A New Flute

New Flute: YFL-581H
Just this morning, I went out with my father to get a new flute. Well, my teacher has been yakking at me about when I'm getting a new flute, since last year... So, since my father still have a little spare money, he agreed to buy one for me. Ok, after buying the new flute, and after all the Chinese New Year stuff, we ran out short of money, so looks like we need to save some money, and I better get a temporary job during holidays to make up with the money... Yup, I know there's ICT during the holidays, but it's good to get a job, right (but I hope that there's make up pay for ICT even if we are holding a temporary job).

Anyway, I actually wanted to get the closed-hole, offset-G flute with B footjoint, so that would be either YFL-514H or YFL-614H. Unfortunately, Yamaha (Singapore) did not import YFL-514H and YFL-614H to Singapore. Well, thought of making a special order, so the staff there helped me to ask Yamaha (Japan) about the price of YFL-514H and YFL614H, and they only state the price of YFL-614H (don't know why they didn't tell us the price of YFL-514H though). Kind of shocking that YFL-614H costs about S$4400, which is about S$500 more expensive than YFL-614 (the one with just a C footjoint).

Anyway, I decided to get YFL-584H, which is opened-hole, inline-G flute with B footjoint, since my teacher told me that most professionals are using those kind of flute, rather than closed-hole or offset-G flute. Yup, the price of the flute is supposed to be around S$3300+, but as a Yamaha student, there is an 8% discount, so we paid around S$3000 for the flute. I also wanted to trade in my old flute (YFL-261), so that we could pay less for the new flute, but we later decided not to, as my father said that I may use the old one as spare.

Ok, look like there will be no good birthday for me for the next few years, since I won't be getting presents from them (but never mind, I didn't get anything good and special on my 21st birthday anyway). Most likely no overseas tour until I graduate as well (but never mind also, I need to concentrate on my studies first, and I haven't go for a group tour for like 7 years).

Here are some of the pictures of the new flute.


This is the flute outer cover.


Flute outer cover and the inner case (with the flute inside).


Flute case with the flute inside.


A comparison between my old YFL-261 flute (top) with my new YFL-584H flute (bottom). Notice that the new flute is longer in length (due to the B-footjoint), and the G-key is at the different position as well (offset-G for YFL-261, inline-G for YFL-584H). Both of the flute are opened-hole, just that the holes are smaller for YFL-584H than YFL-261 (well, I usually play my YFL-261 with the hole-plug, so I'm not really trained in playing opened-hole flute).

Mini-Cards
While visiting my relatives house, I found a set of playing cards that is very small in size. Well, the cards are actually meant for the playhouse that my relatives has, so they are meant to be small (but not really small enough for the playhouse though).

So, here is the picture of the cards.


Yup, very small in size. I wonder if anyone can shuffle and distribute the cards properly, and also to prevent the cards from being blown away with just a light breeze...

Names

Names in Different Languages
Recently, I have been discussing with my parents and my sister about my name in other dialects and languages. My name, as on the profile, is "Kang Ming Zhi" (Chinese: 江明志) (no harm putting my name on the blog, since my name has already been given away on the profile). I was wondering, why I'm using Hokkien for my surname, and Mandarin for my given name. Well, since my family is using Kang (instead of Jiang) as the surname, so I supposed they want to keep the uniformity. In that case, rather than being known as "Jiang Mingzhi" (no spacing between "Mingzhi" in this case), I'm called "Kang Ming Zhi" (with the spacing). But, how about using fully Hokkien instead?

Well, my mother told me that if I'm using Hokkien, my name would sound very awful, and I have to agree with that. "Kang Meng Chee", that's my name in full Hokkien. Yup, it kind of sound a bit "rough" to me, so it's a good thing I'm not using my Hokkien name. Well, say if I'm using Cantanese, then my name would be "Kong Meng Chee"... Also not much of a difference from Hokkien, just that the surname uses an "O" instead...

If I were to use Japanese, then it would be pronounced as "Kou Mei Shi" (Kanji: 江明志, Hiragana: こうめいし). Hmm... Sounds kind of odd to me... But anyway, there are different ways to pronounce those 3 characters for Kanji, still looking which one would be the "nicest". If it is Korean, then I'll be known as "Kang Myeong Ji" (Korean: 강명지). Hehe... Doesn't sound too bad to me, just that the initials might look kind of funny... Yup, think it's better to stick to my original name instead.

My Own Pasta
Think for 2 of the nights, I've been learning to make pasta from my aunt. Yup, I thought it can be quite interesting to make one, so I decided to learn. The first time I baked the pasta was with my sister. Haha... We were kind of clumsy when chopping and slicing the onions and garlic. Then, we have to take turn to stir the tomato sauce, as it took a long time for the sauce to be ready... Not use to the long stiring. Anyway, the pasta isn't that bad, just that it has a stronger tomato sauce taste.

Just today, I also baked my own, with the help of my aunt again. This time, instead of using can tomatoes to make the sauce, I used the fresh tomatoes. Hehe... I forgot to wash the tomatoes before slicing the up on the chopping board... Well, never mind if I have diarrhoea, since I have a bit of constipation... Anyway, I took a very long time to slice up the tomatoes, since I'm not used to those kitchen stuff. While pouring the tomatoes into the pot, I accidentally dropped some of the tomatoes slices onto the stove... Hmm... Hopefully the stove can still work... Ok, the rest is just stiring the creamy tomatoes stuff (because I added milk and flour to make it creamy) and to boil the pasta itself. It taste a bit blend, but I'm ok with that anyway... :P

MA1506 Chapter 1 Summary
Ok, I spent the whole of today typing out the summary for the Ordinary Differential Equations based on the lecture notes and some other source. Anyway, for those people who are interested, I've already uploaded them onto the IVLE communities. If you are the signallers that I know during army, then it would be under "The Signal Cove" community. If you are those people that I always sit with during lectures, then it will be under "The Back-Row Clan" community. If you happened to fall under both categories, then of course you can choose either one of them. If you are neither from those groups, then you can message me through MSN, or post your request on this blog. I'll send an e-mail about that.

Anyway, I'm using dy/dx and (d^2)y/dx^2, rather than y' and y'', as I feel that it is clearer in that sense (so that you won't mistook it as power of 1 or some other things). Of course, feel free to edit my summary if you think that there are some areas that need improvements, or to suit your own preference.

Chinese New Year: A Discussion of the Past

Let's Discuss
Ok, other than collecting red packets, eating a lot of Chinese new year goodies and bakkwa, exchange mandarin oranges and so on, our relatives also discuss some of the things of the past and some situations.

Well, think some people know that I have an Eurasian cousins (half Italian/Chinese). One of my Eurasian cousins, Jonathan, is already reaching 1.86m in height, and is still growing. His mother (which is my aunt) predict that he would stop growing at the height of 1.88m. His mother also told us that about 1 year ago, when he bring Jonathan for some medical checkup, the doctor told her that Jonathan should avoid getting dengue fever or any high fever. Why? Because getting such high fever for those who are still growing will make the person much taller after he recover (which means he might hit more than 1.9m if he get high fever). Aiyah... If I knew that, then during the dengue fever epidemic when I'm much younger (not the latest dengue fever epidemic) and still growing, I should have visit the dengue-fever-prone areas and get contacted with dengue fever, so that I can grow taller than what I am now (that is assuming I can recover from the fever)... Ok, anyway, never mind about that, since most of the men I know are of about the same height as me.

We also discussed something about the past when I'm still a toddler or a very young child. My grandparents were still living in that old wooden attap house in Jalan Pemimpin when I'm around that age (think they only moved out when I'm about 4 or 5 years old). Well, one of my cousin still remember that I fell off from the high slope near the house (the house is located at the top of the slope). Yup, my parents and relatives didn't really know that I fall of the slope, until they found out that I went missing. Initially, they couldn't find me, as I was being covered by the tall and long grass surrounding the house. It's only when they hear me shouting for help, that they managed to find me inside the grass near the drain... Hmm... I couldn't really remember that incident though, only my parents and my relatives remembered that. The surprising thing is that I wasn't hurt badly in any way while I fall off the slope (no dislocations or fractures, maybe some small bruises). Maybe because the tall grass acts as a "cushion" while I fall off.

Of course, we discussed about things like how I was often bullied by one of my cousin (the one who still remember about the incident I fell of the slope) whenever they come to the house, and "snatched" away the TV, the incident where the same cousin and my sister throw the shoes and slippers everywhere outside the house and so on. Yup, we were just a naughty bunch of kids then, including me. :P Of course, there are some nice and sweet memories carrying inside that old attap house (already demolished to give way to some industrial/office buildings). If there is a chance, I might post up some of the photos up here. Still remember that my grandparents breed chickens at the back of the house (unfortunately, the chickens were been killed and eaten up by a greedy snake later on...).

Movie: Just Follow Law
Went to watch this movie with my parents at 12.50am (yup, after midnight, don't know why they want to choose such timings). Anyway, I have to say that the content is so-so, but the show is very funny. It is just kind of unexpecting for Fann Wong to act out in such rogue manner (after the character "switched" bodies). Imagine when the woman inside the male body shouted for molest when the man inside the female body touches himself (or maybe herself)... Yup, some sacrifices have to be made when the bodies are switched. Of course, after the switched, the woman would behave like a man, while the man would behave like a woman... Kind of funny and odd with some of the scenes there. There is also a security guard who follow strictly by the law. Yup, when the fire engine park on the VIP lot to save the building from the fire, he went to wheel-clamp the fire engine... Hmm... I wonder if this really happened here...

A Super Pasta Feast
Today, we visit our relatives houses. Yup, more red packets to collect, but not as much as the first day. Anyway we arrived to one of my cousins house to have our lunch there. My cousin is learning how to baked pastas and pizzas from my aunt, so she's trying out the cooking to let us try. Anyway, her pasta and pizza was not that bad, considering that she was first time baking such dishes, but as I was feeling a bit hungry, I ate a lot of pasta and 2 slices of pizza in the end.

After that, we went to visit another relatives house. Well, they ordered pizzas from Canadian Pizza, and KFC Feast Meals as well. They invited us to eat the commercial pizzas, but we were feeling a bit full after eating the homemade pizzas... Wanted to get 2 slices of pizzas (1 from each flavours) to find out the difference between the commercial and the homemade one, but I was feeling too full to do so... Yup, I like eating pizzas, hopefully one day I can learn how to make pizza myself from my aunt one day, so that I can baked my own pizza whenever I feel like eating. Yup, there's frozen pizzas, but I don't like frozen pizzas,as they taste kind of wierd...

Yup, it is a long and sleepy day for me. As the movie ends at around 3am, we reached home at 3.15am, and think I only start to sleep at around 3.30am, so I only wake up at 10am after my mother woke me up. Spent most of the time in the car and in relatives house sleeping... Never mind, usually my parents and my grandparents did the talking and chatting while in the relatives house, while I just made my appearence to exchange oranges (and collect red packets and eat the CNY goodies :P), and if my cousins are around, talk and chat a bit with them. :)

Happy New Year!!! 新年快乐!!!

New Year Eve
Well, someone want to ask me about programming lab during Chinese New Year eve, but unfortunately I don't know anything about that at that point of time... Anyway, I submitted my program last night already, but there are still bugs in it... Never mind, at least I managed to get 8 out of 10 test results correct. Ok, time to concentrate collecting 红包 (hong bao). Maybe I should come up with a 红包 counting program... :P

New year eve is also the day where we have a reunion dinner as a whole family. Well, my relatives, who are staying in Italy permanently, came to Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year with us, so they are staying with us for the next few days. So, there are 2 more members joining us for the dinner this new year eve. Hehe... Got a lot of abalone... :P

Happy New Year!!! 新年快乐!!!
This is the year of pig. Does that mean that this is the year to slack, sleep and eat a lot? Well, anyway, I wish everybody reading this a happy and prosperous new year!!!

The Start of Mid-Term Break: Increasing Stress Level

The Past 6 Weeks
Just don't know why, this 6 weeks seems to pass by very quickly, just like a flash of lightning. I thought I'm still at the 1st week of school. Anyway, I realised that I haven't accomplish much during that past 6 weeks, and I don't know if I really learn anything in school as well... Oh well, Mid-Term tests are coming up, that will let me know if I really learn something from school.

Before the start of week 3, I'm already starting to feel the intense stress coming up. Still remember when Kai Quan told me how could there be stress even before tutorials started. Yup, I mean, Kai Quan is taking up 23 MCs of module, while I'm doing 25 MCs (this 2 MC really means a lot). CS1102C had taken up too much time from me. Yup, I'm doing C++ ALMOST EVERYDAY, almost to the point that I'm quite scared to starting up my computer... :P Ok, not to the point that is so serious yet, I'm just exaggerating (but if this continues, this may really happens). Still remember when I had to spend from Wednesday night to next Monday night to finish up my 1st CS1102C lab (even though it is not graded), almost neglecting other modules that I have. Good thing my SS doesn't take up too much time, just that we need to do up one project (in which we are about 65% finish by now).

Ok, let me talk about my feelings on each and individual modules that I experienced during the past 6 weeks.

Data Structures and Algorithms: This is the most time consuming module that I've taken. I spend almost my whole weekend just to finish up my lab (usually not really complete by Monday though), and also to rush up on my CS1102C tutorials. For tutorials, there will be a few people presenting the answers each week, so I've decided that during the week that I'm presenting, I'll be doing only that particular question he asked me to present. Ok, I don't really care too much about whether my program is compilable or not, as long as there's something, it's all fine with me. I'm also spending a lot of time trying to catch up with the lectures as well. Ok, at least I know how to implement basic classes, and also know how to make use of basic vectors, lists, stacks, queues and so on. So afterall, my standard is just at basic level. Even for my lab, I'm using my basic fundamentals from CS1101C programming methods (yup, that's how pathetic it can get).

Discrete Structures: So far CS1231 is fine with me, mostly about logical stuff, except for Mathematical Induction though. Ok, I know how to perform the normal Mathematical Induction, that's also taught in JC, but I have problems using Strong Mathematical Induction, as well as Well-Ordering Principles. Hmm... The mid-term test will also cover those topics, look like I'm going to write nonsensical stuff if they asked about Strong Mathematical Induction and Well-Ordering Principles.

Critical Thinking and Writing: Finally, I finished my critique and hand up to my tutor!!! Ok, I have to admit that the article used for the critique is kind of difficult, as there are a lot of difficult words used inside (well, it's written by a professor). So, I have to open up the online dictionary and check up on the words. The article is also difficult to digest as well, so I need to read the article several times in order to understand what the writer is trying to say. Well, kind of difficult to pinpoint his strengths and weaknesses, but eventually I managed to find some of the weaknesses (but think I may spot them wrongly). Quite difficult to find the strength of the article, so I try to squeeze up some out, to make my citique "looks nicer" :P Ok, now we have to prepare for the position paper, which is due in another few weeks time. Hmm... hopefully things go smoothly...

Mathematics II: Haiz... I'm one unfortunate student who got the lecturer that speaks and writes unclear English, and a tutor who don't know how to teach... Well, I've decided to switch tutorial classes (since there's no attendance marks). Still stay on to the same lecture group, since the other lectures clash with my other modules. Well, I'm still unclear with most of the topics, until I try to attempt the tutorials and read the lecture notes al over again (at least I have a basic understanding about those topics). Hmm... Looks like attending the lecture is of no use. I've decided to buy the textbook as well, as I find that the textbook is much clearer and easy to understand, which is much better than he lecture notes (yup, maybe the coordinator shouldn't have created the lecture notes instead). I also learn another lesson from the lecture, which is to bring a few clean sheets of paper. I realised that my lecture notes are so dirty and messy, that they become almost unreadable... Ok, maybe my handwriting isn't that neat, but well, there are just so many things to copy... Yup, our lecturer just don't like the lecture notes... Maybe should have gotten a camera handphone and take pictures on the lecture slides.

Introductory Materials Science and Engineering: Till now, I'm still wondering why I have to do MLE1101, even though I'm in Computer Engineering. Hmm... Do I need to know the materials we need to use, the crystal structures of the materials, or the defects in materials when I'm doing C++ programming? Well, I suppose there could be the case, since this is already the 21st century. Maybe one day, we need to know which is the correct materials to use and how to minimise the defects with the materials, when we are trying to make the C++ programming more efficient and fast. Yup, things gets weirder nowadays. Anyway, there are a lot of formulas and concepts that I need to remember for MLE1101, and remembering stuffs is something that I can be weak at... Hmm... Just hope for the best...

Changing Landscapes of Singapore: Hmm... This is one module that I haven't put in much effort... Ok, at least I contributed quite lot for the project, so at least I'm doing something for this module. Well, so far the lecture is the best among all the modules that I'm taking, so I try not to miss it (even though some people say that the lecture can be a bit redundant). Well, there are a lot of readings to do for the module (good thing they compiled the readings into book form), and now I've completed about 40% of the readings, even though I'll forget what I read after a short while... Hmm... Never mind, I'll try to find out the key points before the exam... Well, for the tutorials, we are supposed to contribute ideas about the issues we are discussing, but for the 1st tutorials (so far I only had 1 tutorials), I'm just talking nonsense... Ok, at least some of the nonsense do make senseto the topic.

The Run Last Saturday
Well, finally I had my first running session last Saturday at Bishan Park with Wei Qiang and Weibin. Well, I ran quite slowly during that run, as I had not been running for quite some time (the last time I ran before that was the 21km Standard Chartered Marathon last December), and I was not feeling well as well (I don't really want to collapse halfway in the park). Anyway, I also tried doing some pull-ups after the run, but only managed to do a few... Looks like I need to train up on my arm muscle as well... After that, we had our breakfast at McDonald's in Junction 8... Hmm... Looks like I putting back what I lose, but I'm ok with that anyway.

Coughing for 2 Weeks
Well, it started out with a runny nose (I supposed it's due to rapidly fluctuating weather), after that the runny nose affect my throat, and I start to have sore throat, resulting in the coughs that I have now... Well, Chinese New Year is coming, and this is happening... Ok, never mind, I'll still take junk food even though I'm sick :P Anyway, the cough had been quite bad for the past few days. I was coughing so much and so hard, that my throat almost split apart... Hmm... I wonder if anyone reading this is nice enough to share the remedy to get rid of the cough quickly...