Revamp of blog layout

I'm sure you readers will have realised distinctly that there has been a major revamp on my blog's layout. In view of the chinese new year spring cleaning, I decided to sweep the previous template off (even though it's only more than one month old) and start the new year with a fresh look! The super long weekend has indeed given me lots of free time to tweak around with my bloggy. This revamp is a result of 2 continuous nights of tweaking.

~~Sayonara oldie blog

Gambatte new blog~~

CNY questions you love to hate

Today is the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY) or better know as "chu xi". Families gather together to celebrate the tradition of having a sumptous dinner to welcome the new year. When the clock strikes 12, Chinese around the world usher in the year of the dog.

House visiting is a tradition which many families practice during the CNY period. Although it is good to meet up with you relatives which you seldom see, one will surely be barraged by repitative questions by the elders. Ever wondered what you will hear whenever you go house visiting during chinese new year? More often than not, your elders will start asking you questions which they have asked for as long as you can remember. Here is a compilation of questions which you can expect.


For students....

• Can cope in school? You got how many 'A's for last year's exams?

• Ah Boy/ Ah girl! You are still studying? When you graduate?

• Where do you study ah?

• You waiting for 'A' levels/ 'O' levels/ 'N' levels results? You sure do verrrrry well one la.

For kids...

• You have grown so much!! Do you still remember how small you were last year?

• Have you been a good boy/girl? Got listen to daddy and mummy?

For singles...

• Eh? Your girlfriend/boyfriend never come? Oh?? You all break up already har? Sorry ah...

• Got girlfriend/ boyfriend? How come never bring her/him along?

• What? You're 30 this year already?? How come still no partner? I match-make you lah!

For couples...

• Both of you have been together for quite some time, when are you getting married?

• How come still no kids leh?

For those who need to work during CNY

• Poor thing leh.... Holiday also need to work.

• Holiday pay good or not? How much money??

I'm sure there are many more questions which one can expect. Fret not, once you get past the barrage of questions, it will be time for the "Hong Baos"! YAY!


Editor's note- Model answers are not provided to the above questions.

Chinese Zodiacs

Do you believe that the animals in the chinese zodiacs can reflect your fortunes? The chinese zodiac comprises of the twelve animal signs. This is how they place in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

With Chinese New Year approaching, I got curious and decided to check up on my zodiac sign for the year of the dog. This is what my chinese zodiac says about me.

METAL ROOSTER
Feb 5, 1981 to Jan 24, 1982

The rooster is often seen as the original strong silent type, not unlike the Humphrey Bogart and Greto Garbo prototypes. Most people consider them quite eccentric. Sad to say, relationships with other people are often strained. They are quite moody and can be too outspoken. They are often self-centered, but can be quite brave when the situation calls for it. On the other hand, Rooster People are quite talented and capable. They are always devoted to their work and have a reputation for being the hardest of workers. Rooster People are deep thinkers and are pioneers in spirit. They can experience the greatest of joy in complete solitude. Even though often alone, they rarely experience loneliness. Instead, they enjoy their own company and feel solitude helps them in their quest after knowledge.

Sometimes this one walks around with its head in the cumulus clouds, higher than the stars. You see, this rooster struts around with peacock feathers and they never ever ruffle. So much arrogance can make it hard to get along with others, especially when the Rooster is also intolerant of those who are less talented and a bit slower than normal. On the other hand, the Metal Rooster is extraordinarily talented. Of all twelve Zodiac signs, this one is probably the most high-minded of them all, with a very clean line of thought. The Metal Roosters can distinguish right from wrong very clearly and it doesn't matter which direction they pursue, they always wind up going the right way. If they confront a maze, or big problem, they will immediately see a solution because of their analytical, logical way of thinking. Through their perseverance, any hurricane becomes an orderly thing of beauty, just like that! When it's time for romance, the male Metal Rooster has no trouble at all, love just abounds; the female has a tendency to keep to herself, making connections less freely, but lastingly when they happen.

This year, the Rooster will see plenty of helping hands assisting you this Dog year 2006! Colleagues, friends and superiors will be very supportive towards you and will be firmly behind you in all endeavors. Roosters should also start retaining funds this year and keep them safely in the bank, as the Dog year 2006 may indicate financial losses! On the work front, the Rooster may experience some setbacks, but they will be mild and not too stressful for you.

...........................................................................

How will your fortune be like for the new year? Wishing all my readers a prosperous

CHINESE NEW YEAR!

$$ GONG XI FA CAI !!! $$

Flamed !

Less than 24 hours after I posted the previous entry, I got flamed (on msn) by HER.

Nobody likes to hear bad things about his/herself and I whole heartedly agree. But there is no smoke without fire. If she thinks what I said is totally untrue, maybe she should think about it. Is it a fact? Or am I just making up stories. I rest my case. I have no intention of a personal attack, it's just my opinion.

Update (Edited):
She's definitely offended not too happy. I rather let her know the truth before it gets out of hand. She can choose to hate and snub me but I hope she stays true to herself. She spoke to me about this and it seems that she now knows that there is an issue. Maybe she can be "cured" afterall. There seems to be hope for h0^pE afterall.

Material girl

Human relations are the most important thing in this world. All of us engage in it all the time, irregardless of where you are. The essence of interaction and communication between people is vital in our everyday lives. Do relations get irradicated by materialistic wealth? Let's see.

Is it possible for relationships to change just a the snap of the fingers? Some people may digress that it is impossible while others will say that feelings just disappear. Even though break up was done in a good and peaceful manner, how does one feel after some underlying bastard who has been lurking down there waiting finally pounced? Do females change their attitude once some wimp(s) starts to treat her like a goddess? Do females choose to forget those who used to be close to them? I believe so. A very wise person once told me, all girls are fickle minded and undecisive. As much as I chose not to believe in this saying, I cannot deny the fact there is some truth in it. I have experienced it myself. I have seen it with my very own eyes. Some girl out there has made me feel disappointed everytime I meet up with her. Too often at times, she either turns up very late, make empty promises, or people around her have to adapt and change just to go along with her needs. Compromise doesn't seem to be in her vocabulary. She seems to enjoy to see my reaction when she gleefully tells me about how this this wimp who has agreed to apply for her a credit sub-card. I knew it. She can hang out with that silly wimpy bastard for all I care. I hope she spends all his money and make him regret. I despise wimps who suck up to girls and loose their dignity in the process. They are a disgrace to the male population.

So here's the verdict. Most girls are materialistic. Those who aren't will turn materialistic and vain in the near future. Don't come and flame and complain that this is bullshit. YOU KNOW ITS TRUE.

Words won't bring me down. I believe in myself. I will NOT regret breaking up with her.


Post entry note- Why has she become so materialistic? She's no longer the girl I used to know....

Encounters of the Clementi kind

Clementi is one of the few decent hang out areas left in the western part of singapore. It may just be another heartland, but the variety of FOOD is unrivalled. I was down at clementi for dinner with my roomie after a long and gruelling day in campus. Just wanting to tuck into the huge variety of food available, it was no wonder that my hunger pangs tingled for something sumptous. But even before I got to my destination, a "freak incident" occured on me.




Yeah yeah... My flip-flops came apart.... *crappy slippers*

Left with no choice, I was forced drag "rightie" with me for the entire journey until I managed to find a shoe shop. After an intensive search, I found this guys.

Yeah.... The orange guy was right in saying that. Those brown dudes were trashed together with some cardboard boxes in a dump.


Meantime, dinner was settled, but not without any disturbances. Some eldery couple shared a table with us and they started talking. It all began with....

They went on and on and on and on....
I could only stare at them in shock as they started telling us a fair bit of their situation.

After hearing their tales of how youngsters should take good care of the eldery, there was no doubt that this old couple had been neglected by their kids. I could sense that they were lonely folks that wished someone will be there to listen to their thoughts and opinion when it really matters. After they finished their meal, we bade them farewell as the old couple trodded off slowly with some new year festive goodies in their hands. With Singapore having an ageing population, will this be a serious social problem in the near future? Maybe this chinese new year will be a good time to show care and concern to our elder folks.


After that surprising encounter with the old couple, Zhijian and me decided to pit our skills at the pool table. We ended up at snookerium , which was actually a pool/ arcade centre occupying the space of an old cinema theatre. The pool table was located at the highest point of the premises (probably the back row area of the old theatre) and we had to climb a flight of stairs before reaching the table. There was this old looking sign which caught my attention....

Is it just me or is the message ironic? The words "Locked" and "open" seem to contradict each other. I guess the intention is to keep the door open at all times? But....hmm.... but the door was closed and locked when I took this snap shot. So which is which? *Puzzled*

As we ended the game and made our way back to the hostel, I couldn't help but to take this snapshot. The chinese new year decorations were up in a near by wet market. Ooo... even though it's in a dingy corner of the wet market, and the decor is simple, the decor certainly livens up the mood in the vicinity.




Looks like chinese new year is around the corner! Bring on the "Ang Pows". :P

Man Utd vs Man City show down at Oyster Bar

Been too busy to do a proper write up, so here are some pictures for you! The highlight was the derby match between Manchester Utd and Manchester City! Many fans were rooting for a strong confident victory for Man Utd against their less fanciful and pathetic rivals. GO RED DEVILS!! It's time for the boys in blue (Man City) to pack their bags home!! The location of the show down was at Caesar's Pub, Wine and Oyster Bar at Liang Seah Street (Opposite Bugis Junction). On a side note, Zhijian and Ka Weng got to meet each other for the first time.

Kick Off!!

It's TIGER TIME!
Cheers!

ABSTRACT ART
I have no idea what this picture is.
Maybe I was too drunk when the photo was taken. :P

Yeah... I know this photo is a repeat picture.
Anyway, the final score was Man City 3 - 1 Man Utd.
Shucks.... Disappointed with the crap result.

A Funky Police Car parked outside Bugis Junction
(Note its parked on the DOUBLE YELLOW LINES!!!)
I have never seen such a police car during my national service stint.

Next saturday will be time for another Big Match! The Red Devils will meet up with Liverpool. Let's see the English Premiership Titans fight it out!

Seiyu Charity Bazaar at NTU

S-A-L-E

How many Singaporeans can resist this word? The shopping bug had struck again! This time, students and staff from NTU had the shopping centre brought to their door step. Shopping after lectures amidst the hustle and bustle of NTU's campus life to add rejuvenated excitement to the new semester.

In conjuction with union week, the Student Union had brought Seiyu departmental store to the university. The Japanese departmental store brought in a huge variety of items ranging from swim wear to fashion apparels. The 3 days event was located at the heart of the campus, the Nanyang Auditorium. Waves of people went to the Seiyu Charity Bazaar to check out the latest bargains. True to its word, the sale was definitely catered to students as many items were going below the normal prices found in external Seiyu stores.

Branded apparels for sale

Ladies galore

Look what I bought at the sale. A Kappa Sling bag at a bargian price! Guess the price?

Classy right?

Check out the Kappa metal tag


Cheap right?

HoHo! Kappa rocks.

Many students left the bazaar with huge shopping bags after a crazy spree. Both male and female students agreed that the sale was definitely an event which allowed them to do their Chinese New Year shopping. Not surprisingly, the female students splurged the most cash on their new clothes and apparel after their latest session of "retail therapy". In fact, the NTU tribune reported that Lingerie was the biggest item sales during the bazaar. It does seem that sexy lingerie does bring it big dollars afterall.

Everyday should be this colourful at university. Looks like the new wave of vibrant culture in breeding within campus!

Motorola Black Carnival Invites !!!

Hey people! I've got exclusive passes to the ...

Motorola Black Carnival

Here's an extract of what is printed on the pass,

You are cordially invited to an evening when individualism is King.
Experience a mystical night of Singapore fashion at its best.
Explore the metamorphosis of a girl to a woman through
Hansel, Nicholas, Mizu and Baylene.

Date: 21 Jan 2006 (Sat)
Venue: DXO (Esplanade- Colours by the Bay).
Doors open at 8pm and the show commences at 8.30 pm.
This carnival is by invite only.

Let me know ASAP if you're interested. I've got 4 passes in total. I'll try to get additional passes for you if you are interested (No guarantee to get more passes though.)

Note to NTU friends, the passes are available at the Motorola booth beside canteen A (Podium area outside OCBC Bank). Let me know if you have got tickets too. Then we can all party together!

For more information, you can get to the Motorola Black Carnival website by clicking here.

Pet Adoption

In case you have not noticed, I've adopted a new friendly pet. I hereby name her ...

"The Special One"

She's hanging on the side bar. Scroll down and check her out. It's feeding time!

More rainy day woes

My hostel premises has been drenched down due to the continuous rain and I'm stranded indoors on a public holiday. Everywhere is liquidfied. *Sheeh* More rainy woes.

There's only one word to describe the surrondings.

W E T

Come to think of it, it is not so bad afterall. I have an excellent window view of the softball pitch from my room and I have a grand stand view of every softball tournament that takes place during the inter hall games. People are still playing softball even though its pouring outside. Lots of cheering and screaming are going on. The only thing missing are the cheer leaders shaking their pom poms. Seems like not even the wet weather is enough to dampen the spirit of the games!

Day 4 of rain and counting. I hate being cooped indoors.... Maybe I should join in the wet games too.

Rainy Day Woes

Rain rain go away, come again another day.

It all started with a Split Splat Splosh ...... and before I knew it..... *BOOM* thunder....*FLASH* Lightning streaks and then..... Torrential rain!!! The day after tomorrow had arrived....

For the past 3 days, the skies have been pouring, pouring, pouring and pouring. Thunderstorms have ravaged our island and "typhoons" were a common sight. Not surprisingly, many people were cooped indoors over the weekend. Ask anyone in Singapore and they will tell you the weather was wet and gusty winds brought our tropical typical 33 degrees celcius temperature to around 22 degrees celcius. What a drastic drop. Gusts hit against the glass panels causing them to shake violently and water levels flooded the drains causing water to slush out from the roads.. That is definitely NOT an exaggeration. I think the last time man experienced such a ridiculously heavy downfall was from story where GOD called Noah to build the titanic but the ship hitted an ice berg.... oh darn... i think i mixed the stories up! ... Anyway, I think the ship(ark) was suppose to hold lots of animals or something. Blah!

With many activities limited, window watching is one of the favourite activity for many. If you to looked outside, you may have seen the following "disasters" occuring.

Event #1 - Wheel drops loose from a car

How unlucky can any driver get? Apparently, this dude was driving out of the carpark when his car wheel just came off!!! Amazing right? The chances of that happening is smaller than striking 1st prize for Toto. I think this guy waited for the rain to simmer down before leaving. See the photos below, this incident happened at carpark at my home. If you see really carefully, the car is jacked up at the left back where the wheel was missing.

Time: 1.30 am ,
8 Jan 06 (Sunday)

They were lucky when it was only drizzling

when the tow truck came along
.
.
.

The wheel is clearly missing
.
.
.

45 minutes later....
2:15 am

The mechanic managed to fix
the wheel eventhough the drizzle
started to get a heavier soon after

Can anyone see the car plate number? Take note of it and buy 4-D!! Don't forget me if the number strikes first prize! Haha.


Event #2- The guai lan* hawker at the 179 bus stop kopitiam
guai lan* - Dialect for attitude problem

If you happen to stay near the 179 kopitiam, you may have seen 2 guys waiting at a table for almost 40 minutes without any food. Yup! That's me and my room mate (Zhijian), we braved the down pour to eat there, hoping that a change in food variety will do us good. Actually we ate our food already, but feeling hungry, I decided to order fishball soup to suppliment my main meal. The conversation hence took place while I was ordering my food;

................................................................................................................................
Me: "Uncle, "yi wan yu yuan tang"
Hawker: *No reply*

Thinking that he probably did not hear me from the surrounding noise and hustle, I repeated my order.

Me:"Uncle, wo yao yi wan yu yuan tang"
Hawker: "Huh? Le ai simi??"

Wanting to make sure he did not give me the fishball NOODLES instead of just the fishballs....
Me: "Yu yuan tang" *saying slowly this time round*
Hawker: *continues to cook without replying or acknowledging my order*
Me: "Yu yuan tang... Bu yao mian.... "

*He gave me an attitude face and snaps back rudely*
Hawker: "Yu yuan jiu si yu yuan tang lor....na li you mian de!"
Me: (-.-") ... "Wo zuo zai na li"
Hawker: *Giving me the pissed look* OK LAH!!
.................................................................................................................................

WHAT THE ....?
I PLACED A SIMPLE ORDER, AND APPARENTLY HE DID NOT HEAR MY ORDER PROPERLY. INSTEAD, HE SNAPPED BACK AT ME WITH A RUDE TONE. WHAT KIND OF SERVICE IS THIS?

After 10 minutes, nothing came...
After 20 minutes, still nothing.... we were getting impatient
After 30 minutes, we noticed that the customers who came later had their orders served
After 40 minutes, we signalled stall assistant and she ask me whether I had placed an order.

WHAT THE....?
The stall holder refused to take my order without telling me?

In a huff, we left the kopitiam bemoaning the poor service. In order for me to "honour" this stall owner, I took the signboard from his stall. I wanted to take his face down, but as the crowd was increasing, I did not have a chance to do so.

NOTE TO ALL (Especially NTU students staying in hall)
Boycott this stall from the 179 bus stop kopitiam (See photo below). This stall also sells "Ba chor mee" or mince pork noodles. The service sucks big time.
*Picture is small due to the zoom from my camera phone*

Event #3 - Freezing laboratory environment

Even though the school term has started, I still have to go down to the laboratory to do my Final Year Project. Since the project involved Silicon wafers, I had to work within the clean room to do my metrology and processing. The clean room is a place where there is almost no microscopic dust in the environment. This is to ensure that all wafers are not contaminated. In order to enter the room, all personnel are required to don on the "bunny suit" prior entering the clean room and have an air bath. The following photos show how the bunny suit is worn. Note that my hair stands up due to the difference in air pressure in the laboratory.

Step 1- Wear the anti static smock

Step 2- Wear the surgical mask

Step 3 and 4 - Wear the shower cap and put on the gloves
Step 6- Safety googles in check and ready to go!

On a irrelevant note, I think I look better in the white bunny suit. So here are more photos taken from another laboratory clean room.

Air bath in progress. See those nozzles behind?
They blow out forced air to remove dirt and contamination

It's freakin' cold in the clean room
Temp: 10.5 degrees celcius
Relative Humidity: 39 percent


It's raining cats and dogs outside when I enter the laboratory. Not surprisingly, I enter the clean room semi- drenched. Freezingly cold!!!!!! Wafer handling gets increasingly tough when you can barely feel your fingers! Brrrr.....

6 inch wafers with a reflection of my phone

Photo resist spin coat machine

Photo lithography mask used for patterning

In a dreamy state
due to the cold temperature

Patterned wafer under
white light interferometer microscope

Micro structure patterns on the wafer
shown on the computer screen.
A box of wafers can be seen on the lower left.

NOTE TO SELF-
AVOID ENTERING THE CLEAN ROOM ON RAINY DAYS. THE WAFERS ARE ICY COLD.

Event #4- Exercise Northstar V
As many of you have watched from the news, Singapore recently held it's largest scale anti terror drill over the weekend (when it was still pouring heavily outside). Despite the heavy rain, the surprise drill proceeded. Look at this screen shot where the fire engine was driving through the torrential rain around 6.30 am on Sunday morning.

Anyway, here is an except from the channelnewsasia website regarding the anti terror drill.

**Singapore held a large-scale surprise civil emergency exercise codenamed Exercise NorthStar V. The exercise lasted from 6.30 am to 9.30 am. The exercise was conducted at the Dhoby Ghaut, Toa Payoh, Raffles Place, Marina Bay train stations and the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. There were however a total of 13 stations closed throughout the exercise. The affected stations were Toa Payon, Novena and Orchard stations, among others. **

You can watch the news video on this exercise from channelnewsasia by clicking here.

VERDICT-

Rain or shine, Anti terror measures will still be implemented to keep a high standard of vigilance.

Fine dining with FYP friends

Meet my Final Year Project (FYP) friends. This photo was taken at the 2005 year end gathering at...

Streeters Restaurant and Wine Bar, a Spanish restaurant in 35 Keong Saik Road, Chinatown

This bistro is very fine place with an elegant ambience to put you into a fine dining mood. The food was definitely a culinary treat and it serves dishes that are normally unheard of. It has wine tasting events on certain days. the restaurant has an extensive menu consisting of more than 60 items, it also pride itself of serving one of the best Paella's in town.

Feel free to try the baby squid in ink sphagetti. Alicia (See the photo below) highly recommended it to the rest, but most of us squinched at the sight of it. The taste was too bad afterall. It had a very strong squidy taste that stayed in your mouth after swallowing. Do be careful not to stain your lips with the squid ink, it's a pain to remove it once it stains. We also tried all kinds of food, like spanish potato pastry with egg, calamari, 3 different types of tapas, an expensive sounding bottle of spanish alcohol with mixed fruits, spanish brownie, special spanish ice cream and many other kinds of food with exotic names which I cannot recall. If I recall correctly, there were more than 10 dishes ordered. The dinner bill which amassed to $440++ was settled, courtesy of the BIG BOSS, our supervisor Ast/P David Lee Butler. Thank you very much sir for the generous treat!


Check out the happy faces after the exquisite dining experience.


Back row chicks (L to R): Claris, Linda, Mariko(bending down), Min Hui (behind mariko), Eulyadra (in red), Alicia (behind Eulyandra), Jessica, Sha Kee, Wendy (with blue hair), American girl (I forgot her name)

Front row hunks (L to R): Michael, myself, Prof David.

Missing from photo: The wife (Prof David's wife) who was the photographer.

Meet your Ah Kong

Have you ever read about Darwin's evolution theory? Essentially, it states that we, humans are the evolutionary descendants of apes. Theorectically speaking, let me present to you a picture of our common great great great great .....(to infinity) grand ancestor. Say hello to your great great great grand Ah-kong!

Apparently, he thought that frowning
makes him look macho.

Given his very good looks, he was scouted by Peter Jackson to star in the latest blockbuster, King Kong. It seems that he does have some acting blood in him afterall! Haha. Jokes aside, this film deinitely lives up to the hype! The 3 hour epic is filled with action, humour, a tinge of romance, and raw beastly emotions. Go watch it if you haven't caught it yet. It should still be showing in the big screen. I am not going to mention anything about the movie plot for that matter. In honour of my favourite titan gorilla, I've decided to give you readers a bonus! The video section at the side bar has been updated. Scroll down and enjoy the spoof to the movie.

King Kong is everything a machoistic testorone filled male should be. He is physically strong, mighty, worshipped by people, egoistic, powerful and filled with pure machoistic andreneline. Yet, he is gentle on the inside, aggressively protective towards the female gender, and fights for what he strongly believes in even if it means placing his life in danger. Have you ever seen King Kong sob for mummy or crying over his battle wounds? He is what I rate as a super duper ultra Alpha Male. 101% pure grade testorone in action! Gals who have watched King Kong think he is funny and cute.


In order to support my stand that girls go "Ga Ga" over King Kong, you have to check this out. It seems that the Japanese never run out of funny ideas. I stumbled upon this Japanese, bubblegum genre music video titled "King Kong". It's silly in a funny kind of way. Irritatingly addictive to listen to. Click here to view the music video.