Back then and now...

The winners and prizes of the champion stacker competition has been announced!

As predicted, we won the 2nd place.. but hold on.. we also won the "BEST DESIGN AWARD" which means we actually get the same amount of prize as the 1st winner's…how much u ask?hmm.. I don't think I'll tell here bcos.. o well.. it's so small..! but it's fine.. we never knew they would actually give us money for winning the competition.. so what was the competition all about u ask? well.. I should say we did it for nothing but grades, module credits and PRIDE.. =P that's all..

So life recently has been treating me quite well.. project was pretty tough but I've met friendly n nice people to work with, which honestly seldom happened in the past 3 years haha.. except my HR group mates who are really cool and oh, my denmark mates.. =P anyways, exams are just around the corner.. reading week is one week away, exam is two weeks away.. simply put, I am not ready..

I am just so scared of one module, mechanics of solids.. this technical stuff, it's seriously not my cuppa tea.. and the fact that this is already my final year, which means my only chance to pull up my miserable grade.. (I mean it!) well.. life.. life… sometimes think of it, I just don't get it why I'm stuck in mechanical engineering.. I don't think I foresaw myself studying this stuff when I was 15.. the time when I was so innocently excited of being a psychologist, psychiatrist or a psychoanalyst (don't ask me the difference =P).. when I was 10 I wanted a camera so badly I cried.. so the first expensive thing that I bought for myself after breaking my piggy bank was a camera..! photographer should be a very interesting job, just so I thought… (don't laugh.. kids do dream).. can u imagine it's like every time I went to book stores, I went straight to those sections and browsed for some interesting stuffs.. I don't even have the urge to go to the library nowadays.. see the difference? u get what I mean?

Well, back then it was.. as time passes, things are becoming very different.. they're so different that sometimes I don't even remember what I see beforehand.. I don't even know what I love doing, what I'm good at, what are my interests..

Basically i lose, in both what i like and what i don't like.. simply put, pathetic..

Good weekend..! Ciao =P

The I-CUTE Day...!

First of all, pardon me bcos I’m so gonna brag about i-cute!! Basically we did it! I still hardly believe it finally ends.. well, not totally finished as we’re still left with the report to submit and final presentation… but the good thing is, at least we can boast a bit in the final presentation.. =P

We went early in the morning to run final testing before the competition which was @4pm.. it was a real demoralizing morning as i-cute never really did clamp 9 blocks and nicely put them on the platform as we expected during the testing.. (btw, this robotic competition was about clamping as many blocks as possible and stack them on a platform within 3 minutes).. the clamping suddenly became so jerky and shaky last minutes, we called it a “Parkinson’s disease”.. if Parkinson’s disease happened, we’re very confused of what to do to fix it cos it could be due to many problems.. so we basically did every single thing we could do but it still didn’t help much.. so we’re like… ok.. that’s it.. our hard work would finally end just.. like.. that… instead of grabbing blocks, the retarded clamps might just drop or sweep them away..

Last minute, we decided to “gamble”.. implemented another possible solution.. which was very risky it might just destroy the whole plan of our Programming.. and ended up with grabbing ZERO blocks, being laughed at and us crying our eyes out.. what a risk to take i know! but since the parkinson’s disease was so hard to solve.. we all voted for a “YES” to just take the risk.. turned out, we did the right thing cos the newly added battery helped preventing the jerky motion and the clamp grabbed super nicely, tightly and elegantly.. haha..

I think, my heart beats were three times as much within those 3mins.. i could even feel my hands and legs trembling and I’m not exaggerating.. it’s so intense.. we wanted it to happen so badly!! We wanted i-cute to run only once on the arena and left everybody with the “wow” feelings.. of course we’re allowed to do it again if we failed the 1^st attempt, but that just would not be as nice… right?? So, we grabbed 9.. there was one group who grabbed 12 (fyi, there were groups who couldn’t even grab 1 =P), but… they’re not totally autonomous (whereas i-cute was, no download cable, no wire from power supply, no nothing!) and I heard they did it only after the 3^rd attempt.. besides, i-cute was requested to be kept inside the design lab in NUS.. so we’re pretty proud of i-cute.. I mean, very proud.. =P

Mostly I’m feeling very satisfied.. bcos all our night and day shifts doing the project finally paid off.. we either woke up at 5am or stayed at school and came back at 9am in the morning.. the endless one-after-another-problem which totally drained us away seemed to be memorable now.. =P this, I would say, the only project which has taken the most energy n time..

Well, enough said.. just look at the pictures and there’s a video this time.. enjoyyyy =P

The iCute group @ our 2nd Home in Pavillion, NUS =)

The cutest robot girl, i-cute... =P Photo shot with supervisor and the group who grabbed 12..

Celebrated @Bosses Restaurant, Vivocity.. went for a pool game, arcade and drinks after that..

Last but not least, check this video! or this link:
iCute Competition Day

We were the only group that made people went "waaahhh..".. "hahahah"... "aaaah...hmm.." Ciao.. =)

The Robot...

I've never really wanted to talk about my robotic project.. because.. it is such a pain in the ass, it has caused so much trouble, it also has created many sleepless nights this semester for us all.. the competition is like a few days away yet things start to fall apart.. clamping servo spoilt, lifting mechanism doesn't work consistently, handyboard overheated.. u name it, i-cute has it (yea, we name it "i-cute", everybody says it's cute and the size is real petite compared to other robots)..

Perhaps luck would help this time.. but i don't think i-cute really has it in the past few weeks.. i can't believe it's that fragile.. i just can't believe this is happening.. i can't believe i'm sad whenever looking at it.. *sigh*

Ciao..

The Old Messages...

I have this old (yet durable) nokia phone which has been accompanying me for quite some years.. it was with me when I graduated from senior high school, when I was in Malaysia, in Singapore, in bintan, in denmark, in singapore again.. u see, how loyal this phone has been.. anyways, since coming back from denmark, my sleeping problem of having to twist and turn for up to 2 hours before sleeping was back! So yesterday, the same thing happened, I couldn’t sleep, I looked at that phone who’s always lying on my bed cos I only used it when my current phone died or when my new phone was stolen last year (shit!).. thought of deleting useless files/messages inside.. I ended up reading the old messages cos the first one actually caught my attention.. =P and I don’t know why I really wanna blog this.. haha..

U might not understand, so don’t try too hard..
“kepot kui.. blm packing tp bs jln2 ke brastagi haha ya udah gw nanya bege dolo.. loe harus ikut meskipun cuma nampang muka 2-3mins”
“diah, td mother theonis salah ngasi info, kalo masuk lewat pizza, lewatilah da shanghai, msk ke kompleks, nampak gedung bulet2, bersinar2.. ntar telpon aja..”
“diah bsr, diah kcl..ntr malam jadi ga? Jam brp kita mulai show? Urutannya kae kmrn ya.. btw diariku tolong diisi haha”
“diah bawa aqua cup ya.. haus.. masukkin ke tas.. haha”

Then I started to read another ones.. (I ended up reading all anyway).. they were all somehow funny when I imagined the person typing those smses….
“ Miz u di!”
“ayang, jam brp jemput gw?”
“happy birthday.. mai kong ce2 liao deh.. semoga bisa dapet uang, cinta.. dan sri darling senantiasa di samping.. muahahaha..”
“sunhong cinta, bae2 dsana..”
“haha ada donk.. Cuma lage sumpek aja haha… ya dah, u have fun, jgn kangen2 ma gw di..”
“di, alamat rumah loe dimane” (after knowing me for like 15 years, what a good friend)
“u at where now ar?” (she’s just trying to be funny =P)

These were the messages I didn’t even know when would be the next time I got them..
“hi diah, what about having a drink tomorrow evening at six? At quartier latin..”
“hi diah, when will u be in paris? I’ll be there next tues-friday.. we should grab some beers.. see you..”
“my friends and I will be waiting in front of Notre Dame at six sharp, see you there..”

I realized I missed them all so dearly.. I couldn’t help but turn the phone off and delete nothing… laughed instead..

Selamat Hari Raya! Happy Holiday, Happy Weekend! Ciao…

Do you...?

There was this event @ The Arts House at Old Parliament.. browsed through the art pieces created by offenders while serving their sentences, seriously, I would never think they’re the people who were imprisoned before.. besides and in fact, they were born with such gorgeous talents.. yesh! I was surprised by their art works.. nonetheless, it dawned on me that these ex-offenders couldn’t possibly escape the society’s judgments by passing themselves off as the “normal ones” while they're not according to our biased definitions of being "normal" .. they should have been considered apart from others in the crowd and looked different somewhat, just and just because they had prison record..

Totally, it was stunning.. I mean, if u ever thought how useless these people were to the society, u might want to think twice after checking out the exhibition.. I had a lot of thoughts running in my mind for instance, how much energy it actually took them to change? Some people just couldn’t be bothered to take their time to reflect and decide to change, if u know what I mean.. but these people did and they made it..

Perhaps the urge to be a changed person is stronger inside these people than that inside us.. why? maybe we do not make such huge a flaw that could alienate ourselves from the world.. I mean, we don’t need to put the effort to win back what we once have.. we don’t really know how painful it is to completely lose our loved ones.. or how aching it is to be pushed far away only bcos we've made a mistake once.. well, I suddenly feel so ordinary.. bcos u know what? That doesn’t even mean we’re morally better-off as a person.. we don’t even think that there's a need to change.. and the worst is, how self-centered we are at times..

So there I was, looked around, thought of it.. when walking out of the Arts House, I saw people painting and writing on the wall.. motivating words, admirations or messages to show that they were there to appreciate.. I held a marker pen, thought for a second.. there’s something I really wanted to write..

“The good thing about life is that… people change..”

Happy Mid-Autumn festival..!! =P

Ciao..

Messy Life...

There have been too many things in my mind lately.. the things that should be done, the shouldn’ts, the things that I can’t shake off my mind, the things that make me happy n sad, the things that I miss so badly..

Things happen for reasons.. I kinda believe in this saying now.. what used to be too hard for me to comprehend have actually started to tell one by one.. I miss some of my pasts yet I don’t wanna turn back time.. I kinda like the world I’m living in at this moment yet I keep comparing the past and the present..

Whenever I talk, wherever I go, whomever I meet.. I keep wondering why things can be that different in two places.. the things they ask, the things they’re interested in, the things they enjoy, the personality.. even trivial remarks they pass to me are so different.. just one question, why?

U may see me smile and laugh but I really hate myself for endlessly comparing my life in denmark to what I’m having right now.. u may not hear me say this in reality but I really miss everything abt it.. u may think I’m such a freak who doesn’t know how to get over but the thing is, what remains in mind is always much more beautiful than what’s happening right before my very eyes..

Every so often, I even laze about and lose the direction of what I’m supposed to do.. Monday to Friday, morning to evening, I seem to have plenty of time yet I find myself so lack of time.. I’ve spent half of this semester worrying about my passport which is expiring soon yet the indo embassy doesn’t allow me to renew, I go back and forth trying to convince them and do whatever it takes.. how can I not miss denmark? and I’m so sick of sitting in front of my laptop making drawings using solidworks, even worse, when I have to edit again and again once I show them to the supervisor.. I feel that everything I try to solve lately is just trivial matters that have been deliberately made complicated for no reasons.. besides, I feel that I’m totally back in the place where people seem to be having a thought that the world just revolves around them.. in other words, they think they’re always the main interests of the topic on the table.. u think how can I not hate it?

Well, this is what happens when people mix two worlds in one life.. we just can’t have both.. and for once, I feel that my life has been pretty messy…

I’m loving this blog.. I feel relieved after writing this.. =P

Anyways, it was such a great experience to freelance as an interpreter in Batam.. stayed in a decent resort, ate decent foods that we've been craving for.. and nice outing too! =P

Holiday Inn Batam Resort and Delima Seafood..

Edina, me, Patrick, Erick

Catching up on weekends

Gathering + Dinner + LS & SM Birthday Celebration

Ciao...

The Phases...

I recall in one of the classes that I attended in Odense, we’re given a talk about the phases of cultural adjustment.. Virtually, everybody who lived abroad went through these distinct phases of cultural adjustment..

- Preliminary: before everything happened, as such, it’s about the preparation of the journey.. Exciting? Yes! Exhausting?? Yes! I remember there were so many things to settle I was even an inch away to lose the excitement..

- Initial euphoria: Began when I stepped on Europe for the first time, namely in Amsterdam.. and when i saw copenhagen and odense! met new people, attended classes for the first time.. the list went on and on..

- Irritability: The initial excitement started to wear off… nonetheless, I didn’t recall there was such a huge problem on that.. maybe it was only about the weather that irritated me quite much…

- Gradual Adjustment: when everything became so familiar I didn’t even realize it’s happening..

- Adaptation and biculturalism: I felt as a part of it.. I had my own favorite places to go to.. activities for my spare time.. I treated myself foods that I loved to eat.. basically I was already comfortable with the host culture..

- Re-entry phases: when returning to homeland.. it can be the most painful phase of all.. excited about sharing experiences, realized that u’ve changed in a way u couldn't explain.. but in one way or another, u're just forced to change back.. bcos u're now back in a place where everything seemed to be at standstill when u're not around..

The speaker said we’d find ourselves going through that cycle all over again once we returned to homeland.. I guess she’s true.. I write this because distinctly, I’m finding myself at the stage of “Irritability” at the moment.. sighhhh...

Pictures: Barcelona in Spain..

“Traveling – it leaves u speechless then turns u into a storyteller” Ibn Battuta

Life's back to normal...!!

I stay in PGP, go to the campus by NUS shuttle bus, eat at Engineering canteen most of the time.. yea, that normal.. 7 months feels so short a time.. I mean, I can even remember very clearly the smell of the newly checked in room in PGP.. and I’ve been asked questions like “how did it feel to leave denmark?”.. “how do u feel to come back here to nus again?”.. “how’s life treating u there in denmark? Was it better than here?”… hmm..

To be frank, after stepping on nus again, after attending my first week’s lectures and after the first meeting with my FYP supervisors, everything is so normal.. and boring.. I wonder where’s that missing feeling due to not being here for the past 7 months? there’s nothing like that.. so being there in denmark was like being in another world living another kind of life, a more exciting life..

“Prototype development of an EEG based mental fatigue screening system”.. That’s my FYP project title which honestly, has totally freaked me out.. I just don’t understand what was I thinking, it’s my first choice, yes, nobody forced me I chose it!..

Another thing is, it’s amazing that I sweat like all the time.. even without doing anything vigorous at all like sitting on the bench waiting or queuing for foods.. don’t u think it’s bloody hot recently?? are we actually living in a huge micro-oven??

I spent the first 3 days in PGP without internet connection.. I didn’t even know whom to thank for the trouble.. maybe it’s the line connection in my room, maybe it’s my laptop which was configured by the Danish staff in the Syddansk Uni.. in order to get things done faster, I complained to PGP Management and reconfigured my laptop at the same time.. =P why? there were two things for sure, we’d never make it to study in NUS without internet connection.. and spending 3 days in NUS without internet connection was like spending a week in a forest without fire.. =P u know how hard it was??

I guess it's time to post my overdue eurotrip pictures.. i'll start from Paris in France.. enjoy =P

Musee Du Louvre

The View from Notre Dame
Tour Eiffel
Château de Versailles

The most prestigious and broadest avenue in Paris, Avenue des Champs-Élysées (fyi, i risked my life taking this pic =P)

Ciao...

Easier said than done...

So lately, the hottest topic has been about this friend who once left the group but for one reason or another, she just had to come to us again after 2 years of losing contact.. So, u can roughly imagine the situation happening here, thinly veiled sarcasms mostly everywhere and constant rehashing of her so-called sins followed by the never-ending apologies from her.. bottom line is, some of us don’t seem to totally get behind it though deeply we understand how situations had gone awry for her..

I don’t think I can afford to be that sarcastic towards her anyway and I just don’t know why.. it’s more like I’ve been the one defending her when others try to corner her.. maybe that’s because all these while we’ve always been in a very good term.. or maybe, I really think she’s very fun to be with.. I am indeed very happy to see her again like I always used to.. but even so, I’ve been questioning why others were that bothered, it’s as if they’re hurt so badly.. maybe it’s because I wasn’t here so my life wasn’t actually affected directly by her sudden disappearance, it wasn’t that big a deal to me..

Trying to put myself in others’ shoes, I’ve been thinking, what if I were to be one of “the others”? first…. most probably I’d be the most sarcastic one.. =P secondly, perhaps I’d not even want to listen to her explanation.. then again, being the way it is now, I’m relieved bcos I don’t have to go through it considering I’ve skipped that part where “the others” are still in now, and I’ve come out the other side better than ever..

But the bottom line is, I’m really grateful that I wasn’t here at that time bcos most probably I’d not be able to forgive her, nor wanting to see her as often as I do now.. who can mend a broken glass? u tell me..

Took early morning flight back to singapore (I’m all sleepy n tired now).. =P and of course, I had real good times there in medan!!

Some pictures that i've got.. =P

and this is my favourite..

Ciao...

Time of our lives...

Sitting there, Story-telling, laughing together, reminiscing.. and facing those that I’ve known forever.. have I told u? that is the time of my life.. we don’t talk about deep stuffs and serious future plans.. nor making cheap promises about how our friendship would last forever.. but if I count carefully, it’s been 9 years since we’re placed in the same class in that school..

Without us realizing it, there are things that actually can be perceived only by our group.. we laugh on the joke that others may not even find a slight amusement out of it.. it’s like being there and forgetting about the world, for a moment.. and without me realizing it, I truly cherish them - the teacher and those high-school friends that have actually been rooting in me..

Twice in a year is the most frequent meeting with them.. but even so, there has never been a big problem of catching up with the group and I feel I’m always a part of them.. just like it’s always used to be.. maybe we don’t push it, but we’ve become the best of friends to one another.. maybe it’s nothing profound but it’s kinda grown into something so light that talking and finishing others’ sentences is a very natural thing to happen, which never fails to end up with a burst of laughter from which I am always an inch away to drop my jaw..

Saturday’s dinner has left me with a piece of advice from the teacher “Remember that u can never buy ur friend”.. a simple sentence that’s always taken for granted.. so cliché a sentence that’s easily found in those Hallmark cards.. nonetheless, it dawned on me afterwards, sometimes in a glimpse, what we had might seem easy to be exchanged.. but when regrets came, we’re hit by the fact that no matter how much we offered, apparently, we couldn’t be able to buy the same thing ever again..

Anyways, my short holiday this time has been filled with catching up with family, cousins and friends.. but these two are the only pictures that i have with me at the moment.. =P

Ciao...