A Better Title

Some of my own statistics for GTD so far (until Day 3, some figures are approximate):

1 digital video camera
1 digital camera
1 film SLR camera
1 external flash
1 extra digital video camera battery
1 extra DV tape
2 extra SLR batteries
2 SLR lenses
3 exhausting days
4 hours of video footage taken
5-and-a-part unexposed rolls of film
6-and-a-part used rolls of film
50 GB of videos
227 photos to be developed

I have this feeling that I slightly overdid my job…

Some more figures:

DV camera: Free (borrowed)
DV tape: $10
SLR batteries: $12
Film: $45
Developing and processing: $91
SLR lenses: $164
External flash: $200
SLR camera: $529
Experience, fun, and friendship: Priceless

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Dear NTU Indonesian Freshmen,

The organisers of GTD know that not all games we planned fit everyone.

For example, take the Untitled Station (Pos Tak Bernama), where ghosts appear out of nowhere along your journey to find clues to solve the puzzle we posed.

We know that not everyone likes being frightened.

But we went on anyway because we wanted this orientation camp to be memorable to each and everyone of you.

We took precautions too.

For example, before you started, we made sure that none of you were sick or otherwise not well-prepared for the game.

Some of you screamed after being frightened. We expected this.

Some of you cried. We expected this too.

Some of you tried to befriend the ghosts. We expected this too.

Some of you simply ignored these fella who tried to prod you. We expected this too. But it was a bad move. One of these ghosts carried a clue.

But isn’t it too much when in return to being scared by one of your very own seniors, you slid out a penknife out of who-knows-where-you-hid-it and shoved it right in front of his face?

Isn’t it too much when you attempt to kick one of these ghosts?

Isn’t it too much when you pull out the hair of one of these people, who more than gladly volunteered their time being dressed up like a ghost, just to make the event a success?

We tried whatever we could to make sure friendships foster among each and every one of you. Even when the best friendships might only form within each group, we know that with time your network of friends will expand. GTD will surely jumpstart the initial size of your network.

We tried whatever we could to make sure you can practise teamwork with each other, network with each other, support each other especially now that all of you are no longer in your own country.

We tried whatever we could to make sure you are familiar with the NTU environment and Singapore in general.

So is the way you treat your seniors justified?

I don’t think so.

GTD is not compulsory.

So if you won’t cooperate with us and the others freshmen, why did you even register for it in the first place?

Why did you bother sacrificing your weekend for the games we planned since months ago?

This letter only applies to the people who did what I described above.

For the rest, kudos to all of you, and I hope that you enjoy GTD as much as the organisers enjoy planning and executing it.

With love and kisses,

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Fwah…

Exhausted.

Except for some glitches here and there (most notably the sound system) GTD Day 1 went rather successfully. I had to run around the function hall in Hall 15 to take videos with Bachol’s Sony handycam and photos using my own Nikon F55, Nikkor 70-300 mm and Nikkor 28-80 lenses, and an external Metz 32-thingie (can’t remember the exact model) external flash. Hopefully they turn out alright, otherwise I’d have wasted my money spent on film and developing… Or Publication and Publicity (PnP)’s, depending on whether I’ll get any reimbursements.

Saw a few of quite cute freshies, which through taste-mismatches weren’t thought as such by my flatmates, who already saw parts of the video. Well, my taste is really that different from most guys, I guess.

No, I don’t think Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera are hot. In fact, I don’t even know how someone who’s hot is supposed to look like. Angelina Jolie only looks quite good in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four, and Keira Knightley in Love Actually. But what makes most people think that these people look good in other circumstances is unbeknownst to me.

This entry is about GTD Day 1, and not who’s hot or not. So I shall get back to the topic at hand.

For the interest of professionalism, of course I didn’t take obvious close-up videos of these group of people, not to any objections from my flatmates due to the taste-mismatches I mentioned above.

Instead , I was called a “stupid shit” because in one of the shots I skipped the group containing one the ladies that one of these men fancies. And for having that taste-mismatch, I was presumed to “like those fat girls with crossed eyes”.

By the way, don’t try that remark on a photographer/videographer. It hurts. And it hurts the girl in question too.

I should know best, you’re reading a true story.

No, I’m not the girl. I’m the photographer/videographer. I believe it wasn’t my fault that I skipped the group and have that taste-mismatch.

But this entry isn’t about what hurts a photographer/videographer/girl.

And what the heck is wrong with those homophobics? What’s so wrong about homosexuals? Not that I would like to be in any relationship with one, but why must he/she be shunned from the rest of the society?

Sigh…

Again, this entry is about GTD Day 1, and not homophobics and homosexuals.

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I realise I’m too tired to think of what to write. In fact, in this state of tiredness, my mind always drifts to other topics much faster than it usually does in normal situations.

So if you start hearing me talk about other topics, such as how I was offered to become the main committee of two different extra-curricular activities (ECAs), I would like to seek your understanding.

Yes you read it right. I was asked (by different people) to apply as the main committee of two different ECAs.

I’m not sure if I should take up the challenge though.

I no longer really need the ECA points since I’m now staying outside, so if I were to apply for main committee position, I know I’d do it purely for the experience.

However, being myself, I know that given a high responsibility, I would do (almost) everything to get the job done. This comes with a drawback, in that I tend to neglect other tasks in which I’m responsible for myself: studies.

Nevertheless, I’ll need to think through this over the next few days after GTD. Or, knowing myself, I’d probably finally decide right before the main committee interviews.

But this post isn’t about my being offered to become the main committee of two different ECAs, is it?

GTD Day 1 was fun beyond what my limited vocabulary can convey, and I hope it will be so for the next 3 days.

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PS: The author would like to assure the readers that he has nothing up against “those fat girls with crossed eyes”. My flatmates (or at least one of them) do. Really.

From Sista in the IndoSingBlogger Yahoo! Group:

Indonesian Freshmen Nite (IFN) 2005 is a gathering for Indonesians who are new in Singapore, and a place to know more tertiary students and alumni.

There will be Joy Tobing, the Indonesian Idol, band, dance, drama, games, and makan-makan. There will be a door prize and lucky draw too.

It will be held at Bestway Building, 12 Prince Edwards Road on Monday, 8 August 2005 from 06.00 pm onwards.

More information at http://ifn.sistasi.com/

There’s also an invitation to join the Indonesian Family Fun Day 2005.

Here’s the letter:

Dear Indonesian community in Singapore,

Let’s come together and have fun with all Indonesian fellows in Singapore in: “INDONESIAN FAMILY FUN DAY 2005″
Date: 9 August 2005
Time: 9.00am to 8.00pm
Venue: Bestway Building, 12 Prince Edward Road, Singapore 079212 (near MRT Tg Pagar)

Our Ambassador of Indonesia for Singapore, Mr Slamet Hidayat and the Indonesian Idol 2004 - Ms.JOY TOBING will attend this special event.

Also, there will be a Health Screening by NKF with special price - $5 only (u.p. $60), Free Eye Screening, some favorites Indonesian Foods, Band Competition, Winning Eleven Competition, prizes to be won and a lot more …

So, what are you waiting for?? Just come down and experience it yourself…
Bring all your friends with you…not limited to Indonesians only, but also the Singaporeans and other nationalities too.

For more detailed information, please see the flyers attached or contact Ms.JO BABY at 6463 4695.

best Regards,
IFFD2005 Committee

And here’s the flyer (click to enlarge):

Anyone coming?

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When your lecture notes are saved in Microsoft PowerPoint format and it has fancy backgrounds, and you intend to print it in the Lee Wee Nam Library in NTU, make sure you turn off the background or print in black-and-white mode.

If you don’t, you might risk making others wait for you as each page is printed once every 5 minutes.

I’m saying this because I just had a first-hand experience of the situation.

No, I wasn’t the one waiting. I was the one printing the lecture notes. As I type now, I’m still trying to forget the glances of rage I saw on the people behind me who had to wait for more than half-an-hour for my print job to finish.

My only consolation is that the screen displaying the name of the document which was printing only mentioned my user ID (’HEND0004′) instead of my full name.

Other than that, the second day was good and was a contrast to the first day. It’s good to see more familiar faces from my JC days. I can only say this now because my juniors just had their first day of university today (yesterday was Freshmen Welcome Day).

Lectures were as boring as usual.

Oh yeah, I learnt a new vocabulary yesterday. There was this lecturer who kept on talking about ‘algoristmas’. It sounds like those things that programmers do during Christmas, isn’t it? If it was not because of the subject name, I might not have realised that what she meant was really ‘algorithms’.

Speaking of mispronunciations, I can’t forget that time I was at the Jurong West hawker centre near my flat. The uncle ge ge waiter of the Indian stall walked around asking people whether they had ordered ‘cognac prata’.

Now, I know some of the roti prata stalls are trying to be creative and some of them actually have many assorted fillings of the prata. I’ve heard of plain prata, onion prata, banana prata, tissue prata, and even ice-cream prata.

By the way, tissue prata is not filled with tissue paper. It’s just that the prata is so paper-thin that it is crispy, just like… er… tissue paper. Ok, so tissue paper isn’t crispy. Tissue paper is thin, and that was the reason behind the name tissue prata. I think.

Anyway… I thought I’ve seen all kinds of prata, until that very fine night when the stall suddenly served ‘cognac prata’.

Oh, for those who don’t know, cognac is a kind of brandy. You can find out more information about cognac at this Wikipedia entry.

Good, right? A piece of roti prata filled with liquor. It’s west-meets-south kind of fusion food, and is guaranteed to tingle your tastebuds unlike any other food.

Alas, my excitement did not last for too long. As my flatmate and I thought harder, and backed with a peek of the prata in question, we realised that what he meant was really ‘onion egg prata’.

Cognac curry, anyone?

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Optimus keyboard: Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment. Switch your keyboard among different layouts or even use application-specific ones such as those for Photoshop and Quake.

Making of a Brick: How Legos are made. Cool stuff. [via lancerlord]

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Blah.

I did one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever done in university today. It has something to do with the recruitment of new members.

I’m not sure if I should go on blaming myself or others or just leave it as a simple broken telephone line, because even though the briefing I had was not completely clear and there was something in the recruitment system that made me thought the system wasn’t working, I was the one committing the mistake and I should have had enough experience to bloody hell avoided it.

The mistake directly involved the less-than-ten new recruits we had during my shift and probably affected the new recruits under the committee member (wo)manning the booth after me, but even then it was a mistake that had probably costed the club’s higher-echelons some convenience.

*cries cried*

In the end, I was told that everything was under control and that everything was settled. But the memories will remain for the next few weeks or so.

And look what I found on the Office of Academic Services (OAS) website today:

Grrr, last time they said we all had to 15 Academic Units (AU, something like credits in other universities) for our General Education Requirement-Prescribed Elective (GER-PE, something like enrichment subjects) consisting of 9 AUs from Art, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS), 3 from Business and Management (BM), and 3 from Science, Technology and Society (STS).

The paragraph in the OAS website simply said that I don’t actually need to take BM after all. I could simply substitute the AU requirement for BM with another GER-PE from AHSS or STS.

And that upset me.

The requirement to take BM was the sole reason why I had taken Accounting last semester break. You might remember how I was badly traumatised, in the end getting my first D in university.

*double cries*

If the decision to remove this requirement and the announcement had been made earlier, I would not have taken BM at all. I would probably take lots of STS and a couple of AHSS instead, and then I would be a happier man.

Sigh…

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Works for Me: Silly Upgrades: CNET carries this article on what upgrades are worth doing for your computer. For example, it’s better to upgrade speakers rather than sound cards to get a better aural experience. It’s also more recommended to upgrade your graphics card than CPU when you want to play heavy-weight games.

The article ends with a suggestion to move to a new place rather than buying a new car if you like speed, which leads to…

Driving in Germany - The Autobahn: This is quite a complete guide about Germany’s Autobahns, where unlimited speed limits, contrary to popular belief, is not always true. There are some more tidbits about the autobahn that I found:

• It is illegal to run out of gas on the Autobahn.
• If you have a rented German car, you may have a cassette tape or CD being played, you may get them interrupted by reports of a Stau, or traffic jam. German radio tuners continue to monitor the last-selected radio station even when a tape or CD is being played. Radio stations broadcast a special tone at the start of traffic reports and when the tuner detects this tone, it switches the audio from the tape or CD to the radio so that you can hear the information. Sounds like a cool gadget.

Sales of surplus (Bloggers.SG) T-shirts: I have this sudden urge to buy one for myself. Should I?

Crazy Frog Remix: Remember that crazy frog? He now stars in a DDR-type game.

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Blogathon 2005: Blog for charity. During the Blogathon, people update their websites every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. For this, they collect sponsorships. Pledges can be a flat donation, or a certain amount for every hour the blogger manages to stay awake.

Anyone participating? It’s on Saturday, 6 August, 9 a.m. - Sunday, 7 August, 9 a.m., PST (in Singapore that would be Sunday, 7 August, midnight - Monday, 8 August, midnight). I don’t think I’m participating though. I’m not sure if my brain can handle that extra task to think of 48 different entries just on that particular day, not to mention not sleeping all through the 24 hours. And it starts at midnight. My biological clock is now set such that I sleep at 5 a.m. and wake up at 2 p.m. Maybe next time when my biological clock is really screwed up, then I’ll join the Blogathon.

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