What month is this again?

Had a small gathering with Xinyi, Jiajie, Limei and Brauns on Friday evening. I was under the impression that we were supposed to discuss the impending Hongkong trip. turns out we spent most of the time talking about anything but that. Once again, its amazing how uncountable the number of stuff we can talk about. Anyway, in all likelihood, i guess there isn't going to be any coordinated trip after all, seeing everyone has some work commitment one way or the other. Its actually next to impossible for everyone to take time off together. Its hard enough finding time off to gather together to discuss details, and that only takes an evening. Oh well, I thought it might be fun; last time we went overseas together was about 3 or 4 years ago. I don't know about them but I thoroughly enjoyed that experience.

Anyway, i managed to obtain some of the convocation pics from various sources. Its not complete and i expect to be able to put up more pics from time to time so do check it out occasionally. ;) Friends who wish to put up their pictures alongside mine(and who also happens to read this entry) can send them to me via relentlesspursuit@gmail.com or through MSN Messenger, if i happen to be on your list.
Well, the pictures are all uploaded here.

By the way, its the Chinese Seventh Month now, as people in Singapore might know. one question that has incessantly been on my mind is "why are there TWO Seventh Months this year?" Apparently one of my friends knew the answer, and as though anticipating people will ask this, launch into a very, shall we say, indepth explanation regarding the mystifying workings of the Chinese calender. I was impressed, but still didn't really know what the hell she was talking about(sorry Xinyi). I guess I didn't realised you can get this technical regarding days and dates. I was reassured though that in spite of this, we only "commemorate" this occasion once. Thats quite a relief. Imagine if we had to go through Qingming twice?

Made in Taiwan

Well, the past weekend has been quite a flurry of activity. And I don't even mean the convocation. My sister got involved in some student exchange program and so for the next two weeks, we're going to have an exchange student from Taiwan living in our home. As the day drew near, everyone got really panicky as to how the house looked. We were perennially cleaning this, clearing that, trying to make everything as uncluttered and as orderly as possible.  It would seemed we were determined to present an artificial and fantastically wholesome image to my sister's foreign counterpart. hahaha.

Anyway, it went without much of a hitch. The exchange student arrived at our place on Saturday, and she seems nice enough. its a good thing my sister managed to get along very well with her. they had loads to talk about, so much that i even began to wonder whether the exchange student thing was just a ruse to get her school friend or something to stay at our place.>_<

Anyway, i know thats not true cos she has this unmistakable Taiwanese chinese accent. which sounds really nice by the way.

As for today, went for golf again and i think i'm getting the hang of it. I'm not missing as much as the first time and i even managed to hit a close-to 200m drive using a 3wood. Man, the sound, the impact, the feeling of satisfaction is soooo intoxicating, and i'm still only just a novice. I can now totally understand why those old men can stay at the driving range and whack ball after ball with careless abandon without any regard to the time. It is that addicting. though one reason i find this fun could be the company, it would be kinda boring if it were just me there. maybe i wouldn't hit any better since there won't be any suggestions or criticisms. sometimes, people really do make all the difference.

Closure

Today was convocation day. Was really interesting seeing everyone wearing the graduation gown and hood, though it really surprises me on the alarmingly large number of people who couldn't care less how they look. Now thats really strange because they are never going to have another opportunity to wear something like that again. And they don't give a rat's ass that the left side of the gown is lower than the right? that their tassel is on the wrong side? that the hood is all screwed up and sloopy? In front of so many people, the least people can do is to make themselves more presentable. And that is hard to do?

Well, the whole ceremony went without much of a hitch, though there was a little drama when some guy's mortarboard fell off when he took a bow. One interesting thing was, one of the pro-chancellor looked suspiciously like Lee Kuan Yew, while the other one was a deadringer for the late Ong Teng Cheong. I was floored for a moment and for just one instant i instantly felt so very important; that the MM himself would be present to present my degree to me^_^

Anyway, took a gazillion pics today. I was practically scouring the refreshment hall for any body i know; so i can waylay them to pick pictures with them. some people were so in demand that i literally had to "book appointment" for a snapshot. >_<damn i hate beautiful people. though the unfortunate thing was i forgot to bring a camera. It was a good thing Brauns was kind enough to be my camera-man for the day. he took most of my pics. So now all i have to do is wait for him to be online, so he can send them all to me. heh.

Besides taking pictures, today was also an excellent day for networking. I've learnt much about my friends' recent movements, as well as the various jobs they've applied/received, I've also gained some good guage of the current market sentiment regarding employment for CE graduates. No wonder there were a few HR agencies people on the prowl today.

swingtime

Sorta got cajoled by my neighbour Bernard and his friends to join them for their weekly golf session a few days ago, and i must say, this is quite an interesting sport. I've only seen golf on television before, never actually had any first-hand experience with the sport, so i guess i was a little looking forward to it too. We went to a public driving range in Taman Jurong and i was surprised to realise that golf can actually be cheaper than my bowling hobby. All you need are some clubs(a half set is more than sufficient for the novice) and you're off. the place is free and the balls are cheap.

Anyway, they all took it easy on me, knowing it was my first time on a driving range. Aw Yong took time to explain the basics of the sport; the posture, irons and woods, what the numbers mean, etc..
Bernard loaned me a 9-iron, and explained that this is probably the easiest club to get started. Well, i practiced adopting the right posture and had some trial swings and stuff like that, and then i thought i was ready to hit some balls. I lined up my first ball, swung, and promptly missed. well, i thought i got that one covered, seems i have much to learn.

Anyway, Bernard was hitting >200m drives almost all the time(which was really amazing to me), Mike and Aw Yong weren't slouches either. but what was really amazing to me was the fact that there are quite a few old people at the range and they were hitting balls with no effort at all. Its like they just swing and the ball just takes on a life of its own. I was also impressed most with Mike's equipment. the bugger's got a big bag with some fancy clubs, but what really stood out was this lean mean driver with a fantastically light shaft; all of them who tried it drove the ball further then their own clubs.

Well, this is fun, and i expect it to be better once i get better at it. i guess thats when i'll enjoy it more. Right now, it is quite exasperating not being able to even hit the ball every time. and i need to work on the grip as well as the posture. though i'm glad to say that at least the swinging motions are more or less similar to softball, a sport that i have more experience with. In fact, Bernard thought i was playing baseball when he first saw me swinging the club. i guess i've got to start working on reducing those body movements i've built up swinging a bat.

That being said, i can't wait for the next session. hopefully, it'll be more fulfilling than the first.

Quote of the day: An albatross, an eagle and a birdie, more than just birds;)

Iron Chef

Had a BBQ session with my neighbour Bernard and friends yesterday evening. It started kind of awkwardly because it was all his friends. But that wasn't a big problem at all, thanks to my boisterous and amicable nature(heh heh!), we were soon getting on splendidly^_^.

though it was the first time i've ever seen such a interestingly cute BBQ pit. it has never been more challenging cooking food over something so small.

well, its hard to gauge the scale from the picture but 6 wings covers more than half of the wire mesh already. Anyway, one interesting incident that happened was, there's this guy who insisted on putting everything on foil("Its healthier lah"). Needless to say, this run contrary to our idea of a BBQ. Meat over open fire, thats the whole idea right? nothing better than carcinogen-laced charred-grilled meat.

Anyway, we had the last laugh since all the stuff we cooked over the foil all weren't cooked thoroughly. Anyway i feel we're all in for an "unhealthy" evening anyway, the moment we decided to have a BBQ session. not much way you can get food thats nice and not grilled when you're BBQing. in any case, i think that defeats the whole purpose of the activity anyway.

Anyway, this is like the dunno how many times some one has remarked that i looked like Austin Powers(groooovy, baby!), especially with my specs. the thing is, i have no idea whether its an insult or a compliment.-_-" What's more important is I don't think i even look remotely like him. the specs, it has got to be the specs(nods).

Seefood=(

Andy, the guy who got first in the Alpine ICE competition a few days ago gave us all a treat today. Sort of in celebration of his win. It was the first time i have ever seen someone rake up a close to $400 bill at a coffeeshop. Everyone tried to guess how much the bill was and nobody even came close.>_<

Anyway, i would have enjoyed the meal more if i haven't been plagued by this annoying cyst in my eye. I didn't touch any of the seafood or the spicy stuff despite all my friends encouragement that one or two isnt gonna hurt. I don't know why but it seems i always have this problem. when the weather gets hot or when i get sick, BAM! my eye starts to get screwed up. people who know me for a while would have seen me with a cyst in my eye at some point in time. Now i wonder how long this one will last. Its giving me a hell of a neuralgia in the face, and i'm drinking so much water now that i seem like someone trying  his best to get incontinence.

the worst part is i've got to endure the endless tauntings from people who always seem to think this condition is bought on by excessive viewing of "questionable" material.

To answer all the people who have, erm, expressed concern, I DID NOT PEEP AT ANY FEMALE UNDRESSING OR IN THE MIDST OF RELIEVING THEMSELVES. To this day, how this conclusion came about still eludes me.

Anyway, received in the mail some of Jasper's(EE23!) wedding pics today. well i have been to a few weddings but i have got to say his is the one i will remember for a loooong time. Anyway, these pics arrived by REGISTERED MAIL and you can see the painstaking work they've done to make it as unique as possible. Can you imagine they've got to do this individually for EVERYONE who came to the banquet? i really marvel at their creativity as well as determination to make this experience a memorable one both for them and as well as for every guest. Either that, or they've got a REALLY good wedding planner.

Anyway, here's a pic of how the photos came. It came binded in a small about A3 sized booket, rivet-binded and contains four glossy photos, one of which was a shot of me with the happy couple. A DVD of the entire event was also included and attached to the last page.

Now is that cool or what?

Ice Ice Baby....

Was at this Alpine ICE competition today, to lend support to 3 of my friends who took part. We don't really get much car audio competitions in our neck of the woods, so i was looking forward to getting a chance to talk to people and have a look at what type of setups are in vogue now. Anyway, this competition was unique since i think its the first one on our shores that has a mobile Ipod category. 2 of my friends were in the open category and one other guy was competing in the Ipod category.

Andy got top spot in the Ipod category(now thats a big trophy) but it was a shame my two other friends didn't get top three placements. I've heard their setups and i think they've got about the best thats possible in the market now. Oh well, i guess there's always one mountain higher. Now i'm dying to know the offical rankings, so at least i'll know how they fared compared to the rest. I've got this lingering feeling they just missed the top three.

Anyway, for non-competitors like me, the highlight of the day was when all of us got a chance to have a look at all the different setups and installs. I even managed to audit a Mini Cooper S who i must admit had one hell of an install. I was shocked when the owner let on that the interconnects alone were worth a whooping 6 grand. The sound was quite impressive though i didnt really connect with the subwoofer bass, too "raw" for my liking although its easily the nicest one i've ever seen.

The pic speaks for itself, really...

Anyway, there's more of where that came from. althought it isnt much and the quality is anything to shout at. well, you can't expect SLR performance since the pics were taken with my trusty handphone cam. Anyway, Its all uploaded here.

I didn't take pics of ALL the cars, just the ones i feel that really set themselves apart from the rest=) One thing i've noticed is that all the major soundshops have really raised the bar in terms of installation, workmanship as well as creativity. I see metal, veneer, paint, piano finished wood, even leather being used. There's a larger plethora of equipment being used too. In fact, i think the top three were all using different speaker models, quite a marked difference from before when its always the same speakers hogging the spotlight. its all quite a refreshing change and I'm really looking forward to the next big competition. Who knows, maybe i just might find it in me to participate=)