AHH!H!HH!!!!!!...thats it...i will swear off Jurong Point!!! at least for a few months.
today i was supposed to meet my job agent at Jurong Point. purpose? to return my factory uniform and authorisation swipe card, plus to submit a photo of myself. i was supposed to meet him at 1300. thus i left Ngee Ann(somewhere near Beauty World, which is somewhere in Bukit Timah) at around 1230+.
OF ALL the things to happen at the beginning leg of the journey, it had to rain. actually, i had planned to get a straight bus to Jurong Point, on bus 174. maybe i was impatient, but it jus seems forever for bus 174 to show up. thus i took the next alternative, bus 173. this bus can get me to clementi bus interchange and change another bus, 154. all in all, i got to my destination at around 1300+++,near 1400. and there was no one to be found. jus me and the rain.
ARHHHH!!!!...JURONG POINT. drawin up alot of bad memories. firstly, the lost of my bicycle after the midnite show, Lord of the Ring, the return of the King. secondly, Jurong Junior College. thirdly, army days.
that bicycle was a loan property of my cousin, thus a compensation was needed. actually, i was not so concerned abt the compensation. rather, i was very DISAPPOINTED at the very fact of that IT GOT STOLEN!!! i was kinda left stranded in JP if not for Benny and his parents.
another thing abt JP is Jurong Junior College. i guess it would represent the worst possible part of my life, in terms of behaviour, size, attitude, studies even looks. i was naive THEN.
before JJC i came from Shuqun secondary. back there, the culture was quite 'together'. together' meaning a very social. as a class, we operated as a unit, well almost. there wasnt nothing our class cannot complete, but you jus need the right motivation and incentive. hehe...
i thot JJC had the same culture, at least i thot my class had the same culture. then i started to adpot the trendy, slacker brand. i slack off. IF you notice the keyword of the previous sentence, its 'I'. while i was naive to slack off, the rest of the people worked. i got all 'E' for the first year exams. meaning, all near passes. then, gratefully, one of the lecturers showed me their dark side. thank you, Ms Joyce Koh.
although till now, it may seem that i am resenting my classmates, however, i jus resent the system. without an aggresive and non-compromising system, where would youths be so desperate to kill off competition? no one wants to lack behind, no one wants to take a wrong step and no one wants to be mean as well. i jus resent that naive me...
another part of JP which i hate is the army days i spent there. army days was one of the most escaping days of my life. i used that period to escape from my poor 'A' level results, to escape my uncertain future, to escape the undecided future and to not face my responsibilities as a son.
thankfully, i toughed it out at the end. i managed to squeeze a decision for myself and striked out a possible future and light to be in. nothing was easy in the beginning, jus like the healing of open wounds. the wounds will still hurt at the beginning, then itch alot when its near full recovery and leave a mark when it jus becomes another part of you.
hmmm...weird...i am now actually in the alpha centre at school. supposedly, researching for my final year sumo robot. guess i am blabbing too much. let this pain be a forever reminder, that discipline before all else.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
finally...the singapore robotics game have ended. Ngee Ann got first prize and the third. muhaha...Nanyang got abt 18 entries. to demostrate the QUANTITY they brought in : it was a full page of NYP contestant names, 7/8 of TP and 5/7 of NP. muhaha...however, i still wanna state that TP did bring out a few worthy adversaries. :) nice job. looking forward to meeting them next year, when i compete. :)
the whole event taught some valuable lessons that we shld look out for. even to minute details like, an LED indicator light to signify that the robot is on. a serious competitor from TP helped us gained such an important lesson.
the robot from TP was named Hamster and our robot Zeta. it was a deciding match between who was the champion. Hamster was the champion for the previous year, thus the pressure was on for us. the first 2 bouts was a tie, with each side winning one. the third, and deciding bout, came to a very undecisive ending. both Zeta and Hamster was thrown off the dohyo, and the judge cannot give judgement on who landed outside the dohyo first. thus a fourth bout was called. before the foruth bout began, both teams were given a minute to touch up and maintain their robots. i was watchin the match from the second level, with a birds' eye view. i can clearly see the team members rushing off to their individual robots. like how those F1 technicians, when the F1 car enters pit-stops. when the fourth bout finally start, it ended for Hamster. everyone was quite taken aback when Hamster remained stationary after the time-keeper shouted start. the Hamster team had apparently forgot to switch on Hamster and had lack of indicator to show it. pity, otherwise there would have been another interesting bout to remember.
my team has been set. WeiChien have gladly decided to join hands and design the winning robot for next year. hehe...arrogorant? na...jus hopeful. i jus hope i can gather enough mistakes from past experiences and make a better robot. WeiChien have taken upon the task of the mechanical design and aspect of the robot. while i will handle the intelligence of the robot. as for the circuity of the robot, we decided to take half responsibility each. this will be called Project 零(ling). i wish to divuldge more but theres still nothing conrete yet to talk about. hmmm...till later.
another thing of interest would be that i was kinda approached by some frens to join a biz venture. this whole thing started when i decided to re-join a biz venture that i had once abandon due to certain personal reasons. reason to re-join? i thot that it was kinda of in dire straits and needed all the help possible, since i was one of the founding fathers as well. somehow, after understanding the situation there, i found it quite redundant for me to return. as it would be a matter of time before everything bounces back...and another matter of time before everything dismantles. bleak...but possible future, assuming that the ongoin evolution that the biz is takin works. so...thats one...
the second biz, that i was proposed to is rather hush hush too. however, based on my limited foresight and judgement, i have decided invest my limited abilities and time into it.
the problem that remains is whether i should return to the biz that i had once abandon to help salvage and steer the direction of it?
the whole event taught some valuable lessons that we shld look out for. even to minute details like, an LED indicator light to signify that the robot is on. a serious competitor from TP helped us gained such an important lesson.
the robot from TP was named Hamster and our robot Zeta. it was a deciding match between who was the champion. Hamster was the champion for the previous year, thus the pressure was on for us. the first 2 bouts was a tie, with each side winning one. the third, and deciding bout, came to a very undecisive ending. both Zeta and Hamster was thrown off the dohyo, and the judge cannot give judgement on who landed outside the dohyo first. thus a fourth bout was called. before the foruth bout began, both teams were given a minute to touch up and maintain their robots. i was watchin the match from the second level, with a birds' eye view. i can clearly see the team members rushing off to their individual robots. like how those F1 technicians, when the F1 car enters pit-stops. when the fourth bout finally start, it ended for Hamster. everyone was quite taken aback when Hamster remained stationary after the time-keeper shouted start. the Hamster team had apparently forgot to switch on Hamster and had lack of indicator to show it. pity, otherwise there would have been another interesting bout to remember.
my team has been set. WeiChien have gladly decided to join hands and design the winning robot for next year. hehe...arrogorant? na...jus hopeful. i jus hope i can gather enough mistakes from past experiences and make a better robot. WeiChien have taken upon the task of the mechanical design and aspect of the robot. while i will handle the intelligence of the robot. as for the circuity of the robot, we decided to take half responsibility each. this will be called Project 零(ling). i wish to divuldge more but theres still nothing conrete yet to talk about. hmmm...till later.
another thing of interest would be that i was kinda approached by some frens to join a biz venture. this whole thing started when i decided to re-join a biz venture that i had once abandon due to certain personal reasons. reason to re-join? i thot that it was kinda of in dire straits and needed all the help possible, since i was one of the founding fathers as well. somehow, after understanding the situation there, i found it quite redundant for me to return. as it would be a matter of time before everything bounces back...and another matter of time before everything dismantles. bleak...but possible future, assuming that the ongoin evolution that the biz is takin works. so...thats one...
the second biz, that i was proposed to is rather hush hush too. however, based on my limited foresight and judgement, i have decided invest my limited abilities and time into it.
the problem that remains is whether i should return to the biz that i had once abandon to help salvage and steer the direction of it?
Sunday, May 01, 2005
today...although haven end yet but the more important things have already more or less been settled.
THANKS to leslie lau for his interference. ended up i have to give the present personally to her...
yesterday night, messaged her to find out wat time can she slot in for me to pass her the present. i was thinking about maybe around lunch. then she changed it to breakfast, and will message me when she leavin her house. so as usual i when to bed. however, the thing is that i couldnt exactly get into deep slumber or my usual sleep mode. SLEEPY alan was missing, kidnapped!
the usual sleep mode : since my bed has a window view, so i peek out the window quite often. lucky for me, its the view of industrial Jurong and not someone else's room. so usually before i sleep, its all dark outside. when i wake, it would be all bright and sunny around 0700 or 0800 in the morning.
last night : sudden awakening in the nights. to check whether it was daybreak. consistent tossing and turning. from the left side of the bed i flipped to the right, and back again. the whole bed was slowly but steadily warmed up. i didnt sleep very soundly or more accurately i slept a wink. then when eventual daybreak. i kept checking the clock for time. i was checking the clock on my cell phone and double up checking whether she messaged. i was checking so consistently that i eventually got so fed up about it and decided to wake up and get some washing up done. i keep getting the feeling that i didnt not have enough sleep last night. although i theortically slept at around 0000+ and woke up at around 0700+. 7 whole hours.
after waking up, i hung around my room for a while, still waiting very patiently for that message. wait, wait and more waiting. eventually, i messaged her at around 0900+, near 1000, to ask her if our appointment was still on. then she said yea and would be here pretty soon. both of us actually met at around 1000+, near 1100, at JE Mac. so i jus had my lunch there instead, without breakfast. we talked...actually she blabbed and i listened. :)
another thing that happened yesterday. ms serene chan was like very difficult to handle. erm...meaning, somehow somewhere it seems that i have had stepped onto her tail some part. serene, joyce, leslie and me together with some of joyce's secondary school frens had dinner at newton circus. after that, joyce still wanted to roam around. thus, the 4 of us went to orchard to roam and wander till around 2200++.
the problem is serene was that she was kinda of like picking on me. i can understand that maybe she was in a foul or PMSing mood. however, she seems to have all her arrows targetted to shoot me. NOT fair. she was kinda of finding me unbearable, which jus leaves me totally clueless...guess i better stay away for a while. otherwise, might incur more of her wrath.
anyhow, wasnt very fruitful yesterday in finding the perfect battery for the Final Year Project(sumo-robot). guess have to stick to the choice 1, so far the best discharge and most lightweight for that capacity. didnt look for any magnets for the robot yet, although i had planned to start searching. mainly because i am still quite unsure with the designs of the robot.
i dun like/approve the popular wedge design. because its an 'evil' cycle. its like this year i create a low wedge to wedge you out of the dohyo. then next year you create an even lower wedge. wats the point? besides, there must be a certain flaw that everyone has overlooked or underestimated about the wedge. i MUST find it, to create the un-wedge robot and eliminate all wedge robots. personally, i also do like the idea of a 'winning formula'. i know that the wedge have a higher chance to secure a win. however, its MY wrestle, and even in defeat, i will lose in MY way. stubborn? most probbably. non-conformin? think so. winning? 50/50 do i care? (walk off)
i have been thinkin recently that the probbable reason why the Japanese have been topping the charts with their robots, maybe due to the fact of exposure. the bare fact that they have been quite exposed to the sumo sports. sumo wrestling, if i am not wrong, is in fact a national sports. thus all they have to do is to translate it to the robots.
however, due to the lackof exposure to sumo sports. we can only very superficially grasp the concepts and ideas behind this form of wrestling. thus, losing a certain edge over the japanese. so the current mission i have set for myself to to understand and grasp the concepts and ideas behind this sports. after which, i would have to leviate at least one level higher to be on par with them.
THANKS to leslie lau for his interference. ended up i have to give the present personally to her...
yesterday night, messaged her to find out wat time can she slot in for me to pass her the present. i was thinking about maybe around lunch. then she changed it to breakfast, and will message me when she leavin her house. so as usual i when to bed. however, the thing is that i couldnt exactly get into deep slumber or my usual sleep mode. SLEEPY alan was missing, kidnapped!
the usual sleep mode : since my bed has a window view, so i peek out the window quite often. lucky for me, its the view of industrial Jurong and not someone else's room. so usually before i sleep, its all dark outside. when i wake, it would be all bright and sunny around 0700 or 0800 in the morning.
last night : sudden awakening in the nights. to check whether it was daybreak. consistent tossing and turning. from the left side of the bed i flipped to the right, and back again. the whole bed was slowly but steadily warmed up. i didnt sleep very soundly or more accurately i slept a wink. then when eventual daybreak. i kept checking the clock for time. i was checking the clock on my cell phone and double up checking whether she messaged. i was checking so consistently that i eventually got so fed up about it and decided to wake up and get some washing up done. i keep getting the feeling that i didnt not have enough sleep last night. although i theortically slept at around 0000+ and woke up at around 0700+. 7 whole hours.
after waking up, i hung around my room for a while, still waiting very patiently for that message. wait, wait and more waiting. eventually, i messaged her at around 0900+, near 1000, to ask her if our appointment was still on. then she said yea and would be here pretty soon. both of us actually met at around 1000+, near 1100, at JE Mac. so i jus had my lunch there instead, without breakfast. we talked...actually she blabbed and i listened. :)
another thing that happened yesterday. ms serene chan was like very difficult to handle. erm...meaning, somehow somewhere it seems that i have had stepped onto her tail some part. serene, joyce, leslie and me together with some of joyce's secondary school frens had dinner at newton circus. after that, joyce still wanted to roam around. thus, the 4 of us went to orchard to roam and wander till around 2200++.
the problem is serene was that she was kinda of like picking on me. i can understand that maybe she was in a foul or PMSing mood. however, she seems to have all her arrows targetted to shoot me. NOT fair. she was kinda of finding me unbearable, which jus leaves me totally clueless...guess i better stay away for a while. otherwise, might incur more of her wrath.
anyhow, wasnt very fruitful yesterday in finding the perfect battery for the Final Year Project(sumo-robot). guess have to stick to the choice 1, so far the best discharge and most lightweight for that capacity. didnt look for any magnets for the robot yet, although i had planned to start searching. mainly because i am still quite unsure with the designs of the robot.
i dun like/approve the popular wedge design. because its an 'evil' cycle. its like this year i create a low wedge to wedge you out of the dohyo. then next year you create an even lower wedge. wats the point? besides, there must be a certain flaw that everyone has overlooked or underestimated about the wedge. i MUST find it, to create the un-wedge robot and eliminate all wedge robots. personally, i also do like the idea of a 'winning formula'. i know that the wedge have a higher chance to secure a win. however, its MY wrestle, and even in defeat, i will lose in MY way. stubborn? most probbably. non-conformin? think so. winning? 50/50 do i care? (walk off)
i have been thinkin recently that the probbable reason why the Japanese have been topping the charts with their robots, maybe due to the fact of exposure. the bare fact that they have been quite exposed to the sumo sports. sumo wrestling, if i am not wrong, is in fact a national sports. thus all they have to do is to translate it to the robots.
however, due to the lackof exposure to sumo sports. we can only very superficially grasp the concepts and ideas behind this form of wrestling. thus, losing a certain edge over the japanese. so the current mission i have set for myself to to understand and grasp the concepts and ideas behind this sports. after which, i would have to leviate at least one level higher to be on par with them.