My sister has an iPhone 3G.
It worked for a while. Then the charger wire started acting erratically. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't charge at all. Sometimes it keeps asking us to switch to Airplane Mode while charging. One day, while charging, it died. I spent 5 hours trying to restore it. It didn't work Now it's a piece of junk. Very expensive junk. My dad bought it in Singapore, from an unauthorised dealer. This means the chances of it being fixed are very, very slim. Sigh.Archive for the ‘uncategorised’ Category
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Morning discussions
[Originally posted on Tumblr, 5 September 2009]
her: pioneers were the real dinosaurs
her: lions – sabretoothcats, crocodiles – super croc, ….
her: oh yes…..long necks like me….except I’m not tall but I eat veggies …lots
me : what… you’re a dinosaur?
her: Hey, man didnt start out as vegetarians
her: they kill for meat … but herbivourous dinosaurs ‘pluck’ veggies from trees or from the ground
me : so…
me : hmm
me : your theory is that man and dinosaurs DID live together
me : then they mated
her: yes
her: WHAT
me : and their offsprig were carnivorous, herbivorous
me : or omnivorous
me : because of variation of genes
me : ._.
her: that would be a very ugly baby indeed
me : us :(
her: :(
her: you could say that -
The making of The Classroom
[Originally posted on Tumblr, 5 September 2009]
VC: cute… the office intro sequence…
me: :
me: )
VC: how;s you?.. :)
me: ok
VC: what caemra are u using anyways?
me: Canon 500D
VC: Ahhhhhh.. i seeee
me: with a slightly dusty lens
VC: but
VC: it’s 20fps for full hd.. :(
VC: oh well…lol
me: it aint full hd
VC: hd ready?
me: anyways the video now IS hd
VC: lol
me: but there’s also HD
me: see?
VC: =.=”
me: you could use 20fps HD or 25fps hd
me: i choose the second
me: hd vs HD
VC: lol
VC: 25 HD ready la
me: i wish i was ich
me: *rich…30 seconds later…
me: anyways my comptuer also having tough time supporting 720p, yet alone 1080p
me: yeah lets
me: wait actually i don’t know if it’s p or i
me: wtever
VC: what editing software u using?..
VC: it’s p
me: premiere pro lol
VC: hahaha… hmmmm
VC: :)
VC: well… u could make the text slightly smaller.. :)
me: windows -.-
VC: haha
me: i could
VC: windows is still reasonably good ok.. :)
me: but i’m lazy :D
VC: lazy ass.. :)
me: actually its about the same size as the original
me: the shadow is too dark though x.x
me: and too far from the words
me: psssh
VC: it’s about the same size… but somehow somethingis wrong with the text.. :P
me: cant find the font ^^
VC: get more shaky footage… :)
VC: shakey*
VC: :P
me: heh
me: i thought of this in school suring bio class
me: so iw as like.. hmmm
VC: HAHAHAH
VC: random… yet interesting.. :P
me: i wish i had time to compare the original title first
me: but i was in school and had 5 hours
me: so i just went off memory ^^
VC: hahahha
VC: oh well…
VC: looks lik ea 15 minutes job… :)
VC: feels fun -
The Classroom
[Originally posted on Tumblr, 5 September 2009]
The Classroom.
A short video based on the TV series “The Office” intro sequence. Shot and edited on the same day, 11 September 2009. If you want to compare this to the real intro sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-N8bF-BxO0
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An essay; part 2
[Originally posted on Tumblr, 5 September 2009]
[continued from my previous blogpost: "An essay, part 1"]
Here’s my revised edition, after receiving a load of complaints about how my previous essay was “too chronological” and should be more “general”.
Here we go:
There are some experiences in life which I know will be extremely difficult to forget. Right on the top of that list would be my amazing experience in New York. I went to New York as a student, a boy wanting to learn more about the world of business. However, I left with not just knowledge, but also new friends and the experience of a lifetime.
I had almost an entire year of anticipation from my nomination for the program until the day I arrived in New York. Stepping into the hallowed grounds of Columbia University was a special experience too; not only was it an Ivy League university, some of its notable alumni include Barack Obama and Dwight D. Eisenhower. That first day, I checked into the admittedly small dormitory room before going back downstairs to meet my group.
The basic structure of the Business program worked like this: around 180 students from all over the world are brought together for a summer program. They are divided into groups and assigned a Teacher Leader. Then, over ten days they are taught about the world of business, finance and economics while visiting many of the famous landmarks of New York and Philadelphia.
Some of the places we went to were a great educational experience. Take for example our visit to Wall Street. We visited the New York Stock Exchange, probably the most important financial buildings in the world. Just down the street was the Museum of American Finance. The museum had a huge collection of artifacts related to the history of finance in America, right from its independence until the present.
Speaking of independence, our full-day trip to Philadelphia brought us to places such as the National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I can say without a doubt America has one of the most interesting histories in the world. Also in Philadelphia was the world-renowned Wharton Business School, a university which everyone who plans to study business aspires to go to.
Throughout the program we were taken on sightseeing tours around New York as well. In seven days we were taken to many of the famous landmarks of New York. In the heart of frantic Manhattan City, we walked down Fifth Avenue, shopped in Times Square and watched a musical, West Side Story on Broadway. On 53rd Street we were taken on a tour through the Museum of Modern Art. In the MoMA, I had the rare experience of seeing some of the most famous contemporary artwork in the world such as Jackson Pollock’s ‘One: Number 31, 1950’, Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ and a whole gallery of Pablo Picasso’s art pieces.
No trip to New York is complete without a visit to the famous 300-foot green copper statue out in New York Harbour. We had the privilege of taking a ferry to Liberty Island where we were able to walk around the base of the Statue of Liberty. This moment I think was the most memorable one of the entire program, as I got see up close one of the most famous landmarks in the entire world. In the nearby Ellis Island Museum, we learned about how the Statue of Liberty was the first landmark most immigrants saw when they arrived in America seeking a better life. Now, it remains a symbol of freedom and liberty all over the world.
The program was not just about sightseeing and learning, it was also a great place to meet new people from around the world. For example, my group (Group 11) consisted of wildly contrasting and varied characters. Our leader, Rose Bobeck was a kindergarden teacher from Arizona, on her 7th People to People Program. As for the other students, well, it was an extremely diverse mix of people. We had four students from all over the U.S.A.; Delaware, California, Wisconsin and Texas. Two students came from Bolivia, and the other five students came from South Korea, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Ecuador and the Czech Republic. I also had several friends from the other groups, including two Malaysians who had come from Penang.I made a ton of friends during the program, but my closest friend was the Czech boy from my group, Jakub Losenický, by virtue of sitting next to him during our long bus rides. Over the course of a week, I learned much about Czech culture, some of its history and a little of its language. Of course, I reciprocated by telling him about Malaysia and its great points (food!). Many of my other groupmates were interesting as well. In particular, my bus had six Bolivians on it, so in between their raucous behaviour I found out that Bolivians in general are very lax and happy-go-lucky.
So far I’ve neglected to mention all the hard work we did throughout the program, for this was first and foremost a business program. On our second day of the program, we had our first long lecture on business. In a nutshell, the lecture was about the importance of a making business plan before starting a business. Our program-long project was also assigned here; over the next eight days we would have to design a business plan revolving around the theme of “Emergency and Disaster Relief”. Right after the lecture we were separated into our groups to begin brainstorming about the plan.There were several other lectures during our stay at Columbia University. A lecture on marketing, one on the finer details on business planning and even one on how for-profit and non-profits companies worked. We spent about two to three hours each day in between our excursions planning, formulation, revising and finalising the business plan. The entire afternoon of the 8th day was spent on finishing the business plan and making it into a presentation. That night, our group presented our business plan: a company called Black Box which specialises in providing training to companies about emergency procedures. The presentations by the other eleven groups were equally creative, with ideas such as a cell phone alert company (for the theme “Emergency and Disaster Relief”), an indoor beach (for “Teenage Activities”) and solar paneled cars (for “Green Technology”).
Another interesting event that day was a speech by the Ambassador of Iraq. By a stroke of luck, another People to People Program, the International Diplomacy Program, was held at the same place and same time as our Business Program, so we had the treat of listening to the Iraq Ambassador talk to all of us about the socio-political issues affecting Iraq. The talk was enlightening and dispelled many rumours and misconceptions about Iraq and its foreign policies.
With all our work out of the way, the second last day was a fun R&R day. The organisers had hired a private lunch cruise along the Hudson River just for us students to celebrate in! Once inside, you could literally smell the mouth-watering food. There was even a dance floor and a deejay to play our requests! Needless to say, the two-hour cruise was the a great stress reliever, where we could just let loose and enjoy ourselves on what was practically our last day together.And it really was our last day together, for even as I woke up at 6am on the next day (the 24th of June), some people had already left the campus to catch their early morning flights. It was a bittersweet moment when the rest of us all bade farewell to the friends we made during our stay in New York; bitter because we had to part after just ten days of friendship, but sweet because we all knew that we would be leaving with more knowledge, experience and friends than when we arrived. This trip to New York was truly an irreplaceable and unforgettable experience which I will surely treasure for the rest of my life.
by: Tan Jiann Meng, 5 Mozart