Heh, i've given up hope on openoffice. I'm not sure if it's positively screwed, or it's just the interface that is counterintuitive. Just spent a hell load of time trying to get mailmerge to work, and I've since concluded that it doesn't work.
Did the same with the database querries module. To no avail.
Ah screw that. I'll just do the membership cards manually.
On a lighter note, was at darryl's room today before heading to the cms, and hung around with some mathmos. One of them, glancing through a newspaper, asked a question posed by an ad in the papers "what would you do with a hundred million pounds?". Quite an optimistic question to be pondering upon, a welcome break from all the unresolved questions that I'm currently bogged down with. My first response was to put 99 million of it in the bank, then think about how to spend the million pounds first.
Come to think of it, I'm quite contented with life as it is, and having a sudden increase in resources would not affect my career decisions or my lifestyle. It might alleviate the need to worry about having the means to survive in a certain profession, but it wont make me much happier.
Hoping that other things in life will go more smoothly. We're into the 4th week of term, and work is catching up - well into max gear since the second week. There's simply so much to cover in so little time. Hope the hols would allow me some time to digest the term's work.
Also just organising sunday morning breakfast for this sunday, and there seems to be quite an overwhelming response - about 9 people? Need to prepare for it tmr, and i hope my kitchen can house that many people.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Falling Ill
Just fighting to wake up in time for lectures this morning, with a sore pain behind the nose.
Think I've been too busy, and have been eating too much chocolate...
Need to slow down a bit, and quit those chocolate.
Take some vit c and drink more water.
Argh
Think I've been too busy, and have been eating too much chocolate...
Need to slow down a bit, and quit those chocolate.
Take some vit c and drink more water.
Argh
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Eye-Witness Account
Bleugh (throwing out bleugh)
Just witnessed a sickening accident tonight, walking back with chun from focus.
Guy (probably drunk) on bike slammed into a car at full speed.
Bike flew over the car, over a roadside barrier, a good ten meters into the grass.
Guy staggered away with shattered right leg. Ewww... Literally jelly like :S
Very very very grave reminder to ride carefully.
That guy shattered more than his leg - can imagine that he'll be spending at least the rest of term in bed.
A really great reminder that it's a blessing to have your body in one piece, and there's really so much one could lose. entropy knows no bounds.
Count your blessings people...
Just witnessed a sickening accident tonight, walking back with chun from focus.
Guy (probably drunk) on bike slammed into a car at full speed.
Bike flew over the car, over a roadside barrier, a good ten meters into the grass.
Guy staggered away with shattered right leg. Ewww... Literally jelly like :S
Very very very grave reminder to ride carefully.
That guy shattered more than his leg - can imagine that he'll be spending at least the rest of term in bed.
A really great reminder that it's a blessing to have your body in one piece, and there's really so much one could lose. entropy knows no bounds.
Count your blessings people...
To my Singaporean Friends who've survived the 2.5 years...
...as well as all those who are destined to do so at some point in time.
Enjoy that!
Enjoy that!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Update on the week
I've been kinda busy, since i returned, to blog, and to properly reflect on the things I've done.
Just came back from church, with a heap of example sheets beside me, but nothing much else on my mind besides the thought of settling the archims membership cards, which I think I'd be able to do later today.
Quite an eventful week the past one was. In a nutshell:
Cumsa Fresher's Formal
this year was a contrast with the one we had last year. The food at Pembroke was great, and the freshers this year are quite fun to be with, a few gamers, and a few with common background in army, as well as aloysius. So life's much more comfortable this year.
Could not help but recollect my own fresher experience at Cumsa events last year, while i was taking in this year's events. The contrast encapsulated in the following two pictures.
This time, we weren't chased out for someone among us behaving inappropriately by a racist waiter - our exit was much more civilised, ending similarly with a group picture!
Another before and after photo:
Cell
Had the regular cell on Friday. Cell started with 3 people, cos the freshers could not make it on time for a variety of reasons. But it was nice to end the week with dinner, and feeling a sense of familiary with the people around. Fridays and mondays are especially hectic for me cos of labs, I almost feel like a participant in the amazing race after lectures, having so many things to do, and with such little time -
Shooting stars!!!
We were informed by a fresher at cell, doing a masters, who came from princeton, that the orionids were occuring and that night was a particularly good time to watch it, cos there was no moon. A few of us made our way to jesus green to watch it, well, I spotted one, and celeen spotted another in a span of 10 minutes, waited another 10 but didn't see any more, so we went home. But each shreak was rather intense, and arced across a good 30 degrees of the sky, vis-a-vis the one i saw in australia while performing sentry duties, which appeared to cross only about an inch of the sky. It was similarly fleeting though, and one has to keep a constant lookout to spot them.
Oxbridge games
Went to oxford yesterday for the annual oxbridge games. Must applaud the effort and organisational ability of the committee for their detailed planning of the event - down to the last man, bus seat, and accomodation.
Got to hang out with aloysius for the first time in a long time! Toured round the town, and visited a history of science museum, and a few pics.
PS: Aloysius, Send me your pics!
The organizational effort taken by audry in putting this whole trip together brought to mind the logistical effectiveness of the saf while training in India - recall them supplying each soldier 8 bottles of mineral water a day, just because the water there wasnt fit for consumption. It was quite a pain on our side also, having everyday to carry that much water from the point they dropped the supplies off to our vehicles.
Yup, so that's the week. And just consolidating some of the thought's that have been floating around.
Just came back from church, with a heap of example sheets beside me, but nothing much else on my mind besides the thought of settling the archims membership cards, which I think I'd be able to do later today.
Quite an eventful week the past one was. In a nutshell:
Tuesday - Fresher's formal
Friday - Cell, and shooting stars!
Saturday - Oxbridge games at Oxford.
Cumsa Fresher's Formal
this year was a contrast with the one we had last year. The food at Pembroke was great, and the freshers this year are quite fun to be with, a few gamers, and a few with common background in army, as well as aloysius. So life's much more comfortable this year.
Could not help but recollect my own fresher experience at Cumsa events last year, while i was taking in this year's events. The contrast encapsulated in the following two pictures.
A year later/back...
Kenny, me, and the freshers
Kenny, me, and the freshers
This time, we weren't chased out for someone among us behaving inappropriately by a racist waiter - our exit was much more civilised, ending similarly with a group picture!
Another before and after photo:
Today/Yesterday
Cell
Had the regular cell on Friday. Cell started with 3 people, cos the freshers could not make it on time for a variety of reasons. But it was nice to end the week with dinner, and feeling a sense of familiary with the people around. Fridays and mondays are especially hectic for me cos of labs, I almost feel like a participant in the amazing race after lectures, having so many things to do, and with such little time -
lecture ends at 1 pm, return to college for lunch, and squeeze enough time to relax for 5 minutes over coffee. Then rushing off to the cavendish for lab, 4 hours of it! Lab ends at 6, rush to the CMS to print and photocopy song sheets, then to daryl's room to check that things are ok and deposit things, and back to my room to retrieve the guitar, and back to daryl's room in time for cell at 7 pm.Mondays are similar, with cell being subsituted for CF.
Shooting stars!!!
We were informed by a fresher at cell, doing a masters, who came from princeton, that the orionids were occuring and that night was a particularly good time to watch it, cos there was no moon. A few of us made our way to jesus green to watch it, well, I spotted one, and celeen spotted another in a span of 10 minutes, waited another 10 but didn't see any more, so we went home. But each shreak was rather intense, and arced across a good 30 degrees of the sky, vis-a-vis the one i saw in australia while performing sentry duties, which appeared to cross only about an inch of the sky. It was similarly fleeting though, and one has to keep a constant lookout to spot them.Oxbridge games
Went to oxford yesterday for the annual oxbridge games. Must applaud the effort and organisational ability of the committee for their detailed planning of the event - down to the last man, bus seat, and accomodation.
Got to hang out with aloysius for the first time in a long time! Toured round the town, and visited a history of science museum, and a few pics.
St John's College, Oxford
The organizational effort taken by audry in putting this whole trip together brought to mind the logistical effectiveness of the saf while training in India - recall them supplying each soldier 8 bottles of mineral water a day, just because the water there wasnt fit for consumption. It was quite a pain on our side also, having everyday to carry that much water from the point they dropped the supplies off to our vehicles.
Yup, so that's the week. And just consolidating some of the thought's that have been floating around.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
My new Favourite Sainsbury Products...
Sainsbury's Basics Dark Chocolate,
And Sainsbury's Double chocolate chip muffins.
Half a dozen muffins, and 200g of dark chocolate a day to supplement my intake of fat, sugar, and endorphines.
Essesential for keeping me happy, healthy and wise :P
Items I forgot
Heh, compiling a list of items i realised i forgot to bring over when i came this time round:
1) Long sleeved shirts
2) camera charger - I have the battery charger, means i can still use the camera, just a little inconvinient to charge.
3) I dont have as many singapore curry packets as i thought.
4) the kaya i left in the car.
5) having some textbooks permanently in my room would be nice, but i dont know if i should add anymore weight to the stuff I have to pack away when i vacate my room.
Other things on my mind:
Archims membership cards and mailing lists,
Cell worship.
1) Long sleeved shirts
2) camera charger - I have the battery charger, means i can still use the camera, just a little inconvinient to charge.
3) I dont have as many singapore curry packets as i thought.
4) the kaya i left in the car.
5) having some textbooks permanently in my room would be nice, but i dont know if i should add anymore weight to the stuff I have to pack away when i vacate my room.
Other things on my mind:
Archims membership cards and mailing lists,
Cell worship.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Blog Blog Blog
KK, havent blogged in a while, for the reason that before today there's been nothing in my life worth mentioning.
But, something significant happened today... Had my first lab in a very very long time!
And it was also the first time I was soldering a circuit with full understanding of all the components, and it worked perfectly! And did I mention I love oscilloscopes? How I've always wished to plug the oscilloscope into everything around me, and I get to do just that during lab sessions! Yup, the picture above is that of the circuit I soldered together today, and the circuit diagram from my notes. It's called a "twin-T" by the way, and it filters out electronic waves of a particular frequency.
I also have a really good supervisor this year. He did a phd in physics, and he's now a full time supervisor. Having him for all 3 subjects - physics, advance physics and maths. And supervisions are very interest inducing, and stress relieving, cos he knows about things like string theory and particle physics, and is able to point out how some of the things we're currently covering is going to lead to those intriguing results. All these are signs that this year is going to be a particularly good year!
And had the first cell and CF session on friday and today. The freshers this year are really talented! - spontaneously filling the roles of leading worship - playing the piano and guitar, bible study, and also cooking and cleaning! It's as if there's been an injection of new life into the cell and cf.
And regarding the calander, it's just a matter of getting used to... just like the amount of detail one makes public on a blog.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
sianzzzz
One week of lectures just concluded today, as well as my first supervision.
Sianess bug beginning to kick in.
Caused partly by failing to fulfill some of the goals I had hoped to achieve, and the little request made by my supervisior this morning for us to complete a certain number of questions by the next supervision, which is tomorrow, and which I dont see myself being able to achieve.
Not too worried though, cos dont think it's the beginning of a downhill path yet, should be able to catch up in the subsequent lectures... also, there's darryl!
Sianess bug beginning to kick in.
Caused partly by failing to fulfill some of the goals I had hoped to achieve, and the little request made by my supervisior this morning for us to complete a certain number of questions by the next supervision, which is tomorrow, and which I dont see myself being able to achieve.
Not too worried though, cos dont think it's the beginning of a downhill path yet, should be able to catch up in the subsequent lectures... also, there's darryl!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
Getting down to work
Heh, almost forgot how I used to attempt problems on a piece of rough paper before penning it down proper onto the foolscape paper, only after I've solved it, when I attended school back in Singapore.
Last year, I could not complete any questions properly anyway, so I just scribbled any attempt I made directly onto the foolscape paper. Felt an uneasy sense of incompleteness when I did the same this year :P
Last year, I could not complete any questions properly anyway, so I just scribbled any attempt I made directly onto the foolscape paper. Felt an uneasy sense of incompleteness when I did the same this year :P
Saturday, October 07, 2006
One Busy, fulfilling day
First packed saturday today was...
Beginning with a 9 am lecture,
Went to walk around town looking for laminating sheets we'll need to make membership cards, but couldn't find the ones needed. Nvm, will ask the previous registrar about it.
Went back to my room to do some work, 11 am.
Went to Shawn's place for bbq lunch, quite fun being in charged of the fire... And good bbq it was! The best food was bbq'ed garlic bread! The sainsburry basics, but very nice!
Then went for squash, nothing very much there, so many new faces :S
Went to yijin's room, with fellow natscis :P
Went for frisbee at 4 plus,
Came back to make dinner, Egg Mayo sandwich!
Just trying out the recipe so that can make it on my lab days, of which I have two a week.
Boiled 3 eggs, and a huge tablespoon full of mayonese, mashed it up, and it spreads quite generously on 4 slices of bread plus some excess. Works out way cheaper than the 1.10 pounds egg mayo sandwiches cost in sains.
Now going for coding session at shawn's place, I hope we get somewhere tonight :D
Also thinking of cataloguing the excess items I have. Many times I'm looking for an item, and they come with an offer, and i find myself buying much more than i need. WHSmith basics pens for example. Hope to get down to it soon.
Beginning with a 9 am lecture,
Went to walk around town looking for laminating sheets we'll need to make membership cards, but couldn't find the ones needed. Nvm, will ask the previous registrar about it.
Went back to my room to do some work, 11 am.
Went to Shawn's place for bbq lunch, quite fun being in charged of the fire... And good bbq it was! The best food was bbq'ed garlic bread! The sainsburry basics, but very nice!
Then went for squash, nothing very much there, so many new faces :S
Went to yijin's room, with fellow natscis :P
Went for frisbee at 4 plus,
Came back to make dinner, Egg Mayo sandwich!
Just trying out the recipe so that can make it on my lab days, of which I have two a week.
Boiled 3 eggs, and a huge tablespoon full of mayonese, mashed it up, and it spreads quite generously on 4 slices of bread plus some excess. Works out way cheaper than the 1.10 pounds egg mayo sandwiches cost in sains.
Now going for coding session at shawn's place, I hope we get somewhere tonight :D
Also thinking of cataloguing the excess items I have. Many times I'm looking for an item, and they come with an offer, and i find myself buying much more than i need. WHSmith basics pens for example. Hope to get down to it soon.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Things to do
Ok, I've now fulfilled the bulk of my duties as the archims registrar, with the conclusion of the fair and the squash...
Still have to sort out the remaining of the archims stuff, before getting on with work, and the game we're creating!
Commitments this year in order of importance (for now at least):
1) Archimedeans,
2) CG,
3) Game coding,
4) Work.
Alright, that'll be it for now... juggling many things at the moment, but it beats getting bored :P
Still have to sort out the remaining of the archims stuff, before getting on with work, and the game we're creating!
Commitments this year in order of importance (for now at least):
1) Archimedeans,
2) CG,
3) Game coding,
4) Work.
Alright, that'll be it for now... juggling many things at the moment, but it beats getting bored :P
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Back in Cambridge.
It's been a busy week - travelling back, settling in, setting up the internet connection, preparing for the societies fair, cooking for freshers, paying the bills, etc. Finally getting the time to seat down to blog about it.
Don't really feel like putting in the effort to narrate everything, so since a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll just subsitute the narration with pictures.
The Flight Back!
48J,K&L
Immigration
Baggage Claim
Queueing for the lift
National Express Station
Eugene!!!
On National Expres with Daniel...
...the Kumbang.
Unpacking
Don't really feel like putting in the effort to narrate everything, so since a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll just subsitute the narration with pictures.
The Flight Back!
48J,K&L
Immigration
Baggage Claim
Queueing for the lift
National Express Station
Eugene!!!
On National Expres with Daniel...
...the Kumbang.Unpacking
Unpacked by Friday,
Had a cookout for the freshers on Saturday,
Archims meeting and Empheram meeting on Sunday,
Settled the banking and school fees on Monday,
Fresher's Fair on Tuesday, got internet connection, and a reduced-to-clear cookout after the fair,
Fresher's fair concluded today, had introductory lecture at the Cavendish.
I've also got a very interesting fresher living with me this year. By Sunday, I returned to a freshly baked cake in the kitchen! And he's got a very unique fashion sense - vaguely approximated by a cross between Kim Jong Il and a metrosexual. :P
Had a cookout for the freshers on Saturday,
Archims meeting and Empheram meeting on Sunday,
Settled the banking and school fees on Monday,
Fresher's Fair on Tuesday, got internet connection, and a reduced-to-clear cookout after the fair,
Fresher's fair concluded today, had introductory lecture at the Cavendish.
I've also got a very interesting fresher living with me this year. By Sunday, I returned to a freshly baked cake in the kitchen! And he's got a very unique fashion sense - vaguely approximated by a cross between Kim Jong Il and a metrosexual. :P
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Internet Finally UP!!!
After close to a week of communications blackout, I've finally restored my internet connection!!!
Lots of things happenning since I arrived! Blog about it soon, hopefully :P
Lots of things happenning since I arrived! Blog about it soon, hopefully :P
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