Another Week Ends

Time passes really fast these days. It didn’t feel too long ago that I was anticipating the arrival of the commencement of tutorials, and possibly an even more hectic NUS life. And now, the 3rd of week of the semester has ended. It’s kinda scary thinking there’s only like 3 months (maybe slightly less) to the final exams and of course along the way (in something like 2-3 weeks’ time) there’s the midterms. My engine for schooling is still in its dormant mode (not surprising) and I can already see many groups of people warming up or even ready to go full power any time. Since NUS loves the bell curve so much, I fear for my CAP only because now we’re all direct honours students and a lousy grade honours is kind of worthless.

There’s somewhere deep down that’s kinda “regretting” not opting out of direct honours yet I dont know if that’s really the best way to tackle things. I’ve been taking the easy way for ages now (ok lah i not that old) but it’s not like I will “wake up” now and put in the kind of effort that I ought to. I can’t really complain about the course I’m majoring in since I think I’ll whine just as much in almost any course I go into since I’m not into academics studies anyway. =D Perhaps it is still too early (hopefully so) to conclude on anything now since there’s still a long, long way to go, assuming I dont drop out of uni due to unsatisfactory CAP.

Anyway, today was quite a mentally draining day with only 2 lectures and 1 tutorial. In fact, the tutorial was the most relaxing lesson of the day since Maths tutorial 1 is mostly quite manageable for me so it’s more of seeing what tips/tricks the tutor can come up with that I didn’t think of while doing things (the hard way maybe?). An interesting point to note is that my tutor is the only Prof taking this module (as a tutor) while my lecturer is an Assoc Prof. It feels quite weird in having a Prof as your tutor. Anyway, I think he didn’t really prepare for the tutorial, perhaps just read through the questions and roughly formulate an approach on how to solve. After all, it’ll be quite pointless for him to prepare every question in full detail since in the end only a few questions which some students have problem/difficulty completing will be discussed. And being a Prof, questions of this level should not be in any way difficult for him to solve on the spot. Of course, a Prof is human too as he did make a mistake in one of the questions since he was a little ambitious in trying to simply an expression that involved a quadratic expansion of a smaller expression involving square root of 2. Oh wells, at least he showed superiority in his concepts which is more important I guess. Anyway, Zi Han joined me for tutorial session since he wasn’t allocated any and the lecturer told him to choose whatever that didn’t clash with his timetable =D That officially makes 1231Y the only tutorial that I dont know anyone. SiGh.

Anyway, Scheme lecture is like nightmare as usual for the Friday slot. 1 hour to cover so many examples using concepts that aren’t “in” me yet. I could understand what’s going on when he’s explaining but if you ask me now I’ll give you the blur and lost look. Hahaha. Hopefully when I get to doing DG2 on Sunday (I’m trying to refuse to do school work on Saturday) things will fall into place (wishful thinking!! nvm non Scheme students wont get the joke) and leads to the ability to attempt and complete my PS2 (problem set 2 ok, not playstation 2) by Friday (next one lah, not today). But I still think Scheme is quite interesting though the pace is like (crazy) fast (comparing with 1101X/Y/Z peeps doing java). Hope it pays off in some “hidden” form that I dont see now which comes in handy some time in the future. Notice how much brackets I used in this paragraph man. Siao liao. Hahahaha.

The killer really came from the 2-hour (actually 1.5h if u include the 10min break and the early dismissal) CS1231Y lecture. I already expected him to finish up on the subtopic of Proofs though the finale was really, “shiok” ah. The very last lecture example was a super killer (involving 2nd Principle of Mathematical Induction [2PI] ok!!), and it’s not just me. The general feel of the LT is that most people are just stunned, shocked, lost and what have you. In fact people in front and behind of me sounded like there were more lost than me, in which case I think I’m actually in quite a fix already. =( I’m not sure if the X group people will deal with that or not, but enjoy yourself if it really appears. At least the lecturer is quite entertaining at times with all his funny tones/expressions + actions though I think some people may find it very irritating. Haha, at least it’s some relief while facing a uber problem. To end things off, he sort of “proved” why we had to go through all that painful stuff. It’s kinda subtle though I might have some logic errors somewhere. Lols…

Haiz, what lies ahead in my dreadful NUS life? I’m going to find that out for myself too. If you’re the one who has planned everything out for me liao, please gimme hints on what’s going to happen ok?

p.s. am i going mad soon?

Code: Memory

Another wonderful Combo Music Video by Ryu (his nickname on all major KOF/fighting game forums). This video is meant to be the 2nd (team) volume of FMCU (Free Max Combo Union).

Lots of beautiful graphics in the video beside gaming segments to add colour and more visual enjoyment to a stunning video. A lot of effort must have been into rendering all those graphics out, after designing them of course. I guess this is what sets him apart from other video editors out there. However, there will be a group of people who wont like this style of editing since they believe that a CMV ought to place more focus on combos instead of adding in effects which dont have any (direct) relation to the games. But given the way CMVs are progressing in this day and age, something extra other than fantastic combos/bugs is needed to make the video more exciting and enjoyable.

Combos wise, though they aren’t all that revolutionary, the quality is definitely there. If a person can achieve that kind of level, I will already consider him/her an expert in combo-performing. =D With excellent editing and great combos, what more can you ask? Go watch it lar.

Video info:
Format: RMVB
Resolution: 304 * 224
Frame rate: 60fps
Duration: 6m18s
Filesize: 87.8mb

Anyway, you can download it here. Actually that’s a link to a webpage and please click the download link from there. Shouldn’t be hard larh.

Mpense

An excellent CMV by NostradaJus, a Korean combo maker from Battlepage. Not his first video around, but this one contains quite a few interesting stuff.

The first Kim combo has HP lock for the starting part of the video, for the sole purpose of showing off the entire combo sequence which is well, hard to do (impossible for me). Many other combos that incorporate the use of bugs, and some of them are interesting!

Editing wise it’s nothing very sophisticated, and perhaps one may may more attention to the combos. To me, most editing styles don’t really hinder my judgment of combos unless the effects really block/blur/cover/<insert word> so badly that I can’t even see what’s going on. To some, “cleaner and simpler” editing allows them to appreciate things more and see “more” things. Oh well, to each his/her own.

Anyway, do take a look at this video =D It’s worth it (for people who like the game).

Video info:
Format: RMVB
Resolution: 304 * 224
Duration: 3m31s
Filesize: 109mb (the bitrate is… high…)

Download links:
1) Filefront
2) Mediafire

p.s. Met a couple of people at NUS today that I totally didn’t expect. Singapore is really, really small. Saw 2 of my Library Club (tchs) seniors Seow Yi and Guo Zhang. I think they should be doing their years 4 and 3 respectively now. I wonder who’s next siah…~

A Day of Ups & Downs

Wow, today is a really day with mixed luck. Morning was totally rotten, yet evening onwards is pretty good. Sheesh. Oh yah, that’s the summary of the narrative entry ahead (omitting my 2cents on my tutorials). So if you’re too busy to be reading lengthy texts, feel free to move on. Otherwise, have fun reading the rest of the entry.

Well, the first wrong move came when I decided to take 154 to Clementi to change to 96 instead of waiting for 151 to come, which the latter can bring me straight to NUS Central Forum. Well yeah, reached Clementi area quite early and should have ample time to get to our first class promptly. But no, 96 has to be packed with hordes and hordes of presumably NUS students. The first 7 (yes you read that right. 7. S-E-V-E-N. 七.) bus 96 were so full they didn’t even stop, and one of them even took the rightmost lane (if you dont know, bus stops are on the pavement/sidewalk beside the leftmost lane) way before approaching the bus stop. Needless to say, by then, we’re already late for our first lesson of the day. While waiting for the bus, my sec 1/2 classmate Pei Gen (nicknamed pigeon ^_^||) nudged me on the back. What a surprise. Didn’t know he stay that area. Haha. Haven’t met him in years and it seems that he has slimmed down, probably thanks to NS.

Moral of the (part of the) day: don’t ever attempt to take this route if I have a lesson at 10am. Yesterday was fine though since my first lesson’s at 12pm.

All right, so reaching late for school just isn’t enough. Something embarrassing happened to me while trying to rush to class. I’m not gonna say it here, but some of you guys already know. Just suay lah. That kind of incident hardly happens to me when I’m just getting myself from a bus stop to a destination. Being late for something like a quarter of the tutorial lesson for the very first session isn’t going to leave a very good impression on the lecturer (who’s also the tutor lahz), who seems to be grading each of us for tutorial participation as well. Being a non-examinable module, I guess that’s very much understandable. Knowing me, I believe my tutorial participation points isn’t going to be very good.

Sidetracking a bit, I shall talk about my first tutorial session of the sem I had yesterday, which is for CS1101S. Yeah, this module places some importance on tutorial participation (10% of grade). 0.5% for turning up, 0.5% for participating with the extra 1% from lecture/forum participation. Amazingly, I got the mark yesterday just by asking an intelligent question and pointing an error in one of my peer’s suggested answer. I didn’t even have to present my lousy answers/codes. What a contrast to CS1105 tutorial. My TA’s pretty casual in the way speaks but does his stuff properly, making the lesson not so uptight bah. However, my class is like mostly non-SGean, so it sometimes requires extra effort in getting every word they say since I’m not all that used to their accents yet. Just for trivia sake, my tutorial group has only 1 gal. Hehz.

Ok, back to today’s events. There’s nothing very heng or suay for the rest until the end of the day, so I guess the next few paragraphs will be just more boring narration. Next up was CS1231Y tutorial. Not conducted by the lecturer though. A PRC TA but at least her English is quite good though there’s still the accent there. Easily understood though so I guess it’s good enough =) Realised that my concepts are rather okay so far since I got most of the answers right, and also realised that all those in my class are at least as good as me. And I dont see the super enthu lecture dudes in my group so the outlook for the bell curve for this module isn’t very promising. Will I end up below average? =( Time shall tell…

Anyways, today seems to be another day that I bump into people I know in NUS. All right, first up is part 1 of a triple combo involving my BMT bunk mate. Met him outside my 1105 tutorial room, since he’s waiting for the next slot for his tutorial. Part 2 – met him at the Deck by chance. Actually one of my OG “regulars” was beside him but I didn’t know until he msn-ed just a couple of hours back. Lol. Small world, smaller campus. And then part 3, met him the “study area” outside COM1 SR1 even though he ate at the canteen while I went to BK with zong and dom. Hehz. Crossing each other paths 3 times in a day (without prior arrangement) is the most I have so far. Okay, and lastly while having my meal at BK, I saw my classmate from NJ 1st 3 mths but I think he didn’t see me since he’s busy hunting for seats. All right, seems to be capped at 3 (the one from my og doesnt count since I didn’t notice him) people per day.

Since I think this entry is already lengthy enough, I’ll just fast forward to my 3rd (and final) tutorial of the day. GEK1505 tutorial, conducted by the lecturer himself which means it’s pretty much as enjoyable as the lectures. Was like a third late for the lesson lo, partly due to the bus being so wols on the road thanks to a 95 in front that blocks the damn road and the need to hunt for the classroom in an unfamiliar Science building. At least I’m quite comfortable with the first topic for this module since it’s pretty much a subset of what I’ve learnt in 1231Y, presented in a more linguistic form. The next tutorial should be covering on counting which also should be all right since it’ll be covered in 1231Y as well, with a bit of sequence and series in MA1505. Wow, nice complements. Oh, the classroom is too small lah, or maybe with me in it, it makes the room seem even smaller! Hahaha.

All right, the time u’ve been waiting for. So what’s so heng about my day right? Haven’t really touched on it. Actually it’s just something very trivial lahz. Let’s see, while walking towards the the Science bus stop there’s a 95 but I couldn’t be bothered to run for it so I just let it pass. In 2.5mins another one came. That’s like uber fast. No shuttle has arrived even. All right man, make full use of the damn concession =D And so I took to Central forum and saw 151A at the bus stop opposite. I crossed the road and in 30s, 151 came. To think I thought I needed to wait a while. All right, so I slept for the most part of my 151 trip back home until the junction after the stop opposite Coronation. I woke up and saw 186 at the other junction (those who know that area and routes will know what I’m talking about). I was like, wow. Tyco max (try figuring the probability of that happening). Yay, the trip home is so freaking smooth larhz. What a contrast to my horrible morning.

Moral of the day: What goes down (luck) must come up (at least for me).

I shall NOT attempt to tempt fate tmr. Taking 151 to school. Confirm.

p.s. somewhere in this entry features my 50k-th word, excluding My Records, My Videos and RF2 pages. Wow, I sure have written a lot on my blog. (hey, it’s entries like these lor. =_=)

Videos from Hinako Studio Part 2

As promised in an earlier entry, a non-full text entry. Here’s part 2 to Hinako Studio’s masterpieces. I think I do not need further introduction, and I’ll just move on to the highlight of the entry, which would be the videos!! =)

Liberty

Border of Dream

Disintegration

Don’t Push Me
Once again, Matrimelee feature. Still great nonetheless.

FECU Vol 12 RELOAD – Last Blade 2
This was initially a FECU video, re-edited by Hinako.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the videos =D

p.s. for those NUS peepz out there, plz go do your CORS survey ok? Dont want also can lah. It’s optional =P