Binary Binching

Seems like time is moving at an accelerated rate and before you know it, a year have already passed. 2009 will be a year that I will never forget. It is the year where I learned that if you want something really bad, just go for it! And with enough persistence and with God’s will, you’ll get it! It was a year when I learn that I can push myself to the breaking point and come back sane. This was of course with the help of loved ones, encouraging me all the way through. And I’m thankful that I have them by my side.

It was the year that I started my full-time job as a Systems Engineer, writing kernel drivers for embedded communication chips in an R&D firm. It was the year that I learn - no matter how much you think you know, there are still things which are unknown to you. Learn and soak as much as you can. Then use the knowledge wisely to help you solve the problems you face everyday.

As I look forward to the year ahead, I thought of the resolutions that I should accomplish by the end of the year. Kinda like a short-term goal. Sitting at Starbucks a few days ago, Mer and I decided to come out with our new year’s resolution – something tangible so that we will know what we should work towards to. Here is my 2010 resolution:

1. Get a driving license.
2. Save $10,000 by the end of the year.
3. Learn and master at least one new programming language.
4. Be more proactive.

And on top of that, I really hope that I can get my award-winning photo by the end of this year. What is an “award-winning-photo” you might ask? Budding photographers are always trying to get that awe-inspiring photo which brings them up to the next level. I’m still in search of that particular photo – a photo that not only shows the beauty because of the angle or lines or colours or perspective. But one which has a composition that tells a much deeper story than what the eye can perceive. The “break-through” photo.

I hope 2010 will be a wonderful year for everyone. May all of you accomplish what you’ve set out for this year. Cheers.

Fir.

Sometimes in life, certain things happen for no particular reason (supposedly) other than to make you miserable and shitty at that point in time. Hence the term - shit happens. Not wanting to be a plagariser of any sorts, the origin of the term shit happens was actually depicted in the movie, Forest Gump.

Not to sidetrack. The sole reason for this post is actually to illiterate that there have had been lotsa "shit happens" moment in my daily life lately. Of which I can't seem to recall any except the incident yesterday.

For the most part of Season 8, Smallville have been a lil slow and abit boring. Probably due to the fact that Clark has just began his vigilante job and there haven't been much baddies to fight. However, the past few episodes were building up to something BIG. Brainiac's son is back. And IT has kidnapped Chloe to the Fotress of Solitude which is now infected with Brainiac.

The ironic thing is that the Fotress was build by Jor-El for his Son, Ka-El. Now it is used by Brainiac as a fotress for his Son. Ironies.

Anyway, the shitty thing is that the season is just about to hit it's climax! Then I checked the date which the next episode is going to be aired. Ho' and behold! Damn it la!!!! It will only be aired in January!!!! How eff-upped can things get?!?! Freaking 6 weeks from now!!! That's like 42 days ++ without knowing what's gonna happen! Phuck! It better be worth the wait!

Smallville is known for this kinda stunt. Oh well! Shit Happens!

I woke up today feeling slightly tired and lethargic. I don't know why but I suddenly feel like I should stay at home and just lie in bed, wasting the day away. I suddenlt have the urge to read Homer's Iliad. Well, I can't explain my lack of enthusiasm on the tasks that I've set myself to do today. I mean, who wouldn't be enthusiastic in decrypting tons (22 files to be exact) of C codes that are so messed up and which lack proper code-comments. Going through them is a bitch because I have no idea what some of his defined function do! If these files are like year-one lab source codes, I won't be complaining at all. But these files are freaking long, with 1000+ lines on the average, per file (maximum I saw was 3000+ -- gulps). Arghhh!

I think today will not be a fruitful day. Shucks! This hopeless feeling sucks. I'm starting to feel that I might not be able to complete my FYP. Boohoo!

Employees of Lehman Brothers in Asia were nervously waiting to hear their fate on Monday as the loss-making U.S. investment bank stared at potential collapse.

Asia, where Lehman employs about 3,000 staff excluding the India back office, has proved a sweet spot for the U.S. bank as it made inroads into new markets in the region.

'The situation is quite fluid. We haven't heard anything from New York,' a Lehman executive in Singapore, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivitiy of the situation, told Reuters by telephone.

'I guess we'll have to wait for the marching orders.'

The Wall Street bank had expanded aggressively in Asia in the last two years, ramping up foreign exchange and investment banking operations in Singapore, Hong

Kong and Mumbai.

It was also planning a bigger presence in China where it recently advised Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco), which teamed up with Alcoa, on its $14 billion purchase of a stake in Rio Tinto.

For many employees, communication early on Monday was made more difficult because of a holiday in Hong Kong and Tokyo -- the bank's larger offices in Asia.

'Everyone is anxious about what is going to happen,' said another Lehman staffer in Singapore by telephone, adding management had circulated notes to staff last week in the face of growing employee concern and impatience.

At Lehman's Singapore office at the downtown Suntec Tower, only a trickle of staff arrived for work, dodging reporters' questions.

At a nearby coffee bar, two Lehman staffers said they had been called at 6.00 a.m. (2200 GMT Sunday) to be at work at 7.00 a.m.

Asked whether it was business as usual, a Lehman trader contacted by telephone told Reuters: 'What business is there? There's nothing to do. All I've heard is what's being reported on the news.'

Uncertainty also prevailed in Australia, where Lehman entered markets last year through the acquisition of local brokerage Grange Securities for about A$120 million ($98 million).

Earlier this year, the company moved to a new office tower in Sydney's central business district to accommodate its expanded team.

'The negotiations are still ongoing ... basically we don't know where we stand,' said one of the bank's Sydney-based employees. 'Say, for example, there was a filing for Chapter 11, where would that leave all of us ... probably we stand behind other creditors.

'The only thing we could do here is just sit until we hear something more definitive. And almost certainly that would have to happen, I would have thought, before New York opens.'

Michelle Sprod, a Lehman spokeswoman in Sydney, said the firm was declining any comment.

MERRILL SALE

The seismic shakeup in the U.S. financial system could also see Bank of America buying Merrill Lynch & Co Inc , said a source briefed on the matter -- a move likely to be closely watched by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] which has injected more than $5 billion in Merrill since December and would have had an around 14 percent stake.

A Temasek spokesman declined to comment on reports that Merrill could be sold.

Merrill Lynch spokesperson in Sydney, Danielle Mapes, said: 'We're not commenting at this stage'.

Last month, Temasek said it saw value in banking stocks in the United States and Britain and could invest more if an opportunity arose.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), the bigger of the city-state's two sovereign funds, had also bought significant stakes in UBS and Citigroup.

Source: forbes.com

And to think that Merrill Lynch has been giving recruitment talks in NUS (the next one will be in two days time), how bleak can the near future get?

After a long break from running long distance, I must say I've nearly gotten back my running form. There were times along the race where it is so so tempting to stop and take a breather. But I know that if I did, I would find it even more tiring to continue running. And the race markers were at the 2km, 6km and 9km - hence, it's kinda difficult to gauge where the mid-point of the race was.

The point where the tiredness kicked it was somewhere after Central shopping centre (about 7+km?). I nearly wanted to stop but I decided to push on to the next drink stop. Towards the end, especially after the 9km marker, the lure of walking was so strong! But it was kind of stupid to stop then because I've already ran like 9km without stopping and there was only several hundred meters left! So I ran - till I reached the finishing like at 58 mins flat! haha..

I broke my personal best of 1hr 4mins (but that was an all-terrain run which included a torturous 2km beach trail). Overall, I think the run was well organized. I had fun and most importantly, it's for a good cause.

I met a few people at the race whom I know. For most part of the event, I ran a lonely race. haha.. Well, here are some pictures from the race. Sadly, I have no pictures of myself. LOL.

My race tag


The sea of reds


At the starting line

P/s: The results are just in - I'm ranked 1000-ish for the race. I must say, there were some really fast kids out there! LOL. Geez.. I'm getting old.

This coming week starts the end of some things which have been, in my opinion, a bad/unhealthy habit. Some things just have to change, hopefully for the better. And I'm adding certain routines in my lifestyle to keep it at a balance. Lastly, tomorrow marks the day where I need to start putting more effort at my school work and spend less time idling or surfing unnecessarily (Goodbye EDMW. . .).

One of the few things that I'm changing in my lifestyle is keeping junk food away as much as possible. I'm not saying that I'll shun Macs for the rest of my life (I doubt I have that kinda persistence) but rather, I'll keep the weekly visits to maybe a fortnight or once in a blue moon when the craving appears. I have been treating my body like a theme park all my life. I guess it's time to have a slight change.

Honestly, I hate routines. I have never been a routine-freak and time-tables just don't make sense to me. Although routines kind of makes you more efficient in some sense but I find it a little suffocating at times. But I think I need certain routines and I have to trick my mind to follow such routines. For example, one of my "must dos" in my lifetime is to run a full marathon. As some of you folks would know, marathons aren't a walk in the park. You've got to train to run a full one or suffer the after-effect of a 42km walk (I hope to run it full). Hence, I need to start running to train myself for the marathon. Therefore, I've set some goals to trick myself to follow these running routines. Wish me luck!

And finally, it has just sunk in that semester has already started. Work is piling up at the moment and a quiz is due next week! haha! It's my final year in school and I guess I'll just make full use of it to make mistakes and learn as much as possible. Please do not mistake me for being "academically kiasu". Rather, I see it as fulfilling my part as a student looking for knowledge.

It'll be my last year as an undergraduate and it has been a damn fun roller coaster ride. Now I'm sort of at the last several kilometers of my undergrad marathon. I have not yet seen the finishing line but I know it is drawing near. I still have several hurdles to overcome before the grand finish. Let's say I know of the existence of these hurdles but truthfully, I have no idea how high they would be.

A while ago, I managed to get some work going planning my time-table for the semester. Other than my final year project (FYP), I have three other modules to clear. After the disappointing withdrawal of Advance Operating systems, I had to change my module choice again! Thus, this semester I'm taking EE3207 (Computer Architecture), EE4214 (Real-time embedded system) and LAC1201 (Chinese I).

Of all the listed modules, I'm definitely looking forward to doing EE4214. From the looks of past year module syllabus, it seems that the module combines embedded system with Linux. Reading up on embedded system requirement these days, a lot of developers are moving towards embedded linux systems because they are free and well documented. If I'm not wrong, we'll be looking to use uLinux for our project. Embedded linux systems for the win! haha..

Computer architecture is still alive (contrary to some believe that comp. architecture is long dead) with parralel programming and multi-core vs many core processor systems. I'm looking forward to this too!

I have long delayed my undertaking of the LAC1201 module. Well, since NUS provided free Chinese lessons, why not?

Lastly, my FYP balloting results are just in a few days ago. Luckily for me, I managed to get my second choice and I must say it's an interesting topic which I am looking forward to do! hurhur.. My topic is - Wireless Car Communications with an Embedded System. Basically the project about communication between vehicles using mobile wireless communication devices. I'm going to e-mail my professor in-charge soon.

Wish me luck for the up-coming semester! My holidays was spent beautifully with Mer and my PC. =x

I met a few friends for coffee the other day and out of nowhere, the topic on birth control came into our conversation. We talked about the more common types of contraceptives like condoms, pills and anti-pregnancy patches but somehow we didn't find that they would be convenient in the long-run next time. Especially so if we and our future wives do not want to have kids.

For example, condoms are generally the most convenient contraceptive (not forgetting the multitude types and variety of flavours on the market) to use, but we wondered whether using condoms could be a hassle in the long-run. We did also talk about morning-after pills and anti-pregnancy patches. However, we reasoned that such contraceptive methods could actually do more harm then good; given that there could be a chance that going childless will not be long-term (who knows that a couple could just change their minds one day). Who knows what harmful hidden effects of these pills and patches would bring to an unborn child in the womb on top of the side effects the females usually get using the aforementioned contraceptive methods.

Tying up the female's tube seemed to be an awful choice too, since there could be a possibility (even if it's a small chance) of wanting babies in the future. Thus popped the question - how about vasectomy?

Vasectomy is a surgical process whereby a surgical cut is made on a vessel which carries sperms during ejaculation. Guess what, everyone around the table cringed at the thought of steel touching our balls. LOL.

Unlike the process of tying the fallopian tube, vasectomy has a 70% chance of being reversible. Thus, one who undergo vasectomy could go for a vasovasostomy to allow him to reproduce again. Although the chances are high, majority of us gave the no-no. We gave several reasons to our stand. For example, there is a fear of erectile dysfunction as one of the side effects from vasectomy. On top of that, even though it is a minor operation, most of us fear the pain of the post-op (it was unthinkable). Someone is cutting your balls open for God's sake!

Eventually, we all agreed that it was an "all-or-nothing" decision. If you don't want to have a child, stick with the choice forever (unless one does not mind adopting a kid). Therefore, most of us concurred that tubical ligation (i.e tying the fallopian tube) is the way to go!

Thinking back on our conversation, I felt that somehow we guys were quite selfish in concluding to that decision. Tubical ligation is an irreversible process while there is a large chance that the effects of vasectomy can be reversed. It cost more for the wifey-s as opposed to the hubbies. However, I can't deny that fear is one of the biggest barrier for men to even consider vasectomy as a feasible contraceptive method.

So what do you guys think?

I'm not sure how many of you had read his inspiring book "The Last Lecture" or watched his video of the last lecture (link). If you had read or watched his lecture, you'd know that the world has just lost an extraordinary man.

The Last Lecture is a book written by Dr. Pausch of his "last lecture" which he had given to his students and fellow lecturers at Carnegie Mellon University, after he had been diagnosed with a rare case of liver cancer for the second time. Since he had several month of good health left, he decided to give a customary last lecture which was inspiring to many.

In his book, Dr. Pausch wrote about fulfilling childhood dreams which left me touched to tears. How many of us have gone so far from what we dreamed of when we were young because of barriers? And he talked about the importance of having a dream, the brick walls that will prevent us from achieving these dreams and how these brick walls are meant to prove how badly we want something.

Towards the end of the book/lecture, he actually revealed who the lecture is meant for. It wasn't directly meant for his students or the people present on that day - his last lecture was meant for his children, who he had left today in his death.

My favourite quotes from his book.

But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

Be good at something, it makes you valuable.

People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.

It's not about how to achieve your dreams; it's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the dreams will come to you.

Rest in peace Randy Pausch.

It's that time of the year again. Let me give you a clue.




It's an abbreviation which starts with a letter 'C'. Pain in the ass and irritates the hell out of most students.

And do you guys from CPE realize that there are so few modules offered for this semester; especially the level 4000 modules? To add to that, I'm really bothered by the time-tabling of the modules. Why on earth would you offer a level 4000 module, which needs a preclusion of a level 3000 module, both in the same semester?

Yes, I'm feeling very frustrated now. Argh!

So you guys know the answer already?

The registration for the run is officially closed! Days left before the run - 38.



I've been training quite regularly (although I think it's still not enough) for the run. I need to clock more mileage but the weather has been forcing me to stay indoors and sleep (okay, I was just being lazy, LOL). But I'm getting decent mileage, at about 25km last week. I'm increasing it to 30km hopefully by the end of next week.

If you're asking why I'm training so hard - it's because I want to prepare myself for a marathon. I've always wanted to know how it feels like to run a marathon but I never had the motivation to go ahead and run. And I'm thinking while I'm still alive and healthy, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to get that experience. Thus, here I am running a 10K run to prepare for a 42K run in the future (hopefully next year).

I'm trying to live life like it was my last day today.

There is news going around that Brazil may come to Singapore for one of their Olympics warm-up match on the 28th of July. Taken from CONFEDERAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE FUTEBOL news,

Seleção Brasileira Olímpica embarca no dia 21 de julho para Cingapura, para preparação para Olimpíadas de Pequim. iagem será via Paris, onde os jogadores que atuam na Europa se apresentam, e equipe fará amistoso no dia 28 de julho contra Seleção de Cingapura.

translated to be..

Olympic Selection: friendly with Singapore and preparation outside Brazil. CBF mark departure for the day July 28 in Asia. Complete program for the Beijing Olympic Games is not yet disclosed

Singapore is chosen to be one of the Asian countries that the U21 team will be playing against! It'll be so cool to see the national team play against the giants. Although I foresee a trashing on the Singapore side, I guess it's good exposure for the team. And I wonder where this match will be played at? (since the last World Cup Qualifier match marks the closure of the Kallang Stadium for real!)

If they are really coming over to play Singapore, I'd definitely go and watch! And I'll wear a Brazilian jersey with a Lion's logo at the back. LOL.

Here is the tentative lineup for the Brazilian team.

Diego Alves - Almería

Renan - Internacional

Alex Silva - São Paulo

Breno - Bayern de Munique

Thiago Silva - Fluminense

Ilsinho - Shakhtar Donetsk

Rafinha - Schalke 04

Marcelo - Real Madrid

Anderson - Manchester United

Diego - Werder Bremen

Hernanes - São Paulo

Lucas - Liverpool

Ronaldinho - Barcelona

Thiago Neves - Fluminense

Alexandre Pato - Milan

Jô - Manchester City

Rafael Sobis - Real Bétis

Robinho - Real Madrid

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Sometimes I'll think until I fall asleep early in the morning. I've been thinking about my future - where my passion lies, things I would really want to do and many other personal matters.

Up till now, I'm still unsure to where my passion really lies. I've tried coming out with a list of where my passion could be and managed to converge to two jobs I'd like the most but are somehow they are conflicting, in terms of the area of expertise required. That left me completely baffled and lost. Here are the top three in the list I created (in no running order of favour)

1. Hardware Engineering.

I fell in love with my first computer when my family was given one by an uncle (who happen to find it quite useless at that time). It was a boxy Pentium machine running at 66MHz (turbo-charged to 100Mhz) and it was hooked to the latest Windows 3.11 Operating System. That was back in 1994 and I had just turned ten. I still remember those days, opening up the impenetrable metal chassis (with the permission of my brother) to see how it worked from the inside. I was amazed! Then when Duke Nukem 3D came along, I had to hack my brother's password (the game or probably Windows had a bad way of dealing with passwords, i.e no encryption) by snooping into the game's directory in DOS. The password was to unlock the Adult contents of the game. LOL.

Up till now, I've always loved computers and the limitless possibilities it can bring. This is especially so if you put your creative juices is designing something useful and innovative. And my ultimate goal if I'm in this industry is to be a part of something big - an innovative product/idea/invention that would change how people live in the future. Other than that, I hope that I can contribute to society positively.

2. Working for Discovery Channel/Nat Geo

I've always loved nature. The vast green pastures, dense tropical rain forests, the marvelous meandering rivers or the towering snow capped mountains - you name it, I love them! I find that the mechanism of Earth itself to be damn beautiful. It's amazing how every part of earth's system works in tandem with another - hence explains our Earthly phenomenon and also to make it habitable for Man.

And I find it so cool to be on an educational television programs (I love Discovery!) giving my thoughts/views pertaining to the issue at hand. Actually, I don't mind just being a photographer for National Geographic or even the new Discovery Channel Magazines. LOL.


Enough said. However, I feel that at times, fear grappling me and holding me back. I guess I have the necessary directions but I'm afraid to take the next step. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm afraid to fail. I hated the feeling of failure, tough I know it is part and parcel of learning. Other than fear, it could be that there are some things that are holding me back - family, love, the comfort zone that I'm living in now. There isn't much reason to break away and live my dreams.

But somehow, I know that when the time comes, I would want it badly and I will strive for it. I know that just by doing something for the sake of money or stability, I'd not last long. I need something to spur me on every time I feel jaded. And I think this "thing" could only lie in whatever passion I have for the work I'll be doing in the future.

I'll keeping my options open for now.

Whenever I'm bored and surfed every possible website I could, I'd turn to STOMP for a guaranteed source of entertainment. However after browsing several pages, I noticed a pattern of similar post. And I exclaimed to myself, HOLY SHIT! Thereafter, I thanked to the Heavens that STOMP wasn't around when I was still in school.

You see, I live in the east side of Singapore and my Alma Mater was somewhere at the other end of the island. Since school was far and the journey to school was a tad long unbearable journey (especially if you don't get seats on the train at 630 a.m. in the morning), I'll spend my time sleeping no matter if I had seats or not (well, sometimes I''d spend the commuting time finishing up my tutorials).

Therefore, if I did not get a seat, I would sleep sitting down at the opposite site of the train where the doors are permanently closed (except when the train is at Raffles). Well, if STOMP was around, I'd end up like him or this guy (ok, maybe not that extreme) or this poor tired chap or this guy or even these girls.

You see, most of the time, I don't find myself "hogging" space on the MRT because the place where I usually sleep don't block people coming in or going out (I'd wake up at City Hall and stand up when at Raffles Place). My sitting position don't occupy 4 people's worth of standing spaces (not even 2 for that matter), thus I don't see why it's a big deal. Unless the train is extremely packed, I'd stand up because I'd feel uncomfortable too. Otherwise, I'll be in dreamland!

Anyway, Thank God that STOMP isn't around when I was in school. Otherwise, my face together with my uniform will be "sexposed" by these noting-better-to-do unique Singporeans. Oh well. =x

Every dollar spent on the ticket was worth it! Although we came for a Singaporean victory, we were pretty happy at how the Lions played last night (despite some blatant mistakes). In the past several years of Singapore soccer, I have never seen the Lions attack so ferociously. Khairul Amri was amazing that night. Fast-footed, he sliced through the Uzbek's defence like a Ginsu knife. Amazing!



Since the past Asian Cup, the Lions have been touted the "come back kids" and coming back is what they do everytime they concede a goal. That was what happened last night too. The fighting spirit of the Lions kept their fans at the edge of their seats. Well, at least for the first half-an-hour. Thereafter, a series of mistakes by a particular someone ("3") caused the Lions their morale and subsequently, their victory.



Their passing was superb at the beginning. Maybe it was their tired legs or their dishearten emotions; the Lions were making too many mistakes in the second half. The Lion's defence was so easily crumbled by the Uzbeks. They found a weakness. The Lions weakness was defending Baihakki Khaizan's flank. A was out-ran, tricked and out smarted. Gosh. It was painful to see everytime the Uzbeks attack at his flank. It was like a near 70% chance of getting a goal and 90% chance of a shot on target!

The final score was Uzbekistan 7, Singapore 3. Although we lost, at least we bagged in 3 goals into the Uzbek's net. We've done what the Indonesian, Malaysian, China and even Saudis couldn't do. Saudi Arabia (Asian's football giant) lost 3-0 to the Uzbeks. Singapore is still in second place on the tournament table. Thus, I must say that Singapore do still stand a chance against the Saudis next Saturday (14/06) at the Kallang stadium.

Work on the defence fellas! Give the Saudis a fight that they will remember.

Looking at the amount of publicity made, I was kinda surprised why the stack of tickets that are available for this match is still considerably thick? Aren't Singaporeans eager to watch the Lions battle it out for the top 10 places in the World Cup qualifying round?

I'm going down later to watch the match. For those who are still considering to watch the game, be reminded that it'll start at around 7.30 p.m. at the Kallang Stadium. Don't ask me why it's held at the Kallang Stadium (I thought it is under renovation or some sort). But I'm hoping for a splendid atmosphere. And remember to come in RED!

Side tracking for a wee bit. I got my last semester's results and I'm quite happy with it. I didn't improve much but with my initial fear of doing badly for one or two modules, I was kinda surprised when the results came out alright. Currently, I'm in the process of finalizing my FYP choices. I've filtered the hundred odd choices to about fifteen or so. There're several topics which I found relatively interesting. I'll post them sometime later.

Cheers!

Will it end with me feeling blue? Or will I be overjoyed at the end of today? Two more hours to go before the verdict comes out!

I'm so shit-scared. Today is the release of my examination results.

My plan was to set aside time for me to relax after an intense semester. Now that I'm ending my month of relaxation, it is time to get some real work done. Firstly, I would need to get a job. Whatever job it maybe, it has to pay decently and able to let me off in about two month time. I have to start blogging seriously again as my blog traffic have been dropping for the past several month.

I'm also in the midst of choosing my FYP project. It's interesting yet quite scary at the same time. One reason is probably the expectations of the projects that are presented to us. Most of them requires a high degree of specialized skills or skills on some program/topic that I wasn't taught thoroughly. Thus, I guess it's time to pick up a book or two to refresh and re-learn what I probably need for my FYP. I know this sounds insane but we'll see if I will really do this. haha..

I love holidays. They are so carefree!!! wooohooo!

Since I'll be graduating next year (hopefully), this holiday will probably be the last time I'll ever get a 3 month chunk of needed rest. The burning question is, should I relax or should I find some work to do?

Let's look at the latter option. For the past holidays, I spent most of my free time working. One of the key factors that spurred me to look for a part-time job is money (or the lack of money). Furthermore, work also kept me sane. I'm someone who is constantly on my feet. Slacking around will make me go crazy and I'll feel lethargic all day long.

But somehow I do feel that I need the rest. During the grueling semester, I've always thought of sitting somewhere (on my sofa, by the beach, etc), enjoying the company of a book or having a ball of a time with friends and loved ones. I miss the smell of the sea, the cooling sea-breeze and the feeling that I've got no school/work commitments to fulfill tomorrow! Hence, this brings me to the earlier option.

When you look at what I've done for the past half-a-year, I think most will conclude that I need time to relax. Maybe spend a couple of weeks backpacking (which I totally want to do) or just relax at somewhere away from the city. Continuing my streak of holiday-less years, I fear that I'll be burnt-out pretty soon. And I hate that feeling of being burnt-out. I had it once last year and I nearly spent my whole few weeks before the exams doing anything but study. My grades reflected on how much I break I needed to take. Sadly, I didn't take much of a break after that semester before I started working as a part-time technician.

But one thing that is keeping me from taking a long break is the lack of money and the need to "do something" (paradox?).

I've given much thought on this burning question. I've decided that I could not go without work but I should take some time to relax. But how?

Well, I'll leave the whole of May for relaxation and recreation time while I finish my reservist cycle (reservist can be considered as rest and relax, lol). By the end of May, I'll spend my time to slowly look for some part-time job that will last me through June and probably till mid-July. In the meantime, I have several things that I need to do (other than the highest priority of spending time with Mer of course!).

1) Start exercising and get out of this downward spiral of eating disorder.
2) Start blogging again. (I sort of find it difficult to start writing articles again)
3) Do some reading of specific tech. topics which I like
4) Learn Chinese
5) Learn Python.

Woot! I need a time-table. =x

What a hectic and torturous semester! I spent the last few weeks sleeping less than 4 hours a night, trying to finish all the projects and at the same time, try to study for my exams.

Finally, semester has officially ended!