Week 4 and 5: The "Great IMI Depression"

Hey what's going on, y'all? I know it's been like quite a while and how long since I have blogged, but my sincere apologies. I've been very busy for the past week since I have been burning up for my assignments, projects, class tests and everything, which explains it. Assignments and projects are among the stuff which never stop coming. DTAT, CMSK3 and MMP1, in particular, are what I have been burning up on for the past week. And this week, I have been burning up on studying for my CMaths2 test and OOPG lab test.


The CMaths2 test and OOPG lab test were the 2 class tests which I sat for yesterday. Both really blew my brains out like a shell of mortar fire, with the CMaths2 test being quite a, what I might say, not a difficult one, but a rather tricky one. It took me really quite long to think over doing the test questions, and I felt really like I'm under a trauma from it. Well, OOPG lab test actually wasn't so bad, I just had to do 7 programs for 3 questions, but the crappy thing about it was, I was close to finishing one of the programs by an inch, and due to a lack of time, was unable to do so, and I could not compile and run any of my programs. :( But the good thing was, I was able to get most of the basic elements of the object-oriented programming structure just right. :) That's all I can say for the 2 class tests.


Next, I have the DTAT and CMSK3 assignments. It has been quite a tedious process for me in the case of DTAT, where I have to take a hell of a lot of pictures for my first assignment, though for the final part, I only have to use selected photographs. I have been taking a lot of photographs over the past few weeks, and not a day comes by where I tire myself of all these affairs. My research portfolio for my CMSK3 report assignment was originally set to be due this week, but due to a majority of us lacking time in doing our research for the report, as well as a number of errors in most of our portfolios, our lecturer decided to extend it to Monday next week. But our report deadline still stays to Week 14. Whew, that hopefully gives us enough time to do more research over the term break. Same for OOPG assignment to be due in Week 13. I just hope the term break gets a little less tense for me compared to the previous term break in Semester 1 in June. That's it for the assignments.


Other than that, everything's almost coming to an end, such as the DTAT assignment 1 which is due next week, thankfully I have completed about 80% of the assignment by now. The CMSK3 research portfolio just needs to be amended and then submitted on Monday. Today, in the evening, I just had a French lecture and listening and writing mock test. Whoa, the speed at which the lecturer spoke out the words nearly dragged me off the rails. Fortunately, it was just a mock test. The real test will be conducted next week. So I think I better buck up for it by reading through my French coursebook.


Tomorrow is the day everyone loves and hates, as it is IMIND Day, where students from my course ranging from Year 1s to Year 2s to Year 3s participate in all sorts of sports activities just to have a short day of fun. What I do not like about this event is that it is a 3-hour evening event, starting at 5.30pm and ending at 8.30pm. Hopefully this would ease our tension of our assignments. I don't know for sure. But I was just saying this to stay positive. I really would like to relieve myself of the stress I had over the past week.

Well, this is all I can say for now, just hope for the best of relief for tomorrow and that I would be able to make another post soon. Cheers.

My Birthday Gift As Well As Family's

Well, it's been five mundane days since my birthday, and guess what? I have just got the birthday gift I wanted yesterday. It is none other than, the 3G iPhone! I love this birthday gift to me as the latest model is said to be far better than the original iPhone, with better features and more. There is Internet connection, YouTube, downloadable game programs among many others. I love this new gadget as it means a lot to me in that I am able to even surf one of my favourite websites on this iPhone. Though the main trouble that kicks me about the iPhone is that it runs out of battery pretty fast. But that doesn't matter, at least the main thing is that it is such a cool gadget I feel like I would never let go off it and hand it down to anyone else. Although I will still lend it to my friends or family members if they want to play around with it. Getting an iPhone is one of the best birthday gifts I had ever received in my life. :)

And one more thing, another cool thing my dad bought for the family is, the new Guitar Hero: World Tour game! Oh please, I love this game so much I could play it until from duskfall till daybreak! LOL, just kidding. Though the game may not be as easy as it appears, due to the speed at which the notes it is still considered a game to provide entertainment for the entire family. One particular thing I like about Guitar Hero is that playing "Beat It" by Michael Jackson on the drum controller is awesome and fun! Well, though most of the songs in the game's songlist are from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the game is still very entertaining and unforgettable. As said before, the game may not be as easy as it appears, but it requires fast hands and good eye-coordination. This is a game I will never once forget about in my life. :)

Well, this ends all for now, I'll keep this blog more posted soon. In the meantime, take care to all visitors! Hope some of you will get a 3G iPhone, PS3 and Guitar Hero: World Tour game soon! :)

Birthday Outing With My Father And DL Registration

Yesterday was an amazing night for me. I went out at night after school with my dad to Great World City, and as part of my 18th birthday treat, we went to catch Tropic Thunder, the latest film starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr.. The movie was quite hilarious and filled with lots of crude and sexual humour. The funniest part of the movie was that Robert Downey, Jr. plays an Australian multiple Oscar-winning method actor who plays a black marine sergeant in the movie within the movie. And also Tom Cruise stars as a balding studio exec whose a real foul-mouthed freak.

The movie is basically about a group of actors who were dropped into the middle of a jungle to film a Vietnam war movie, but they end up being forced to become the soldiers whom they are playing. Ben Stiller plays a high-grossing star, Jack Black plays a drug-addicted, flatulence-humour addict and Robert Downey, Jr., as mentioned before, plays an Australian multiple Oscar-winning method actor. The movie was filled with a whole lot of humour which even had the whole cinema filled with uproarious laughter. Tropic Thunder was even a box-office success in the U.S. and from what I heard, the crude jokes in the film can be a little difficult to understand to the point where the punch-lines needed to be explained explicitly. Other than that, I had a great time at Great World with dad.

And oh yes, one more thing, just early in the morning yesterday, I went to a driving school somewhere in Ubi to register for my driving lessons which I will be taking very soon. My dad really wants me to learn how to drive early, because due to the fact that sometime potentially, the driving age may be raised to 21.

Other than that, that's it for the day. Will make another post soon. ;)

Year 1.2 Week 3 Evaluation

It has been a both tough and tiring 3rd week of my 2nd school semester, and now the stress level among my course-mates, classmates and I is more sporadic than ever. We had to take our third step into a whole myriad of assignments and projects, and the workload for the semester is going to be a little more challenging than the previous semester, which is pretty obvious to many who have already since taken their first step into the current world of mostly design-oriented subjects than computer-oriented subjects. This has tremendously and spontaneously exerted a great amount of pressure on me, and I have to admit that I am usually not used to such a thing ever since the period of my O levels last year.


Monday: For CMaths2, we learnt something new in the first topic called exponents and logarithms. I found this initially a little complicated, but eventually, I was able to get the hang of it a little bit. For MMP1, we started on inspiration and had to do what we can for the moment in our sketchbook entry for inspiration. Well, there's absolutely nothing much which I am able to explain for this day.


Tuesday: We took our first step into object-oriented arrays for OOPG lecture, followed by which we had to continue on our Design Exercise 1 for IDES lab lesson. Following which, we finally had our first APEL2 class, where Mr Sankara, our care person, showed us some of our achievements,such as the top 10% people in our class and listened to our responses to this semester's module syllabus.


Wednesday: Today was kind of a little packed for me, I had OOPG lecture and lab lessons, CMSK3 tutorial and CMaths2 tutorial. Well, OOPG lab lessons went well with the subject leader, as our actual lecturer, Joshua Liew, had another class lecture to tend to. But anyway, CMSK3 tutorial took a little bit of a twist when we delved deeper into the tips we need for our report writing assignment.


Thursday: Damn, I arrived 10 minutes late for MMP1 lab lesson thanks to that stupid bus service, well, actually, it was not for the bus service to blame, it was during the peak hour when I was travelling to school.
Anyway, we used the whole lesson to continue our documentation on the field trip which we conducted ourselves the previous week. Next was DTAT, and we had our lecturer review our progress on the first assignment. Though I had the pictures with me in my digital camera, I was advised to do some photoshoping to them to signify their clarities and improve their brightnesses. Following which, I had to do some work to keep myself occupied for 3 hours following the end of the lesson until my French lecture starts. French classes always gets more fun than ever as I progress through the subject.


Friday: Another exciting day for me. I had a French class to attend to. French classes always get more fun than ever as we learnt more about nationalities, as well as occupations and family in the French language. I really enjoy French classes week by week.


Well, the weekend was really quite a rush for me, had a dental appointment to tend to on Saturday morning, then went to my grandmother's house to celebrate my birthday in conjunction with hers. After that, as part of my birthday outing, I went out with my cousins Sufri and Sulhan again to Pasir Ris White Sands mall to play King of Jurassic. Other than that, that was it for the day.


Sunday was a little busy but fun day for me, as I went around my neighbourhood in the evening to take more pictures for my DTAT assignment. Later, that night, for my birthday dinner, I went to this restaurant in Tanah Merah owned by a friend of my father's called Badoque, where they serve very nice Italian cuisine food. I had a fun dinner night with my family at Badoque, though I have to admit I really pity my sister Sarah, for she is unable to join us due to here currently being in the US as part of a school trip. But no worries, we will all see her again when she returns next week. Other than that, I have to be on a wee bit of a rush for my school work, and this is all I have to say for the week.

Barack Obama For President!

"Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"
-"Lose Yourself" by Eminem

It's been about four years since the previous U.S. presidential election, and now, America has finally waited for another phenomenal moment. The 2008 U.S. presidential election polls are now over and competing rivals Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have had their long waits paid off by now. It's been about a year or two since both presidential hopefuls have competed in their campaigns for presidency, and now the time has come, for one of them have seized the golden opportunity right before his very eyes. The winner of the presidential election is, obviously, and expectedly, Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois!

I am extremely glad to the fullest that Obama is the winner of the election and has been elected as the next president of the United States after George W. Bush. He won the 2008 U.S. presidential elections by a margin, achieving 52.9% of the votes while rival John McCain achieved 45.7% of the votes. Barack Obama is labeled by many Americans as the next Martin Luther King Jr., the 1960s Civil Rights politician who died of an assassination back in 1968. Obama's ideas for a better America has spontaneously boosted the morale of America and he has officially nailed his name into the pages of the books of American history by being America's first elected African-American president. Obama's charisma, ideas and family background has really drived many Americans into electing him for the next president of the United States. Additionally, his running mate during the election period, Joe Biden(below right), the Delaware senator, has also made it into the White House as the vice-president of the United States, after Dick Cheney. Obama is to me, just the right man for the White House, and there are reasons why I have supported him.

Why I have long supported Obama in the elections is mainly because of his aims. In his campaigns, he strongly addresses vital issues such as education, welfare, health care, energy independence increase and most importantly, the end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he came to the discussion over these affairs, he would address these issues by pointing out what needs to be set on the road straight. His aims for a better America really boosted the morale of the American people and increased the frequency of America's diplomatic relations with other counties. Additionally, I also support him because of his background. Though he was brought up in a poor family and neighbourhood, and was sent to be educated in Indonesia during his childhood and teenage years, he had a remarkably high educational qualification, most notably his Ivy League education. He started off as the poor son of a Kenyan father and white American mother, but grew to become one of the most highly recognised people in the world by achieving an Ivy League education and political career. His international appeal was also what spurred me to support him in the elections. A survey conducted showed that 22 countries preferred him to winning the elections ahead of John McCain, 17 out of which expressed that diplomatic ties with America and the rest of the world would improve. Besides, Obama's image as the hopefully first black American president had earned him the reputation of hopefully being able to change America's racial issues for the better. I have really adored supporting Barack Obama in the presidential elections.











For all those McCain supporters who have thought that Arizona Senator John McCain had won the elections, I only have one thing to say: WAKE UP. Face it, it's a fact that he has lost to Obama in the bid for presidency. Reason being why I did not support him during the elections period is because I feel that McCain, as a Republican, would become the next George W. Bush. A warmongering Texan whose aim is only to start wars and have thousands of Americans, as well as innocents, killed. John McCain has been quoted to be agreeing with Bush's ideas 90% of the time. The Republicans initially were a competent political party, but now to me, they are like a political party consisting of warmongers, and that is all thanks to the reputation of George Bush. How I wished Al Gore had beated Bush back in the 2000 elections, then probably all of this mess would not have happened. Besides, Al Gore is not just a politician, but an environmentalist as well. Besides, at 72 years old, I think that McCain is far too old to be president, though I have to admit, like Obama, he'll also make history if he wins; he'll be the oldest elected president at the age of 72, beating Ronald Reagan who was elected into the White House at 69 years old in 1981. And who knows what could be the possible consequence if McCain dies while in office due to old age? Running mate and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin would have to replace him. And the worst part of it is, I think that if Sarah Palin takes over, America's morale would degrade much further into its abode of darkness. Why I think so? Because she is rash, naive and inexperienced. She says things without even thinking, which is obviously quite ridiculous. Therefore, Obama is the better man for the job as he even has backing from not just his running mate Joe Biden, but his Democratic companion, Hillary Clinton, the wife of former president Bill Clinton.

Well, all's been said, I have hopes that Obama would be able to change America's image for the better and that he would introduce his planned policies over issues, such as increase in energy independence, greater racial harmony, civil rights, and most probably, and end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan by pulling out US troops out of those two countries, and probably lose the idea of searching for the man Bush has been hunting, Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organisation, Al-Qaeda. Additionally, I am definitely sure that with Obama as the president of the United States, America's diplomatic ties with the rest of the world would spontaneously improve and that the world could prove to be a better place with Obama.

Congratulations, Obama. You have won the elections, you are sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, and now, it's the time for you to make America proud and change her image for the better. You will be officially inaugurated into presidency on January 20th, 2009. :)

Sorry, McCain, you're just not the right guy for the White House. *raspberries*

Outing with my cousins Sufri and Sulhan

Sorry if I'm publishing a post with the same title again, but actually it was because I accidentally hit the enter key after I keyed in the previous post's title. But anyway, let me start off with what I have to say for this post.

It was a wonderful evening yesterday which I get to spend with my two cousins Sufri and Sulhan yesterday. Sufri and I finally managed to retrieve the King of Jurassic game dinosaur cards we wanted from Japan through ordering and purchasing via the official website. We retrieved those cards from this Japanese manga shop at East Point in Simei. Anyway, following that we went to Pasir Ris White Sands mall to test the new cards, and to our surprise, the cards actually did work! We were initially sceptical that the cards would work because they were the game's Version 4 cards, but to our discovery, they actually were functioning just right! Anyway, we had a lot of fun playing the game King of Jurassic with both our old and new dinosaur cards, as we eventually were so delighted in achieving some of the new dinosaur cards which we have wanted for so long already. The following are the new cards which I have retrieved from Sufri yesterday.

Additionally, there was also a Triceratops card which Sufri gave me as my first 1000 HP dinosaur card. But it was not an order from him, instead he gave it to me as a generous offer as I have not until now achieved a 1000 HP dinosaur card. Thanks man, Sufri. You're such a good guy. But how bad of you, Sufri, to just show off your dinosaur cards just like that in front of me, Sulhan and the other people at the arcade. LOL, just kidding, man. You and Sulhan are among the best cousins I ever had. :)

Anyway, just after Sufri, Sulhan and I finished our game, at around 8pm or so, we three went to Tampines mall to have dinner at food court. We initially wanted to have dinner at a fast food joint like McDonalds or Burger King, but since Sufri still has his mouth problems, due to a surgery for his cleft palate last month, we had to eat at food court instead. While Sulhan and I had chicken rice, Sufri had noodles instead. Following dinner, the three of us then went home.

Thanks man Sufri, for organising this outing. This is your final time to enjoy with us before you head off for your ITE exams. I understand that this period's gonna be a real stressful one for you, but just pray hard and study hard and regularly and I hope for all the best out of your exams. Hope to have this outing again in December and other than that, I'll see you around. Take care and peace out, bro! I really look forward to seeing you again :)

P.S.:One more thing Sufri, hope you will graduate from ITE as soon as possible with good results, so get over with this exam fast.