Pensive pensieve?

Love is not about possession, it's about knowing that whoever you love is happy.

Quite easily said, but not as easily done. Perhaps most people might feel that possession as mentioned in the statement above would refer more to tangible (or physical) possession... but it can also apply to possession that is intangible. Personally, I feel that the possession of the intangible transcends that of the tangible. I think that love without wanting possession in any sense is not really love. I think the nobility that people talk about when it comes to love (in the sense of not wanting to possess) is only applicable after the stage of "wanting possession" and I don't think many people actually go through that.

Perhaps it's due to my age... and the fact that I'm still, well... single, that I normally have weird thoughts which I would like to pen down during the festive season. Perhaps an emotional void? It's not a feeling of loneliness. It could be a feeling of emptiness. Oh well.

Moving on to today's happenings...

Woke up in the late morning and went over to Dawson's Place with my friend (came over the night before to use my laptop) for lunch, only to discover that the food court was closed. Did a bit of grocery shopping at NTUC FairPrice before walking out to check if the coffee shop has any food. Fortunately, the Indian stall was still open and we managed to grab a bite before my friend left.

Ah, feeling a little restless, so I fiddled with the myFLASHbox website for a while. Made some minor changes to the Shout History page. Nothing much done ba... watched TV in the evening. Think got a bit of the Lunar New Year mood ba :P

The Lunar New Year will be here soon... So here's wishing one and all a Happy Lunar New Year =]

Early reunion dinner

Hmm, slept late last night and so woke up late today. Ehz, waking up late most of the time these days.

Anyway, went over to Ikea for a hair cut at EC House, then over to Guardian Pharmacy to buy some stuff before going over to my grandmother's place for the reunion dinner. Met an ex-neighbour of mine on my way to my grandmother's place. I used to play games with her when I was young. She's now married with two children.

Reunion dinner was ok. I'm looking forward to the first day of the Lunar New Year when I'll get to eat steamboat. The reunion dinner was not steamboat, just normal dishes. My auntie sent me home... and I only discovered that I didn't have the gate's key with me when I reached my place. Forgot to put the key back into my wallet after yesterday night's run. Called my grandmother's place to check if my parents will be back soon. Fortunately, I stay near my grandmother. Heh

Of Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was a day spent resting at home. Enough said.

Thursday... the original plan was to go cars-counting in the morning. Well, that didn't realise. The afternoon was spent at a friend's place fixing his computer. Compaq computer... really "compact". I managed to slot the DVD drive that I gave my friend into the computer, but I didn't know how to tweak the stupid Compaq Bios to make it recognise two CD/DVD drives instead of one... so now, he has a working DVD drive and an existent, but non-powered CDRW drive. Quite stupid isn't it. Anyway, reason for fixing that DVD drive was because his CDRW drive is starting to have problems reading some CDs.

Next stop was to Tech Park 21 at Bukit Batok, only to realise that it was no longer there. What remained was a "barricaded" area where construction was taking place. A soon-to-be "Capital One" or something... perhaps it's new light industrial area ba... or maybe some office building or wad. Dinner of Kway Chap somewhere near Bukit Batok MRT Station. Not bad leh, the Kway Chap... quite nice. The pig intestines was good.

Back home, then over to my cousins' place for tuition before coming home again. Watched the second last episode of 爱的掌门人, then went out for a jog. Discovered a fitness station some time ago, at the park connector near my place. So I've been jogging there these few times I've gone jogging. Not bad ah... at least can do some static exercises.

Post overdue

Well, supposed to have typed this this morning... but ah, I was sleeping :/

Anyway, was supposed to continue with my entry which ended by saying that Tuesday had been a long long long day. Hmmm, considering that I woke up at about 6am and only slept at 1am at night, it has been quite a long day. Still feeling a little sleepy even though I should have gotten enough sleep.

Morning... Accompanied a friend to go count cars at Technopark@ChaiChee. It was a wrong decision to take a bus instead of the MRT because the journey took erm... more than an hour. There was this guy on the bus who put on quite a bit of perfume I think and I was almost dead by the time I alighted... reason being that I cannot really stand the smell of perfume. Anyway, conditions for car counting were good... no rain, got seat, one combined entrance/exit, got food somemore (because it was opposite a coffee shop).

Next stop was Bugis Junction to buy new year clothing... G2000 no more offer le :/ Really wanted to get some shirts from there, but no offer then no choice lo. Anyway, managed to get a long sleeves shirt from Fox. Ehz, the pattern is a bit pajama-like... but ok lah, it's supposed to be of a casual nature. My friend managed to get for himself a pair of cargo pants from Fox as well.

Afternoon... Lunch at Mos Burger and both of us had Teriyaki Chicken Burgers. Decided to go home by MRT instead of bus this time because I had enough of bus rides le. Wasn't really feeling well... tummy a little weird. Could be due to the bus rides... bumpy, shaky etc. Came home, chatted online with a friend for quite a while before leaving my place to meet two people, the first was an investigator from the Navy who wanted to ask some questions about a good friend of mine and the second was a friend of mine. Met him to get something from him.

Evening... Tuition. In the midst of tuition, I helped a friend to snatch slots for his Esplanade ushering duty, but didn't managed to get anything because they changed the way they released the slots and thus I was taken aback (it wasn't like how my friend instructed me). Well, that was all for the day ba...

Dead tired

Ok, my eyes are tired... it has been a really long day. Wanted to sleep early, but guess it's better to write a quick entry before going to bed. Leaving memories in the head for too long will have some negative effects. Eg. I will forget them. Erm... ok. Nevermind.

Yesterday was Monday. notsniw spent most of the day sleeping but he cannot remember why he was so tired. Lack of motivation and loads of procrastination could have been factors which contributed to the phenomenon. Went lunar-new-year-goodies shopping in the late evening. Ehz, no 大收获. Maybe will go again within this week. Wanna get a hair cut too... it's about time. The sides and back a bit untidy le.

I burnt quite a few CDs, DVDs in the night... mainly a backup of some files. It has been a long time since I last backed up my stuff, which explained why it was "quite a few". It was really just a few. DVDs were mainly for recorded TV programmes.

Oh yea... bought the Q-bite 鲜虾云吞. Nice~ but hor... the English and Chinese instructions got mismatch. English wrote something like "boil for 15 seconds" and the Chinese version was "煮15分钟". Well, 15 seconds didn't really make sense, so I chose to cook it for 15 minutes instead. Sometimes hor... the quality of translations and instructions really really got problem.

Ah, today was a super long long long day. I don't think I can withstand the lure of the sandman liao. Shall write about today in the morning... Zzz

Das Wochenende

The weekend was far less busy...

The only unexpected thing that happened was that I went over to a friend's place to help him with his computer. Yea... he plugged in a new DVDRW drive, then his Internet stopped working. I reckoned that he accidentally loosened his Ethernet card or something. Anyway, went over to help fix the problem. I think his computer didn't meet the requirements of the DVDRW drive, so in the end it didn't really function properly. Couldn't read a lot of CDs.

Couldn't wake up in time for Church on Sunday... but went down for lesson though. Dropped by Queensway Shopping Centre on my way home to get waffles. Heavy rain... my track shoes and socks were rather wet by the time I got home. Met up with that friend again at Queenstown MRT Station and he passed me his DVDRW drive on his way to work.

I spent some time testing it and found that it could work with my computer... so it should be that the minimum requirements for the DVDRW drive were not met by his computer ba. The DVDRW drive was not able to detect TDK's DVD+RW though... hmm... maybe need to wait for some firmware upgrade or what ba. Funny thing is that my DVDRW drive (which is older) could read it.

Friday was a hectic day

Let's see...

Lunch in the late morning with a coursemate of mine at Biz canteen, then went over to Engin to pass my German 2 testpapers to another friend. Asked my coursemate to help me pass a textbook to another friend at SoC before heading back home. Supposed to meet one more friend but something cropped up at the last minute and I had to go home first.

Dropped by Dawson's Place to get multi-purpose solution for my contact lenses, then mopped the floor when I reached home. Left for school again at about 2pm for the TA briefing at 3pm. Reached back home at about 4.30pm I think. Rested for a while before heading out for Marina South at 6.45pm.

#JustBlog gang dinner gathering at one of the BBQ Steamboat stalls (we chose to go to the one furthest from the bus-stop). A total of 8 people turned up, including me. They were, in no particular order and this time using their nicks (ignoring necessary capitalisations at the correct positions), vinceable, holly, nonex, etel, victor, spoilt and silentboi.

Overall it was a good dinner, with laughter and everything. Well, I was sometimes the object of "ridicule" but I guess it was quite nice. First time eating at this particular stall... I think it's quite good... at least less messy compared to the rest of the stalls there... and the booths where people can collect food from looked clean. The staff was quite friendly too. Customer service was good... dunno issit because not many people eating there :P

Reached home, then went out with friend for a late night jog. This time we decided to run further... till Tiong Bahru Park. Wanted to look for a 7-11 but ended up at a coffeeshop beside the 7-11 which was still open despite it being 1am or so. Had Teochew Porridge... quite nice. Then bought ice-cream from the 7-11 and ate while walking back home.

Day out

"Are we afraid to love, or are we afraid to give our love to someone we're afraid to lose?"

Well, saw this statement from someone else's blog. Found that it was rather thought-worthy, so I pasted it here. I feel that this statement somehow applies to me. I find that it's rather true... at least for me. I will not be able to give all my love to someone if I am uncertain if I will lose that special someone in the end. Otherwise, it would be that I will give my all, but have doubts as time goes by due to perhaps lack of assurance or stability ba. I'm someone who prefers stability.

Slept late last night because I was trying to figure out some project stuff. Progress is super slow :/ Anyway, was out today. Went down to Sim Lim Square with a friend because he wanted to get a DVDRW writer. We walked around for quite a while before he settled for an LG one. I'm using an LG one too... an earlier model though. It was decided that I would sell him some of my DVD+R disks because I had quite a few at home and there really wasn't any need for him to buy 10 disks, so he just bought 2 DVDRW disks.

A short walk over to Bugis Junction to have "lunch cum afternoon tea" at Mos Burger. I tried the beef rice burger. Ah, definitely nicer than the Macdonalds 饭tastic beef burger. Ordered a strawberry milkshake as well. Hmmm, I can't remember if I finished my milkshake before leaving.

Tried to do some new year shopping. Ehz, didn't manage to get any shirts or pants. I bought two briefs and two pairs of ankle socks though. Thinking of getting a long-sleeves shirt for the Lunar New Year... G2000 is having an offer... not sure till when though :/ Didn't know my size, so decided not to get anything first.

Got up bus number 61 and since it was a super-long bus, my friend and I walked towards the second compartment to find a seat. I was walking behind him. Somehow I think the airconditioner in the second compartment was faulty. Reason was that it got warmer and warmer (felt like walking into a sauna) as we walked towards the back of the bus. I turned back to look for a seat in the front compartment and was fortunately still able to find a seat. Hmmm, weird ah.

Tuition in the evening, then watched 爱的掌门人 before coming home. Going to school tomorrow... will be meeting 3 friends and attending the lab TA briefing before heading home again. Dinner will be at Marina South with the #JustBlog gang.

Procrastination

Procrastination is a killer...

Went for a jog last night, woke up late today. Didn't manage to wake up in time to go count cars as usual. My cousin came over to my place after his lessons in school to have tuition. 2 hours is not enough for both A and E Maths.

Dinner at Ikea, followed by a little bit of window shopping. I bought a pack of 5 containers... those cardboard ones that people put magazines or notes in. It was raining heavily on the way there. It was already 8.10pm... so, I had to brave the rain since I missed the bus and waiting for another one would take quite some time.

Didn't manage to have time to go over to Queensway Shopping Centre to get multi-purpose solution. Some other time perhaps.

Tuition day

Tuesdays and Thursdays are tuition days...

Hmmm, woke up quite late today because I slept rather late the night before. Had a rather erm... heated(?) chat with a friend. Nothing worth mentioning ba. I went over to Holland Village Burger King to get some night snacks after tuition. Helped my cousins get two boxes of chicken cheese sticks, regular fries and a whopper. I got for myself chicken cheesesticks, onion rings and a cheese burger. Ah... late dinner. Meals haven't been that regular since I'm at home most of the time.

Saw that a friend of mine had "Life of Pi" as part of his nick when I got back home. I've read that book before and perhaps written about the experience in one of my older blog entries... but I've forgotten most of it. I used to read a lot... during my primary and secondary school days. I read quite a lot during my army days too. Not anymore though. I google more these days... on more practical stuff like how to code certain things in PHP or create certain effects in FLASH. Boring isn't it. I should make reading one of my hobbies again. Perhaps after I graduate ba.

Going for a jog later... then sleep, then tomorrow going over to Bedok with friend to count cars. Will be out on Thursday and Friday too.

Late nights, late afternoons

I slept "early" this morning... at about 7am. Was chatting with Elaine on some relationship stuff involving A, B and C. Quite a few hypothetical questions asked. Not much of a conclusion in the end, perhaps a clearer view ba.

Was notified of a bug with the FLASHbox display by one of my supposed helpers. It was a bug introduced with the new Javascript code. Wonder why no one else brought it up... it's almost two weeks since I changed the code lo... Hmmm. Stupid Internet Explorer... give me so many problems, first the cookie one, now this.

It wasn't a problem with the FLASHbox code, just the display page. Dunno why the transparency didn't work for Internet Explorer anymore. Anyway, just had to set the background colour of the pages to "transparent" for Internet Explorer. The troublesome thing was that it will make the pages appear weird with Firefox. In the end, had to write an "if-else" code so that the pages will behave correctly when displayed in the different browsers.

Dinner at Dawson's Place. I tried the 生面... quite nice. Can try again next time :P Did some grocery shopping at NTUC FairPrice... ehz, spent almost SGD35 buying "有的没的". Yea... I doubt the titbits will last long lo. Hmmm :/

[Addon="17 January 2005, 3:34pm"]
Ok... realised that adding one line in the CSS corrects the problem of transparency in IE.
I left out that line when I created new pages in response to the switch to Javascript code.
Ah well, should be more careful when debugging next time.
[/Addon]

Relationship IQ?

Your Relationship IQ Report

winston, your Relationship IQ is: 134

This number is the result of a formula based on how many questions you answered correctly on Tickle's Relationship IQ test.

Your Relationship IQ measures what you know about relationships compared to others. It is built off the foundation of the traditional IQ test, where 68% of people who take this test worldwide score between 85 and 115. The above chart shows where you fall on the Relationship IQ scale compared to others.

As we previously mentioned, your Relationship IQ score is determined by your general knowledge of how people should behave in relationships. But we also took a look at how you actually behave in your relationships. To get this information, we compared your responses to the Relationship IQ test questions against what experts say is the right way to have a healthy relationship.

Your test results tell us that your greatest relationship strength is expressing your intimate feelings while your weakest is accepting your partner's differences.

Your Relationship IQ Profile
1. Acceptance
On this scale, a score of 10 represents what the experts say is the right way to accept your partner's differences. You scored a 7.

Some experts in the field of relationships at the University of Washington have spent their entire careers researching different aspects of what makes romantic relationships work. Combining their own examinations with data from an extensive inventory of couples' relationships, they have determined that the majority of couples in happy relationships feel that their partner respects their emotions, opinions, and ideas. These findings support the premise that for a healthy relationship to flourish, you must appreciate, and feel appreciated, by your partner — whether you know it or not. That is because appreciation comes in various forms, and those forms help build the basis of a good relationship. In short, the right way to have a relationship is to make sure you make your partner know how and why you value them, and to expect the same from them.

On the whole, it's easier to appreciate people for things you can see, things that are tangible, like someone making dinner for you or picking you up after work. Those are things you routinely acknowledge with a verbal "thank you" or even a non-verbal "thank you" such as a hug or a kiss.

What you really need to ask yourself on this dimension is if you truly accept your significant other's thoughts, values, and opinions. If you score lower than you'd like on the Acceptance scale, stop and ask yourself: Would you prefer it if everyone shared the same views as you? Or are you able to see validity in everyone's point of view, regardless of how different it is from your own? Do you just not care what others believe? People's opinions and values run the gamut from extremely conservative to extremely liberal and everything in between. Some prefer their significant other to have the same opinions and values, while others embrace the different opinions and values of their partner. The Acceptance dimension of your Relationship IQ looks at how you view differences in opinion that may come up between yourself and another person.

For the most part, you accept others for who they are and acknowledge their individual beliefs and views. But there may be times when another's views are so strange to you that you simply can't understand them. This usually occurs when you disagree on a topic that is near and dear to your heart.

There are some values that you may insist that your partner share with you, but it's okay for you to have some differences, too — so long as they're not on the biggest issues. You have a "live and let live" approach the majority of the time. But there are some viewpoints that are so important to you that you would prefer you and your partner to be on the same page. You may even feel angry with your partner when you disagree on these important issues.

You are well aware that different people have different values and you live your life according to that. But those values that you hold near and dear to your heart may present an obstacle to your relationships. When you disagree with your loved one, it may affect how the two of you connect. To remain close, try to have a conversation with your loved one about their views — but do so when you are calm and open to discussing different opinions, not just hearing yourself talk about why your views are superior. The more you disagree with a point of view, the more questions you should ask about it. That will help you gain a better perspective.

2. Communication
On this scale, a score of 10 represents what the experts say is the right way to communicate with your partner. You scored a 9.

The ability to communicate well affects every aspect of your life. In order to get something, you have to be able to make your need for it known. To connect with others, you have to open up your world to them. Communication is all about how clearly you express yourself and your needs. Your skill with communication is also indicated by how well you are able to hear what others have to say, whether through words or non-verbal communication like body language. As such, communication has been studied by psychologists from many different angles. The most current research indicates that in order to have a successful relationship, partners must feel as if they are able to express their differences (Wallerstein, 2002), as well as be a good listener (Schwartz, 2002). In short, the right way to have a relationship is to be open to talking about issues as well as be willing to listen to your partner.

The Communication skills dimension looks at your expectations around communication in general, how you relate to people in your life. The degree of comfort you feel in expressing your own needs and beliefs/thoughts/opinions directly impacts your ability to relate to others on an intimate level. But communication is not a one-way street. That is why the Communication dimension also looks at how you figure out what your significant other is saying to you through words or body language.

You are quite capable of letting the people in your life know your needs and what is on your mind. You are skilled at putting your thoughts and feelings into words and conveying their meaning to those who surround you. In addition, you are very perceptive when it comes to understanding what others are trying to say to you through conversation or body language.

In your relationships, you are likely to place a good deal of emphasis on talking with and listening to your loved one. You are also able to understand your partner on a nonverbal level — you know what that look means, what words that smile is trying to convey. The more you express yourself to your significant other and the more they communicate to you, the more connected you feel. You are open to having in-depth conversations with your partner on topics ranging from your relationship to worldviews.

Your ability to clearly express how you feel and think is a great part of your relationship. It helps you and your significant other learn more about each other and deepen the intimacy of your relationship. However, there may be times when you are ready, willing, and able to sit down for that long chat and your loved one may not be up for it. When this situation arises, be willing to put the topic on hold for a better time, when the two of you can get the most out of it.

3. Conflict Resolution
On this scale, a score of 10 represents what the experts say is the right way to resolve conflict with your partner. You scored a 9.

No matter how perfect the relationship, you're bound to run into conflict from time to time. So how do you handle it? Do you avoid the touchy subject? Or do you dive right into the fray and meet the challenge head on? Psychological research suggests that people who are able to bring up points of contention and come to a solution together have a relationship that is characterized by greater communication and intimacy (Canary & Cupach, 1988; Fitzpatrick & Sollie, 1999). In short, the right way to have a relationship is to address differences and points of difference.

The Conflict resolution dimension taps into how you deal with confrontation when it arises. This refers to what you think it means to have a disagreement with the significant person in your life and what you think is the best way to deal with it. In addition, the Conflict dimension assesses your understanding of resolving conflict.

You realize that conflict is a natural part of every relationship and understand how to resolve disagreements with the people in your life. That makes it easier for you to bring up even difficult topics when they need to be discussed. It also makes it easier for your loved one to come to you when they have issues they want to talk about, because they know you'll probably be open to hearing them.

You are very open to resolving matters and tend to keep your emotions in check when things have the potential to get heated. Because you have a very levelheaded approach to conflict, your significant other feels that they can bring up any issue — big or small — with you. For you, a conflict is an opportunity to discuss important issues with your loved one. When you do have an argument with your significant other, you are flexible enough to hear their side while maintaining your own view. And when it comes down to it, you are open to finding a win-win solution.

Resolving conflicts requires a willingness to confront and be confronted by a loved one on a sensitive topic, a good deal of flexibility in order to see another's point of view, and a whole lot of creativity to find a solution that works for the two of you. Keep on demonstrating all of these qualities. When something is troubling you, find the right time and place to bring it up with your loved one. Get your point across while hearing what your significant other has to say. Then you'll be able to come to an agreement that is mutually acceptable.

4. Intimacy and Sex
On this scale, a score of 10 represents what the experts say is the right way to express intimate feelings with your partner. You scored a 10.

For several decades, the role that sex plays in a relationship has been studied by researchers across many different disciplines, including biology, psychology, and sociology. Experts have concluded that sex can be a way that people express emotional intimacy. They also concur that sex can be a means for a couple to build upon the closeness that they already have. In short, in order to have the right kind of relationship, you need your physical connection to further your emotional connectedness to your partner.

Sex can hold a powerful position in some relationships. It is one of the factors that differentiates a romantic relationship from a platonic one. So what does sex mean for you? Is it the cornerstone of your romantic relationship? Or are there things that are more significant? The Sex and Intimacy dimension looks at the role sex plays in your relationship, particularly how important or unimportant sex is for you.

Sex has a couple different components to it: how you approach sex in your relationship and how much you generally know about sex. Here's what we can tell you about how sex affects your personal relationships.

Sex can be very important for you. Being able to touch and be touched is key in your relationship. You're probably likely to have more physical contact with people in general, whether touching someone's arm when they're telling a story or hugging friends when you say hello or goodbye. You can be a very physical person, in the sense that you feel connected to another person through bodily contact.

In a romantic relationship, you require a good deal of physical contact. It is unlikely that you would enjoy being in a long-distance relationship because your contact would be limited by geographic distance. You show acceptance of your significant other through touch and feel accepted by your partner when they touch you. It may feel as if your happiness in a relationship is dependent upon your physical relationship. If your partner refuses your physical advances, you may assume that this is a tacit rejection of your love. It might be a good idea to develop some other aspects of your relationship, too, so you can be sure to strike a balance that will only deepen your intimacy.

Your Relationship Role
Beyond your scores on the Relationship IQ dimensions, beyond your general knowledge about relationships, we can also infer from your answers on the test, the way you are in a relationship.

You, it turns out, are a Supporter in relationships.

Your passion for life runs through every aspect of your relationship. You are more than a significant other to your significant other. You are their best friend. Relationships are very important to you, and you'll do anything to help out your partner. You're there for them and are willing to pitch in wherever they need help — whether it's cooking a nice meal when they're tired, or helping them with a problem they don't even know they have yet. They can count on you for just about anything and that's what helps make your relationships so strong.

You're incredibly supportive of your partner's dreams and ambitions. Your ability to pay attention to their hopes and desires helps them as they define their goals. And they probably come to rely on that. You're also not afraid to roll up your sleeves and help further their causes — whether canvassing neighborhoods with election posters for your sweetie, showing up for a work function, or taking care of their chores around the house. You're also someone who's probably willing to put aside your hopes and dreams for your partner's. Your kind and giving soul is energized when you see that your support has helped your partner reach their dreams.

But even people as supportive as you get into arguments with their partners. When you do, you may find yourself agreeing with your partner so the discussion will end amicably. It's not that your views have necessarily changed, but you may behave as if they have just to keep the peace. It takes a lot for you to have a spat, but it doesn't take long to kiss and make up. In fact, that's the easiest part of a disagreement for you.

Your playful sexual nature shines through both in and outside the bedroom. Your feelings during sex are important to you, and the art of lovemaking takes the front seat in your relationship. Physical intimacy makes you feel accepted by your lover, and lets you communicate how powerful your emotions are.

You want the same thing that you give to your partner: complete and utter acceptance. You accept your loved one unconditionally, and you want to experience that feeling yourself. Leave the emotional highs and lows for the big screen — you don't want someone who plays games. You appreciate a partner who knows what they want and like, and who is caring and open to you. It's important for you to connect with your partner during sex. You need to feel a bond with your lover, and physical intimacy allows you to express how deep your feelings run.

Your kind and gentle nature can sometimes put you at risk. Some people might find it easy to take advantage of you, and that could make for some uncomfortable situations. Since you're so easygoing, you tend to put on a happy face even when you're upset inside. You'll put up with the conditions, but deep down you're irritated that your significant other has failed to understand you.

The joy of staying at home

Hmmm, I have this feeling that I have been staying at home long enough. It's time to get work done. Perhaps go school once in a while even though I do not have lessons. Did one of those online quizzes, this particular one involving seven deadly sins... and the amazing thing was that I was rated very high in terms of sloth.

Definition of sloth - 1 a : disinclination to action or labor : INDOLENCE b : spiritual apathy and inactivity [the deadly sin of sloth].

Ah... Taken from m-w.com. Maybe I really very sloth-y liao ba... No more 冲劲, 干劲, 魄力, 推动力 etc... not that I had a lot of it in the past. Must be more "enthu" about life and what it can bring. /me must create a bright future for himself... especially when it's the last semester of University life le. But ah, I always feel dejected when I try to do my project. Hmmm.

Slept quite a bit today (reflective of my sloth-iness, isn't it). Surfed the web a little in the afternoon. Found out a little on PHP output buffering. Seems like it's quite a useful thingy. Stumbled upon creating graphic files using PHP as well. Actually I'm more interested in generating PDF on the fly using PHP. Maybe will find out more when I have the mood and time.

It's been a long long time since I last fiddled with FLASH stuff also... I'm sure there are more interesting stuff liao. I think this website (Moonfruit Sitemaker) that I stumbled upon uses a full FLASH interface to allow users to create whole websites... either that or it's a mixture of FLASH and DHTML ba. I want to learn how to make FLASH games...

Shall go bathe... then try try try try to get some concrete stuff (stuff = school work) done. I've been procrastinating long enough.

Weekend lo

Another week gone... It was supposed to be the first week of school :/

Anyway, I slept rather early last night and was woken up by an SMS this morning. My army buddy was at my area and I went downstairs to meet him to pass him a CD before going back to sleep. Only finally woke up in the early afternoon. Nothing much done today. Chatted with a friend at night though, it has been quite some time since I last chatted with him, at least not for so long at one go.

Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning was that I managed to do some reading up for my HYP. No time le. I'm finally halting all webbie fiddling I guess. Must faster faster do my HYP. Anyway, the TA thingy is confirmed le... so I'll definitely be able to 赚外块 for this semester as well =]

雨过天晴 or issit not?

The sun was finally out today. Yea... finally... after so so so many days of raining. A temporary deprivation of days of coldness and wetness. It's good to see the sun again after so many days of incessant rain. The night is cool though. Hope tomorrow will be sunny also... need a bit of warmth to drive away the lousy mood that has been shrouding everything.

Today wasn't really a good day... not really in a pleasant mood.

Wednesday night till Thursday morning marked a few hours of intensive fiddling of the FLASHbox website. A major overhaul of the backend of the whole system. Users won't really feel the difference though. It was a change from using Dreamweaver-beased template to PHP-based template. Quite a considerable reduction to the amount of disk space that the webpages were previously using, since it's sort of object oriented.

I changed the login system totally as well... from previously cookie-based to currently session-based. Very much easier to work with sessions, but the initial learning and implementation part was a little messy, especially when I only know how to do it with cookies. Fortunately, I had some help from a friend who has been fiddling with a bit of PHP recently. He started with fiddling with sessions first whereas I started with fiddling with cookies. Ok, so back to the website... hopefully with the login system changed to being session-based, users will no longer have problems with logging into the website. I had quite a few IE users who had problems with the cookie-based system. It was not fun handling those emails... replying the same things over and over again.

I had to recode some pages too... some of the old pages were not "compatible" with the PHP-based template implementation of the website. That took up most of the time actually. The whole process took about 8 hours I think. Was rather drained after that... then got some strands of hair over my keyboard. Good thing I'm not prone to having white hair. Had to debug the CuteNews thingy after getting the PHP-based template system to run. A bit of headache on that.

I think I won't be touching the FLASHbox site le. No more such time to "waste".

Thursday itself... nothing much ba... slept till late afternoon, then went to give tuition in the evening. Met up with a friend at night for supper at the Ridout MacDonalds. I tried the 饭tastic beef burger. I think MOS Burger has better rice burgers :P My friend came over to my place after that because it was past midnight and it wasn't economical to take a cab home. Hmmm, only slept on Friday morning at about 7am.

Not a good day I guess. Was in a not-so-good mood, which made another friend of mine angry. Ok... the thing was that I was initially grumpy (maybe slightly angry) over something with regards to that friend. Apparently my emotion was too obvious and that affected him as well. That's me ah... can't really hide my grumpiness. Think it was a little "over" today. Come to think of it... I normally have a sad face anyway :/ Anyway.. have to learn to control a bit. I guess the lack of sleep contributed to the grumpiness also. Never ever deprive me of my sleep... I just might turn nasty... might.

It's Friday the Thirteenth. I'm sleepy...

Long break... long entry

Hmmm, wanted to blog in Blogger after a few days of erm... "disappearance", but the server which was hosting my blog was down. So, I'm just typing in notepad now. Yep... notepad, not MS Words. I know I haven't really been writing... but... I won't be going to the extent of making any sort of resolutions to be faithful to blogging :P I will try lah, but most probably won't be able to write everyday.

Saturday, 7 January 2006
Went over to give tuition in the afternoon... can't remember what else I did for the day le :/

Sunday, 8 January 2006
Hmmm, there was this Civil Defence exercise or something going on in the morning... was a little troublesome for me, since I was heading down to church and the MRT had to stop at Outram Park and only continued at Bugis. They provided shuttle buses though... but I decided to walk over to Chinatown to take 197 instead. Straight bus...

Ehz, was late for church... then found out that I was supposed to be doing sound duty this week from my partner. Haiz, I wasn't informed lo :/ So I missed this week's duty. Helped pack up after the sermon though.

Lunch was Century Egg Porridge at the nearby hawker centre... then it was back to church for my lesson before heading home.

Monday, 9 January 2006
No lessons in school this new semester... because I did not take modules this semester other than my HYP. Hmmm, dunno if it's a good decision, but that would mean I should have more time for my project though I haven't really been hardworking. How how... :/

The afternoon was spent at Tiong Bahru Plaza. I was there to get assessment books for my cousins. Not an easy task lo... can't seem to find good assessment books these days. Either that, or it's just that the Tiong Bahru Plaza Popular outlet had a really limited "collection" of assessment books. Lunch at the food court before heading home.

I implemented the Shout archiving function for the myFLASHbox.sg website. Users will now be able to archive their old Shouts and it will be emailed to them as a formatted HTML page. It should be a rather useful function... if anyone uses it that is. Hmmm

Stayed up till super late... at least 3am?

Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Stayed up till super late = woke up late also lo...

A Muslim coursemate of mine invited a group of us to go over to his place for lunch... but I didn't go though. Hmmm, forgot do what in the afternoon le, but I went out for dinner before heading over to my cousins' place to give tuition. Didn't realise that it was a public holiday today. I think I have been staying at home too much le.

The past few weeks have been good though... maybe not in terms of constructiveness, but in one particular aspect ba. I also dunno how to say or whether I should expect anything. 过一天算一天吧.

No Tiramisu on Channel 5 this week *pouts* Ha, funny to use that kind of expression. Anyway, I don't know how to pout lah, at least not that I know of. Channel 5 was showing "The Hot Chick" when I went over to my cousins' place for tuition. I watched a little of the beginning... quite funny ba. Didn't get to watch the rest of it though.

It's been raining every day...

Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Woke up early today, for once... in many days.

Had an early lunch of minced meat and mushroom noodles, followed by a nap in the afternoon and a little "sinful" fiddling of the myFLASHbox webbie. There was supposed to be a KTV outing with my coursemates, but it was cancelled yesterday night because everyone was busy and only a few of us could make it.

Dinner was at KFC with a friend. Helped my cousin to get two pens and a plastic ruler. I bought an exercise book too, for the cousin who always comes over to my place for tuition during the weekends. I might consider changing it to a weekday. See how.

Hmmm, managed to get the TA module again for this semester I think. At least that was what I saw in the SoC BBS. Shall wait for the confirmation email from the module administrator ba. It'll be good news if that's the case... because got chance to earn some money. Then will have money to spend :P

Another day at home

Got cab ferry service in the morning again... Oh yar, ate at the Kopitiam or something last night before work. I had a Butter Toast Set with two half-boiled eggs and milk tea while my friend had Mee Siam. Interesting thing was that his Mee Siam was "steaming"... but it was just lukewarm. Airport air pressure got different from outside meh? Hmmm...

The cab driver was quite chatty... so had to chat with him. Tired but cannot sleep in the cab. Torture ah. My friend pretended to be asleep so that he did not have to "entertain" the cab driver. Anyway, reached home, then slept till afternoon. Added a live help thingy to the myFLASHbox website... not that I'll monitor the website 24hrs a day though.

Nothing much done for the rest of the day liao... but slept quite late.

Thursday

Yet yet another backdated entry.

Ah... not easy writing so many entries at one go. Ha. Especially with my kind of memory. Not good also... since I tend to miss out a lot of things that happened :/ Oh yar... my laptop CDROM drive a little crazy liao I think. It makes a weird buzzing sound when the computer starts up. Dunno if I need to get a replacement... no more warranty liao... not worth the effort also.

Anyway, came back in the morning from work... then sleep le. Quite good ah... the staff there get free transportation home in cabs. I don't mind taking MRT home actually, but got cab then just take lo. The later part of the day was spent implementing the "Change User ID" function in the myFLASHbox website. I've been fiddling too much with webbie stuff liao. School start cannot fiddle as much le...

Today's stocktaking tasks were less troublesome. Partnered with a very steady fulltime staff and settled the Longchamp and sunglasses section quite fast. We missed out a small section though... In the end, everyone came to help us with that section. A bit of 美中不足... just because we missed out a small section. Haiz... thought I could "make up" for the re-scanning of the belts yesterday. Ah well... good enough le I guess.

Snack was Nasi Lemak. Not bad ah... quite a large serving and got extra serving also. But ah, got tummyache after that.

Wednesday

Yet another backdated entry.

Hmmm, I think I left out something for Tuesday's entry... either that... or it happened on Wednesday morning. I can't remember the exact day, but should be Tuesday morning ba. Anyway, it's just about me accompanying a friend to go count vehicles again. Yeah... despite the fact that I was sick. Actually didn't really feel sick liao... the medicine is good.

I must have spent the afternoon fiddling with the FLASHbox website and handling users' problems. I don't understand what the commotion is about actually... I don't see what's so difficult about logging into a website to get some information that one needs to use. I have users creating new accounts just to get the code. A lot of users have problems logging in because of cookie problems... Internet Explorer users... :/ Another reason to switch to using Firefox :P

I went to work at night with a friend. The first night of a 2-night parttime job lobang at the Changi Airport. Basically, it's to do stocktake for a store in the duty-free part of the airport. We had to exchange for a visitor pass each before we can enter. Hmmm, it's a nice job I guess, basically just use the scanner to scan the barcodes of the products... very expensive products.

Anyway, I was tasked to do the Aigner (never heard of this brand before in my life... but it's a branded brand lo) section with one of the fulltime staff. Ended up not being able to verify the number of belts though... so a few of the staff had to stay back to do a re-scan of the belts after I left at about 6.15am. A bit not nice ah... first day at the job then didn't manage to do it well le :/ Felt a bit bad ba... but my friend reassured me that it is normal because the Aigner section very very messy de.

The people there quite "welfare" one... took orders and bought Macdonald's for us in the middle of the night. I had a McSpicy... nice :P Seriously... a single, thicker patty is tastier and juicier lo... compared to the previous two thin patties. The new McSpicy seems to be more spicy also. Hmmm

Tuesday

Well, another backdated entry... this time for Tuesday. Ehz, given my kind of memory, this entry will be a short one.

Hmmm, I think I was feeling very much better after taking the medicine that the doctor gave me. Ha, could almost say that the medicine was like 仙丹 :P I really felt much better... the sorethroat was no longer sore and my flu sort of went away... just had blocked nose.

I can't remember what else I did... but I do know that I added a "profanity filter" to the FLASHbox. This I know, since I have a record of the things that I do to the FLASHbox website. It's quite pathetic isn't it... to not be able to remember things that happened just a few days ago. I rely quite heavily on writing things down in order to "remember" them.

I guess I slept early... since I was sick.

To the doc's

This is a backdated entry for Monday.

Yep, finally went to the doctor's. Wanted to get well faster this time, so a trip to the doctor's is a must. Ah, suffer for less days lo. This particular doctor that I go to is quite nice. A little slow when handling patients, but he's rather patient and thorough, which is why I'm quite confident of his skills.

The rest of the day was spent in a drowsy manner. Ah, under the effect of the flu tablet. Actually the feeling is quite "good"... just stone stone de. Slept quite a bit maybe. I don't remember what happened exactly.

Well, did some things to the myFLASHbox website again. This time, I added a "Check Availability" button to the sign up form. It works like the Gmail account creation one... checks against the user database to see if the user ID that the user wants is available or unavailable and immediately output the results to the user without needing to refresh the page. The user can then key in another user ID to test for availability. Ah, the code not I write de... just googled and found it somewhere, then take and use.

Actually, I google a lot when doing coding for my websites... mostly for available code to what I intend to implement. Sometimes can find, sometimes cannot. Will need to spend a little more time if the code is not available. Usually code found online can be put into use after some minor editing.

Hmmm

Win le... use tiebreaker to choose. Tied in so many fields.

You scored as Biology. You should be a Biology major! You are passionate about the sciences, and you enjoy studying cell growth and evolutionary concepts which enable living organisms to survive. Pursue that!

Biology 75%
Philosophy 75%
Mathematics 75%
Psychology 75%
Sociology 75%
Linguistics 75%
Chemistry 67%
English 67%
Anthropology 67%
Engineering 58%
Art 58%
Theater 58%
Journalism 50%
Dance 42%

What is your Perfect Major? created with QuizFarm.com

Hello 2006

Yep, it's goodbye 2005 and hello 2006.

Today's the first... and so as usual, I'm at home. Didn't go church because I am feeling rather sick. I've got flu and slight fever. I think the sorethroat is coming as well. Will have to go to the doctor's tomorrow morning. Hmmm, it's been a long time since I last went to the doctor's because of some common flu, but I think it's a little bad this time :/

Oh yar, forgot to write about an addition to the myFLASHbox website yesterday. I've made a page which converts the FLASHbox code to make it compatible with Xanga and figured out how to position the FLASHbox at a nice position despite the code being pasted in the website stats module box, which will normally position the FLASHbox at the bottom right of the page. Learnt something new along the way...

Ah... everyone has resolutions for the new year, well, I'm lazy to make resolutions. Actually, I don't really know what I want to achieve for the new year. Perhaps to make sure that I will work hard for my HYP ba... and hopefully, really hopefully end up with a 3rd class honours :/ Life will be so much better if I can get it... though I know I'm not working hard enough for it. My illness is not making it easier for me. Why do I always have to fall sick just before school starts...

Well, a smooth-sailing 2006 to all =]

Goodbye 2005

I'm officially sick. Yeah... what a way to end 2005 and begin 2006. With this kind of beginning, it's not too hard to have better days for the new year huh.

The day was spent at home... nothing much done, slept quite a bit I guess.

It was a quiet end to 2005. I could hear people counting down outside, followed by the sound of fireworks going off.