ChiaP's Blog

Holiday Trip (while i was broke)

2006-03-13T00:07:00.000+08:00

Went for a short holiday to Genting with my dear from 9 to 11 March... haha. Given my broke status, this was quite a feat. Even so, the bus ride up there was horendous, and somemore we are already taking the premium bus... 6hours of bus ride. steady. The curving road up the mountain was nauseating to say the least...

Genting itself was quite fun, there's the theme park with the superman coaster that scared the hell out of someone :P and then a lot of shopping :S and a lot of casino wahaha. we won some RM to buy udon noodles and fries :)

Well, now back in SG and reality sinks in... bank acc piciak. work to be done, no $$ seen. haha. Well, on the bright side, I have a second interview from Transmex Systems, and the team lead told me "dun get employed soon k" which was a little encouraging haha... and ITE offered me an interview for the position of lecturer! haha this wed will be moment of truth for lecturer dream, supposed to present on ecommerce using dreamweaver in 10mins (siao 10min only enuff for my self intro wahaha)...

next time i will upload some pics from genting if i feel like it... wish me luck in interview!

Feedback not bad~

2006-02-28T13:54:00.001+08:00

My parttime IT trainer job is having quite a good feedback from the students, haha.... so 3dsense is asking me to go back in april for the next class. well, the money is quite good for 3 days of work, 6 hrs per day, juz that my throat gets absolutely dry to talk for 6 hours.... haha. Now i am ever more enthusiastic to be a lecturer or whatever academic position i can get my hands on :P

Still waiting for my check to clear. absolutely broke already. february has been a happening month :)

Interview screwed up?

2006-02-25T00:51:00.000+08:00

I finally got an interview from accenture! it is for a consulting workforce position... wahaha I think i din do too well... well i tot i did ok, except for the manager's comment that "next time please wear a tie..." (ok, i din have a tie to match my shirt, so thinking that rather wearing an ugly tie, might as well not wear at all.... blah blah excuses wahaha), but after hearing my uncle say: "oooh. pok liao la.", I lost my confidence... haha... cos the manager say "HR will contact u should u be selected", then my uncle say "if they wan u they will say 'when can u start work' instead".... :'(

Well, when things dun come, no matter how hard i try they never come... then when one come, all of them come... My ex-boss at Forecepts called me up 2hrs before my interview at accenture and ask me if i willing to join them! wahaha if ppl remember i was planning to do so rite after my graduation, but then they said they cannot afford me :P now they say they trying to get things on track and ask if i interested. Then today, shinchi messaged me and say his fren's company looking for someone to fill in position at their company Transmex systems urgently... and if i interested i should send in my resume immediately. well, no harm trying and see what they offer... haha.

Went to this bar called mox on thu after my interview with james and willie. it was supposedly james' fren's place, and we could get drinks on the house. wahaha turns out his fren was working there, and this fren got screwed by the boss for being late and slacking during the job. And we as his frens supposedly appear as parasites? wahaha... Then turns out this mox is some gay bar!!! no wonder all i see there is guys. damn u james!

shotgun my pockets

2006-02-16T12:41:00.000+08:00

wahaha v day is really an expensive day... finally know after 20 odd years of admiring couples from afar, thinking that "oh God, can't I be like them??" moral of the story is be careful wat u wish for, cos it might juz happen??? (happen too many times :P)

tho things din really go to plan (1st time planning, so blurr on wat to do), I had to rush to skoo to pick up the roses i reserved... and evening time ended up not going to the restaurant I reserved cos my dear was so tired and we ate at Han's instead (-_-") haha.. help me save some $$ le dear. lucky she was happy at the end of the day, guess tats wat tat matters most :)

gotten a lobang for website creation from daimien at 3dsense... the ladies who run a fengshui consulting business and are looking to go global... can't come at a better time to input some $$ back into my pathetic account b4 i get a perm job, and sure beats slacking at home. hope i can make this deal worth the while!

applied for DXO position in mindef ytd. hahaaha... hope i can get at least an interview, so far my applications to those "good" companies have no news, and everyone including the taxi driver (?) is telling me tat i need to be patient hahaaha. oh God, please dun make me wait too long anymore meeoow!

Good things come to those who wait?

2006-02-13T14:01:00.000+08:00

Its been a tiring week meow~~~ haha I finally got a job (part-time) as an IT trainer on saturdays, thanks to shinchi... but it wasnt as ez as i tot it will be... toking for 6hrs and catering to students' needs really shaq me out mentally and throatally wahaha.

I once again applied for a lecturing position! this time in SP business school (er mei shan wahaha)... well i meet all the criteria except for 3 years experience... but still pray that I can get it!!! My dear dear oso applying for management support officer position there, so if both of us get in, we can have catfight everyday (?) wahaha... Her current job is really sucky. The direct boss is an absolute uncle/slacker, which really pisses me and her off. I hope she can outta there soon to prevent getting high blood pressure and vomit blood~~ is it really that once a man reaches 40s, they become slack and crazy? really hope SP hires us...

My fren has been really down recently, with problems in relationship and uncertain further in career as well... I feel very upset that I have much less time to be there for my frens... but dun worry! good things come to those who wait! er, but sometimes waiting doesnt mean dwelling on the same thing/person... maybe it might be betta to move on ahead, and *maybe* juz up ahead is wat/who you are looking for??? jiayou jiayou jiayou~~

Please forgive my wilfulness~

2006-02-08T00:08:00.000+08:00

i guess i can no longer be like wat i used to be... able to go out on short notice, meet my frens on weekends, etc... I think to myself: am i being selfish or neglecting my frens? But it really isnt ez to accomodate all sides... i need to have times for juz the 2 of us, especially during this period... so please forgive me frens! as we usually have plans ahead of time it isnt ez...

I guess i aint used to this. I din mean it when i say "trying to kajiao me issit?", cos i was little embarassed... neither is it my desire to avoid anyone or watsoever. If you feel my actions offensive, please forgive my wilfulness...

I am still the same patrick, i think :P

Mia~ time standstill at my place

2006-01-20T19:54:00.000+08:00

Its been a few days since my last post. Yes, i know i have to be patient for any possible replies for my job application. But damn! everyday goes by damn slowly... slowly... i check my email every hour or so, go back to website which i applied for any possible updates... wahaha. the wait is unbearable. I applied Systems Analyst position at NUS which closes on 21st Jan (2ml) and Developer position at NYP, which closes on 31st Jan. From there it is probably another 1-2-3-4 weeks for any reply.... damn.

I really hope i can get the analyst job at NUS, for the more regular hours, bigger corporation and closer to my place :) Then i oso have more time to help ben with his biz idea, help leepeng and xiongzhou in any freelancing work, and have more time with frens... please please please God help me~~

Fried Mushroom ~

2006-01-16T18:44:00.000+08:00

When i was in TW, my fav food was the fried mushroom i got from one of the 夜市... Wa, it may be cheap, simple, but the best stuff over there are mostly cheap and good. So back at home, i decided to try and replicate it :)

Well, it took me 3 tries to get it rite, haha, being not good wif the kitchen and all. So finally it took some shitake mushrooms, egg and seasoned flour to produce wat you see in the pic :P It din taste as good, but well, i aint no cook!

Well, i must be too free to be trying it out wahaha. hope i get a reply from one of the companies i applied soon :P

Stop rain stop...

2006-01-13T21:46:00.000+08:00

The year of the dog sux. no i am not dead yet. haha. juz din feel like updating the blog. call me lazy la, find excuse la, watever. haha. it's been 2 weeks plus since i got my results, and i havent found a job, or should i say, i havent gotten the job i wan. My aim is to be a lecturer in some tertiary institution some day, so trying now for part time academic position at the polys here. well, i guess even if i do get shortlisted, it wun be so soon that they will reply. haiz. I know some of u are thinking "still can afford to slack ah" but hey its my fucking life, and unless you are doing well and have made it, keep your tots to yourself >:P

It's been raining ever since like forever. as i told babynut and XZ the end of the world is coming liao hahaha. we will all be flooded and drown! I recently start to hate rain, i think started from my NS days. I need to carry a stupid wet umbrella, my laundry cannot dry, i cannot open the windows (rain splatter and mozzies come flying to my room. fark off) and i simply HATE TO GET MY FEET WET. Jimmy and gang should know this. haha.

Guess the rainy weather oso made my mood bad too. bad is toking behind my back and complaining about me: if you have something not happy with me, come tell me directly la!!! dun go and KPKB when i not around and tiam tiam in front of me, and then let others tell me about it! If i wrong, i apologize, but if you do this, no matter wat i did i oso fark care!! arrggghh!! STOP RAINING!!

愛很複雜

2005-12-26T21:49:00.000+08:00

有一個男生，他喜歡一個女生... 他開始追求她，她也接受了他。開始時一切很美好... 在一起很快樂。他對她很用心，她也對他說她愛他，未來是幸福的...

不過，幸福是很難長久的。她開始變了...不，其實她沒有變。她由始至終都忘不了另一個他... 卻接受了現在的他。他其實也察覺到，當她在接受他的時候，還是對那另一個他無法忘懷... 但是當時他害怕一旦錯過了那一次機會，就無法再有了。所以，就算他知道當時她說已忘了另一個他的時候是騙他的，他也願意去相信她的謊言。

她再也不能欺騙自己了... 她的心在期待著與另一個他的愛情。所以，她與他分手了... 他對她感到失望，他無法忍受她如何在和他分手后的短時間内就對另一個他展開求愛... 可是在他心裏，更是對自己失望... 對自己的沖動，與自己無法讓她忘了另一個他的無能，感到徹底的悲哀。他覺得世界是黑暗的... 而他就是被送來這裡接受懲罰的。

她雖然離開了他去尋找自己的真愛... 但是，心裏最渴望的往往也是最難得到的... 那另一個他已經有了自己的愛，已經要開始他自己的家，對她的求愛是無法回應的。這讓她徹底的絕望，徹底的傷心... 她的眼淚不停地流，她的心不停地痛。她覺得世界是黑暗的... 而她就是被送來這裡接受懲罰的。

...他與她已經無法回到那快樂，那幸福的日子了... 他與她並沒有犯錯，只是愛錯... 但願他與她有一天，能各自找到另一段不是錯誤的幸福。

graduate le???

2005-12-22T10:25:00.000+08:00

My last exam results as a undergrad finally out 2day... usually login to the exam results then immediately u see ur results... this time i get a "congrats on your graduation!" haha... wow. wat a relief! If recall a few months back on my statistics test where i got 2nd last in the entire cohort with a miserable 5/20, in the end i got a B-!! yay! damn i look up into heaven and say "thanks man" and can almost hear Him say "u're welcome"... haha... this is like winning the 紅星大獎...

"I wanna thank the ppl whom without their support, help and love, this wun be possible... willie and jaymz, who accompany me in the freezing tut room for the study week... derek, thanks for accomodating my non-stop disturbances to you with stat questions... 3214 gang: shinchi, dingyang and geokhua... we did it! babynut... thanks for ur support these months, patiently entertaining my whines and complains... lending me your notes and believing in me! yay! you are so accurate! i got B! and to all my blog readers... this one is for you!!"

Feel a little er xin hahaha. anyway, with study out of my head, now its time to ponder on my remaining years of my life???

Slacking at home...

2005-12-13T17:57:00.000+08:00

Since came back from Taipei, really cannot tune easily back to a "huh. wat am i gonna do today?" attitude... Since it's supposed to be a holiday for a student who has juz finished exams... haha. but since i've been playing a lot since the last paper, really lost on wat to do today (tue) again, haha...

Saturday passed the doraemon fuzzy slippers from taipei to babynut, haha seems like quite delighted to get them hor! me still determined to get a photo of them worn on :P ... oso the bear bear with the basket to MZ, luckily she liked bears, of the teddy sort :) thanks for the treat btw haha.

Monday went ktv with shinchi. juz 2 of us, haha, cos no one else to contact that day, or simply forgotten... its hard to go ktv since not all my frens like to sing... but hey, as shinchi says "ktv is for ppl who sing like crap... good ones go to absolutely superstar :P" haha... that day sing till no gas. hey, shinchi sounds a lot like guang liang! esp the tong hua song... lol. shld go and enter superstar then can be the next weilian?? kns :P Hope next time can go again with more ppl, haha if dun mind my sha ji voice...

Hope i get to do more stuff in the next 3 weeks! esp christmas weekend, aiyo last time before student life ends? haha...

Back from Taipei! So hot back in SG...

2005-12-09T00:40:00.000+08:00

Finally ended my taipei 8day trip!! hope ppl din miss me much... "I wanna go back to TAPEI!" was the general feeling everyone had after the trip hahaha... the streets were 12°C, felt like aircon... the stuff were cheap ($5 t-shirts, $14 jeans), the gals are hot and trendy :P and everything's cool! well not all went well during the trip, but not to spoil the mood it was an enjoyable journey overall :)

If you are ever going to taipei, remember: english is non-existent!! go to starbucks or any equivalent and say "i wan a lasagne" and the counter gal will stare at you "huh???" haha.... they have a chinese translation for EVERYTHING, and that is the one they use. oso, their traffic is opposite of singapore, so dun go on the wrong lane :P

Their MRT escalators are special: if you are not rushing, stand on the rite side marked with footprints; dun stand on the left and block the ppl rushing! Their salespersons, food stall personnel and cute lift operator gals :P are extremely frenly, which really gave us a pleasant experience there... btw, if eating in taiwan, oways go for the small shophouse-like restaurants and small stalls over the big and classly restuarants!! service and food and PRICE are all better on the small ones!!

Well, back to 28°C Singapore... i might be creating an online gallery for my trip soon, if i have the mood to... so stayed tuned!!

Changes~

2005-11-28T18:00:00.000+08:00

I guessed i've changed in my time in U. hmm. used to be this guy who liked to coop himself in the room, watching tv, playing computer games, roll around in bed, reading comic books, blah. hmm. didn't like to go out, cos it was tiring, sweaty, blah. haha. wat was i doing hor?

The past few days since wednesday like i lived more than the whole semester put together like dat. did a lot of things. swimming, trekking, hang out with frens, buddies, shopping, watching concert and movie... that today morning woke up with nothing to do, i was a bit lost. even though i still got a paper tomorrow but that was not on my "to-do" list haha... Had this urge to find someone to go out wif me, but haha that will be crazy. nevermind.. wait till i come back from taiwan then see :P

Ytd went to sitex after shopping at imm, realize i wasn't so keen on the computer gadgets that will "wow" me around 3-4 mths ago... is it becos i've become sick of it after my project, or just that i have changed? hmm. not sure... i guess i might do more crazy stuff this year, but i've have to wait and see!! haha~

Relaz afta Exams? yea~

2005-11-24T20:22:00.000+08:00

Yea~ stats is over!!! after my kamikaze study spree that scared the hell out of many of my frens... haha... in the end, it was quite an okay paper!! there were a few tough questions for sure... derek left an entire question blank!! but i think i got >30... so should pass! yippee~ its time to party, concert, taiwan, movies and fireflies le!! haha ya and dat treat too ;p

2day went to many places by myself! siao liao someone told me~ but i havent done this for a long time lor, given the bz crap this year i had... morning went swimming pool... still cannot swim la... so sad. but trying out freestyle, seem to have some feel to it. ok. next time try. then went to collect my poor laptop that i sent for repair, after its pathetic state from the project. wow! they changed the entire lcd screen for me for free! cool. like a new laptop! wow. on it to see it in action~ BLACK... dim... kns!! the hp guy say those stupid service centre ppl must hav connected inproperly... so back to therapy it goes... poor laptop... hope to see u soon...

after that got go a few places to "reckee"... haha. cannot say where i go, else some ppl will think i siao~ cos i dun wan to screw up during the actual day! then these few days will be super happy and bz up to my taiwan trip!! dun miss me too much!! haha~

oh. i still have an exam paper on tue. crap.

Exams~

2005-11-20T10:16:00.000+08:00

Not much blog recently, cos i have been having fun, going to karaoke, watching movie after my project... enjoying myself, taking life ez....

Ya rite! still got a little thing called exams... I have been coopnig myself in the little tutorial room in S15 for the past week everyday, juz studying!! worse still, the only paper i was studying for is my statistics paper... so much that james ask me: "why u so pia for your stats? wanna pass only rite?".... haha.... for me, after my mid term buang, got to work doubly hard for this exam! I dun wan to come bac next semester juz for one module.... oso, got make a promise to make this holiday a "brighter" one by passing my stats, haha, so ppl help me jiayou too!

Oh no here i go on and on about it again. I guess i din realize how much i complain about this stats thing for the past week... that i have been driving some ppl crazy!! I'm so sorry about that!! neva intend to kajiao you like dat... oops. that's why now writing blog. watching tv. taking it easy. for sunday la at least :P haha. then it will be this wednesday!

It's OVER!! oh, still got exams ah...

2005-11-11T09:47:00.000+08:00

Finally, my study semester has ended!! End of my bloody cs3214, no more java programming, ever!! (hope so....) So much shit happened since the last post... big fat entry today to make up for lost time? haha

Look ma, no hinges...

My laptop broke both its hinges!!! crap... happened juz 3 days before my project deadline, and it told me "i cannot le. you carry on hor".... KNS!!! haha. maybe i have been too hard on it?? faithful it was over the past 2.5yrs... it must be java's fault!! sorry my poor laptop... after exams i will bring you to the service center.... oh wait. still got exams hor!! crap!!

All bandaged up...

Past week, really happened a lot of thing... see my group members, getting tired and sian of the work, do and do, modify already, when run the program still use the old code?? where does it keep them? siao... but we are lucky le, see other groups, quarrel until cry... deadline le still cannot work... feel so bad just sitting beside them and not able to help much... What we heard is true. this cs3214 really turn fren into foe...

Comes complete with crutches...

Every day past week, only can go home 11+ like dat... sian. Lucky got a guardian angel help me to "brink" a bus every time!! haha :P really very power the spell... had to skip all my other classes just to get the project done... my business jap tutor even told me to write absence report and hand in last monday, but guess wat, i skipped that lesson too! but during the last lecture, my sensei gave closing speech for the module... give until cry! wa... i feel so touched too. in fact many of us have been taught by her since year 1 for the past 2 years, so she say it like "see u all from saying a,i,u,e,o to now can give biz presentation in japanese..." i guess it must be like seeing her children grow up hor! arigatougozaimasu!!

Then from now on its taiwan here i come!! no wait. still got something called exams. crap.

1 more week and we'll be thru!

2005-11-03T10:39:00.000+08:00

Ya! one more week and all of NUS will be behind me! (given i pass my stats)... It's been a long time (2.5yrs) and I've come to know some good frens and learnt some computing and japanese along the way... haha. thou most of them still have 1 more sem left, but jiayou!! (given i pass my stats, again :( ...)

There are a few things, however, that i regret neva getting to see/do/experience/understand from my stint at NUS... haha (no i will not stay back 1 more sem to do these)... wonder if you have any of your own?

taking japanese 6 (lots of japanese newspaper reading and report writing)
going for overseas exchange programme (that will offset my graduation by 1 year, no thanks)
going for japan homestay programme (too ex, and always clash with my own schedule)
finding a ger fren!!! (ya rite. i too shy la... i oso not darakusan ;) haha)
figure out how victoria-san get her amazing figure (u hav to see it to believe it. no i am not a pervert)
figure out why my laptop hinge broke... X-(
seeing darakusan's legs :P (no i not pervert. juz try to recall one time u saw. huh? huh?? got?)
seeing the italian stall go bust (another wonder of SOC)
whether calculator uncle and the dean are actually brothers

If you have any more things to add, you can comment! haha. good luck for upcoming exams !! :PP

Songz~

2005-11-01T15:31:00.000+08:00

Too much rumbling on my project and woes recently, so a change in topic :P

Always hear those lyrics in the songs, those catch phrase in those love movies. Then will have those feeling to write your own song, your own tune... ever have this kinda feeling? Last time learn a little guitar, then will wanna try out a few hums and phrases. Remember i watched City of Angels and the touching scene where Nicholas Cage lost his love... came up with something like this for a hum in Chinese...

寧願只能這一瞬間在一起，也不願一生從來沒有過你

then i couldn't carry on le... hmm. if u got something nice to carry on from here, please comment! hahahha

Workaholic Crisis!?

2005-10-30T18:49:00.000+08:00

For the past week, i've been working on my projects, reports, etc, etc like a overworked, under-fed dog... So much that on Saturday, when i woke up in the morning 9am (yes on a sat when i dun have to go skoo), I din know what to do! I lie on my bed, lost... I dun want to do my project (not on weekends too!?!), lost touch with TV drama (missed too many episodes to know wat is happening), and no PS2 to play (with darren). For a while, I was scared... really scared... am i like some workaholic that once I have nothing to rush (for a sat, at least), I feel uneasy??

Then i tried to msg BabyNut, no reply... Then i realize sat is 29th! for the entire week i kept thinking that sun was 29th... felt so lost and stupid.... sorry babynut!! ~> _ <~... Then i msg jimmy "got time to get out?", but he was working at fish market... haiz :'(

So wat did i do in the end? my project!! damn... i wish this (the crisis) will end soon! somebody rescue me ~~~

Please feed the animals

2005-10-28T18:16:00.000+08:00

My project mates and I in NUS are like a bunch of animals on display in our faculty when we are doing our projects. We go and take the tables and chairs from the classroom and put together for our own use in the corridor outside those classrooms having class. Then we tok loudly, play mp3 and dun care how others think about us. haha :P

The corridor that we "hold" our "project meetings" er, usually is used for some tea reception for some conferences that the faculty organizes... means when those guests finish the tok and come out for tea, we are like some spectacle that they stare at. haha. The auntie oso always scold us for koping the chairs from the classroom for our own use :P

But ytd and today, a bit weird thing happened. last nite the late class "next door" ordered pizza and when they finish, offered to give their leftovers to us. we were like, "er, no need la", but accepted it anyway haha. Then we open the box, and there was almost an entire large pizza inside! haha. Being greedy ppl, we of cse ate them all. Then today, there was some conference again, and this time, the auntie that scolded us all the time actually told us to "go and eat the mee goreng! veri nice! else they throw already!" :P

I guess they must gotten used to the animals on display outside. Please feed!

New blog! sorta

2005-10-23T13:03:00.000+08:00

I've created a new blog to post my frustrations on my projects and programming stuff! so if you are some g *ahem* eek that prefers to see code than conversation, go to http://pchia.blogspot.com ok!!!

Low~...

2005-10-22T19:35:00.000+08:00

Hmm. my stats test results come bac le. i got 10. i expect i'll get 6, so thats a bonus. but the test upon 40, means that i buanged to hell. out of 200+, i am 2nd lowest! Unless a miracle happens and/or the like, i might be retained for a sem juz for stupid stats module... hahaha.....

I haven watch TV for some time. that includes those anime downloaded which i usually pia, sitcoms and drama on star world, my "hugh-white-tower" vcd which i bought recently, etc. Guess i'll pia them all on sat evening!!! (ya rite)

PS: I created a shoutbox myself (yes, that stupid little box on the right, ya ya, always cannot work one that one) becos i cannot stand it keep giving me the "cookies deactivated?" message le!! and my poor frens who have been trying to help me shout... so sorry! now u can shout as much as you one... no advanced features like blink and scroll text like myshoutbox.com's one yet, but at least it lets you SHOUT!!! MEOW~~~!

High~?

2005-10-19T23:30:00.000+08:00

My jap sensei said ytd "今日のパトリックさんは、なんかハイ！", means that she thinks I sorta high~ haha. Guardian angel oso say why I like so happy like dat... haha.... why? i oso dunno. Hmm. maybe becos its from staying in skoo for the weekend, eating tons of Calbee HOT N SPICY poto chips and drinking motherloads of kopi.... hahaha i still high. and its contagious! cos i made someone felt high too? hahaha

2day bought the 白色巨塔 (white color huge tower :P) vcd. My Biz jap sensei showed it to us during one of the lessons and the gers in my class convinced me it was some hit show in Japan. now that i come across it, hmm... give it a shot! thou part of me thinks its a hit cos of the lead actors in the show...

My project days still got a few weeks ahead. 2day helped my fren do .net project... wa so nostaglic!!! how i missed the days where wat i type is wat i see and get from .net... instead of stupid java program that give me error that only fat geeks understand... haiz. only few more weeks to endure!!! Help me jiayou!!!

I whine too much...

2005-10-17T23:53:00.000+08:00

I think i have been whining too much recently le. Too much work, no weekends, too little time, and all this while i have been complaining complaining to those around me... if you have felt my complaints, SORRY!!

I think my perspective of my own pressures have made me oblivious to the people around me who have been feeling down too... Like my project mates who have been working nite and day as well on the project, like my frens who are working and feeling pressures of work and those of relationships... I could only see my own problems, and i think that's a selfish thing...

So my tot for the week and beyond: stop whinin and care more about those around me!!

"I'm practicing my oral"

2005-10-14T22:51:00.000+08:00

Time really flies... it seem like only yesterday I was working my ass off in office. It seem like yesterday I was a trainee kanna takan by my instructor (cos today i was toking about my army dayz with my project mates)... In less than 2 months, I will no longer be a student of any sort!! Here i am still blur like sotong... with all the project deadlines and exams coming up, all i can tink of is my vacation this dec...

Today an extremely funny thing happened... at least to me :P I was practicing my Japanese with my frens at arts faculty, cos we have a conversational exam on mon... Then the ger beside me (They call her Miss Bean :P) received a call from her fren, which she replied:

"I still in skoo. I'm practicing my oral..."

When it came out from her mouth, all the guys around started to laugh. Then she asked wat was so funny, which we din really wan to explain to her, right! Maybe it's juz becos guys are generally more.. er, "sensitive" to these things, haha... she wun be reading this, so no problem :P

My sat and sun this week is gonna be burnt le... cos we have a group report cum programming project milestone to meet. Oh wizards and guardian angel, cast a spell of HAPPINESS on me to survive thru this!!

I buang my stats!

2005-10-13T13:08:00.000+08:00

I hate maths. I hate stats. I think i buang ler. mua wa ha hahah....

My frens think it's quite ez, but i tot it was tough... my maths have always been poor since i left sec skoo. So i hate it. i hate anything to do with calculating any numbers other than my dollar notes.

Meow~~~:'(

私たちは魔法使い。

2005-10-12T20:01:00.000+08:00

There's this magical world, where everyone is a wizard and everyone has the ability to cast magical spells. There are spells that damage others, spells that heal others, and spells that make you stronger or weaker. Some wizards are better at certain spells than others, and some people are more easily affected by certain spells than others.

Whenever i feel down, weak, sad... I have a guardian angel that casts weird spells on me :p... however the weird spells are really effective most of the time! cos i feel betta after i receive the spells. thanks... I try to do the same when the angel feels weak, but I'm not sure if my spells are as effective, haha.

But sometimes, we cast spells without even knowing it, or cast a spell that we think should work this way, but in the end worked in another way. Once, I tried my best to cast many spells to make someone feel happy. Though the spell was supposed to make people happy, but the person who received it felt troubled and uneasy. I must have been a lousy wizard, becos when another wizard casted the same spell on the same person, it worked. I think i still dun know how to use this spell well...

The magic is all around us. The spells are the words we say to one another.

May she be happy, stronger (again)

2005-10-12T19:42:00.000+08:00

Someone wans to kick my ass. before it really happens, well, i guess i translate wat i posted last time round... there's always http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr, for the clueless to translate stuff!

Recently i heard from my frens that the ger i liked last time (in sec skoo) had divorced. She was the first ger that I really fancied, but she din like me and so and so and time passed by, and we went to different polys and so and so, and we din keep in touch and so and so, so i learnt to forget about her. Roughly 3-4 years ago, I heard that she got married. Hmm. i guess for gers that isn't uncommon, to get married early 20s.. That time i tot "hmm, that's good... hope she will be happy...", but in less than 5 years, she's already divorced. haiz.

I wonder how she is rite now? Was divorce a tough ordeal for her? Wat was the reason they parted?

Well, since i was neva a significant part of her life (or anything else for that matter, haha), guess i shldn't be bothered too much by it... tho it saddens me that many relationships are failing here and there... maybe juz as guardian angel says, frens are betta cos they demand less and give more from the heart? haha...

May she be happy, stronger

2005-10-09T22:51:00.000+08:00

友達によると、昔の時俺が好きだった彼女はもう離婚したそう。その子は俺の初めて本気で好きな女の子だった。でもあの時、俺たちは恋人にならなくて、そして時間が過ぎて、俺は彼女のことをだんだん忘れちゃった。３，４年前、彼女が結婚したことを友達に聞いた。「そうか、いいじゃない。どうか幸せになるように、ねえ。」、俺はそう思った。ただの４年間ぐらい、今はもう離婚しちゃった。

あの子、今どうかな。子供がないそうだけど、離婚はあの子にとって、辛かったの？離婚の理由、一体何だったの？

Well, so much happened without me knowing... hope that she stays happy, no matter wat happens... and wat that has happened will make her stronger.

Colorgenics Mood analysis

2005-10-09T13:21:00.000+08:00

Gotten this test from babynut, hmm. quite accurate ler!! scary ~

My results:

You are a very emotional and sensitive individual. Your life and love of life is dominated by your emotions - you have great feeling towards your fellow man and you are always full of enthusiasm but be careful, you tend to let your heart rule your head and this being so, you could be easily hurt - as perhaps you may have indeed been hurt in the past.
You are very self-sufficient and methodical. You presume to know where you are going but need to find a person who will recognize the way you are, not be too demanding and who is, as they say in Italy, 'Simpatico'.
Matters are not progressing as well as you would have hoped and you are having to make concessions - but you still believe that your goals are realistic it's just that people can't seem to see your point of view. You know what you want but you'll only accept suggestions under duress.
You are frustrated and stressed. You appreciate the finer things in life but at all times you appear to stay aloof, critical of everything and everyone about you. You will not be carried away by your emotions and you refuse to trust anyone or any situation unless genuineness and integrity can be absolutely vouched for. Therefore, you keep a strict and watchful control on your feelings as you must know exactly where you stand at all times. You demand complete sincerity as a protection against your own tendency to be too trusting.
You wish to safeguard yourself against criticism or conflict and to embed yourself in a protected situation. You are a difficult person to relate to and very difficult to please.

Wa, the last statement i think i abit out la!! I am very easy to please one rite?? frens?? anyone?? :'-(

You can try yourself at http://www.colorgenics.com. If the results not as you expected, dun be too sad hor... :P

Side dish

2005-10-09T13:01:00.000+08:00

I realize I oways order side dish whenever i go to restaurant to eat. For example, whenever i go Fish N Co, i CONFIRM will order the fried calamari one. When i go to 別府, i CONFIRM will order the Fried Tofu one. When i go to Swensen's, i CONFIRM will order the sauteed Mushroom one... hmm, wonder if this has any meaning on my character?

Do you have this kind of tendency when u go to restaurant to eat?

Scale of happiness?

2005-10-06T23:10:00.000+08:00

I guess sometimes we dun notice how a little action or something trival (to me at least) can act on another in a dramatic way... I oways tot i pay attention to how others feel before i make a move, but obviously i am overly confident... haiz..

As i was happily chatting and entertaining one, another(s) was/were feeling left out that outing on Monday. I guess i was "hogging" onto one and prevented others from speaking to her... which i din even notice on that day itself. hmm... now looking back, i was really paying attention to one and neglecting others around. haiz.... I'm sorry!! for those who felt neglected.... it wasn't my intention... guess it was my own assumptions that made you felt left out... paiseh!! i will never 把自己的快樂建在別人的痛苦上 one.

From now, i will be careful not to tip over the scale of happiness.... cos everyone is on this scale, and too much on one side may juz tip over the other...

Stomach bursted...

2005-10-04T22:05:00.000+08:00

Wa, Monday my stomach really bursted... not from overeating, not from doing situp, but laugh till burst haha...

Mon was Ben's birthday celebration (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! tho today then is real birthday...), but he kanna caught up in work, so we wait lor... then in the mean time, my "entertainment" keep making me laugh from our conversation lor (wa now think oso laughing), cos she trying to remember the jap phrases i say, then oways say something funny (mimi iro :P)...

then when ben finally come, we went to the japanese restaurant inside the citylink thingie (cant remember the name)... lucky not many ppl inside ah, cos me and her were laughing away like some nuts that escaped from woodbridge, laugh till tears really roll... Wa though we were laughing away, i think in actual fact we were the laughing stock~~

Oh, single guys out there ah, DUN ever go join those SDU match making session ok!!! heard it is a place full of chikopek uncles in some kind of "see who get the most contact nums!" contest one!!! unless u are some rich and handsome prince, dun try it ok :P

October is here!!

2005-10-01T14:13:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! I've waited long for October to come!! its finally here.... may october be octrageously happy (ya rite, with 2 term tests, project due dates and presentations) !

September in the end wasn't as bad la, thanks to the entertainment(?) that i received from someone these few days haha! Oops, if you have been "entertaining" me, then paiseh paiseh.. remember i was "entertaining" you as well hor ;)

My frens and i are planning on taiwan this dec... but due to some bad crap that happened to ben (yes in september :( ...) in his work, he might not be joining! damn. Well there's still time, and things might turn out better than it started... jiayou, ben!

so let's keep our fingers, toes, wateva crossed, and hope and pray and wateva that october will be happy for all! yaaa!

Thanks ppl!

2005-09-28T01:42:00.000+08:00

Thanks ppl those who supported me in the face of september, including someone i can't guess who he/she is and mistaken for someone and someone and someone else haha :) I think i'm all right now!

so juz wanna tank you all. haha. so paiseh. may october be 10x betta then sept!

俺は、一人じゃない。

Very very tired...

2005-09-26T19:29:00.000+08:00

i think september has won.

crappy month. i tried to glue back my laptop hinge, no use. :'-(

go out with jimmy they all, haha couldn't really pay attention, sorry for droopy eyes the entire time... very sleepy la. paiseh...

2day 4pm got jap test. din really study. before that got biz jap, kanna marked by sensei liao for not preparing. haha. my biz jap classmate, julius, ask me whether wanna go a sorta recruitment talk by Koei, a games company from japan. hmm. maybe this can be good opportunity? thanks julius! despite not knowing you very long. haha.

haiz. really hope september can end soon. then there's still Sept 29th. Yes i still remember, no matter 2 years or 20 years, or 200 years... I really missed you...

あの所にも　幸せになりますように...

September hasn't has enuff of me

2005-09-24T14:23:00.000+08:00

Juz when u tot things aint gonna go any worse than wat has already happend, they do! my laptop's hinge broke! this means my lcd screen is sitting fragilely on 1 hinge on one side... i guess that means repair, at a time where i need my laptop 24/7 for school project, $$$ for my overdue bill, skoo fees.... then my GP rechargeable batteries gone dead as well; no matter how long how much i charge my digicam still says "replace batteries :)"...and a walk thru the ENTIRE bukit panjang plaza and NOT a single shop sells rechargeable batteries. hmph! wait. or isit my camera that is spoilt????

Is there any twist in this ever-lasting struggle between me and september?? will I triumph over the many disasters that september has thrown at me and be victorious? stay tuned and find out in the concluding "episode" of me and september!!!! Oh september i hate u !!! > _ <

kakk kuey = luffa = 水瓜

2005-09-22T04:02:00.000+08:00

My ah-ma used to make this dish for me when i was like dunno 3-4yrs old?? hmm. I can never remember wat the veg inside was, except that i know it's very soft, has edible seeds and tastes sweet...

Asked my mom if she remembered wat it was that ah-ma cooked, she said: "ohh, it's kakk kuey la!" But somehow i remembered it as "kang kuey". As i tried to explain this veg to my frens, it seemed that none of them knows exactly wat it is... "cooked with egg and prawn one, soft soft one, got seed one", but most of the thinks its "kou kuey" (bitter gourd)

Recently Jimmy got fed up with the suspense (haha) and so we got to the supermarket to check it out (we must be siao liao ^_^;). i think after seeing the shape of the veg no one believed that the veg is soft, haha. luckily i saw it when my mom brought it home one day, else till today i'll still be perplexed by the shape o_O. Its called luffa! what veg on earth gets to have a girly name like dat?? maybe its like some ger; hard and bashful on the outside, soft and gentle on the inside? (oh my god i sound like some hentai :P)

Then from the internet, i finally found out that its chinese name is called 水瓜. no. not jui kuei. haha. So if you are reading this crap, maybe u oso finally know what the hell that soft, sweet veggie "always cooked with prawn and egg one" is.

Oh september. havent u have enuff.

2005-09-18T23:38:00.000+08:00

I have a lot on my mind recently. when i have a lot on my mind, they become japanese. sorrie ppl.

やっはり九月のこと大嫌い。まったく。毎日犬のような忙しいし、金も足りなくなったんだ。最近、母の商売のために、半分の貯金があげた。でも、自分の学費もすぐ払わなきゃならないことが忘れちゃって、まったく...　結局、いくらいやでも借りなきゃならなくなった。畜生。

もしこの九月はなにが良い事があれば、その子のことしかいなかっただろう。実は、最近その子とよくメーセージしちゃって、俺は...嬉しいかも？女の子といろなことを喋るのは一体何年ぶりかな...

いつのまに、その子は俺にとって特別な存在になったか？その子は、いつもいつも自分のことより、他の人のことを心配したんだ。まったく。いつも俺に「いつか、いい女の子に紹介しょう！」って...なんで自分の幸せのこと考えたくないんだろう？俺の言えない気持ち、君はもう気がついたのか...

いつか君も運命の人と会って、幸せになりますように...

男人不坏，女人不愛

2005-09-18T00:23:00.000+08:00

This topic recently came up amongst my frens... 男人不坏，女人不愛. i think its quite true, given the no. of cases i've heard/encountered...

I once had a fren (J) who was going after this ger (Y), who was very sweet (the ger), frenly and chatty. problem is, this ger already had a boyfren, but this boyfren (Elvis, dun ask why) isn't treating this ger well. As things ain't going well between Y and Elvis, Y soon falls for J... but Y couldn't bear to leave Elvis, and didn't want to hurt J. so it dragged on.... till the point where Elvis finally "awoken" and realized J's presence and wat he was going to lose, so asked for Y's forgiveness blah blah. Y, even after being treated badly by Elvis, even after being treated well by J, still decided in the very end to accept Elvis and declined J..... well, since then, it seemed that Elvis and Y had gotten married or something, and J.... oh well.

There's oso another fren of mine. this one, whenever in a relationship, is always treated like trash by those bastards. problem is, she somehow still feels for these idiots. She's a very nice and likeable ger, so there have been many guys, some of which i think will treat her well, that have asked to go steady with her... but i dunno if its phobia or wat, she hasn't accepted their feelings... i really hope she can forget those bastards, and let some good guy cherish her instead.

so is it really that 男人不坏，女人不愛? I really feel sad for my "good" guy frens who always get involved in kind of relationships, and feel sad as well for my gal frens who have been badly treated by those bastards, yet cannot forget them? i think i must be a little bothered by this, thus so much blog today... sorrie!

Crazy fish

2005-09-15T20:03:00.000+08:00

I got a luo-han at home. actually it's more than juz a luo-han. this luo-han is a bit funny. first of all, it twists the air tube around. I've always adjusted the air tube such that it contours around the tank, but whenever i got home, the tube will be all over the place. hmm. thats no big deal rite. Except that not only does the luo-han twist the tube around, it creates patterns with the tube. Once, it tied a knot with the tube. *Not* kidding. it has no hands, so how the hell does it do so?

And it has a mood. Whenever the water hasn't been changed for some time, it becomes latargic. it drops to the corner of the tank, and it flips over like a dead fish. it lies down on its side, not moving for up to 10hrs. At first we tot it died, but when we tried to scoop it with a net, it swam away to another corner, lying down on its side again. recently it prefers to stick itself *vertically* between the tank wall and the filter.

Then, recently, i've also noticed my goldfish trying to stick itself between the filter and the tank wall too. hmm. the goldfish and luo-han tanks are far away from one another, so are they communicating by radio waves?? Crazy fish... Wait... or is it me that's hallucinating?

$$ is an evil thing

2005-09-13T21:22:00.000+08:00

$$ is a really evil thing... i remember last time i lent some $1k to my fren, and afta 2 months i asked: "when can you return me?", i only got "i got no $$ now la, i try to return you next month" and another 2 months passed, then he returned me $500... and then i tried another 2 months later, and another month passed b4 i got another $250. and then i dunno how long later i got back $200... that makes $50 left. since around 2years ago.

so recently i got to meet up with my fren again, who helped me to buy an mp3 player from the comex it show thingie. i guessed he still remembered that theres $50 left over from the last time, so he said i pay him $200 for the mp3 player can oready ($279 is the actual price).

within a few days, he asked me "when can you return me the $200". so i said "bz recently so i forgot"... then within a week i got a frenly reminder again... which i immediately transferred the $$ over, in case more reminders no so frenly come along...

i guess when it comes to $$, ppl can only see their side of the story huh... so even Jimmy said i can "borrow from us 1st la if you 'liong'...", i still wun wan to do so, cos $$ can turn the best of frens into enemies with grudges, no matter no close you were...

A bit off my shoulders

2005-09-11T18:38:00.000+08:00

Woohoo, i've done the work for both the wedding flash presentation as well as the ancient project for the unpaying client. So no more worries from the outside world for now. haha.

Watched HERBIE: Fully loaded with Jimmy n Crystal ytd. Dun watch it if you are not a Herbie or Lindsay Lohan fan, dun know anything about the 70's Herbie shows, dun like volkswagen beetles, dun like simple unwacky humour which tickles children (mostly) and dun like simple happy endings. I happen to like all the above, so i enjoyed the show, but Jimmy tot it was haha crappy. Crystal liked it as well, so something must be wrong with Jimmy haha... Guess in times of stress, i prefer to watch something simple and dun require me to work out details.

Before the show we were buying mooncakes at the foyer, and the cashier did look a little familiar... haha it was wilson's gerfren meixuan! And wilson even called me to say why i din say anything to her. paiseh meixuan, din see ya for a long long time liao, so kun recognize you... u must have gotten prettier rite ;)

so now i feel a little better. with only skoo projects. speaking of projects. My statistics module oso have a project, in which Derek and Willie and me have been made to form a team with 2 other gers. One of them was alright and quite cooperative, but damn the other one la!!! She has some kind of attitude problem, and she kept showing a black face to us! Hey, we may not be some boyband characters, but did we do something to piss you off??? Came late for the meeting, and refused to meet at our faculty's block. wat is up with this princess?

okok. i'm not gonna let one crazy ger ruin my mood. I hope that it's juz that "ger's time of the month" and we can get to work better...

Hell 'o' September

2005-09-10T23:26:00.000+08:00

i used to like september back in my sec skoo days, cos the ger i like birthday in that mon. well since i kanna rejected and a sequence of other unhappy events in the septembers there after, i dun like it anymore :(

1st my skoo life... sux. i'm taking 2x japanese language modules and thats 14 hrs/week. tough when you accompany that will my final year project, and a statistics module. speaking of project. i'm really impressed with java's j2ee and its java server faces combo. I've always been a .net fan, but after working with netbeans ide to develop ejb, together with the studio creator ide for jsf, i was blown away. just ask shunjie and my team members, or any other project team and they will all agree on this: "write once, crash everywhere".

my outside life... sux. i had to do a flash presentation for my fren's sis's wedding and i running out of time to complete it, with all the skoo work and all. i really wan to give up, but since i promised to deliver, at least i wanna get it done, even if it ain't top notch work. but i simply dun have time to make changes, add animations and fancy stuff. then i oso have to do an update for another fren on a ancient project, whose client is still ripping us off with more work and no $$. haiz. i guess wat my fren jimmy said is true: i gotta learn how to say no to requests, and prioritize my.. er.. priorities.

i've finally gotten my passport done after 10yrs of expiry, haha. maybe its time for me to run off to some faraway island to hide a while...

it's been a long time.

2005-08-28T22:18:00.000+08:00

Oh, its been long since i last blogged! bizi, bizi, bizi all these time... from work projects to skoo projects now, crappy days ahead.

oh. I've finally gotten my MCAD! hahaha. still nowhere near the prowess of MCSD like shunjie. haiz. the skoo sem's oso well under way. our j2ee project so rush, i feel like a slacker amongst the group. haiz. taking 2x japanese mods, maybe it's a bit too tough?? もっと頑張らなきゃ...

oh. happy birthday to myself last fri! haiz. wat a crappy day it was. 26 oreadi, still no accomplishments to be proud of!!

gotta get bac to proj work, else my peer appraisal sure gonna go down the drain...

Fallen in Love...

2005-07-09T23:33:00.000+08:00

Oh I've fallen in love....

Ok, not literally. I've been hearing clips of Corrinne May's songs on 933 recently and was simply enchanted. For the first time in a long long time I start to walk into CD shops and search for Corrinne's CDs. For a CD thats currently promoted by a radio station, it was really hard to find.

I finally found her "Fly away" album in HMV on Fri. after getting home and playing thru the tracks do I realize that her "journey" track was what I was looking for a few years ago, after seeing an MTV but not knowing who the singer was then! "Fly Away" was excellent. It's been a long time since a song moved me to tears the way it did (No, i'm not some crybaby or soap-opera fanatic).

I've juz gotten her most recent album "Safe in a crazy world", knowing it will be as good as "Fly away or better. If you are looking to fall in love (not trying to be mushy here), let Corrinne help you do so.

Hella of a week...

2005-07-09T23:10:00.000+08:00

Ok this week really sux. Reason I haven't written recently.

First of all, my monitor's pissing me off. everytime i switch it off and on, the display goes back to its "factory" setting, and that's a small vertical rect in the middle of my screen. Time to get LCD. damn.

Next, my design for a new website got rejected. damn. I must really have lost some touch for a client who was "impressed" with my past half-hearted designs to say no. damn.

I had to push my next MCAD exam back to 18th July, cos the CITREP application form needs to be submitted 5 days before the first test. damn.

The biggest wammy came when Derek told me that next semester's modules we have to take have clashing lectures! FYI, the next semester is my last sem as a student and I only have 2 major modules left to clear (CS3214 and ST1232) before graduation. And yippee, they clash!! An email to the course coordinator only told us to take a higher level ST module that doesn't clash. My schoolmates will know HOW MUCH I sux at Math, or any other calculation crap (No, programming and math are not brothers). Telling me to take a "HIGHER" math module is as good as telling me to throw in the towel. Damn.

Thankfully, our CS3214 lecturer was very helpful and somehow convinced the dean and co. to let us take the clashing modules. Heh, Mich says that this might be a conspiracy to kill us off, letting us take the lower ST module and failing us anyway. haha. Hope that will be my last brush with crap for a long time.

Fun with Enterprise Library for .net

2005-07-03T05:36:00.000+08:00

I've tried enterprise library's data access application block (DAAB) for .net for my project recently and was quite impressed by the encapsulation it provides. Basically the factory classes generates the appropriate commands and connections for any supported ODP (MsSql and Oracle are provided by default) and you just call the same factory methods everytime. If you decide to switch database for your project, all you have to do is change the config file.

One thing lacking in the DAAB is the number of supported databases providers that comes by default with the enterprise library (MsSql and Oracle). As many small projects will go for Access or MySql, support for other databases will be useful. Luckily, it isn't difficult to extend the DAAB to support them as Nantz.org has done. I've tried using OleDb with the extended DAAB and it works fine. So if you are looking for data access encapsulation and reusability, give enterprise library a go.

Why me, Mr Gates?

2005-06-29T21:48:00.000+08:00

Ok, i juz found out that among my frens who signed up for Mr Bill Gates Live in Singapore on 1 Jul, everyone got their confirmations..... except me!!! Why me, Mr Gates? issit becos the "Ask Mr Gates a question" part, i asked you whether java will be the biggest obstacle to .net's success, and that pissed you off? or issit becos i am already a .net fan, and there's no need to convince me anymore? Boo hoo :'-(

We not ah sum (Part III) : The 4 types of clients

2005-06-29T21:04:00.000+08:00

In my line of work, I classify my clients into 4 main types.

The first type is those that know nothing about IT and leave everything to you. These ppl are easy to work with, becos they let you make the decisions on e.g. what categories to have in a website, what colours to choose, etc. And they are very happy if you produce work of satisfactory quality to them, and they PAY UP FAST.

The second type is those that are IT-savvy, and they know it. But working with these ppl are in fact not as tough as expected. Becos they know what they want, and they give you guidelines and comments along the way. Though it may be a little pressurizing to meet high expectations sometimes, you learn much along the way and as long as you fulfil the requirements, you get along well with them.

The third type is those that know a little IT, but they think they are gurus. These ppl are a pain in the @$$. They throw all the IT mumbo jumbo they think they know during meetings, criticize and compare your work with those commercial products (despite paying at a fraction of the commercial product), and can never see eye-to-eye with you. Whats worse, they will pick on any recommendations or suggestions you make, and come up with some nonsensical idea they think can work. When it doesn't, they proclaim their disappointment in "your inability to perform". BTW, these ppl are usually the ones that you have a hard time chasing when it's time to pay up.

Finally there is my favourite type. Those that simply cannot be bothered. They will first say "Please come up with a prototype", then when you come up with one and send it to them, they will never bother to touch it. few days/weeks later when you meet up, he will only then open up the prototype and comment on this and that. Then you make the changes, and send it to him for approval, and he will never touch it till the next meeting... and the evil cycle continues. Then they will proclaim "why are YOU ALL so slow in getting a simple thing done?", "can't you see that there is a problem here and here?" These ppl are usually those that you will never get to see a pay check from, simply becos the project will never be completed :P

We not ah sum (Part II)

2005-06-27T20:29:00.000+08:00

How many times have you been to a meeting with a client, and the both sides agree on something, and the next time you meet him/her again, he/she says something like "I remember correctly i told you to do (insert crap here)? How come its not done?" But obviously that memory was fabricated for his/her own convenience. What's worse, when you show the client the points from the previous meeting, he/she either denies ever saying that, or will say stuff like "Hmm, it's obvious you misunderstood wat i meant. i want (insert crap here)....." Damn.

I wonder how many of you have situations like that too, and how you handle these ppl? I will be glad to hear suggestions to protect ourselves against these stuff.

The sad reality of our field

2005-06-24T23:11:00.000+08:00

There was a time where IT graduates were in demand. A diploma holder with no work experience can easily find jobs with starting pay of ~ S$1700 - S$1800. You dun have to be an expert in programming or design; juz learn on the job. The employer juz needs some IT savvy young blood to help them jump onto the www wagon. Those were the days...

I saw a post for job openings on the NUS student placement board recently. Look wat the requirements were:

Degree in Computer Engineering or similarKnowledge in Java, J2EE, JSP, Javascripts, XML, BEA Weblogic, SQL Server, IIS, Exchange 5.5, Wireless Communication, Pocket PC development, C++, C#, VC+, VB, .NET or Object Oriented Technologies

oh yeah baby. I think you'll be quite good if you fit some of the criteria. I've flipped the Recruitment pages on the papers recently as well. Out of a gazillion posts, there were only 2 posts under the IT section. 2. 2. yes. 2. there used to be at least ~20-30 openings on any given day. haiz.

Maybe i should find Shunjie and start our Geek Cafe idea and sell coffee instead. Then the only beans i have to know are coffee.

Databases. haiz.

2005-06-23T01:27:00.000+08:00

I was never good with databases. i remember in my poly days i had my classmates mark attendence for me for the database classes, cos it was at 8am and me, always "working" till the twilight hrs on my FFVII, could only arrive when the class had ended. heehee.

Shunjie recently helped me debug a project of mine. And being the qualified developer as he is, less than 5min a bug was found (ok there were tons of bugs that he found, haiz). One annoying problem that i was never aware of was that the inserts to mssql will fail if the input data is longer than the max column size that was set. There were 2 ways to solve this problem apparently: set some ANSI warning in mssql to off (which was said to be bad practice. duh), or restrict the maxlength of your strings in application design. Being the inexperienced developer, i decided to go thru my entire application and set maxlengths on my input controls. haiz. hope ppl will not fall into the same pit as i did.

...so there really are ppl reading my blog, despite being up for only a few days! thanks ppl.

北は南、南は北。

2005-06-22T20:59:00.000+08:00

Saw discovery channel on tue while havin my dinner. OMG, do u know that the earth's magnetic polarity switches every few hundred thousand years??? that means that north becomes south! imagine the hell that will happen! and according to studies, we are currently overdue for a polarity switch!

The documentary also said that during the phase where the north is becoming south (few thousand years), the magnetic shield that protects us from the solar radiation will go haywire, and we'll be exposed to the dangerous rays up to 20 times stronger than wat it is now. that means more ppl (and watever living creature) dying of skin cancer. gosh.

However, on a lighter note, the documentary did end by saying that "at least we get to see auroras in the sky everynite from anywhere in the world when that happens." Yippee.

Hello vs 2005!

2005-06-21T01:12:00.000+08:00

Juz managed to install Vs.Net 2005 beta 2. WOW.

Not only juz it looks cooler, development hasn't been easier. theres tons of new controls, some of which make u go: "how can they do this! stuff i tooks days to design and create, now i juz drag-n-drop from the toolbox???" a good example is the SiteMapPath class. Damn.

Most obvious improvements include the designer and source views, which are now click-linked, so you dun have to scroll up and down whenever you switch views like Vs 2003. i'm oso excited about the web developer ide, which promises to retain the source code (ppl who designs on the old vs know what i mean). Other than the cosmetics, theres more stuff going on in the code, which i will take my time to explore next few days.

Hope that vs2005 can really once and for all be the trouble-free ultimate all-in-one IDE for .net!

Vs.Net too ex? Dun worry, there's SharpDevelop

2005-06-20T02:37:00.000+08:00

When you work at a small company, you may need to rely on free/cheap IDEs to develop your apps. A reason startups avoid working on the .net environment is perhaps the cost of acquiring visual studio, thinking that without vs, there no way to develop "real" apps. Another annoying thing is that Vs.net 2003 likes to modify your html code. arrgh.

Enter SharpDevelop, A free IDE for .net written in, er, .net. SharpDevelop feels a lot like VS.net, and best of all there's intellisense. The current version does not support web forms yet, but Mark DiGiovanni has a good writeup on his blog how you can do it. I've developed a few projects using a dreamweaver + sharpdevelop + DbgClr combo (because my company has bought dreamweaver, you can use your favourite web editor) and its not a bad way to get things done.

So if u are looking to start using .net but do not have the bucks to fork out for Vs.net, why not take SharpDevelop for a spin.

Photoshop Tip: Rounded edges

2005-06-19T01:17:00.000+08:00

I've been using photoshop to design web graphics for some time, and though i dun consider myself an expert in it, i do have a few 招s (tricks) of my own. One of the most common questions when doing layout design is "how do i create those rounded edges like the one on this blog?"

Here are a few steps to make rounded edges from an angled selection in photoshop. Save the steps as an action and reuse it each time like i do.

In photoshop, create a new document. select the rectangular marquee tool (M) and make a selection.
Open the actions window and click on "Create New Action" and enter an action name, like "Rounded Edges". Press "Record" to start recording.
Open the channels window and click on "Create New Channel". The canvas should turn black.
From the Edit menu, choose Fill and select Use: White, Blending Mode:Normal, Opacity:100%. The marqueed region should turn white. Press ctrl-D to deselect.
From the Filters menu, choose Blur > Gaussian Blur. enter a radius of 3 pixels and press Ok.
From the Image menu, choose Adjustments > Levels. Enter 115, 1.00, 145 in the Input Levels boxes and leave the rest on default. Press Ok. You should see that the marquee region is now rounded.
On the channels window, ctrl+click the created channel (e.g. Alpha 1). The rounded region should be selected. After selecting, click on Delete current channel.
On the actions window, click stop recording.

The steps have created a reusable action in photoshop for making rounded edges from a selection! You can in fact apply the action several times to a selection to make an edge smoother. Happy photoshoping!

Make up your bloody mind

2005-06-18T20:37:00.000+08:00

Contracts are signed by the client and the developer. Often you hear about the client making a developer produce work without signing a contract, and the developer, for the sake of $$, does wat the client requests, and in the end the client refuses to pay, and the sort...

Then there is the case where the client signs the contract. oh now all must be well. no. Apparently many of these clients sign for the sake of making the developer hurry and produce work. Often in web development projects there is a part that states "the developer will produce work to the requirements of the client. any design which the client requires a change after approval of the prototype will be liable to charges".

How often, though, do clients keep changing their minds on a pre-agreed design?? we create the prototype for approval, and the clients say ok. after weeks of development, then the client says: "i think this and that is better. change." And how often does the developer nod and agree without charging the client? sometimes the change on paper is small, like "adding a drop-down list", but they do not realize that these changes require a lot of re-design not only on the interface, but internal components and databases as well. And when the change is done, they will say: "hmm. i think you add something more to that". Why can't these clients make these decisions during the prototype stage? the prototype is meant to be a "toy" for them to play with, but they neva take the word prototype seriously. How often do you hear a web project bust its deadline and clients complain on the competency of the developer? LOL. Make up your mind and do some soul-searching. please.

AJAX: will it be next big thing?

2005-06-18T12:57:00.000+08:00

Check out http://www.baconbutty.com.

This site showcases the use of ajax. you can read more about ajax at adaptive path's publication. I think ajax is a wonderful thing for web development, as it allows server posting without refreshing the page and more. a developer can post to server and populate the page data without having to refresh the page, which can be annoying at times.

but imagine sites many sites in future becoming like baconbutty. visitors will be blur on why the browser back and forward buttons go to unexpected places, cannot bookmark, and whole site reloads from page 1 after a refresh. This is also a major komplain about full Flash websites. for the developer, he/she has to make customized links so that there are alternatives to the problems.

ajax can be extremely useful, if used correctly. for example Gmail is using it with good effect, i think. it is a responsibility of designers and developers not to abuse it like wat happened with frames and Flash in the earlier days of web development.

We not ah sum

2005-06-18T01:46:00.000+08:00

ah sum: a servant who cleans up after the master.

I am currently working as a web developer at my fren's kompany. Becos we are a small bizness, some (not all) clients wanna squeeze the juices out of us. like a ジュース• ミキサー (juice mixer).

We have a client called more-gas (not real name) that wants us to do a webby for them. my boss n colleague were in charge, and initally came up with a standard template design for him. The client barked back and said: "dun do wat u wan, do wat i wan, understand".

Ok, so we (from now on we means my boss and colleague, cos i not actually involved in this development) did wat he wanted. so he must be happy? no. he said: "your design is not professional, like a student's work". oh my god but thats wat he wanted??? he also komplained that why we didn't deliver the project to him in MS-Frontpage format, which was agreed upon. he slapped (not literally) us by saying that we kept breaking promises made to him. LOL. For peeps not familiar with web development, there's no such thing as MS-Frontpage format. MS-Frontpage is used to edit HTML documents. the format of standard web documents is HTML. period.

After this the client went to edit all the designs by himself. he added stuff like clipart cartoons, magenta colour and singlish (Singaporean slang english) to his site. btw his site's supposed to be a CORPORATE site for his kompany.

my boss's really a nice person, so wanted to give him value service, and decided to redo the design based on improving their corporate image while following the client's major requirements. at the same time, he informed the client on the reason for change and created a prototype for his approval. However, after seeing the prototype, more-gas insisted that we do the entire website out first in the prototype design. normally no one will do this in web bizness, but my boss, hoping to build a good relationship wif him, decided to take a risk for his sake.

BUT guess wat? after delivering the entire site, he scrapped everyting and changed all the design to the thing he did himself initially. he then dun even bother to contact us, and got his secretary to convey: "please follow instructions. if not, juz drop the project."

recently more and more clients in our line are like this (ok, more-gas is a exceptionally extreme example). all wan ai pi ai qi (cheap n good), some unwilling to pay up, many want free updates and a few think they own us. I really hope that these ppl realize that even though we're in the service line, that does not mean we are ah sums heeding every command. haiz...

First Post!

2005-06-17T16:31:00.000+08:00

First Post!

There was a time i tot blogging was lame. LOL look whos toking now...

oh well. this should be a plc for me to ramble about my brushes at work, skoo, play, wateva. Maybe i shld put a profile of myself?