Zenov Yap at 11:58 AM

Saturday, December 24, 2005

CSL Pasir Ris Outing

wed, 21 dec 2005, went on an outing to Pasir Ris Park w the kids at CSL. tho there were only 20 kids, s.t there was a vol-to-kids ratio of 1:2, it's quite a tiring task to handle them, cos 1 kid == 3 monsters. they haf energy as boundless as a nuclear reactor, while older kids like us haf those of a coal power station.

there were 4 gps and i'm in gp 4. there were zin and tianli w me to handle 4 kids, jinru, theresa, shihui and junping. shihui, who was the only non-P6 kid in the gp, was crying from the start, cos she couldn't b w her frens. and the other 2 gals were, as zin described, using their own terrorising way to ~~threaten~~ console shihui.

junping was in a world of his own. according to jr, he was a special sch kid, ie he reacts differently to ppl. actually, i knew him b4 dis liaoz, tho he did not remember it when i told him. during the painting of the banner at csl on 9 dec, he stopped me in tracks in the canteen and asked me various things abt the size of his feet.

theresa on the other hand, is a quiet and inactive gal, who doesn't like to run and play like her peers. not anti-social (as king of AS, i can diagnose such behaviour), but a bit lazy plus lady-like.

aniwaes, started on the 1st station, which was to dig out letters from the sand to from the word representing our gp: CARE. it was rather ez, for teenagers and above, dat is, cos kids r fond of not sticking to rulez. waha... as u noe, jp was unable to understand how to play the game, theresa was inactive, sh was still crying and vol weren't allowed to help them. end up jr was flying all over the place to search for the letters.

then, went to station 2 by mx and another guy not from csl, perry. p/s: frankly speaking, i dun like him, cos he has dat predatory look on mx, and has a flirty dialogues w her. @#$%^&* aniwaes, dis was the place where everything went haywired. cos the 3 kids were not active in playing the game, jr ran away. i had to chase after her cos zin, i dunno y, walking leisurely. ha... i suppose she really couldn't handle kids bah, if not, she wouldn't haf passed her i/c-ship to me.

still, jr ran away from me everytime i caught up w her. haiz... i muz haf ran 2.4 for the whole day running w her. when the others finally cleared the station and jr calmed down, we had to walk a bloody long way to the next station. here's the crux: jr was turned of by sh, who in turned had warmed up to the gp and wanted to stick w jr. she kep running after jr, and the latter kept running away from her. in the end, i had to chase after jr, to keep her from missing.

i cursed and swear dat gam made dat station so... far away.

the 2nd station was manned by amanda and guozhang. we r supposed to b tied up together and find our way to the centre of a maze to retrieve a task in an envelope. pure confusion. on my left/front was sh who was moaning the whole way from pain (she was stuck betw me and zin, who were much taller than her) and jp at the back, who kept popping me w farnie, unanswerable qns.

the task we got was to pass the msg. 1st, we haf sh who, being still young, cannot rem the msg well. then, jp couldn't process the msg even when i repeated myself 5 times. thankfully, he was still able to convey 80% of the msg.

while we were there, amanda chided me and warned dat (w.r.t jr) i do not become the 2nd yongquan, who got himself in a sticky (literally) mess w a gal who shadowed him everytime he went to csl. haha... i was worried, but at the same time, i believed (hopefully) such attachment from kids do not occur in a single outing.

our next station (and the rest of the gaming session) was stopped short when 1 kid went missing. apparently, one sister (as in nun sister, from csl) was too harsh w her words and the vol couldn't catch up w the boy.

went back to the meeting pt and waited for further instructions. and the boy was actually there oredi. aniwaes, had lunch and went biking. the kids simply loved it and i suppose all of them r proficient in it. jp esp, was an expert rider. he could manoeuvre his bike ard the most diff turns and gave me a hard time keeping up w him. it was then i realized dat he mite not b gd in manipulating ideas, but he's gd in phys activities.

we went to look at ships and go-karts at downtown east. back and forth, cos the park was really rather small. the real challenge was getting the kids off the bikes when the time was up. u get one kid off and the other kid scoots off on another. dunno whether i was too on or wat, cos it seemed dat the others weren't too bothered whether the kids r still on bikes. i literally pulled kids off their bikes and had to shepherd them away from the store.

jp was ok, the moment the store went out of sight, he 4got abt it and was happily walking towards the meeting pt w the vol. for other kids, well, i hoped i had a leash on them.

and then of cos, it was home. actually, the kids still listened to their teacher (a middle-aged lady) and was actually quite obedient. when asked to stand in line or pick up litters, they did it so willingly. arh... so unlike when we vol were giving the instructions.

hmmm... i wonder if the kids will still rem me. esp sh and jp.

Zenov Yap at 11:54 AM

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Results

issit gd or bad? bad: cos i FLUNKED computing. expected. still, i feel low. refusal bah. perhaps it's better than expecting to pass and yet failed. now, DAT is super depressed.

on the other hand, my other results r ok. 2B+ and 1B. now, dis is gd. considering the efforts i put in dis sem, it's really beyond my expectations. somewat expected 2 Cs from these 3 modules. and there's some swopping, as usual.

u see, there's the simpler ee2005 dat i expect to get B+ and the harder ee2004 i expect to get B. the result is, as mentioned, the reverse. is dis gd or bad? hmmm...

after confirming the demise of the prog module, i went to check whether my core modules next sem r affected (which returns -ve, ie. no change in plans). and perhaps hafta bid for dat module next sem.

and then, i went to check other core modules and the electives i've planned to take. turned out dat none of them had cs1102c as pre-requisite. i feel so shitty. y muz i take a module dat doesn't affect my taking of electives? it isn't as if i'm taking COMPUTER engin. even physics was a pre-req for one of my electives.

haiz... i dunno. some ppl juz like to make other ppl do xtra (a.k.a geh gan) things. nus ECE dept is one. and the tot of having to see those computing suckers again makes me depressed.

Zenov Yap at 10:41 PM

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Pinballing In NUS

mon, 1st day of work after my trip to bt tinggi. cos of various reasons to b elaborated on, i only reached home at 2am in the morning. after bathing and checking my e-mails, it was almost 5am. still, had to wake up early for sch, cos i had stuff to do dat day.

went to settle my SEP forms, cos it was the deadline for submission. i tot at 1st dat all i needed was to acquire my transcripts from E3a (former uni hall) and dat was it. turned out the rather fierce-looking dawn wanted me to get my dept coordinator's signature on the form 1st. went to EE dept and was told by a lady dat even tho prof wang wasn't on leave, she couldn't get him in his office. had to leave my forms w her and the lady was kind enuf to offer to help me settle the signature thingy while i went for cscday trial.

and well, the sleepy bug got me halfway thru the trial. was literally playing w the beach ball to keep me awake. din contribute ideas or help try out the games. how can i, when the game involved blindfolding me? i will only concuss on the spot and wander off into dreamland.

and then it was a supposedly lunch-meeting. ate and crapped instead. my table had florence, lixian, amanda and me. i tink the highlight was the OCIP thingy, turned out we all went for it and had some experience to share.

after dat, went back to EE office to check out the situation. the lady wasn't ard, and the other woman chased me out of the office. hmmm... no choice, but to head for AYE. when i finally got to the bus stop, the lady called me to tell me dat prof wang had signed my forms and i immediately ran back to retrieve it, cos it was near off-office hrs. yup... to and fro betw EE and AYE.

and... prof wang onli signed one page, when he had to sign 3. had to rush to his office in E1, back to EE dept in E4 for the lady to photocopy my forms, and then back to UG office in EA (which was on the other end of engin from EE dept) to submit to dawn.

haha... and there were a few others like me who tried to mit the deadline too. dis time rd, dawn looked less tigress-ly and i scooted off w no prob w my forms, even tho it was full of cancellations and scribbles due to the cork-ups in the day.

and then, rushed to creative to pick up my mp3 player. it was fast man. in and out of it in 10min. got a new player instead, which was expected, cos i was told by frens dat it was their norm. instead of repairing the players, creative prefers to replace w a new one. guess their inventory level still brimming to the edge bah...

and then, had to rush to chin bee crescent in boon lay to collect the sponsorship products for cscday. whoa... the 1st cab i hailed refused to send me, cos he said the place was too ulu and he was in a rush. #$%^&* as far as St Directory told me, the place was juz beside JP. walked all the way to IMM b4 i found a driver willing to send me to the said venue.

one lesson i learnt: place of office /= location of warehse. settled the paperworks and was sent to their warehse across the st by myself. cos the place was rather ulu (even tho near boon lay, it was off the main rd), had to carry the box of products out of the place. it was ez task at 1st, but the box became heavier and heavier... and it rained suddenly. CCB... had to call for a cab while hiding in a phone booth. went back to clubrm to dispose of the products and then (finally) set off for home.

yeah... home SWEET home...

Zenov Yap at 12:54 PM

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

I'm Going On SEP

yep, dis is an official announcement dat i'll b going on SEP to University of Oulu in Finland next fall. it was a really gd news at 1st, then, the candy coating melted.

u see, i was happy at 1st cos i managed to get a place. thru tactics and strategy, i got a place in a uni where most ppl (note: PRCs) wun want to go. cos the lang is finnish, and it's not US. so... it was sort of a minor victory.

and then, while chatting abt it online last nite, i felt a sense of emptiness setting on me. afterall, finland is not where i've been wanting to go all my life. the initial excitement soon faded and i'm juz preparing for another trip overseas. haiz... perhaps i'll get a surprise juz as NZ gave me. budden, i'll hafta wait till next sept bah.

actually, i got to know of the results on my b'day (nice gift rite?), but as usual, it's not wise to announce anything. everything isn't settled, even at dis time. who noes? my mum may refuse to let me go again at the 23th hr. typical. except dat if they do it dis time rd, i'll face a lot more problems, from sch, and also, by dat time, sch will haf reopened. i'll haf no modules to take and b 1mth slower.

but u noe, my family noe nothing. they care nothing but themselves. they haf neva cared abt my predicament and my feelings. they do things juz to make me even mroe miserable.

the yr's not even over and i'm oredi beginning to feel bad abt dis whole thing...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

aniwaes, thanx for the encouragements. really. these days, when i hear words of encouragement, i feel appreciative, tho i dun voice it out, cos i find myself lost for words. to some extent, i find saying: thanx! u r such a great fren! dat's wat i've been wanting to hear a bit very wat. somehow, i've come to embrace the idea dat some things r best left unsaid, cos, well emotions r neva correctly put into words. a heartfelt smile is all dat nids to convey an understanding.

=)

aniwaes, there were onli 3 other EE ppl going to UO. one, was haojie whom i knew from my lab sessions. but alas! he was going in 2nd sem. the 2nd one, who contacted me last wk, was the same as me. but i was shocked at 1st. from his way of speaking, i tot he was a PRC. esp when he asked me how to get a cert of english proficiency. cos, well, s'pore's native lang is english. at no circumstance r we required to produce such documents, anywhere in the world. budden, he replied saying dat he was told dat he nid not haf the cert too. so, it's either PRC has english as one of its native lang, or he was a local. or maebe, he's from mauritius. =P

Zenov Yap at 10:54 AM

Saturday, December 10, 2005

左右为难

i wanna blog, cos so much things happened these few days, if i drag on, more things will come + i will forget them. but i wanna play my newly bot NWM:HOTU. arggghhhh... blogging wins.

went for the csc workshop on wed. to b fair to the organizers+presenters, the workshop was somewhat useful. but having reverted back to the short attn-spanned teenager, i was totally bored out, as pointed out by...

i was wondering whether it was cos my heart wasn't w learning the stuff to b learnt in the workshop. how can i? when from the moment i stepped out of home, i was tinking of how to pop the qn: r u going home after this?

so dat i can respond to a +ve reply w this: oh... i'm going to tiong bahru, y dun we go together?

UNFORTUNATELY, someone din want to go home. thanx, heaven.

aniwaes, went to tbp (i din make dat up ok...) to buy THE baleno shirt, which alas, is oos. so, bot another shirt. haiz... den, went to compasspt to buy my NWM:HOTU. i noe, i always buy outdated games, but they are CHEAP. yep, it was selling for $20, from usual $49.90...

fri: it's banner painting at csl! yay!!!

went late, cos i woke up late again (play NWM mah...). aniwaes, juz stepped into the gates and was immersed in the choral voices of the kids, all dressed up in performing attires. den, went to paint banner. warmed up quite slowly, seemingly quite out of place.

then, went to buy lunch w yongquan and feiwen (amazing rite? haven't warm up den lunch liaoz...). found dat yq was an ex-hcian, cos of his BIG pa t-shirt. from s66, no wonder i found him familiar. from him, i saw dat i am not the only sam but guy in the world. =P

den, excitement comes in. yq, rh and i r assigned to hang up a banner at the facade of the home. had fun and did stupid stuff. then, hung a 'merry christmas' letterings on the entryway. den, fixed a droopy spider-decor in the reception. did a lot of brainstorming and tried to make-do w wat we haf. i MUZ admit my mind is rusty. haiz... budden, 3 engin guys, all diff fields, all as helpless...

den, went to hang our own banner. spent 1.5 hrs doing dat, trying different ways to hang it, cos we're given a big, blank pc of wall. the staff said they dun mind us nailing the wall, but we felt so bad cos it was a newly-painted/built wall. end up we still had to nail hooks into the wall to hang our banner.

well, i HOPE it wun drop off.

slacked ard after dat in the music rm where we did the banner. dunno y, cos we were obviously done w the washing up and cleaning up, and were juz rotting away, eating choco the csl vol gave us. haiz... den, went to haf dinner w amanda, zin and rh.

eh... considering my AS nature, i wouldn't want to go in dat situation (maebe more ppl will b better). but zin and amanda asked me b4 they asked other ppl, so w/o any pts of ref, as in noeing who was going, i said yes (can't really b showing my AS nature dat outwardly bah...). haiz... it turned out ok lah, but got a lot of awkward silence revolving ard me.

it was unlike last sat, when i can tok to epl non-stop, cos we knew each other b4hand and spoke to each other fluently for some time liaoz. for the 3 of them, i din really spoke to them enuf b4 to b able to prevent awkward silence.

hmmm... and the gals did comment dat i was AS. ha... i'm fine w dat comment. at least it gave me an excuse not to tok.

den, it was home. shucks. all alone w rh, and awkward silence ALL THE WAY. he soon fell asleep on the bus and relieved me of the awkwardness. lol

tiring wk, glad dat it's over and i get to relax tmr, the day after tmr... and most of next wk. yay!!!

Zenov Yap at 1:18 AM