Sweden! Day 1.

Blogging from the youth hostel in Sweden at the moment.

And the stupid keyboard Im using cant type collons, aprostophes and brackets. So please pardon me if this post appears void of punctuation.

Anyway, its the first time Im travelling between countries all by myself, no family, no army, no friends, ALONE. But went very very well, did not make a single wrong turn throughout the entire journey here! My journey started with me arriving at the bus station on the dot, with the bus waiting on the bay, ready to go off in 10 minutes. Met a guy called Christoper on the bus, a Singaporean doing his PhD in Engineering at Christ College, and the founder of the Temasek Society. He was travelling to Italy. Had a good chat with him on the way to the airport. And guided me around Stanstead airport when we arrived. Our gates and timings were very close, about 10 minutes apart, so I didnt have to wait alone at the airport for too long.

Me and Christopher

The plane ride was pleasent. Free seating, and I got up the plane quite early. So managed to get a seat by the emergency exit, with more leg room, and managed to sleep most of the journey.


Got off the plane, and just walked right through the counters and doors, collected my bag, and as I was walking out, saw a queue for a machine selling tickets. Joined the queue, bought the ticket with the credit card, paid 130.00 Krons for it. Realised later that I forgot to flash my student card, so didnt claim the roughly 60 kroners worth of discount. Then walked out of the airport, and straight into the bus! Not a single wrong turn!

Bus ride was nice too. The long mindless bus journey was quite theraputic on a stressed mind. Just absorbed the passing scenery and allowed my mind to wander, and revisit the events that happened throughout term.

Then arrived at the bus station. Walked through the bus and train station, to arrive at the macdonalds at the other side of the station. Sat down there to wait for Serene. Didnt have to wait long. Before I could settle down, recieved the sms from her that she was at the Forex booth, so made my way back to the entrance, and met her.

Visited infomation to get a map of the city, and Serene took out the directions for the hostel. We walked out of the entrance onto a road with the name corresponding to the first word given in the direction. Found our bearings immediately, hiked up the street as directed, found the restaurant that was mentioned in the direction, looked around pondering which building was the youth hostel, and after a couple of glances, spotted the youth hostel sign. Not a single wrong turn!!!

So we arrived at the youth hostel, paid for the accomodation using the card. Cost 1126.00 Krons for the 3 nights we will be staying. Put our bags down, had coffee with the biscuits I brought, was really shiok! They have a coffee machine which served cuppachino, perfect for dunking biscuits! They also have free internet access, and free pasta! Planned our itenary for the day over tea.

Then went out to explore the city. The buildings here are so beige and pink, and clean, and slightly taller than those in Cambridge. Also saw lots of ducks in the river, and snow! Met a few nice people while watching the ducks. One of them had two big bags of bread, and he offered us some to feed the birds.

The water level of the river was quite low, so we didnt have too close a contact with the avians.

Also spent a fair amount of time playing in the snow. Tried making a large snow ball to create a snowman, but the snow here doesnt stick properly. Did some shopping along the way also, went around looking for leather gloves, and groceries. Bought salmon and brocolli and milk, which we cooked for dinner when we returned to the hostel. Tasted quite nice! But cost us another 100 krons. Around 20 sing dollars! Sweden is really expensive.

Now planing for tomorrows itenary. Sould be visiting some museums, the city hall, going to catch the change of guards at the palace, and a Bach recital at a church we stumbled upon today. Also would make our way to an observatory at the Univerity of Stockholm at sunset, then make our way back to the hostel, dropping by a grocery store along the way. Its really nice and relaxing to just stroll around and explore the city casually. Realised that the expenditure in touring the place is quite evenly divided between transport, accomodation, and transport.

Ah, just randomly, or somewhat chronologically, jotting down whatever is coming to mind.

Spending and Spending

Went around Cambridge shopping these two days...

- bought National Express Tickets to Stanstead for 9.90 pounds, used Credit Card.
- bought a pair of gloves for 13.33, also used Credit Card.

Also thinking of upgrading my laptop RAM, will cost 29.90 pounds, but should speed my computer up quite significantly...

Also did a bit of relaxing these two days. Went for dinner and a play with Li Sheng and a few other CF people last night, and had breakfast with them this morning! Have been longing to have a good breakfast for a while, and today we did!!! Had french toast, half boiled eggs, sausages, mushrooms, orange juice... Was quite a spread!

- dinner at Pizza Express costed 7.50 pounds, and
- the play, South Pacific, costed 6.00 pounds.

Oh yeah, when Ken, Lionel and Serene come in June, we could see what plays are on too! It's a much better bargain from the theater shows in London, and they are hardly less enjoyable, though it might be produced on a smaller scale by ametures.

Then withdrew 70 pounds today to change to Kroners and Euros. Changed around 20 pounds worth of each currency.

And went for a hair cut at Parker's Barber. Costed another 9.00 pounds. It's the first time I'm cutting my hair in a foreign country...

Now gotta go prepare for the Sweden trip... So many things to do!
Will have to:

1. Make a time table of the schedules,
2. The important documents for each event, like tickets, passport, handphone, addresses,
3. Pack the things to bring.

Will be sorting these out on the blog in a while...

Consolidation

Term's finally over, and I'm now trying to recover from the the trauma of a hactic term, pick up the bits and pieces which I've managed to get during the term, fill up the gaps, and put them all together. If only reality was as simple as talk.

A lot of things on my mind now, but I've got some time to recover and settle them.

Sweden Trip
Top on my priority now would be the Sweden trip. Gotta get a number of things done:

1. Book my bus ticket there,
2. Pack up. Gotta bring lotsa thermals.
3. Buy proper gloves. Just dropped a glove today while cycling, it had a growing hole in it anyway, so didn't really feel so bad losing it. Think I'll go to ASDA and try looking for the 10 pound glove I saw last time.
4. Consolidate all my travel documents, like plane ticket confirmation number, and bus tickets.
5. Find out from Carphone Warehouse if I can use my uk handphone in Sweden, if not gotta find out the Swedish country code and transfer serene's number to my Singapore simcard
   

Think that's the main thing for the Sweden trip.

Will worry about word alife after the Sweden trip.

End of Term
Have been trying to relax since friday, and catch up on all the entertainment I've been missing during the term. So,

1. Got the game Enemy Territory,the freeware equavilent of CS that is very popular in Cambridge, and
   
2. A facebook account, friendster for UK and US uni students.
3. Took part as a demonstrator at a science fair on Saturday,
4. Hung out into the night with people from CCCF, they usually hang out as cell groups, and I've been crashing various cell in the past two days.
   
5. Tried to get dc++ to work, but with no avail.
   

Switching to Physics
Spoken with the Peterhouse DOS on Friday who took me for the supervision to go through the mock test I had at the beginning of term. Quite relieved to talk with someone who knows my academic status, and who might possibly be able to help me.

He told me that academically I'm actually doing fine, at least for the topic he is supervising me in. And that he hasn't recieved any bad reports about me, so he's assuming that the other topics should not be too bad either.

But I told him how unfulfilled and unsatisfied I've felt with my work, and about being stuck at my work with no one to turn to for help. And he agreed that Hughes Hall should not take in Maths undergrads, and that they should advice maths undergrads to apply to undergrad colleges who have more mathmos.

He also gave me a few advice. About how I can actually decide to switch only after I recieve my tripos marks, and about the options I should take if I wasn't sure whether I would be continuing with my course - Matric and Topological Spaces, because it is a very important topic and I'll definitely need it if I do maths next year; and Special Relativity, because it is the course which the first year physicist have covered.

And he also adviced me to get in touch with the natsci DOS soon, as well as inform my DOS about the situation by email, cos I haven't been able to meet him in his office or by email.

Also met a few physicists at the science fair. They all seem so friendly, and I think my interests correspond much more with that of a physicists than a mathmo, judging from the people I met at this event - I met many physicist, but not a single mathmo from any year!

And found out that Cambridge has links with the Caltech physics department, which allows Cambridge physicists to participate in 10 weeks long research projects at Caltech during the summer holidays! So I won't have to forego any time in Cambridge, and I'd still be able to experience a US university. This just adds to the list of exciting things I can look forward to if I do physics!

The physicists I spoke with also assured me that I wouldn't have a problem keeping up with the physics course next year. And they talked about getting irritated from experiments and stuff, and how tough the competition for physics PhD places are because of the increase in PhD applicants due to the completion of LHC in Geneva. Looks like I can identify with these conversation topics better than I can engage in discussions about maths theorums - another reason why I should do physics.

So it looks like I'm all set to make the switch! Just need to email the two DOS'es now, and hopefully I'd get to speak with the NatSci DOS soon, to make arrangements and see what are the neccessary practical steps I'd need to take.

Financial Matters
One of the few administrative things I've procrastinated through term time, and which I should accomplish during this hols - Submiting the tax examption form, so that they don't deduct any money from the interest I'm earning.

Also just recieved the bank statement today. I spent around 370 pounds this term, the figure includes the 22 pounds I earned from the brainscan. Was working out the relative cost I spend studying overseas, scaled all the spending to reflect the cost per week in a 24 week year.

Relative Expense in a Week

Miscellaneous (Mainly Food, and other neccessities):	45 pounds
Accomodation:	90 pounds
University and College Fees:	460 pounds
Air Ticket (If I go back every holiday):	80 pounds
Recieving from Bursary:	300 pounds

So just realised that the bulk of my expenditure studying here actually goes into paying the school fees! And my accomodation actually makes up two thirds of my living expenses. So saving a little more in a week probably won't make much difference to the amount of money I'm spending coming over.

Johari Window

Found a few friends with this Johari Window URL on their MSN personal message, and tonight my boredom and curiosity got the better of me, so went to check it out...

The Johari Window as described on the website:

The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.

Yup, so got a Johari Window of my own... Dont usually do this kinda faddish things, but thought it'll be good to know what people think of me.

So if you'd like to contribute, and participate in my bid to do a survey of what people think of me, please

CLICK HERE!!!

Looking Better...

Things have been getting better these few days...

Have been thinking if I should switch to physics, and talking with people about it.

Got to know a few people in the process...

Victor, a Malaysian, doing Part III Maths, who did Physics at Imperial, has been very very helpful! Met him another few more times since I first got to know him last Saturday during frisbee... Once at the Archim's maths competition on Sunday, and today at the CMS. He's introduced me to a few books, and talked through some topics with me. Feels really refreshing chatting with him... And he's applying to do a PhD at the Cavendish next year, so if I do physics, I'll get to meet him more often!

Switching to Physics
Just came back from a 'Tea and Cakes' session at my college common room tonight. Met another PhD student at the Cavendish. Told him my situation - that I found the physics lectures I attend very stimulating, have been feeling utterly lost in my own maths lectures. And that I have a problem making sense of all the different definitions and symbols I meet each time I face a new maths question, and that I require something which I can visualise, and imagine, to work properly.

He kinda assured me that I'd be happy doing physics, if what I said were true; and told me of what I'd need to catch up on: Fourier Series, Wave Mechanics, Special Relativity, etc. And that theoretical physics will not be entirely out of the option, as there was a very close link between the Part II Theoretical Physics and Part III Applied Maths Course.

Then while we were talking, there was this first year comsci seating next to us, called Dan... I had seen him around, but never really spoke with him before. When he overheard our conversation, he told us that he was considering doing physics next year too! And that there were a few other people in the college who might be doing physics, among them is Jack. So if I do change to physics, there'll be a whole community of people over here in the same course!!! Which would result in a big improvement from my current situation! Dan mentioned that he would organise a get together for the potential physicist at the end of term party this Friday... Something to look forward to :P

Current Maths Matters
Also met up with the study group for a second time on Tuesday... Went ok, did 2 dynamics questions in 2 hours, which is quite an achievement considering it was dynamics... I'd scarcely be able to achieve that on my own...

And had decided that the best way to know mathmos would be to work with them. So I volunteered for a position in the Archims' math society... I'm now the Archims' Registrar! Basically I'd be handling membership matters, organising the Fresher's Fair, puting together the Fresher's Guide, and helping out with the website :P

Serene, Kendice, Lionel...
...are planing to come in June!!! So exciting!!! As well as my uncle and cousins, among them would be the grace who's been spamming the tagboard ;)

Tentatively, we'll be meeting on 20th June, leaving on the 23rd for Italy, returning to London sometime the following week, and flying home on the 3rd or 4th of July.

While you guys are here, I've thought of 10 things you could do:

1. Crash Balls - there'll be fireworks and all.
2. Punt, and feed a variety of avian species inhabiting the river, if the bird flu doesn't hit Cambridge, that is...
3. Visit the Museum & Observatory.
4. Come help me pack up,
5. and see my room at the same time,
6. I'll demonstrate the culinary skills I've acquired in the year I spent here...
7. Have a taste of the (junk) food I've been subsisting upon throughout term,
• i.e. Sainsburry Basics x, where x =
• "Chocolate digestive biscuits",
  
• "Milk Chocolate",
  
• "Chocolate Chip Cookies",
  
• "Custard Cream Biscuits",
  
• "Jaffa Cakes",
  
• "Hot Chocolate",
  
• "Vanila Ice Cream".


8. Come watch me collect my results from Senate House - It'll be a great incentive for me to do well!
9. Tour round the colleges.
10. I'll bring you to see the statue of Isaac Newton, and show you Stephen Hawking's pigeon hole and office, and maybe if he's in, we can knock on his door and say 'hi' :P

* In the unlikely event that we run out of things to do in the afternoon, we could take a walk down a scenic part of the river, to a place called Grandchester.

Also, regarding accomodation in Cambridge, there's a youth hostel near the rail station. It'll be very convinient if you guys were coming by rail, and it's not too far from my college!

Here's the website: Youth Hostel in Cambridge

It costs 224.00 pounds for 3 people for 4 nights. This works out to less than 20 pounds per person per night. I'll also check if my college has rooms to rent out during this period...


Academic Ennui

en·nui

n. Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom

On a different note, just wanted to record the condition which could be used to diagnose the problem I was facing...

Since I begun relating this problem with others, I've discovered that it isn't uncommon to experience this condition:

• My tutor, Dr Franklin felt it;
  
• an engineering PhD student was facing the same problem;
  
• so did a few other people in my college doing a master's degree in various fields;
  
• and a friend who reads this blog also related his problem with me. And he was the one who introduced me to this term...

I guess this is a problem I might face if I did research in a field hardly anyone cares about...

So perhaps God is showing me what I'll be in for should I chose the academic path...

I'm also thinking, if I were to switch to physics, I might as well go into teaching, or something more vocational, like engineering. Might consider trying for a PSC scholarship if I decide on teaching. Having said that, I'm not rushing to get a scholarship! (can hear my mother violently objecting to it now).

While relief teaching in SAS, I've also seen how teachers can grow tired from dealing with children that are so difficult to control... I guess every profession has it's cons... I'll just need to find an area that I enjoy, and can handle the cons the best... Perhaps switching careers every few years would be a nice way to live. I've actually met people from my college who have lived like that!

I guess university is the best time to explore what one likes, and allow one to gain the neccessary experience, to aid in making the major decisions later on in life...

Meeting with Dr Franklin

Just came back from consulting my tutor about my difficulties, described the situation I was in - that I had been feeling very isolated, and that many times I'm stuck in my room at so many problems, without any channel for recourse.

And thankfully he was sympathetic to my position: he related how he had felt the same back while he was doing a Masters in History, as the only person living in the house doing history, and how he was able to find other people feeling the same to work with. So had felt somewhat at comforted to carry on describing my problem, and my options...

But when I first described to him that I realised that I was able to cope with the course given more time, or that being with people accelerated the rate at which I absorbed things, relating the two anecdotes: one about how I was able to do my first set of example sheets satisfectorily as I had a lot of time to work on it, and the other about how I could accomplish a lot if only I had someone to relate the question with.

He looked at me, and asked, what I wanted him to do by saying all these... Probably on his part, he was thinking all along about what he could do to solve the problems: and there's nothing he can do about the course, and nothing he could do about looking for mathmo's to work with. I've tried certain measures myself, but with limited success. One small part of me was hoping that he would be able to put me in a college with more mathmos, which would have been the best solution to the problem, looks like that was out of the question, so I didn't raise it...

So when I asked about changing my course as a way to solve the problem, he looked much more happy to help, as it was within his ability to do that. He looked up the requirements for switching to physics, and adviced that I should initiate the process soon, if I wished to change, and related the process of switching: how the NatSci DOS would be concerned about whether I would be able to cope with the course, and the Senior tutor would be concerned that it would incur more cost on the college.

So he suggested that I gave that a thought and told him of my decision when at the routine end of term meeting due in about a weeks time... At this stage, it's almost certain that I will choose to switch, unless something compelling made me change my mind, because it would be very difficult to switch if I were to raise the process at a later date, as the NatSci DOS might wish to interview me and stuff...

Ah well, looks like God's opening up this path... I wonder where it'll lead to... Should I chose to switch, Theoretical Physics would become an even more remote possibility than it is now. And perhaps I'll end up doing a post grad in engineering or something.

The week gone by

A week into revising my activities, and I've decided that I need more maths activities to get in touch with the math community.

Decided to launch the study group website, and publicised it during the lectures. Got a few responses, around 15, we had our first meeting on thursday. And we did an incredible amount of work in 2 hours! Hope we'll continue to be able to meet up...

Have also been considering my other options should I find maths too unfulfiling... Thought of switching to physics, and I've talked to a few people about it... Charles, Samuel, and this guy called Victor, a Part III Mathmo who did Physics at Imperial College. He's really enthusiastic about what he does, and really likes talking about maths and physics phenomena and theories, think we can become good friends :P

Sorta thought through the course of action I should take with Charles:

1. I'll first see how this study group goes, and if we are able to meet up on a regular basis,
2. and see how I do next term, and in the exams,
   

Before deciding whether to change to physics...

Samuel also raised the suggestion that I consider engineering, because there is no point changing to physics if I want to do theoritical physics, the mathematical route would be a better choice. Perhaps I'll consider that...

I figured I need to try and get myself in tuned with the latest developments in maths, thus I should take part in more math activities and socials... Did so today, with a competition organised by the Archemedeans, and yesterday, attending a special talk, and had dinner with the speakers later.

During dinner, sat beside Prof Imre Leader, our N&S lecturer last term. Chatted with him, and when I told him I was from Hughes Hall, he asked if I was the 'famous mathmo who turned up for the Peterhouse mock exam because the DOS accidentally sent the email to you'. Hm... Looks like there's talk of 'a mathmo who is so nice that he turned up for a mock exam he was informed of only a day before', circulating round the lecturers and supervisors.

Looks like there's a interesting mathmo community out there I should try becoming a part of...

And think I'll feel more at ease when I hang out with mathmos, than hanging out with the Christians or Singaporeans, while I have undone example sheets looming at the back of my mind.

Brainscan!!!

Just returned from a brainscan. Went there this afternoon after lectures, and it was quite an experience!

Was placed in the middle of this noisy gigantic machine, which carried out the scan while I performed various tasks like trying to match faces, and rooms. Had ear plugs on, and I was communicating with the person conducting the experiment through a headphone, and had a frame to immobilise my head, the frame had a mirror so that I could see the computer screen behind me, and was surrounded by this white chamber. The entire experience felt really out of this world.

Thought I had a taste of what astronauts living in the ISS experienced.

And at the end, I was given a picture of my brain, and paid 20 pounds! So it's very worthwhile!

In case any of you guys in Cambridge are interested in taking part, you can contact the guys at the brainscan at this address:

brainscan(at)mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk

Problems I'm Facing in the Maths Course

Just sorting out and listing down exactly what I am finding tough about this course, and figuring out loud what I can do to improve the situation...

I think the main problem I'm facing is that there is a lack of an intermediate between the lectures, where we are first introduced to very new concepts, and which is held in groups of 100 to 200 people; and the supervisions, where we are expected to be familiar with all the concepts we have been introduced to, and is held in groups of 1 or 2, which makes it very taxing on the resources as well.

And because of that, I feel like I am recieving very little guidiance in this course.

Many times, I find myself seating in front of my example sheets, staring blankly at the questions. Most times, I find that there are many questions that seem to appear quite frequently in the topic, and it seems like it's quite a standard problem in the topic, but I simply do not know the way to handle these questions, because I just haven't seen it done enough times before. During these times, I just wished for someone to give me a hint and point me in the right direction, so that I wont have to waste so much time and effort trying to reinvent the mechanism to solve the problem.

Spending time figuring out how to solve a problem from scratch is good, and I've managed to do that with all the problems during the first part of this term. But in such a demanding course, where so many concepts are introduced to us in such short time, an average person cannot really afford to do that for every concept.

I think it would be good for there to be a classroom like lesson, or discussion which follows closely with what we are doing in the lectures, where we can be further exposed to the concepts first introduced to us during lectures, so that our understanding can be broadened and reinforced in such an atmosphere. And perhaps during these sessions, we could look at the existing methods of dealing with standard questions in the topics, so that we will not need to be blindly trying to find our way around...


I am wondering how many people in the course will agree with what I've just written. Think I'll first try to set up a support group, and publically seek out people in the same situation, like in forums, and maybe at the beginning of lectures. And we'll just try to work with each other first... And if there's sufficient people feeling the same way (something like twenty or so people), we could try to set up a society to provide such classroom like sessions on a regular basis to complement the lectures.

Just jotting these ideas down, so that if it works out, it could lay the foundations to the aims of the society.

Cambridge is full of geniuses who probably wouldn't need these sort of supplimentary programs. But for the rest of us who are less than geniuses, the aims of this society would be to provide a program that would complement the existing lecture-supervision system, and provide us commoners an effective means to handle the Cambridge Maths Syllabus.

Acapella!

Just came back from Acapella. Decided to join the newly formed acapella group, made up of Cumsa people, and we had the first session today!

Everyone here's really talented, and I'm really privileged to be among so many people who can organise and put together an acapalla group in one evening, and the song turned out really nice!

So many people knew how to interperate the scores, and play the piano, and put together every part of an acapella, that they could guide the few who had no clue what to do, i.e. me, so well that we managed to end very well!

Warmed up with "Away in a Manger" and practiced with "Lonesome Road". We'll be doing a very funny song next week, called "Short People"... There's a really mean line in it which goes "Short people have no reason to live" =P

And I carry one more tag on myself: I'm a tenor. Basically the middle range...

Was really enjoyable to be able to play a part in something that would sound so nice. Think it's the most fun thing I've done this term...

Also had second bible study on Genesis with Nick this evening... Just wondering how Adam and Eve knew God... Did they interact with God the way we do now, or did God appear to them in a more tengible form? And if He did, how much more tengible can He get if He's not physical?

Also wondered how Adam felt when he first came to being, recieving conciousness, and being given all these responsibilities by God.

Also had Vector Calculus supervision today... My work wasn't really satisfectory, had missed a few questions... Will be having Probability sup next Monday, gotta go figure out things like Independent-Identically Distributed Random Variables, and Moment Generating Functions :S

Yup, that was my day... one the more fun days I've had over here :)

Impure Thoughts

I'm entertaining thoughts of switching to NatSci(Phy) next year...

There are a few reasons...
1) I find myself struggling to manipulate symbols I scarcely have any feel for. i.e. Maths is too abstract for me...
2) Jack, from my college is doing physics too! and he intends to do the most physics possible, which is what I'll like to do if I switch to physics. That means I'll have a buddy to go do stuff together with. And if we get accomodation near or next to each other, he'll make a very convinient companion to discuss work with...
3) I feel like I have something to look forward to if I do change my course... Cos I don't feel any excitement when I look at the topics we're doing for maths next year...

The only consideration now is how much I've missed from the first year work... I've attended a few physics lectures, so I have an idea what they are doing, but I haven't done any lab work yet. Think I'll need to pick up those skills quickily next year.

But I think it shouldn't be too bad, cos first year natsci's do lots of other peripheral subjects like geology and material science, which I'm not too worst off not studying...

Sigh, think I'm falling behind :S

This feels like the part of the 2.4 where I give up and start walking.

Ah, the first 3 weeks went ok, did a whole set of example sheets, and think it was reasonably well done... but looks like it was unsustainable... kinda got really tired by weekend of 4th week, and now I see the impending deadlines looming, and feel like I'm crawling so slowly I'll never be able to keep pace, or make even a quarter of my next set of example sheets...

Think I'll need to reassess what I'm doing... Look for something extra-curricular to do, staying in my room all day isn't helping :S


Went to pizza hut with Shagnik, Ja and Alex today for lunch. Was a buffet. supposed to be 4 pounds, but cos I mistakenly took the salad which wasn't in the buffet, I ended up paying an extra 2 pounds for it. Didn't really eat much, 9 slices of pizza, and very little salad, really feel heart ache thinking I paid an extra 6 dollars for that little bit of salad I took... But the pizza's were quite nice...

Oh yeah, and just got an appointment for a brain scan! Will be two weeks time, 1 March...

Sigh, think I'll try to go about de-stressing myself first, before I come back to re-examine what I am covering in lectures...

Completed First Round of Supervisions.

Just had my probability supervision today. Marks the end of the first series of supervisions. Looks like I've got quite good supervisors for this term. For the first time since JC, feeling like I'm under the care of a teacher... Hope I'd be able to make the most of it...

Arh, dunno why I suddenly experienced a bout of intense stress on Sunday... Went to church in the morning, then by lunch time, I had the urge to rush straight back to my room to sleep, and sleep i did - for two hours. Woke up after at around 4, completed as much of my example sheet, and handed it up, returned back to room, and did not have anything urgent left to do, but still felt a great tension... Couldn't really do much after experiencing that tension, chatted with some people who were online then, thanks for putting up with me those of you whom I bugged... The tension I felt was somewhat comparable with the kind of stress I faced outfield in army, don't really know why... Think that's why God put me through that phase in army, so that I'll be able to deal with this kinda pressure...

But feeling better now... It seems like I'm only feeling stressed over the weekend when I don't have lectures to wake up to. Ah, why does it seem like my mood is so fickle over here in Cambridge?

Crazy Sleeping Patterns and Kopitiam Delights

Sigh, my body clock's going nuts again! Have been sleeping at 2 am the past week, even though I didn't sleep in the afternoon. And I'd still force myself to wake up for lectures, but I'll feel quite tired and stressed throughout the day. So today I decided to allow myself to sleep when I felt like it, the result: I fell asleep at 8 pm and woke up at 12 mid night.

I woke up to a cold room and an empty stomach, and suddenly felt like eating something sweet and filling. Have been eating excessive amounts of Sainsbury Basics Chocolate Digestive biscuits the past week while slogging over example sheet problems, so didn't really fancy eating more of those. Wanted something warm and sweet and filling, so I decided to make kaya toasts!

Managed to find proper bread this term, thus I had all the ingredients neccessary to recreat this authentic taste. And now I'm enjoying Kaya toasts with Hot Chocolate! Mmmm...

The kaya has gone a little hard though, but still tastes alright, just quite difficult to spread it... Which reminds me: I could use more Kaya from Singapore....

While I'm eating, I'm also thinking of Half Boiled Eggs and French Toast. Think I'll need to get some eggs soon... Haven't used eggs on my own since I started my cooking career. Looks like it's quite a good breakfast material :P

An Extraordinary Encounter.

Whoa, just met Stephen Hawking's while studying at the CMS today! He was having lunch with two other professors, and his nurse, who was feeding him.

Didn't that realise he was there when I first went in. Only discovered his presence after hearing someone breathing the words 'Stephen Hawkings', and moment's later vaguely hearing his synthesised voice.

It was like meeting a movie star! First heard of him back in primary 5, and it's been my dream to do the things he did, and now I'm seeing him in real life! Probably indicates that I'm one step closer to this dream =)

Speaking of which, about a week ago, I actually dream of seeing him. Hm... Precognition?

But the most remarkable thing was the way people around him were reacting. They were just going about therir business, acting as if nothing's happening. I mean, how often do you get to sit with a famous person and pretend like it's no big deal? I guess it happens pretty often here in the CMS, that's the awesome thing about this place, a place where making history is all in a days work...

I'm getting good at cooking...

Finished lectures at 12:00 today,

Cycled back,
Cooked spghetti,
Ate spghetti,
Cleaned up,
Blogged,

And time check: 12:45!

Spghetti was cheap, tasty and healthy.

What more could I ask for?

0 raised to the power of 0

Came across that today during supervision. Makes a good smilie too:

0^0 = ?

0_o

Tickets Booked!

Ok, feeling quite sian tonight, didn't feel like doing the regular things like my example sheets or strumming the guitar, so I went down to the main college building to watch TV, and visit the library. Nothing interesting there either, so came back and tried to purchase my tickets to Sweden. Managed to accomplish that :P

Here's the itenary and reciept:

GOING OUT
From London Stansted(STN) to Skavsta Stockholm(NYO)
Thu, 23Mar06 Flight FR052 Depart STN at 08:35 and arrive NYO at 11:40

COMING BACK
From Skavsta Stockholm(NYO) to London Stansted(STN)
Wed, 29Mar06 Flight FR055 Depart NYO at 17:10 and arrive STN at 18:25

PAYMENT DETAILS
*********1.28 GBP Adult
********27.17 GBP Taxes,Fees & Charges
*********6.96 GBP Aviation / WCHR Levy
*********0.00 GBP Car Rental
*********0.00 GBP Insurance
********35.41 GBP Total Paid

So it's confirmed, I'll be visiting Sweden this Easter! All I need to do now is to book my bus tickets from here to Stansted, and try to find my way to meet Serene at Stockholm.

This week...
It's been quite good this week... No Supervisions. Managed to do a little bit of work, almost completed 2 example sheets.

Had a few enjoyable days -
went to Macdonalds for lunch with Shagnik on Thursday;
found a new way to de-stress that night: went to a piano recital in College;
found a way to print stuff for free at the CMS;
visited a the computer laboratory at the New Museum Site;
Arranging to have regular one-on-one bible study with Nick, a guy from my focus group;
hung out with Jack a bit this week, had a few meals together;
cell this week had quite few people, but quite nice to chat smaller groups;
attended history of maths lecture on Wednessday and Friday; and
John Percival will be facilitating the discussion about predestination and election tmr at student lunch! :P

Other things I did:
Cooked spghetti in chicken tonight sauce.
Cooked spghetti with beef and tomato sauce tonight.
Should be cooking another 3 more meals, cos got 3 more portions of beef.
Ran out of onions, Finally!
Got skype and the video conferencing to work.

Think I should look for something to program: find a way to access a server... Suddenly feeling quite sian... Hm... playing reverse tic-tac-toe with hong king now :P

Intelligence Profile of

Thomas de Rivaz

College:
Gonville and Caius College

Address:
Flat 20, Adams House,
Rustat Avenue,
Cambridge, CB1 3RE

Previously:
Jail house rock
The Green Blade
Cambridge University Diplomacy Society
Haileybury School
tr1705@haileybury.herts.sch.uk
tad30@cam.ac.uk

Spghetti with Chicken Tonight Chicken

Eating sphgetti out of a pan as I'm blogging, decided to try cooking it in Chicken Tonight Sauce when I saw the sauce on offer at Sains. Didn't really know what Chicken Tonight tastes like, only recall the brand from the catchy song on TV quite a long time ago: "I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight."

The sauce looked whitish and creamy, so I associated it with Carbonara.

Well, that is where the similarity ends. This sauce tastes spicy and bland- which hardly comes close to the saltish, cheesy taste of carbonara. Cooked it with spghetti, and now it tastes like chinese noodles made with western ingredients. Weird combi, but might be an acquired taste... Then again, isn't everything an acquired taste?

Realised how to cook onions more effectively today- Cooking it on low heat increased the margin of error in timing one can afford, by quite a great degree really! So up the heat at the beginning to bring the temperature up as quickly as possible, then turn it down to reduce the rate of energy transfer so that it is not used for unwanted chemical reactions (like the combustion of food)... Quite amazing the things one can conjecture while staring at the pan in the kitchen...

CNY away from home, Sweden Trip, and lotsa work to do!!!

Chinese New Year!
My first Chinese New Year away from home, spent the weekend at a number of Cookouts, 3 to be exact, from chu xi to chu er:

• Friday - Cell Steamboat
• Saturday - Kenny's Steamboat
• Sunday - A little cookout at my place.
  

Steamboat at cell was out of a rice cooker! Held it at Daryl's place. He made wanton and muah chi! Helped Daryl to get the groceries from Cho Mee's, met Singaporeans from every corner of Cambridge in the shop! Think I'll try making muah chi one day myself. Saw how Daryl made it by heating Glutenous Rice floor in sesame oil and water, think it's quite straight forward once you get the chewy stuff right...

Kenny's steamboat was superb too! Really delicious, had it Seoul Gardens style. But dont know why the food cooked much better than in Seoul Gardens... somehow the meat wasn't stuck to the pan as much as the barbaques I've had in Singapore... And finally got to sample his pineapple tarts :P Very good, even without taking into account that he made it himself!

Ripped this photo off Kenny's blog:


Then attempted to hold my own Reunion dinner... Actually it's just a normal cookout, but invited a few more people so that I could use my Prima Deli Singapore Curry on this special occassion. Cooking that has become routine... Tried making agar agar this time round. Realised it's simply tons of sugar mixed in a little gelatin. Really unhealthy if you ask me. Might as well drink syrup! Anyway, tried using some of the coconut milk for the curry to make the white coconut milk layer of agar agar. Didn't know you have to wait for the original layer of agar agar to solidify before pouring it in. This resulted in cloudy agar agar. Tasted quite nice actually, mmm... coconut milk... It just wasn't very presentable.

Choon Howe, Jack and Shagnik were present. Choon Howe brought roast pork - that was very nice too! All he did was marinated a piece of pork, about 7cm x 7cm x 15cm of it, wrapped it in aluminium foil, and roasted it in the oven at 190 degrees for around 2 hours. Jack was responsible for the rice, and Shagnik did the dishes after.

So much for CNY. No Ang Baos this year :S Jack was suggested inviting this PhD student who was married and had children, just so that we can get Ang Baos, but because of the fact his wife and children were somewhere else, he couldn't join us for the cookout. Tough.


Sweden Trip
Just discussing with Serene about the Sweden trip. Now got to look out for the plane tickets there. Ah! So many components, so much uncertainties!

1. Cambridge to Stanstead by National Express;
2. Stanstead to Skavsta Airport in Stockholm by air - Ryan Air or Easy Jet;
3. Skavsta Airport to Stockholm City by Flybussarna;
4. then from the bus station to the youth hostel and meeting Serene - dont know how :S.
5. And from Arlanda Airport in Stockholm to Kiruna by plane, and the rest will be Serene's problem :P
   

Sigh, gotta book the plane tickets in the next few days. It's going for under a pound!

Work
Yeah, and my work's starting to pile up. Just calculated: We have 2 Example Sheets and around 6 days a week. That means I'll have to complete a third of an Example Sheet everyday. But from the looks of it, I dont think I'm pacing very well.

Nevertheless still enjoying it, but getting kinda stressful, cos now I know that I am able to change things with the effort I'm putting in, unlike last term when I felt like whether I spent time doing work or not wouldn't make a difference. And Ling came to CCCF today! Really incredible! He just decided to come after reading the CCCF email, and he isn't even a Christian! Hm... gotta pray for him to come more regularly, then I'll get a good mathmo buddy in CCCF, a legendary one at that!

Settling into a comfortable routine.

Pass few days have been busy, but i'm quite happy with it. I'm more busy now cos I've been finding work much more enjoyable this term, and I'm trying to do as much of it as possible.

A look at my calander for the week:

Sunday 220106
StAG;
Had Dinner with Choon Howe;
Followed the Portuguese Mathmos to Trinity to watch Macbeth. (Totally couldn't understand what was happening in the show!)

Monday 230106
Met Probability Supervisor at Trinity;
Attended talk by Career Services;
CCCF;
Trinity Maths Society Talk

Tuesday 240106
N&S Supervision;
Focus at StAG.

Wednessday 250106
DEq Supervision;
History of Math lecture;
Tried Cooking beef stew.

Thursday 260106
Blue Chips Fair held by Career Services;
Now stewing the beef in the thermal pot for dinner...

Friday 270106
Having steamboat at for Cell, CNY Celebration!

Saturday 280106
CNY Celebration at Kenny's place, with the steamboat I brought over! Hope Kenny makes pineapple tarts :P

A log of my experiments in the kitchen

1) Carbonara

Recipe:
- Debone Chicken,
- Fry Chicken, Mushroom
- Add in premade Carbonara Sauce
- Pour Sauce over Pasta

That easy!
And the chicken was very very tasty, and frying it produced very a fragrant aroma in the kitchen.
But felt that the pasta was quite plain as there wasnt enough sauce... Maybe I should fry the pasta in with the muchroom and chicken, then mix in the sauce, the way I cook my spghetti.

2) Chicken Soup

Recipe:
- Chop Potato, Onion, Carrot, Mushroom
- Boil Water in thermal pot
- Throw in the above mentioned Vegetables, and Chicken
- Add a little Sauce
- Leave to boil in thermal pot.

The chicken turned out quite dry. Guess chicken isn't a good meat to boil in the thermal pot for prolonged periods of time...
The best way I cooked chicken so far was in the curry made with Prima Deli Packets, and I boiled it for around half an hour.... Think that's the optimum time for cooking chicken.
Also heard that cooking chicken soup is not as easy as throwing chicken in water and boiling it... So what else is there to chicken soup if not the chicken and the soup??? :O

3) Beef Stew

Recipe:
- Dice Potato, Onion, Carrot, Mushroom
- Chop up beef
- Marinate Beef in Soy Sauce
- Boil Water in thermal pot
- Throw in Potato, Onion, Carrot, Mushroom, Beef
- Leave to stew...

Sampled the beef at intervals after stewing it in the thermal pot... Didn't seem to vary very much. Perhaps cos I only cooked it for 2 hours. Trying again now, intend to leave it stewing for 6 hours. Will report if there's any difference. But the potato was certainly softer after leaving it to stew for 1 hour. So if anything, the thermal pot is good for boiling potatoes!
Also marinated the chicken in too much pepper the last time, leaving the pepper out this time round.

Cooking Carbonara

Yup, just did that yesterday and today:

Ingredients:
Button Mushrooms - 0.57
Chicken Drumsticks - 2.69
Canned Cream Sauce - 0.98
Pasta - 0.50

Total cost - 4.74

Served 4...

Actually wasn't very filling, so next time I'll cook it for 3 meals.

Deboning is quite a hassle, but getting better at it.


Next dish: Beef Stew!

Just found the kinda beef I'll need, and the oxtail soup at Sainsbury.
Also will use potatoes, carrots, and onions, and the thermal pot.

And a rice cooker will make things much more convinient.


Looking for many things now... I'll jot these down til i make a more complete list...
Sciscors,
Boxes to keep my onions and potatoes,
A shelf,
Paper,
A rice cooker.

Newton's Laws of Motion as found in Principia Mathematica

Lex I: Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus a viribus impressis cogitur statum illum mutare.

Lex II: Mutationem motus proportionalem esse vi motrici impressae et fieri secundum lineam rectam qua vis illa imprimitur.

Lex III: Actioni contrariam semper et aequalem esse reactionem: sive corporum duorum actiones is se mutuo semper esse aequales et in partes contrarias dirigi.

Translation:

Law 1: Every body continues in it's state of rest or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by a force impressed on it.

Law 2: The rate of change of motion is proportiona to the motive force impressed; and it is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed.

Law 3: The mutual actions of two bodies are always equal and dircted to contrary paths.

Cambridge adds that extra tinge of authenticity to studying physics :P

First week of lectures

Think this is going quite well... I'm actually beginning to enjoy and look forward to lectures!

Did Sterling's formula today in lectures, gotta learn to derive that.

Have been crashing ther Physics lecture before my math lectures, it's very interesting!!! They're doing Lagrange Principle of Least Action now.

Learnt that it is simply a consequence of Newton's Second Law. Just that it's is replacing the Cartesian Coordinate system with any arbitary coordinate.

And things like Energy and Momentum are not real physical quantities at all. They only arise out of integrating F=ma wrt time and distance!

FINALLY! Internet Connection Thru a Proper Laptop!!!

Yeah, finally got this to work! Now I'm very comfortable in my room, and I think I'm going to enjoy the next 6 months here very much!

With my bed made infinitely more comfortable by the blanket I brought over; and the laptop through which I can organise my life, and conviniently access infomation; and a guitar to strum away whenever I'm stressed, or need something mindless to do when trying to solve a maths problem; and I found a place to watch TV, did it this morning at 5 am, and totally enjoying the programs! And a thermal pot to cook delicious meals in; and all the other miscellaneous things I brought over with me this time round, I now feel like I can fly! Take on anything the new term throws at me!

Just started lectures today. It's much better now that I'm mentally prepared for what to expect. Attended the physics lecture before my maths lecture, they're doing classical mechanics - Lagrangians and Hamiltonians! Think I'll frequent that lecture too!

Also just met my DOS today. Assigned me my supervisors for the term. Will have a supervision with a greek guy from Trinity! That will make a good excuse: if I cannot understand what is happening, I can always pass it off that he was speaking greek ;P

But really looking forward to having this supervision - it should allow me to know more mathmos. Trinity accounts for more than 20% of the mathmo cohort, and they are usually the best of the lot!

Shall blog about my first few days here after I've sorted it out. Also the plans for my meals... Just recceed Sains for the ingredients today, think I'll execute the meal over the weekend. Lets see.. I'll get chicken, and cook pasta and chicken soup. Also will be looking for containers to hold my fresh produce.

Here we go again.

Ok, leaving in a few hours time. This is beginning to feel routine... Grossly underestimated the amount of things I'm bringing back. After packing most stuff, my luggages are weighing at around 35 kg. Hope to get through the gates without too much hassle. Going to be carrying lotsa bags this time round... A big luggage, a haversack, a smaller pull along luggage, a laptop, and a guitar.

Schedule for Tuesday 170106 - Arrival
Will be busy from the word 'go', once i reach Cambridge this time round. Lets see... My plane's eta at Heathrow at 0830. Get to bus station, buy National Express tickets, bus ride to Cambridge, will prob reach by noon. Make my way back to my room, unpack, look for lunch, wash up, then have A&G supervision scheduled at 1430 at Peterhouse. Wonder if my college card has enough credits for my meals today... Then will have to look for dinner after supervision. Also need to go see the computer guy to configure my laptop, and go grocery shopping for breakfast and snacks. That should be about all for Tuesday.

Schedule for Wednessday 180106 - EXAM!
Will have breakfast with the focus group guys around 0800 at Ben's house. Looking forward to meeting them after a month. After, gotta look for lunch, and will be having an exam at 1330! Just received the email yesterday! Going to die! but wattahack, it's just a mock paper... I'll try to read up before that... It'll be ending at 1630. Go back, and unpack, and prepare for school the next day, and try to finish my up example sheets!

Schedule for Thursday 190106 - School Starts!
Lecture begins. Starting with Vector Calculus and Probability. Need to look for lunch, maybe I'll try cooking soup. Meeting DOS at CMS at 1400. And that marks the beginning of another 8 week marathon! But at least I'm better prepared to take it on! (At least I hope)

Random Thoughts, Visiting SAJC and SAS, and bumping into lotsa people!

Had several theraputic conversations the past few days, mainly with different groups of friends from secondary school, with CK gugu, and with Alvin.

Been confiding in them about how tough the experience of my first term in Cambridge had been, how difficult it is to have no one doing the same course to casually hang out with. How beginning the term without an idea of what to expect, without really knowing the system, or anybody there, had contributed to my feeling like I've been dragged along during the term through the lectures, not anticipating anything, and returning back everyday to a deserted room to fight a hopeless fire of example sheets and lecture notes, and having no one to turn to for help.

On top of that, having to worry about daily things like food, laundry, banking matters, library books expiring.

Basically related how I dread returning to the same situation next term, but at the same time optimism that this term would be better.

Better because I know what I'll be returning to, I'll know my way around Cambridge better, because I know who I'll be meeting, I know what lectures will be like, I know where to find resources for the topics I'm doing, because I'll have a better computer through which I can stay connected with the world, better because I know what I want to achieve, and because I should be able to provide for my meals affordably, regularly, healthily.


So much for returning to Cambridge...


Yesterday!

Yesterday was CCA display day at SAS. Went to Potong Pasir Mac for breakfast, bumped into Boon Hao. Met Alvin, visited SAJC with him, spoke with DP, had a look around the new compound. Went to Sim Lim Square and to Bugis with Alvin for lunch.


Met Jonathan after at PS, made our way back to SAS. Met some teachers. Bumped into Daniel and Sam Chong helping the BB with their flying fox act. Loitered round the school, bumped into Maowei with the NCC. Learnt later from Daniel that Derrick was hosting a BBQ for dinner, two of us decided to go, so followed Daniel to SAJC to meet his mother, also met Mr Lim in the staff room. Followed Daniel back home to wait til dinner time.
While we were there, Daniel took out our Sec 1 class photo and JC yearbook. Started chatting about the days gone by, about our paths, and that of our peers. It wasn't too long ago when we were all together in that class and it was all we knew of, when being 21 years old and having completed army and beginning university, was a far fetched prospect hardly anyone could concieve, but here we are now!

Then went to Derrick's place for dinner, met more guys - Jeffery, Gerald, and a few of Derrick's JC classmates. Hanged around for a while then left with Jonathan. Took a cab back together, discussed with him along the way about the friendships made in our lives, through Sec Sch, JC, and NS, compared the differences, and expressed hopes that good friendship is not something consigned to the past.

Here's a Llama, There's a Llama...

Llama, Llama, DUCK!

More Websites.

Found a few sites today...

This site with a very comprehensive guide to the topics covered in the Mathematics tripos. For some reason, it is hosted on a server located on the other side.

Dr Körner's Home Page


Also, Alvin just msn'ed me about the End of the World. Go check it out! It's Damn Funny :P


Pictures of the CMS
And here are a few pictures of the Center for Mathematical Sciences, a place I've become so familiar with...

This is where I leave my bike.


I enter the facility to this view.


And hang out in this pavallion.


An aerial view of the entire compound.

Complex Numbers

Playing around with complex numbers this morning...

deduced this interesting relation:

i ^ i = 0.2078796 ; where i = sqrt(-1)

i.e. the imaginary number raised to the power of the imaginary number is a real number!

n.b.:

e^(-pi/2) = 0.2078796 .

More Websites

Some websites I found while trying to figure out what my Differential Equations notes:
Paul's Online Math Notes
MIT OpenCourseWare

DAMTP Webpages with Maths Lecture Notes:
Part I and Part II Notes
Part IA Vector Calculus - Lent Term 2005
Student Representative Site


Quantum Computing Links:
New Scientist Quantum Machanics Articles
Quantum World
Found these sites on Quantum Computing through Google Desktop. Looks like there's been lots of activity in this field of research in the past couple of years.

Google dropped by?

Saw this in my webpage stats hours after my entry about google pack...

Visitor Detail Unique Visitors
Visitor	64.233.172.28	IP Address	64.233.172.28
Date	09 Jan, Mon, 12:48:18	Net Speed	Corporate/T1
Organization	GOOGLE	Browser	Firefox 1.5
Continent	North America	Operating System	Windows XP
Country	United States	Screen Resolution	1280x1024
State / Region	California	Screen Color	32 Bit (16.7M)
City	Mountain View	Javascript	Enabled

Referrer	None
Search Engine	None
Keywords	None

Googling Mountain View, CA... Learnt from Wikipedia that that...

Mountain View is a city located in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California, USA. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708. It is one of the major cities that make up Silicon Valley. Googleheadquarters (the Googleplex), the Mozilla Foundation, Microsoft’s MSN/Hotmail/Xbox/MSNTV divisions, Intuit, Silicon Graphics and NASA Ames Research Center are just a few of the high tech institutions that are located in Mountain View. Mountain View is the first city in the USA which is going to be entirely blanketed by a free wireless internet access provided by Google.

I'm so honoured.

More Pics from Cambridge

Just browsing round the web tonight, visited the Cumsa website cos i was looking for the name of the place which sells all sorts of items off the counter, ah, what is it called? Had hoped to find some clues on the Cumsa webpage, but found some pics of the Formal Hall instead...

Here's the trackback to that entry...
Ta-da-a!!! My first blog!: CUMSA Formal Hall at Churchill

The guys itching to penny me:
Kenny on the right, who successfully did so once,
Chun Gee, Nicholas and Royce.

The above mentioned plus Kaiting and Dexter...

Ahh!! still cant recall the name of that shop! :S

Google - I'm Lovin It!

Whoa,

just installed the newly released

,

and already I'l loving this fantastic application called Google Desktop! A culmination of all the google applications neatly tugged away in a sidebar which politely hides itself unless it is summoned.

It has everything I've been looking for at my finger tips -

• RSS Blog and News Feeds,
• Weather and Maps,
• A convinient location to add notes, and a to-do list... Just what I needed!
• Gmail and Google Talk windows. The least useful applications for the moment...
  

Google automatically searched my computer to determine which are my favourite websites! And I was pleasently astonished at what appeared!

And it's incredibly smart too! For the maps and weather reports, you no longer have to search for a location, and then select the correct result, google automatically delivers the right result!

One thing it doesn't have is an exchange rate monitor, but I can live with the one on my online headquarters for the moment...

And another thing that can be added is a system which manages your favourite websites... Or perhaps they intended for the blog and news rss feed to automatically perform this function.

Geek Inside

Your Score Summary

Overall, you scored as follows:

8% scored higher (more nerdy), and
92% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Supreme Nerd. Apply for a professorship at MIT now!!!.

Before this, I was a self professed nerd. Now I'm fully qualified ;)

Try it yourself here:

Crucial Links

Last term I had felt very isolated from the world, like a frog in the well, the well that was Cambridge. With no access to TV, limited access to newspapers, no mother to tell me the latest gossips in the news, and a painful internet connection. What a quite a deep, dark well it was...

Well, I'd be bringing a laptop there this time, so I'd be better connected to the internet. But connection to the internet is useless if there's nothing to surf. So here are some important links to make full use of the internet access I'd be having.

Some Websites

To keep in touch with stuff happening in Cambridge:

• Cambridge Radio


• BBC Cambridge


• Weather Forecast

To stay in touch with developments at home:

• Today Online


• channelnewsasia.com

Personal Admin:

• HSBC Website


• Nectar Website

Societies:

• Trinity Maths Society


• NRich


• Archimedeans


• Astronomy Society

Maths Resources:

• Wikipedia Group Theory topics


• Department of Mathematics Student Rep


• Maths Thesaurus

New Year's Resolution?

Nah, more like new year's aims... Just the regular 'to-do' list, except it happens to be the beginnnig of the year...

Look for ways to learn about and get involved with quantum computing. (I need a goal in life.)
Get settled in to life in Cambridge, learn to make affordable meals regularly, now with the thermal pot and rice cooker I'm bringing, it should help facilitate this... Going to try making beef stew and chicken soup. Recipies when I actually do it...
Gotta get comfortable in my bed: bringing a blanket... the kind I use at home...
Get comfortable access to the internet: bringing a laptop...
Need a mindless activity to engage in between studying: bringing my guitar...
Mix around with other groups of people besides the Christians and the Singaporeans. Perhaps at Maths Society meetings, or maybe joining the MUN...
Find out about career opportunities, and what I can begin to work towards... also find out about internship opportunities... Just submitted an online application to RollsRoyce.

More immidiate matters:
Packing up for Cambridge.
Studying,
packing, packing, more packing...

Happy New Year?

It's 4 AM +0800 GMT, New Year's Day 2006, and I'm suffering the symptoms of a body clock that is inconsistant with local time.

So I'm up at 4AM on the first day of 2006, and there's absolutely no body online now! It's quite rare that out of the 126 MSN contacts I have, none are online... I guess everyone's either out partying or sleeping...

My Body Clock's Gone Nuts!

Woke up at 0130 just now after a 3 hour slumber to a craving for ice-cream and solving maths problems :S

Think my body regards the eye-shut that just happened as afternoon nap

O_O

Chronicles of Narnia

Watched Narnia today with the church youth... Sat beside HCH and Daniel. Discovered a flaw in the physics of time and the wardrobe.



Just a thought... If time stops when one enters the wardrobe, wouldn't he appear, from the outside, to be jumping out of the wardrobe the second he enters?

This would mean that Edmund can never have entered the wardrobe while Lucy was inside it, before she came out!

Logic FLAWED!

Ok, I'll go easy on the movie... It's fiction afterall :P

Incoherent Fiction.

Yikes!

People have been hunting me down this term and I was oblivious to it the entire time! :S

Was just surfing the net, decided to check out the assassins guild website, and found a log of the attempts made throughout the game, found these reports:

Tuesday, 25 October

[17:00 PM] TheFunkyMonk went looking for Infinite Entropy.

---

TheFunkyMonk reports:

Dear Mr Umpire,

Realising that with my new found incompetent status somebody might actually try to assassinate me, I resolved to redeem myself by taking out one of my fellow incompetents, Gabriel Wu.

My journey began well enough. I made my way to his college and with the aid of a helpful passer by ascertained the location of his room. I then proceeded to lurk outside his stairwell while pretending to chat away on my mobile waiting for him to leave for dinner.

After about 20 minutes of this, my frustration grew the better of me and gripping my trusty RBG I knocked on his door.

No answer.... I then walked around the building and seeing that his lights were off realised that he was probably out. So I went home, reflecting on my incompetency.

#####################################
Gabriel, I'll have another go at killing you tommorrow morning... probably around 8am. You'll recognise me as the fellow in the Christ's hoody... Would you mind being around this time?
#####################################

The Funky Monk

Looks like I evaded death several times...
Looking through my blog entry, I was off to Hong King's birthday cookout that night. Recalled studying at Fitz and meeting Kenny at Churchill before making my way down for the cookout. So Funky Monk, whoever he is, never came close :P

Saturday, 29 October

[11:00 AM] scum buster lurked lectures for Infinite Entropy.

---

scum buster reports:

Knowing his desire to arrive 20 minutes early for lectures, I decided to beat this bumbling incompetent scum to the building for a brutal stabbing with no witnesses. On arriving, I noticed no one was there, and my intended target must have been in an even more incompetent mood than usual as he did not arrive to the building until I had enterd the lecture, where my razor sharp knife turned into a cheapo biro by magic. My intended target was a certain Mr. Gabriel Wu aka Infinite Entropy, he will not be so lucky on Monday, ha ha ha! (That's an evil, not jovial laugh!)

This one's scary, he's been tracking my habits :S
Quite lol too... "even more incompetent mood than usual"
Hm... where was I that morning???
Oh, I've been cooking for cell the previous night, so must have been quite tired that morning.

Just checked the police list, realised that it was Andy Davies, a fellow mathmo. Haha, tough luck to him :P

Miscellaneous Pictures

Parkers Piece

Kings College

On Top of the CMS Building

Along the Road to the CMS


My End of Term Trinity College Tour

Statue of Isaac Newton - Inspirational

I always walk pass this monument on my way to the Trinity Maths Society lectures,
but up to now I have yet to find out what it is...

Cambridge Webcam

Found this interesting website on BBC. Have seen cameras planted all over Cambridge, but never thought that these cameras were accessible over the net!

Here are some live images from Cambridge:

King's College Chapel viewed from the University Library Tower

Market Square

Malaysia trip, PASSED Driving! Mugging, Mugging, Mugging...

Lots have happened since returning to Singapore, had a two driving lessons just days after touching down, went to Malaysia within the week I returned, came home to have another two more lessons, took the driving test, and PASSED!!! Met up with a few friends, got re-acquainted with my computer, re-discovered the comfort of studying in my room. That more or less sums up the last two weeks I've spent at home...

Post touch down, Pre Malaysia holiday
Was sleeping in the afternoons, and waking up at 3 am in the morning, still orientating myself to home... Had two driving lessons.

Paid a visit to Shian's house after one of those lessons... Had a great time catching up! Showed me what he's been up to since our paths parted after secondary school, He's a real genius!

I've always been a fan of his works, from his page flipping animation of prefects being mutilated by t-rexes, and Kremple being pursued by Apaches emerging from behind the hills, off the corner of the amaths textbook; to his computer animation, to his literary works...

Here's a sample of his genius that is available online...

HCH, if you're reading this, you might want to get in touch with this guy... He created an animation of a light saber fight, and he got the sound effects from a game! Chew on that!

Left for Malaysia on Thursday morning, before I could even get settled into life in Singapore...

Malaysia, Cameron Highlands, Cookout! Great time of retreat and reflection...

Us on the boh tea plantations of Cameron Highlands

So we were off to Malaysia in a Camry. The four of us, stuck together in an enclosed area for extended periods of time... Discovered, during this time, that my mother's been following every single entry in my blog since the day I left, and she knows more about my friends than I do cos she's been reading my friend's blog O_O. (Anyone linked to this blog who is adverse to a friends mother reading your blog, please let me know, I'll remove the link :P) She could even quote obscure portions of a thousand word entry from my past posts :S

In some ways it's a good thing, cos I need not spend money calling home, and they can be assured that I'm ok, and even know what's happening in my life. It even has a multiplier effect: I can keep my mother busy with reading my friend's blog ;) But just realised the potency of blogging. It can be dangerous if someone else other than your mother knew so much about you... Come to think of it, it's dangerous for your mother to know so much about you, let alone a stranger!

Anyway, the long car ride and discussion allowed me some time to reflect on what's been happening throughout the past two months in Cambridge, and helped me put things in perspective. It gave me an opportunity to withdraw myself from the tiring situation of having to constantly take care of my own needs, so that i can see, from a third person, how I can do things better... Came home with a few recipies (i.e. chicken soup, beef stew, and agar agar), and a renewed sense of purpose... I'll blog about the recipies and purpose in the days to come...

During our stay in Cameron highlands, we held a cookout to give my family a taste of my cooking! Cooked spghetti and tang yuan... Everyone liked it, if only because I was the chef...

I also got a chance to understand some of the differences between cooking spghetti in Cambridge and in Malaysia: In Cambridge, we are quite blessed to get fresh produce - from the beef to the mushrooms. The cost of making spghetti in Cambridge might actually be cheaper than making it in Malaysia! Cos the beef and the spghetti over there is very cheap... Also, I thought that somehow, the spghetti I cooked in Cambridge tasted nicer than the one I managed to churn out in Cameron Highlands.

Also did some mugging on the trip... Realised that participating in mindless activities in between studying aids in the digestion of the concepts. Activities like travelling on the road and watching TV actually are very good ways to relax and internalise the subject. I'll need to recreate such mindless activities in my room in Cambridge. Perhaps strumming on the guitar might help, I haven't tried that yet... Waiting for my cousin to return my guitar this Sunday before I perform the experiment.

Returned home on that Monday to have driving lessons the next day.

Driving lessons, Driving test, PASSED! Christmas party at Sam's house
Took another two lessons before sitting for the test... Did much better than before. My legs were still trembling during the test, but learnt how to keep my foot off the clutch and accelerator when it beginned to tremble. The tester hardly worked his pen while I was driving, and in the room, he just ticked a few boxes to give me some demerit points, and then he passed me! I was actually quite indifferent on the test day, a sentiment shared by some of my friends who retook their driving. So didn't really feel particularly happy when I passed. Just relieved that I don't have to worry about making arrangements for more driving lessons, and having to spend more money on it...

Went to Sam's house for his cell's christmas party, was nice to see everyone there - HCH, EZ, Hohohohoho, and a few new faces... Great to be with familiar people again...

Drove my father's car home after that event... drove it from bishan MRT home. Almost gave my mother a heart attack and my father had to pull the steering wheel several times! They remarked that I passed by a miracle, I don't disagree :P

At the end, I couldn't even park the car properly! I know vertical and pararel parking within 4 poles, but I can't park head on within the for corners of the parking lot!

Looks like I'll need a lot more practice...

Back Home.

Ah, I seem to be perpetually having many things on my mind these days. Perhaps cos there's so many things happening...

Came back from Malaysia...

Having driving test tmr,

So much work to do!

Think I'll sort them out before I blog further...