My predictions on module bidding

NUS is using a totally new system - Bidding for modules using bidding points. The higher points you used to bid for modules, the higher the chances you will get them. Bidding has already started but I as a freshmen can only start my bid on 1st Aug and so this will mean vacancies may be taken.

Theoretically, this bidding system is the fairest of all but practically I beg to differ. This system will bring lots of disappointments, lots of appeals, long working hours of NUS operators. Students who really need to study certain modules but are then unable to bid for it will need to appeal and through this new system, appeals got to be filed online. I bet NUS operators will only look through the entire list of appeals just before they knock off from work and this means students will have to wait for many hours before getting a virtual reply. To process the long list of appeals will definitely be done "chop chop". Trust me, students will end up consulting undergraduate advisors through phone or in person.

The appeal process will take you many days and the result will not going to be 100% positive. This system sucks.

Got back my pink IC

Title sums up everything

Anonymous User

Hope all readers of my blog who would like to comment beside my posting to leave your name/nick. I really wish to know who you are. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Tiring Day

1) 0710 - Woke up
2) 0745 - Had breakfast at a coffeeshop
3) 0800 - Took bus 74 then 151 to NUS
4) 0915 - Found my way to Multi-Purpose Sports Hall 1
5) 0945 - Finally in No. 1 in the queue.
6) 0955 - Got my matriculation card
7) 1000 - Found out all exits are sealed so no choice got to undergo interrogations by several ECAs members
8) 1200 - Finally get out of the place
9) 1230 - Reach Buona Vista Transitlink Office (nearest to NUS) to apply for tertiary Ezlink card but then they cannot find my record
10)1300 - Reach CCK and confirmed OC is in camp
11) 1330 - Reach camp but then learnt that OC just left camp and so clearance form yet to be completed
12) 1500 - Reach home
13) 1505 - Had my lunch
14) 1520 - Tried logging into CORS to bid for modules but realised freshmen will only start bidding in Round 1C (1st Aug)

Tired...

Voice Recognition Sample

Ok since someone commented in my previous posting and requested for Speech-To-Text examples, I will post an example product where it uses that technology. It is a voice recognition email software and though I have not used it before, I bet it is one which really applies to us - Emailing.
http://www.speaktomail.com/products.asp

Interesting Generator

A Text-to-Speech Engine with a selection from several different languages. You simply got to try it.
http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/

U.S. RELEASES PHOTOS OF SADDAM'S SLAIN SONS

Photos of Qusay and Uday Hussein bodies after they were killed.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/aol/gallery.hussein.bodies/frameset.exclude.html

Marked 23rd July 2003

Took Qualifying English Test (QET) that day and as expected, topic was darn difficult. I got to understand as to why some of my friends had to take ET1000 as a module in NUS for failing QET. I wondered why NUS and NTU don't conduct QET on the same day and giving same questions. Can't they just sit down and agree on one date for the QET?

The QET really took a toll on my brain cells. A lengthy three pages close passage extracted from a Taoism alchemist book with thirty errors to be corrected, three pre-reading questions to ponder on, one lengthy small font-sized article extracted from the Economist Review titled "Dollars and Degrees" to read on, and a 500 words killer essay to be completed. Topic of the essay was "Nowadays, universities are concerned on making profits as well as innovation and creativity. Which should a university be mainly concerned with?". For someone like me never used to writing argumentative essays in secondary school plus I never written an essay for FIVE long years (3 years in poly and 2 years in the army), 500 argumentative essay really did kill me.

NTU seemed to be more kind to their students giving many essay topics to choose from with topics like "Write an event that happened in your country", "What is your future prospect", Why do you choose NTU, etc. Furthermore, they are allowed to complete the essay in just 300 words. UNFAIR UNFAIR UNFAIR but what to do.

CRAPS CRAPS and many more CRAPS! Please let me pass!

Finally I'm back

Finally I'm back writing my blog after a couple of days of absence. I will write on what happened on the fateful 23rd July 2003 after my sleep. Hear me rant in about 10 hours time. I need a listening ear.

I also have not updated my wap site for quite some time already and I will do so later.

Gender Test

If you're as gender confused as you appear to be, remind me never to be in the same vicinity as you in either a dark red-light district or a prison. I'd highly recommend you get some flash cards that have pictures of men and women on them with the answers on the back so that you can improve your gender accuity. It might just save your life some day and perhaps some of your more sensitive areas as well.

Take a gender test now to see if you are one of them.
http://www2.b3ta.com/femaleorshemale2/

Admitting to Year 1 After All

I registered for NUS in year 2001 and got a place for year 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 but I chose to enrol in year 2003/2004. At the time when I registered for NUS, all poly grads were allowed a direct entry to second year and that really delighted me. If not for me having to serve NS, I will had started my education in year 2002/2003 in second year. However, system in NUS has changed and those entering year 2003/2004 will have to start from year 1 with some modules exemption. Hope I can squeeze in some modules per semester and graduate in less than 3 years. I think I will drop the intention to study for Honours since that will take me 4 years instead of 3 to complete. SAD SAD SAD...

Sigh...

Wonder when Microsoft products will be secure one day. Windows 2003, another product of Microsoft, which claimed to be very secure and having being tested umpteen times bearing millions price tag on its testing for bugs phase even before it was launched proved to be a failure. Just imagine if Tron was used instead of Windows.

QET next week

My friend admitting to NTU this month had had their QET few days back and from them, their QET's format was straightforward and questions to me was simple. 2 close passages with some blanks for students to fill in and a 300 words essay to be written from many topics to choose from. Topics available to choose from are like "Why do you choose NTU?", "Describe one major recent event just happened in your country", "What do you want to do in the future?", etc. Very simple to write essay with 300 words limit. But then for NUS, it is a very different story. 1 close passage with many grammatical phrases underlined for you to edit and a 500 words essay to write. Before writing the essay, there will have 3 pre-reading topics for students to ponder and then a lengthy topic related article to read from. There is only ONE essay TOPIC to write on and it can be like "how your country's goverment can help reserve the originality of tourist spots in your country". That can be relative difficult for someone especially those poly grads and even more worse for those NSF guys.

Qualifying English Test (QET) format and sample can be downloaded from
http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/undergraduate/matriculation.html

Dificult right?

Tackling Problems

Made a number of calls here and there, every half hour just to get 2 persons. That 2 persons are important in getting my problem solved. Erm.... It seemed to have been solved.

Milestone Ahead

I knew there is a milestone (big problem) ahead and I am keeping this from you. Got to clarify things tomorrow.

Big Harvest Today

Woke up early in the morning just to go back to camp to get RSM, S2, S3, OC and MTO to sign my clearance form. I knew I got to reach camp as early as possible, preferably early 9am, so that they will be there. After lunch will be far too risky to take because they may be out camp for lunch or somewhere out camp doing no one know what. I managed to find all except OC and S2 but then RSM agreed to sign on behalf of S2.

Left with OC's signature :(

Dinner at Home

What can be better than having dinner at home? We bought cooked food from a seafood restaurant in the coffeeshop near my house. We had fried egg with char siew, kangkong with sambal cuttlefish, fried pork with tomato sauce, fried prawn balls, herbal chicken, and some satay sticks. The idea of having dinner was to allow us not to miss the 7pm "Holland Village" Mediacorp show.

Dinner Later

Today is my mom's birthday and as usual we will have a dinner at one of the restaurants as an informal celebration. We do not have the culture of giving presents like others. Hm... we decide to have the dinner at .... tell you later.

Medical Checkup

I went for a routine medical checkup at University Health & Wellness Centre today in NUS and to my surprise, there were more China's chinese undergoing the checkup than Singaporeans. Many chinese were seen carrying a laptop and that really scared me. From my friends already in NUS studying Computing, those chinese are simply formidable. Their programming skills are amazing and beyond many of us Singaporeans.

Guys and gals, I am not a racist and definitely am not a person who discriminate foreign students but then having a class full of China chinese classmates with a foreign tongue certainly does not make me comfortable. Wonder what life will be in a month's time.

Boring

As bored as one can imagine, here I am in a cyber cafe. My initial intention is to go out and do some window shopping on my own to kick boredom away. No one is at home at the moment, no one to date for either A is in camp or B is at work. Sometimes a life too good (need not book in) is not that good after all.

Zoo Photo Album Added

The long awaited Singapore Zoological Gardens Trip is up.
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289691737

No prizes for me

I went to fort canning for my battalion's anniversary cum ord dinner yesterday night. Weather wasn't good that day and it rained the moment we started to walk to the destination from Dhoby Ghaut. I wondered why fort canning was chosen. Why can't they choose a place which is more accessible, more comfortable at least with air-con, like a restaurant? As predicted, the dinner was held at a open field with a tent over it as shelter. Normal chairs akin to those used on Malay weddings occasions were used with the only difference being seat covers were used. Because of the rain and strong wind, small leaves were seen on the seats as well as tables. Occasion like this reminded me of Hungry Ghosts Festivals dinner.

Table gifts in the form of a SAF paper bag containing few little goodies like a cd-rom, a key chain, a ASICS polo-T, and a lucky draw cinema-lookalike ticket were issued.

MC for the night was Eileen Wee and as expected, she came with a sexy outfit bearing a really short and with many holes here and there mini shirt. Even her voice was sexy! So she was the "supermodel" as stated in an ad many days before to make the dinner more worth the many tens of dollars. Being a host or MC was her job isn't it?

9 course dinner with free flow of coke, F&N orange or 7-UP, plus a can of beer was one to be waited for. Cold dish followed by shark's fins with very little slices of crabmeat, herbal chicken, fried scallop, butter prawns, small mushrooms with cauliflower, fried hard rock fish, fried seafood rice, and lastly mango as dessert were served. I got to admit that some of the dishes were delicious.

As usual lucky draw is never my type of game - a game that I will never win. 50 prizes were given away but none was landed on my hands. Too bad and just too bad.

Met a nice guy

I was on my way to Tengah Airbase medical centre for my dental appointment this morning. Weather was bad - impending rain. Upon reaching "Medical Centre 600m" signboard, it rained! My instinct told me to run and I did run towards the medical centre since there wasn't any shelter along the way. There came my Mr nice guy for the day. He drove a civilian car, wearing a armourer suit with Major rank sewed onto, signalled me to get into his car. Wow a nice guy he is - send me all the way to safe shelter just beside the Medical Centre entrance.

Great day!

Sombre Mood

Both the Iranian twin sisters had declared deceased this afternoon with one leaving 2 hours earlier than the other. This proves to be devastating to the world body who keep tracks of their progress constantly. No one is to be blamed for their death for the operation is deemed to be a high risk one. What I can do now is just to pray for their family members to brace themselves up and live on.

Sad News Worldwide

Just learnt that one of the Iranian twins, Ladan, had passed away this afternoon, after 53 hours of complex operation which is yet to finish for her sister. However, news of her sister, Laleh, is not in good state at all. Hope everything gonna be alright for Laleh. They really deserve my salute for their courage and will to live despite being attached together for 29 years.

More of their news here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3053638.stm

Bad day for me

Did quite a number of things today and they aren't really wanting. How I hope all these are unnecessary. How I hope these problems don't even appear at first. How I wish these problems are solved and gone for good. If you remember I talked about problems in my earlier posts you will know these problems certainly lurk for quite some time already. I don't like the feeling of sleeping with worries, with problems... How I wish my dreamcatcher is with me tonight.

Got to get my dreamcatcher back from camp.

Nice Google Search

Try this soon before Google fixes its site:
1. Go to http://www.google.com
2. Type in the search box (but do not hit RETURN) with "weapon of mass destruction" including the pair of double quotes.
3. Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button instead of the normal Google search button.
4. Read what appears to be a normal error message carefully.

BTW, the "I'm feeling lucky" search points you to http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/.

Note that if you try to perform this trick the second time it may not work. To get it to work once again, you got to close your browser and re-launch it before trying it.

Still no mobilisation

Time now reads 1445hr and still no news of any mobilisation. Hope not and god bless.

Possible Mobilisation

There may be a possible mobilisation for me either today or tomorrow, however, tomorrow would be quite unlikely since there will be a CDF vetting on NDP and so it just comes down to today. My company sergeant major told us that there will be two possible activation timings which is either 2pm or 4pm. Now, I am here waiting anxiously hoping that it will never happen to me. It is 1pm plus, few hours to doom or safe.

Finally got hold of F.O.C

Finally I got hold of the book, F.O.C Freedom of Choice. Will promptly reveal more on the contents here next time when I start reading it.

Parade A Job Well Done

After yesterday's only rehearsal, the Chief of Arty talked to us telling us that the performance was just a 95% score and urged us to give our very best in the evening's actual SAF Day parade. Even before the actual parade took place, I knew for sure no matter how good or bad we were during the actual parade, the score would always be a perfect score and that's for sure. SAF has got this stupid yet egoistic policy and that is they will never say poor performance so as to cover their own backside. If they grade below perfect, it is the same as saying trainers are unfit to be a trainer.

This is especially evident during the yearly LRI or PAT's inspection. SAF personnel will always cover this and that just to ensure the outside image potrays a clean one and not an ugly one. Do you agree? You have to agree.

No more drills for me

SAF Day parade is finally over and is gone for good. No more foot drills, no more weapon drills, no more sun burning sessions, no more SAFTI-MI hard-to-swallow muslim food for me! Just when I thought life is getting better for me, a new course, Height Confidence Course, pop out of nowhere. I heard that this course be can really scary, having to climb up to great heights and then limp forward to grab hold onto a horizontal bar before letting go and free fall down to a pool of water. That's just one of the many obstacles. Tomorrow, yes tomorrow will be the D-Day.

God bless me.