An Exhausting Week...

The Uneven Timetable
Unfortunately for me, the timetable is kind of uneven for me. For Tuesday, I'll be spending the whole day in NUS just for 3 periods of lessons. Yup, this means that there is a long break in between the lessons. Well, I could only put in one tutorial slot there, since I only can ballot the tutorials for 1 module. The other modules are already preallocated.

For Wednesday, on alternate weeks, Ill be rushing from one place to the other. Between 8am and 10am, I have my lecture at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), which is located at the south-west side of NUS. Right after my lecture, I'll be rushing to School of Computing (SoC), which is located at the north-east side of NUS, for my programming practicals (if there's one on that week), which is from 10am to 12pm. This means I must sprint from FASS to SoC, which might take me more than 15 minutes to do so, or squeeze inside the shuttle bus with other students to SoC, which comes every 4 minutes...

That's not the end. After my programming practical at SoC, I have to rush to Faculty of Engineering (located at the west end of NUS) for my next lecture from 12pm to 1pm. Yup, either I have to sprint or to squeeze in the shuttle bus. Anyway, there are only like about 200 working seats (seats without broken tables) in that lecture theatre, and there are more than 200 students attending the lecture. So, if I have to rush from SoC to my lecture at FoE, most likely I would have to take up those seats with broken tables, or to sit on the stairways instead.

I finish my lessons late on Wednesday, so most likely I would already have "passed out" before going for my last lesson of the day...

Buying Textbooks
Well, so far I had spent about $200 on textbooks. Some people said that I should have bought the 2nd hand textbooks from the seniors, or from the 2nd hand book fair, or maybe just use the lecturers lecture notes or presentation slides. Well, I prefer newer textbooks, as it would not have writings in it, which may looks kind of messy. Yup, those writings can be helpful, but I'm used to my own writing. Sometimes I might not understand what other people write as well, so it's better for me to get a new textbook and write the notes myself. Getting the textbook would also supplement what I learn in the lectures, so that I can know a little more. Yup, that's learning.

Exhausted
Yup, the first week of lessons is NUS means there were a lot of admin stuff to do. We have to print out the lecture notes/presentation slides, check up for compulsory readings and buy the textbooks, familiarise with the place, and so on. It can be exhuasting, so exhausting that right after I reached home, I would just fall asleep straight away...

Friday: That Only Rest Day
Yup, this will be the only day where I can rest and relax for the whole semester. Anyway, I went to SAFRA Toa Payoh in the morning to collect my SSBR/AHM race pack at the race expo. Collected my SSBR/AHM T-shirt, goodie bag coupon, tag number and the pins at the expo. Just for those people who are interested, my tag number is 6094. So, anyone buying 4-D?

Well, I'll be running the 10km SSBR next Sunday with Wei Qiang, Hong Joo, and some other people which I still can't confirm if they are running as well. Yup, just next week only, so far only ran up to 6km... Well, never mind, I'm only taking part in the fun run, so should be ok if I walk for the next 4km... :P

Later at evening, I met up with Chun Hoo and Wei Qiang at Westmall for a movie "Dragon Tiger Gate". Well, initially, Chun Hoo thought that there's a great movie discount at Eng Wah cineplex, and wanted to watched Ant Bully, but it turned out that only "Dragon Tiger Gate" movie had that discount... Well, never mind, I know that somehow I'll have to watch this movie with someone. Anyway, the movie was not bad, the plot was kind of simple. Yup, we only paid $5 for each movie tickets. That's really cheap.

Saturday Run
Finally, Wei Qiang and I decided to go and run at Bishan Park on Saturday morning. Yup, we haven't been running for quite sometime already. Well, decided to spend our morning to train for the upcoming SSBR/AHM. Haha... Me kind of exhausted after running for about 4+km... Hmm... Looks like I might not be training enough...

A Tiring Week...

The Evening Lectures
For the past few days, I had been attending the evening maths lecture conducted by the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. The lecture were about the maths that we were going to do during our course. Most of the things taught by them are applications of maths for our engineering course. Well, I didn't understand what they were teaching though... What they taught to us were either new to use, or I had learnt them before in junior college, but never use them in such a way... Yup, they were also very teaching very quickly as well. Before I could even finish at least half of the page of a presentation slide, they moved on to the next slide already. Hmm... One of the lecturer, Dr Loh, always like to use the word "this" and "that", pointing to the slides. Well, it was kind of confusing when she just kept using "this" and "that", expecting us to absorb from the presentation slides very quickly... Yup, the topics are kind of new to me, don't think I can absorb so fast, right? Another lecturer, Mr Yu, a PhD student, would use his own Chinese English to teach us, and present his lecture with his presentation slides very quickly. Always didn't have that time to copy all the things on the slide... Well, at least they posted the presentation slides on the website, so that I can read the slides at my own time.

For all the 4 lectures that I attended, I was late for the 3 lectures. Yup, I haven't had my dinner before coming for the lecture, so a few of us, including Hong Joo, would take our time to find a place for dinner and eat. Haha... We were late for like 15 minutes for the first 3 lectures... Hmm... Think that was really a bad start for school... :P Anyway, I have to comment that the McDonald in NUS is really cheap, each set meal is cheaper by $1 plus as compared to the McDonalds outside in Singapore. For those people who don't know where is McDonald in NUS, it is just beside Techno Edge canteen, the canteen in the Faculty of Engineering, which is quite near to the computer centre. Oh yeah, if you are a student in NUS, you will get discounts for dining in Subway inside NUS. That's nice, maybe I'll eat Subway everyday... :P Well, Subway is located near Yusof Ishak house, just for your information.

Tertiary Ez-Link Card
Yup, I had collected the card already, now I could apply for my concession pass. Only applied for the train concession, as I don't take the bus as much as I do for trains. It's cost me $45 per month (for 4 rides a day), but it's definitely worth it. Without the concession pass, I'll be spending $70+ per month for the train. With the pass, I just need to spend roughly $45 to $50 a month. Yup, will save about $20 a month in that case. Well, I didn't apply for the bus as I did not travel with the bus as often. So far, I only spent about $30+ for the bus trips per month. The bus concession pass would cost me $52 a month for unlimited trips, so I'll have wasted $20 for the bus concession pass... Well, you have to consider whether the concession pass would benefits you or not...

Anyway, the tertiary Ez-link card will also make a good photo-identity card. It can also be used to buy food from McDonalds's and some food courts, items from 7-eleven and any places and vending machines that accepts Ez-link card. It can also be used as a library card as well. How nice... At least I don't have to bring out my pink IC (which cost $300 to replace if I lose it) or my driving licence (unlesss I need to drive).

Happy National Day!!!
Well, don't really feel that National Day was here. Maybe because I wasn't in MOE schools anymore, so didn't really receive much National Education and all those stuffs...

Anyway, I spent my afternoon watching a movie "Click" myself. Well, have to say the the movie was quite nice. It was funny at the beginning and at the middle, where Michael misused the so-called universal remote control. It got a little touching when he realised the mistakes he had made.

Didn't really watch the National Day Parade on the television though. Just feeling a little tired to watch... Well, the National Day Parade didn't really seem appealing to me as well, maybe the fireworks may look kind of beautiful...

Non-ICT IPPT
Yup, I attempted my very first non-ICT IPPT just yesterday (Saturday). Well, I decided to take my IPPT in SAFRA Toa Payoh Gym as it was near my house. Some people might have asked me, why I didn't take my IPPT at FCC (Fitness and Conditioning Centre), as there are monetary awards for IPPT taken in FCC if I do well enough, whereas taking IPPT in the gyms do not have any monetary award, no matter how well I perform (as they set the 2.4km run on treadmill to be just only a pass standard). I have to say that I wasn't going after money, and after having a very long break without exercising, I feel that I couldn't get to even at least a Silver award, so I decided to take in the gym, since the SAFRA Toa PAyoh gym is very near to my house. Anyway, I didn't know how to go to any for the 3 FCC (Bedok, Maju and Khatib).

Some people also ask me why do I take my IPPT so early. Well, I have to say that my IPPT window was the FIRST to be opened in my platoon, after we ORD in March, so Wei Qiang is lucky enough to have his window be the last one to be opened, since he ORD in February, right before we ORD. Yup, so in that case, I have to be one of the first few to attempt my IPPT, right. Anyway, my window had already opened for quite some time, so I better take my IPPT someday soon.

Anyway, when I went to SAFRA Toa Payoh to take my IPPT, I realised that most of the people who come to the gym to take their IPPT are those people who birthdays are coming soon. Yup, there was one of them who told me that his birthday was on next Friday. So, actually, they were mostly birthday boys, who didn't want to be IPPT defaulters. Well, they chose the gym because the weather outside would affect the IPPT taken in gym, since it was conducted indoors.

Thought that I might not be able to pass my IPPT becuase of pull-up, but in the end, I managed to do 7 pull-ups. Hmm... I wonder how I could have done that without exercising... Anyway, I managed to pass all 5 stations. Well, after the treadmill run, when I went up for out-processing, the IPPT instructor accidentally delete my scores and particulars from the notebook. Well, the fitness instructors (which is also known as PTIs) thought that I forgot to do the in-processing, only when the IPPT instructor (the older indian guy) told him that he accidentally delete my records... Luckily, my IPPT records can be found in the PDA the Fitness Instructors used to record our scores, so the person had to key in my score manually instead. Well, as he had to do the in-processing to key in my scores, it look like I only took my whole IPPT for about 30 seconds, as the time difference between the in-processing and the out-processing was only like 30 seconds apart... Well, just that something screwed up...

Anyway, I got my IPPT test receipt here with me. The test receipt will be given to the people right after their IPPT test, to keep track of their scores. Yup, have to keep the receipt just in case they forgot to input my scores into their database, and if they accused me of being IPPT defaulters, I can show them this receipt. Well, here's mine.



Happy Birthday Zhiliang
Went for the Zhiliang birthday celebration at his house. Well, as Zhiliang had too many guest to entertain, he message me to tell us to go to his place by our own. Well, after meeting with Shi Qing, Hong Joo and Victor there, we took the first bus that we saw that went to Zhiliang's house. About the present, the 4 of us shared the sheep soft toy costing about $28 as a birthday present for Zhiliang.

Well, as we were about to enter the condomimium area, there was this cat that kept following us. When Zhiliang opened the side gates for the 4 of us to enter, the cat flollowed us inside the place as well... Hmm... I supposed the cat was smart enough that there was a party going on in the function room in the condominium area, so that would mean food for the cat... Haha...

Anyway, the food was quite nice there. Hmm... I was wondering which caterer did they ordered the food from. The cake was also nice as well. Yup, kind of rare of me to say that, since I don't like to at cakes... Anyway, we also had a bit of fun there, especially when there were some people throwing the birthday boy into the swimming pool.

As I was feeling a bit giddy and tired, I decided to leave earlier, with the "Easties" (Shi Qing, Hong Joo and Wenhao). Yup, I was really feeling so tired, right after I reached home, I went to my bed and sleep straight away...

A Hectic Week

So Many Things to Do!!!
It had been a hectic week. Finally, I managed to squeeze out some time to type out my blog. Yup, anyway, I've already maytriculated, and now, I waiting for round 2A to start, so that I can bid for my Physics module, and 1 more module, either 1 module from Singapore Studies, or 1 module from the SARTORS requirement (business/management module).

Monday
Ok, this is just one day that I can relax. Well, basically, there's nothing much for me to do on that day. I decided to catch a movie "Thank You for Not Smoking" at Cathay Cineleisure. Well, the movie was not bad, quite funny actually.

Tuesday
Met up with Hong Joo, Kai Quan there at Clementi to go for the Engineering Welcome Session. Well, Hong Joo also met up with one of his friend, Jia Cheng. The 4 of us went to take the bus to NUS to meet up with Hui Huang as well.

Well, the welcome part was kind of boring, with the introduction of the Faculty of Engineering members and all these things. Well, the vice-dean also kept mentioning on how we had made the right choice of doing Engineering in NUS, mentioning all the rankings, SARTORS accredition and so on. Ok... After that, he went on to talk about what we could do next time when we graduate, the faculty requirements and the university requirements, and also a bit about the modules.

After the vice-dean talk, we had a talk by the Engineering Club memebers about the activities they are organising. Well, they kept encouraging us to take part in the Engineering O Week, but then there was only a limited slots for us... Hmm...

Lunch was catered buffet. Well, we queue for the food a bit late, so we were only left with fried rice, bee hoon, and those food that people didn't want to take. Hmm... Still felt a bit hungry after lunch...

After lunch, we had a video presentation about CORS, the module bidding system. Well, we can't really sleep during the video presentation, or we might miss out a lot of things.

After the welcome session ended, Kai Quan wanted to meet his friend, who was having a welcome session at School of Computing to pass some things to him. Well, we decided to accompany him along, so that he won't feel bored. We went to the canteen at Faculty of Science, and had our snacks there. Well, I was actually having my early dinner there, eating wanton noodle, as I was feeling quite hungry since I didn't eat much during lunch. Well, I have to say that the food at NUS canteen is cheap. Haha...

Wednesday
There's a Maths revision going on during that day. Well, I decided to come along since my standard had already dipped. Yup, think now my standard uis equivalent to a primary school student... Anyway, the lecture was about Sets, Funtions and Com[plex numbers. Well, I realised that my brain had become so rusty, I couldn't really recall much what I had learn last time... Hmm... Must be because of Army...

Thursday
It's our matriculation day. met up with Hong Joo, Wenhao and Jian Hao at Clementi station. Well, I arrived a bit late, so they had to wait for me there... Haha... Anyway, we took the bus there after that to MPSH.

Well, as Hong Joo and I arrive a bit too early for the matriculation (well, they had actually allocated the timeslot for us), the person there told us to come back again at our allocated timeslot, as they did not have our matriculation card. Well, ok Hong Joo and I decided to go out and wait before our turn comes. Well, at our allocated timeslot is the next timeslot, so we didn't have to wait for too long. Well, poor Jian Hao had to wait until 3pm for his turn... Not really sure what he did during the meantime though...

Anyway, after we matriculate, we collect our NUS bag and mug before proceeding on to the fair on the 1st level. Well, there was a notebook fair going on during our matriculation. I wanted to get a notebook, but still can't decide on what model to get yet. As the notebook thing might take quite some time, and we had to go to the 2nd level for some other things, I decided to get my notebook the next day, which is Friday. Yup, the fair will still go on until Friday.

We then met up with Wenhao and Hong Joo's friend outside the notebook booth, and we went to the 2nd level together. Over there, I bought a matric pack and a engineering pack, which cost me a total of $20. While we were walking across the ECA booths, we were always being stopped by the people there, to listen about theiractivities and so on. I sign up for a few of them, can't really remember what I had sign u[ already. Anyway, I also sign up for NUSSO, but subsequently got rejected as I had not enough experiece with the orchestra and the instrument as well. Sorry, there's no piano section in the orchestra.

Well, I also applied for the DBS-NUS Debit card. I thought it look kind of nice, so I applied one, with most of the people as well. Now I need to wait for about 2 weeks for the card to arrive to my home.

Friday
Well, by right I should be attending my maths revision lectures on that day, but eventually, I had to give the 1st lecture a miss, and I had to be late for the 2nd lecture. Well, the notebook thing just take too much time...

In the morning, I met up with Victor Cheng and Hong Joo at Clementi station. Well, why do I include Victor's surname onto this blog? Later you will know why. Anyway, Victor Cheng wanted to change his passbook acount from thumbprint based to signature based, so he wanted to visit a POSB branch before going to NUS.

When we reached the MSPH for the notebook fair, Victor Cheng and I were still deciding and discussing which notebook should we get. Eventually, both of us decided on Fujitsu S7110 notebook with Victor Cheng's friends, and my JC schoolmate, which is also called Victor (well, it's Victor Lee). As Victor Cheng was using free-interest loan to pay for his notebook, it took him only a short while for him to finish since he didn't have to collect the notebook on that day. Well, as Victor Lee and I were using the "Cash and Carry" payment, it would take us some time for us to finish. Yup, when I queue up, the person asked me to come back in another 30 minutes time, so I decided to have my lunch with Hong Joo first.

Well, when I came back to the notebook fair, it took me 30 minutes to make payment. Yup, I'm using 100% NETS, even though the notebook cost me more than $2300 after the memory upgrade and getting the Microsoft Office 2003, since I have to NETS card, 1 is my POSB Go! Enhanced ATM card, the other is my orange POSB Debit card, which can be used as a NETS card as well. After that, I waited another 30 minutes to collect my notebook. After that, I had to wait for another 15 minutes for my turn to come to fixed up and check the notebook. After that, I had to spent another 15 minutes for the person to setup, configure and check the notebook for me. Once done, I bought the notebook insurance as well, which cost me more than $80. Yup, it was already 2.30pm by then, the start of the 2nd maths revision lecture.

Before the lecture, I had to go to the central library to check on my CORS. Yup, almost coulnd't find my way to the library. After that, I had to find my way to LT7A, which took me quite some time to find... Yup, walking on the engineering blocks is like walking on the maze, you have to find the way there. Different paths and staircase will lead to a different place... The levels are also confusing, when I entered the building, I was already on the 4th storey... Hmm... Look like I better familiarise with the place, or I'll had problems when I study next time... Managed to reach the lecure theatre by 3pm.

Well, I realised that I had missed a lot of things from the differentiation lecture. They taught the things that was not important for our A Level syllabus. Hmm... Luckily there is a webcast for us to view on the internet. Ok, hopefully this would be the only and the last time I had to do this...

After the maths lecture, Hong Joo, Daniel and I had to go to the Zhen Hao's party at Aranda chalet. Well, Victor Cheng was not coming along with us, as he had something on later. We then took the bus back to Clementi to wait for Roger, and at the same time, I was waiting for my father to come and bring back the notebook for me. Well, after putting the notebook and stuffs onto my father's car, we went straight to the station to meet up with Roger to go to the chalet.

Well, the chalet was kind of like a platoon gathering, where we gather around at talk about stuffs and things we did or are going to do after we ORD. We stayed up quite late. Yup, it was really late, when we realised the last train will be leaving at 2323 hours from Pasir Ris. Hong Joo, Wenhao, Daniel, Kai Quan and I had to run to the station in order not to missed the train. Well, even though Kai Quan and I will be taking the carpool home (with my father's car), we still ran along with them. Haha...

Saturday
Well, the flute lesson was just as usual. We pracise from our textbook and the flute repertory book.

Later, I met up with Kai Quan at Cathay Cineleisure to buy tickets for the movie "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift". Well, BSO wanted to watch the movie with us, so he ask the 4 of us, Wei Qiang, Hong Joo, Kai Quan and me to watch the movie with him. After buying the tickets, Kai Quan and I had our dinner at Burger King before Hong Joo, Wei Qiang and BSO met up with us.

Well, the movie was quite nice and exciting. It kind of reminds me of the movie "Initial D", as the racing concept is kind of similar.

After the movie, as Wei Qiang wanted to catch the fireworks display at esplanade, we decided to go along with him to watch the fireworks.

After that, we went to Marina Square to find a place to eat as Wei qiang and Hong Joo had not had their dinner yet. After walking around for quite some time, we then decided to settle down at Cavana. Yup, I order a Chicken rice there, so that would be my 2nd dinner. Haha... Well, I didn't eat much for breafast and lunch, at I didn't had my popcorn during the movie due to time contraint, so it isn't so surprising to have a 2nd dinner.

Sunday
I was feeling so tired in the morning... Anyway, I told my parents that I won't be going out to have breakfast with them, as I wanted my beauty sleep. Yup, I slept quite late last night (or should I say this morning). My father then bought my sister and me hotcakes from McDonald's when he came back home from breakfast.

I was a bit late for my violin lesson in the afternoon. Well, I was still feeling very tired during tha time. Actually, I didn't realy feel like going for the lesson, but anyway, since there would be a scheduled holiday next week, for both Saturday and Sunday, this means that I would not have my flute and violin lesson next week. Ok, so I just attend my lesson as usual. Yup, made a lot of mistakes while practising with the rest of the class... Hmm... Anyway, I didn't have so much time to practise... Well, hopefully things will get at least a bit better...

Didn't really had my lunch as I was feeling a bit tired to eat. Well, come to think of it, I had been eating quite a lot for the past week. Yup, and I didn't run on Wednesday evening and Saturday morning... Ok, so think I really need to train up more next week... Yup, SSBR/AHM is nearing...