psych camp?

On a moment of impulse (or rather long thought, never really came to a proper decision, then suddenly deciding to want it alot), I applied for NUS Psych Camp! Gee, I hope I made a good choice. Hope it's fun and i make alot of friends!

I heard that the girl:guy ratio is extremely high.. which is damn jialat? Like if i'm the only guy in my group it's weirdness to the max. Like, outcast sia. :(

I mean, imagine a typical group conversation:
Girl A: "tee hee, you have nice shoes."
Girl B: "aw thanks, your blouse is really pretty too!"
Me: -twiddles thumbs-

Ok fine maybe that's not that girls talk about all the time.. but how about if they want to talk about 'girl-stuff':
Girl C: "Oh no Girl D, are you ok? you look unwell"
Girl D: -glances up at me- "Oh no la just abit tired." (but in her head thinking: 'f--king mensus cramps!')
Me: ...

Or what if the other few minimal guys at the camp are extremely hot and good looking and funny and awesome, and the girls decide to start gushing about them.
Girl E: "omg, did you see Boy 1 just now? His smile is so flawless and wow! And his complexion is perfect!"
Girl F: "wow Boy 2 is such a gentleman he helped me just now with ..."
Girl G: "and Boy 3 and 4 ... "
Girl H: "and Boy 5..."
Girl I: "yea they're all so eligible and suave! Boys 1-5.. who do we have left hmm"
Girl J and a few other Girls glances at me then quickly glances away thinking 'oops...'
Me: -pretends not to hear any of the above conversation while feeling like digging a hole in the ground and disappearing into the core of the earth-

Okkk fine I'll stop thinking about imaginary scenarios.
And because my application was kinda late (the last registration day was Sunday), I tried to spice up my email to make it stand out, by including :

10 reasons why i want to come for Psych Camp (or why you should accept me)

1) I'm definitely majoring in Psychology, so I would like the chance to talk to seniors more about the different modules in Psychology to better understand them so I can make better decisions in module selection.

2) I am still quite confused about CORS after reading this detailed guide so I would like to learn more (and have a hands on simulation according to your ad =) )

3) I haven't been to any other NUS camp and I would be saaad if i didn't go for a single camp before school started. :(

4) I want to make more friends.

5) The only kind of camps I've been going to for the past 2 years are army ones.

6) I think NUS is a maze and I want to get to know the campus better before school starts.

7) I applied for Eusoff Hall which is the camp accomodations venue which is great!

8) I have a hyperlink in this email.

9) I took time to make the numbers rainbow-coloured which coincides with the circus theme of the camp :)

10) I know pi up to 9 decimal points.

Haha yes i know 8-10 are nonsense.
Let's see how it goes eh. :S

the most incoherent speaker

and if you thought Miss Carolina was bad
(if you live under a rock and havent watched this clip, check it out)
.
.
presenting to you, RONRON
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwfkbdaNy3Y&hl=en_GB&fs=1&]

firstly he is super funny when he is all high and wild and crazy haha.
"Hey you all over there on the laptops!!!"

Next the uploader of this video added some hilariously fitting music which just makes his non-response funnier.. he TOTALLY does not answer the question (or any questions) hahaha.

my fav part was the last part at 4:30 where he talks about Phil
"He's like the Zen master.. he can speak to you without using a microphone.. you can hear him in your head.. he was going 'Ron , don't shoot don't shoot... and i said WHATEVER -raises hand in a shooting motion- PONG!! DING!! WOO!!"

roflroflrofl. super hilarious.
you have to watch it urself to appreciate it!!

And for those who want, you can find the full video here (or if NBA decides to complain and youtbe take that video down)
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playoffs/2010/06/18/20100618_gm7_minimovie.nba/?ls=iref:nbahpt1#
Not sure if this works, just go to videos and loook for Post Game: Ron Artest (9 mins 48 seconds long)

the end of celtics and sportsmanship issues.

2 days ago, the Lakers beat the Celtics in an emphatic Game 7 to finally secure their 2nd consecutive NBA title.

Celtics actually led for most of the way, before going cold in the 4th quarter to let the Lakers pull back and go ahead for good. Even the heroics of Rondo in the last minute (grabbed an offensive rebound and sank a 3pointer) could not save them, as Lakers closed out the game with some solid free-throw shooting after an abysmal showing for much of the game.

And so Lakers won, with Kobe Bryant predictably winning the MVP award for the 2nd year running, even though his play was horrendous in game 7 (shot just 30+% i believe) and many argue that Artest was the MVP in the final match (made a crucial 3 pointer in the last few minutes)

The saddest thing is that it is probably the end of a great legacy of the Celtics, with Allen being a free agent and Rasheed Wallace contemplating retirement and Pierce and Garnett just getting old. Their only bright spark is Rondo, who was undoubtedly the best player in the playoffs, with his consistency and hustle plays (who can forget that dive against Jason Williams?). He is the heart of the Celtics team.
Even Doc Rivers, the Celtics coach is also considering quitting, apparently to spend more time with his children.

So will I support the Celtics still? Most probably. Because I support Rondo, and I'll support where ever he goes. His determined spirit and never-say-die attitude - with his vision, his pace, his stamina - is just a stellar example for other players.


So with the NBA finals over, I've been watching World Cup matches over at bestie's condo where they screen the matches in the function room. Although I still believe that soccer matches are extremely more boring as compared to basketball (you score like, 1-2 goals on average per match in soccer, whereas in basketball the scoring is constant), one thing that I still prefer about soccer is the sportsmanship.

In soccer, sportsmanship is a pretty big and universal thing - you knock a player down by accident, you help him up. This is the most fundamental displays of sportsmanship - we compete hard, play hard, but play fair. If I take you down illegally, I'm sorry, my fault, I'll help you up.
Another example will be of stopping the play when a player is down. (injured) We will compete 11 on 11, so if your player is injured, we will wait for you to replace him before we attack.

However, in basketball (or at least in NBA), there is NO SUCH THING. Sportsmanship is as prevalent as Ray Allen's shooting in Game 3 and 4. (read: non-existent)
If there's a player lying on the floor, the opponents will just take the chance to run a fast break, 5v4 (or whatever numbers advantage they have) to score a basket.
If a player knocks another one down, instead of helping him up, he looks at the referees for a blocking foul.
(There are very rare cases of an opposing team's player helping the player on the floor up.. VERY VERY rare)


So.... back to World Cup. This WC has been very boring, and statistically it's already shown that there's about 25% less goals than the previous one. I hope that after this boring group stage, the final 16, there will be more exciting plays and more goals.

Chowz

and it goes to seven

after a dominant Game 5 showing, one would expect Celtics to display something similar at LA in Game 6. Instead, the Lakers came out strong, leading by 10 as early as the first quarter.

What's worse than Kobe getting hot in the 3rd quarter and scoring 19? (as in game 5)
Him getting hot in the 1st quarter, scoring 11 of the Lakers points.

Everything was going right for the Lakers - the 50/50 balls, the offensive rebounds. Even the touted Celtics bench was nowhere to be found, with the Lakers bench shining instead, scoring about 20+ to Celtics bench's 0 before they managed to find their first points.

Rondo was all over the court as usual, but the difference was he didn't get the support he needed - The awkward misses and missed easy layups were epitomised by Ray Allen's fast break chance after a pass from Rondo; Allen simply squandered an easy layup over Jordan Famar.

Where was Ray's hot hands too? The same hands that sank 8 3 pointers, an NBA Finals record, in Game 3? (or was it 2? hmm)
And of course, the same hands that missed his next 18 3 point attempts in the next 2 games.
To his credit, Allen DID lead the Celtics in scoring in G6.. but most were 2 point attempts. I would love to see him swoosh more quick-release 3 pointers that he always does :)

Celtics were totally bullied into submission in this G6, with the Lakers leading by as much as 22 i believe. I stopped watching at the 4th quarter, as they were down by 20 still. -__- too disappointing.

This series has been laden with exciting basketball and excellent plays. It seems right that it goes to a Game 7. But i just hope it won't be a wash-out affair like Game 1 and 6 (and even 5, where Boston pretty much dominated though the heroics of Kobe kept them close)

Come on Celtics.

drop tuition kid = drop GF

something i tweeted which i thought wa sfunny:

'
For those who also give tuition.. there may be a point where you had to drop a student (or two) due to study commitments, or too many students, etc. In fact, it is very likely that this occurs, unless you're extremely forward-planning and anticipate your schedule/ability to handle work very well.

So i was thinking how hard it is to drop a student.. like how do you even go about saying it?

In fact, it is exactly like breaking up with a girlfriend.

"Sorry, we have to stop seeing each other. I found someone better."

In fact, anything after 'sorry' applies for both scenarios, e.g.

"Sorry, I don't have time for this anymore."
or
"Sorry, I need to concentrate on my studies."

and of course there will be the funny ones

"Sorry, someone else is paying me better."
and
"Sorry, I have to drop you as i have too many others."
which are just LOL from a relationship perspective.

Ok. that's it. bye.

no smile

In a bid to prepare myself for the rigors of university that includes essay writing and massive reading, I have decided to make have weekly blog entries that are properly written in terms of language and structure.
Well, maybe not in perfect English because that would just be boring (i think) but, more coherent and proper than how I usually write.

Just a few weeks ago I extracted my wisdom tooth in a painful process that will be forever etched in my memory. But that aside, I was pretty lucky to avoid some of the side -effects, such as swelling, and inability to move the jaw. (I even had to give tuition the next day)
I could move my jaw slightly, just couldn't open my mouth too wide because it would feel like I'm tearing the stitches apart. So i couldn't really move the left side of my face much.

As such, one thing that I was deprived of was a smile.

Now you may think this is nothing, but having a neutral-dao face like mine, if I just keep my face relaxed, I'll look very unfriendly and angry or something. So I probably looked grumpy for the few days following the surgery.

The most annoying thing for me was the inability to smile. I never realised how important this was until I started talking to people - normally playful-friendly conversations just sound like i'm pissed off because I don't smile.

Just try it - go smileless for a day. When you talk to people, suppress the urge to smile and see how it sounds like. You'll sound snappy and grumpy in whatever you say without a smile. You see a friend and go "Hey, havent seen you in a long time." -no smile-
It'll sound like you're implying 'aw damn, unlucky to meet you".

Any good thing will sound like you're saying it begrudgingly too. Imagine you are playing a sport, and your teammate scores, and you go 'Good job.' -no smile-
You'll sound bitter like you wished it was you who scored.

It's hard to fully paint the scenarios for you unless you experience it yourself. In fact, you can go one step further and similarly omit all smileys in your online/phone text conversations (unless you're the type that doesn't use smileys at all) and see how you sound. (this looks wrong, since you don't exactly SEE how you SOUND. But yea.)

In fact, how have you felt reading this post? Bored? Glum? I have deliberately left out any smileys or exclamation points to accentuate my point. A world with no smiles is a bleak place.

a random update

hi people sorry for not updating for so long.. didn't really have the motivation to blog. had a good idea to write about like last week after i removed my wisdom tooth, but never got about to penning it down. work la, too little time for recreation. My work's ending tmr so sure blog more k :)


Anyway, last thursday was bestie's birthday! and being the awesome best friend who totally sucks at buying presents (that's why i don't normally get people presents.. so if you get a present from me... it's extra effort so better appreciate it ;p ) , i decided to bake for her!


I went over to weiqin's house (cos i dont have an oven or the equipment at home) to bake. We (or rather I, i did most of the mixing k.) made the batter from scratch! Like not those instant mix kind, we mixed the butter/sugar/flour etc on our own.


BEFORE



AFTER!
Ok la sorry the shape abit screwed up i never shape properly. Next time i make perfect round shape k.
And this time round the cookies were a little normal. Like normal crispyness, which is nice la, just that i wanted to achieve the subway softness.

I made like 2 batches which turned out to be ALOT. So i brought to office to share it.. and people loved them =) hahaha. i'm a baker i rock.


Tastes better than it looks



Fail self-shot of my assistant baker (HAHA ok fine she is more pro than me and guiding me more than anything but.. i did all the hard work k.)



nom nom


THANKS WEIQIN FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR KITCHEN AND HELPING TO CLEAN UP AND HELPING IN EVERYTHING. =)


and a random picture i saw in the papers:


ANAL packages... hmmm.

hahahaha. not a smart logo choice.


AND. the biggest news of all.
As some of you may know, PC Show 2010 was on this weekend, and so i went down with a group of people to get a new laptop! The people ranged from pewi/bestie to some forum user whom i didnt even know. But we buy together to hope to cut more.


In the end, i bought an Asus A42JV @ $1500!





lazy to take more artistic shots but yea. It's nice. It's not very light though, and battery life is kinda short (3-5 hours i think.. i unplugged the power cable just now and it said "3 hours remaining" but it kept changing so i dunno. haven't ran a proper test yet.
But the graphics card is good and all so.. yea.

and to end, tomorrow is my last day at work at IBM and probably the rest of my life.. cos school is starting soon and i probably won't get another short assignment from them or anything.
This 2 weeks was fun, some days very free:


This is my email, one mail at 9.38AM, next mail... 6 hours later. :D

But of course sometimes quite busy la. but it's all ending tomorrow!! time to prep a few months worth of tuition work and start working out :S

Ok bye time for world cup.

wisdom tooth extraction

745AM -

bzzttt. my alarm woke me up, but it was my mind that snapped me awake. The day of reckoning. The day to remove my wisdom tooth.

Not my normal extraction, by surgery. Cos it's lower jaw and it's difficult or something. Otherwise can just pluck.

Am i nervous/scared? Hell yes. It's the first time i'm doing something like that, and I cant say i really enjoy going to the dentist. Who does?

910AM -

Arrival at dentist. The nurse informs me that the dentist is caught in traffic and may be a bit late. -_- cheers, more time to spend worrying and being nervous. I'm firing off SMSes to random people who are replying me in hopes of allaying my fears.

935AM -

My appointment was supposed to be at 930, but still no news. I'm waiting anxiously on the couch, unable to distract myself with the boring dental magazines available there. The butterflies in my stomach are fluttering around looking for some flower to suck on.

Close to 10AM -

The dentist is finally ready, so I'm called into the room. He goes through the procedure with me, warns me of the risks of surgery, asks me to sign a consent form which clears him if he takes out all my teeth accidentally with the wisdom tooth.

Ok fine maybe not that but basically to say i understand the risks and I want it.

10AM +

I get my shot of Local Anesthetic to numb my gum area, etc. The first needle prick was the most uncomfortable cos i could feel it go all the way in.. but it numbed up the area so i didn't really feel subsequent ones.

So after delivering me my dose of LA, they got me ready for the surgery, including draping some cloth thing over my chest (wtf? blood will spurt out one ah?) and covering my eyes with that same cloth.

And so.. the surgery began. He began cutting up the edges around my tooth (or at least that's what it felt like, i had no idea what he was doing and i didn't really feel much pain except for the pressure of him sawing around my tooth.

Ok then from this point on I am not 100% sure what he's doing cos the whole area was quite numb, i can only guess.

Then he started pulling at my tooth and of course there was some pain so I pain some small noise when there was pain and he stopped. (EDIT: you can see that when I am recalling that memory there is so much pain that i keep typing pain. I meant 'so i made some small noise when there was pain' )

I"m not sure what he did, maybe he applied more Local Anesthetic to numb it more, maybe he didn't. I couldn't really feel needle pricks.

So this just went on, the pulling around at my tooth, he'll stop abit when there's pain, etc.. I try to dahan already my clenching the sides of the seat. And he can see when my whole body tenses up so he'll stop abit.

Then i don't know what happen, i think my tooth too problematic and he getting impatient. Then he start whacking already. He took some electric saw thing and started sawing. After sawing in abit of course got pain, so i said.

THEN. I THINK TAKING TOO LONG. So he start YANKING with like full strength at my tooth from different angles.. it was DAMN PAIN. Like wtfwhereisthelocalanesthetic. The nurses had to hold my head cos i think they also know damn pain. And one was patting my arm.

And the dentist kept going "Sorry ah... sorry alan.. sorry.. sorry alan.. " as he was yanking with all his strength. The pain was f-cking intense can?? Just imagine your tooth getting pulled out of its socket. That was what it felt like.

This went on for like 5-10 minutes!!! It was freaking torture. If he had went "ok alan tell me all your secrets now" i'll probably rattle off as much as i could though i couldn't really speak to get him to stop.

So after like an eternity of tugging and yanking and more sawing and me struggling while the nurse held me down (she held on to my head so i wouldn't move too much), the dentist suddenly said " ok, your wisdom tooth is out".

THANK GOD .

Then after that he stitched me up which i couldn't feel.. even if i did it couldn't be as pain as the yanking out of my tooth.

Now

My left side of my face is still kinda numb, though the LA is wearing off. Just took the painkillers, though some of my teeth still really hurt from the trauma. Like it feels like someone is trying to pull them out. My centre bottom 2 teeth.Hope i don't lose any of my other teeth!!! Cos it really feels like that :S

Swelling hasn't begun.. heard tmr it'll swell up. Hope not too big!

Tmr i've to go back to work somemore! No choice cos the person i'm covering is leaving on Friday and I need to take over properly and learn finish everything and confirm everything.

AND, the sucky thing is i have to give tuition tmr and fri night as well!!

Tomorrow is some new kid which i just got.. so... screwed. I don't think i can talk much.. so i think i'll just throw alot of work at the kid. Hope it works out fine.

Fri is winsome which is better.

Ouchhh my teeth still hurt now. Biting down on a gauze to try to stop the bleeding.. but it hurts. :(

WTB fastforward.

too smart, have to remove wisdom

I've had a headache/toothache for the past 5-6 days, and so after last night when i couldn't even sleep properly cos of my throbbing toothache, I msged my colleague to request half day off so that i could go see the dentist.

And... the visit to the dentist revealed that my left bottom wisdom tooth was growing outwards! At a 45degree angle.. so it's like poking my other tooth and causing the pain i guess. And i have to remove it via surgery!!

SURGERY.

Ok after 20 years of living i have never had a surgery. The closest thing I've been to it is.. tooth extraction. Which uses some mild anesthetic to numb the area and just.. pluck out.
But this one is SURGERY. means must cut me up. AHHH!!!

Ok besides the pain and anxiousness, there's the after effects which are shitty. I'm going to have a swollen cheek and eating and talking is going to be hard. What makes it shitty is that i'm supposed to give not one but TWO tuitions the next 2 days after my surgery tomorrow... FML.

So ............ I don't quite know what i'm going to do, maybe just plan alot of work for my students to do. Hope the parent isn't that annoyed that I cant talk much and hence can't teach much for the first lesson :S

And, I'm going to have to go to work the next 2 days as well, because I have to take over from the person i'm covering. No choice. And normally people who have such surgery have 5 days MC so..... i've to SUCK IT UP and go through with it.

I AM MAN.








I'm so screwed.