Death Note and AuditionSEA

Watched Death Note last Friday. Hmmm, quite a nice show. I think that the author of the series of comics is very smart. Well, it could be that I'm not very creative, but I think that the storyline of Death Note is very nicely designed. The intricacies of the plot only goes to show that the author himself must be quite a remarkable person himself. Looking forward to the sequal to the show =]

My friend told me that there was a website that enabled people to download manga for free. I've downloaded the whole series of Death Note le... in the form of zip files, each containing some jpg or png graphic files. A total of 108 zip files. I'm at zip file number 9, the part where the FBI agents just died. The manga is slightly different from the movie... I think the movie makes the manga appear better though =] The linking of ideas in the movie is clearer. Heh

Well, since Maple Story is not really playable due to the lag, I've started to train myself to play Audition, a dancing game from the same company. I've tried playing before, but I was really lousy at it. I've gotten better though... so I've got more motivation to play it when I'm bored. Hee. I was playing with people of the same level just now and I managed to get second placing in most of the games. Almost managed to win a person who is two levels higher than me. Forgot that a perfect final move entitles me to another final move... wasted.

Ah well, another busy week ahead. My ICT project's due tomorrow, an essay due on Wednesday and my GESL project on Friday and Saturday. Might be going ktv on Saturday as well. Pay day in another two weeks =] and holidays in another three weeks.

Deustch

Was digging at my notes/assignments/etc to find my German 3 oral prepared notes for a friend. Double-clicked on the file, took a look and was a little shocked. I don't remember that I can write sentences which looked cheem in German. Ha. And that was in... end-2004 lo. So long ago. I miss my German lessons.

Here's a sample:

+ Hallo
- Hallo. Wie geht’s?
+ Gut. Danke. Und dir?
- Ah, schlecht, ich habe der Grippe.
+ Hast du zum Arzt gegangen?
- Ja, ich habe zum Arzt gegangen.
+ Irgendwelche Medikamente?
- Ja, ich habe Tabletten für mein Fieber und Nasensaft für meine laufende Nase.
+ Hast du eine Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung?
- Ja, für zwei Tage.
+ Was sagt der Arzt? Mehr schlafen, weniger Aktivitäten?
- Ha, ja und ich muss regalmäßig meine Medikamente essen. Ah, ich bin schrecklich. Hmmm, ich habe eine Frage. Wie kann man gesund leben?
+ Hmmm, man kann gesund leben wenn man genug schlafen hat und Sport treibt.
- Was noch?
+ Hmmm, man soll nicht rauchen und viel Alkohol trinken. Man soll mehr Gemüse und Obst essen und mehr an die frische Luft gehen.
- Hmmm, hast du Schlaflosigkeit?
+ Ah, nein, warum?
- Ich denke, dass ich habe Schlaflosigkeit.
+ Oh, du kannst Spaziergang gehen. Die frische Luft hilft dich. Du kannst auch mehr Bewegung haben.
- Ach so. Aber ich habe keine Zeit für Sport.
+ Hmmm, dann du kannst die Entspannungtechniken (relaxation techniques) lernen.
- Ha, ja. Ich bin faul.

ROM

First time attending a solemnisation ceremony. Well, it's not at the R.O.M though... but at the SAFRA club at Changi. It's super ulu... taking a taxi in from Bedok MRT at peak hour timing cost SGD9. Fortunately, I was in time for the shuttlebus when I left. Otherwise... it would add to my travelling costs.

Happy for my friend who got married =] But ah... the Justice of Peace was late for about 2 hours. Ha. Quite outrageous isn't it? The ceremony was supposed to start at 6.15pm, but the Justice of Peace only managed to reach at about 8.15pm. The story goes like this... he was already around the area at 5.40pm, but he couldn't find where the place is (which again shows how ulu the place is), so after driving around for sometime, he drove home. Since he didn't own a handphone (he's an old man in his seventies), he could only call my friend when he was at home. Then at about 7.15pm, he proceeded to take a taxi down to finally reach at 8.15pm. So drama lo...

My friend didn't invite many of his friends along... and it was held at a weird timing, so I was rather left out, since more of the people present were the couple's relatives. My friend's mom was very nice to invite me to join them for their family photo. Family photo leh... so honoured. Heh. The food was ok... but I didn't really eat much. Not much appetite when I'm thrown in an environment with strange people (as in people I don't know).

All in all... a good experience =]

Hmmm, my Hari Raya holiday was spent doing my Math lesson plan. Now it's time to do my essay... then I'll have a breather over the weekend before writing another essay as well as my Physics lesson plan. But it's ok... because the holidays will be here soon. Heh

Two issues

Hmmm, would just like to comment on two issues. The first being the case of the RJC girl and the second being the recent MRT suicide case.

Being someone who's not very keen on finding out about things happening around me, besides listening to the news once in a while, I rely quite a bit on reading blogs to get the newest and "hottest" discussions. One such discussion would be the case of the RJC GEP student, the daughter of an MP. Well, her views do make sense... I guess she didn't do a good job in trying to get her idea across to people. It shows how some people with elitist thinking can be so devoid of empathy, living a far-more-superior-than-others life. Perhaps she's still young. I will not refute the fact that she is clever and everything... but I will not want someone who is unable to emphatise to be part of my future.

About the MRT suicide case... I think that the media emphasis on the whole event is warped. It is true that the society has neglected people who might be having problems earning a living and so on... but I personally do not think that the situation warrants the need for one to turn to suicide. It's an act of irresponsibility. In response to the mother's worry about sending her children to university in the future, there's always the option to take up a bank loan or something... Not that I do not have friends who have to work part-time to get themselves through tertiary education. No idea what's with all the donations... I think it serves to encourage more MRT tragedies in the future.

Are Singaporeans becoming so reliant on the government to the extent that they will soon be unable to earn a living for themselves?

The future of Singapore?

Was lazy to repost things that others have posted, so... I've provided a link: read this.

Fortunately, I'll never ever get to teach her. Haha. But I might want to... so that I can knock some sense into her. Tsk

t3h w33k3nd

Yep, it's the weekend again. Very soon, I'll have just three days of school per week. Better still, the holidays will be here in a month. But before that can happen, it's work, work and more work.

I went down to Sim Lim Square today. I had no choice but to get myself a new laptop sleeve. The old one really cannot make it liao. The cable tie which I used as a substitute for the zip broke on Thursday... and there are already holes in the old one. Well, about time to get a new one anyway. It's been more than four years since I had it anyway. So... I spent SGD29 and got myself a new one. The brand name is "Beyond". Dunno what brand that is, but I quite like the material and feel of the laptop sleeve. It's dark blue... quite a nice colour. Heh

Nothing else I guess... it's going to be a hectic weekend.

Here we go again

It's the next instalment of "one of the worst weeks of the year" again. This time, it will span more than a week. Starting officially from today till next Thursday.

Let me see...
1 Physics assignment, 1 Physics lesson plan draft, 1 Math lesson plan, 1 EdPsych essay, 1 ICT project and 1 more Physics essay.

Looking forward to the weekend, when I will have time to relax a little while trying to get more work done.

I want to apply for credit cards... I shall go zap my IC and payslips tomorrow. Think POSB Everyday credit card and maybe a UOB credit card would suffice for now.

Vivocity

Today's a free day. Well, it wasn't supposed to be one, but one of my tutor's daughter is very sick and she has to postpone my last lesson till two weeks later. Well, free day or not, I had already planned to head over to Vivocity at Harbourfront MRT to look see look see.

Hmmm. My first impression is that it's really quite big. I got lost once or twice :/ I quite like the building's facade though... and the water display in the heart of the shopping centre (an outdoor region with a children's playground). Will only visit it again after 1 December 2006, since quite a lot of shops have not opened yet. The fast food outlets such as Long John Silver and Carl's Junior have limited seats though. I wonder if it's because the rent is expensive.

Dinner at Harbourfront food court because my friend and I couldn't find Vivocity's food court after we walked around for about two hours. We passed by the food court when we first reached the place... it's just that we didn't know how to get back to it. Ha. The place is quite a maze lo :P

KTV!!

Yay. Ha. Finally got to go to the ktv :P It was a last minute decision made just this morning... I didn't even bring my sweater along, considering that ktv rooms are forever so cold.

Waited for a friend's lesson to end before the three of us headed over to Marina Square to meet another friend who was there earlier to meet her other friend for tea. The three of us proceeded first to MS Kbox for our dinner+ktv session, with the other friend joining us just as we were collecting food. SGD24 for a mini intercontinental buffet (not the really professional kind, but good enough) with loads of food as well as four hours of singing.

There was really quite a lot of food to choose from... a large variety of sushi, fresh oysters, sashimi, seasoned octopus and many many other japanese snacks... also, there was chinese cuisine such as siew mai and steamed chicken wantan... and... there was curry chicken and what-not... and... cakes and fruits and many many ice cream flavours to choose from. I think I was busier eating than singing, considering that I normally don't sing a lot at the ktv.

Totally enjoyable. Heh =] Laughed a lot during the session as well.

A trip to Vivocity to look see look see tomorrow evening. Funny why I'm so relaxed although I've got quite a few major assignments due next week. Lalala.

A trip to the dentist

I finally went to the dentist, after three years. I think my dentist was rather disapproving of my late visit :P Anyway, the whole process took more than 30 minutes I think, resulting in my friend falling asleep outside while waiting for his turn. It's his first visit to the dentist, in all 25 years of his life... and the dentist said he took good care of his teeth. Well, I think my teeth were rather dirty... it was fortunate that the dentist didn't strike me with any of her equipment while scaling my teeth. I did a filling too... of a really deep cavity. My dentist was surprised why it didn't result in a toothache. Well, beats me.

A trip over to Jurong Entertainment Centre after that, hoping to ice-skate. Too many people, so my friend and I ended up in the movie theatre instead. Watched "Silk". Quite nice I would say... rather meaningful ending. Not too scary ba... the horror level was just about right for me. The day ended with a night jog, before the haze got worse followed by supper.

Saturday was spent idling and giving tuition... No time, no time.

Answers to N3L day questions

Right... one day later than promised, but here's my solution to the two questions I posed earlier.

The first question: If a person exerts a force of 50N on a box and the friction involved is 4N, we know that the box will start moving because it has a resultant force of 46N acting on it. But... we know that from N3L, the box will exert an equal and opposite force which should cancel out with your initial 50N exerted, giving the box a resultant force of 0N. What is the problem here?

My answer: The problem is the result of a misconception with regards to N3L, that the forces are acting on the same body (which is not what N3L states).
N3L states that when body A exerts a force on body B, body B exerts an equal but opposite force back on body B. The main point lies in the fact that both forces act on different bodies, thus they do not cancel out.
In this case, the resultant force cannot be 0N simply because the person exerts 50N on the box and the box exerts 50N on the person (acting on different bodies, no cancelling), thus although the 50N from the box to the person has no effect on the person, the 50N from the person to the box allows the box to move at 46N after overcoming the 4N of friction.

The second question: To correctly identify the pair/pairs of action-reaction forces in a diagram involving a box on a table. Is the weight of the box an action-reaction pair with the contact force of the box on the table?

My answer: The answer is no. This misconception that they are action-reaction pairs arose from doing Physics calculations, which only focuses on the forces acting on a body.
N3L states that when body A exerts a force on body B, body B exerts an equal but opposite force back on body B. The main point lies in the fact that it has to be A -> B and B -> A, then A -> B and B -> A are action-reaction pairs.
Consider the forces that I have mentioned: (let box be A, Earth be B and table be C)
Weight of box => Force of Earth on box (B -> A)
Contact force of table => Force of table on box (C -> A)
We now see that they are not action-reaction pairs. They are just forces acting on the same body which happen to be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
So... the actual action-reaction pairs should be:
Weight of box (B -> A) and Force of box on Earth (A -> B)
and
Force of table on box (C -> A) and Force of box on table (A -> C)

The weekend has arrived. It's TGIF! No KTV today though... it has been postponed to next Thursday. I want to go ice-skating... maybe I'll go tomorrow. Heh. I can feel more relaxed that most of the stuff due this and next week are done.

Nothing interesting for the week. I'll be taking a break from the normal evening tuitions though, now that my cousins' exams are over =]

Short fuse

I'm having a short fuse recently, possibly due to having so much piled up work and more coming in.

I'm not quite bothered about maintaining the myFLASHbox.sg website anymore. I no longer have the time and cannot be bothered to spend as much effort in the past in "entertaining" users' queries and complaints. It's a FREE thing lo... dunno what's there to complain about also. Perhaps I'm the only one who is so stupid as to make a conscious effort reply to users' emails, no matter how trivial the emails may be. I've got plans to improve upon the FLASHbox though... just that procrastination is always a longer process than expected.

I guess the bad weather isn't really helping in improving my mood :P I think the haze makes people irritable.

My past week was hectic. I'm almost not at home except for when I'm sleeping. The following week will be a more relaxing one, with a ktv session planned for Thursday evening. Lots of stuff due. I seriously need a good break after this coming week.

Right... a pleasant week ahead to all. Will only update again this coming Wednesday if nothing exciting happens.

It's one of those weeks...

It's one of those weeks that are like the worst weeks of the year...

It's now tuition everyday for six out of seven days...
And there's still the stuff that's due on Monday.

What else could get worse? Ha.
All in all, a really hectic week for me.

Oh yar... 5th October will be officially known as the N3L day. What's N3L? It's Newton's 3rd Law :P
Why N3L day? It's because my closer NIE friends and I discussed quite a bit on the misconceptions that students have for N3L. Questions courtesy of yours truly :P

Anyway, the first question is something like this: If a person exerts a force of 50N on a box and the friction involved is 4N, we know that the box will start moving because it has a resultant force of 46N acting on it. But... we know that from N3L, the box will exert an equal and opposite force which should cancel out with your initial 50N exerted, giving the box a resultant force of 0N. What is the problem here?

The second would be: To correctly identify the pair/pairs of action-reaction forces in a diagram involving a box on a table. Is the weight of the box an action-reaction pair with the contact force of the box on the table?

It's boring, but it's important that we teach the correct concepts to students... and not teach them what we think is correct but is actually wrong.

Weekend lo... but no time to rest :/

Bogged down by work

This week is a horrible week...

... with Monday to Thursday evenings spent giving tuition
... with one 1000-word essay due tomorrow
... with one presentation, one Math assignment and one IT project draft due next Monday
... and many more things to do

It'll be good to just have one more week in between :/

Nothing exciting so far... life is still manageable, just not as well as I hoped it to be. Heh

Terrible Haze

Argh, the haze is horrible. I'm dying... can't... breathe... *choke choke*

I think the haze is really getting worse. PSI is 73 for today :/
I don't think it's going to get any worse... so having to stay home is not really possible.

Yesterday was Children's Day and it's now a brand new week. More assignments due and more stuff to be done. Weekend, please come quick :P Oh... and I want my sleep...

Level 90 going to 91

As usual, I've been playing Maple Story over the weekend, more specifically, Friday night till Saturday evening. This has been my routine over the past few months I think. This weekend though, I decided to get a 24hr 2x EXP card, so that the experience that I get from monsters is doubled. Only managed to gain about three levels... not bad, considering that sleep and meals still went on as usual. I think the total duration that I played over this weekend was about 12 hours, which divides to slightly more than 1.5 hours a day. I think I'm playing quite a fair bit now because I was rather deprived of games when I was still an adolescent :x

The weekend was rather ok... considering that I had a 4-day school week. It was a hectic four days though, with early mornings and late nights. Good thing that it's the term break for one of my Physics modules, which meant that I had four hours less of school this week, and I could wake up slightly later for two days.

I spent Friday afternoon at the library... Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. Managed to catch up a little on my readings and some school work, which I never could have achieved if I were at home (I was contemplating on the use of "I was" and "I were", but decided to use "I were" instead because it feels more correct in this context. Any experts to help enlighten me on this? :P).

Finally got the church's youth website up and running as well... after more than a week of waiting (for the webhosting to be ready). I'll try to not touch the website for the time being because it's rather time-consuming to fiddle with webbie stuff. One more website to go... and I'll have more personal time for myself.