I'm moving there. I feel that Blogger is not keeping up with the times, and that its functionality is very limited.
Updates stopped for this blog. Last post 20 August 2013.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Happy Birthday To Me!
posted @ 1:39 am
0 comments
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Diablo 3 has been announced by Blizzard a few days ago that it is in the making.http://eu.blizzard.com/diablo3/
posted @ 5:02 pm
0 comments
Monday, June 23, 2008
I'm here to rant about Math.One bloody question about Math. Not a Math question, but a question about Math. Why the hell do they teach us a formula and the concepts behind it, then make it practically a chore for us to actually reach the part of the question that needs us to use the formula? What do I mean? Lets say its a question about sequences and series (something like number patterns). The usual formulas are used, and usual concepts are known. Then in the question they tell some bloody story which makes us write numbers and figures that make us go crazy, after which you FINALLY reach the part which is about sequences and series.
Let me give an analogy. Someone teaches you how to fish. He gives you a fishing rod, and teaches you how to use that fishing rod. After that, he decides to test you and see if you know how to fish. He asks you to go to some lake. Using your trusty map and compass, you head out towards the lake. On nearing the lake, you discover that the lake is surrounded by a large, dense jungle. That jungle is full of wild animals, thorny plants, spider webs, and large branches that you have to clear or climb over. The jungle is too hard to conquer and he does not reach the lake to show off what he knows about fishing at all.
That is how Math is like. Stupid, isn't it? Whoever started Math exams obviously doesn't have any common sense or even a proper brain. Not only Math, but even physics has Mathematical problems that don't even matter to the Physics concept. At least it doesn't happen so often in Physics.
Why make us derive and manipulate equations like some kind of retard? Is it important? Are we going to be bombarded with equations in the future that actually require us to change its form to another? And why the hell are we learning things like how to sketch a graph? Its the year 2008 and by the time we work all these graphs will be sketched automatically by computers which can do it much better and faster than us. Why are we also learning how to differentiate stuff? Its pointless, senseless, and a waste of our time and effort. The only people who actually need to know how to do this things are the people who want to become a Mathematician when they grow up. And if they want to be a Mathematician means they love Math so much, so they should actually go learn it on their own free time. We normal people are not that free to learn useless crap.
I don't care if you are a Math lover and happened to stumble upon my blog. I'm ranting about the Math education system and not the subject of Math itself. In fact, none of the subjects in the world are horrible. Its the education system that makes it horrible (I am so going to start ranting about the education system now). We spend 10 years learning crap we don't need. For unlucky people who enter a Junior College, we spend 12 years learning crap. Fine, the first 6 years or so is pretty good, as it allows us to understand and broaden our horizons. We need to learn basic things like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We should also know basic science like photosynthesis and breathing or whatever. At that age too, we have no idea what we want to work as in the future so we should be given an "all-rounded education" to open up paths in the future. But after all that, is the additional knowledge that is forced upon us really necessary? What percentage of what we've learnt is actually used when we enter the working world? Even more important, what percentage of people actually need that knowledge?
I'm currently going nuts now. As I've read in someone else's blog (who is also in ACJC), every day is O-levels. Heck, its even harder.
Can't wait for the next 4 years of shit to end. That's right. Shit.
I write long essays so I guess a bigger font will be easier on the eyes. Just to help those who have no idea how to change the font size.
posted @ 9:39 pm
0 comments
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I made this post to boast.I just completed Element TD in Warcraft III. Element TD is a pretty well known game so if you play Warcraft III you should have seen it around.
Here's a screenshot.
The main game has 60 levels. Once you're done with that, level 61 is a crazy level where Ronald McDonald will be really hard to kill. Its not about surviving this level, but how many you can kill before you die. As you can see, there's a Ronald kill counter at the top right.
posted @ 2:04 am
0 comments
Thursday, June 12, 2008
After almost 3 hours of work, I've made a main blog image by myself. I started this whole thing from scratch. I didn't do the images of the 4 faces and the 4 logos, duh. I'm not that good yet, unfortunately.Other then the 8 images (which were all wallpapers from the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos website), everything else is done by me. The background, the idea, the colour... everything.
Maybe Blizzard will hire me after seeing this. Lol. Look, I even acknowledged that part of it is done by them.
These are the 8 pictures I used.
posted @ 10:53 pm
0 comments
Friday, June 06, 2008
안녕하세요? (Ann-yeong-ha-se-yo?) (How are you?)Well, I'm finally back from Korea. Landed at Changi Airport Terminal 3 at about 9:45pm yesterday.
This post shall be like a diary. From day 1 all the way till the end. Pictures will be here a few months later, or maybe not at all. I'll let you guys know if I update with pictures anyway. This means this is going to be a really long post. I started typing this at about 8pm. Lets see what time I'm done.
Day 0 - 8:40pm
Left the house, off to the taxi which was waiting 9 floors below. Was I very interested about going to Korea at the point in time? Honestly, no. I wanted to stay at home and enjoy playing some games on the computer, as well as give myself more time to study for the bloody exams. Wouldn't be so rushed with 1 more week to study.
9:25pm (by the way, all these times are approximate)
Reached Terminal 3. It looks pretty nice, lots of glass. The roof is pretty interesting, would have taken pictures if I had a camera. Checked in, entered the departure area. Apparently Singaporeans get to enter this express lane where you first scan the profile page of your passport, then scan your thumbprint. Some people have spoilt thumbs so they have to be admitted in manually (its still a separate queue from the foreigners).
11:30pm
Boarded the plane. First time sitting in Singapore Airlines. Apparently the air hostesses can tell apart Singaporeans and Koreans, don't know if they did so correctly. Well, they identified me correctly. Walked through the front part of the plane to my seat, got a bit worried when I saw that the seats didn't have screens for us to watch movies/shows and play games. For some odd reason, the seats further back had screens. The plane took off, always love the feeling of the powerful acceleration, and the sound. Looked through the movie catalogue, there wasn't anything that I was really interested in. There was Cloverfield and I am Legend, but I watched those already. I watched the last 5 minutes of Cloverfield again. Still wondering how someone who had a big metal pole stuck right through her chest can run like a normal person in the end. Played some games, they weren't very fun. Tried to sleep, think I only slept for an hour.
Day 1 - 7:00am (Korean time)
Finally landed at Incheon airport. Went through the usual procedures, thank goodness it was fast. Still remember the crappy waiting time at Thailand airport. Went to collect our luggage and guess what? The luggage didn't appear. Asked some airport staff, who directed us to the lost and found. And guess what? Our luggage flew to Japan. Yes, our luggage flew to Japan. Apparently the asshole at Changi airport sent our luggage away to Fukuoka, Japan. Our luggage wasn't even registered under our name. The staff tried to recover our luggage, and fortunately there were a lot of flights coming from Fukuoka to Incheon, so they said the luggage should arrive pretty soon.
Met the tour group outside, who were waiting for us. The tour leader called the airport staff, further talking about the lost luggage. No idea what happened.
No idea what time
Boarded the bus, about a 1.5 hour drive to the hotel where we met another group who joined us. Apparently they reached Korea a day earlier. Our first location to visit: Everland.
11am (I think)
Reached Everland. Korea is much warmer than Japan, so I didn't wear my jacket. Pretty horrible feeling when your front is cold and your back and warm. Everland is a theme park, by the way. The tour leader brought us to certain rides, instead of letting us do what we want. Took some really slow transport which travelled over some trees, roads, and people. Mom was wearing slippers so she took them off to prevent them from falling off. First ride we took was this boat ride where a lot of water splashed onto you. Wore my waterproof jacket. Hate it when the boat bumps against the bank.
Went to watch the sea lions perform, kind of like the usual thing you can see at the Singapore Zoo. Later went to see small animals like dogs, guinea pigs, birds, monkeys perform. Next, went to sit this bus which brings you right into the zoo. Saw lions, tigers and bears. Saw them really up close. When I mean close, its the proximity which you can touch them. We're in a bus so a glass/plastic whatever material was between the animals and the humans. The animals are really tame anyway. They just sat there and stared at us, or was sleeping. Later saw the bears, and one of them was sleeping. The bus driver threw biscuits at it, and it just opened 1 eye, then closed it. It continued to sleep even though the bus driver threw about 5 biscuits at it. There was another bear with it who ate up all the biscuits. Apparently the bear who ate the biscuits could use its hands to make the begging action. It suddenly stood up and walked alongside the bus. Pretty interesting. Never saw a bear walk before.
First Korean meal. Had udon. Pretty tasteless. Ate it all up nonetheless.
3pm
Later went to Yeoju Premium Outlets. Its a place which sells all the branded goods. I wanted to buy some sneakers, saw a nice pair, and it was meant for kids. Great. Nothing much to see here, went off about 1 hour later.
Went to Yongpyung to have dinner. Had steamboat. Lots of vegetables and seaweed. Kimchi of course. Mushrooms, vegetables, vegetables, vegetables, rice, water. Metal chopsticks, metal bowls.
Went to some resort after that. Apparently there was a concert nearby. Could hear the screams and music easily. Luggage arrived at about 8:40pm. Pretty efficient people. Really. The luggage arrived in Korea at about 1pm, and it took about 6 hours to deliver the luggage from the airport to the resort we were staying in.
Saw this in Japan too. The toilet seats are equipped with this machine which will wash your butt with a press of the button. Its pretty ticklish. Its like those toy water guns which just sprays water onto your butt. Its pretty accurate.
Slept without air-con that night. With the thick hotel blanket.
Oh yeah, the tour leader was telling us on the bus. You can work as a cleaner at a restaurant for about 1500-2000 Singapore dollars a month. Those people at the theme park who sell stuff in carts? They earn 6000 a month. Pfft.
Day 2 - 7:10am (man this is taking really long)
Woke up. Sat a bus to a nearby hotel to have breakfast. Sausages, bread, grape juice... can't remember what else.
11am
Went to this area where we are supposed to sit the rail bike. Its not a bike. Its a 4 wheel thing where you use your legs to pedal so that it moves (wow!). Pretty nice when it goes downhill. Nice breeze, through the tunnels, along the edges of cliffs, over bridges... The vehicle goes along an unused railroad track. Well, not really unused. A train brings all the rail bikes back to the starting point.
1pm
Had lunch somewhere, steamboat again. This time with more meat. Kimchi again, seaweed again, mushrooms again, vegetables again, water again, metal chopsticks again, metal bowls again.
Later sat a monorail up a mountain. Apparently we were going to the entrance of a cave. Entered the cave, a lot colder than the outside. The cave used to be a place where people mined gold. At certain locations they put magnifying glasses to let us see the gold specks. Later halfway through the cave we had to walk down a lot of steep steps. The roof of the cave is pretty low, so short people have an easier time (ha!). Tall people risk knocking their soft, delicate heads against the rough, jagged, hard and vicious rock, which will most likely cause your poor head to bleed (awww). Well, no one was that silly to knock their head anyway.
5:30pm
Reached the hotel we were going to stay for tonight. Apparently there was this place called Aqua World at the hotel, so we went there before dinner. Wanted to go on the slide, but there were height and weight limits (apparently I'm too tall and too heavy). Lots of jacuzzi like jets around the pool, which came from all directions. Some come from the ground, some from the sides, some from the side at an angle.
Later went to the spa. There's a hot spring there, sauna, massage bath and mineral water pool. There's 3 hot spring pools, one at 36°C, one at 38°C and one at 39°C. The sauna is a room with really hot air at 55°C. The massage bath is a bath where 6 showers will spray you with water at high pressure. One from the back, one from the top, 4 from the side (like a X). The mineral water pool is water at 19°C. It took me like 5 minutes+ for me to fully submerge myself into the water. Went in a few centimetres every second. Later came out of the pool. Saw some people step into the mineral pool, they never sat down.
7:30pm
Dinner. Steamboat again. What can I say?
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. I shared a room with my sister. When she was bathing, I decided to boil some water. The hotel had an electric stove. I put the kettle on the stove, and the water that was underneath the kettle sizzled. I got bored, I sprinkled some water on the stove, watching it sizzle. Then I took my plastic water bottle and put it on the stove for 2 seconds. White fumes rose from the stove. I backed off about 2 metres away, telling myself its toxic gas. Zomg. Waited even longer for the water to boil, got really bored. I filled a glass cup with water, and I put it directly onto the stove. Stood there for a while.
Then suddenly, *boom*! The stove burst into flames. The fiery tongues of death leapt up into the air, reaching out towards me. The boom and the flames gave me a shock, sending me tumbling backwards into the table behind me. I said to myself "oh #%@!". I picked myself up, and headed right out of the door, leaving my sister bathing in the bathroom. She has lots of water in there anyway.
Alright, enough of that crap. Wasn't kidding about the boom though.
-Actual story-
Then suddenly, *boom*! *sizzle*! The glass cup shattered. The water that was in the cup flooded the whole electric stove. I stood there for about 2-3 seconds, stunned. I turned off the stove, took the kettle away and dumped it into the sink. I said to myself "oh @#%^, #%!^, @#%%". Was seriously hoping my sister wouldn't come out of the bathroom now. Fortunately the hotel supplied tissue paper. Grabbed the box, pulled out like 20 pieces of paper, and placed it over the stove. Once the stove was dry, it was time to handle to broken cup. Apparently the top of the cup was fully intact, only the bottom shattered. I pulled out like 20 pieces of paper more, wrapped the cup and the broken pieces up, and dumped it into the bin. Sister came out while I was wrapping the cup up. Thank goodness she has myopia. The whole area looked normal now. My heart was still beating pretty hard. Thank goodness I'm leaving this hotel tomorrow. There were 2 dustbins, and 1 of them was totally full already. One dustbin has a cover so I put it all in that one. The tissue box was already half empty (lol). I looked at the tray with the cups, and there were only 3 left. Walked to the sofa, still thinking how I can fully get rid of all evidence. Thought to myself, 3 cups is definitely wrong. I took 1 cup and hid it in the fridge.
Settled down after that. I'm back in Singapore and nothing has happened.
Day 3 - 7am
Breakfast. Forgot what I ate.
Went to Seoul, the capital of Korea. Went to see the ancient palace of Korea. You know, those Chinese looking kinds of palace you see in TV shows. Was raining during that time. Also went to visit the musuem. Apparently I went to Coex Mall, which I don't remember what I saw or did there (I'm looking at the itinerary). Also went to Apgujeong Dong? No idea what I did there too.
Lunch somewhere. Amazingly, I didn't have steamboat again! This time I had ginseng chicken soup. They give you 1 whole spring chicken, and you supposed to tear open the chest, revealing rice inside. Then you pour some wine into the soup, and put some noodles in it.
4pm
Went to Lotteworld. Its another theme park. This theme park is indoor though. Its amazing how many rides they squeezed into this small area. The tour leader brought us to 4 different rides, instead of letting us do what we want. We can choose whether or not we want to ride the ride though. Sat the first ride, which is called "The Adventures of Sindbad". You sit in a boat, then you travel along the water where you see Sindbad on his adventures. He stands along the coast and stuff. Narration is all in Korean though. There's 2 drops on the ride. Basically its a downhill freefall slope you see on rollercoasters. Was sitting at the front of the boat, thank goodness the water didn't splash. The 2 drops happened at the beginning, so the rest of the ride was smooth and gentle. Went through jails, which had hands reaching out, skeletons hanging on the roof and stuff.
Next ride was "Pharaoh's Fury". You sit in some sort of jeep on a track and you go through areas. Very similar to the Sindbad one. This one is a lot more intense though. Higher speed, higher falls, more shakes, real fire.
Later the tour leader gave us a choice. To sit the hot air balloon, or the roller coaster. The roller coaster had a 360 degree loop, and I decided I wasn't ready for that. I haven't even sat a roller coaster before. Went on the hot air balloon instead. This was where I managed to see the whole of Lotteworld. They have a lot of rides, and even a ice skating area.
Later went to watch a show. Its a fully automated show, with props and stuff all moved by machines. Lots of water and fire. Pretty good if you ask me.
Dinner had to be settled by ourselves, so we went to have some noodles. It tasted different... And guess what? Water again.
Had 1 ride left to ride. Spent it on the Merry Go Round. For some odd reason I had a stomach ache when it started to go round and round. Meh.
9pm
Went back to the hotel. It was the same hotel where we merged groups. Going to stay here for the next 3 days.
Day 4 - 7am
Had breakfast, forgot what I ate again. Hmm, for some reason, I can't remember what I had for breakfast.
Went to some place to learn how to make kimchi. Apparently all you need is some lettuce/cabbage (no idea), and some red chilli paste thingy. You just put the chilli paste thingy in between the leaves of the lettuce/cabbage. Then after that, you fold the whole thing in half, leaving one leaf untouched. Then you take that untouched leaf and tie it round the whole thing. When I say tie its actually just spin it round and round the whole thing, like how you spin sewing thread around the stick its on.
After that you could wear the ancient Korean clothes. You know, those you see in 大長今 (da chang jin). Its some big Korean drama hit which I didn't watch. I didn't wear it. Suddenly a vision of me in Arthas style clothing popped into my mind... Woah. Cloak, long robes, shoulder pads...
Later went to Dongdaemun. Its a shopping centre with 9 floors. Was hoping to buy my sneakers here, but they're all a boring black and white. Went to look at the clothes... what can I say. Koreans have really odd fashion. Its indescribable.
In the end, I only bought 3 pairs of socks. 2 of them have the pattern of Converse shoes on them, and 1 of them is just plain white socks.
Lunch now. Guess what? Steamboat again! Vegetables, mushrooms, fish, seaweed, kimchi, water, metal chopsticks, metal bowls. And something new. Abalone! Tastes like mushroom. Never tasted Singapore's abalone before. The abalone in Korea seems to be a lot better though.
Later went to Cheonggyecheon? No idea what I did there. Also went to the Ice Bar. Apparently its a bar/mini-pub which has a temperature of -5°C. Drank something from a cup made out of ice. My hands became really cold because of that stupid ice cup. Then I saw some pictures on the wall. Apparently there are some people who took up the challenge to stay in the bar for as long as possible. Seems like 5-6 hours is the average time they can stay. Then I saw this statue of a guy. It has a dick. And out of this dick is a straw. Apparently you supposed to drink from its dick.
Later went to Insa Dong? Geez I don't remember what is that.
Dinner... Blah.
Back to the hotel.
Day 5 - Morning
Went to some place which is full of ginseng. Went through a gallery where one of the staff told us the history of ginseng and stuff. Later went into a room where they tried to tell us the benefits of ginseng, then ask us to buy some. Apparently we spent 3000 US dollars on ginseng. It lasts a year though.
Sometime during the trip, someone pointed out that Korea was the only country in the region that didn't get SARS. They said its their healthy (but boring) food like steamboats, kimchi, and regular consumption of ginseng. Apparently they start consuming ginseng when they're about 1 year old or so.
Later went to the Amethyst factory. All purple gems on jewellery, didn't do much there. After that, went to see cordyceps. Apparently its another healthy thing that the Koreans have. Didn't buy anything there though. I guess 3000 US dollars worth of ginseng is enough.
Then the 2 groups that merged parted. They reached 1 day earlier, so they leave 1 day earlier. Apparently some people cried, according to the tour leader. Didn't see, was already in a different bus.
Had lunch, the usual. I'm not going to type the usual stuff again.
Then we went to see Dae Jang Geum (大長今). Its the place the Koreans built just to film the show. It supposed to be taken down after filming, but because the show was such a big hit, it became a tourist attraction. Its quite interesting actually. When you watch the show, there's some part that's in the palace and some parts that's in the village. The palace and village is side by side in the filming location. However the palace cannot really be seen from the village. Ah, can't really explain.
Then we went to Tiger World. I thought its a place with tigers, but its something like Snow City. Of course, its like 5 times bigger. They didn't provide any winter clothing! zomg. Went in with just my cotton long-sleeved shirt, jacket and long pants. Lots of people skiing there. We went to sit on this ring (those kind you use in the swimming pool, bigger and no through hole), then you just slide down a slope. Went pretty fast. I sat on it 3 times, and knocked into some small kid while I was slowing down at the end. He kind of bounced up a little. Apparently I'm supposed to slow down by using my feet.
The kids continued to play, while me and some other people went outside. For some reason, the tip of my fingers hurt everytime it feels too cold. Its not exactly a pain, but a stinging feeling. Ah well.
Dinner, then went back to the hotel. We went back to the hotel pretty early (about 7), so my family and another family went together to Namdaemun. We sat on the subway all the way there. Its not much different from Singapore's trains. Went there to shop. Didn't get anything there. Went back to the hotel at about 9:30pm.
Bought some bread for breakfast tomorrow as we had to settle it ourselves.
Day 6 - 10am
Woke up, ate the bread for breakfast.
11am
Left the hotel. Off to the location for lunch.
Steamboat again! And its the last steamboat in Korea.
1:20pm
Reached Incheon Airport. Did the usual stuff. Took some photos with the tour leader. Said our goodbyes.
4:30pm
Boarded the plane. Sometime during the week I decided to watch Enchanted and Jumper during the flight. Since the flight was 6 hours, I decided to spend the rest of the time watching The Simpsons and play some games. Oddly, the two movies took up 6 hours.
A quick rating for both movies:
Jumper - 3/5
Enchanted - 5/5
9:30pm (Singapore time) 10:30pm (Korea time)
Landed at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Did that fingerprint check-in again. Luggage flew to Singapore =)
Got into a taxi. The driver drove at 120km/h. I noticed the wiper trigger thingy was on the right, and the signals was on the left. Škoda taxi.
10:30pm
Reached home.
---------------------------------------
Right. Its 10:15pm now. Looking above... wooo! I spent 2 hours+ typing this. Ah well, should be worth it. Personal memories.
3676 words. My longest ever.
posted @ 7:50 pm
0 comments