Its been an awesome 30+ days of travelling around South East Asia.
Soon it'll be time to start work. 2nd july 2012 to be exact.
I'm still editing photos to upload to facebook.
Hopefully when i'm done, i'll be posting them here, together with a narrative.

Hopefully.

Just caught the 1997 film by James Cameron with the girlfriend, this time, in 3D.
Wow, right? Actually not really. Halfway through the film, I stopped noticing that the movie was in 3D, the effect being pretty subtle. I still can't decide if thats a good or bad thing. Did i pay extra for something that i don't even notice? Or was the effect done very well because it doesn't give me a headache deciding where the focus was.

I think i'll go with it being good.

Afterall, I decided that its worth watching, again, for the third time, because reviews of the show said it wasn't half bad.

I define a good movie as one that I don't mind re-watching. And I think an outstanding one would be one that i don't mind re-watching after its been aired on TV countless times, and 15 years after its debut. I guess Titanic is pretty outstanding then. Despite several factual inconstancies, some of which are listed  here, and here. Then again, i'm not watching some documentary, I'm watching a sappy love story. A pretty good sappy love story. :)

So, was it worth watching in 3D? I would say you'll enjoy it as much when you watch at home in 2D. A good show is a good show regardless of it being in 2D, or 3D, or 20D.

Besides, the sound system in Eng Wah West Mall is really bad. There was a pretty loud buzzing sound when the scene was supposed to be quiet. Ha.

By the way, Titanic sank on 15th of April 1912. By coincidence, we caught the movie on 15th of April 2012.

Wrenching hearts 15 years later, in 3D, Titanic by James Cameron. (I heard several people sobbing around me when the band decided to go down with the ship, playing music.)
An Engineering student's take on happiness.


Which of course, is the hardest part.
Well i'm supposed to be studying now, at a Starbucks, but as many studying sessions go, here I am looking for other things to do besides what i should be doing.

This is a concept I have been thinking about for quite some time now: Life is like a Video Game.


Each stage of our lives are like stages in a game.

Stage 1 - Infancy and early education
We start from a hapless organism, with little powers and responsibilities besides completing easy quests such as 'eat your dinner' and 'learn your alphabet'. As we complete each quest, we get small rewards such as 'playtime extended', and of course, experienced earned.

As we gain experience, we level up(grow up), and we move on to new stages.

Stage 2 - Primary and Secondary Education
In this stage, most players still follow a general flow of skill upgrades, 'learn multiplication table' and 'learn Singapore History', as well as interact with other players, doing side quests such as 'block catching' and 'making new friends'.

Of course, as we progress along stages and complete large quests such as 'PSLE' and 'O levels', we get Bonus Stages(holidays) where were throughly enjoy ourselves doing random stuff.

It is also here, where many players are forced to complete side quests to earn more experience, such as 'Tuition'. With the extra time comes greater rewards too, like better weapons for your Main Quests.

As we level up even more, choices get more diverse, and people go on entirely different skill paths, complete with different quests and experience.

Stage 3 - University, Polytechnics, ITE
Even within this wide classification, players can choose to join Guilds(CCA), with their separate quests and camaraderie. For example, I'm damn glad i joined Guild 'ODAC' while in Stage Anderson JC of my life. The guild was pretty small, but it meant the guild members are pretty darn well bonded. I'm sure i made friends for life. We often come together to celebrate guildmember's Stage progression, especially into Stage - Marriage.
We sometimes come together to complete side quests such as 'Adventure Races' and such. But as we progress along our separate skill trees, it becomes harder to complete quests that we used to do with ease. Unless, of course, one chose the 'Adventure' skill tree to progress in.

I'm about to complete Stage 3, and preparing to enter Stage 4 - Work, as well as Stage 5 - Marriage. In the future, other Stages may come such as 'Kids'. But I'll tackle those as they come.

I am glad that there will be an impending Bonus Stage (Grad Trip) before progressing onto the arduous and long Stage 4 which would last me for the rest of the game.


Just life Video Games, as we start off at lower levels, we can't wait to level up, and progress to the next stage, so we rush through the stages, always looking forward to the next stage. Soon, we realise that there are no Safe Points, and it is impossible to return to level 5 and live through Stage 1 again, no matter what significant hidden secret we missed then.

There is also no 'pause button', nor 'reset' button, and no, we can't switch the game and start over. All we can do is savor each moment and each stage, and enjoy the game as it was meant to be enjoyed. Meet new players and let other players go on their ways. Sometimes, you might find another partner willing to go with you through your Stages, and complete quests with you. Some might switch partners, some might like to be the lone ranger.

Through it all, we mustn't forget the people who guided us through the initial stages of the game, who sacrificed their own quests to support us along ours, who provided us with the gold needed to buy our first weapons and items. As they dedicated their middle stages to us, we should help them enjoy their final stages.


Life, is a Game. one with an infinite number of choices, no safe points, and no reset button. Its up to you if you want to enjoy the game, or curse every stage of it.
The ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands is having this Titanic Exhibition these few months. So we decided to head there for a look-see on Saturday, and 顺便 celebrate Valentine's Day.

Tickets were $20 for Singaporeans. If you go in a group of 4, you get the Cartier Timepiece exhibition along for free. We joined another group who needed 2 extra people to form their four, so we had a peek at the Cartier exhib too, even though my girl was bored out her mind.


Huge Ass poster at the ticketing counter.

Huge Ass poster above the entrance at B1.

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed. I think it standard procedures for most exhibitions. And i didn't want to flout the rules and steal a few shots like many people did. So the only pics i have are those taken outside. Haha.

However, the exhibition starts of with a brief history of how the Titanic came to be, along with her two sisters, Olympic and Britannic. The facts and specs were listed in a timeline sort of format, with actual artifacts to spice things up abit, so it isn't too boring.

Then came the life-sized exhibits of the walkways, first to third class rooms, and many many more artifacts. All the artifacts, names, portraits, stories and such brings the reality of the whole ship and incident to mind. I don't really know how to express this, but when I watched the movie(its coming out in 3D soon btw), I just treated it as a movie, so I wasn't too affected by the deaths and what not. However, with this detailed exhibit, and all the real-life samples and facts laid out, it really hit me that 'hey, shit, this whole thing is real, and many people really died, shivering and drowning'.

There was a huge ass 'iceburg', which was just a gigantic block of ice too, where you can put your hand on and attempt to melt your print in. I tried, but gave up because it was too cold, and i looked stupid standing there with my hand on the ice.

There was a deck area too, where you can see 'stars', feel the 'breeze', and see the 'water'. Overall, pretty life-like. Because all the exhibits were 'walk-through', it feels like you're walking through various parts of the ship. Appreciate the size of the Boilers required to run the ship.

As I said, no pictures allowed, so no pictures to show. I have some pics of the passes and stuff below though.

Also, there is this $5 extra souvenir package thing, which entitles you to a short film/documentary about a diving effort to check out the Titanic lying on the seabed. Fast fact, the pressure at that depth is around 10 full size goods trains pressing down on you. Means if you end up outside the submarine at that depth, you'll be crushed to the size of a coke can baby.

The show was not bad, if you're interested in documentaries and finding out stuff. They overlayed cut scenes and people walking around in parts of the wreck, so was pretty cool. The souvenir is was waste of effort to carry. Its some polar bear paper-weight. TOTALLY unrelated to the Titanic. I suspect its something the gift shop had too much excess of, and couldn't sell, so take and cheat people of $5.

Okay, enough words, pictures time.

Huge Ass floor-to-ceiling posters. As the ceiling is the height of a 3 story building, you can imagine the size of the posters.

鐵達尼號

Cool boarding passes, with details of passengers. So you'll probably get different passengers. Mine was a guy in third class. This made the whole thing even more 'real'. Near the end, there was a wall of people saved, and those who died. And you can find your passenger in the list there. There were many 1st class passengers saved, and many 3rd class passengers dead. 

The R.M.S Titanic life-jacket. I suspect the actual thing doesn't look so modern.

Next up! Dinner at Waraku Japanese at The Central.

Gigantic bowl of cheese ebi curry udon. Pretty nice.

TWO gigantic bowls of Ramen. The bowls were gigantic, the serving was normal. But still filling.

Tasty Creation at Marble Slab Creamery. Was rather good. Better than Cold Stone according to the GF. SHIOK. :D

Andddddddd.... thats all folks. :)

Happy Valentine's Day in advance Dear. :)


Medals and stuff from Primary school till now (less now, more primary school). Haha!

Decided to take a picture for memories sake before i throw them away. Something to haolian about next time.
Saw this quote somewhere, and found it very true.

In this hectic lifestyle we have now in Singapore, or maybe in many other countries too, there is a constant stress to excel and do better than others. Hell, we're even stressed to keep up with the average, as the bar is set so high.

So much so that we regret every minute that we spend slacking, when we could have done something more productive. For students, that would be studying, and for the working population, working. 

Sure, most people can balance their work-social life, and they wouldn't treat a gathering with friends as a waste of time. However, how many can say that just lying in bed and not sleeping, not thinking, but just chill-laxing, is not a waste of time?

I think its not a waste, if you enjoy doing it. Once again, it ties in with want you want in life. I guess the common goal would be to be happy, and satisfied. Be it working hard now so you can relax in the future, or just enjoying what you are doing. Well, when you do something you enjoy, it is one small step towards that happiness, even if it is wasting time.

Therefore, if you enjoyed whatever you did, no matter how unproductive or insignificant it was compared to whatever you should be doing, it was worth the time.

Chillax peeps. :)


In the future, we'll be telling our kids: "Boy ah, last time there were no multi-storey carparks. Everyone parked on the ground floor, in parking lots with grass beside the void decks. We used to be able to cycle around in those huge open air carparks."


Well, its the 2nd week of 2012 now, and I guess its kinda overdue that i should post some reflections or resolutions of some sort. That is, if i had any reflections. But i don't.

Looking back on the year 2011, i realised i really hadn't done much the entire year! That in itself is pretty mortifying. I came back from Korea, and started my Industrial Attachment. The one in which i got a B+, which kinda dashed my hopes of going up a Class in Honors. Oh well.

The first semester of year 4 was pretty dull. I rented a room in hall, but didn't participate in any hall activities. Somehow they don't seem so attractive now that many of my friends have either graduated, or are no longer staying.

However, I picked up Muay Thai. Have i mentioned that I have always wanted to pick up a martial art? Well, its not much of a start, seeing that is a small interest group in NTU. But well, its at least a start. Hopefully i can get to join a gym after i start work. (heck i even bought gloves and wraps)

Besides that, nothing interesting in 2011, sadly.


Well, enough of that! 2012 promises to be an exciting year.
I will be graduating if all goes well.
There should be a grad trip. Hopefully a backpacking trip around South East Asia.
I should get a job, hopefully a good one.
I should be enjoying myself in this final sem. :)

So far, I've visited wavehouse, and found out surfing ain't that easy afterall. heh. But its really quite addictive. I'm looking forward to the next time we go there already. 1-for-1 wednesdays FTW!

And, I've finally graduated to wakeboarding, after cable ski-ing for three times! Its as hard as i thought it would be, and as expensive. $80 for 4 hours. But since we had to take turns, i ended up boarding only twice. Still, was a good experience, but one i would not repeat in the near future, until i get a steady income.

Hopefully i won't neglect this blog too much now that school has started! :) Cheers and happy new year everyone!