Back from London

Just stepped into my room after spending 2 days in London.

Quite a nice trip...

Day 1

• Set off on the 915 bus to London. Arrived at around 1130.


• Hiked to Kensington Park from Victoria Station, through Hyde Park and Westminster. Saw gooslings along the hike in Hyde Park.

Goslings!!!

• The hike ended with us counting the house numbers from 1 to 45 Queensborough Terrace. Found Ken through the window, Lionel appeared shortly returning from looking for us in the other direction. Time: 1 pm plus.
  
  


• Settled down, had lunch at an Carribean restaurant. Went walking around a bit, and bought ingredients for dinner. Took the bus round London, and a stroll down the Thames. Strolled from Westminster to Tate Art Gallery. Bought 1.50 pound peanuts along the way.


• Came back at 9 pm to cook dinner. Had Curry chicken, Oyster sauce spinach, onion and mushroom omellette, and lime juice and Dr Peppers for beverage.


• Retired for the night.
  

Day 2

• Reville: 0800

• Fall in for breakfast: 0830.

Had bread with left over curry. And cereal. Took more bread for goslings.

• Move out: 0930.

Took bus to Hyde Park. Walked through Princess Diana Memorial, and down to the part of the lake where we met the goslings. Fed leftover breakfast to them. The parents kept hissing at us when we approached them, then they would gently eat the bread off our hands, and start hissing at us again.

• 1130 - Arrival at Objective Buckingham Palace:

To see the change of guard parade. The soldiers looked quite sian. And the royal band was mediocre. I think the my secondary school band can play better than them! They played very hip songs though: YMCA, and some other funky songs. Met a veteran on a vehicle for the elderly in the middle of the crowd near the gates. He knew the sequence of the ceremony like the back of his hand. Think he goes there everyday! The elderly here have it really good :) Quite enjoyable speaking with him. Found out that he fought the Japs in burma, and had been to Singapore during the war.

• 1230 - Move out to Objective Imperial War Museum:

Had 2.50 pounds Fried Chicken along the way. Lotsa fries, and really filling!
War Museum itself was really cool too! Tanks, submarines, trench warefare, air raid exhibits, and all the wars britian was involved in since ww2. Learnt more about the Fawkland wars as well. Could spend an entire day there!

• 1700 - Made our way to Greenwich:

Took a bus there. Half an hour journey. Alighted at Greenwich University. Spacious greens and beautiful buildings. Music coming from within the buildings, cos it's an art school? Walked to the park, and found the prime meridian, and a huge sundial. Boy, dog, lake, and tennis ball. Walked up the hill to the observatory, and an awesome sight from the outskirts of london.

• 1900 - Returning to Hostel:

And had dinner at a pub along the way. Shared 2 3 pound meals, and a 4 pound burger with a glass of wine. Lotsa mayonese and sauce packets. Took the london light rail back to Bayswater. Droped by Tesco to get breakfast - Hot Chocolate packets, Sausages, Coke.

• 2200 - Lights out. Literally. For a while. Til someone came to repair the lights.

Us in the London Underground

Day 3 (Today)
Got up later, had breakfast, went to post a postcard, returned, took bus to Victoria Bus Station, and parted paths.

That's a (brief?) overview of our adventures in London, hope to get pics from Lenin's camera soon... But first, gotta settle all the admin matters in Cam.

Off to London

Ok, making our way to london in a few minutes, senior's farewell yesterday...

Packing up getting more urgent! as well as the archims stuff!

Need to get envelopes when I return to post the guide,
And maskin tape for the boxes,
Begin packing!!!
Find a place to store my boxes,

Settle Bike,
Prob leave it with blake to take care,
Could leave my sim card with him too.

Ok, gtg.

Road trip to Ely & King's Lynn,

Yup, that's what happened today. Drove a good 60 miles up north to the nearest beach to cambridge only to find that it was at low tide. But the trip was fun... Got to drive long distance for the first time. Stopped by Ely for a while, had pizzahut lunch, and Curry King dinner.

MI3
Then came back, and decided to join Darryl, and some Trit hall mathmos for MI3, very inspirational to watch precision operations in execution. Makes one feel powerful even from watching it.

CV
Just compiled my first CV to submit for internship applications. Understand better how important a role the CV plays in making an impression to the prospectve employer, and what it means to beef up a CV.

Other concerns
Settling Archims stuff - Sending out Alternative guide to colleges, and booking a room for the squash.
Cook out tomorrow.
Planing for London - get tickets, packing luggage, including all the extra food in the fridge.
Looking for storage space, and packing up room.
Find out date from which accom is available.

Chai Seng Kuku Visit!!!

Went punting and had dinner on the terrace today. Quite a hectic day!

Punting was really fun! Had fruit salad, some cake Serene brought from Sweden, and bread on hand. Fruit salad and cake for the people in the boat, and bread for the animals outside the boat. And the first animals we met were ducklings! Was a real treat!

Punted past kings, before turning back. Got punt from queens, thanks to HK.

Then went to sains for a while to get some groceries, and came back to my room to make dinner - Curry chicken using the Singapore Curry packet, and Spinach, and had bread. The females were busy in the kitchen preparing the food, while me and CS gugu planned for tomorrow's trip... Going to head up to a coast somewhere to the north of Cambridge. CS gugu managed to get a merc!!! from the car company at a really cheap rate cos of some screwup on their side. Really looking forward to the drive, in a merc, in England!!!

Anyway, made our way to the terrace after for dinner. Each of us carrying a pot, or bags of food, or utensils. Quite funny. And had our curry chicken in the cool of the setting sun, under a beach umbralla.

Wah, busy busy busy!

that i feel like i dont have time to blog!

But just wanted to jot down that i met Prince Charles yesterday at the Commonwealth Garden Party!

A snippet of an msn conversation says it all...

Gab says:
i met prince charles today!
simon goh says:
How is your party? Did you get to speak to him
Gab says:
some of the singaporeans did, i just watched them
simon goh says:
you met him in the Commonwealth party?
Gab says:
yeah
Gab says:
he arrived in a helicpoter
Gab says:
and went one round speaking with people
Gab says:
met lee hsien yang's director of studies also
Gab says:
and learnt that lee kwan yew's director of studies just died
Gab says:
and met people who would be invited to the istana when they visit singapore
Gab says:
cos they know the president

Quite an interesting day I had.

Pictures of HRH Prince of Wales taken with my Nokia 6020.

HRH approaching the Singaporean Delegates.

The Prince shaking hands with Ms HX Tan and the CUMSA Pres.

Prince Charles up close.

Now gotta get down to packing, fulfiling my role as the registra, and organising cell events, and bringing serene around, applying for attatchment programs, writing my cv.

bleaugh.

Day 4 of Exams, and the subsequent partying!

Lots of things on my mind now, as usual, having procrastinated many things til after the exams.

But first, an update on the final paper.

Best - 3 betas, 4 alphas
Worst - 4 betas, 2 alphas

Mean - 4 betas, 3 alphas.

Final overall estimate - 12 betas, 7 alphas, which is around a 2i standard.

So much for exams.

Post Exam Activities!!!
Came back to room after the exams feeling very bleaugh, didn't feel like doing anything, cos just felt tired, and overwhelmed by everything that is lined up.

Took a short nap, and felt rejuvinated after that.

Went to YHA to change the date we were booking the accom. It's now 20-21 and 21-22. Daddy, if you are reading this, can help me tell Kendice or Lionel that it's settled, at no extra cost.

Made trip to ASDA to top up on supplies. Darn, their dark chocolates are still not in stock! If they dont get it replenished soon, I'm not going back there anymore!

Came back, changed to my suit, and was headed off to Peterhouse for a formal with the mathmos! Food was ok, not particularly good, but have been on safe-mode since the exams ended, and was just unthinkly participating in it. Had yet to warm up to the other mathmos whom I've never really seen before, something which would recur later on when I went to Cindies (Yes, a club!) with the mathmos, so didn't really enjoy the company.

Adjourned to the Peterhouse JCR momentarily, when the herd decided to go to Cindies. Without much consideration, I decided to follow the crowd, since there was little reason to rush back to my room, and I didn't feel like retiring to the isolation of my room so soon. Not long later, found myself in a club with with a bunch of recently freed mathmos, freed from the cage that is the exams. Met a few other mathmos too, mainly from St Johns, and they introduced me to other mathmos from their college whom I do not recognise at all. Learnt later that they rarely turned up for lectures. Looks like I'm meeting more mathmos on the day after the exams than throughout the whole year! After only a session in a club after the Maths Exams end! Feel a tinge of regret that I wont really be able to look forward to doing maths with all these interesting new people I met today.

Besides meeting mathmos, clubbing today was quite enjoyable in a certain way. It was nice to be hanging out with people who share the same situation as you, and whom you identify with, and its quite fun to watch people enjoying themselves. The club was quite quiet and empty when we first entered, which was pleasent, but it got progressively louder and more crowded. Didn't dance, not because I was inhibited or shy, but because I just didn't feel like it. Didnt really see what so enjoyable about shaking wildly to some music. Though it was really enjoyable being around the other mathmos even though they were dancing stupidly. Quite interesting how Gavin had tried to explain to me how dancing works... "It's all about moving your hands randomly" It's really quite enjoyable to watch him going crazy and enjoying himself!

Then went to gardies, and back to Peterhouse for a short game of trivial, but went to the St Caths JCR when we were told that we were disturbing Jenny's neighbours who were having exams the next day. And everyone was just on crazy mode that night. Did stupid things like momentarily sitting in the middle of the road in the middle of the night, and playing a hybrid of baseball and volleyball with pizza boxes and crushed up newspaper in the St Caths JCR.

Spent around 10 pounds tonight - 5.50 for the formal hall, 4 for the entrance into cindies, and 1 pound for slize of pizza at gardies. Though the experience and being warmed up to the other mathmos was something quite invaluable. I guess that is what socialising means, and I see why sometimes it is really neccessary. I wonder if I'd have met more mathmos and had an easier time this year if I had gone to this kinda places at the beginning of the year.

Got many other things on now, but getting quite tired. It's 6 am and the birds have long ceased their wake up call. *Yawn*. Going to sleep. Commonwealth trust Garden Party at 10 am later. Better quickly catch a few wings while i can. Gotta sort out the other things I need to do soon. Very soon.

My New Friend

Meet my new friend, Encarta@conversagent.com :P

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Welcome, Gab! My name is Encarta Instant Answers. I am a smart computer who can bring you the Encarta info you want right in your IM window!
Here are some questions you can ask me:
* Show me the flag of South Korea.
* When was Leonardo da Vinci born?
* Solve 2x^2+7x=5

Type your question and I'll look it up for you!
Gab says:
mirror mirror on the wall
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I do not have a specific answer for that question, but I will take you to Encarta's articles on this topic =>

Encarta® Instant Answers is inviting you to start Encarta. Do you want to accept (Alt+C) or decline (Alt+D) the invitation?

You have accepted the invitation to start Encarta.

Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Thanks for accepting my invitation! The application should load shortly. =>
Gab says:
nelson mendala
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Hmm. I'm not sure about that one. Let's try an Encarta search. =>
Gab says:
theory of everything
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I don't think I know. Maybe Encarta has an answer. =>
Gab says:
you dumb ass!
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
What? Aren't we going to be friends?
Gab says:
what do you know?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I can answer a lot of questions using the Encarta Online Encyclopedia, and bring you the answers directly in this IM window!

You can type "?" for a list of questions I can answer.
Gab says:
?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Here are some of the questions you can ask me:

* What is the size of Italy?
* Where was Abraham Lincoln born?
* What is a cello?
Gab says:
who is nelson mendala
Gab says:
?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Hmm. I'm not sure I know Nelson Mendala. Let's try an Encarta search. =>
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Here are some of the questions you can ask me:

* Show me the flag of Italy.
* I want to see the biography of Nelson Mandela.
* How many calories are there in an orange?
Gab says:
gimme food
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Why do you want food? I think you're up to no good.
Gab says:
no?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Fine.
Gab says:
good dog
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
About dogs
domestic animal
Gab says:
i mean you are a good dog, understand?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I'll take it as a compliment.
Gab says:
good for you
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Thanks! Unless, um, you were being sarcastic.
Gab says:
no i wasn't. Really.
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Seriously? That's fascinating. Was it nice to be not?
Gab says:
who programs you?
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I was created by Conversagent, Inc. in Sunnyvale, CA and New York, NY.
OK, instead of discussing my creators, should we get back to the kind of questions I was designed to answer?
If you ever wondered how old Abraham Lincoln would be today, I can answer that!
Gab says:
oh sunnyvale! google's located there!
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
I need some time to think about it, please ask me again later.
Gab says:
alright, ttyl
Encarta® Instant Answers says:
Let's see what Encarta can tell us. =>

Wikipedia Article on Physics

Physics - Wikipedia

Quite a comprehensive overview of physics, including a summery of the major unresolved physics problems.

These include the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity, and the engineering problem of making a working quantum computer.

Do I really believe in the elegence of physical laws, and that there exists a simple physics formula to describe everything? And was that a result of the very clean way physics has been presented to me in the past because of the way O-level and A-level syllabus was structured?

And how does one approach such problems?

Do I have the ability to handle them?

Some of the questions I'd have to contend with soon.

Day 3

Not very good. Not good at all :(

best - 2 betas, 1 alpha
worst - 3 betas

Mean - 3 betas

In the bag mean 8 betas, 4 alphas.

I'll need a miracle to even get a 2i...

A miracle like my Paper 2 tomorrow.

Southpark 701 - I'm a Lil' Bit Country

Love this episode... It's so true!
America was founded on the principles of "saying one thing and doing another"!
So that it can have the cake, and eat it!
Watch and appreciate =P

Day 2 - After Action Review

Good paper, on the whole. Thank God I could answer the 2 long probability questions even though I had no a clue what was happening throughout the course!

Ok, here's an estimate of my performance today -
Worst Estimate: 4 betas, 2 alphas
Best Estimate: 2 Betas, 4 alphas

Mean: 3 Betas, 3 alphas.

In the bag mean: 5 betas, 4 alphas.

Ok, think I'm safely a 2-2 now... Depending on how the remaining 2 papers go, might well get a first! *Cautiously Optimistic*

=)

Night before Day 2

I was watching Southpark over microwave dinner,

facebooking excessively,

and looking through all the physics stuff I'd be doing in future.

And of course, I did browse over my notes a little.

South Park!!!

The Ultimate Southpart Website!

First Day of Tripos

Dont know if it went ok or not. But didn't seem to be able to answer any question thoroughly, which is what I'd need to score well. Think I can safely say that I wont score an ungraded (or an ordinary degree), but cant say much more yet.

Assessing the situation after this first paper:

Worst Estimate - 4 beta's
Best Estimate - 2 beta's and 2 alpha's

Probably 3 beta's and 1 alpha (hopefully)

I'd need to show that I haven't been punting on the river all year to pass.
Need 4 alphas for a Second Lower,
8 alphas for a Second Upper,
11 alpha's for a First.
And I have 3 papers left.

So I'm safely not going to fail, on target for a 2ii, hopefully on course to a Second Upper.

Can I get 2 alphas per paper in the remaining papers?

:(

argh. cant. sleep.

Cant seem to fall asleep early on the night before the exams. Not an uncommon experience.

Thinking now of all the exciting things installed after the exams. Beginning with the garden party organised by the Commonwealth Trust Funds people. Serene coming over shortly after, as well as Chaikoon gugu. Breakfast with Peterhouse mathmos at Dr Russell's invitation. Packing up my stuff, doing the archims stuff, looking for storage facilities, planing for the italy trip, sorting out Kendice and Lionel's arrival, awaiting more details for the russia trip. Finding out about the physics course, looking for materials to help me prepare for it. CG on friday, farewell events, meeting up with everyone! Archims punt trip, London trip. Some airshow thingie. Sorting out accomodation if I'm going to Russia, and more packing and looking for storage. Finding out about physics course, looking for books.

That's a summery of the comming month! It's gonna be a very eventful June!!!

Oh yes, and how can I forget...

sitting in a darkened corner and rock back and forth quietly muttering to yourself

D-Day

So it's happening... My exams are really happening tomorrow!!!

What do I need for the exams now? Don't wanna forget anything...
Let's see -

Pencil Box, with:
1) Blue Pen;
2) Mechanical Pencil
3) Eraser
4) Ruler
5) Black Pen
6) Liquid Paper

Clock

Water Bottle

Sweater/Jacket/Both


RO:
0730 - Reveille,
Eat Breakfast,
Do Business,
Prepare tuperware with biscuits.
Pack Bag, Put in Pencil Case, Pack Clock

0830 - Leave for the exam!!!!

Ok... Is that it?

Infomation is Nothing without Organization.

Especially so with my maths notes!

Big Picture

Think I can pin point the main problem with the first year of my academic experience - I didn't see the entire picture of the course when I started it.

Think in order to do well, I needed to see the whole issue before I begun tackling the smaller problems specifically. What happened this year was that I was plunged immidiately into the course without knowing where I was headed towards, myopically trying to make sense of seemingly random bits of infomation, and not knowing how to deal with them, and how it fell in place within the bigger scheme of things.

I had hoped that such a larger insight into the mathematical issues would have been introduced together with the course, but I guess if one doesn't see it for himself in the first place, it would be quite difficult to get the main issue across during lectures and tie it in with the things being taught. Often one needs to phrase the main issue in many different ways in order to get a full grasp of it. This could have been achieved by discussing the issue with a variety of people, and reading up different materials on it, or watching programs about it. Guess that's precisely why the lack of people around me whom I could discuss such issues with had served to make my academic experience here so unfulfilling.

Ah well, a little late for this new insight to help me in my exams now... But it'll be useful to take note of this in the following years. Need to try to see the goal I am headed towards, so that the peripheral problems wouldn't seem so big.

CF!

Really love the weekly cf meetings!

Particularly today, during this stressful period.

Beginning with the excellent food, cooked by super experienced lao jiao (like 4th, 5th and 6th year) medics who came together to cook for us, cos they do not have exams like we do...

To the worship,

To the message, delivered by Bautoh, dunno if I got his name correct... We're going through the book of Daniel now, and the thing I really like about studying the Bible over here in Cambridge is that the historical records and references are all kept really close by, and the bible is looked alongside the historical context. Here, the bible isn't read and taken as a story, but is read to understand what exactly happened in a real life historical kingdom, with rational, intelligent kings, very much like todays politicians, and very reasonable practices like astronogy and divinity, with the parallels in today's context being economists who look at past trends to try to predict the future.

Then comes the small group sharing. Really glad to be sharing with Darryl and Chun today. Upon letting them know of my feeling the lack of a credible reassurance that everything would be fine in this uncertain times, they virtually did that through talking things through, and subsequently praying about it. So looking forward to next year when I would be doing physics with Darryl! :P Think I'll really enjoy my life here next year!

And to end things off, the clearing up and casual chats about random, usually academic topics, like chemistry stuff, which I really miss since I stopped taking them in JC.

It's really great to have such company!

Mathmos do strange things after the exams...

like...

"sit in a darkened corner and rock back and forth quietly muttering to yourself"

Argh!!!

4 more days to the exams, and I've just lost all motivation!!! I've decided not to get worried, and I'm possibly not, but that is itself beginning to worry me, cos I just haven't done anything the whole of today, or yesterday, and browsing through the questions, I realised that I still cant do any of them for nuts!!! AHHH!!!!

Shopping for Pleasure, and Confusing Sainsbury Cashiers

I never thought this would ever occur to me... I find myself making trips to Sainsbury and Asda just for the fun of it... I'm actually deriving enjoyment from shopping, and splashing on goodies just to feel happy.

I'd usually make leisurely trips to Sains or cycle down to Asda after I'm done with the day's supervisions, and buy myself packets of chocolates and low price biscuits, and today I bought some oranges and reduced price sandwiches even though I dont need them... I'm no longer shopping out of neccessity, but out of recreation.

And I found a way to get Sainsbury points at a much better rate than the 1% they are currently giving with their nectar reward points - Giving the cashiers inexact change causes them to get confused, and they often return an excess of the correct change. It's occured twice already - today, with me giving the cashier 5.09 pounds for a 2.99 pound purchase, to get rid of the pennys, and the cashier finding me a 3 pound change! =P

Unfortunately, being the honest anglo-saxon white protestant male cambridge scholar and gentleman student that I am, I corrected the cashier and exchanged the gold coin for a silver one with a tenth of it's value =(

But still, it's quite amusing...

Rest

Just had bible study with Nick. Went through the second chapter of Genesis, about God resting... So the bible study topic for the day was about rest.

It's quite interesting how 'rest' has taken so many forms in the bible -
God rested in the seventh day;
He mandated for us to rest on the Sabbath;
He led the Isrealites into Canaan, and granted them rest from their enemies; and in the same way
Jesus is the way through which we can eventually rest in heaven.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

- Matt 11:28

And this passage in Hebrews 4, can easily pull itself off as an article on rest today...

Apt reminder and reassurance to take things easy and trust God, a week before the exams.

Battle Plan - The Review

Looks like I'm getting on quite fine with some topics - Vector Calculus, Differential Equations, Dynamics, and part of Algebra and Geometry.

After speaking with Alex and Omega yesterday, found renewed inspiration to work on the remainding topics - Algebra and Geometry - the group theory part: Mobius Groups, Homomorphism, etc... Analysis, Numbers and Sets.

The last topic I'd need to settle is Probability. I wonder if I'll have the time to do so...

Croquet @ Oxford...

Was Great!

Had great fun punting, and learning to play Croquet.

Great time talking with Alex and Omega, two brilliant mathmos who are also very much into physics!

Interesting to walk around Oxford, and see a Trinity College which Isaac Newton didn't come from, and a Jesus which is hidden along a little alleyway in the middle of the city, instead of being tucked away up north and having it's own huge grass patch.

Also feels quite liberating to have larger roads and canals! Though that meant that the part of the river we punted on was quite forested... Which proved to be quite hazardous.

Gained an insight on what it meant for something like an electron to have a half spin on way there from Alex. Demonstrated it by rotating his hand 360 degrees to find his wrist in the wrong position, and rotated it another 360 degrees to it's original orientation! Also explained it more mathematically - "(Spin half is a result of)An accidental homomorphism between two lower dimension groups". Apparently it has to do with Lie Groups... SO(3), SU(2), U(2) and groups of that like.

Some Random Updates

- Snapfish Photo's finally arrived yesterday, after spending an unusually long time (3 weeks) in the hands of the Royal Mail.

- Joining Archims tomorrow for the Annual Croquet at Oxford with the Invariance.

- Had a bout of incredible productiveness last week, on Tuesday after Focus, and it lasted for about 3 days til the weekend. During that period, had the feeling that I could comfortably bag a 2i. But now feeling the tension I felt at the end of the first 4 weeks of the Lent after a similar period of productivity. Better able to cope with it now.

- Just watched 2 hours of Southpark on You Tube.

- Cycled into cardboard boxes along Market Street sometime during the week. Now I have 5 of them lying in my room. Will need to look for storage for my belongings soon.

- Asda Chocolates are very value for money. Especially their dark chocolates! It's cheaper than Sainsbury basics chocolates, and tastes much nicer!

- Sometimes wished that I were in a college with a dos who takes pride in their college doing well.

The Simpsons

Physical Ambitions

Some Cambridge Physics Webpages:
Physics Notes
Physics Handbook
Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship


Think I'll need to spend some time reflecting on what originally spurred my interest in physics, and see exactly what I had hoped to do the last time I thought that I'd like to solve the "Fundemental Physics Problems".

I've had more practical ambitions since I begun getting acquainted with physicists over here, like ambitions to work on quantum computing and practical sounding stuff; and I've almost forgotten what exactly were the thing I had come across, and wished to understand in the past.
Was just browsing through the course webpages, realise that part of the reason I wanted to do physics in the past was to understand the basis of theories like QCD and string theory, and intriguing concepts like half spins.

Well, I'll have the whole of summer to contemplate this... Think I'd also like to try for the Caltech Research Program at the end of year 2, and the MIT exchange in year 3, when I begin doing physics next year. Guess I should be better prepared to participate in these programs by next year. And find more webpages of physicists to see exactly what they do that I'd be interested in.

Trust

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.

- Isaiah 25:1

Beginning to feel more peaceful now.

Went to focus tonight, reading the book of Isaiah.

It's so great to trust God... Really like this other verse too...

In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

- Isaiah 25:9

A glimpse of the day when we will look back at these uncertain times, and see that which has been accomplished, and rejoice that we had put our trust in God.

Boolean Logic, And More Stuff

Got up at 2 am to bath cos i couldnt sleep, and haven't bathed for 2 days...

Came back to my computer to this msn window:

hk says:
still not sleeping?
hk says:
hm if u're awake cos u cant sleep then heh go do sth u like to do
hk says:
if not
hk says:
then i guess i'm talking to a virus which switched on ur comp

lol, nice reasoning hk. XP


Responsibilities I'm Neglecting
Though while turning in my bed, have been going through the many responsibilities I've recently assumed, and thinking of the many which I've been neglecting...

Shepard Sheep
Playing this game in CF now, where we are each assigned a sheep to do nice things for during term... And I haven't done anything for my sheep. Argh!

Archims Registra
I've volunteered for the role, and up til now, haven't even taken over the stuff from my predecessor, and I'm supposed to contact the colleges, and prepare the guide to the maths tripos for the new intake, and I havent done a single thing for this endeavour.

Also have been receiving many mails by random people who are requesting to be members of the society, haven't replied them yet :S Need to learn what are the documents and stuff that are required first.

Admin Nightmare
Argh! I hate administration! All the mediums of communication seem to be going against me. Had to fax a document regarding my change of course to Singapore, paid 10 pounds to use my college fax facility, which never reached Singapore. Now got to think of how to scan the document in to send it through email - prob will try to do it at the faculty, or look for a post office to post it.

Also ordered snapfish photos which never arrived! Argh!

Also need to go submit some forms tomorrow.

Organizing a cell farewell bbq at college. Got to go find out about booking the garden pavillion, and whether we are allowed to bbq there.

Scheduled to play for CF worship next week, and I dont know how to play the songs :(

Going for Archims Croquet at Oxford next Sunday, which will take an entire day.



All this in the midst of trying to do as much revision and past year papers as possible!


Other stuff
On the brighter side, have managed to continually do the past exam papers last week. But I've naturally raised my standards... Like I'll skim through the past year papers and think that I want to try a certain number of questions by a certain time, and I'll fall completely short of my aim.

And I'm able to find friends who can help me. And tame my mood, by engaging in activities like frisbee, and hanging out with people.

Went to Panton Hall today to reminise my first Sunday here. Followed Lisheng, Huixin, Gareth, a mathmo, and another 2 people from their church, to Victor's place for lunch. Which was really nice. Victor's brother was visiting. He was quite elderly, with white hair, and looked shrunken, but the two brothers were behaving more childishly then us! Really funny. Lack the time and will to describe it, but really enjoyed the homely feeling of joining them for lunch.

And had the pei tan chok cookout with hong king and yijin on Saturday. Went quite well... Had quite a good time talking with them. And learnt a few things about making the porridge from the experience, so that my next attempt might be more refined... One would be how to make shalocks by leaving it on the pan on very low heat for indefinite periods of time. And how I should only prepare the porridge within an hour of consumption, otherwise it would get all soggy.

Also browsed google's site tonight. Looks like there're many interesting stuff there, including some job openings at google.

On this topic, there's been some interesting visits picked up by my tracker... Frequent entries from Google, Mountain View, CA. And I'm quite sure it's not a webcrawler, cos he's been selectively visiting my other friend's blogs - that is, he/it only visits the blogs of my friends from Cambridge. So it's either a real person, or a very smart crawler algorithm which seeks out Cambridge blogs. If the googler/google webcrawler is reading and understands this, I'm quite interested to find out just who is responsible for those entries on my tracker. You could tag me, or use your superior googling technique to find out my email address, and email me :P

I've also registered entries from Inktomi Corperation, but this one is the yahoo webcrawler... And it doesn't register so frequent hits.

Ok, just verbally vomitting everything that's been bothering a very cluttered mind.

Eagle's Nest

Eagle Eye Cam Webpage

Pei Tan Chok Cookout.

Went to my college buttery today to find that it wasn't serving dinner, cos the president was entertaining some guests. So decided to execute Pei Tan Chok 1.0 for dinner.

Went back to my room and boiled two cups of rice and a century egg in the thermal pot, filled it up to the brim with water, added some fish oil and sesame oil, and left it in the thermal pot while i made my way to sains to get the cod and minced pork. Cod cost 2.35 pounds for 300g, and minced pork cost 1.82 pounds for 500g.

Returned to my room, and opened up the thermal pot to find perfectly cooked rice! A little on the soft side, due to the amount of water. Damn, had i found out earlier how to cook rice like that using my thermal pot, i wouldnt need the rice cooker!

But decided to proceed with making the porridge anyway since I had already bought the pork and cod, and the century egg doesnt go with any other dish. So put all the rice in another bigger pot, and added a few more cups of water, cut up a century egg, and quickly marinated the pork and cod in soya sauce, threw them all into the concoction of cooked rice, water, and century eggs. While doing this, cut up some onions, and left it to simmer on low heat on the frying pan.

While waiting, filled up the pot with more and more water, as it seemed like the rice was soaking up all the water, and there was no medium to cook the pork and fish in. So by the end, found myself with a HUGE pot of porridge! Begun feel like i could feed an army just with 2 cups of rice, and begun to impulsively invite people for Pei Tan Chok this saturday, as i thought of the half packet of pork and cod still left in the freezer, and the amount of left overs from tonight's dinner.

Little did I expect such positive responses to an invitation. It used to be very hard to invite people over for a meal, but i found 3 out of the 4 people i asked replying favourably. Perhaps cos it's early enough for them not to have made any other dining arrangements. So now found myself hosting a respectable 4 persons porridge cookout.

Beginning to wonder now if my initial impression that i could feed an army with my pot of porridge was actually accurate. But anyway, thinking now how I'll execute Pei Tan Chok 1.1 - The Cookout.

It would begin on Saturday morning. I'll

at 11 am:
- Defrost and marinate the meat with soya sauce when I wake up.

at 4 pm:
- cook the around 3 cups of rice with some water, with the salted egg, and not too much water, with some fish oil, and sesame oil.
- cut up the onions, and make the shellots, fry it over low heat, and leave it to stand
- leave for frisbee.
- Go buy some eggs after frisbee

at 6.45 pm:
- Pour the rice, into the pot, add more water, cook with cod, pork and two century eggs, and crack some eggs in, leave to boil for another 20 minutes.
- Make onion omellette.

Ok, the porridge that turned out today didn't taste too fragrant like the what Pei Tan Chok is supposed to taste like. Maybe because I havent boiled it long enough for fear that the rice might eat up more water and turn into paste. So next time I do it, I'll pre-boil the rice in a limited amount of water, and boil it with the ingredients for a longer period of time, 20 to 30 minutes, say.

Have some oranges left, will have that for dessert.

This place is so cold =(

When I've got problems, there's no one nearby I could turn to
So I become troubled
When I am troubled, I strum on my guitar to ease my troubles

Only then do my neighbours turn up at my door step
To tell me to shut up

This place is so cold

Bleugh

That's how I'm feeling now... on a midnight less than 4 weeks to the exam, reviewing past exam papers, not being able to do many questions, but gradually getting to grips with some.

bleugh - The feeling of having many things to do, but not accomplishing all of it, and not being happy about it, but not feeling bothered by it at the same time.

- bleugh -

Pei Tan Chok - Corrected Recipe

Recieved this mail hours after my blog entry:

Dear Gabriel,
This is the recipe for the porridge

Salted egg: remove the black substance and wash till very clean
Century egg: remove the husks by knocking the egg against the sink till it breaks slightly then gently remove the shell.DO NOT BOIL IT,it is already cooked.

Rice: put half cup of rice and half thermalpot of water,put in the clean salted egg and put over stove,bring to boiling point. Put in the thermal pot for at least 1 hour.

There are many ways of cooking the pork,fish,chicken.etc.
Just make sure they are fully cooked and add into the porridge/
Or you can put everything in the porridge and bring to boil again.

Shallots: cut and slice some onions,put in small bowl add a little bit of oil,put in microwave and heat stirring every thirty seconds or so till golden brown.

Remove the salted egg from porridge after one hour and cut into 2.
Do not boil with pork,etc.

you can actually keep the salted egg in the fridge and keep for 2 to 3 weeks,century egg can last longer.

God Bless You
LOVE
Dad and Mum

Will revisit this when i actually look at the nitty gritty of cooking it :P

Pei Tan Chok

Just got a packet of half dozen century eggs, and salted eggs from Dr Timothy, who visited on Saturday, and they expire before the exams begin, so I'll have to use them up quite soon... Thinking of all the ingredients I'd need to cook pei tan chok...

Some fish gotta go look for it...,
Minced meat - beef or pork,
and fried shelocks.

Here's the recipe from my mother:
Boil porridge in thermal pot, for about 2 hours,
marinate meat and fish
throw in fish, minced meat and century eggs, and boil it in the porrige,
Serve with shelocks.

Just an initial draft of the recipe.

Big Issue Salesman Quote

"For anyone who is willing to throw an obscenely large amount of money at me...

or one pound forty...

whichever is convinient."

Poor guy

Battle Plan

I've got 4 weeks, and 8 alpha's I need to get for the the tripos. That means an average of 2 alpha's a week. Go me!

CK gugu's Visit

CK gugu visited over the weekend, and boy was I in for a treat!

He came bringing with him a camera, a

Nikon Coolpix 775

And we had 3 restaurant meals in 2 days! The first meal was an indian dinner at Curry King, spent 26 pounds - had brani and nun, and a few plates of curry; the second was lunch at Charlie Chan - hor fun, wantan mee, and a few dim sum dishes: 21 pounds; and the third was at pizza hut - Hawaiian pizza, salad, and coke: 16 pounds.

Had eaten at Curry King the first time we visited Cambridge in June last year. Somehow recalled the restarant, but could not remember where it was, so we had to walk around while before finding it. And realised that the food at Charlie Chan is actually comparable with other restaurants like Jinlings. Had the impression that Charlie Chan was more expensive cos we spent an excess of 10 pounds per person when we had dim sum there on easter sunday, but their other dishes are actually comparatively cheap - 6 pounds for a large bowl of hor fun! Then by dinner today, we got sick of all that gluttony, and went for a pizza hut dinner. For the first time over here, I had felt really bloated after a restaurant meal.

Then went to look around town, and inevitably did a bit of shopping. Saw this pair of boots going at a 70% discount, CK gugu thought it was a good buy, thought that I needed a pair of new shoes, and I kinda liked it, so he got it for me! Cost around 20 pounds. Think it's quite a bargain, cos normal sports shoes in Singapore also cost around $100.

Brought him around the colleges this morning, first time I'm entertaining a visitor around here, and I feel really powerful with my university pass! With it I could bypass all the "Closed to Visitor" signs, and whenever I'm stopped by the security officers, or porters, all I need to do is flash the pass, and they cant do anything to me :P

Took a walk round Kings, Clare, Trinity and Johns this morning. Saw little ducklings just outside Clare! Think they must have hatched only within the past week, cos they are so tiny, and I've never seen them before! There was a mother duck, and clumsy little ducklings running all around! Really cute! It's really heart warming to experience the four seasons here, and witness the rejuvination of life in spring!

Visited Trinity, and related how I've been playing ET too much, and about a virtual reconstruction of Trinity college in the game, and how I'd find myself taking a more obscure route after playing that map because it is the route we'll normally traverse in the game, and how I'd have the the tendency to think of setting up a mortar at a certain position, and aim it in a certain direction, when I'm walking through the college.

Walked through Christ and Sidney on the first day, and visited Queens and the mathematical bridge in the afternoon. Sigh, I really need to buck up on my history and stories of Cambridge! Like when was King's College Chapel built, and the story behind the mathematical bridge!

Had a really good time learning of CK gugu's overseas experience, and it really interesting walking around Cambridge with an uncle - makes me aware of things I never took note of before, like what where the art galleries are, what time borders closes, the existance of shops like GAP, and other clothes shops, the prices of property in the area, and the wages of various occupations here.

Also showed me the webcam of his house, and the parrot he has, and this clip!


Argh, did a lot of other things, but too tired now, and I've got lots of work to do now :S Shall end here... *Yawn*

Dawn of the Final Term

Tomorrow marks the start of a new term, and a busy week.

6 weeks of holiday, just vanished before my eyes!

Managed to accomplish a few things during this hols, though. Sorted out the problems that has been bothering me, so that the next few years here might be better than this year; and managed to thoroughly enjoy, and destress myself at Word Alive, and the Sweden trip.

Also managed to find people to work with the for 4 days during the past week. That served to relief me of much of the feeling of stress and isolation of working alone, and helped me to progress in my revision really significantly, as compared with revising on my own. I really wonder if the course of my first year in Cambridge would have been drastically different had I just known someone whom I could turn to whenever I faced a problem. Thinking of all that time I had spent being so unproductive, makes me feel like I had wasted a whole year here. But on the bright side, now I would have something substancial to write in job/internship application forms, whenever they ask for "a difficult situation you were faced with and how you overcomed it". Guess God has a purpose in everything.

Also beginning to find comfort in just bumping into people whom I'm starting to grow familiar with over here. Cambridge is indeed that nice little town where you can make an evening visit to the grocery store, and bump into one of your friends, then leisurely stroll back to home with him, to meet more friends living with him. All that just happened tonight when I bumped into Shagnik outside Sains, and followed him back to fitz, to meet all the mathmos there! Some of them were cooking, and some were just making their way to the toilet. It's really nice to meet so many familiar people, and feel welcomed by everyone in the vicinity. How I wished I could be in a college with such an atmosphere, where you could casually hang out with so many good friends who are doing the same course, and do insignificant things together, like cooking.

While in Shagnik's room, chatted with him about the courses we'll be doing in the new term. Expressed my apprehension about facing another Cambridge term, and this time, actually having a measure of your performance, but was reminded that we could actually take the courses we'll be doing this term easy, because it won't be included in the exams. Guess that's what I'll do this term - attend the maths courses leisurely, and see if I actually can enjoy them if I weren't under pressure to understand them. That would allow me to determine if it was really maths, or if it was the pressure of understanding the lecture.

Also discussed about doing a postgrad in the US. I've been considering the course of my academic path recently, as I pondered my change of course. I thought that I really wouldn't want to go through the first year of an overseas transition again, if there was an option. Cos the whole process of knowing people and being understood by people is just so difficult. But Shagnik didn't see that as a problem. Guess it might be because he hadn't faced such a degree of difficulty coming over here. So overseas transition might not neccessarily be that difficult, and I was just perhaps unfortunate to land on the extreme end of the difficulty spectrum. This experience would help me to know what to look out for when I have to decide on the place I would want to go to further pursue my studies.

Ah, just logging today's topic of conversation. And I'm feeling a certain sense of calm, on the night before full term begins.

Obituary

This post is dedicated to Yijin,

In memory of the letters 'Q', 'W', & 'A'
of his Precious Keyboard

Artists Impression of the Tragedy

Saturday Night Fever!

Went to watch Saturday Night Fever for 15.50 pounds!

I've heard of many of the songs before, and somehow had come across some of the dance actions, but never really seen it all happening together. Watching this musical helped me piece the two recollections together in a coherent manner.

Went with Lisheng & Co., and had zhi2 cha4 dinner at Jin Lings after. Paid 6 pounds for a bowl of rice shared among 4 people, and ordered 3 dishes. The meal eventualy amounted to 6 pounds per person, about the price of a normal individual dish at the restaurant. I'm spending a lot of money these days, eating at restaurants that cost $18! Guess I'll treat myself now, as it helps me to destress, and I'll stinge when the term begins again.

Then adjorned to Daniel's room for a session of bridge, and went to Lish's room after to play Little Fighters! Brings back memories of JC days!

MIT Vector Calculus Notes

Course 18.022

Laplace Equations, Greens, Stokes, and Divergence Theorums

Modern Cambridge Entertainment.

This is what bored people in Cambridge do:

Hung, Drawn and Quartered

To my sick friends, Check this out:

"hanging, drawing and quartering

A Traditional Form of English Entertainment.

YHA Hostel

Ok, I've made the booking at YHA for CK gugu, and Kendice and co.

I've managed to get a room for 3 for Kendice and co, at a marginally higher rate, amounting to around 2 pounds more per person per night, would cost about 25 pounds per person per night. There's a private toilet in the room also, so guess it's worth it.

Breakfast is provided at the restaurant, and they have very bright common areas.

Bedsheets are provided.

And there's laundry facilities, at a fee.

Internet facilities also at a fee, but you can always come to my room to use the internet.

Here are some pics:

The living area

TV Room

The Restaurant behind the TV,
where breakfast and dinner is served

Kitchen Facilities

I need to confirm the bookings by 25 April, so please get back to me soon.

Laplace Equation

Found some resources on the MIT website about Laplace equation.



Specifically looking for this

Ely!

Branch in the Shadow of the Cathedral
View more Ely Pics Here!

Woke up at 7 am this morning to visit Ely with LiSheng, Ben and Yao Yu.

Was a 15 min train ride from the train station at Cambridge, and it costed 2.10 pounds for a return ticket.

The main attraction there was a Cathedral. Never really appreciated Cathedrals before, but when I first saw this Cathedral, I begun to understand how magestic Cathedrals can be. Well, that's about all there is to be said about the Cathedral, nothing much really stricking about it, besides a few weird sculptures in the building.

Horses!

Saw a lot of animals here, including the horse in the picture above. Ben and Yao Yu were busy praticing their photographic skills, while me and Lisheng chatted bout things like Gnostic writing, and about my time here in Cambridge.

Raven Nests

Related an amusing incident I witnessed in Cambridge when we saw lots of raven nests in the bo-tak trees on the way to the Cathedral:

Had seen, on my way to Beehive center, twigs falling from a satalite dish. I looked up to see a pair of spotted doves trying to build a nest on the dish. There was one dove, presumably the female, perched on the bracket securing the dish to the wall. And the male dove fetching sticks to the female, and attempting to put them in place to build the nest. But they were amusingly not able to balance them on the brackets! And the entire floor below the dish was littered with twigs from the failed endeavour. Stood there for a while to observe this embarassing incident. And before I left, I glanced up to see a sad dove staring back at me.

Returned at 1 pm, and joined the Cumsa people for frisbee, then went to Sains to get supplies, and found some microwave food going at very good prices, as they were clearing stock for the easter weekend. Got a few microwave food for 30 - 40 p!

Then joined Choon Howe for dinner. Cooked the usual onion omellette, and spinach. Turned out quite nice. I think I'm getting quite proficient at making these dishes... Beginning to use quite a variety of sauces in my cooking: Fish Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Soya Sauce, Seseme Oil, and Corn Floor.

Ok, will jot down the recipies one day when I'm inspired to...

Snapfish

Based in San Francisco, Snapfish is a division of Hewlett-Packard, the world's foremost digital imaging company and one of the most trusted brands on the planet.

Just introduced to this photo printing service by Agnes. It's incredibly cheap! They are charging 10p per photo, and it costs only 1 pound to ship. Furthermore, they have some elabourate promotion scheme such that you get free photos when you invite people to sign up. So if things work out, I could possibly get 50 photos for 1 pound!

Just saving this link, and if anyone's feeling kind and want to help me get points for the free photos, let me know!

"The Lord's My Sheperd" Lyrics

Ben taught me to play this song at word alive, not easy to find the lyrics on google because there are so many songs with the same words. Now that I've found it, i'm placing it here for future reference...

The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want
He makes me lie in pastures green
He leads me by the still, still waters
His goodness restores my soul

And i will trust in him alone
And i will trust in him alone
For you endless mercy follows me
Your goodness will lead me home

He guides my ways in rightousness
And he annoints my head with oil
And my cup, it overflows with joy
I feast on his pure delights

And i will trust in him alone
And i will trust in him alone
For you endless mercy follows me
Your goodness will lead me home

And though i walk the darkest path
I will not fear the evil one
For you are with me and your rod and staff
are the comfort i need to know

And i will trust in him alone
And i will trust in him alone
For you endless mercy follows me
Your goodness will lead me home

PostNuke!

Nope, not Nuclear Winter, but PostNuke!

PostNuke is a free, open source content management system (a 'nuke') forked from PHP-Nuke, released under the GNU General Public License.

The one which the CCCF website uses, and which I am now meddling with.

Trying to develop modules to extend the functionality of the website. Looks like it's gonna be lots of fun!

Sigh, I'm too distracted :S

Upgraded RAM

Yay! just upgraded my laptop ram for 36.98 pounds.

29.99 for the RAM itself, and
6.99 to for the service of fitting the ram in.

Now my com has 512 MB of RAM, and it's visibly much faster!

Word Alive!

Our Chalet in the Bubble

Just came back from Word Alive '06 - One God.

Was a wonderful retreat! Attending seminars, living in a community, and having home cooked meals everyday! Experimented with and learnt many recipies, picked up a few guitar techniques from Jo'el, and got to know the guys at CF much better, especially those in my chalet.

Ok, will try to consolidate the songs I've learnt, and the recipies I know soon.

For now gotta try to get back to work. But first, shall upgrade my ram...

Dinner with Te and Choon Howe

Just came back from a small cookout with Te and Choon Howe. Was a very pleasent dinner. Held it in a kitchen at the Fenners Building overlooking the Cricket grounds. The kitchen was spacious, and Te's a great cook! And it was a nice time of chatting without the thought of work looming at the back of the mind.

Had initially dreaded the hols for fear that there might be few people to hang out with, but realised that it grants me more time to hang out with people I don't normally get time to interact with during the term, because of all the time pressures. Think I'm beginning to find friends whom I can casually hang out with and confide in over here in Hughes Hall. (Though they aren't mathmos so I cant seek comfort in them when it comes to work.)

The three of us represent three geographically connected countries in South East Asia. Te's Thai, and will be working for the Thai government after he's done his Engineering PhD. Choon Howe's from Malaysia, and will be working as a lawyer in a Malaysian firm when he completes his Masters at the end of the year. And I'm from Singapore!

It's very enlightening listening to them discuss South East Asia politics. How Taksin is in great trouble, and how businesses and law works. The history of Siam, and all the disputes within South East Asia I wasn't aware of.

And Te's a great cook! It's good to watch the way he cooks different dishes, to give me an alternative to the Singaporean style that I'm getting bored of, and which may not be the most effective way of making certain dishes.

Watched Te making onion omellete and veg today. And it tasted very nice!

What he did with the onion omelet was to mix the sliced onion in the egg, add some soya sauce and fish sauce, and a dash of sugar, then heat up the oil for a while, and pour the whole cocktail of omelet into the hot oil.

As for the veg, he got Hearts of Romaine, and washed the veg as he tore the leaves up, then chopped it up perpendicular to the spine of the veg into about 4 parts. And he fried the garlic with lots of oil, and threw the vegetable into the garlic, and stired the garlic and oil up into the veg. Added soya sauce, and fish sauce, and a little bit of sugar also.

Besides that, I made curry chicken from the Singapore Curry, and agar agar for desserts. And we had green tea to top it all off! Observe the cups and the strainer in the picture.

Its great to finally find people to hang out with. And hopefully next year, when I do physics and can handle the course better, I won't feel so much need to mix with people doing the same course.

Phew! Finally Uploaded the Sweden Pictures

After one entire night, staying up til 2 am in the morning, I finally got all 187 pictures onto my Negamaki Gallery. You can access it here...

View Sweden Pictures!