IVP Track & Field

Stepped onto SRC for the first time since last May, and to participate in a trial to select discus throwers to represent NTU at the Singapore Open in September. Because they no longer organise the NTU Inter-School Track & Field, they will be sending athletes to the upcoming Singapore Open and use the results for selection of the IVP T&F team.

Haha, this must be the year when I put in the most effort to try and qualify for the team. But the discus trial went pretty smoothly, with only 4 persons vying for 2 spots. I am pretty off form, not at the peak of my strength and last touched a discus 2 years ago, but I still mustered 25m+ for second. A freshie threw 27m to finish ahead. Damn, I have been ursurped as NTU's discus champ.

But discus is not my pet event, and I did a short throwing training for shot put. Not too bad, I am still able to throw rather consistently above 9m, hitting about 9.5m. Taking into account my current physical condition, I estimate that I can hit 10.5m if I start training regularly (1 time a wk) from now till September. Hopefully, I can round off my final year with a medal, but shrugz, haven't compete last year and am not sure of the standards now.

Cheers to a new IVP jacket!

You can't live off Singapore Pools

I got burnt this wkend - lost $200 on Liverpool.

After all the hype, transfers, beating Chelsea for the Charity Shield, they can't beat Sheffield Utd away on the opening day of the EPL season. A super shocker, and especially painful for my wallet. Ouch.

Haiz, maybe winning during the WC bred disrespect for Pools. It's time to review my betting policy, or maybe I should not get started on betting at all.

Okie, eating grass for the week. Moo.

Letting off steam...

School has been hectic, with the fatigue starting to set in even though this is only the second week. So tired now to work, I think I should blog to to let off some steam...

Workload is heavy. 8 modules for a final year seems a tad too much, with a timetable that spans from early morning to late afternoons for most of the weekdays. It is not an ideal schedule, considering that I have to fork out considerable time to do my FYP.

FYP has been relatively light, but am still required to do some self-studying on my own for my part on receiver design. Right now, I can only make out the concepts, but still do not understand much. And will have to go down to the design of the integrated circuit for various components like the amplifier, filter, oscillator and mixer. The mention of integrated circuits is sending chill down my spine, because I have replaced EE3003 in NTU with a module consisting of only op-amps, diodes and BJTs in France. Can't escape after all, think I gotta put in more time to self-study, again. Anyway, been helping out the PhD student and another yr 4 guy with some experiments that is taking up some time. Was there whole afternoon today doing mundane work of changing frequency of singal generators at the transmitter end, from 4pm to 9pm. Neva had lunch, and was freaking hungry by the time our experiment ended. Came back hall to cook instant noodles...

Besides FYP, I thought most of my modules this sem rather manageable, judging from the lectures for the first two weeks. Wireless communication is my FYP, so I gotta make it my pet subject, while Telecommunications look like a module about plugging in numbers into equations to get answers, suits me pretty fine. Software engineering is all abt memorisation. That leaves DSP, which my FYP mates advised me to drop because they found it difficult. I didn't, because I still believe in the value of equipping myself with basic DSP knowledge that would be beneficial to my Communications specialisation. Very fortunately, most of my tutorial class tutors are the lecturers of the modules, so at least I won't get goondoo Profs who dunno their work.

But then, there is Human Resource Management (HRM), a killer subject for EEE4. The reason - an egoistic lecturer who claims to make sure you fail the second semester if you don't make the grade in the first. In a way, he is encouraging student participation by encouraging people to post on the EE4041 discussion board, promising to give notice to active students. Pretty unorthodox, but I thought the avanlanche of posts in the discussion board now are pretty much nothing but people who are trying to score points. But well, I am posting as well, although I made one sarcastic post which probably caught his attention, saying I am trying to make the other students feel guilty for no rhyme or reason. *shrugz* Yah, juz gotta submit to power sometimes, I will be posting to get into a good position for a good grade. And GOSH, everyone gotta buy a brand new edition textbook (ie no 2nd hand from seniors) @ $41!! Wallet bleeding...

And I realised I still havent gotten over my phobia for cats and probably dogs. Pathetic right, such a big man afraid of a scrawny kitten which ran into my room last night, in the end gotta seek help of my neighbour to get the cat out! I guess I'm just not a pets person.

Yah, basically just an incoherent entry. Shagged.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Actually I am just becoming aloof, and independent. They go together. Can't keep trying to click in with the rest. I relish friendship, esprit de corps, but I think I need more vitesse and finesse to move ahead, to fulfill the challenge I issued to myself.

Yah, I want to be the no-nonsense guy. I know I look unapproachable when I don't smile, but that's too bad if people can't get beyond the superficials.

Happy National Day, Singapore!

We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

I feel very proud to be a Singaporean, for our achievements starting from scratch, for this is my home, where I know I matter. Really, there isn't another place like home!

So crowded

I seriously believe NTU has one of the highest human density (ie number of humans per sq metre) in Singapore. After being away from one whole year, I can't seem to deal with the amount of people around. Haha, maybe I am suffering from some fear of crowds...

Evidence 1: Crowded libraries
School just started yesterday, and library is the number one destinations for all students. Everyone wanna grab a computer terminal, everyone wants to print and buy notes. It took me 10 mins to find a terminal at LWN, 1 minute to send my documents for printing, 15 mins to queue up to release the prints from the self-service payment stations, and 5 mins to wait for my printouts. Total time taken = 31mins.

Evidence 2: Crowded canteens
The queues are neverending, and it explains why I am here blogging at lunch time. Simply dun wanna spend my time in the line.

Evidence 3: Queue at EEE iHub
Erm, basically the iHub is a computer room, but they recently installed a system which requires you to make a booking for a computer terminal by swiping ur matric card. As a result, people are made to queue for nothing (imo) just to get a computer terminal. Seriously, where have their brains gone to? Why bother setting up such a system? First come first served... Apparently the 2hrs per pax usage time is aimed to ease people from hogging on to computers. Just plain dumb. Period.

So many faces, so crowded. Frankly I hate this kinda sardine packing mad rush. Pout.

On your mark... Get set...

Finally back in NTU, moved into my cosy little single room, back to Hall 8 to see the familiar faces, and bracing for the start of the final year.

Final year life is not going to be easy, especially after meeting my FYP prof and groupmates last week. In a week, my prof expects three of us to come up with a design of a wideband receiver. I went through some lecture notes that she sent to us, and read up a little bit more by looking for some materials in the library over the weekend. Yup, I was in Library 2 on a saturday morning before the semester begins proper.

Digressing, I met Wanquan at the library as well. He is going to year 2 at CBE and is turning out to be a bigger mugger than I thought. But hearing WQ expressing regrets about his JC performance struck a chord with me. We were all once on par with the crème de la crème, but have now all lagged behind. At least he is trying to make up for lost time, having a GPA of 4.8 in his first year. Let us all work like no tomorrow!

Hmm, but I think I will be forced to work that way in any case. I can already feel the burden of carrying 2 HSS and 1 third year technical elective module into the final year. =|

I probably should get down to doing some real work. Thanks for hearing me grumble. Cheers to start of school!