Have a Break

     Ok, to be honest, i had not been full swing studying for my exam. Saturday paper is a gone case. Let's just pray for me to pass~! I can't expect good grades this year. Confidence is running low. On a lighter note, that paper is the one which i fear most. The other two are slightly cope-able for me. Anyway, i'll be studying the next few days before attending the examination on thursday and saturday.

     Yesterday was the biggest event of the year for Singapore TV Scene- The Star Awards 2009. Mediacorp showed fairness and favoritism over the artistes. Dai Yang Tian, with his mediocre performance in The Little Nyonya, won the best newcomer. I believed the other nominees are much better than him. Maybe this was given as a makeup for not making it to the list of Most Popular Top 20 Artistess. The Little Nyonya was one of the most hate show I ever watched in Channel 8. Overrated, but kudos to those supporting casts, their good acting prove that this show is still watchable. Thankfully, Jeanette Aw lost the best actress to Joanne Peh. I would rather Joanne Peh or Chen Liping win instead of that lousy, expressionless Jeanette.

Surprises

Kym Ng and Michelle Chia did not make it to the Top 20 list. Ann Kok did not even qualify for the top 40. Henry Thia made it to the Top 20. Gurmit Singh and him, should not even get the nomination. What was Henry Thia show in 2008? I can’t even recall Gurmit’s show too. I would expect a battle of the young male idol next year in the Top 20 category, since the two LEEs will be up in the Sheng Tai - Christopher Lee & Mark Lee. I will call for Kym next year, remind me~!!! Last surprise was that there are two award winner in Supporting Actress category~!

Not so Surprising

     Chen Hanwei won the best actor, Joanne won the best actress, Xiang Yun & Ng Hui won the supporting actress. In supporting actor category, Chew Chor Meng beat the other capable nominees. He may not be the clear favorites, his acting was still good. The more popular Seven Princess qualify for the Top 10 while the other two, Fiona & Dawn, was out again~! The Little Nyonya won the best TV series. Its not surprising, since they spend so much in promoting the ‘Nyonya’ culture.

     I don’t believe The Little Nyonya’s main song should win. There are better songs available. I think Perfect Cut should win the TV series and also the song. I simply love Shi Xin Hui’s two songs from the show. Both songs was featured in my blog here. Guo Liang deserves his host award while Belinda deserves her award in infotainment host award. Over at the newscaster category, Dong Shu Hua beats Zhang Hai Jie to win 5 consecutive. Isn’t that an achievement over someone who also won many times consecutively before jumping over to, now defunct, MediaWorks?

     Alright, its all my view. No hard feelings but Jeanette & Dai Yang Tian had a long way to go before they can claim any acting awards.

Garden of Music 2009

     A night of party... A gathering of good old friends.. Lee Wei Song & Lee Si Song marks their 25th year in showbiz with a party like concert showcasing their songs, their 'babies' and a few artiste whom they worked with. The guests includes A-list big names like Jolin, Show Luo, Jam Hsiao and Singapore very own YanZi... Other guests includes Maggie Teng, Daniel Chan (long lost Xiao Dong that no longer xiao) and Ai Jia (Campus Superstar III runner-up), their Wei Song Music School's students that includes Da Feng Cui (SuperBand II runner-up).

     Surprisingly, i had expected a better turn-out. With a list of stars appearing, most fans should be there supporting their idol and pit against other fan club. It was not the case at this concert. Those sitting at the balcony seats were shifted down to make the stadium look pack (from what i see). It was a rather cheapo show if not thanks to the league of the stars. The production team, cameraman etc did not put up a good show. I don't like what i see on big screen. It is rather badly taken.... The sound system is too loud... As the stadium is pretty empty, the sound was consider to be way too loud.

     Si Song & Wei Song, obviously aren't singers... Apart from poor volumn control of their mic, their voice often sounds irritating. Wei Song obviously is the better singer among the two. But credits to them for holding some tunes in a few songs... Their products to those stars are good too.

     Those stars performed up to expectation... The worst performer, apart from the main characters, happened to be Jolin, in my opinion. Her voice sound a little strange, bi ying too strong. The surprise act will definitely be Chong Qing, who recently likes to impersonate Ai-yo-yo. He brought laughter to the bored audiences. Show Luo showed his hosting skills. Daniel was one that i couldn't recognise. He became fatter and a little too friendly, but still can sing... majority in cantonese... *laugh* for a few minutes, i thought he and Wei Song got 'something' going on. Maggie was too old for showbiz, Jam Hsiao belted out a tune showing that he can sing 'Live' (unlike Yoga). We were expecting more from Yan Zi, but no favortism showed here. She sang the same number of songs (2) as the rest of the stars.

     I went to 3 concerts. This was more like a music show. JJ is still the most disappointing one. Maybe i expect this show to be so-so... haha!! I also never expect Daniel to become so fat and so derrick-like. Gone are the days of youth in his prime age. Yanzi to appear in that manner... Hope Yanzi can style up before appearing. Her Medusa-like hair was scary and ugly... Her concert is coming up in July, go support her~!

i.m.a machine

     Finally its over, a week of hardship... countless hours of hardwork... days of late night working, burning midnight oil... finally, i completed the mission impossible of finishing 2 projects, 2 presentation (alright, 1 for me) all within a week. What more, i received pretty good coments...

     First, in HFE project, we are one of the three groups to be given a choice either to record our presentation or present to him 'LIVE' in an arranged timing. This was because there were a total of 9 groups presenting, the class can only accomodate 6 presentations. I was the sole presenter for our group as i feel that having more than one presenters might break the flow of the presentation during the changing of presenters. Here's what his feedback via email:

"I just finished watching your video presentation. I though it is quite good. The video quality is good enough to understand all that was said. I had no problem coordinating the presentation with the slides that I printed out and the hardcopy report I have in front of me. The content of your presentation itself is good. I expected more than one presenter, but… It’s ok. You did a good job. Thanks."

     Frankly speaking, when i saw the email in my company, i gave a 'YES!' shout, almost out in the office... thankfully, i was able to contain the unbelievable feeling. A few reasons to why i feel so... Firstly, the six teams that presented on that day were bombarded with questions, given a stern face etc. I will sure shiver if i were there presenting. Secondly, its a rush job, i finish the slides on the eve of the recording and the next day is the deadline. Report was completed on the eve of the deadline too. Imagine the rush? Guess i am good in doing a last minute rush of jobs. It reflected in my history. *opps* Last but not least, the whole video was me alone. Its the second take that was submitted. i felt a strange sense of acheivement. My team mates were shocked by his positive comments too~! *laugh* They even joked, "looks the lecturer like you, next time will have you present more often". Yes, i was HAPPY~!

     i made my stand and eventually excused myself from the second presentation, despite being recognise as the obvious choice presenter due to my command of english over a group of china-born mates. My focus was back to the report and managed to change, edit, write the whole report in a night. i received the 'draft' only at 10+pm and noticed that many things to change. I read, think, edit, re-organise and eventually finish the report only at 4+AM.

     Alright, time to take a rest over the weekend before exam study period begins... *sigh*

My Project Group

My IE2140E Class

伤心。难过。失望

你是否曾经因为太过失望，激动，生气到心跳加速，胸口很闷?

现在此时此刻，我就有着这样辛苦的感觉。我很累，很累。也许期望高会导致失望更大吧。我会有这样的感觉多亏于我学校的团员。我们在去年八月以来，合作过无数次。去年的成绩还算不错，所以今年并无须太多顾虑，便决定一起再次合作。没想到，结果会是这样。

今年，何瑞常迟到，几乎没有早到过。文武也在其中一次的讨论会上，没理由的迟到了一个多小时。那天，还是他提出早点讨论的。大家约定在9am在Chua Chu Kang麦当劳，我和Lina提前告诉他们，我们会迟一些到，让他们先开始。结果，我九点多，十点抵达MRT才接到何瑞的电话，问我在哪，说联络不上文武和俊浩，他自己还没出 门。俊浩晚班过来，我能原谅，工作可能耽搁了。可是为何我一个住那么远的竟然先到~！换了个地点到Sembawang，结果俊浩先到，何瑞还在家里。若你是我，你会气吗? 那天我很气，但忍了过去了。 星期五，Good Friday。何瑞常说我很难约，常常有事，说我们所剩的时间已经很少了(下个星期得交两个报告，做两个Presentation)，要我一定得把剩下的时间空下来做报告 。星期四，我叫文武转告何瑞和俊浩，记得告诉我时间和地点。他回复说他们叫我等他们的SMS，等当天才确定。结果我等了一整天，一个屁都没收到！让我很生气！

进度那么慢，我并没有说我自己没有任何的错。我也有错。

一。我当天应该SMS何瑞和俊浩两人，而不是只SMS 俊浩一人。俊浩，当天因为职夜班，接到何瑞的电话后，便去睡了。何瑞取消了那天的约会。

二。我不应该旷课。因为出国，我对老师的要求一无所知。在课堂上的进度变得很慢，无法给予有明确的建议。

三。我太信任他们了。不知是老师没说清楚，还是他们不专心，没有人对我们的project有很明确的方向感。即使我问他们老师要什么，"不清楚"！

刚跟俊浩MSN，让我更加激动。算了，既然大家意见不同，没必要合作下去。下个学期，也许我不会和他们合作了。这次的考试，我决定自己在家读了。

food poisoning

     one miscarriage, one death, a lot hospitalised. Yes i am talking about the Geylang Serai Rojak food poisoning incident. It seems a trend now... *laugh* and i get the same illness too with less severity. My symptoms are similiar with what being reported on news. I did not eat the rojak, thankfully, but i believe that the root cause should be Sakura International @downtown east. Why do i say so?

     Aris SMSed us, checking with us whether anyone having runs like him. He did that the next day. I was having runs too but passed it off lightly. I usually have to go toilet a number of time after buffet. It seemed normal to me then. But this thing carried on till today. Recent visit to toilet ended with no 'cake', yet i felt the pain at my abs/stomach area. My body is also aching since then.

     Feeling weaker, i decided to visit our company-affliated doctor. I was diagnose having the same illness. But not to worry, it wasn't THAT serious. I think thanks to the 1L of water per day. *laugh*

     Alright, time for some read up. I haven't complete my HFE homework 4 & 5 which was due tomorrow. Ciaoz

longest post ever

      Its been days since my last post and I broke my promise of having a daily updates during my reservice. Something had happened when I crossed the half-way mark during my ICT. On Sunday, March 22 5.50pm, my aunt passed away peacefully. My schedule became messy after that. It reminds me that whatever job we have, we should try and finish it as early as possible so that we leave ourselves some time allowance for unexpected things to happen.

Army ICT

      Nothing special happened in ICT. The bad apples continues to rot, while the good ones continue to sleeps. *laugh* Oh, I passed my IPPT (with a little help) in one go and get $100~! For the past few years, I only passed the IPPT with a few tries. I usually passed the Chin-Up on a different attempt. I was pretty pleased with my 2.4km timing. I was unfamiliar with the route, just like the rest, yet I ran 11 flat timing. I came in third but I think I did inspire a few to better their timing (I hope). 2 of my friends were aiming to get a silver timing, hence I tried to let them chase me. Paul ran passed me on the last stretch. *laugh* I remember me shouting on the last 100m to him. He ran faster as he thought I was very near him. *laugh* That, to me, was an achievement. It makes me remember my last IPPT in BMTC. I helped my friend to pass his 2.4km to pass the IPPT. I gave up bettering my timing. But was happy enough~!!! *proud of myself*

Studies – Projects & Tests

      I was informed that there will be a test for Engg Econs on the last day of my ICT. Hence, I was a little afraid that I couldn’t study. Initial plan was to study during that week after ICT since the test falls on a Friday, I have a Sunday to study as well. But due to my aunt’s death, I went to her wake (though not of much help) as a form of respect and accompany my other relatives and cousins who were there. In the end I couldn’t concentrate much and did not study till the exact day of test. Thankfully, my friends and army in-charges were all supportive (bad apples aren’t my friends), or else I may not make it. Due to the lack of time, I decided to study smart after knowing my lecturer’s style. It worked; I can answer most of the questions. But I have to thank my aunt for watching over me. The results were out two days ago. When lecturer went through the answers, I seems to made a lot of mistakes like writing down the wrong numbers. I do not deserve the score I get (I was above average). I get to score thanks to the leniency of my lecturer’s marking. He gave points to workings & understandings, instead of final answer. Thanks Aunt, for watching over me.

      Deadlines for projects and homework were getting nearer, but I am still lost here and there. But things are getting clearer. We managed to submit our homework on time, though I expected a much better product. Never mind, I guess I shouldn’t expect much from this group of people. I was severely insecure and agitated over the past few days. But thanks to Ermei, Qiang for listening to my non-stop complaining to get me back at work… Xinyi also did hear a little bit, but that was after I was calmer. Things are now back on track, so not to worry. Thanks Ermei for running here and there to get the information I need. I appreciate it~!

Taoist Youth Society – Mini Exhibition

      I felt a change in me, or I should say, I felt a change in me is needed. After my aunt pass away, i get less agitated easily and more willing to help people around me. I went to help Ermei in a neighborhood mini exhibition last Sunday. Though I am a free thinker, I was more inclined towards Taoism or Buddhism due to my family’s influence. Maybe this is the reason I can relate more towards the event and accept the invitation to help out.

Other changes in me

      I recently change my diet a little. I tried to drink at least 1 litre of water a day (plain or green tea) and I did it successfully for 3 consecutive days. I cut down on meat intake as well. Apart from wanting to get a healthier diet, it is a form of giving respect to my aunt. I will eat vegetarian whenever I can. Hope I can last long. Not sure if its due to the food, my temper became much better. *laugh*

      I noticed that I became slightly more open, more vocal at home. Many may not know this; I was a very different person at home or outside. Something my parents should have noticed long ago. When I was younger, I always quarrel with my brother but was usually asked to give in, due to his character, by my family. This resulted in me getting quieter and finding it no point in saying out my views and will definitely avoid conflicts if I just keep quiet. I actually did it outside too, but with friends, I am more comfortable to be more vocal. I felt that we are all equal.

Family and Friends

      Our family seems more close-knitted. I do not usually go out with my cousins. But recently, we went to pay respect together, went play basketball, Wii,bring my cousin to polyclinic with my other cousins… yesterday, I had a mini family vegetarian dinner with my 9 relatives. Its great and we went AMK to have a walk after that. I treat them desserts, local delights. I was supposed to treat them Andersen’s but plan postponed *phew* because the adults are more inclined to cheap and good food, prefer local delights. My cousins warned me that they will still demand a treat ‘soon’, *sigh* Looks like I couldn’t run away. *looking at my wallet* I was enjoying my time with my relatives. Throughout the journey, the battle was on. *laugh* The battle of ‘DJ Max’ on PSP interface. All right, I was couldn’t win my cousin, who has been playing this for a long time. But I was better than my sister and other cousin, okay?! *laugh*

      Due to my tighter schedule, I did not find friends to go out. But I did go to two functions which was planned before my aunt’s incident. Qiang’s birthday celebration and EC0118’s reunion dinner. I enjoyed the time with friends but I noticed one thing, I do not have the urge of going out with friends as much as before. May be due to my tired-ness, hope that I will not become hans solo as this is not who I should be.