It’s doomed from the start.
I should have expected it.
I’m seriously sick of being the only group motivator.
The only one who keeps on calling for meetings, which usually end up with an argument anyway.
In times like this when I’m super busy, I really wish that I can just drop the module and leave the group by themselves.
Or do the entire project by myself.
Sigh…
I can almost see my first class honours slipping away…
Tired,
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I think that, to most people, I’m just one of those computer technical support officers who won’t turn down a cry for help.
But other than that, I’m just one unimportant being that takes up a space as a human on earth.
And I’m not even paid! Not like those people who actually become technical support officers for a living.
Yes, I love to share my knowledge and I can’t turn down a cry for help and all, but ultimately, I’m still a human being.
I want someone who can see and treasure me as a friend.
No need to be a girlfriend (or boyfriend for that matter), but just as a true, real friend.
Someone who will actually be there when I need one.
Someone who can accept me as I am, with all my quirks and twists.
Someone I can share my interests with.
I mean, seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing that day when people will ask me how I am doing in life with a genuine intention on catching up, not just as a preface to ask why his internet connection doesn’t work. Sometimes it hurts when the latter comes; if my heart were to have tear glands, it would have flooded my tummy.
Will that day ever come?
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Note: I’ve decided to split this entry into two. The part on CS226 can be found on the next entry. All comments have been moved accordingly.
Do you have any comments on the latest issue of NTU Tribune? I’m very disappointed with the latest issue, because there are really lots and lots of rooms for improvement. In my opinion, the professionality of Tribune didn’t seem to be that apparent–of course unless it really intended to make itself look not-so-professional, which I doubt it did. I think I should be more straightforward: The layout sucks. Totally. Terribly. Horribly.
I said this in my comments to Spectra, but it is applicable as well here: Although the members of a publication may not be professionals, the least that can be done is making it look a little bit professional. Lack of time is not an excuse.
I mean, put it side-by-side with The Chronicles and you’ll see a stark difference between the two newsletters. Really, Tribune’s looks lately absolutely pale in comparison with Chronicles.
People can argue that “it’s the content that matters”. But, as they say, first impression counts. This is where the good layout shines and the bad one doesn’t. Yeah, it’s true that The Chronicles is done by those who are so-called more-trained in the industry (Communication Studies students), but Tribune is still a publication, and so the same thing applies. Present something nicely and you’ll get more people who are interested to know what you’re trying to say. Present it badly and even though the contents are very interesting, some people will simply brush it off.
Examples of such terrible layout (and presentation) include lots of spelling mistakes here and there, layout problems such as awkward empty spaces in most pages, various capitalisations in a single headline, and even the informal use of multiple punctuation marks (examples include “Free Shuttle Bus and more..”, “Bye-bye Uni Ball ….. HELLO WELCOME PARTY 2005!”, “Symphonic anyone??”, “Incredible Indeah!!!”). Yes, those are actual headlines. And why must it be “Indeah” when the writer could have simple used “India”?!?
And the last page doesn’t look like it was printed properly… Its colours are way off. Off as in monochromatic, and even then it looks very dark; you can’t even see the model behind! The text is totally rubbish–no legible information at all.
Oh, and who the heck links an article from page 13 to page 2?!?
I can’t even imagine how these obviously glaring mistakes went through the editors without any modifications at all!
suhu has a detailed page-to-page comment on the issue. Check out the comment section on this post to take a look. It’s in Indonesian… But I might translate it into English one of these days.
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PS: This entry is not written as an attack to Tribune or any of the editors or writers whatsoever. Rather, it is meant to be a comment by a reader. I’m hoping that, should this entry be discovered or read by anyone related to The Tribune, it can be used to improve future issues of Tribune.
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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Came home from Design FIESTA today to find 179 spam comments in my blog. Update 10 July, 01.53: And counting.
And my Adobe Photoshop died. Screenshot saved with Adobe ImageReady.
What a warm welcome indeed.
This fella (it’s a snake, BTW) went into my house (back in Indonesia) the morning of the day I was supposed to come back to Singapore (i.e. yesterday).
Those who believe so may consider this to be a premonition that something will go wrong with the trip back. Luckily, nothing went wrong with the trip back.
Yet others believe that it was a sign to put the number 32 in togel (Toto gelap, a local edition of Singapore’s Toto sweep, taking the winning numbers from the actual Singapore’s Toto result of the day).
So many things to talk about Design FIESTA. In three words: It was fun!
Later.
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It is an important and popular fact that I’m a bit biased against Microsoft.
Okay, so it’s not as important and not so popular. But this entry has nothing to do with the importance, nor the popularity of my bias.
After reading this ZDNet Asia article, I was appalled to learn that Microsoft won’t be giving IE a patch to cover the dialog origin vulnerability I mentioned a couple of days ago, instead saying that it is a feature, not a vulnerability and that “[t]his is an example of how current standard Web browser functionality could be used in phishing attempts”.
Standard functionality or not, it is still an attempt for phishing confidential information.
To say that it’s-a-standard-functionality-so-it-doesn’t-need-a-patch is like saying that because metal fork-and-knife set is standard cutlery, there is no need to change it to plastic ones in a commercial airplane, even though it is known that the metal set can be used in a hijacking attempt.
After all, metal cutlery is a feature, not a vulnerability and this is just an example of how current standard cutlery could be used in hijacking attempts.
Right?
Wrong.
Standard cutlery or not, they can still be used for hijacking, and that is, in fact, still a vulnerability to address.
Even when metal cutlery and sharp household items are finally allowed on board again as of April this year (at least on UK-based airlines) it is only because these airlines have upgraded the security of the airplanes, such as using “sealed cockpits, closed-circuit TV cameras and sky marshals” (source: The Sun Daily). In a way, these airlines have ‘patched’ their vulnerability before allowing such items on board again.
To Microsoft’s credit, it is mentioned in its security advisory that “[c]ustomers who already follow our general guidance about avoiding spoofing and phishing attacks are at reduced risk of being affected by this issue.”
Unfortunately, not everyone follows Microsoft’s “general guidance” (those who do, please put your hands up) and the least that Microsoft can do for these people is to update their softwares automatically. At least the number of people who do Automatic Updates are, hopefully, more than those who bother to read security guidelines.
Okay, so I’m biased against Microsoft.
But think about it. And let me know what you think of the issue.
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Why *scratch* are there *scratch* *scratch* so many mosquitoes *scratch* here?
Aaarrgh…. *scratch* *scratch* *scratch*
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I still feel that pang of loss when I realise that I’m now into the second year of a Major in EEE in NTU instead of being in one of those flying schools down under, partly because the ladies in the house were, and still are, too afraid to let me be in control of one of those flying metal tubes, despite at the same time are okay with me being in the hands of whoever-that-might-be who control those flying metal tubes for the 36th time in my life.
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It’s official.
I’m traumatised for life.
And so from now on, I’m swearing off any Accounting modules.
The exam was very toot lah.
The first question was the standard question where one is supposed to do an eight-column worksheet, profit and loss statement, and balance sheet. (Sorry, I’m tired and lazy to explain what each of the Accounting terms are or even to link to a further explanation on the net. You’d have to research on them yourself if you’d like to find out what they are). Posting was a total mess and I couldn’t even balance the Income Statement and Balance Sheet columns. Profit and loss statement and balance sheet were not balanced either.
The second question was on profit and sales revenue graph (called P/V graph). This was quite alright, although I was pretty sure my presentation was not correct.
The third question required the candidates to do a variance analysis. I had no freaking idea what variance analysis was. (Accounting concepts have this uncanny ability to vanish from my mind 5 minutes after reading it). So 18 marks were gone.
The fourth question was another standard question on cash flow. Candidates were to get the current values of future savings or spendings, and (usually) compare two or more different projects causing such savings or spendings. If I were lucky, I should get this one correct, although as usual my presentation was super messy.
All in all, Accounting exam was crap, and I won’t be surprised if I get the first failure in university.
Funny that contrary to most people, I’d rather see this:
Rather than this:
Heh, at least the Special Session wasn’t too wasted for me. I had lots of things to do in between of studying, like being part of the organisers of Image|reel 2005 and Digital Design ‘05. I’m also taking part in the making of the introductory movie for next semester’s Indonesian orientation.
Yeah, that was me when I was studying. The red thing surrounding my face was UJ’s hand when he was taking the photo. Can you see the stress?
Oh, and in between of studying, I also learnt a good deal of Linux.
Right. I realised the part after this is quite highly technical for most people. So I shall leave them in Extended Entry, which you can read by clicking on ‘Read More…’ below. Feel free to skip that part if you want to. 
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Right…
I’m currently running on Ubuntu Live CD because I can’t boot into either Linux or Windows at the moment.
M$ Windows somehow managed to overwrite Ubuntu’s boot loader (called grub) when I attempted to repair my Windows. So what happens is that there’s no longer any of those menu allowing me to choose whether to boot into Windows or Linux. This practically bars me from booting up into the Linux installation at all.
Not only this, the Windows installation is totally screwed up after the repair. It doesn’t even allow me to see that familiar Windows logo with the scrolling blue bars below it, instead presenting me with a message saying that some ‘hal.dll’ file is corrupted.
So here I am now, running on an Ubuntu Linux operating system live from the CD, trying to find a way to regain access to my Linux installation. Sigh…
And I’m supposed to study for my Accounting exam. Damn.
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