I am very happy today :)

1 more Gmail invites to go.

2 more Gmail invites to give and I will reserve them for my gf's brother and sister.

First bug found!
http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/

WindowsXP Service Pack 2 is out.

Invited Poh Lee, Ser Nya and Sui Yin. Tried to invite 3 other guys but then all said no because they have got too many mail accounts to handle. 3 gals want gmail while 3 guys don't want.

Left with 3 more Gmail invites.

Headache again!
Now able to invite 6 friends to GMAIL.

Spent a total of more than 7 hours downloading oracle (3 Discs) from the internet, an hour to install Oracle which takes up 2.8GB of my disc space, half an hour to realise how user unfriendly it is, 10 minutes to find out it actually run 11 daemons, half an hour to deinstall (term is used by oracle) oracle, but nevertheless, I will still waste 3 CD-Rs and an hour to keep the installer (typical kiasu computing student).

I think I will stick to my friendly familiar neighbourhood MsSQL. There goes my sleep.

Invited Myo for gmail.
This is my second time I invited someone.
The first time was for my elder brother.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave an applaudable maiden rally speech yesterday night which lasted 3.5hrs. I only managed to catch just a bit of his speech on bus. From the papers, he seemed to have covered and included every single Singaporeans in his future plans. Hope he will carry them out. PM Lee also emphasized on his stand in Singapore's One-China policy. I wondered what Taiwan will react upon hearing his comments. Will the much favoured Taiwanese variety shows in Singapore banned replacing them with China's jiang shan wan li qing? Who know.

I am beginning to feel the pressure upon me. Getting more and more stressful as time goes by. Sleep is going to be a luxurious commodity to me. Bear in mind that I am categorizing "sleep" as a commodity now.

The world of Windows news watchers has been abuzz over the upcoming release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.

Microsoft has made the release available to Microsoft Developer Network members on August 10, and will push it out to Windows users via the Automatic Update feature on August 25.

EXICITED!

I have got an assignment to rush and hand in next week but then the lecturer has not uploaded onto the course site. Please be faster.

Managed to get all my tutorial/lab time slots except one. That one is one of my most wanted slot and I am not able to secure it. Guess I have to set it on my free day.

Watched "Twins Effect 2" yesterday.
Yet another hilarous movie (but it's supposed not to be).

yeah!!!
finally sold my "Genes and Society" textbook.

Went to school today to attend a makeup lecture "EC1301 - Principles of Economics" because of the National Day. I saw SP's "god", Tan Wee Kek! The "god" also takes EC1301. According to the "god", he is aiming for a honours in IS and I think it is no problem for him. Why do I address him as a "god"? The reason is because he is the top student when I was studying in Singapore Polytechnic many years ago. The "god" often was seen skipping lectures and tutorials but then he almost never failed to get a distinction for almost every module. On top of that, he held 2 MCPs and a certificate in Systems Engineering awarded by Compaq. Isn't that fantastic?

THE "GOD" HAS ARRIVED!!!

I have decided to drop 1 module to make it average workload. Other modules' workload is too demanding and there are a total of 4 projects and of which, 2 are of 50%. CS2281 is the most incredible module with its final exam contributing to only 20% marks.

Met up with poly friends today. Purpose of this gathering is to pass Ser Nya's and Myo's belated birthday presents to them. It has been due for several months. Initially, I suggested to dine at Orchard Plaza food stall but then I changed my mind to the Somerset's outdoor hawker last minute. I guess it's a good change. This is the second time I had my dinner at the hawker. The previous time I did not manage to have my omelette because of the super long queue and so end up ordering only fried prawn noodle, char kway teow and fried carrot cake for 2 person. Today, we ordered BBQ seafood comprising of sting ray, sotong, kangkong, you tiao, prawn omelette (this is not the one from the super long omelette stall queue), 7 plates of rice for the 6 of us whereby I had 2. I think the dinner was quite worthwhile with each of us having to pay only $40 divided by 6 and of course I myself paid an additional of 50 cents for the extra plate of rice.

After the sumptuous dinner, we went for a drink at coffee bean. I ordered my usual "Iced Mocha".

I witnessed the change of Prime Minister and his new cabinet on TV few minutes ago. I am impressed by new PM Lee Hsien Loong for his remarkable, eloquent, and inspiring speech. Hope for the best.

I have washed my hands off in selling my "Genes and Society" textbook.
Please stop sms-ing and calling my hp anymore.

GEK2000 and SSA1201 readings are a lot!

I have to thank many who have been too nice to me in providing me notes / textbooks.

1. Quek Ser Nya - for giving me OS textbook for free.

                - for providing help in finding a book for CS2102 module.

2. Eliane - for giving me the whole bundle of SSA1201 readings.

3. My girlfriend, Regine - for providing me Maths assistance if needed.

4. And many more. Apologies to those whom I left out.

Hey, I saw "Invite a friend to Gmail"!!!
It's at the left hand bottom corner (below the Labels).

Going to invite my brother :)
He surely be ecstatic hearing this news.

I was watching NDP just now. The parade procedures and music was very similar to what I been through during 2003 SAF Day. Of course what I gone through was more tiring than this one because of the duration of the parade. I wonder when will they change the music played for marching. No creativity.

SCHOOL REOPENS AGAIN tomorrow.

I saw many familiar faces yesterday at City Hall on my way to Esplanade. Saw Joel with a girl and they are not holding hands. Seems like Joel is interested in the girl. I also saw my seconday school friend, Boon Kiat. I also saw Sgt Daniel. wow!! so happy to see so many familiar faces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Singapore. Today is Singapore's 39th birthday.

I went out with my girlfriend and her friends to Esplanade yesterday to witness fireworks display. The fireworks display has been going on for some Sundays and yesterday, there was particularly many people who went for the display. One word to describe the fireworks display - FABULOUS.

Think I will go to school alone tomorrow to come out a theme for my CS3266 project for my coming semester. Anyone wishes to accompany me? :'(

I woke up early in the morning to accompany my girlfriend to JB today. We reached Singapore customs at around 10am and the queue for Singapore was longer than normal Saturdays maybe because of the super long weekend. We finally reached JB customs at around 10.30am and saw what was simply incredible. Queues for Singaporeans were all very long and disorganized. Queues at the right side even stretched up to the public road. My girlfriend was sweet enough to accompany me in the queue. The queues were so disorganized that I couldn't even figure out any queues from the crowd. The crowd became rowdier as time passed by, with people beginning to complain the slow service of JB custom officers and the condition of the air in the customs. My girlfriend accompanied me for around 45 minutes before she advanced to the Malaysian gantry, leaving me to fend myself in the midst of the rowdy crowd.

There were a minority lot whom I classified them as barbaric, uncivilized morons. There were particularly 2 morons, a pair of old Malay couple, who made their way all the way from the back of the pack to the front, ignoring the eyes of everyone. The atmosphere became tenser when the air condition became stuffy. The old couple was stopped by a Malay young lad. The lad challenged them, asking them where were they from and asked them to go all the way back and fuck off. Sad to say, "Fuck off" did not deter them from making their further advances.

Queuing alone in such a cramped packed crowd was kind of tough and boring for me. I had got no one to talk to, no room for movement, and nothing to keep me occupied. There was a family of four people queuing in front of me and one of them, a girl, suddenly felt giddy. Her lips turned pale, her eyes became yellowish, and her hair was wet with cold perspiration. The girl's mother quickly took out a bottle of Chinese medicated oil and passed it to her another daughter. The daughter applied the medicated oil on the girl's nostrils, temples, neck and hands. The mother used her passport to fan the sick girl hoping it would help. Another couple in the queue offered the girl a "mentos".

The distance between "Counter 9" and me was less than 5 metres but though near, yet it seemed so far. At this point, the crowd separated itself into 2 queues, one for "Counter 9" and the other for "Counter 10". The situation became worse with the queues did not seem to proceed at all because of many barbaric, uncivilized morons. There were 2 male "mama shop" look-alikes morons, carrying a huge luggage each, making their way through the crowd. I was not alert enough to let one of them past me. He ignored many stares. I deliberately crossed my arms and used my elbows to block the other guy. That second guy whom I shall name him "Stupidest of all morons" here, tried to evade my block by looking for any free space around me to sneak in, however, all possible free space were blocked by my rocking left and right motion. The "Stupidest of all morons" had got no other options other than applying constant push on my back hoping I will let him get past. I would never give in to violence. No matter how hard he pushed, I remained rooted to the ground, not wanting to give in to his pressure. What the "Stupidest of all morons" could do was just watched how his friend made his way to the counter. Very soon, the "Stupidest of all morons" and I was just one queue from the "Counter 9". I noticed he attempted to squeeze his way from my left side along the left railings. I quickly hold onto the left railings to block the "Stupidest of all morons" and used my right elbow to guard my right side. The "Stupidest of all morons" finally lost his cool and told me to move forward into the queue in Malay. I understood the only word "Masuk". In English, I told him to wait for the person in front of me to have her passport checked before I could move forward. He placed his passport on the counter in an attempt to grab attention from the counter officer to have his passport processed before me even though he was behind me. To counter his actions, I placed my passport on the counter nearer to the officer and of course not letting my left hand off the left railings. I was careful enough not to let the "Stupidest of all morons" have any opportunity to sneak in like a smelly little rat.

My poor girlfriend must had waited for me until mushrooms and fungi started growing around her. Poor thing. Other than the legendary MacDonalds' "Hello Kitty" soft-toys craze few years ago, I couldn't recall having queued up for more than 1.5 hours long. Today's queue definitely earned a place in my "Guinness World of Records Book".

We had our lunch at one of the coffeeshops near City Square. After which, we had a movie "House of the Flying Dragons" at City Square's Mega Pavilion. The show was average to me.

I think I did something wrong today. I will not commit it again. Stupid me.

Module bidding is in a mess for me. I managed to secure 3 desired modules at 1 programme account point each and another module at 365 general account points. I was unable to secure EC1301 (Principles of Economics) and was out-bidded. Can you imagine minimum bid for that module in round 2A was 2000 and in round 2B was >2000? Because of I being out-bidded, I have to look for other alternative module and I found GEK1038 (Scientific Methodology). Pre-requisite is 'O' Levels Maths, Physics, Chemistry or Biology and I meet them. However, when I tried to add that module, I got an error message saying I do not meet pre-requisite! I guess this has to do with I being a diploma student and not a JC student. I have already made a total of 4 (excluding the one I going to make for GEK1038) appeals because of pre-requisite issue and so I would have made 5 appeals altogether and this number is just enough to make up modules for a semester! A big WOW! The appeal got approved after the bidding round ended and so I bidded for GEK2000 (US: From Settlements to Superpower) instead. I am not going to give up EC1301 and will fight till the end. I will bid EC1301 as my 6th module. Yes, I think I going to take 6 modules again just like last semester.

Going to rest till the next round (3A) opens on next Tuesday.

Today then I realized how slow ICQ saves its message history. The time taken to save is longer than the time it needs to take to format and reinstall WinXP. Of course the time taken to save message history is exponentially dependent on the number of message events but then it just simply is taking too long to do that. It's simply ridiculous! Hope my gf recovers from her sore throat asap.

My poly friend, Myo, just earned himself a promotion from analyst programmer to senior analyst programmer. Because of his promotion, he decided to give me a dinner treat to whatever place. I suggested bringing my girlfriend so I can introduce her to him and of course I and my girlfriend will settle her bill. We went down to a jap restaurant at Bugis for a $9 per set lunch. On top of the jap set, Myo ordered side dishes comprising my favourite soft shell crab and beancurd. The dinner cost a total of $58.25 and he was generous enough to pay for everybody including my girlfriend's. He's a very nice gentleman.