Dear blog,

wow, it’s been 1 week since I updated you about all the nooks and crannies about what’s happening. I didn’t have the time, that’s all. Surprising, huh? I mean, I usually have too much time on my hands, and now, I’m needing more of it.

Anyway, exams are over. With that, so are our first set of modules. 1 week into the holidays, and I’m already in the holiday mode, so it does kind of suck to talk about it, but I need to be honest with myself here: I don’t think I was well-prepared enough for the exams. I was rather complacent, actually. I found the papers challenging, and I think I've flung them. Oh, no.

Well, like Alicia said, I can’t do much for now. I need to wait for the results. Only then I can gauge if or not I was really complacent, or if or not I need to put in more effort into what I do. 2 Words, bloggie: Results show. They’re an accurate reflection of the amount of work you put into what you do.

My aim is not to do exceptionally well (although I want to), but I think having consistent results across the board, across all modules reaps better rewards. That’s just ITE, I find myself being forced to stay consistent in my academics. Efficient system or not, it’s up to that person to decide. For me, I’d take this over secondary school anyway, where you had to mug for just one stupid exam at the very end which determined everything you ever went to school for.

Okay, done with the sourness here.

Well, that is it. The first set of modules are over –and done with. No more POA with Ms. Cynthia, no more BSE with Mr. Chow, no more COB with Mr. Chin, and no more OFA with Ms. Felina. I’m going to miss them all, fantastic teachers in their own accord, every one of them. Each lesson was unique, and brought something distinctly different into the classroom, and I liked that (yet something else secondary school didn’t have, I never got to see different sides of my classmates in terms of academics). I hope our new modules do the same!

here’s a tribute to my lecturers:

Ms Cynthia: thank you for being such a fantastic (and clear) POA teacher. I think you’re the clearest teacher I know! And, thanks for helping me out with the admin for my Taiwan trip! It means alot to me!

Mr Chow: coolest CA ever. seriously. Also, he has his own fair sense of humor. His lessons are mostly dry, but everything else that he handles about the class is really likeable. I just think he’s a really good CA!

Mr Chin: this guy'’s our kid-like teacher. No one’s going to forget his trademark laughter! His lessons are the most freeform and open ones, and also the most interactive, so i’m going to miss this.

Ms Felina: a teacher who, to me, has certainly made her mark in her short period she taught our class, and all I have to say, is that: Ms Felina, thank you for caring.

Wednesday was a briefing for the upcoming Taiwan trip with ETP club. It’s shaping up to be pretty awesome. I think the people in class SB are really nice people, and the guys are are nothing, absolutely NOTHING, like the guys in my class SC, in a good way. I wish I wasn’t the only person from SC in ETP club...then us people from SC and SB could all be one whole network of friends! ah, like secondary school.

you know, that’s exactly what “welcome2thesocial” means. That is why I gave you that name, but it’s becoming meaningless. I’d love to rename you to something else more awesome, but I don’t seem to be able to come up with another name for you.

Wednesday wasn’t just a briefing, after the briefing, it was a get-together/bonding session on our own with the SB people. It was a long day, walking around town, Raffles, Suntec, Dhoby Gaught, Bugis, Orchard, Somerset, omg, wtf, this is caryinsane, and then Harbourfront, where I saw the Superstar Virgo ship for the first time at night. Pretty stuff. Siti once told me it was 7-stories high, but it doesn’t look like it to me. Gah, how would I know anyway.

Vincent and Willi are familiar faces to me: we went for the Exoro games that ETP participated in together. A new face was Kellie, a seriously small girl. No, seriously, if you think Suzy’s small, wait till you see Kellie. I can’t recall who’s shorter, but ahahahahah. It’s a no wonder I never noticed her in school before. ROFL!

All this reminds me of Atiqah from back in in 4/4, the girl who sits beside me in class. Yep, you guessed it: Atiqah was literally the shortest girl in the entire cohort.

another fairly new face is Tiffany. Well, not exactly new, but I can’t exactly remember how we got to know each other, and when we started talking. She works at Suntec City o_O. That’s the beauty of school, it’s a world of friends. I don’t know about the world though, but who knows, the world might be a world of friends :D

Tiffany’s cheerful, but she was rather serious while at work where we passed her the briefing details. She was serious to me when we talked on the MRT back home a couple of days ago also. I asked Willi and Vincent about her, and they too said that she’s mostly a serious person.

YES! I HAD BRIYANI FOR DINNER YEAAAAH!!!1

VivoCity is endless. My first time going there, and that place is huge. But really, I thought it was nothing special. Just another mall, with a seriously mediocre sub-urban feel. I wonder what the big deal about it is. Phail.

talking about sub-urban outlets, you should check out the Shrilling Chicken toy at Action City (or was it Mini Toons?). It’s seriously freakin’ hilarious!

Oh, talking about malls, remember about the time I wrote about the epic escalators at ION orchard? Well, guess wut: Orchard Central has even crazier escalators, 3 escalators spanning over 8 stories, literally. Do the math, and you’ll know, on a average, how long a escalator is: each of them, spanning over more than 2 stories.

Orchard Central is pretty insane. We were taking the escalator, and it just kept going up, up, and up. We could see the roof of the other buildings nearby already, and we were STILL going up. And this escalator was located on the outside of the mall. It’s pretty scary, looking down below at the ground from the escalator that is going up to the eight storey. Yeah, I have a fear of heights, having lived in the second storey, and then in this farmhouse. No such thing as high-rise for me.

But I have to say, it’s still a very unique (and expensive?) mall. You should go take a look. The mall’s design and architectural concept is seriously mind-blowing.

Thurday, I went over to Jing Wen’s house. There, we tore up 3 computers apart which his uncle gave to him, in an attempt to fix them. Jing Wen had already fixed one, it was running on a 2.6GHz Celeron D. Another one was a virtually empty CPU case, with it running on yet another Celeron chip in it, but this one was on a older motherboard, and used an older socket design. It had a really tiny fan, and a laughable heatsink too. Ew, Old.

The third computer we “tore up” was perhaps the most interesting, and the most difficult to troubleshoot. This was a slim computer, you know, the one with comes with the really gay and slim CPU casing which can’t fit anything (it could not fit in any of the cards he had). The PSU (Power Supply Unit) was kinda unique, I have never seen one like that before. It was long, and covered nearly the entire bottom area of the casing. PSU’s are usually cuboids in shape, and are not so exaggerated length-wise. But this was looooong!

It took us hours, but we figured out the problem: it was the Core2Duo processor. Hahaha, yep, it was on a core2duo! And this PC could be his if he fixed it. What a waste! The very instant we removed the core2duo processor chip from the motherboard’s socket and replaced it with the Celeron D 2.6GHz chip from the other CPU, it started working.

I can’t believe it, out of all the components in a computer, the processor died on it. I mean, how rare is that? It’s rare that computer processors (or motherboards and anything else) just die like that, with no apparent reason. Really. His uncle told him that he had used it only for 2 months!

hahaha, now THAT is why a warranty is important!

after putting the computer(s) back together in their original integrity (as if nothing happened), we went to McDonald’s at Pioneer Mall to have our dinner. I was pressured to get a really expensive Mega McSpicy meal, but heck, I didn’t regret it. Too bad though, there are no more seaweed shaker fries. I loved them.

The lady at the counter tried cracking a joke with me, but I was too serious, I guess. I mean, it’s kind of freaky when a service personnel serving you cracks a joke with you all of a sudden. It’s just awkward.

JW and me had a good laugh at each other, both of us struggling to finish our Mega McSpicy(s). It was funny shit, because not only was the Mega McSpicy too freakin’ huge to fit into our mouths, but it was also very, very, VERY spicy. In fact, it was the Spiciest burger I have ever eaten. When we finally finished, we felt really bloated, we were walking like tanks.

Man, it was worth the hefty $8.95, but shit, i’m never doing that again. Thank god for iced Milo.

and yesterday, I went over to Jonathan’s house. More PS3, and this was when I found out how badly Gran Turismo 5: Prologue sucked. Besides the graphics, it sucks to the core. Just like so many PS3 exclusives out there, good graphics, bad gameplay.

We liked Dirt2 alot though, we tried the demo. It. is. Awesome! seriously, although we tried only the demo, it was one of the best racing games that i’ve ever laid my hands (and eyes) on. And, it’s graphics are really pretty. It is such a gorgeous driving experience, this game’s graphics is just...so detailed.

pretty!!

He also preordered Need For Speed: Shift at Comics Connection. That game’s looking incredible, and come Tuesday, all will be revealed:

Like it or not, this game’s looking fucking incredible.

and of course, our regular Dose of the Nazi Zombies minigame from Call Of Duty: World At War. That doesn’t get old. We also crapped around playing competitively racing in GT5:P, and some co-op action in Resident Evil 5.

In other news, Apple held a surprise keynote event on 09/09/09, a event dedicated to Apple’s music sector. Unleashed were a this year’s new lineup of ipods, a new version of iTunes, and a much-needed revamp of the iTunes Store.

I told myself, that if Apple were to be stupid enough to add a camera unto their music device, i’d never ever buy an ipod. Well, guess what: That’s EXACTLY what they did. They added a camera to the ipod nano! now i’m never, ever going to get an ipod. No, Seriously: I do NOT want a camera on my music player.

You know what's the stupid thing? The ipod nano’s camera only shoots video, it can’t take pictures! how stupid is that? Shame on you Apple, stuffing half-baked new features into your nanotech. A camera which can’t take pictures renders it 3-quarters useless.

Talking about stuffing new features, the ipod’s scroll wheel is getting old. Apple is stuffing way too many features into it’s scroll wheel. It’s time to change apple, CHANGE. Not upgrade.

iTunes 9 really isn’t much to the end user, besides sporting a new look, and a revamped iTunes store.

here’s iTunes 8: i’ve always hated the way apple uses that ugly dark grey.

iTunes 9: looking slightly better. It isn’t as dark anymore, and that itself, is an improvement to me.

for those who’ve been hoping for iTunes to have a major change (like me), well, your hopes are either crushed, or fulfilled. I think mine have been crushed. This visual refresh of iTunes isn’t enough. I want a change, Apple. Not an upgrade. And don’t make us pay money for it either.

talking about paying, i’m sure Apple has made tons of ipod nano-chromatic owners around the world fuming mad with this new ipod nano’s price. It has a camera, has a aluminum finish, and it STILL costs the same as the previous ipod nano? Oh come on apple, you’re making people angry.

lastly, apple continues it’s ridiculous ipod shuffle forward: Introducing 5 new colors to the lineup, including one with a *exclusive* stainless steel finish with 2GB.

I think i’m putting on some serious weight. After the Briyani, and the Mega McSpicy, I think I had better start dieting, and exercising. But i’m just too damn lazy. NUUUU

I got this off someone else’s blog, it’s a couple of pointers that help you stay happy:

I think I should learn from these!

Word Out,
Ramesh