:(

Whooooooooahh

I just got a mic.

A mic.

MIC

And ftr, SGD$120 spent. But man. A CONDENSER MIC.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, check it man.

Oh and I got this mic.

Yes. Hence, an extremely sensitive microphone. So sensitive, I can simply tilt my head away from it instead of using a pop filter, and it picks up everything at a level of more than -10dB.

But disadvantages always exist. Example: it picks up the extremely disgusting sound of me licking my lips when they are too dry, drinking water, and well...breathing. When I first tried recording, I had to spend a great deal of time removing the sound of my 'wetting my lips' between lines. (I use Ardour btw)

And. My computer fan. Its quite soft actually, I'm surprised the mic picked up. Its noise floor is so low it can actually pick that up! And yes, I consider this room rather quiet. When I'm not typing at least.

Of course this raises the question why I got a mic. For those who don't actually know (I doubt anyone who doesn't know reads this blog), I like to sing. So _IF_ I ever record something not embarrassing, I might just post it. Stayed tuned!

Greenday

Nostalgia

Its been a while...

Since my previous post. And really, most of the time I just couldn't be bothered to type a blog post. Its long, its troublesome, its...and you run out of words. Ok whatever.

I suppose I still blog once in a while...I need a place to rant. To post my opinions on the world, post my opinions of everyone around me (without pointing out any names), and sometimes, just because I'm feeling shit.

You know. Sometimes I wonder, if I were to isolate myself from social life for a couple of months...how stuff will turn out. If I were to completely cut off myself from all my friends. Be as cold as I can. It didn't seem like a very appealing idea at first; not at all. I've always treasured my friends, since I never had more than a few anyway. (Yes, cool reason isn't it. Fuck that.)

However, due to recent events, I'm starting to reconsider this. I mean, there is no one I could confide in anyway. There is no one to really talk to. So why bother? Is it just a waste of time?


Depending on my mood, I might just start the experiment. Start building The Wall. It would be pretty obvious when I start methinks.

OMGOMGOMG

80 words

Speedtest

Yay!

77 words

Typingtest

Vim vs Emacs

Firefox vs Chrome
Openoffice vs Koffice
Slashdot vs Digg
Vuze vs uTorrent
Ubuntu vs Fedora
Gnome vs KDE
Blogger vs Wordpress
Audio Technica vs Grado
Equatorial vs Alt-Az
Missionary vs Cowgirl

Fuck.

The world would be a better place if people learn to keep their personal preferences to themselves.

Another improvement!

74 words

Speed test

Thought it all just started...

Yeah. Classes gonna get swapped around again. You know, this is quite a bad time...I really feel like I've only get to know all the people in my class. But oh well, that's not in my control...

Anyway, I suppose the least I can do is at least to write a "tribute" kinda thing to our class right? A bit of stuff about everyone (whom I sorta know)...I'll try to keep all my comments positive!

Oh and before that, I shall describe myself in win terms!

Firstly, paper automatically become compressed when they enter my bag:

I also happen to be a:

And of course:

I facepalm a lot


(In no particular order...)

Rion You
LOL@U!!!
Anyway, well...nice computer? Haha. Dunno, somehow, I don't have much to say to guys whom I know I'd probably keep in touch with. Oh and thanks for getting me into audiophile stuff (I think we got each other in =.=)...I suppose SR80s are the point of no return.

Daryl Tan
Hmm...thanks for the replays. And stuff. Also, I NEED MOAR REPLAYS!
Oh and I wanna play another 4v4 in the future!

Theodore Lee
See you again =.= IN HOSTEL

Russell Foo
You must be glad I spelt your name with double "l"s! Anyway, thanks for making sure I'm not the bottom of the food chain in supcom :D Also, for paying me for building your comp. By the way, live long and prosper! (I hope you get it)

Kausik
Thanks for randomly giving me chips in poker. Oh and thanks for making class interesting lol. AND AND AND no thanks for bringing my calc to SJPO and resetting it =.=

Rajagopal Ramprasath
LOL MADE OF WIN LOSE! By the way, you lost the game.
And you owe me 10 dollars. But you know what, I hope you are still in my class next year. For someone to own. Think on the bright side. At least I don't own you as badly as Reuben and Han Siang and Kendrick.

Tseng Liang Jun
I don't understand why you are patriotic =.=
I'm not anti-Taiwan, but I've never seen anyone as patriotic as you. And that is probably why people make fun of you and Taiwan you know. (Just a bit of advice) Anyway, you can be a nice guy when you are not being too snobbish, so try not to be. And try not to retaliate. Then everyone will like you like thay like Ram.

Guo Tai Yu
Thanks for keeping me from going insane from boredom when I was surrounded by girls (hint: during classes, girls are typically boring)
Sexism aside, thanks for reminding me to hand in Chinese HW even though it didn't quite work out, and thanks for coaching me for Table Tennis.

Sabrina Tang (I spelt correctly...?)
Same as first point above :D

Reuben
Thanks for reminding me that there exists people out there with decent music taste. And for introducing me to COB. And for 1m starter fund lol. And half-hour rule.

Zawadul
You know what, you can be quite nice. When you are not using volume advantage to block people in basketball. lol.

Ms. Wu
Thanks for being such an awesome mentor :D
And for bio classes that are less boring than most!

alright...exams are fucking close now

well...shit.

Exams round the fucking corner. Fuck.

You know what? I haven't started revising yet. Goddamnit.

Then again, do i care? Probably not. I should probably stop pretending to give a shit about exams. I dont see the importance of exams. I mean, its a test of your mugging skills. Which is fucked up too. Anyway...i an bored. Shall spam music.bye monarch.

I'm that bored haha.

69 words

Speed test

I suppose I'm prone to underestimating people

Well.

As far as I know, my blog as been compromised.

No big matter. BUT, it raised my attention. Is it quite as delicate as I think it is?
I was always under the impression that...you know...things are not quite as crazy as they suddenly seem to me.

I think...I think need more security. Yes. And as the (self-proclaimed) geek, I WILL FUCKING GET IT.

Stupid idiots.

By the way, a ripoff from shaun, I found something cool.

http://www.translationparty.com/#4513888

Its different. And cooler.

I am spamming posts for no reason

Alexi Laiho's strange sense of humor




Alice Cooper is AWESOME.

I wonder...

I wonder what is it like to be loved.

What does it feel to have someone care for you?

What does it feel to have someone you can confide in regardless of the situation?

I've not felt such things for a while.

I'm becoming comfortably numb. I've pretty much given up hope on relationships haha.

Maybe I am just that selfish. I can't imagine dedicating half my life to care for someone.

Maybe I'm destined to stay single. Then again, I'm a man of science. Fuck destiny, I don't believe the universe is deterministic.

Pic related.

Like Freddie Mercury said, it would be probably better to have "Good Company" than a "Limited/Ltd Company"

Sigh...as of now there is one girl I like. And it so happens we rarely get a chance to talk to each other, that she is in another school. Man, my luck is bad. I won't even bother with NUS High girls, since if I like someone, there would be rumors, everyone would tease me, and piss me off; not to mention girls are outnumbered 2:1 or something, and that many more qualified guys exist. Well, at least I know I'm the at the "Top of the World" (Yes, yet another song reference!)

Well...


Sometimes I need some time all alone.


It is probably my fault. I lie to everyone, try to keep everything in balance. Sometimes, like now, I take a breather, and suddenly realize how fragile the world around me is. I can err just once, and everything would come crashing down. Everyone would suddenly realize they don't know me.

And just for that, I couldn't start a relationship. Too much dedication, too delicate a balance needed. The closer someone is to me, the more lies between us...

If only I can turn back now.

Demonoid extended maintenance

Fuck. My torrents are fucking slow without the tracker. CAN DEMONOID COME UP NAOOOOOOO!

Life is short...

Life is far too short.

I've got a million and one things to do. Ambitions, goals, fantasies of the non-sexual type (or maybe even otherwise), you name it. And yet, I can't imagine being able to do all that in less than a hundred years, while having to dedicate most of my time to maintaining a steady income.

Actually, it is probably impossible.

I don't want to sound cliche, but I'm really not saying this because I'm afraid of death. I'm not. It's not that I don't want to die, it's just that I want to live longer and do moar things.

Maybe that is why the human race is failing so badly. Few would do things for future generations to complete, simply because they cannot see its completion. Isn't it. Would you do something when you don't know if it would ever be complete, when you don't know if it will even be continued after your death? Not if it is your job and gives you a steady income I suppose.

Maybe I'm just selfish, but I don't fancy contributing to mankind. I don't give a shit, frankly. I am a born explorer. I am just curious about everything, nothing more, nothing less. I don't have grand aspirations (I want to save the world! NOT). I don't want to be a hero. I just want to know.

Perhaps what I am searching for can be summed up in one number: 42

Even the supercomputer does not have the interpretation, however. If I am part of the experiment, would I ever know the answer?

I don't need immortality. When I find outthe answer, I would die willingly, but only if I do. I don't aim to pass anything down to anyone. I just want the answer.

Google is evil

I know I might just get flamed for this. And of course, its quite stupid to post this on Blogger, but heck.

Anyway. GOOGLE IS FUCKING EVIL. Seriously. Look at what they are doing. They are trying to monopolize the world, or at least the entire IT industry. Why do I say that?

Firstly, Google is challenging Apple and Microsoft simultaneously. Google is coming up with chrome OS. It is fair competition, is it not? NO. Google would most likely release it free, and stuff. Then, people would be LOCKED ONTO THEIR CLOUD SYSTEM, AND IT WOULD NO LONGER BE FREE.

Secondly, Google is trying to drive many open source competitiors out of the scene. They are trying hard to bring down Mozilla, right now. They are trying to appear Open Source friendly, by releasing Android. However, it is part of their cloud computing scheme, and obviously they know how there are many open source linux based alternatives to Andriod that they can help develop instead, saving themselves quite a bit of capital as well.

Thirdly, their cloud system means the death of computers as you know it. What would hardware become? You computer would become a empty shell. Your computational power would be "rented" to you. Your graphics card would not be a permanent investment. (Not that it is now, but 300 a year is not quite as expensive as broadband is now). Instead, it would be like broadband, 100 dollars a month, to rip you off. Difference is, they have no competitors, so they can price their services as high as they like. Like to play crysis? Pay 200 dollars a month. COD4? Maybe only 100.

Lastly, it means all your data would belong to Google. Your life would be on Google's servers. And of course, so would be your software. You like having to pay a monthly subscription fee for your SINGLE PLAYER FPS GAMES? YOU DO? I know you don't. Seriously. Google will kill your life. You must kill Google.

Teh Internetz

I've been thinking a lot about useless crap recently. And well, that just made me come up with a interesting observation: The Internet is evolving like many old civilizations of ye olde times.

Alright. So. Some "Analogies".

Outlaws-Anonymous
Vigilantes-Whistleblowers
Lawbringers/Police-Well...police.
Innocents-Random people browsing youtube
Raids-Website and online game raids (Remember Youtube porn day and Habbo Hotel Negro Afro Day)
Burglars-Torrenters

Well.

That's about it...I'll stop before I violate Internet Rule #1

SJPO

WAS SCARY

Actually quite doable. I just forgot a lot of formulas. Still. Hoping for silver haha.

Astro Trip + Sports Meet

Pungai trip was fucking awesome!

I haven't seen such skies for a while. It is about as good as China actually...but with more clouds. But in china I didn't have a scope.

Man. You can point the Dob anywhere in the sky and see over 30 stars. Seriously what the fuck. And we had the 80mm Apo...it was epic. DAMN EPIC. Saw M22 through that. It resolved better in the apo than the Newtonian! Seriously what the hell. And it was the first time I saw that kind of detail on Jupiter outside of the observatory...man. That was a good purchase.

And I got to see how everyone behaves with 48 hours sleep deprivation (at least those that are enthu about astronomy), and people got to see me sleepy to the point I'm essentially a drunkard.
Theodore (Year 4 one) acts retardedly. Just plain retarded, even more than he normally is, and tries to flirt. I can't blame him, his evolutionary fitness is probably quite below average.
Rion uses every swear word in the book, and when he runs out, he says weird stuff like "What the Idiot?"
Naomi stones on a chair.
Eugenia starts singing (WTF?!?!)
I laugh at what everyone says and find everything funny. Uh...and behave funnily.

Yep. Fun times :D

And yesterday was...a rush. Adrenaline rush, man. I never sprinted this fast in my fucking life, and no, I'm not implying I spend my life fucking. Maybe I spend my life fucking other people's lives up, but not fucking around. I don't want AIDS. And yes, digressed again.

Anyway, my main event was Boys B division 1500m run. Damn it I was out of form, if nor I could have been first. Anyway, it was not bad, I got 3rd. Which means a medal. Haha. Oh well. That was the first time I've gotten a adrenaline rush except when I was almost late for my date a year back (and thus had to sprint for my evolutionary fitness)...and this is far more glorious.

Photos? No. Dnt bring a camera even.

Anyway. KTHXBAI.

TOMORROW IS SJPO SPECIAL ROUND OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG NEED TO REVISE MUST GET GOLD!!!

SR80s!

Let the pics do the talking today...haha.

Philosophy

Sometimes I wonder why the hell everything is the way it is. Well, firstly, it is perfect proof how evolution does not create perfect organisms. You can see it all around. Would retards exist if evolution creates perfection? No. Would I have myopia? No. Would I be learning English and Chinese because every fucking adult thinks it is not enough to be able to talk and write resumes? NO!

Isn't it fucked up.

Well. Life IS fucked up.

Sure, I used to be emo and everything, used to be suicidal and stuff...that's behind me. I mean, if my life is fucked up, so is everyone else's. That means you get to see people EPIC FAIL and you can LOLCATS at them. I know, I know, that's not how you use lolcats, but I can't get enough of memes. Yep, another reason to live.

As you live on, you get stripped of your sanity, and slowly begin realizing how wonderful life is (even though it isn't). Then, one day BOOM! you die. Weird isn't it. You get tortured so much that you find torture pleasing, then they take it from you.

Of course, if I don't exist, things might be better. I would not be fucking my results up left right and center, I wouldn't feel bored and of course, I wouldn't need to waste time shutting down my brain in a attempt to avoid it overheating. (otherwise known as sleeping).

And don't forget the most important reason I live for. I EAT DELICIOUS CAKE NOM NOM

Maybe I've gotten to the "losing my sanity" stage.

Astro trip

Man.

Astro trip coming up. Awesome shit.

Fridays are murder.

Shit.

Fridays are fucking tiring. Seriously. You know, many people complain about the tiniest bit of shit...complain about how they hate PE, how PE is fucking tiring. They haven't seen my Fridays. I have PE...duh. But that's just the start. Bad start huh? You don't say.

Then there is Table Tennis. Thats the real killer. I tell you what, as well as I can run, the most tired part of me would be my legs. PE is...usual. Frisbee, floorball, whatever. Involves running. Table tennis, contrary to what might be expected, is far worse. You've all seen people play table tennis before. That half-squat position kills your thighs. You can imagine. Half-squatting for 2 hours.

After that, there is Astro. I'd be standing most of the time, yeah, unless there's a lecture. If there is stargazing...you know, Year 1s are short. They are so short even I can call them midgets. yes. So I cater every telescope to their height...and I'm not short enough to just bend down to look, while I'm not tall enough to just squat down. Fucked up ain't it?

But you know what? I'm probably just complaining. What can I do about this? Nothing. I love Astro, and I don't quite love Table Tennis, but it is still rather awesome...and obviously I cannot change my freaking timetable. Goddammit. Every Friday, the first thing I do is not shower. I lie on my bed for 10 mins, then get up and shower. I'm not sleepy. I'll be wide awake, and as alert as I normally am. But yea, I am tired.

Guess you can't blame me for sitting down whenever I can during astro despite being the president. Hey, I can talk! That's good enough right?

My sneaking skillz improved

Look. My parents are asleep now.

Haha. I managed to sneak my laptop, its power cable, and my specs (Duh) into the living room when my dad is sleeping in my room

My FTW.

I'm not insolent. I've just got insomnia. Hmm.

I need moar fucking moneh

I need more money. Really.

Lots to buy, little to spend.

1) Astronomy

I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!I NEED A TELESCOPE!

GET THE POINT? Or the many points?

Yes. I need a telescope. Have my eyes set on this baby. Man its just awesome. Firstly, it looks damn sexy. Its like getting a girlfriend; you'd want it to look good. Even if she gets 2 for CAP, smokes, and speaks Engrish, at least you can boast about it. Yes, its that important. Sometimes first impressions ARE the only thing that matters. You just show them your scope, and then "WHOOPS! Forgot to bring eyepiece" and run off.

But thats not all. Its airline-portable! I can bring it onto the plane, cuz I'm too damn scared to ship a fully multi-coated doublet lens in a regular foam padded case. I've seen how luggage is handled. Its quite scary.

Then of course, its optics are top-notch. I know people would like "WTFWTFWTF YOU NEED MORE APERTURE!!!" By people, I mean Shaun. Yes thats you, don't look around. But you know what? Sometimes you don't! Ha. There is no point in getting big aperture in Singapore, and even though there might be a point or two, or many, when I randomly fly to China, um...if I get a 10" Dob, I can't even bring it onto the plane. I don't have my private jet either, thank you very much. I would like one though, despite the fact I'll be letting it RUST IN PEACE cuz I can't afford the fuel. On second thought, I'll sell it, and I won't need MOAR FUCKING MONEH.

Then again, I digress.

2) Headphones

Yes. I'm not saying my current PortaPros suck. They are about as good as it gets for the price. That's the problem, however. "For the price..." It just fucking means I need to pay like $175 for a majopr jump in quality, to the Grado SR-80i. I auditioned them. Slutgarden sounds amazing. Bohemian Rhapsody is even more crazy than usual. And the guitarist just goes crazy in Comfortably Numb's solo. Yes, its a pair of headphones optimized for Rock. Not the best bass, not the best vocals, but guitar is FUCKING EPIC. I'm serious. And, its about the best you can get for the price, only rivaled by the Alessandro MS-1, which has a more neutral, thus boring, sound.

3) Hardware

CORE I7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!1111111!!!!11111!!!!1!11
I need Core i7. Then I can boast to all the geeks that are not worth boasting to simply cuz they have no social life anyway. Nah. I won't waste moneh on boasting. Problem is that in Luxrender, my renders still take a day or two. Well, at least the renderer can pause right? Wrong. Its damn annoying anyway. I need to wait for a render to finish before I know how good it is. And just for me to do a preview render takes an hour or two. Fuck.

4) Headphone amps

I'm a purist when it comes to DIY audio. In other words, I go around reading design papers, I read the factors needed be taken into account when designing headphone amplifiers, but I refuse to use other people's designs. I take a generic opamp topology, add this, add that, do this, do that, optimize, facepalm, ???, Profit. Sadly sometimes I die before Profit. Well, I had a two day headache cuz someone called me when I'm soldering, and caused me to burn a hole in my anti-static bag while not looking. And its a waste of a good bag, it cost me $3.40 to order a component that came with one.

Anyhow, my purist approach simply means I needs loads and loads of components to experiment. Components are not expensive o their own. But when you get loads and loads, you die. I'm gonna order a few nice jellybean Opamps during hols (jellybeans are generic components with lousy quality but you can grab a fistful of and throw at people. At least I define it as that.). That's gotta save me a lot. From $3~$10 opamps to WHAM! 50¢! But for prototyping, I'll be burning plenty and inhaling lots of toxic silicon smoke, so even if you don't consider hospital fees, which would (hopefully) covered by insurance, it'll still cost me a hundred or so. Not a lot, but significant.

5) High Voltage!

Ok. I admit. I have a fetish for high voltage. That's why I'm going to build a 20kV CW generator and use it to power a 100kV marx bank. Just imagine. That'd be epic. Its about as good as I can get with mediocre experience and lack or grounding for a Tesla Coil.

But boy, capacitors aren't cheap.

But that's k. I'm making my own. They'll be huge, but they'll be good. only problem is they'd take ages to make. And then I'd need to buy my safety gear. Which will cost another hundred or so. I'll be doing it in the hostel btw, so that if I faint there is still a small chance I'll get CPR or someone will notice and call the ambulance. Haha. I don't want to die yet, I haven't gotten a observatory and a pair of Grado PS1000i and a Mclaren. Then I can die.

Digressed again.

Longest post in a long while! Don't say TL;DR k?

FUCKING HELL

Whoever caused the admins to block school email, I'm fucking pissed. This week CCA start and I have to recieve fucking emails, and now everything is blocked. So is internet. Damn it man.

Bitches.
Yes.

At least the school observatory is fixed. Yay.

Headphone Amp

Pretty much done with my headphone amp...

It sounds great!
Of course, pics.

Oh Man...holidays ending...

Fuck.

Hols are almost over. Doesn't that absolutely suck? Aww man. You know I hope they close the schools due to H1N1. I have so much left to school, barely scratched the surface. Really. I just ordered my headphone amp parts...havent soldered yet. Maybe they will come on Monday. I'm quite hyped.

Argh. You know I need to take a break from this hectic life of mine. As I type this blog post, I am rendering in the background, I am waiting for people to come on so I can play Supreme Commander on hamachi, I am (obviously) typing this blog post, and I'm planning to repair the white Vixen telescope we have at school. And I've got to worry about next sem's CCA program, I've got stuff I've yet to plan, emails I've yet to send.

You may ask why I'm blogging. Cuz I'm fucking tired of all that. I am tired of everything. Wanted...a change. Wanted to swear a bit (lot). Yes. Very few ppl actually read my fucking blog, but those who do probably won't like my blog. Fuck yeah. My blog should begin with [Rant] and end with [/Rant]. Seriously.

Those who what I'm talking about know might want to navigate a bit. Just a hint.

Trip to my hometown: Reflections

Ahh...man. You know, I gotta agree with Shaun that Wake Me Up When September Ends makes one nostalgic (yes I do remember blog posts from 2 years ago)

Well. This was one nostalgic trip, and at many times, I found myself close to tears. Really. Anyone saw me cry before? No. I don't like to cry. I think its a display of weakness. Yet, many times during the trip, I had tears welling up in my eyes. Probably the first time I ever got that kind of feeling in a long long while.

The place changed a lot. My grandparents got older, and they are very dear to me. Really, I don't know what I'll do if one day I receive news they are gone. I trust them more than my parents. Or rather, I don't fucking trust my parents. The house I was so familiar with has been re-renovated. Should that be re-re-renovated. Or just renovated. (God I hate prefixes) Anyway, the only piece of furniture that didn't change was a bookshelf. And in that bookshelf was the book that started my interest in Astronomy. Yes, unbelievable isn't it? I got interested in astronomy when I was three and a half years old. Now I think about it, that book was boring. Yet, 2 pages caught my attention.
Really. Its that simple.Now, I'm president of the Astronomy Club, I look back and think of the silly questions I was asking, its pretty funny. Yet, when I think of those times, inevitably there a tiny bit of nostalgia.

Another place that did not change was the playground. I had really vivid memories there. There, I biked (on a tricycle), I saw my first stick insect, my cousin taught me how to hold two giant ants at the thorax and make them bite each other (to death, yeah).

All these memories coming back to you, its a incredible feeling. Gotta go back again some winter. That would mean more nostalgia...winter was fun. I can't remember how many damn times I got hit in the face by snowballs.

2nd Day in China

Oh man. I'm getting bored out of my mind here. You know, before coming, I thought there's no way I could be bored with internet access and a laptop. How wrong was I. I couldn't access maple, even with a proxy. (Btw, I don't maple much, but its the only game that runs smoothly on my laptop. No Fallout 3, no Mirror's edge...gahhhh) Maybe maple is behind the Great Firewall. Hmmm...dammit

The English where I live improved. It improved from non-existent to broken. Wow.

Sky here is awesome though. Could see damn lot of stars huh.

Any suggestions on what I should do? Spam me about it.

Why isn't there anyone whom I can confide in.

Huh...isn't it?

LOL!

68 words

Speed test

LOL!!!

64 words

Speed test

My typing speed like doubled...

60 words

Typing Test

LOL!!!

I am becoming more geek by the day

Moon

Astro club got a awesome new telescope. Plus a awesome eyepiece, I took this awesome photo.