Holy... Whatever.

That's what I'm in right now.

I procrastinated today.

Completed half of Jap homework and ONE tutorial question from Mechanics of Materials. Watched 12 episodes of Elfen Lied (it's a really nice anime; you HAVE to watch it); just finished the series.

Whoopdeedo.

P.S.: Now you know my super-duper-ultimate bad habit: not being able to limit myself to watching ONE episode of anime per day. Sue me.

of fur and wool.

"Ignorance is bliss."

-Unknown-

Kevin: Sheep have fur.

Me: No, sheep does not have fur! Sheep have fleece.

That's right, sheep's fur provides us with fleece.

No, sheep's fleece provides us with wool.

NO!! Sheep's fur provides us with fleece!! Wool is from cotton.

No, cotton is from worms!!! DUH!!

Cotton don't come from worms; SILK comes from worms. Cotton comes from plants.

... Oh. Right. Well then, where does wool come from?

No idea.

Told you it came from sheep.

Whatever.

Writer alert.

"OMG WTH!!!! WHICH IDIOT TOOK THIS PIC!!!"

-Rae on Facebook-

Remember Ryan?

Yup, that story with the tag line:

Is it the fate of the female species to have to live in a loveless marriage for the rest of their lives, where their only responsibility is to uphold the honor of their husbands and provide them with heirs?

I had forgotten how the story went, and I decided to read it again.

Oh, how is it that my language seemed to flourish much more back then? I didn't realize I had such writing potential.

*scoffs*

*Spoiler: For those of you who still don't understand the ending - yes, she did it on purpose. Note 'crocodile tears' at the last sentence.*

Remember What Is Cinema?

I know you guys might have read it from my Associated Content web page, but I have decided that AC doesn't earn me much (heck, I only earned 25 cents so far, after 3 whole years of publishing my stuff there!), so I decided to post it on Raedarling Chimera too. I know it isn't fiction, but what the heck. It's my blog, so I get to give myself exceptions. So there.

Remember I also said I'd written a paper on Metamorphosis and how I didn't want to post it online just in case I got caught for plagiarizing myself?

Well, I got my paper back today, and I got a B+ for it. I guess that's okay, though I was aiming for at least an A-.

Here it is.


***

Some smart-alec decided to post this picture up on Facebook:


See how I look like I'm desperately flapping my arms in the back?

I remember very well I was supposed to be playing badminton. Don't ask me what happened back there.

At least this is one of those rare pictures of me where friends actually 'like' it.

***

P.S.: I'm gonna delete my AC account soon; it doesn't earn me as much as Nuffnang does anyway.

P.P.S.: I'm not showing off; I'm merely sharing my works with you guys so my writing efforts don't go to waste. Also hoping that some random book publisher might stumble upon my blog and actually appreciate my works and ask me to write for him or something.

*pfft. Fat chance.*

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!! LEFT 2 MORE DAYS!!! CLICK HERE TO VOTE! http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/6864/voteable_entries/1188808

Bumptop

There are managers so preoccupied with their e-mail messages that they never look up from their screens to see what's happening in the nondigital world.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi -

First off, watch this 2-minute video. Go on, watch it. It won't take long.

Spent 2 whole hours last night personalizing my desktop. It now looks like this:

Fig 1: My new desktop.

Click on its front wall, and the view changes to this:

Fig 2: Side view.

Cool, huh?

Just in case you're wondering, yes those images you see hanging on the wall are actually programs and files; I varied their sizes according to order of importance; the bigger the image is, the more important the file/program is.

See that FUCK icon on the left? It's actually my 'uni' folder where all my academic stuff are. The 'home movies' poster lying on the floor is actually my "Movies" folder where all my movies are. That big patch of comic? That's my tasks.

See tiny Stitch hanging on the right? That's my screenmate, Stitch. It's a program where Stitch crawls all around your computer screen, making weird noises and stuff. He even picks his nose occasionally and throws his nose poo onto your desktop. The lamb beside Stitch is another screenmate, Lamb. He is similar to Stitch, but less annoying.

See that stressed out cartoon guy on the floor? He's my Stress Reducer. It's a program which allows you to destroy your desktop without literally smashing it (hence costing an arm and a leg for repairs afterwards, when you later find yourself no longer in a state of insanity).

This is what you call vandalizing your room without getting grounded:

Fig 1: Illustration of how Stress Reducer works effectively for your computer and your health. Note cracks and termites on floor. How zen.

Of course, personally, I'd rather put this brilliant program to better use:

Fig 2: Illustration of how I might misuse Stress Reducer against my enemies.

Yeah, be so jealous of my newly pimped desktop. You know you are.

Wanted to illustrate further by taking a video of my desktop with all those cool Bumptop features and stuff, but there was a technical problem that made me go "WAHHHHHT THAAA FFFF...."

So there you go.

I'm a tech noobie.

***

On an unrelated note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WAN THENG!!

Here are your presents:

Sorry that I uploaded the pictures of me with your presents instead of those pictures of you with your presents. LOL.



P.S.: That birthday card was handmade by ME. Yours truly. Thank you, thank you no need to compliment me but since you're already doing it I'll accept it anyway.

Amelie

"The fool looks at a finger that points at the sky."

-The Sacré-Coeur Boy, Amelie-

So I've just finished watching Amelie, a movie I quite "forced" myself to finish, because on some parts, it really didn't interest me much.



On the other hand, I'm glad I finished it. Though it's ending isn't as romantic as some people might claim, it's still worth a watch.

A kinda different genre from the movies you'd usually catch on theaters. I love how Amelie's life is portrayed so meaningfully despite the fact that she's just a waitress in a small cafe, and you'll have to admit, there's not much of a future in that.

I guess this just goes to show that the quality of your life isn't all about how much money you earn, or what you work as.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor.

Then, I changed my mind and decided to be a singer.

Then a scientist.

Now, I just want to be happy.

I don't do movie reviews (though I pride myself to say that I do critic movies quite well, ever since I completed my course on 'What Is Cinema?' in my last semester); already evident from the fact that I've always mentioned about the movies I've watched, but never did bother to put much thought on... uh... reviewing it?

Or whatever you call those "descriptions-about-movies" and stuff.

If you had really wanted those, you'd be at IMBd, not here.

Of course, having already "What Is Cinema?" and currently studying "Introduction to Magical Realism (in films and books)", you'd expect me to be able to critic/review books and movies pretty well.

It's just that, I don't do these stuff. It's too academical.

I mean, yes, I do love doing these courses, on giving your own original thoughts and opinions and stuff on literature and art (what can I say? I love flaunting my language and my eccentric thoughts), but not here.

'Aight, it's late. Shit, I've got a 8.30 a.m. lecture tomorrow. Arrgh. I hate Wednesday nights.

P.S.: VOTE FOR ME BY CLICKING: http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/6864/voteable_entries/1188808, Thanks much!!!

Magix.

“The trouble with crying over an onion is that once the chopping gets you started and the tears begin to well up, the next thing you know you just can’t stop!”

-Like Water For Chocolate, page 3-

So there's this website called Cursor Mania, which apparently allows you to change your computer cursor to any design you wish, other than your boring old arrow pointer.

Which I think is cool.

Lookit all the cutesy cursors!!!

Now, look. Isn't this cool?

My cursor is currently a cute flower with orange petals and blinking eyes.

Sorry for the lack of updates again; exams are coming in precisely 34 more days and I've not started on stocking up my brain with useless information just yet.

Last night was hectic. Bad mood. Don't ask.

Here's my art piece:

Can you guess what it is?

Guess!!

Here's 10 seconds for you.

...

.....

It's a lion. Duh.

If you're wondering how I did it, it's fairly simple. First, I drew the black outline using a black marker, then I scanned it onto my computer, cleaned it up a little, and then added color to it using Adobe Photoshop.

Haha. I am so talented, no?

Am currently reading Like Water For Chocolate; it's a book about Tita, a girl who is forbidden to love and marry, because of her unfortunate fate of being the youngest daughter, hence, having to take care of her mother until the day she dies.

As all love stories are, Tita then goes against the family tradition and falls in love with Pedro. With the two of them so in love with each other but not being able to get married, Pedro then decides to instead marry Tita's sister just to be able to get close to her.

Genre of book?

Magical realism.

Chickens forming tornadoes, body heat setting bathrooms on fire, teardrops making people puke, love making so intense it emits fireworks.

All happening in "reality". Or so it happens oh-so-apparently in the book.

You guessed it. I'm reading this book for my Introduction to Magical Realism course, alongside with other books like Metamorphosis and Of Love and Other Demons.

Remember that Metamorphosis 1000-word assignment I mentioned a few blog entries back?

I'll post it up here once I get that assignment back. I can't do it now coz if I do and the professor hasn't gone through my assignment just yet, when he does, he might think I plagiarized from some smart scholar, a.k.a. "Raedarling".

Here's for laughs:


I'm still not getting used to having a round animated object as my cursor; I keep pointing and clicking at the wrong places.

Never mind. At least it's still cute.

"69"

“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”

-Mark Twain-

Remember I said there was this '69' forfeit during our Little Grass MAF celebration?

Here it is:




Still no pics yet, coming up soon.

***

Was in a farking bad mood last night. Some people are just retarded perfectionists with too much time on their hands.

My apologies that I am unable to rant about it here, for fear that news may spread and I gain one more unnecessary enemy.

But whatever. I ranted through e-mail, though. Tell me if you want it forwarded to you. I'll be very happy to do so.

backpacking.

"Fark."

-Rae-

For the past two days, I've been lugging around my tutorial book (that's where all my tutorials are; would never do without it), file (all important stuff inside; I'd never live without my trusty file) and organizer/notebook (filled with deadlines and to-do stuff!! Just steal my notebook and I'll be utterly lost) to and fro all around campus but never touched any of them.

In my bag, I brought along:

Math tutorials.
Japanese Language homework.
Mechanics of Materials tutorials.
Electric and Electronics tutorials.

Last night, I lugged my tutorials to the reading room, flipped to my math tutorial, and connected to the WiFi via iPod. Started reading fmylife.com for the next 1 hour or so, and then watched a movie on the laptop.

By 1.30 a.m., my math was still sitting in front of me. Untouched.

In only 2 days, I have already carried said tutorial book, file, and notebook to the following places:

Lecture hall.
Tutorial rooms.
Canteen.
Kevin's room.
Reading room.
Computer room.
Back to my room.
To Hall 8 Function Hall.
Kevin's room.
Back to my room.
Again to the reading room.
Back to computer room.

It's really surprising how one backpack can travel to so many places in 48 hours, with minimal zero usage of its contents.

Only just now, I spent 4 whole hours on my math tutorial, and I managed to solve 2.5 questions out of 21.

Two days of idling, and now this. What joy.

long, long post on dessert, uni life, and whateveriusuallyblogabout.

"If you're not sure whether to memorize a formula or not, just ask me if I can memorize it. If I can, you must too. If I can't, then you also no need."

-Prof. Chan Siew Hwa, my Thermodynamics lecturer-

Disclaimer: This is gonna be a pretty long post, due to my lack of stress today (lucky me!), hence having more time to blog, and also due to many events happening of late, and I will not be responsible for homicide if you die of boredom.

TWO CA'S IN A ROW TODAY!!!

I feel so damn relieved right now; like I'm suddenly free from stress or something. (Ha, ha. That's also why I've finally found the time to blog today.) Temporary euphoria. Wait till tonight. Oh gosh, tutorials are piling up.

See, euphoria's gone. Wait till tonight my ass.

=.=

***
HAAGEN DAZS BUFFET!!! (I know you're craving for some.)

Went for Haagen Dazs eat-all-you-can promotion, for only $ 19.90 per pax!!!!

Ice-cream haven!!!

I ate 6 and a half scoops of ice-cream (Belgium Choc, Tiramisu, Raspberry Sorbet, Green Tea, Rum Raisin, Cookies and Choc; the other half scoop, long story), and then I was damn stuffed.

Kevin ate 7 scoops while Leslie ate 9.

*Applause for LESLIE THE GREAT ICE-CREAM GOBBLER!!!**

I know you must be thinking "WHAT THE HELL GO TO HAAGEN DAZS EAT ALL YOU CAN AND THEN YOU EAT ONLY 6 SCOOPS???"

Excuse me horr, though one scoop is actually quite little, (and yes, I agree that 6 scoops of ice-cream ain't that much either) but why don't you go try? Very filling one leh!

I skipped lunch on purpose for this Haagen Dazs thingy, thinking that the hungrier I was, the more ice-cream I could eat, and I thought I could eat like 10 or 20 scoops of ice-cream or so.

On the contrary.

By the time lunch time came by, I was starving like hell and I was craving for solid food so much that I didn't feel like eating ice-cream anymore. Not that I had a choice, I was already sitting there waiting for my first order of Rum Raisin, Green Tea, and Tiramisu.

It didn't help that the mini-TV in the bus I was on featured a western chef preparing roasted lamb marinated with red wine.

On the way there, I was already thinking "Why don't we scrape this ice-cream idea altogether and go for a western cuisine instead?"

Why, oh why do people have to think of silly ideas such as TV-installment in public buses?

Not that it really mattered much later on, coz despite my hunger pang, I can say I still pretty much enjoyed my ice-cream. No more "You can't order anymore coz it's expensive and we're on a budget" or "Shit, why does every extra order cost so much more" !!!!!

This is practically the first time in my life I feel guilt-free while eating ice-cream.

Otherwise, everytime my mother buys a pint of Haagen Dazs home, she always tells me not to take big helpings so that the ice-cream won't finish too fast, and I'm always craving for more after the first helping. =(

It's nice to eat without having to worry about how much you pay. Of course, that is, if you are already prepared to pay a (not-so-cheap) amount in the first place.


I love Haagen Dazs.

***

Of professors and antics.

I've noticed that professors in my university love showing off.

"Let me share my study tips with you. You know my study tips can be trusted, because I graduated with a First Class Honours."

"You say you don't have time, but why don't you save time by reading your lecture notes in the bus, in the MRT, or whenever you go to the toilet? You say that means you don't have a life, but look at my life. I have more than 5 C's (The 5 Cs of Singapore, namely: Cash, Car, Credit card, Condominium, and membership(s) of Country club). What can you say about my life now?"

"Obviously, my Statistics are better than yours."

"I was previously a CEO in a car manufacturing company, and then I resigned and became the CEO of another company, before coming here a few years ago to be the Head Professor of Mechanical Engineering."

Of course, some are just plain eccentric:

Professor to students: (After a two-hour boring lecture) So, what have you learnt today?
Students: Nothing.
Prof: Don't hurt my feelings; I have a weak heart, you know. *proceeds to explaining what we (supposedly) have learnt today.*

My Mechanics of Materials lecturer displays a screen every 30 minutes of interval during his lecture, and students can actually text message their questions to a certain phone number, and their message will appear on the screen. This is so that other people can also read the question, and at the end of 5 minutes, the lecturer removes the screen and answers the questions posted.

Of course, as you can guess, only 5% of the students asked questions, and the other 95%... well... I'll just show you what messages are sometimes displayed:

Student 1: The guy sitting beside the left door, STOP SLEEPING!

At moment of display, everyone turns left and looks at a guy, still slumped on the desk, snoozing away.

Student 2: The girl in red looks HOT!!!

I texted back, "Thanks for your compliment. -Girl in Red-"

Student 3: MU lost last night!! (sniggers from a few students)

Student 4: Sir, why do we have to have exams? Why is life so stressful?

To which the lecturer then replied, "This is life."

Student 5: TODAY'S QUIZ IS CANCELLED!!
Student 6: Really? Yay!!!

To which the lecturer replied, "The quiz goes on as usual."

This text message system became so popular among students that there was once when the lecturer had to fix some technical problems. So he said "Sorry for letting you wait, I have to fix this. In the mean time, why don't you entertain yourselves", and turned the screen on.

Reminds me of parents who say "go watch TV" to their kids to temporarily stop them from bugging.

***
I WANT!!!

My 14-inch laptop is seriously killing me. I am NOT going to carry this around on campus for another 2.5 years of my uni life.

Like seriously, if I didn't want to carry my computer around, wouldn't it be better if I got a desktop instead; and if I did want to carry my computer around, wouldn't it be smarter to get one 'carry-able' instead of a 14-inch 2 kg one?

A laptop is meant to to a portable computer, so I want it to be as portable as possible.

I spotted this at Popular yesterday:





7 inch touch screen laptop!!!

Only $699.

I'll ask if my parents are willing to get it for me. I am NOT going to lug my 14 inch laptop around campus anymore.

***

Project idea - rejected.

I came up with an idea for my EID (Engineering Innovation and Design) project of how to make baby walkers safer for babies to use. I proposed installing a sensor which would automatically stop the baby walker from moving when it senses a stair nearby, hence, preventing babies from falling and hurting themselves.

If you don't know what a baby walker is, here's an illustration:


However, my professor rejected my idea. =(

He says that if consumers actually trust my new invention and if for some reason the sensor goes faulty, there goes their baby.

Maybe that's why this invention isn't in the market yet. And there I was, thinking "why the hell has nobody ever thought of this?"

P.S.: I don't know if I can go home this December. Project coming up. =(

P.P.S.: Maybe I should split this up into many short posts so that I can just grab one from my 'database of unposted posts' when I run out of ideas? Too lazy. Since I've already typed them out nicely, I might as well upload it.

P.P.P.S.: Mid-Autumn Festival celebration photos aren't up yet, will upload them ASAP. Thank you for your patience.

Mid Autumn Festival Celebration

UPDATE: Due to some technical problems, the voting system (the LG contest thingy; read below for more details) sometimes goes faulty and your vote may not be effective. After you click on the "vote now" button, you should be able to see a "I voted" sign with a tick beside it. If the "vote now" button is still there after u clicked it, it means you so please try again. Thank you very much for all your support!!!

O setting sun! though the time has come, I still warble under you, if none else does, unmitigated adoration.

-Walt Whitman-

STRESS TILL DIE!!!

I am seriously so farking fed up with tutorials, quizzes, assignments, and thoseotherneverendingetcetcetcetc.

Not that I'm not enjoying my uni life. On the contrary. I think it's moving waaaay too fast. In the blink of an eye, I'll find myself graduating and I'll wish I could stay for a little more longer.

OH, stop being sentimental.

***

Little Grass celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival.

Here's a picture:

More coming up later.

In the mean time, why don't you enjoy some videos:



Forfeit video:


In short, there's a leaf hidden in one person's body (yes, underneath clothes - DUH), and the blindfolded person has to search for it.

ooh la la~~

Too naughty for a Mid-Autumn festival celebration?

Ask Uncle Cheng. He was the one with the idea.

There was another interesting one with Sin Wei and Wai Hon doing the '69' (ooh, wouldn't that be nice to watch!!!) - with Sin Wei at the bottom and Wai Hon on top - but unfortunately, Wai Hon insists that the video not be uploaded.

Bummer.

You should have seen their faces. LOL.

Two guys doing the 69, what's more interesting than that?

Rest of the pictures coming up later; waiting for Wai Hon to send them to me.

***

Happy 1 year!!!

We ate at Vienna international buffet, which cost $74. Lucky me, I didn't have to pay for the bill coz 'the man wears the pants'. LOL.

They had oysters, sashimi, crabs, prawns, etc.

Free flow of red wine and cocktail too!!!

Overall, it was pretty good. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Too bad we were too busy eating to take any pictures.

(Thanks for your gift. Really, I loved it.)

***

LG CONTEST!!!

So LG just came up with a contest where you have to take a photo with a transparent object, and get your friends to vote for you on Facebook. The top 6 contestants get to win a LG GD900, a.k.a. the TRANSPARENT KEYPAD PHONE!!!

Isn't it just damn chio!!!!

Anyway, LG is good enough to give away 6 FREE PHONES, so I thought I might as well grab the chance.

Here are my entry photos:










Please vote for me by clicking on this link so that I might win. Each person is allowed to vote once every 24 hours, so please vote for me as often as you can!!!!

Here's the link again:

http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/6864/voteable_entries/1188808

PLEASE HELP ME TO WIN THIS PHONE!!!!

P.S.: Last night, I asked several friends to vote for me and they said they did, but funnily their names didn't appear on my "friends who voted for Rachel" list. =(

Please don't do that. It's very hurtful.

Fark

FARK I'M SO BUSY AND STRESSED OUT I'M GOING TO FARKING DIE WHEN WILL THE WORKLOAD STOP PILING UP AND HOW CAN I GET THINGS DONE WHEN THE WORK FLOWING IN IS THREE TIMES FASTER THAN I CAN FINISH THEM?

FOR FARK'S SAKE I'M STILL FARKING HUMAN NOT A MACHINE.

Digg

All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.

-1925 IBM Maintenence Manual, 623 Diggs-

As you can observe, I have just integrated a Digg button into my blog posts.

For those of you who don't know what Digg is, here is something I ctrl+C/ctrl+V-ed from Digg:

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online.

How do we do this? Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images — is submitted by our community (that would be you). Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see.

And it doesn’t stop there. Because Digg is all about sharing and discovery, there’s a conversation that happens around the content. We’re here to promote that conversation and provide tools for our community to discuss the topics that they’re passionate about. By looking at information through the lens of the collective community on Digg, you’ll always find something interesting and unique. We’re committed to giving every piece of content on the web an equal shot at being the next big thing.

(Taken from http://digg.com/about/)

To add a Digg button to your blog, here's how.

Don't know if this Digg culture will actually keep up in the Asian/Singaporean community, but it's worth a try.

Tech dependant

If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.

-Frank Lloyd Wright-

I reformatted my Windows Vista.

Whee.

No more annoying trojans, no more annoying anti-virus warnings.

No more foreign who-knows-when-I-installed-it programs and trial-period-expired programs which I probably only used once and never bothered to uninstall it.

Am keeping my computer squeaky-clean from now on!

I love my external hard disk. It has all my worldly possessions in it.

I don't know what I'd do without it.

Years of memories (yes, beautiful irreplaceable pictures), important data, huge-ass collection of 20 Gb of music, good ol' 90's computer games, game emulators, program installations, PSP ISO files, piano scores...You get the idea.

Enemies, if you want to destroy my life, you'd know what to do. Just steal my external hard disk and watch me wilt away into nothingness.