Letter to My Prof

I was not satisfied with my grades and decided to email my prof for a review.

Her reply was:

I am only reviewing the C people.
For you, the 3rd journal missed out crucial elements such as Steps etc and/or was too generic. You need to pay attention perhaps to instructions?
Also your weekly team presentation was low.
Overall I have already pushed up marks across the board (so assuming all, yours would have been a C! oh dear. I think B- is good.)

After careful consideration, I replied to her email:

Hi Prof,

Sorry for the troubles.

Thank you for the assistance.

Regards,

Shyh Jie

Although I actually mean:

Hi Prof,

B- is certainly not the grade that I deserved.

I think that you are not being fair in terms of assessing our grades.

The previous email that you sent seems to imply that I should go down on my knees and kiss your feet for your generosity. Why don't you just admit that you are biased?

Can you also stop your girly cutesy rubbish and start acting your age? It is disgusting to me.

Hope that you are able to get my message.

Regards,

Shyh Jie

Rant over...

Relax dude...

Move on...

Who's interested in "Gibbon's Experience"?

I just read about the "Gibbon Experience". It seems very cool zipping around in the jungle like Tarzan 50m off the ground.

They have a website but there is not much information about the price. I think it cost roughly 125 USD for a 4 days stay up in the tree houses with all the meals and guides included. It is rather popular and require booking in advance.

Although Bokeo National Park is in Laos, it will be easier to reach there from Chiang Mai in Thailand. Who's interested? Let's go together.

My Favourite Channel

I just catch a very cool show on the tube: Mythbusters on Discovery Channel.


It is basically a group of people trying to debunk all the urban legends and old wives' tales. It is really interesting and the guys really go to the extreme to test out the myths.

In the episode that I watched the first myth was that during a shootout between the police and a robber in Seattle, the robber managed to fire a round into a policeman's empty revolver's chamber. Hence the guys went on to make an experiment, using laser sight to make sure the accuracy of the bullet. Finally after many tries they confirm the myth when the bullet shot through the revolver's chamber looked almost identical to the newspaper's picture years ago.

Next they try to re-enact what happened in Vietnam War when an American sniper picked out his enemy by shooting the bullet right through his scope. Although all 4 tries destroy the scopes, the dummy suffered no physical damage at all because the scopes deflected the bullet's path. Hence the boys had to declare the myth busted.

The last myth that they investigated was that during the American Civil War there was two bullets which actually fused together when they were fired simultaneously and met each other along their paths. They managed to find replicas of the rifles from that era to test out the experiment. Initially unsuccessful because they could not get the rifles to fire the rounds out at the same time. However they decided to try to hit a stationary round with another bullet. In the end the two bullets fused and they decided that the myth is plausible.

These guys are so damn cool when they go about testing whether the myths are real. I'm just wondering whether the safety procedures are safe enough. Playing with firearms is cool but getting hit by one isn't. Beside this it seems that weapons of all types are easily available in the United States and hence tragedies like the recent Virginia Tech massacre are happening.

Hopefully the next episode that I watch has nothing to do with guns and ammunition.

Ramblings

I just read this person's post and I can only say that he is just damn power la... I wonder when will I be able to do this sia....

Anyway I've just read Teck Guan's latest post. Just a few days earlier, I was chatting with Peter about our old army stuff. I was commenting on how the 'A' levels guys were so much harder to understand compared to the LCPs. Sometimes you can't really know what the 'A' levels guys (me included) are thinking. I think that Peter also agrees with me with some of the points that I've made.

For people like Ong Zhen Zhong, buay song means buay song. If he is pissed, he will not bother to put up a smiling face to accommodate anyone, Almo or even the OC included. Sometime back, Swee told me that he actually liked Ah Huat's character because he is direct and not afraid to say what he wants. I would say that most of the LCPs fall under this category or somewhere there.

I'm not saying that the 'A' levels people are hypocrites or what but most of us actually think quite a lot. (Not including Zhihong; sometimes I really wonder whether he got think before he speaks? lol) In a way, it is much harder to read our intentions; what is he trying to say? I'm guilty of that sometimes but most probably it is self-defense mechanism coming into place.

There is an old Chinese saying: 害人之心不可有 防人之心不可无. I think this saying is quite apt at all times but there are actually many people who are genuinely nice. Some words for Teck Guan: Don't get so upset with yourself over these people. Someday somehow they will receive the karma that they deserved.

Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond is my third movie in three days and this speaks so much about my social life. Well there is a great backdrop to the movie's plot which is the illicit diamond trade in Africa. However the action is too Hollywood to my liking.

The heroes will not die even if they are up against a million enemies. The love interest can always convert the worst person to an angel without fail. Some of the dialogues inside sound so embarrassing and cliched.

Nevertheless it was not a bad movie. Two and a half hours is probably too long and more realism will definitely make it a better one.

The Devil Loves Prada

Second movie in two days and this time is Meryl Streep's The Devil Loves Prada. I think that this movie qualifies as a chick flick which surprisingly is one of my favourite genres. LOL... Sounds so gay here but this type of movies are so fun.

Anne Hathaway looks good in her frumpy clothes and looks even hotter when she decked out in all the chic attires. I always think that her wide-eyed looks bears an uncanny resemblance to the legend Audrey Hepburn.

Anyway I thought that there was an underlying message in the movie; very often we are influenced by the environment which we are in and we evolve into somebody whom we don't want to be.

Will I do the same as Meryl Streep's Miranda if I were going to be replaced? Probably I would but I don't want to find out.

The Last King of Scotland

I just watched the movie The Last King of Scotland. Although there were some parts that I could not make full sense of, the acting of Forrest Whittaker was really superb. He really deserved his Oscars.

While some scenes of TLKS were powerful, they were nowhere near the feelings invoked when I watched Hotel Rwanda. Africa seemed to be the continent beset with conflicts and failed states. Idi Amin was just one of the numerous leaders who ruined their countries and the war in Darfur is still ongoing now.

In one of my modules, the professor were discussing about why Africa was so much poorer when compared to the rest of the world. Even the experts could not agree on why was it so. My opinion was that the root of these problems goes back all the way to the days of colonialism; when Africa was carved up and being exploited by the English, French, German or whatever regardless of ethnic or religious boundaries.

Well it had been so many years since the colonialism ended hence not all the problems laid with the Europeans. Many of the African leaders were often either inept or corrupt or most likely both. Many former colonies have prospered; Singapore is one good example. I feel that there are probably many factors that create the situation in Africa today.

Anyway my holidays started today. Perhaps I could catch up on all the nice movies that I had missed in the next few weeks.

Football, football and more football

Last Friday I went to play football at the Cage at Kallang. It was my first time playing there and the pitches there are really good. However it is prohibitively expensive to play there; 12 of us have to pay 12 bucks each for the two hours session. Hence I don't think that I will go there to play in the near future.

Earlier today I got to play football for the first time in SMU. Eric had asked me to join him and his friends to play at the sports hall located in the admin block. It was quite fun although we were not sure if we broke any rules by playing football there.

I realized that there are many advantages to play at the sports hall. Firstly, it is indoor and air-conditioned so we don't need to care about the elements. Secondly, the toilets there got hot showers and we can utilize them after the football session. Thirdly, there are water-cooler and drinks dispensers located conveniently near the sports hall. Last but not least, the sports hall can be easily booked just like any other GSRs.

There will be a football tournament in NUS this Saturday. Despite having two exams on Monday, I shall not give it a miss. After missing out two weeks ago, I'm glad that I could make the team. Perhaps KACC could carve out another improbable victory again.