Interlude

What a weekend!

Just attended a Gaming convention on Saturday held in Downtown Columbus with some friends. Saw some interesting Star Wars promotional "mascots" (pictures will be posted tomorrow - I'm too tired to do clean up now) ...

Drove up today to Utica to attend the Velvet's Ice Cream Festival/Carnival. There was a classic/muscle car show and an arts-n-crafts market... not too bad... saw some pretty mean wheels!

Well, tomorrow is rest/homework day... so better get some sleep and be up early... *yawn*

TBC (to be continued)...

Roll at a corner

Ever wondered why some things are at some places? On my way out of my office today I saw this in the lift (elevator car):

I found myself staring at it travelling the whole six storeys down. Didn't really know what to make of it, so i thot i'll just take a quick shot of it.

On the bright side, there was a beautiful full moon last night (attempts to take photos came out horrible), and the weather on my way back today was great. Lovely thick fluffy clouds... and it was like, 7:30pm when i took this shot - summer weather indeed! :)

Lit'l fluffy clouds

A blanket of angry-looking storm clouds floated dangerously over campus today, just as i was about leave for home. But as I walked across the car park (parking lot), the clouds had moved on... and I was bathed in a warm glow, while a cool breeze rippled across the surface of my arms, caressing my face. I stood by the side of my wagon, letting my body absorb the mild ultraviolet beams and the soft, soothing winds.

The weather continued to look up during my drive back home. And I got a few shots of the clouds as they parted to let some rays of sunlight shine through.

Lovely.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head...

Wet day today... rain came pouring down around 2pm or so, in the middle of my Geological Sciences midterm... yeesh. Thankfully i wrapped my bicycle seat with a plastic bag, so I didn't have to sit on a wet sponge. Yup, nothing worse than sitting on a water-logged foam-based bicycle seat. SPLUT.

Also, I've learned today the true inspirations for the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Apparently there are two famous religious/philosophical speakers during the 16th and 17th centuries going by the names John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, and it does seem like they contributed to C & H's often cynical (and sometimes thoughtful) expressions in the strips.

I was speaking to one of my team-mates (for a mini-presentation of John Calvin's writings and "Calvinism" in general), and I realized that she is a business major, and is already a licensed real estate agent. Cool. I think it's time for me to seriously consider alternative branches of office, aside from IT, that is...

Hmmm... perhaps I could consider teaching something.

Dum-dum-dum dum-da-dum dum-da-dum...

Tonight's the night! Star Wars Ep. III opens... but I'll just catch a matinee next week... not exactly a SW fanatic... just a fan. So I'm not planning to fight the crowd. Ha.

Mr Clean... Mr Clean...

Ever wondered if there is a good way to keep the ugly mold and mildew off your bathroom tiles? Well, now there is a way! And only using simple household cleaners that you probably already have in your home!

Firstly, you need:

• A spray bottle (usually found in gardening or general household departments)
• Bleach
• Liquid dish-washing soap (Not for dishwasher!)
• Tap for water
• Small hand towel (or rag)

Then, you mix 25% Bleach, 75% water and drop in a tablespoon or two of dishwashing soap (juz guesstimate) into the spray bottle. Give it a shake until you see the dishwashing soap is mixed in... well, more or less.

Now you have your magic spray cleaner, you just need to make it a habit that after every shower:

1. You will use the towel/rag to wipe off any remaining water puddles on the edges of your bathtub (if you use a shower stall, you can ignore this step) - but don't dry off the tiles!
   
2. Once you've dried off the edges, you can spray the cleaner horizontally across the highest level/height of the tiled walls in your shower area.
   
3. If you want to be more thorough, spray another round somewhere along the middle height of the walls.
4. Let it just do its work. The bleach smell will probably be quite strong, so you might wanna leave your ventilation fan powered up or crack open a window.
5. I had to do this after every shower, every day, for a little over 2 months before i saw the blackish areas around my bathtub start to fade away... so far so good, no yucky mold or mildew on my tiles ever since i started on the "treatment"!

Yayyyy...

Remember, your results may vary depending on the climate (esp. humidity levels), as well as the ventilation available in your bathroom. Oh and the amount of stuff you have in your shower area too. Try to remove as many bottles or stuff that can cause water to accumulate/stagnate around the edges of your bathtub/stall.

Good luck!
btw, magic concoction is courtesy of a fellow Singaporean's mom! Thanks Mrs Yue!

Birthday wishes

A special wish to my elder brother! May you have special blessings in the years to come, especially with your baby girl's birth in around 3 months time! (And to my dear readers, expect a plethora of baby pics to come! ;)

Also, a shout out to my buddy from Singapore Polytechnic. One of my first acquintances in SP, Anson Tan has been one of my most steady brudders during the course of my educational lifespan in Singapore, and I hope he is doing well back home, with a girl in his arm and a beer in his hand.

Here's a toast to you guys!

The Perfect Woman?

Taking a break from my Comparative Studies 100 Presentation thinking session... *stretch*

Coming Thursday, I've gotta present an analysis and perhaps raise some points and questions about the relevancy of the play, M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, to some of the main themes that we've been discussing this quarter: stuff like Identity/Character, History/Memory, Culture/Beliefs, and Language/Communication. All in all, Hwang's play is very interesting, and given the opportunity, I think I would like to watch it some day.

Two thumbs up.

Now, for those of you still interested in this subject, I found an online version of the original Madame Butterfly story written by John Luther Long (kudos to the UVA's Hypertext Project), as well as rented the movie version of David Belasco and Giacomo Puccini's play, Madama Butterfly. The movie was okay, since i didn't get to see the original play, although there are times it gets a bit dreary - theatre and film don't always mix very well. The recent cinematic release of A.L.W's Phantom of the Opera is also another case of an over-hyped movie that didn't stand up to the challenge (but IMO it is Gerard Butler's flat and lifeless delivery of the Phantom's most powerful lines that failed the movie).

After reading Hwang's play, the original story by Long, and watching the movie of Puccini's piece, the whole "Feminine East, Masculine West" sexual/political stereotype just gets pushed in your face. Of course, all that make great material to present reflections and raise arguments.

An interesting point of this play comes up during an exchange between the Chinese spy (in drag), Song Liling and his female government comrade:

SONG: Miss Chin? Why, in the Peking Opera, are women's roles played by men?

CHIN: I don't know. Maybe, a reactionary remnant of male-

SONG: No, Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act. (Hwang 63)

Well, if you can get a copy of Hwang's M. Butterfly to read I would love to hear your thoughts about it. I'm sure most libraries carry this book, or you can purchase it at your favorite store.

Raising the H-1B Visa Cap

Read a good write-up on Ars Technica discussing Bill Gates's recent call to Congress to raise the H-1B Visa cap (65,000 per year, usually all taken up within the first few days of release) and how it affects both the foreign workers and American labor in the tech industry.

As a IT student/worker myself, I see how this is certainly a pressing issue and it is disturbing (although not surprising) to see corporate giants manipulate the system time and again (just like they do with taxes).

I feel that this kinda ties-in to some recent reports that the numbers of international/foreign professional academics and workers coming to the US are consistently dropping. Somehow, I get a feeling in the near future, the umemployed US IT workforce will bring up the foreign worker visa and outsourcing issues together to work up a case against current employment policies, and in Singaporean terms, bringing in "foreign talent".

I'll be keeping my eye on this storm.
Ooo... SIX more days to Star Wars EP. III!

Wiki for Singaporean makan spots

Came across this at somewhere (mrbrown i think), about a couple who put up an interesting little Wikipedia-like space on the Web for the public to give their recommendations about eateries. I know it's been done before, but I kinda like the Wiki interface, so there.

Do drop by for a look and add in any interesting makan places when you think of them!

Cheerio!

Pocket Rocket

Dodge Neon SRT-4, a fast little turbo-charged package for a fun blast through some quiet roads. I'll probably get myself one of these, someday...

Match Made in Heaven

It's 40 mins past midnite. Here I am, under the sanitized white glare of my living room workstation lamp. Munching on a Peanut Butter and Kaya sandwich. *munch munch* Now that is a match made in Heaven. Anyone who has not experienced the wonders of a PB & K sandwich are just missing out on one of the best fusion foods ehhh-var. (For a smoother taste, lathered a thick layer of butter in between... healthy folks can just use margarine)

Right now working on a last minute cram session before my CSE 676 midterm tomorrow. Whoopee... this should be a breeze for me, since it just covers microcomputer... *Owwwww!*

WTF? Something bit me! That stung... *rubs base of neck*
*walks to washroom for a look in the mirror*

/me back

Not sure what the hell bit me. Better dab a bit of Neosporin (first aid cream). Yeah, I'm the kia-see type.

kia-see = Afraid of death, pain, suffering, decapitation and general discomfort.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, my midterm tomorrow... covers microcomputer semiconductor memory (in all its forms), magnetic storage, optical storage, system storage interfaces and all its wonderful bits. Excellent. Afterall, I've been mucking around with PCs from the day I learned how to write a complete article - my first legible piece of writing came not from my scribbling, instead came from a rickety 'ol (read: State-of-the-Art in Singapore, circa 1980s) dot-matrix printer.

It was a make-believe newsletter that I came up... 3 whole columns filled with a scary story of meeting a monster in the lift (or elevator, American-speak). I loved writing stuff like that. My imagination was too hard to tie down. Of course, with age comes sensibility and along for the ride, is procrastination.
Now that, I'm good at.

Anyway I would like to thank my Dad for bringing that first IBM-compatible XT home, forever sucking me into the vortex of computer technology. Thanks for teaching me all the neat stuff about computers, showing me how to tear them apart and put them back together. He's the Man.

And although this is a little belated (but I've already called, honest), I would like to thank my Mom and wish her (2nd time) a Happy Momma's Day 2005. Thanks so much for reading all my weird writings and drawings, for putting up with me while I tried (though my brain had a lot of internal resistance against anything to do with "bi3-hua4") to learn my Mandarin/Chinese spelling tests. She's DA Mom.

Ok I've rambled enough for this night. Back to the books...

Hot Doggie Doggie Doggie...

Just finished my History recitation class... had a class outdoors again today. Not too bad. Weather's fine, although I could smell an incoming storm... *sniff* *sniff* Actually I'm just suppressing a runny nose. Took an Advil LiquidGel this morning with my coffee and biscuits. I'm better now... well... better than last night when I blew out a couple of capillaries along with my mucus.

So here I am, back in my office, munching on a hot dog. D.i.Y. Think about it, it's really cheaper this way. Rather than pay a buck fifty at the HD stand downstairs, I'd buy a pack of 8 franks for a dollar fifty, a pack of 10 buns for a dollar sixty and make 8 hot dogs using the same amount of money it takes to buy 2 from the stand. Of course, it also helps to have a microwave to heat up the frank and a small stash of condiments from the friendly neighborhood fast food chains.

Yuummmmmy.

I'm gonna go eat my banana now.

Oh wait. Aw nuts, I forgot to pluck one from home!
Hmmm... time to go find a substitute for my potassium enrichment.

Ooo... just 9 more days to the final chapter of the Star Wars legacy.

Darkness... and there was light.

Still a little unsure what got me into starting a blog.

Working on writing a book analysis due Thursday. Got bored, and kinda stumbled face first into a writer's block. So I started to surf around BoingBoing, Slashdot and did some random Googling. Went to check out some of my friends' blogs. Eh... Web Logs.

So here i am. My first entry in my Web Log...
Um... Blog...
Hmmm... somehow it sounds like I've done a bad thing.
Oooo yeah, I'm a bad, bad boy.
Oh yes, I am. Bad.

Being a typical computer guy, i'm quite surprised how long I've put off getting myself one of these things. Typical laziness I guess. And apathy. And lack of committment.

Must be because I'm a Gemini. Yeah, that's it.

Typical excuse.