Hey whats up guys, sorry for the lacks of updates. It has been a rather tiring past few days. Being commited to maintain a healthy lifestyle has taken its toll on a very unhealthy body. After badminton last Thursday, aches and pains wrecked my entire right half of my body, butt, thighs, back and arms. Not to mention heading down to work after class on Friday and massive room painting at scb's house followed by Sunday's cycling trip at ECP. Totally konked out when I reached home on Sunday all the way till Monday afternoon. I have classes starting at 12.30pm but the body is weak and the mind agrees with it. Decided not to waste the Monday and proceeded with spring cleaning of my bedroom. With that out of the way, I still have to help my parents with the whole house over the coming 2 weekends before Chinese New Year. Its actually the time of the year which I dislike the most but what do to? As long as i'm living under my parent's roof, I have to abide by tradition and their wishes. Scb was saying that I should stick to some traditions, like buying new clothes for CNY. I feel everything these days have a commercial value attached to it even traditions. I can forsee myself jetting away for a holiday every CNY once I am financially capable.

Yeah so we painted scb's room and pieced together her new sofa-bed and cabinet. I would say the end product is rather satisfying and might I add this is my 1st attempt at painting anything bigger than a drawing block (those big A3 sized drawing paper for art lessons in Primary school). Pink walls with a white celling! A tip for budding painters - Don't paint the cellings as your 1st attempt, leave it to someone more experienced! Hahaha...well after that we headed down to Waraku ECP for dinner, courtesy of scb for our service. Oh and lunch was Pizza Hut courtesy of Linda as well.

Sunday met scb, cal and milo at parkway for lunch before the rain came and dampen our cycling mood. Decided to book KTV room at Katong instead but the rain stopped in time and we were not very "gian" for KTV...at least not cal and me so we decided to proceed with the cycling plans. Damn it! Its been ages since I cycled and both my thighs burned with every paddle. The girls shared a couple bike!...haha kinda defeats the purpose of cycling. Took a cab down to Suntec for Muthu Curry...I would not sya its that fantastic, I'd rather go eat prata at Prata Place near Nee Soon Camp anytime. Rounded off the night with a 4 piece dessert spread at Secret Reciepe : Chocolate Banana, Marble Cheesecake, Chocolate Fudge and Chocolate Indulgence.

Having some computer problems! Right Speaker is not working!!!! Why why why...everything needs money to replace! So many wants so little $! Want a new LCD monitor, An Ext HDD, SE w850i and now new speakers...its going to add up to about $1k...damn it I should start taking up tuition assignments!!!! Oh and I woke up to a super painful stomachache...almost fainted in the toilet but I think I was consciously aware that I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep...cold sweat bathed my whole body but it was the best feeling in the world to have the pains go away. Yeah so I did not go school again today... :P

Haha omg this blog has achieved 1000 hits already! I once said that I would like to achieve 1000 hits by the end of 2006 but achieving it now isn't such a shabby achievements. Like to thank everyone who has come in here and enjoyed themselves. I welcome all feedback, you can leave me a message on the tagboard. I big portion of the hits success goes to the regulars and the fans of my blog. Without you guys, this would not have been popular. Comparing this 1000 hit achievement is relatively peanuts compared to some of the blogs I frequent on a daily basis but everything starts somewhere.

Since the last post? Man Utd has failed to open a 9 point lead of nearest Rivals Chelsea because they lost to an impressive Arsenal team 2-1. Hope this is not the turning point to the 2nd half of the EPL season. Will be meeting the guys for badminton tomorrow morning at Tanjong Pagar CC. I think some of my friends are relatively surprised at my enthusiasm and actually taking this seriously. I don't know...I guess I surprise even myself sometimes. Once I get into the swing of things, it will be hard to convinvce me otherwise. Its even rubbing off on Marcus...haha the fella even rented a locker in school so we have a place to keep our barang barang while playing in school.

Before I end this post, I would like to wish scb's dad a speedy recovery and for scb and her family to know that everything will be alright. It might be nothing serious and i'm sure being kept under observation is just a precautionary measure. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

So a big thank you to everyone for making this possible! Lets aim for the next milestone of 2500 hits by the end of 2007!

Howdy! Youtube has decided to remove the video showing Sacha Baron Cohen's acceptance speech at the golden globes. So pls do not use watch in on my previous post. Instead I have found another site that is still hosting the video, infact it is of better quality. You will find the video embedded at the end of the post. Just heard Liverpool whacked Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield...Haha well done reds for helping my beloved Red Devils and giving them a chance to extend the lead by 9 points!

Had Dim Sum buffet at River City restaurant on Thursday with scb, milo, freeuns and andrew. At $10.80+++, there was a rather huge spread of variety to choose from. I have been there 4 times before so I roughly know what is good. Haha although we ordered only 1 round of food, we had trouble finishing it all up. Freeuns whipped out his handphone and suddenly say "Ok!" he proceeded to eat his veggies with a gleeful look across his face. Yes! It was time for "Zhong Ji Mi Ma" where someone selects a number between the range from 1 to 100, the rest of us will take turns to guess what that number is not but the catch is sabotage the rest and escape yourself by choosing a number that shrinks the range, this carries on until someone guesses the right number or is trapped by others. That person will then proceed with eating a piece of leftover and he will in turn start the new round by deciding on the number. Scb was hilarious when she had to eat veggies, she will cringe her face when eating a small piece while shoving peanuts into her mouth...haha!!! Freeuns and andrew had to go off after lunch for their own stuff. Milo, scb and me proceeded to watch Kung Fu Mahjong 3...typical show that follows its ancestors but it still was funny. I think Milo might be interested to learn soon. After the movie Milo left for classes and the 2 of us went down to Bugis to meet Da jie. Freeuns and andrew also decided to join us for dinner. Had Lai Lai beef noodle for dinner and it turns out that we over ordered again...round 2 of "Zhong Ji Mi Ma"...omg!

Went down to Queensway shopping centre to buy my badminton racquet and flip flops, spents about $68 in total...once i'm committed to play badminton I will. Had dinner at Glutton Bay...then dessert at Max Brenner. Sat there drinking hot chocolate, eating waffles and talking cock...haha quite fun to play the "What if I offered you $xxxxx to XXXX...." can really see how far people are willing to go with $.

Nothing much today, worked in the morning. Went down to reborn fish shop to get a couple fo red bamboo algae, Squirrel fish and a weird looking "lan jiao" fish...rushed back down to TS and put the fish in before going off. Hung out at Langston's place playing mahjong...trying to cut my credit losses but instead it grew by $16!! Ate a late dinner (10pm) at Holland Village XO fish stall.

Church tomorrow...can wake up?

Check out Sacha Baron Cohen's acceptance speech at the golden globes for his Best Actor in a Comedy award. It was recorded by someone and uploaded to youtube. Enjoy!

Psst...turn up the volume, its abit soft to hear

Damn it! Woke up late today and missed all my classes. Actually I had a choice but the 8.30am class is just so "appealling" that I can't get out of bed. Sometimes I don't know if i'm serious about school at all. Warning to Probation to possible termination? It does sting alittle at the beginning and you start to feel shitty and everything, psyching yourself up for the semester thats ahead, telling yourself you got to do it but I guess the resolve just dissolves after time. Time is like acid, burning and disintegrating everything.

And so it seems it is not NTU's policy to reveal examination papers to the students. Emailed my professor regarding my request of review my paper with my own eyes since I feel hard done by the review committee. I think I was rather pathetic in my request, stating that I would not be able to move on until I see it with my own eyes...haha yeah I know very drama! Eventually my professor replied with encouraging words but like I said these kind of things is just a temporary relief. However he did cc his reply to the subject co-ordinator as well. I think he might have been very zhou bo in his office because he personally took out my paper and reviewed it and he too sent me an email of my marks distribution. Well I guess there is alot of red tape governing NTU's aim of being transparent. I guess I have to make do with that and move on. Kind of disappointed with myself now as well...the blame is shifting all around and eventually it will come back and slam you in the buttocks.

Caught the Golden Globes on TV last night as I did not have the time to watch it live in the morning. Sacha Baron Cohen won Best Actor in a Comedy. For you dim wits who don't know who this person is, please close this book and refer to 1st of the 3 wise men on my cover. Yes! He plays the persona of Ali G, Borat & Bruno in his hit TV series the Ali G show. After making a movie on 2 of his persona (Ali G and Borat) will he complete a hat trick by doing a film on Bruno? I know I will be looking forward to it. If you missed the globes, you have effectively missed the funniest thank you speech of the night.

P.S Welcome back SCB to the online world!

Don't know if i'll get into trouble for writing this but I guess my identity will be anonymous. Oh wait...I have a profile page with some pics and details...crap! I just have to say it. I'm very upset with the academic system NTU has adopted. They claim by being transparent with the grading systems students will have a better gauge to what is expected to score for honours. Before my enrolement, NTU was simply a University that awarded alphabetical grades from A to F for subjects. You obtain an F, you repeat that subject the following semester. My time is different...not too long ago (1.5 years ago) NTU incorporated the famed american system into their exisiting system. Yes! The introduction to GPA. Suddenly grades such as A+, A-, B+, B- etc...started appearing and to make things more "transparent" points are allocated to these grades ranging from 0 to 5 for F to A+ respectively. Its a pretty cool system, just that for the sake of transparency an additional requirement was also introduced. Students under the new system had to maintain a CGPA of cumulative GPA of 2.00 to graduate with a normal degree. With such a requirement, they had to instill some sort of counteractive for students who score below 2.00 (C grade = 2.00), this meant that unlike the older batch, getting a D grade or a bare pass is no longer enough to graduate. Yes! I think all of you can see where this is going...this is an obvious initiative by NTU to rise in the global rankings of Universities. Marketing the brand name of NTU is important, adds value to the degree obtained and no doubt we have risen 2 spots from 50 to 48 in the 1st year of adopting the GPA system. You may ask why I am disappointed with the system? Well you might think that i'm just a sour puss blowing hot and cold air but I think students in my situation will agree with me. Remember the counteractive I mentioned above? Well, 3 strikes and you are out. Scoring a GPA below 2.00 will get you an acadamic warning letter (no overloading of subjects), score below 2.00 in the consecutive semester and you get a free upgrade from academic warning to academic probation (no overloading of subjects) and if you screw up in the 3rd consecutive semester, you will be terminated by the school. Imagine students in their last 4 semesters! Screw up 3 times and get terminated before they can embark on their last semester before graduation. I agree its fair that all these is made known to the students and its all for the sake of "transparency" or ranking issues but if NTU can put into action and reap the benefits, why can't they handle the cons in a similar fashion? The cons being handling the more sensitive request of the students at the lower at of the spectrum, the lower cutoff point of the bell curve. Students that fail subjects can submit an official appeal and make a payment of $10.50 (incl GST) per subject appealled. The way NTU handles appeals is not very transparent. All the students gets is a computer generated reply baring unfavourable news. I can understand that appeals stand a low chance to over turn the initial decision...heck I don't think there was even a successful appeal to begin with (based on survey) but a computer generated reply? It really shows how transparent and sincere the school is in handling the request not to mention viewing your own exam papers is a big no no as it goes against policy...so much for being transparent. Think this is what double standards examplifies. Embrace the good and ignore the bad. I've had 2 appeals turned down, 1 I can accept but the other is really gnawing at my ankles...but what can I do?

Another disappointment is with the famed STARS system. Its an online registration system that is manned by the Office of Academic Services. It was alot of rules which usually work out fine but to think they made such a hoo haa with the release of 2 new features. Online appeal function and Swapping index with a friend. Bravo! I appluad you STARS but your basic functions are causing problems since day one. My friend had a situation that got STARS into a deadlock. Don't want to go into details but because of the lack of foresight of the planners, he could not get any of the timeslots he wanted and 0 electives. And of course what the system cannot do, you'd expect humans can...WRONG! Too much red tape governing the individual departments makes NTU just a University where the arms, legs and head don't work together.

Haa I guess you won't find something like thing in the Nanyang Chronicles but where else but here!

Hmmm...no one told me of the double post that was the most recent. Anyway its been corrected. How's the new year been so far for the rest of you? Back to school today and fortunately its the 1st week therefore only lectures are on, tutorials and labs will follow next week onwards. Before Monday, the new school sem looks rather crappy for me. Subject registration problems coupled with the fact that it could be my last semester studying if I didn't bother to do something about my grades. Anyways I got to get my sleeping pattern into school mode all over again. No more late nights or rather I need to wake up earlier. Hopefully this week will get me in tunned with the requirements. Wanted to be in school at 9.30am but ended up going only for the 4.30pm class. As expected my exam appeal to get a pass grade for CPE204 has been turned down but the little ray of hope was the fact that the school allowed me to register another core subject that clashed with CPE204, and all I had to do is watch the online lecture recording for CPE204. At least now the new semester is looking brighter with a better timetable and the fact I got 2 out of 3 choices for my electives.

Decided to start picking up badminton again...its been 3 years since I last played when I was back in poly. 2007 at least for the 1st half of the year is going to be about health and studies...if not the 2nd half will see me back in 2PDF...but so far the support has been great from friends. Encouragements, invites to study groups and msh's disapproving looks whenever she sees me slacking off will be useful tools to take with me during my last epic journey.

Well congrats to Man Utd's 2-1 win over the Villians...Henrik Larsson will be a major asset in the forth coming games.

I know its a little late for this but goodbye 2006 and welcome 2007. What more can I say but HAPPY NEW YEAR and I wish all your resolutions for 2007 be achieved. I'm not one to make resolutions and infact I can't rememeber if I made any for 2006 therefore I don't know If I have achieved anything in 2006. 2006 has been a testing year for both myself and my family. Dad having been in the Hospital on 2 occasions for the same problem. Not doing exactly great in school, just getting by until now, with the reality of being terminated by NTU looming directly above my head. I once said that last semester was make or break...apparently I did not make it and this semester is the real deal! Hope 2007 goes well. Looking back at 2006, it wasn't all tha bad. So check out the list of goodies and baddies for 2006.

The Goodies - In no apparent order
1. Family & Friends
2. Learning a few life lessons
3. Going back to church
4. Improve savings in the 2nd half of 2006
5. Part time job that I like
6. Man Utd topping the EPL at the moment
7. Great Movies and TV shows

The Baddies :( - In no apparent order also
1. Dad's health
2. Drinking too much alcohol
3. Spending too much $
4. Put on too much weight again!
5. Tah Bao CPE204 (1st subject)
6. Free upgrade from Academic warning to Academic Probation

Might have missed out more but they aren't milestones. Spent a memorable X'mas and NYE with friends. 23rd Dec, X'mas party at freeuns's house as well as to celebrate or countdown to milo-pengs's bday on the 24th. Had a massive sabo of milo drink, cold water, and foam spray...hahaha!! Had a potluck dinner which was on a rather massive scale with too much food. Played games which was ultimate fun and then freeuns did a slide show summing up 2006. There was a very nice nostalgic feeling watching the slideshow. As the clock struck 12midnight...the sabo begun (part 1 as described above). Sang a birthday song for weiliang and watched him cut the x'mas/birthday log cake. Then part 2 of sabo happened when rong mei smashed the cake on his plate on his face and smeared it up/down left/right...concluded the night with a few hours of gambling.

NYE was spent at flo. freeuns's was once again the organizer. They had a budweiser event at flo which was organized by freeun's dad's company. So the whole bunch of us had free entry and occasional free bottles of budweiser that freeuns "coup-ed" from the dad's table. Was a nice feeling to be back chilling with friends after sometime since everyone is busy with their own stuff during the week. Had a pretty ok view of the fireworks show inside flo as we didn't have to crowd out with the rest at esplande or outside 1 fullerton. Took massive loads of pictures on the last day of 2006. Just wanna have a shoutout to those that attended "Thanks for coming and making it one of the highlights of 2006".

Signing off without resolutions for this year again