Hier ete un bonne journee! J'ai appris la fille que j'ai aime aussi aime moi! tres joyeux :D Demain, je peux voir elle, tres tres bien :)
Aujourd'hui, je me suis reveille tot! J'ai etude de neuf heures trente a le midi, puis je suis alle a mcdonalds, j'ai dejeune.
Apres le dejeuner, je suis rentre chez moi, puis etude. J'ai ete fatigue mais je continue. Ce sont ses stylos! Alors, aléatoire
Ce soir je veux couche tot, parce que demain j'ai un francais test. Il faut apprend tres bon results!
Etude!
Au revoir~
Sunday 31 October 2010
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Stop calling it the 'Big Three'
No, I am not referring to the Miami Heat's newest Big Three. Call that the Big Three all you want.. that seems to be all they've got anyway.
I'm talking about the team that I supported since last year - Boston Celtics!
The 3 veterans - Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have been referred to as 'The Big Three' as they are established superstars and take turns to carry crucial games.
But how can you ignore the contribution of one Rajon Rondo!
Rondo is currently in his 4th season at Celtics, and in the previous game vs Heat he made 17 assists to help his team beat the overhyped Heat team. 17 assists! If you watched the game you would see that some of those were all-so-nonchalant and smooth. His vision of the game has improved so much since he joined the Celtics a few years ago.
One would think that his contributions last season would be enough to propel him into the limelight and earn him some recognition. Here are some accomplishments:
- Set franchise record for most steals in a single season
- Set franchise record for most assists in a single season
- League leader in both steals and assists
- In playoffs against Cleveland , Game 4, He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only other player in NBA history to have 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in a playoff game.
(He's a POINT GUARD ffs and he got EIGHTEEN rebounds. Speaks volumes of his effort)
- Numerous triple doubles throughout the season, including in the playoffs
I was following the Celtics all the way through the playoffs, and it was evident that in every game, while the top scorer may be Pierce, Allen or even Glen Davis, these top scorers fluctuated in performance. Who can forget Allen setting a league record in 3pointers made in a NBA Finals game (8) then going 0 for 13 in the next game? (0-8 from 3 point line)
Through it all, there was one consistency - Rajon Rondo. Night in, night out, he registered impressive numbers in assists, steals, and even points at times. His performance was consistent and did not fluctuate as much as his aging colleagues. He was the anchor of the Celtics team through the playoffs, and more or less carried them through to the Finals. Heck, if Celtics had beat the Lakers in the finals, I was pretty sure he would have gotten the MVP award.
It is clear that this young point guard has developed into one with astute vision and scoring ability. He even has his two trademark moves - One a driving move where he will palm the ball and fake a layup to get his defender off his feet, pivot and swivel clear in the opposite direction and get an open flick into the basket
(video where he fakes TWO defenders with this move)
Another is his behind-the-back-fake and going for the layup, when done perfectly really makes the defenders look totally stupid.
So please please STOP calling them 'The Big Three', and give this talented point guard more credit. 'The Big Four', 'The Rondo Show', anything. Just include him in your newspaper reports because he IS the heart of the Celtics team right now.
I'm talking about the team that I supported since last year - Boston Celtics!
The 3 veterans - Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have been referred to as 'The Big Three' as they are established superstars and take turns to carry crucial games.
But how can you ignore the contribution of one Rajon Rondo!
Rondo is currently in his 4th season at Celtics, and in the previous game vs Heat he made 17 assists to help his team beat the overhyped Heat team. 17 assists! If you watched the game you would see that some of those were all-so-nonchalant and smooth. His vision of the game has improved so much since he joined the Celtics a few years ago.
One would think that his contributions last season would be enough to propel him into the limelight and earn him some recognition. Here are some accomplishments:
- Set franchise record for most steals in a single season
- Set franchise record for most assists in a single season
- League leader in both steals and assists
- In playoffs against Cleveland , Game 4, He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only other player in NBA history to have 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in a playoff game.
(He's a POINT GUARD ffs and he got EIGHTEEN rebounds. Speaks volumes of his effort)
- Numerous triple doubles throughout the season, including in the playoffs
I was following the Celtics all the way through the playoffs, and it was evident that in every game, while the top scorer may be Pierce, Allen or even Glen Davis, these top scorers fluctuated in performance. Who can forget Allen setting a league record in 3pointers made in a NBA Finals game (8) then going 0 for 13 in the next game? (0-8 from 3 point line)
Through it all, there was one consistency - Rajon Rondo. Night in, night out, he registered impressive numbers in assists, steals, and even points at times. His performance was consistent and did not fluctuate as much as his aging colleagues. He was the anchor of the Celtics team through the playoffs, and more or less carried them through to the Finals. Heck, if Celtics had beat the Lakers in the finals, I was pretty sure he would have gotten the MVP award.
It is clear that this young point guard has developed into one with astute vision and scoring ability. He even has his two trademark moves - One a driving move where he will palm the ball and fake a layup to get his defender off his feet, pivot and swivel clear in the opposite direction and get an open flick into the basket
(video where he fakes TWO defenders with this move)
Another is his behind-the-back-fake and going for the layup, when done perfectly really makes the defenders look totally stupid.
So please please STOP calling them 'The Big Three', and give this talented point guard more credit. 'The Big Four', 'The Rondo Show', anything. Just include him in your newspaper reports because he IS the heart of the Celtics team right now.
an anonymous haiku
Traditional haiku consist of 17 on(syllables), in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively.
Dear _______,
It all started out
without any words to say
I had just knew you
a simple request
conversations on the web
began the friendship
I did not intend
to fall head over heels with
this girl I just met
Your wit and your charm
You don't even try that hard
Yet you captured me
I am trying hard
to contain my emotions
it is really hard
Intoxicate me
you just take my breath away
i am just helpless
Resist, I must try
till an appropriate time
can you wait for me?
Till then I will just
continue speculating
if it is mutual
I need further signs
I am but a timid boy
I just can't be sure
To love is to risk
Everything that I have now
everything I have
I wait for you now
As I always and must do
'Cos you complete me
Love,
Just a plain
boy.
Thursday 21 October 2010
le francais chanson
Today in French tutorial class we listened to this french song called ‘Comme d’habitude’. The lyrics were just so.. emotional and nice! As compared to English songs.. which sometimes just don’t quite cut it. I’m just going to write my English translation of the song here, lazy to type in french (may not be 100% accurate!):
Comme d’habitude (as usual)
You must listen to it while reading the lyrics! The music very emo also
And if you want the french lyrics:
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/c/commedhabitude.shtml
I get up, I push you
You don’t wake up as usual
On you, I put back the bedsheets
I’m afraid you’ll be cold, as usual
My hands caress your hair
Almost despite of myself, as usual (like it’s a habit already)
but you turn your back to me
I get dressed quickly
I leave the room
I drink my coffee alone
I am late, as usual
Without noise, I leave the house
Everything is grey outside
I am cold, I lift up my collar
As usual
As usual, the whole day
I will pretend
As usual, I am going to smile
As usual, I am even going to laugh
As usual, finally I will live
As usual.
And then the day will end
I will return
You, you will be out
Not yet returned
I sleep all alone
In this big cold bed
My tears, I will hide them
As usual
As usual, even at night
I am going to pretend
As usual, you will return
As usual, I will be waiting
As usual, you will smile to me.
As usual, you will undress
As usual, you will lie down
As usual, we will kiss,
As usual.
As usual, we will pretend
As usual we will make love
As usual, we will pretend.
~~~~
If you don’t get what the song is about, it is about this couple that have been together for so long that their passion has died out, and everything becomes like a routine. It’s so sad!
J’aime c’est chanson!
Monday 18 October 2010
NM blog
Ok, as mentioned in the previous post, I've created a temporary blog
http://alanandnewmedia.wordpress.com/
Please go support and comment there, I'll be blogging from there for the next 2 weeks or so, will resume blogging here by November for sure.
Thanks!
http://alanandnewmedia.wordpress.com/
Please go support and comment there, I'll be blogging from there for the next 2 weeks or so, will resume blogging here by November for sure.
Thanks!
Saturday 16 October 2010
homeplay
I just got my next 2 assignments for Communications and New Media (a module i'm taking in NUS).. and they're really fun! Well at least one is.
Basically what i'm supposed to do is choose any form of New Media and use the selected medium for a week or two, then compile a report on my experience using it.
In case you don't know, New Media refers to things like blogs, twitter, social networking sites (facebook), User-generated content (youtube), etcetc.
So fun right! Why is this homeWORK it's more like homePLAY. hahaha.
So anyway, the medium i'm going to write on is 'blogs'! I will start a news blog, where I blog about daily news. I've always loved blogging and I guess this will be a good time to put my writing skills to use and also do something I enjoy.
I'll post the link when it's up so people can go check it out if you want.
As for now, take care, eat your vitamins, and i will see you guyss next time!
Basically what i'm supposed to do is choose any form of New Media and use the selected medium for a week or two, then compile a report on my experience using it.
In case you don't know, New Media refers to things like blogs, twitter, social networking sites (facebook), User-generated content (youtube), etcetc.
So fun right! Why is this homeWORK it's more like homePLAY. hahaha.
So anyway, the medium i'm going to write on is 'blogs'! I will start a news blog, where I blog about daily news. I've always loved blogging and I guess this will be a good time to put my writing skills to use and also do something I enjoy.
I'll post the link when it's up so people can go check it out if you want.
As for now, take care, eat your vitamins, and i will see you guyss next time!
Friday 15 October 2010
HenHouse
If you haven't heard of the game Henhouse, i suggest you go play it now. It's an ipod Touch/iPhone game, very very fun and addictive and nice!
It's a very simple concept - you aim to press the eggs in numerical sequence from 1-100 in the shortest possible time.
Just yesterday(or maybe 2 days ag0) this was my high score screen
Just broke the 33 seconds barrier, and all scores below 34. It's quite phenomenal considering before i got my own iTouch my best score was just a one-time fluke 38, and the rest were just bordering on 40.
And today:
Lol TAKE THAT CHICKENS. 30.52 how sweet is that.
Now my new goal is to push everything below 32 or even 31 seconds, and aim to break the 30second barrier.
Step by step, i inch towards the world record of 25 seconds. :D
I can do it!
It's a very simple concept - you aim to press the eggs in numerical sequence from 1-100 in the shortest possible time.
Just yesterday(or maybe 2 days ag0) this was my high score screen
Just broke the 33 seconds barrier, and all scores below 34. It's quite phenomenal considering before i got my own iTouch my best score was just a one-time fluke 38, and the rest were just bordering on 40.
And today:
Lol TAKE THAT CHICKENS. 30.52 how sweet is that.
Now my new goal is to push everything below 32 or even 31 seconds, and aim to break the 30second barrier.
Step by step, i inch towards the world record of 25 seconds. :D
I can do it!
Monday 11 October 2010
Disconnect to Connect
I had something I wanted to blog about for awhile but never got about to it, then i saw this video which basically sums up everything very nicely in a short and powerful clip. Watch it first before reading on.
Indeed, in this day and age, we say we are 'technologically advanced'. Are we, really?
Communication via technology is a paradox in itself. It is supposed to bring us closer, to connect us more easily and conveniently. Instead, it has created isolated drones who, when together, are not really together.
The video captures this perfectly - the camera panning around a person using a mobile device and showing that the people around him are 'invisible' to him. After all, he is SMSing his friends, sending a tweet, checking out someone's facebook photos - physical presence does not equal to physical interaction. In fact, a person could be interacting with someone NOT with him much more than the people he is with.
I do get annoyed sometimes if say, I'm out with a friend alone, and he/she just keeps using his phone. It's really annoying! Like, hello I'm here. Stop updating your facebook status or messaging whoever.
Most of us know that it is socially incorrect to be absorbed in our mobile devices when with other people. It just seems rude. However, it seems that that has become our security blanket, so to speak.
Awkward silence? Pretend to be reading something interesting on phone. Nothing to say? Glance at phone as if the phone is going to respond 'ask about her dog!' or provide you with some random conversation topic.
Technology it seems, has us on a leash.
How many of us can actually spend a day without technology?
Let's not even go to that yet - how many of us can spend a day without your HANDPHONE. I can think of quite alot of people who will just die if they don't touch their handphone, especially those with iPhones. (i don't really blame them, iPhone/ipod Touch is just too awesome)
In fact, I've been wanting to try this for awhile. I'm going to issue a Zero Tech Day (ZTD) challenge. This is a challenge to go tech-less for 24 hours. Can you do it?
And to make things interesting, try to schedule at least one appointment that day.
I will loosely define 'tech' as anything that is electronic/electrical. So this will exclude things like cars/buses, lights, fans, but include things like handphones, computers, television.
If you're in doubt whether it is considered tech or not, assume it is!
If you actually do it, write about your experience and send it to me! or post it on your blog or something and link me. I would like to read about it :)
diabteo@hotmail.com
I think I'll try it soon. Maybe on Thursday.. hmm.
Indeed, in this day and age, we say we are 'technologically advanced'. Are we, really?
Communication via technology is a paradox in itself. It is supposed to bring us closer, to connect us more easily and conveniently. Instead, it has created isolated drones who, when together, are not really together.
The video captures this perfectly - the camera panning around a person using a mobile device and showing that the people around him are 'invisible' to him. After all, he is SMSing his friends, sending a tweet, checking out someone's facebook photos - physical presence does not equal to physical interaction. In fact, a person could be interacting with someone NOT with him much more than the people he is with.
I do get annoyed sometimes if say, I'm out with a friend alone, and he/she just keeps using his phone. It's really annoying! Like, hello I'm here. Stop updating your facebook status or messaging whoever.
Most of us know that it is socially incorrect to be absorbed in our mobile devices when with other people. It just seems rude. However, it seems that that has become our security blanket, so to speak.
Awkward silence? Pretend to be reading something interesting on phone. Nothing to say? Glance at phone as if the phone is going to respond 'ask about her dog!' or provide you with some random conversation topic.
Technology it seems, has us on a leash.
How many of us can actually spend a day without technology?
Let's not even go to that yet - how many of us can spend a day without your HANDPHONE. I can think of quite alot of people who will just die if they don't touch their handphone, especially those with iPhones. (i don't really blame them, iPhone/ipod Touch is just too awesome)
In fact, I've been wanting to try this for awhile. I'm going to issue a Zero Tech Day (ZTD) challenge. This is a challenge to go tech-less for 24 hours. Can you do it?
And to make things interesting, try to schedule at least one appointment that day.
I will loosely define 'tech' as anything that is electronic/electrical. So this will exclude things like cars/buses, lights, fans, but include things like handphones, computers, television.
If you're in doubt whether it is considered tech or not, assume it is!
If you actually do it, write about your experience and send it to me! or post it on your blog or something and link me. I would like to read about it :)
diabteo@hotmail.com
I think I'll try it soon. Maybe on Thursday.. hmm.
meow
So, i went to Daniel's house yesterday to play mahjong.. quite lousy tho lost like $7 worth of chips. No, we didn't play money. Just with chips.
Before we could play we had to wait for our 4th player Dom who had to go somewhere first.. so we were really bored. Hence the resulting pictures + video:
The cat is dead
Na kidding it's not.
It's just being possessed by something.
Ooh nice closeup shot i won't shrink this.
And yes that's my foot on it. I'm rubbing its tummy it's loving it.
Not very pretty cat the brows very fierce. But i swear it talks to us. it meows when we ask it questions. listen for it in the video! lol.
Does a cat get dizzy?
SUBTITLES:
0:09 - Manja: MEOW!
(translation - faster!! this is too slow! i want to get dizzy!!!)
0:30- Manja: MEOW!
(translation - that's it??? oh man i wanted the ride to last longer. sigh.)
0:36 -
Me: what's up kitty?
Manja: MEOW!
(translation - nothing much, just got off some boring ride. sigh what's a cat got to do for some entertainment around here?)
I was playing guitar then the cat jumps up next to me.. and sits there! Super cute can! It totally loves my guitar-playing. hahaha. It just sat there and looked at me. adorable~
Ok, to end off this random post, my latest henhouse high score list:
Beat that!
Left 5 more scores to push below 35, then Ill start pushing below 34. Hope to break the 33second barrier soon!
And on a related note, i think it is impossible to get a perfect streak? i.e. 100 combo. I think the AI just makes your combo break on purpose. I tried quite a few times already, press super slowly so there are no mistakes.. but only 50~ and it breaks. damn lame. I'll keep trying and see whether can.
Before we could play we had to wait for our 4th player Dom who had to go somewhere first.. so we were really bored. Hence the resulting pictures + video:
The cat is dead
Na kidding it's not.
It's just being possessed by something.
Ooh nice closeup shot i won't shrink this.
And yes that's my foot on it. I'm rubbing its tummy it's loving it.
Not very pretty cat the brows very fierce. But i swear it talks to us. it meows when we ask it questions. listen for it in the video! lol.
Does a cat get dizzy?
SUBTITLES:
0:09 - Manja: MEOW!
(translation - faster!! this is too slow! i want to get dizzy!!!)
0:30- Manja: MEOW!
(translation - that's it??? oh man i wanted the ride to last longer. sigh.)
0:36 -
Me: what's up kitty?
Manja: MEOW!
(translation - nothing much, just got off some boring ride. sigh what's a cat got to do for some entertainment around here?)
I was playing guitar then the cat jumps up next to me.. and sits there! Super cute can! It totally loves my guitar-playing. hahaha. It just sat there and looked at me. adorable~
Ok, to end off this random post, my latest henhouse high score list:
Beat that!
Left 5 more scores to push below 35, then Ill start pushing below 34. Hope to break the 33second barrier soon!
And on a related note, i think it is impossible to get a perfect streak? i.e. 100 combo. I think the AI just makes your combo break on purpose. I tried quite a few times already, press super slowly so there are no mistakes.. but only 50~ and it breaks. damn lame. I'll keep trying and see whether can.
Saturday 9 October 2010
lava lamp!
listen to Prof Alan explain a lava lamp rofl
Oh and if you notice, i removed my twitter feed, because it prevents links from being clicked! I'll try to work out a solution to it.. as for now, you can just copy and paste the link to follow me k :)
Oh and if you notice, i removed my twitter feed, because it prevents links from being clicked! I'll try to work out a solution to it.. as for now, you can just copy and paste the link to follow me k :)
honeybunch sugarplumz
Ok I learnt of this song quite some time ago in JC and apparently it was already famous because it was featured in strawberry shortcake (some kids show on cable i think i don't have cable and i don't watch kids shows)
So I've heard the mp3 of course, and know the lyrics by heart easily. But i've never seen the original video of the girl singing this!
Sooooo cuuuuteeee caaaan!!!! i like the way she says 'snoogums boogums'. It's even cuter when you see it on video.. all along i only know how it sounds. mannn.
There's another video on YT of some chubby boy lipsyncing it which is somehow more famous and more popular.. but this girl is much cuter.
And, she is rather hot now (she's 21 or something now), there's a video of them 2 doing a lipsync over the original video. I don't wanna embed that one so you can click here to check out how she looks.
LYRICS:
*'you're my honeybunch sugar plumz pumpy yumpy yumkin you're my sweetie pie
you're my cuppycake gumdropz snoogums boogums ure, the apple of my eye
and i love u so and i want u to know i'll always be right here
and i waaaant to sing. sweet soooongs to you. because . you. are. sooo dearrr'
:)
So I've heard the mp3 of course, and know the lyrics by heart easily. But i've never seen the original video of the girl singing this!
Sooooo cuuuuteeee caaaan!!!! i like the way she says 'snoogums boogums'. It's even cuter when you see it on video.. all along i only know how it sounds. mannn.
There's another video on YT of some chubby boy lipsyncing it which is somehow more famous and more popular.. but this girl is much cuter.
And, she is rather hot now (she's 21 or something now), there's a video of them 2 doing a lipsync over the original video. I don't wanna embed that one so you can click here to check out how she looks.
LYRICS:
*'you're my honeybunch sugar plumz pumpy yumpy yumkin you're my sweetie pie
you're my cuppycake gumdropz snoogums boogums ure, the apple of my eye
and i love u so and i want u to know i'll always be right here
and i waaaant to sing. sweet soooongs to you. because . you. are. sooo dearrr'
:)
Thursday 7 October 2010
high score
Can anyone beat this?
Oh, my highest score is actually 34.78 on Joy's iPhone, here's proof:
If you're wondering, the 'alan so close' etc is referring to me about to break the 40second mark haha. Nowadays on my iTouch i can easily break 40 of course, the new mark to break is 35. Did it only twice so far (34.78, 34.91 on my own)
Yup the first goal now is to push all below 37 (rank#10 is 37:00 zzz) once i do that, next goal is to push all below 36. gradually work towards 35 :S
school? what school?
Oh, my highest score is actually 34.78 on Joy's iPhone, here's proof:
If you're wondering, the 'alan so close' etc is referring to me about to break the 40second mark haha. Nowadays on my iTouch i can easily break 40 of course, the new mark to break is 35. Did it only twice so far (34.78, 34.91 on my own)
Yup the first goal now is to push all below 37 (rank#10 is 37:00 zzz) once i do that, next goal is to push all below 36. gradually work towards 35 :S
school? what school?
Facebook Birthdays
This is another wordy post about yet another phenomenon which I've observed. So if you don't like wordy posts, au revoir.
So, this year was my first year 'officially' using Facebook. I've been in army the past 2 years, and before that Facebook wasn't as popular yet. (maybe it was I was (am) just never into Facebook)
Then when I came out of army, just for fun, I decided to use FB more, uploaded photos, posted on walls, added more friends, etc
Thus, this year was my first ever 'Facebook Birthday'. Let me explain what this is.
A 'Facebook Birthday' is when it is, of course, your birthday, and people wish you on Facebook. Now, because of the feature 'News Feed' in FB when recent news is randomly updated on everyone's pages, people(especially those FB fanatics who refresh page every minute) tend to find out about your birthday because of this.
So the effect is as such:
1) You have either
A) a couple of friends who really remember when your birthday is
B) Some random friends who noted your birthday on your profile page and realised it was coming
C) Whatever type of friend, the point is that they really remember your birthday.
One thing to note is that Facebook does not have birthday reminders.. I think? Unlike Friendster which annoyingly sends you an email when someone's birthday is nearing. Well, maybe it is helpful for some people but I find it annoying.
Ok so these people will post on your wall and wish you 'Happy Birthday!'.
2) Other people will see their posts in their News Feed, and infer that it is your birthday. Now, the 'natural' reaction is to go over to their wall and also post a well wish of happy birthday. I mean, it just takes a few seconds to do so, why not?
3) Step 2 repeats until your birthday ends. Heck, it may even continue the next day when people who didn't log on to FB the previous day sees the News Feed and wish you 'happy belated!' instead.
Now, the odd thing is that, of those people that wished me, the proportions were like this:
10% people i have never spoke to in my life (like, friend's friend so they add me. i don't usually add people)
70% people I haven't spoken to for about 3-5 years.
20% actual friends/acquaintances
The first 10% was the group that really confused me. I have never ever spoken to them and they were wishing me heartily like I was some good friend of theirs. Isn't that just really weird?
Can you imagine you are at a restaurant, then suddenly the next table breaks out in a birthday song. Then after your dinner you walk over to the birthday boy and say 'HEY HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!'
Weird to the max.
You may argue that in this case the person is an entire stranger, while in my case the people were 2nd/3rd degree friends. But you forget the law of '7 degrees of separation'. (There are no 2 people in the world who cannot be connected by 7 or less people) So it's very likely that person at the restaurant is your cousin's friend's brother. Or your teacher's son's friend. Or even your neighbour's classmate.
So my theory of 'Facebook Birthday' is this -
Am I the only one to see the artificiality here?
In the past, you would have to write a card and mail it a day earlier. Maybe if it was a good friend you would call him/her up to personally wish him. Heck, even more recently, you would send an SMS to wish him happy birthday.
Even before that, you would have to circle birthdays on your personal organizer or calendar.
Maybe rely on your superb prospective memory to remember birthdays (which I'm terrifail at)
Now? Just wait for your FB news feed to update you on someone's birthday and just pop over to type a one liner, taking all of 10 seconds.
There is almost no sentiment attached, no value at all. Are we becoming robots?
Ok you may be cursing me in your mind, going 'walao this alan, people wish him he still complain so much, next time don't wish him anymore'. If you are really this narrowminded and can't see my point... fine, don't wish me anymore.
SO I want to propose a fun experiment to test this theory. I need a group of, say, 10 people? Maybe less, just about 5-6?
So one person will volunteer to be the 'facebook birthday boy/girl'. This person's birthday needs to be at least 4-6 months away/ago so that it is not recent enough to be remembered. And he/she also cannot display his birthday on his FB profile page.
What happens is, the whole group will then post on this person's wall at a chosen day, and wish him/her 'Happy Birthday' when it is NOT him/her birthday.
Then, sit back, and see if the Facebook Birthday effect kicks in.
I would be very interested to see the results of this experiment. Any volunteers? :D
So, this year was my first year 'officially' using Facebook. I've been in army the past 2 years, and before that Facebook wasn't as popular yet. (maybe it was I was (am) just never into Facebook)
Then when I came out of army, just for fun, I decided to use FB more, uploaded photos, posted on walls, added more friends, etc
Thus, this year was my first ever 'Facebook Birthday'. Let me explain what this is.
A 'Facebook Birthday' is when it is, of course, your birthday, and people wish you on Facebook. Now, because of the feature 'News Feed' in FB when recent news is randomly updated on everyone's pages, people(especially those FB fanatics who refresh page every minute) tend to find out about your birthday because of this.
So the effect is as such:
1) You have either
A) a couple of friends who really remember when your birthday is
B) Some random friends who noted your birthday on your profile page and realised it was coming
C) Whatever type of friend, the point is that they really remember your birthday.
One thing to note is that Facebook does not have birthday reminders.. I think? Unlike Friendster which annoyingly sends you an email when someone's birthday is nearing. Well, maybe it is helpful for some people but I find it annoying.
Ok so these people will post on your wall and wish you 'Happy Birthday!'.
2) Other people will see their posts in their News Feed, and infer that it is your birthday. Now, the 'natural' reaction is to go over to their wall and also post a well wish of happy birthday. I mean, it just takes a few seconds to do so, why not?
3) Step 2 repeats until your birthday ends. Heck, it may even continue the next day when people who didn't log on to FB the previous day sees the News Feed and wish you 'happy belated!' instead.
Now, the odd thing is that, of those people that wished me, the proportions were like this:
10% people i have never spoke to in my life (like, friend's friend so they add me. i don't usually add people)
70% people I haven't spoken to for about 3-5 years.
20% actual friends/acquaintances
The first 10% was the group that really confused me. I have never ever spoken to them and they were wishing me heartily like I was some good friend of theirs. Isn't that just really weird?
Can you imagine you are at a restaurant, then suddenly the next table breaks out in a birthday song. Then after your dinner you walk over to the birthday boy and say 'HEY HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!'
Weird to the max.
You may argue that in this case the person is an entire stranger, while in my case the people were 2nd/3rd degree friends. But you forget the law of '7 degrees of separation'. (There are no 2 people in the world who cannot be connected by 7 or less people) So it's very likely that person at the restaurant is your cousin's friend's brother. Or your teacher's son's friend. Or even your neighbour's classmate.
So my theory of 'Facebook Birthday' is this -
Your Facebook Birthday is the day in which (all sorts of) people will wish you happy birthday, regardless of whether they know you or know when your birthday is.
Am I the only one to see the artificiality here?
In the past, you would have to write a card and mail it a day earlier. Maybe if it was a good friend you would call him/her up to personally wish him. Heck, even more recently, you would send an SMS to wish him happy birthday.
Even before that, you would have to circle birthdays on your personal organizer or calendar.
Maybe rely on your superb prospective memory to remember birthdays (which I'm terrifail at)
Now? Just wait for your FB news feed to update you on someone's birthday and just pop over to type a one liner, taking all of 10 seconds.
There is almost no sentiment attached, no value at all. Are we becoming robots?
Ok you may be cursing me in your mind, going 'walao this alan, people wish him he still complain so much, next time don't wish him anymore'. If you are really this narrowminded and can't see my point... fine, don't wish me anymore.
SO I want to propose a fun experiment to test this theory. I need a group of, say, 10 people? Maybe less, just about 5-6?
So one person will volunteer to be the 'facebook birthday boy/girl'. This person's birthday needs to be at least 4-6 months away/ago so that it is not recent enough to be remembered. And he/she also cannot display his birthday on his FB profile page.
What happens is, the whole group will then post on this person's wall at a chosen day, and wish him/her 'Happy Birthday' when it is NOT him/her birthday.
Then, sit back, and see if the Facebook Birthday effect kicks in.
I would be very interested to see the results of this experiment. Any volunteers? :D
Monday 4 October 2010
R(21)
EDIT: added alot of thankyou stuff which you would not have read if you read this before 12.40AM on 5th Oct.
lotsa photos in this post so won't be as wordy as my last few posts!
Anyway, I have turned 21!! Rawr. I am an adult now. Don't need parental consent form already hahah.
So... anyway, on Sunday I invited some of my closest friends for a buffet dinner!
@ Parkroyal hotel!
Farrer Park branch :)
I didn't take any photos of it but it's really quite nice and posh-looking.. though it's not that posh la.
The yummy desserts :D
Ok that's about all the food pictures i took.
hahaa sorry la this was before everyone arrived.. when people came I had to entertain them ma. And also busy eating. and serving a handicapped girl. HA. more on that soon.
I was totally not aware of this picture but oh well. Oh the cake is damn weird.. or rather, the writing:
my name is Alan Teo Quan Hau btw.. but the point is.. who puts your full name on a cake??? besides my mom lol. this was totally weird but oh well.
My cousin's son (my nephew? my distant cousin? my couphew? my nepsin?) sang me 'Happy Birthday' in both English and Chinese!! Super cute la haha.
Oh i saw this tweet on OMGfacts before.. do you know that the song 'Happy Birthday' is copyrighted? The song is copyrighted which is why you never see it (or rather, hear it) on TV shows/movies at all.
:)
Beckymonkey!!
I don't know why she look so pretty here. HAHA ok ok always pretty la k. But yea, she looks good in this pic.
And this photo doesn't show it but...
She's on crutches!! Well ok it's only one crutch. So how do i say it. she's on a crutch.
But yea she.. fractured(?) her ankle or something on the last day of her overseas trip by falling down stairs or something. But it is recovering quite fast.. but still needed a crutch to walk around.
And she still came down!!! :D So glad!
I was helping her take food all the way tho. Promised her bf to take care of her haha.
Becky has been my friend since J1.. I was super super close to her in J1 we SMSed like 3msg long msgs like all day lol. Still kept in touch though we weren't as close in the subsequent years, but I always made it a point to meet up with her cos she's always v fun to talk cock with! haha.
Thanks becky for always being there for me when I needed to emo! Thanks for always meeting up just to catch up. Thanks for being so lively and bubbly and monkeyly! (rofl what a word)
She got me a nice OP T-shirt! just wore it yesterday.
And OP stands for Ocean Pacific, not overpowered btw. HAHA ok i think only gamers will understand this.
weiqin!!
Glad she agreed to come, cos she and becky both didn't know anyone else !! So it could be potentially damn weird but i think church people were nice and I managed to keep them entertained the whole night (i think? lol)
weiqin was probably my newest friend at that table, I've only known her for 2 years+! Oh wow. haha. she was from the same class as my ex, so i kinda knew her but never talked to her till after A levels. I'm not very sure how we started talking also.. but I think i liked her wit or something haha. She's v smart! So we always 'argue' though it's not like in a bad way. Really enjoy talking to her and hanging out :)
Thanks weiqin for always being there to hang out when Im bored! Thanks for all the help with the stupid math problems i always cant solve! thanks for entertaining me with your wit!
AND I KNOW THE PHOTOSHOP IS TERRIBAD. There is a reason for it (why i photoshopped us out like that, not why it is terribad. why it is terribad is because I'm just lazy to cut it cleanly) (the red squiggles are just to fill out the empty space on top HA)
She got me a notebook sleeve ( CaseLogic.. so branded! lol) and a CD of one of my favourite singers, Jason Mraz!! But aiya I have like most of the songs already. But she said the purpose of this is to encourage me to buy CDs instead of DLing illegally.. lalala ok I shan't say anything I just had a CNM lecture on Intellectual Property yesterday hee.
Bencheok and daniel!
I think i knew Ben for the 2nd longest at this table though I wasnt really close to him back when i first knew him. I believe before i even joined Bay i was already hanging around with him, weizhong (brother of little weizhi) and darren at random places in church during service haha.
Always enjoy talking about games and playing with him!
Thanks ben for lending me all the games and just being a great gaming companion and friend! Thanks for always being there to hear me gush about boring strategy which i sense you may not be totally interested in sometimes! hahahha.
Danniellllll! I think he more or less springboarded my passion of basketball with his present of.. well, a basketball. Haha. Well it wasn't entirely from him, shared by like 912873 people but he was the one who organized it. He was my cell leader ( ithink) for quite some years in BAY and have always been talking and hanging out with him. Really niceee guy - i hope you find someone special soon dan HAHA.
Thanks for everything mentioned above! Thanks for always organizing the movies and suppers and yada yada. Always have great fellowship when we hang out!
And if you're some unknown passerby who is somehow extremely curious and have read up to this point (or skimmed through these photos and found this guy familiar), and found daniel to be familiar, maybe because he's famous?
http://www.youtube.com/user/jedimindless
His youtube channel, kgo. hahaha.
+cheryl jie!
cheryl was kinda like an older sister to me when I was in secondary school.. we constantly exchanged letters and i was quite close to her during that period! Haven't been interacting with her much lately.. must catch up soon rawr.
Thanks cheryl for being there for me when i was in my crucial developmental phase! I've always wanted a sister (hence you, hence my best fren being a girl, etc) and you kinda fulfiled that role even if just for a couple of years. Wow deep emo sharing. thanks for being so funny and witty!
This book was from daniel too.. and of course cheryl did that creative letter at the side.
Eh seriously when she becomes some rich and famous designer (which she is very likely to, given how creative she is) will the letters she wrote to me become damn valuable? Lololol. Not that I'll sell them but.. haha will be damn cool to have them valued eh.
Anyway, they got me an awesome present which... wait i'll say more after the pics.
Razer DeathAdder!
Razer is a company that makes high-level gaming apparatus.. My previous mouse (not the Microsoft one I'm currently using) was a Razer Krait which i won in a gaming competition
which I TOTALLY loved. It was so nice to use, so perfect.
I used it for countless hours of WoW, and it eventually began to spoil while I was raiding so i had to replace it (left click button spoilt :( )
Ok so anyway, back to Deathadder.
Some booklets inside.
I should totally take stock photos for them. haha.
Ok what this photo fails to show is that the mouse is REALLY BIG. It's like, twice the size of my razerkrait and about 1.5 times the size of my mouse now.
I am not exaggerating! It's supposed to be 'ergonomic' and well it definitely fits your hand perfectly such that you're not really gripping the mouse but resting your entire hand on it (at least for me, cos i have small hands)
I tested this on Sunday for about 2 hours of Starcraft2 and... didn't really like it :( Like it was really hard to get used to and even after 2 hours of repeated use it didn't feel like I was getting any closer to being used to it.
It felt too big, too foreign, too hard to control.
I'm not sure about the future of this mouse.. right now I'm back to my Microsoft mouse, maybe when I have more time I'll force myself to get habituated to the Deathadder. :( Which is really damn sad! I was SO hyped about it yknow, I don't think I was hiding the gleam in my eyes and my huge smile when daniel handed it to me on Sunday.. I REALLY APPRECIATE THE PRESENT OK!
Just that, I'm really not sure if i'll end up using it. :( ugh.
ok that aside. let's move on.
Dom (who also contributed to the mouse. yes, it is quite ex) and Timooo
These two have been my travel buddies the whole xx years I've been going for BAY, really great to talk to just about anything and everything. BAY wouldn't have been the same without their company, and I really treasure their friendship!
Thanks dom for always helping me out in whatever i ask you for! Thanks for the countless bus trips and journeys home!
Thanks timo for being like the nicest guy in the world! Thanks for always being the 'big brother' that everyone can count on, being just so genuine and sincere in your care for everyone!
you both, thanks for the supper times we had too! many more to come!!
Oh, and look what timo got me:
LOLOL it's a LAVA LAMP. like damn cool can? I haven't tried it out yet because i'm afraid it will explode. Ok no not really because of that but because I've been busy with something else which I will mention shortly.
And that little container at the side is a salt container... in his letter to me timo wrote sth about being the 'salt of the earth' as the Bible said, yada yada. So how does the lava lamp relate to that ah. hahaha. Maybe he did write something about it but i forgot.
When I have the lava lamp up and running I'll take pictures of it ok!
And this is some unknown chubby chick i saw at the hotel and decided to ask for a photo.
HAHAHA. okkk no, she is the mystery person who i keep calling 'bestie' in my blog. christabel! My best friend! Known her for.. 8 years? And best friends for about 5. Haven't been hanging out with her lately though cos the poor girl is so busy with school work and her mad tuition (which is finally ending ... it's damn ridiculous la she has 4 hours straight of tuition on SUNDAYS yknow. -_- )
Thanks for being my best friend in the world xoxo.I don't say much ok because if i do i think need a few paragraphs. haha. Hang out more soon kayyss.
She got me not one, but TWO shirts
haha sorry for the lousy way of presenting the shirts but I really dont know a better way besides hangeronthewindow. I like the 2nd one! The first one looks like any of the 129387 ones i have so.. hahah. We'll see how i look in them soon..
Ok, we have come to the focal point of this entry. Ok no it is unfair to say that because I love all my other friends too. But this is the focal point of the presents, at least.
Ok first, introduction:
This is alwyn lim chau hwee or pewi, as my church friends know him by because of me haha. I still call him pewi now anyway.
He was, like me, a true blue Saint, from SAJS->SASS->SAJC
So i kinda knew him for.. almost 16 years? wow that's damn long.
I only became good frens with him in like secondary school, as he was in my 'clique', and we still hung out in JC+army via basketball, games, etc.
Super nice dude, seems shy but actually he talk damn alot one HA.
Thanks for being a reliable friend and so fun to talk to! I'm not very close to alot of guys but you are one of the anomalies haha. Thanks for always being there to play ball or just talk cock and stuff!
Well so when he reached the place he passed me a small package for my present, and was very cryptic about it.
He kept saying 'Have fun and enjoy this.. LITERALLY' and 'sure very useful ..can use in school.. quite good'
Well I really had no idea la. Like i thought was some toy or something or some book? It's just a small rectangle package the size of a small book. I shook it and it made no sound.. and i asked him what it was but he refused to tell me and said go home then open.
So i went home eventually after everyone left, and sat down with my presents
So exciting, like Christmas gift exchange like that. Just that I didn't have to give any gifts haha.
So as you can see, pewi's little box-like gift was there in front of everything, and because he piqued my curiosity, i picked it up first to open it.
So as i tore open the packaging.. guess what was inside.
A book? no
a diary? no
a bar of soap? no (lol this was really one of my thoughts when i first held on to it)
some sex toy? no (ALSO ANOTHER ONE. because of the way he kept saying 'you'll have fun/enjoy it!'!! it sounded v cheeky HAHA.)
A box? yes.
Wait, a box? Yes, a box.
.
.
So what was in the box?
.
.
.
OH MY GOD.
WHAT THE F-
I seriously don't know which of these 3 words flew through my head more in the next 30 minutes, probably the first phrase though cos I'm not so vulgar (haha) but.. OH MY GOD.
Let me locate my SMS to him immediately then (i tried to call him but he didn't pick up)
as you can see I was in total disbelief and also shock and everything. And also feeling damn bad la! mainly because i bought him a damn lousy present in comparison (which i feel too ashamed to type here) for his birthday earlier this year.. which is mainly also because i am terrifail at choosing presents :(
I felt like a damn shitty friend la!
His reply was something along the lines of 'i wanna get you a 32gb but out of stock' (-insert more OMGWTFs here-) and also to enjoy the itouch blabla. quite long i shan't bother typing it out.
And my following SMS
and later on he came online and here was our opening conversation:
and
Like wow seriously. What did i do to deserve such an awesome friend?
I feel SO blessed now, to have such a friend.
Like ok, i love all my other friends who i invited to the dinner. Heck, they are my closest friends in the world. but what pewi said/did... I TOUCH(ed) LEH.
hahahaha ok i can make the bad puns forever, let's just look at that chio thing more.
Ridiculously slim and sleek and elegant and chio and stylish.
pewi got me an iTouch (4th gen!) (8GB) which cost like, ALOT. It's definitely the most expensive present I've ever got, whether from one or a group of people. And it's just from him.
And 4th gen is damn cool la, it has a pretty crisp camera..supposedly able to record HD videos! I'm gonna try it now
Hmm this looks just average when uploaded but it looked pretty damn good when viewed on the itouch itself.. maybe it's because of the Retina display "display’s pixel density is so high your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. "
it's really super sharp and clear.
And.. it uploaded from the itouch itself in like.. 20seconds? amazing!
Yea so there's an amazing camera in both front AND back (wth! normally the front camera is shitty quality like my N97.. how come they can be both as good one! The video was taken with the front camera btw)
And.. do you know that this is so new that most stores haven't even stocked up on accessories for it yet? Lol! i went around today to buy a case and a screen protector and took FOREVER. I had to use my phone to google for nearest apple shop because i was at Funan and after checking out 3 levels there wasn't a single shop selling accessories for iTouch 4th gen!
And with my googling i found out that there are THREE types of Apple shops..
Apple Authorised Reseller , Apple Store , Apple Premium Reseller
You can go here
http://www.apple.com/sg/reseller/location.php?did=8&keyword=city+hall
to see the difference between each.. just click on the different categories they have an explanation the difference.
Yea so I found out there was a PREMIUM RESELLER at funan that was at the 5th floor and they had what i wanted so yay.
But i'm still not satisfied! I want like a pouch like thing that can cover the screen also. Right now it's just the back case. Hope they make more accessories for iTouch4thGen soon. (can't use the other Gens one cos 4G is much slimmer than the rest )
Yea anyway so... where was i. THANKS PEWI. You are awesome, really. And thanks to all my friends who came for the dinner! You guys are my closest friends in the world, and there's nothing i treasure more (besides maybe the itouch.. HAHA OK NO IM KIDDING) thanks for making this 21yearoldboy adult very happy :)
AND one more thing that i MUST say. One thing i did regret about having it at this nice hotel is that it had to be quite exclusive. I obviously can't invite too many people because it's quite expensive!
There are quite a handful of people that I kinda wanted to invite but couldn't because of this limit, though I also am really grateful for having them in my life. And some never really keep in touch also already.
So.. I see who wish me then I'll mention here la HA.
Okok this is extremely long I shall end here. K bye.
lotsa photos in this post so won't be as wordy as my last few posts!
Anyway, I have turned 21!! Rawr. I am an adult now. Don't need parental consent form already hahah.
So... anyway, on Sunday I invited some of my closest friends for a buffet dinner!
@ Parkroyal hotel!
Farrer Park branch :)
I didn't take any photos of it but it's really quite nice and posh-looking.. though it's not that posh la.
The yummy desserts :D
Ok that's about all the food pictures i took.
hahaa sorry la this was before everyone arrived.. when people came I had to entertain them ma. And also busy eating. and serving a handicapped girl. HA. more on that soon.
I was totally not aware of this picture but oh well. Oh the cake is damn weird.. or rather, the writing:
my name is Alan Teo Quan Hau btw.. but the point is.. who puts your full name on a cake??? besides my mom lol. this was totally weird but oh well.
My cousin's son (my nephew? my distant cousin? my couphew? my nepsin?) sang me 'Happy Birthday' in both English and Chinese!! Super cute la haha.
Oh i saw this tweet on OMGfacts before.. do you know that the song 'Happy Birthday' is copyrighted? The song is copyrighted which is why you never see it (or rather, hear it) on TV shows/movies at all.
:)
Beckymonkey!!
I don't know why she look so pretty here. HAHA ok ok always pretty la k. But yea, she looks good in this pic.
And this photo doesn't show it but...
She's on crutches!! Well ok it's only one crutch. So how do i say it. she's on a crutch.
But yea she.. fractured(?) her ankle or something on the last day of her overseas trip by falling down stairs or something. But it is recovering quite fast.. but still needed a crutch to walk around.
And she still came down!!! :D So glad!
I was helping her take food all the way tho. Promised her bf to take care of her haha.
Becky has been my friend since J1.. I was super super close to her in J1 we SMSed like 3msg long msgs like all day lol. Still kept in touch though we weren't as close in the subsequent years, but I always made it a point to meet up with her cos she's always v fun to talk cock with! haha.
Thanks becky for always being there for me when I needed to emo! Thanks for always meeting up just to catch up. Thanks for being so lively and bubbly and monkeyly! (rofl what a word)
She got me a nice OP T-shirt! just wore it yesterday.
And OP stands for Ocean Pacific, not overpowered btw. HAHA ok i think only gamers will understand this.
weiqin!!
Glad she agreed to come, cos she and becky both didn't know anyone else !! So it could be potentially damn weird but i think church people were nice and I managed to keep them entertained the whole night (i think? lol)
weiqin was probably my newest friend at that table, I've only known her for 2 years+! Oh wow. haha. she was from the same class as my ex, so i kinda knew her but never talked to her till after A levels. I'm not very sure how we started talking also.. but I think i liked her wit or something haha. She's v smart! So we always 'argue' though it's not like in a bad way. Really enjoy talking to her and hanging out :)
Thanks weiqin for always being there to hang out when Im bored! Thanks for all the help with the stupid math problems i always cant solve! thanks for entertaining me with your wit!
AND I KNOW THE PHOTOSHOP IS TERRIBAD. There is a reason for it (why i photoshopped us out like that, not why it is terribad. why it is terribad is because I'm just lazy to cut it cleanly) (the red squiggles are just to fill out the empty space on top HA)
She got me a notebook sleeve ( CaseLogic.. so branded! lol) and a CD of one of my favourite singers, Jason Mraz!! But aiya I have like most of the songs already. But she said the purpose of this is to encourage me to buy CDs instead of DLing illegally.. lalala ok I shan't say anything I just had a CNM lecture on Intellectual Property yesterday hee.
Bencheok and daniel!
I think i knew Ben for the 2nd longest at this table though I wasnt really close to him back when i first knew him. I believe before i even joined Bay i was already hanging around with him, weizhong (brother of little weizhi) and darren at random places in church during service haha.
Always enjoy talking about games and playing with him!
Thanks ben for lending me all the games and just being a great gaming companion and friend! Thanks for always being there to hear me gush about boring strategy which i sense you may not be totally interested in sometimes! hahahha.
Danniellllll! I think he more or less springboarded my passion of basketball with his present of.. well, a basketball. Haha. Well it wasn't entirely from him, shared by like 912873 people but he was the one who organized it. He was my cell leader ( ithink) for quite some years in BAY and have always been talking and hanging out with him. Really niceee guy - i hope you find someone special soon dan HAHA.
Thanks for everything mentioned above! Thanks for always organizing the movies and suppers and yada yada. Always have great fellowship when we hang out!
And if you're some unknown passerby who is somehow extremely curious and have read up to this point (or skimmed through these photos and found this guy familiar), and found daniel to be familiar, maybe because he's famous?
http://www.youtube.com/user/jedimindless
His youtube channel, kgo. hahaha.
+cheryl jie!
cheryl was kinda like an older sister to me when I was in secondary school.. we constantly exchanged letters and i was quite close to her during that period! Haven't been interacting with her much lately.. must catch up soon rawr.
Thanks cheryl for being there for me when i was in my crucial developmental phase! I've always wanted a sister (hence you, hence my best fren being a girl, etc) and you kinda fulfiled that role even if just for a couple of years. Wow deep emo sharing. thanks for being so funny and witty!
This book was from daniel too.. and of course cheryl did that creative letter at the side.
Eh seriously when she becomes some rich and famous designer (which she is very likely to, given how creative she is) will the letters she wrote to me become damn valuable? Lololol. Not that I'll sell them but.. haha will be damn cool to have them valued eh.
Anyway, they got me an awesome present which... wait i'll say more after the pics.
Razer DeathAdder!
Razer is a company that makes high-level gaming apparatus.. My previous mouse (not the Microsoft one I'm currently using) was a Razer Krait which i won in a gaming competition
which I TOTALLY loved. It was so nice to use, so perfect.
I used it for countless hours of WoW, and it eventually began to spoil while I was raiding so i had to replace it (left click button spoilt :( )
Ok so anyway, back to Deathadder.
Some booklets inside.
I should totally take stock photos for them. haha.
Ok what this photo fails to show is that the mouse is REALLY BIG. It's like, twice the size of my razerkrait and about 1.5 times the size of my mouse now.
I am not exaggerating! It's supposed to be 'ergonomic' and well it definitely fits your hand perfectly such that you're not really gripping the mouse but resting your entire hand on it (at least for me, cos i have small hands)
I tested this on Sunday for about 2 hours of Starcraft2 and... didn't really like it :( Like it was really hard to get used to and even after 2 hours of repeated use it didn't feel like I was getting any closer to being used to it.
It felt too big, too foreign, too hard to control.
I'm not sure about the future of this mouse.. right now I'm back to my Microsoft mouse, maybe when I have more time I'll force myself to get habituated to the Deathadder. :( Which is really damn sad! I was SO hyped about it yknow, I don't think I was hiding the gleam in my eyes and my huge smile when daniel handed it to me on Sunday.. I REALLY APPRECIATE THE PRESENT OK!
Just that, I'm really not sure if i'll end up using it. :( ugh.
ok that aside. let's move on.
Dom (who also contributed to the mouse. yes, it is quite ex) and Timooo
These two have been my travel buddies the whole xx years I've been going for BAY, really great to talk to just about anything and everything. BAY wouldn't have been the same without their company, and I really treasure their friendship!
Thanks dom for always helping me out in whatever i ask you for! Thanks for the countless bus trips and journeys home!
Thanks timo for being like the nicest guy in the world! Thanks for always being the 'big brother' that everyone can count on, being just so genuine and sincere in your care for everyone!
you both, thanks for the supper times we had too! many more to come!!
Oh, and look what timo got me:
LOLOL it's a LAVA LAMP. like damn cool can? I haven't tried it out yet because i'm afraid it will explode. Ok no not really because of that but because I've been busy with something else which I will mention shortly.
And that little container at the side is a salt container... in his letter to me timo wrote sth about being the 'salt of the earth' as the Bible said, yada yada. So how does the lava lamp relate to that ah. hahaha. Maybe he did write something about it but i forgot.
When I have the lava lamp up and running I'll take pictures of it ok!
And this is some unknown chubby chick i saw at the hotel and decided to ask for a photo.
HAHAHA. okkk no, she is the mystery person who i keep calling 'bestie' in my blog. christabel! My best friend! Known her for.. 8 years? And best friends for about 5. Haven't been hanging out with her lately though cos the poor girl is so busy with school work and her mad tuition (which is finally ending ... it's damn ridiculous la she has 4 hours straight of tuition on SUNDAYS yknow. -_- )
Thanks for being my best friend in the world xoxo.I don't say much ok because if i do i think need a few paragraphs. haha. Hang out more soon kayyss.
She got me not one, but TWO shirts
haha sorry for the lousy way of presenting the shirts but I really dont know a better way besides hangeronthewindow. I like the 2nd one! The first one looks like any of the 129387 ones i have so.. hahah. We'll see how i look in them soon..
Ok, we have come to the focal point of this entry. Ok no it is unfair to say that because I love all my other friends too. But this is the focal point of the presents, at least.
Ok first, introduction:
This is alwyn lim chau hwee or pewi, as my church friends know him by because of me haha. I still call him pewi now anyway.
He was, like me, a true blue Saint, from SAJS->SASS->SAJC
So i kinda knew him for.. almost 16 years? wow that's damn long.
I only became good frens with him in like secondary school, as he was in my 'clique', and we still hung out in JC+army via basketball, games, etc.
Super nice dude, seems shy but actually he talk damn alot one HA.
Thanks for being a reliable friend and so fun to talk to! I'm not very close to alot of guys but you are one of the anomalies haha. Thanks for always being there to play ball or just talk cock and stuff!
Well so when he reached the place he passed me a small package for my present, and was very cryptic about it.
He kept saying 'Have fun and enjoy this.. LITERALLY' and 'sure very useful ..can use in school.. quite good'
Well I really had no idea la. Like i thought was some toy or something or some book? It's just a small rectangle package the size of a small book. I shook it and it made no sound.. and i asked him what it was but he refused to tell me and said go home then open.
So i went home eventually after everyone left, and sat down with my presents
So exciting, like Christmas gift exchange like that. Just that I didn't have to give any gifts haha.
So as you can see, pewi's little box-like gift was there in front of everything, and because he piqued my curiosity, i picked it up first to open it.
So as i tore open the packaging.. guess what was inside.
A book? no
a diary? no
a bar of soap? no (lol this was really one of my thoughts when i first held on to it)
some sex toy? no (ALSO ANOTHER ONE. because of the way he kept saying 'you'll have fun/enjoy it!'!! it sounded v cheeky HAHA.)
A box? yes.
Wait, a box? Yes, a box.
.
.
So what was in the box?
.
.
.
OH MY GOD.
WHAT THE F-
I seriously don't know which of these 3 words flew through my head more in the next 30 minutes, probably the first phrase though cos I'm not so vulgar (haha) but.. OH MY GOD.
Let me locate my SMS to him immediately then (i tried to call him but he didn't pick up)
"OH MY GOD PEWI. OH MY GOD. I JUST OPENED YOUR PRESENT.. AND I DONT DARE TOUCH (rofl what a pun!) IS THIS REAL???!!?? WHY YOU SPEND SO MUCH!!? Omg. I'm in shock now. Pewi!!! How can lidat!!!"
as you can see I was in total disbelief and also shock and everything. And also feeling damn bad la! mainly because i bought him a damn lousy present in comparison (which i feel too ashamed to type here) for his birthday earlier this year.. which is mainly also because i am terrifail at choosing presents :(
I felt like a damn shitty friend la!
His reply was something along the lines of 'i wanna get you a 32gb but out of stock' (-insert more OMGWTFs here-) and also to enjoy the itouch blabla. quite long i shan't bother typing it out.
And my following SMS
"I FEEL LIKE A SHITTY FRIEND NOW!!! OMG. OMGOMG. im literally stunned. urs was the first one i opened and once i opened i havent touched anything else yet . Cos I am still stunned. Pewi!!! I wanna hug you now. But i feel damn bad also. Omg"
and later on he came online and here was our opening conversation:
and
Like wow seriously. What did i do to deserve such an awesome friend?
I feel SO blessed now, to have such a friend.
Like ok, i love all my other friends who i invited to the dinner. Heck, they are my closest friends in the world. but what pewi said/did... I TOUCH(ed) LEH.
hahahaha ok i can make the bad puns forever, let's just look at that chio thing more.
Ridiculously slim and sleek and elegant and chio and stylish.
pewi got me an iTouch (4th gen!) (8GB) which cost like, ALOT. It's definitely the most expensive present I've ever got, whether from one or a group of people. And it's just from him.
And 4th gen is damn cool la, it has a pretty crisp camera..supposedly able to record HD videos! I'm gonna try it now
Hmm this looks just average when uploaded but it looked pretty damn good when viewed on the itouch itself.. maybe it's because of the Retina display "display’s pixel density is so high your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. "
it's really super sharp and clear.
And.. it uploaded from the itouch itself in like.. 20seconds? amazing!
Yea so there's an amazing camera in both front AND back (wth! normally the front camera is shitty quality like my N97.. how come they can be both as good one! The video was taken with the front camera btw)
And.. do you know that this is so new that most stores haven't even stocked up on accessories for it yet? Lol! i went around today to buy a case and a screen protector and took FOREVER. I had to use my phone to google for nearest apple shop because i was at Funan and after checking out 3 levels there wasn't a single shop selling accessories for iTouch 4th gen!
And with my googling i found out that there are THREE types of Apple shops..
Apple Authorised Reseller , Apple Store , Apple Premium Reseller
You can go here
http://www.apple.com/sg/reseller/location.php?did=8&keyword=city+hall
to see the difference between each.. just click on the different categories they have an explanation the difference.
Yea so I found out there was a PREMIUM RESELLER at funan that was at the 5th floor and they had what i wanted so yay.
But i'm still not satisfied! I want like a pouch like thing that can cover the screen also. Right now it's just the back case. Hope they make more accessories for iTouch4thGen soon. (can't use the other Gens one cos 4G is much slimmer than the rest )
Yea anyway so... where was i. THANKS PEWI. You are awesome, really. And thanks to all my friends who came for the dinner! You guys are my closest friends in the world, and there's nothing i treasure more (besides maybe the itouch.. HAHA OK NO IM KIDDING) thanks for making this 21yearold
AND one more thing that i MUST say. One thing i did regret about having it at this nice hotel is that it had to be quite exclusive. I obviously can't invite too many people because it's quite expensive!
There are quite a handful of people that I kinda wanted to invite but couldn't because of this limit, though I also am really grateful for having them in my life. And some never really keep in touch also already.
So.. I see who wish me then I'll mention here la HA.
Okok this is extremely long I shall end here. K bye.
Friday 1 October 2010
philosophical 2
I wrote something to post in my Philo forums that I thought was quite interesting. I added in a 'context' mini section so that people who do not take my philo module will understand it. It's a rather long write-up, so.. be prepared :p
Context:
There is an article about 'hedonism', which is the concept that humans are only interested in pursuing pleasure and avoiding suffering. (this is a very loose definition, there are more sub-categories of this and further elaboration/clarification that I won't go into, you just need to know this definition to understand what I'm going to say)
So the author(Roger Crisp) presents an analogy of an Experience Machine to counter hedonism. Let's suppose there is this new scientific device, called the Experience Machine. What it can do is when you are plugged into it, it allows you to experience all the pleasures that you would experience in the real world, with no suffering at all. In fact, it lets you experience this forever and ever. And you won't know that you are actually plugged in, you will think it is all real.
Will you want to plug in?
Most people would say 'no', and Crisp suggests some reasons for this, that it is because you want to have the feeling of accomplishment of doing something for real.. and some other reasons I don't quite get.
I didn't get why people would say no though. And as such, my dissertion begins:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
So we all know the Experience machine analogy - and the question is
"Do you want to plug into the experience machine?"
A) Yes, I want to plug in
B) No, I do not want to plug in, I want to stay in my present life.
and most of us would choose B, and NOT to be plugged into such a machine. And why? The reason the article gave was that we desired the accomplishment, yada yada. Whatever your reason is, just keep it in your head at the moment. If you would choose A, you don't have to read on, you are on my side already.
So now, what if I presented a reverse situation - instead of asking whether you want to plug into the experience machine, i tell you that you ARE already in the experience machine. The question now is,
"Do you want to unplug from the experience machine?"
C) Yes, I want to unplug
D) No, I want to stay in my present life and stay plugged in.
If you had chosen C, and your first answer was A, the contradiction is obvious. You need to rethink one of your responses, something is wrong, you can't both want to plug in and plug out of the machine it doesn't make sense.
And if you had chosen B, then D, the contradiction is there though not so straightforward. While your choice of being in the machine (whether you are plugging in or plugging out) changes, the underlying theme for both responses is that you want to stay in your present life. If you are in this camp, hold that thought, my response to you is below.
And what if you chose B, then C? The contradiction is more subtle, but still there. If i rephrase the options and put them side by side it should become obvious:
1) You do not want to plug into a machine because you prefer your current life
2) You want to unplug from your current life
1 and 2 are the opposite of each other. If you had chosen to not be plugged in because current factors influence you to prefer your current state of the world, then it wouldn't make sense that when you find out that you are in fact plugged in, you suddenly detest it and want out of it. The prior factors that made you choose this world should also make you choose NOT to unplug from it.
So what is the real issue here? It seems to me that it is a problem of REALITY. As we are brought up, we are taught Science, to believe in what we can observe. Thus, REALITY becomes a forefront concept to us. We seek to have REALITY. It's not just about having pleasure anymore, it's about our perception that we are having pleasure for real.
For those who took option B and D:
You chose not to plug into the machine because you thought what you had was reality.
You then chose not to unplug because the world that you were in is your perceived reality.
Now it needs to be clarified that it is our PERCEIVED REALITY that we want, not the 'actual' reality (as in the case of when asked to unplug and you decide to unplug)
After all, it does not make any logical sense that if your perception of your current reality is so real that you choose option B to stay in your current state BUT then choose option C later on, to choose to go to the 'actual' reality, because YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE. If your decision-making process had chosen B in the first place, the same decision-making process SHOULD rightly choose option D. The reason of 'I want to unplug because I want to experience reality' is invalid because staying plugged in has been, and is your reality, and thus, should be your preferred option.
It is therefore logically flawed to pick B and then C.
So what exactly is reality? Reality is merely a perception. An optical illusion is a reality (though misconceived one). A magic trick is reality to the audience, but not to the magician. A dream is sometimes, in a sense, reality, when we don't realise we are dreaming. Which is this case of the experience machine.
So how does this tie back to the hedonism argument? If we remember what the Experience Machine argument was arguing for, I believe it was to say that pleasure is NOT everything we want, since most of us would rather not be plugged in (Option B) and hence we don't really just want pleasure.
However, i propose that the reason for not wanting to plug in is because we desire REALITY. It is not about experiencing pleasure, it is about perceiving that the pleasure we are experiencing is real. That is what we all want.
Thus, the whole point of this is to show you that A is not that bad a choice after all, assuming you perceive the Experience machine world as your only and 'real' reality. And that choosing option B does not mean you are against hedonism, you still want pleasure, just that you want to perceive that it is real.
OK I'm done. I hope all this makes sense, I did not have a conclusion in mind when I started writing this, I just wanted to get the contradiction about choosing B then C out there (as that was the concensus in my tutorial) and see what people have to say about it. Of course, if you have things to comment about on the rest of my argument, please do so.
Context:
There is an article about 'hedonism', which is the concept that humans are only interested in pursuing pleasure and avoiding suffering. (this is a very loose definition, there are more sub-categories of this and further elaboration/clarification that I won't go into, you just need to know this definition to understand what I'm going to say)
So the author(Roger Crisp) presents an analogy of an Experience Machine to counter hedonism. Let's suppose there is this new scientific device, called the Experience Machine. What it can do is when you are plugged into it, it allows you to experience all the pleasures that you would experience in the real world, with no suffering at all. In fact, it lets you experience this forever and ever. And you won't know that you are actually plugged in, you will think it is all real.
Will you want to plug in?
Most people would say 'no', and Crisp suggests some reasons for this, that it is because you want to have the feeling of accomplishment of doing something for real.. and some other reasons I don't quite get.
I didn't get why people would say no though. And as such, my dissertion begins:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
So we all know the Experience machine analogy - and the question is
"Do you want to plug into the experience machine?"
A) Yes, I want to plug in
B) No, I do not want to plug in, I want to stay in my present life.
and most of us would choose B, and NOT to be plugged into such a machine. And why? The reason the article gave was that we desired the accomplishment, yada yada. Whatever your reason is, just keep it in your head at the moment. If you would choose A, you don't have to read on, you are on my side already.
So now, what if I presented a reverse situation - instead of asking whether you want to plug into the experience machine, i tell you that you ARE already in the experience machine. The question now is,
"Do you want to unplug from the experience machine?"
C) Yes, I want to unplug
D) No, I want to stay in my present life and stay plugged in.
If you had chosen C, and your first answer was A, the contradiction is obvious. You need to rethink one of your responses, something is wrong, you can't both want to plug in and plug out of the machine it doesn't make sense.
And if you had chosen B, then D, the contradiction is there though not so straightforward. While your choice of being in the machine (whether you are plugging in or plugging out) changes, the underlying theme for both responses is that you want to stay in your present life. If you are in this camp, hold that thought, my response to you is below.
And what if you chose B, then C? The contradiction is more subtle, but still there. If i rephrase the options and put them side by side it should become obvious:
1) You do not want to plug into a machine because you prefer your current life
2) You want to unplug from your current life
1 and 2 are the opposite of each other. If you had chosen to not be plugged in because current factors influence you to prefer your current state of the world, then it wouldn't make sense that when you find out that you are in fact plugged in, you suddenly detest it and want out of it. The prior factors that made you choose this world should also make you choose NOT to unplug from it.
So what is the real issue here? It seems to me that it is a problem of REALITY. As we are brought up, we are taught Science, to believe in what we can observe. Thus, REALITY becomes a forefront concept to us. We seek to have REALITY. It's not just about having pleasure anymore, it's about our perception that we are having pleasure for real.
For those who took option B and D:
You chose not to plug into the machine because you thought what you had was reality.
You then chose not to unplug because the world that you were in is your perceived reality.
Now it needs to be clarified that it is our PERCEIVED REALITY that we want, not the 'actual' reality (as in the case of when asked to unplug and you decide to unplug)
After all, it does not make any logical sense that if your perception of your current reality is so real that you choose option B to stay in your current state BUT then choose option C later on, to choose to go to the 'actual' reality, because YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE. If your decision-making process had chosen B in the first place, the same decision-making process SHOULD rightly choose option D. The reason of 'I want to unplug because I want to experience reality' is invalid because staying plugged in has been, and is your reality, and thus, should be your preferred option.
It is therefore logically flawed to pick B and then C.
So what exactly is reality? Reality is merely a perception. An optical illusion is a reality (though misconceived one). A magic trick is reality to the audience, but not to the magician. A dream is sometimes, in a sense, reality, when we don't realise we are dreaming. Which is this case of the experience machine.
So how does this tie back to the hedonism argument? If we remember what the Experience Machine argument was arguing for, I believe it was to say that pleasure is NOT everything we want, since most of us would rather not be plugged in (Option B) and hence we don't really just want pleasure.
However, i propose that the reason for not wanting to plug in is because we desire REALITY. It is not about experiencing pleasure, it is about perceiving that the pleasure we are experiencing is real. That is what we all want.
Thus, the whole point of this is to show you that A is not that bad a choice after all, assuming you perceive the Experience machine world as your only and 'real' reality. And that choosing option B does not mean you are against hedonism, you still want pleasure, just that you want to perceive that it is real.
OK I'm done. I hope all this makes sense, I did not have a conclusion in mind when I started writing this, I just wanted to get the contradiction about choosing B then C out there (as that was the concensus in my tutorial) and see what people have to say about it. Of course, if you have things to comment about on the rest of my argument, please do so.
promoted!
Yay! Finally!
Diamond league!! In Starcraft 2 diamond league is the top league in the game.. and i finally hit it -_-
A few reasons, such as starting in silver and climbing my way up (i started playing when i bought the game, i didn't practise in custom game AT ALL. yes, so my newbie losses made me silver) which is WAAAY harder than like say, landing in gold/plat after your placement matches
Also, I wasn't playign that much because of midterms, so I was stuck at Platinum for quite awhile.
Then today.. I played one game.. won.. AND PROMOTED. YESAASAASD
Ok time to climb the diamond ladder soon.
Diamond league!! In Starcraft 2 diamond league is the top league in the game.. and i finally hit it -_-
A few reasons, such as starting in silver and climbing my way up (i started playing when i bought the game, i didn't practise in custom game AT ALL. yes, so my newbie losses made me silver) which is WAAAY harder than like say, landing in gold/plat after your placement matches
Also, I wasn't playign that much because of midterms, so I was stuck at Platinum for quite awhile.
Then today.. I played one game.. won.. AND PROMOTED. YESAASAASD
Ok time to climb the diamond ladder soon.
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