random primary school kid and have the kid read it to me? DUH

Random course-mates I talk to agree with me unanimously that this is the worst lecturer they've seen so far.
They tell me in their other Year1 or Year2 programming subjects, their AWESOME lecturer explains in their own words if the lecture notes are vague, gives examples and even writes codes on the spot to demonstrate how it's being used BEFORE they move on the the next slide.

Before you say nonchalant stuff like... "if you don't know, ask lor!". Let me assure you... I DID!!!!
Here are her responses to my questions:
"I'm not sure..."
"I don't know..."
"I've never tried this before..." and
"You need to read up more on your own"

How can a lecturer not know how to teach the course notes/material? I really doubt the validity of her Doctorate (yes she's a DR).


Programming is especially demanding for me since...
- I do not have the foundations from Year1 (I am direct entry into Year2 from the credentials of my Diploma)
- Nor the familiarity of doing a similar subject in the later part of Year2 (which according to my lecturer, 80% of the others have completed already).
- And when I was in Poly, I skipped all the tutorials and played Dai Di at the last rows during Lectures.

I recognize that its my own fault, and I'm essentially picking up both Poly/Uni skills at the same time here.


It was all so stressful that 2 weeks ago, I almost broke down.

• I was stuck in my Java assignment.
• Extremely deprived of social contact.
• The construction noise from downstairs (I live on level 2) was and is driving me nuts.
• My house's A/C broke down. Dad bought a new one and asked for the 1K+ share from me. This was during a time I didn't even have $ to eat breakfast/lunch at work, as I was literally broke from buying the School Laptop and paying school fees.
• I lost my house key and felt so guilty. My dad kindly replaced the door lock immediately though. I FOUND THE KEY LATER THAT DAY
• The tipping point came when halfway while coding my Java, my chair broke. YES MY CHAIR BROKE INTO TWO!!!

Needless to say I have since bought a replacement

From IKEA!

Hmm... about my course mates, how many have I known so far?

There's around 30 ppl in my current session(term).

I'm Year2 Term1, but almost everybody else that I've talked to are Term4 now.

As I've mentioned before, almost everybody is solo. Probably because we're mostly working adults and tend to be independent? Groups are rare in my class *_*

On my 2nd day, I turned around and said "Hi!" to this China guy.
I'm not sure if his name is Bryll or Brill. His articulation wasn't fantastic. Hardly talked to him ever since coz he either doesn't come for classes, or chooses to sit at a far away corner.

On my 3rd day, I said "Hi!" to this guy I saw before at my workplace in January (I don't know him, just saw him before!). His name is Jonathan.

His group of 4 comes to classes ~7.45pm due to work commitments, and somehow loves to sit at the last row.

Their beloved last row is cramped, air is stuffy (A/C doesn't circulate there I guess), and it's so far from the screen. 

His group recruited me for the UML assignments which required groups of 5s (;

But, because of the above mentioned issues, I still sit alone in front till this date.

On my 4th day, I recognized this Indian from my class when I walked in from the bus stop. His name is Matthew.
Talked to him till we reached class when he announced he is only here to scan attendance. He can't be bothered to attend the lessons because of the above mentioned reasons with that certain Doctor. 

There's this other group of 4 that sometimes sits behind/beside me. I randomly talked to 1 of them and now maintains "Hi, Yo" acquaintance relationship. His name is Fabian.

There's also this group of 3 China programmers, of which 1 I spoke a few sentences to. His name is Qiu.

That's all I've spoken to, which is half the class already -_-
The other half I haven't spoken to either hardly appear in class, or you know they're douches from their looks :P

Classes are extremely quiet and serious.

Everybody just comes, listens to class, pees during toilet break, then goes home. Nobody talks.
If you try really hard... you can hear a pin drop from someone else's thought.
In other words, don't fart! Everyone can surely hear :3

I seem to be the outstanding one / freak because I am the ONLY ONE whom asks questions during classes, and I actually talk to random people every now and then.

This isn't the kind of University life that I was expecting T__T

My friends' college and uni life sounds so fawesome in contrast.

My social life has been reduced to Whatsapp-ing...
My entertainment has been reduced to Scramble with Friends...

Guess how I feel when my Whatsapp messages are ignored and the Scramble games are resigned?

LE SIGH

LIFE SUCKS

And the verdict is...

FAWESOME!

Anyway's I'm referring to my a-JAYS Four earphones I bought last month =D

Let's start with the CONs before we move on the PROs shall we...

CONs
In summary, it is... uncomfortable ):
The tangle free flat cable design feels heavier and weighs in on your earlobes.
Unlike traditional normal round cables that are so tiny till you can hardly feel it, you can really feel this thang.
In stationary position, it's not that bad. You can actually adjust it till you don't feel it that much.
But once you start walking, chasing after the bus/mrt or just trying to get out of a fart cloud someone just unleashed on ya, that's where it may get on your nerves, literally.

Thing is, all the good sounding earphones that I've tried are uncomfortable, so I think I can accept it :3


PROs
The highs are higher, the lows are lower.
Bass is decent and not overpowering till it ruins the music
The treble that I always emphasize on is terrific!
In fact, everything sounds so crisp and alive on this earphones!
ONLY if you get a right fit for your ears though. Not to worry, coz it comes with custom sized ear buds in 5 sizes! (other premium earphones only come with 3 at most)

And here's my favourite part... which I repeat... is FAWESOME.

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I can hear instruments on my favourite songs that I've never heard before!

Those songs that I've replayed countless times, focusing on the various instruments and beats or just plain vocals.
I can hear new things now, sometimes even instruments that I've never noticed before on my old earphones or desktop speakers!

To be able to enjoy your old classics again, that feeling is akin to...
Reliving your first crush
The first time you had a cheeseburger
The first time you had a mentos


You know... those goosebumps on your hand feeling thingy... that's what I'm talking about!

So yeah, I am loving my earphones... albeit the uncomfortableness puts me off a 'lil sometimes.
You can ask me for a trial if you do see me (=

Ultimate Bastard Dai Di

This post is exclusively done due to special request (you know who you are) :D

Huat ah!

If you don't know how to play / what is Dai Di ( 大老二 ), you can read it up at Wikipedia :D

Typical Dai Di

• 3 Players = Each Player takes 17 cards. 
• The person with ♦3 will take the last covered card in the middle.
• 4 Players = Each Player takes 12 cards.
For the first round, the player with  ♦3 will start first.
Subsequently, either the player with  ♦3 continues to start first, or the winner will start first. This depends on your peers as rules are ultimately a democratic agreement.

2 Players Variation

• 17 / 12 Cards
• Split the cards to 3x17 piles or 4x12 piles. Choose the lucky pile! :P
• 26 Cards
• I doubt other people ever plays this, because it's lame! You know EXACTLY what your opponent has, cause whatever you don't see, it's with him/her!
• Personally I only ever tried the 26 Cards with one person before (Shunhua where are you T_T) We even made up our own rule... Straight pairs! It's a new 10 card rule whereby you can put 5 pairs in a go (e.g. 4 5 6 7 8 pair). With that you can even play Royal Flush Pairs!

Ultimate Bastard Dai Di

I am sure there are times whereby 5 or even 6 players wanna play and there's only have 1 deck of cards. 
Normally in this case people will play something else like Ban Luck, or rotatational basis.

Not anymore!

My version can accomodate 3 - 6 players ^__^v

Versions

• 3 Players
• King, Civilian, Ultimate Bastard
• Typical 3 player way of card distribution
• 4 Players
• King, Queen, Bastard, Ultimate Bastard
• Typical 4 player way of card distribution
• 5 Players
• King, Queen, Civilian, Bastard, Ultimate Bastard
• Just divide by 5 la. 分给 winner 先
• 6 Players
• King, Queen, Civilian 1, Civilian 2, Bastard, Ultimate Bastard
• Just divide by 6 la.  分给 winner 先

Concept

• King
• Gives 2 worst cards to Ultimate Bastard
• Queen
• Gives 2 worst cards to Bastard
• Civilian
• Just play normally
• Bastard
• Gives 2 best cards to Queen
• Ultimate Bastard
• Gives 2 best cards to King

How to play?

Just play normally for the first round.
First person to finish by clearing all cards on hand will be the King.
The game will continue as ranks need to be assigned.
Subsequent persons to clear will take the next rank until everyone has been assigned a rank.

Although it sounds like being a Bastard / Ultimate Bastard sucks, you'll be surprised how the game will turn out.
It feels GEWD to clear the game first as a Bastard / Ultimate Bastard, and be the King for the next round =D

Have fun! ^__^

New Earphones!

My current earphones are one of my parting gifts when I left HP.
Typically when a colleague leaves, we would buy a gift for him/her that costs up to $50, and have a simple Zi Char at Villa Bali nearby...

For mine, I was asked what I want (since I am part of the "Gift Committee").
I jokingly requested for a screen protector, coz that was all I urgently lacked at that time. But I left it up to Cherie and Will to plan for mine.

To my surprise, I got the premium Apple Earphones! (amongst other gifts ^^)
During our lunch breaks, I had talked about wanted an earphone with noise cancellation earbuds, and they remembered!

Good stuff!

So... now my current Apple Earphones is almost dead from wear and tear.
Volume Up - mostly doesn't respond.
Volume Down - either mostly doesn't respond or Volume Up instead of Down
Pause/Stop - mostly doesn't respond

I even lost one of the earbuds (getting very loose) recently!
Now I'm wearing one side Medium and the other Small (feels loose, music is soft and ambience noise gets in to disrupt everything!)

During one of my lunch breaks, I whined about my earphones and one of my colleagues recommended this brand: a-JAYS.

So during today's lunch break, I saw it in Challenger!
I try, I like, I buy!

Then after that I searched the Internet for reviews about it (rightfully should be read reviews first before buy LOL).
Luckily for me, the reviews were good (;

Here's some pics of how it looks like

Here are the reviews I've read in case you're interested too:

• http://www.gadgetreview.com/2012/06/jays-a-jays-four-earbuds-review.html
• http://theultralinx.com/2012/06/ajays-four-review.html
• http://www.gadgetmac.com/gadgetmac/jays-a-jays-four-in-ears-review.html

My verdict?

I'll try out for a few days first :P

Also, it supposedly sounds better after you "burn in" after 10-20hours of usage.