-= adventures in Europe =-
"They're both convinced, that a sudden passion joined them.
Such certainty is beautiful,but uncertainty is more beautiful still."

By Zεηιτħ

CORS, redux

Woohoo! Seems like CORS is sailing smoothly, so I guess someone gave up his BMW for a new server? Haha...The following picture definitely made my day:



And, I got my first choice tutorials in Financial Accounting and Marketing! B12 and C14 respectively! Woohoo! Many friends in the same classes, which means, life would not be dull ;)

Went for a run today, since lessons start in the afternoon. It would be like that, till our dear CTW lecture stops (and no more 8am lecture! Haha!) and the 10am tutorial on Thurs kicks in. Ah well, all is good, just that my fitness seemed to drop already. Sigh.

Currently contemplating the 21km. Would I be able to train up in time? Considering the step difference between 10km and 21km, and I havent been running regularly enough (as compared to then in hols). Would have to make a decision soon, 'cos Lumbong beckons this weekend...

Current Mood: Thirsty

By Zεηιτħ

CORS

Oh yea, the brain child of NUS, the centre of how students get their courses (otherwise known as modules in uni-language-speak) and timings from.

And this blardy system which is central to everything, is unable to handle the sudden influx of students logging in early in the morning (at 9am, which is not REALLY early) to make their ballots.

The server simply went kaput on the dot of 9am, with all the requests bouncing in.

And this carried on for the rest of the day, with people logging in from various parts of the campus and from home.

To the user, it is simply an oversight of the server administrators to ensure that the server is able to cope with the influx of user-side requests. More could be done to ensure that the server would not be bogged down during such a time where time is precious and students have to ballot for the tutorials which they really want.

With NUS being seen as a world-class institute such a failure is indeed interesting. In fact, walk around school today and the common topic amongst students would be regarding the CORS system. Students are interested in pursuing their studies, not to be held back by some defect caused on the side of the school's administration, else they would not pay the exhobirant school fees for a university degree.

A university degree is a total package for the student, acadmically and administrative-wise. What students would expect of a world-class university is one which will think ahead and have the basic foresight to anticipate problems, and thus tweak or even change the system to ensure the 'doomsday scenario' would not occur.

Yet, it seems that NUS has not done much in upgrading the CORS system, which has been in use for the past 2 years at least. Moreover, signs had shown that the CORS system is unable to take the full brunt of students logging in at peak hours to bid or ballot for their important modules. This was shown a week ago, when Week 1 started, and Round 2A of Module Bidding occurred. An extension period was activated as the server became laggy and could not process the huge influx of information by the numerous computers accessing its servers. This shows that the servers might have a problem coping, and it is a temporary relief that during Round 2A, not all students would need to bid, as many would only require to bid for their core modules in Round 1.

Thus far, a petition is going on here to speak out against the CORS system, which I feel, should be improved and tweaked, lest such an event happens again.

I hope such an incident does not happen again. Seriously speaking, it's a total WASTE OF TIME.

I hereby decree it as:
Central
Orgasmic
Really waste time
System

What has not happened now, might happen in the future


Current Mood: Grumpy

Current Music: Elva - Ai Qing Tong Guan Mi Yu

By Zεηιτħ

Got my iBook today!

First post from the sleek, white iBook which I just got today! Super upgraded due to Apple's recent version of this popular 12.1" iBook. And man...am I never done with fiddling with the controls and settings...

Time to transfer my pics and songs over...haha

Current Music: T.M.Revolution - Vestige

Posted In: . By Zεηιτħ

SKADI Fireworks Outing!

Had an enjoyable time with Joyce, Xiang Yu, Jiaming and Yi Si at the Sheares Bridge looking at the awesome fireworks held in conjunction with the NDP celebratory period.

And boy, was it wonderful.

A small gripe was that I was not sure of where the fireworks would come from, since the previous time I was with the Fuego dudes for the Monday midnight fireworks celebration from afar over at Esplanade. And we were badly positioned this time also.

Nevertheless, the higher-levelled fireworks was wonderful!

I think I had set something incorrectly on my camera, and many pictures came out blurred. So in the end, the number of good pictures was far and few between.

Current Mood: Happy

By Zεηιτħ

Quote...of the day?

"it's not abt the type, it's abt the compatibility"


Man, I've gotta agree with this statement. It's so true, and it just strikes a chord in me when Candice said that to me...For those who know what I'm referring to, keep it mum okay?

Well, maybe it's more of fate, and if it does come, it'll happen...So should I set about seeking my fate? Or should I let fate seek me?

Greener pastures DO lie beyond...

Current Mood: Confused

Current Music: Liang Jing Ru - Zhui Xiang Huan You De Shi Jie

Posted In: . By Zεηιτħ

Joined Rovers..

Finally...and running for MC, or attempting to do so. It was a tough decision, but I wanted to learn new things, and I felt that joining the MC would allow me to have the space and time to learn new things, get to do things which I might have thought impossible.

Went with Yi Si to the talk, and saw familiar faces in the form of Farah, Vijay, Tianqi and Tedmond.

Met up with Candice too, who was Tianqi's and Eup's friend! She was running for president, and I was a bit surprised at the turn of events. A total of 16 (or more?) nominees were up for 15 places.

And the post I'm gunning for, I'm facing tough opposition.

Hope all goes well...

Current Mood: Achy

By Zεηιτħ

Busy Uni Life...

Currently doing printing of notes. How come life has degraded till such level, where one goes from place to place, taking out printed notes from home (or ComCentre or photocopying machines) and sit in the lecture to rot...

Life requires more meaning. At least I knew I needed more.

Looking for CCAs to join, whilst juggling my busy schedule in a tough course, Chemical Engineering. A dreaded word by many, yet its graduates are well-respected by all other faculties and companies outside.

Nonetheless, it seems that between JC and Varsity level, the gulf of difference is certainly great.

Not that one cannot cope, it's how one attempts to deal with it and arrest the problem at hand.

Had a brief swim in SRC today, it's a great time at the pool, despite having only like 30 mins in the pool. Nonetheless, the feeling was indeed shiok.

Enough of the griping...time to print more notes...

Current Mood: Printing Notes...a boring job

Current Music: Sammi Cheng - Ru Guo Wo Shi Ni

By Zεηιτħ

Back from O-Week!

An entire week of shack-ness, coupled with the numerous days of bidding! All in all, it would have been much better IF I just had a room in NUS. Oh well. What's done, cannot be undone.

Now, I shall do a one-week summary of what I've done *lol*

Monday:
Joined Engine O-week under Atlantis House in Skadi (yea, the DOTA item called Eye of Skadi...) Not really the first day meeting up with all, since a group of us (Merry, Xiang Yu, Velda, Yi Si, Chin Gene, Minghui) had introduced each other on the previous Friday already. We even skipped the morning Inaugaration Ceremony, because of the fact that we've to meet up at an unearthly and dreaded hour of 7.30am at LT7A before proceeding to the UCC for the Ceremony.

By the time we met at 10am outside LT7A, the Ceremony has yet to finish. So we just sat around and chit-chatted with Jiaming to pass time, whilst waiting for the rest of our group members, as well as Benjamin, our OGL.

We met up with the rest of our OG people, Joyce, Yi Hui, SK and Imran. It was lunch and games after that, where we were brought around Engineering to play games, as well as cheering.


Checking out the product


The TORTURE!


Shaving Pros


Transferring water via t-shirts


Night activities consisted of a Night Walk, in which we're all blindfolded and made to play games which used our other senses. On top of that, starch was aplenty and we were full of it by the end of the games. Not to mention, full of foam and chili on our faces due to our "SK-III" game. Haha.

Washing up followed after the Night Activities, and Imran, Minghui, Yi Si and I proceeded to Eusoff Hall for showering up before going to the nearby Fong Seng for supper. Met up with Vijay in his hostel room, and it was damn spacious! It's even bigger than the Raffles Hall double bedroom!

The security guard came around whilst I was bathing and the others were packing up, and threatened to get our Matriculation Numbers. We scooted, but luckily with all of us having finished bathing already. But seriously, I think the security guard was a lil' too fierce and oh well, luckily nothing else happened.

After supper, we were back at ComCentre for sleeping and only Yi Si and I were left awake, together with Geoffery and another Councillor, to play Big 2. Done throughout the night (actually only an hour plus) without sleeping, and by the time we knew, it was time for the rest to wake up to prepare for Flag Day.

Tuesday:
Early morning we were gathered outside LT7A, given our Flag Day T-shirts, waist pouches, tissue paper, tin cans, stickers and moved out of the area into the bus for the trip to our designated collecting point: Novena. Actually, it was supposed to be Far East Square for us initially, but there were some changes which made us go over to Novena with another group. So 2 groups were spread over the same area, and Novena was not really having high-traffic flow in the first place.

After breakfast and meeting up with those who came from home (e.g. Velda, Merry, Chin Gene), we spread out around the area to solicit for donations. I led Yi Si, Minghui, Joyce and Xiang Yu up to Balestier Hill Shopping Centre for donations, and spread ourselves around the area (with our heavy bags) to collect donations. It was quite a lousy planning as we did not have a place to keep our bags aside during the entire donation collection exercise. Oh well.

When the rain threatened to come near prior to lunch, we headed back to Novena Square's Burger King to grab seats ahead of the lunchtime crowd. Met up with Velda and Hong Jun (who were at Revenue House), whilst the rest were over at Little India having their own meals with our OGLs for the day, Steph and Cher How.


Flaggers!


Gone for Lunch, Pls Donate!


YAAAAMMMMM.....CAN!


After lunch, we restarted our bid to gain more donations around the area, before proceeding down to Orchard and meeting up with the rest of our OG at Far East Plaza's Burger King (again!). All were visibly tired, since we had little sleep, and it was already more than 6 hours of soliciting for donations!

After BK, we proceeded to Gelare, as it was offering 1/2-priced waffles on Tuesdays. Shared some waffles, and it was also a nice place to take a nap for the tired ones (me included).


Cher How & Steph!


Waffles, anyone?


On discussion with the OGLs, we decided to return the cans to the organisers, and call it a day. It was 4pm by then, and all of us were almost screaming to hit the sack. A tired, yet fun-filled day ;)

Wednesday:
After around 12 hours of non-stop sleep, I'm totally revitalised...except for my voice that is. A bit on the hoarse/soft side already. Gotta take care of it liao...

Played Amazing Race around the school! Sort of like Telematches, so it was pretty normal actually. Also managed to finish my laptop loan application this day, and got my Tertiary ezLink card. Yea. Finally...


I think I got it...


Fitting the letters into the spaces...


The suay ones who kenna camou cream...








Delicious Food...


At night, went out for lunch with Yi Hui, Yi Si and Merry, but not before we encountered this freakin' long jam at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Clementi Ave 6. Really bad, and we were stuck in the jam for an hour at least! By the time we reached Sixth Avenue for dinner, it was already past 7pm.

Nonetheless, our appetite did not dilute, and we ordered pineapple rice with dishes to go with. Definitely a great meal! And the time was well-spent chit-chatting. Imran joined us after some time, and after the meal, all of us set for home.

I was the last to leave the area as my bus passed by me while I was on Dunearn Road. Dang. So I had to wait for like 10-15 mins in the end.

Thursday:
Met with Anqi, Weili and Jinyao prior to going NUS at Clementi, but not before encountering a 105 with spoilt air-con that refused to travel any further. So I had to take a train instead to reach Clementi (2 stops only!!!)

For ChEss O-week, I met up with Cher How and Silk, who are both in my senior class. Moreover, most of the dudes in my class (around 8) I have known them before and it was really great to be in the same class as all of them. Though our class seemed to be very on, the downside was the apparent lack of ladies attending the entire Orientation. However, it did not seem to affect us guys, since we still managed to hold on and bond together through the Amazing Race around school ;)

This Amazing Race was different in the sense that it revolved around skills which you might require for the entire duration of stay in NUS. And this was what an Orientation Camp should be! We learnt how to photocopy, how to borrow Reference Material, how to use the computers in the ComCentre and how to print from the computer stations. All in all, it was really useful!

Night time was spent doing BBQ, and as more and more people left the BBQ early, our class was one of the last ones remaining in the BBQ area. Playing games (lame ones *lol*) and talking amongst ourselves were the most common items done.

Silk gave me a lift to Woodlands MRT, and I managed to reach home pretty fast too, around 11pm that is.

Friday:
Went to YIH in the morning to meet up with Weili, Jinyao and Angela for breakfast (but not before doing last-minute biddings). Anqi joined us shortly, and we went over to LT3, where they Christina was entertaining us with her range of jokes, prior to the start of the entire games morning of Frisbee or Captain's Ball.

After which, I met up with my Skadi group, who were doing their land games. Finally, I get to meet them again, after a 2 day hiatus. It was great to see them again, probably due to the fact that we're going to go our seperate ways soon after this o-week, which is a lil' sad...

As for my class, we were left with all guys, and we went over to Ghim Song's and Jiaxin's room in RH for checking our bids during the close bidding period. After that, we spent some time in the room with Daryl entertaining us with his array of card tricks. Our class people then went our seperate ways after making a decision not to go for the 'mystery programme' and Dean's talk and buffet.

Cher How and I joined the Skadi group outside Engine Club Room. Was chosen to become a cheerleader, but my voice had somehow gone kaput by then. Hoarse sounding, I am.

Night activities was the Rag Preview, as well as letting the rest of the Engineering Faculty know the cheers. Moreover, we had Fright Night, and it was really good to play such games. Fright Night was okay for me, but the interesting thing was that it was done on the 1st Day of the 7th month (Hungry Ghost Festival). This added to the atmosphere of the night, but my group was already full of lame and cold jokes already, that it was almost impossible for Cher How to be saying ghost stories to set the mood. Haha. I guessed the late night was making us high.

After 2 stations, we skipped the last one as we had overshot the schedule, and went for our supper @ Fong Seng's, as well as our shower at TH (No more EH!). Saw Davina on my way outta TH, and it was nice to see her again in NUS.

Back outside LT7A, Imran, Minghui, Yi Si and I entertained ourselves to poker cards and a game of Big2, but eventually succumbed to the nice floor and catch an hour's worth of shut-eye.


Prior to Fright Night


We luuurrvve this baby!


Steph KO'ed


=P


Cool Dudes, Cool Day


Rabbit teeth!


Chicken Wrap! Nice!


Imran!


Things you do @ 5am in the morning


Best pic THIS MONTH!


Stirred-up Dinosaur


Plaster Prata!


U want to EAT? U want to F***?


5am @ Cheese Prata Shop! WooHoo!


Me & Minghui


I should have activated flash. *lol*


Jiaming's cool hairstyle! Stylo!



Saturday:
RAG was a fun-filled atmosphere for us, and we the introduction of the various floats and Rag Dances was widely anticipated. We left at around 11am for lunch at HarbourFront Food Court (for the air-con), and dismissed ourselves after that.



SRC is all RAG-dy!


Creating the stack...


Retro-inspired Biz


Naruto-inspired SoC


Current Mood: Exhausted

Current Music: Fang Hao Wen - Meng De Pu Shou