Avatar December 18, 2009

This evening, I was unwittingly dragged by my colleague to watch Avatar against my own will. I originally planned to watch Bodyguards and Assasins which has caught my attention for quite some time(I’m a big fan of Donnie Yen). I have heard of Avatar a few months ago, but after watching a few screenshots, I’m instantly turned off by the character design. However to my surprise, it gave me a 180 degrees change of opinion after watching this movie.

Avatar is written by James Cameron, director who previously brought you Titanic. It’s a 3D and live-action hybrid sci-fi movie depicting an expedition of human colony set off to a planet (moon according to wiki) called Pandora and try to extract the planet resource which is worth tens of millions/kg. The most stunning aspect of this movie is undoubtedly the 3D animation technology, since the first minute of the movie, the movie-goers is brought into a beautifully and painstakingly crafted world of Pandora, where it is inhibited by the indigenous people, plants and animals. After a certain time of watching the movie, I can’t seem to differentiate whether I am looking at the computer-generated or real environment. The story line of Avatar is also very interesting, the standing and opinion of the audience will be divided between human which is obsessed with greed and try to control the natural resource by force, while Na’vi the indigenous people of Pandora is a tribe which have a very close connection and speak with nature. James Cameron said that he tried to picture Na’vi as a higher selves of human, of what we would like to think who we are and the humans in the film, even though there are some good ones salted in, represent what we know to be the parts of ourselves that are trashing our world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim future. Cameron represents this old same theme of conflict in a very interesting way through the interaction of Na’vi and human, where he is going through training to learn Na’vi’s way of living.

It’s no wonder that it takes 13 years for James Cameron to finish this film since he announced it the first time in 1996 because the result is as amazing as the time needed to complete the project.
Eventhough I have to hold the 3D glasses for more than 120 minutes to prevent it slipping down to my nose, I have to say this movie is the best for the year of 2009 after District 9.

Hey I started work! October 20, 2009

Hi guys, figure out it’s quite time to update my blog, reminded when I saw fenny starting a new blog. So as the title suggest, I have started work since the start of this month, I would like to share a tip of my working experience, since I think this kind of insight will be lost after you have worked for quite a time.

First of all, the company environment. The company I worked for is Apex-Pal International Ltd, the managing company of Sakae Sushi branch, it’s situated at Paya Lebar, an area where most industrial companies are situated in Singapore. The first day of my work, I arrived around 9:30 AM, when I was walking towards my desk-to-be, I saw two people fluttering cleaning the table from screws, pliers, computer parts, and some dirt that’s supposedly left by the person I am replacing. “Am I really welcomed here?” is not what I’m thinking, I’m the new guy, I’m not supposed to show any dissatisfaction or even negative feeling on my first few minutes here. So I was brought around the office where several departments occupy 1 floor and being introduced around, and of course, I didn’t remember even 10% of the name, just strolling around, shaking hands, making the most friendly face I can show and hope it will be over soon.

Second, my computer. During the first day, my computer went hang three times. lol… bad omen?(not my stuff). And So I’m handed a screw driver, a hard disk, and 2 sticks of computer RAM, and they told me to fix the computer, format it or do whatever I want to make it work. Honestly I’m not too handy with hardware but anyway, I manage to get the computer up and running and no further instructions. So there goes 1 whole day, quite easy huh, lol…

Third, my colleagues. We are a small department, consisting of 6 persons. My colleagues are all very friendly and willing to tell you things, including things you don’t want to know on your first week of work. We always have lunch together if they are at the office(my job involve a lot of on the site support). Anyway after 1 week, I begin to know what’s the company policy and the employees’ dissatisfaction which I think will include me in no time.

Fourth, my job scope. Honestly I’m not satisfied with the job scope, as it’s kind of different with what is said during the interview. It involves a lot of troubleshooting and hardware, you have to go down to the outlets(we have around 50 outlets in Singapore) and do technician’s stuff. Well, I’m kind of expecting more programming job, lot of caffeine drinks. Oh, and you can’t find any coffee provided for employees in the pantry which is kind of “unusual”, or so I think.

In conclusion, despite all of my complaints and gruntling, I am still thankful to God for the job, as it can’t come at a better time…. Hope that I can keep being motivated, what’s most important is do my best for the job, and I believe opportunity and advancement will come in due time. Let’s all try our best folks in whatever we do.

PS : I can’t wait to get my hands on ebook reader. nyok nabunggggggg for Plastic logic or Barnes and Noble’s Nook

14th day July 28, 2009

Yeap, it’s my 14th day in Singapore. I arrived here on 15 July 2009, for those who are not following my adventures(lol), I’m currently in job seeking phase. So on 15th July, with big anticipation, lots of excitement, adrenaline pumped, loads of cashes(huh??) condition, I arrive at Singapore. Lucky me, I have my roommate-to-be, Mr. Sutarman to fetch me there at Harbourfront. With a typical Singaporean outfit(t-shirt, short pants, and friendly smile) he picked me up at the harbour.

As usual, first few days is spent for accustoming myself with the house condition. we have 4 rooms here. Three single rooms and one double-room for me and str. The house itself is quite pleasant, a duplex and clean HDB at Bukit Timah. So far so good. Guess the first thing I did? Downloading anime! oh man… I can’t believe I missed 2 weeks’ worth of anime during my stay at Batam. and can you believe the download speed? fiuhh…

Come Saturday, I started to work on my resume and cover letter, after asking for opinion from my uni seniors, relatives, and e-books, I finally finished it on Sunday. and so start the quest. For the first few days, I sent tens of them every day, every company whose job description match my qualification, and of course also those that I wanted to enter but which I’m not qualified of, like having 2 years experience, Singapore PR, bah… who cares. just apply, it’s free! lol… So on Tuesday, I got 2 reply, first is a C++ test, another one is a job interview. I went to both on last Thursday, 23rd July 2009. The conclusion is.. I failed the test.. miserably.. the question is too hard for me. lol… and for the interview, I think the job description doesn’t really match what I want, since it focus a lot on customer’s relationship, whereas I’m not a people-person.

And here I am on the 14th day, with no more reply from companies, and my spirit is worn out, lazy to do anything. But hey, I’m still optimist, afterall it’s only my second week and I love str’s rig in the room. Time for another Need for Speed Undercover session. Good nite all…

Exam blues June 24, 2009

One exam, System Integration down, two more to go. I think I manage to screw up this subject, been dozing off throughout the morning class, doing other assignments in the lecture, and only keep criticizing the lecturer without listening what she have got to say, prepared 1.5 days for the exam, and in the end going in the exam hall with a blank mind. lol… Anyway, time to move on, a more dreadful exam coming, need to prepare, focus focus!!! (not blogging!)

I have been busy collecting information about job hunting in Singapore, trying to look for a place, and asking some peoples about the job outlook there. Dissapointedly, the prospect is quite bleak according to two of my sis’ friends. Well, I’ve no choice but to  keep moving on and hope for the best I guess… Would like to express my thanks here to my church mate Budi Tjendra for his patience in looking for accomodation for me, Hao Hao for providing information about visa procedure and also Maria Halim who reply my emails regarding my question with such details mixed with her personal experience which is quite exciting, hahaha… hope she will be able to secure a job soon. Ok, this is the end of my unstructured rant, time to continue my chatting/studying/listening to music routine… Buenos noches senor senora…

Mother’s Day May 10, 2009

Today is one of the day considered to be very important for everybody all around the world, it’s Mother’s day. So this blog post will hopefully serve as a reminder for me, for everything that my Mom has done for me. Our family doesn’t have the tradition celebrate festivities, sometimes birthday went forgotten, and some Chinese occasion is also ignored, so not to mention Mother’s day, which is “not too important” for us. And it was only these few years that I began to pay more attention to family member’s birthday, some special days to celebrate, and also as a time for me to think about the meaning behind the occasion.

Talking about my Mom, it went back as far as when I was still kid(of course). I grew up in a not so well-off family, from when I was kid until now, it’s still not so well-off actually, lol… The most important thing I remember until now, is my Mom send and fetch me to school daily from kindergarten until middle school, there was time when it rains, my mom would give me her jacket ask me to hide behind her back, and I can feel her trembling because of the wind and the rain. And also back when we just moved to Batam, my mom have to wake up at 3:00AM in the morning, to tend to the vegetable shop, it’s a daily routine for her. That’s all when my Mom was almost 50, but still she have to toils and work hard daily, just to put me and my sister to school. To put it basically, I’m who I am now because of my Mom, I am where I am now because of my Mom. It’s because of her perseverance that despite all the financial difficulties my family had all these years, I’m still able to continue my study here at Malaysia, and at the most expensive university in Malaysia (and the best, I think ). There are often times when I forget all that, there are times when I got annoyed when my Mom keeps nagging about some small details, times when I’m annoyed because of the hard work I had to put up to continue my study, times when I looked at my friends and grumble why I have to work on every holidays and also part time, but they don’t have to, and this is the time when I regret all those feelings and thoughts, how could those thoughts appear in my mind, given the ceaseless effort that my Mom has put in me, where despite her old age, she still have to toil to give me the best education I can have. Now in my heart, I pray to God to give me strength and determination, to always remind me what my parents have done for me, so that never again I will forget and see them as a burden. Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers in the world.

Pointless point formed-random rant March 17, 2009

It’s been more than a year since the last blog. Resolution is not that easy to keep afterall… anyway just want to keep this short. 2:26 AM March 17 morning, the keyword of the week is load-balancing, Anthill and Messor algorithm, and caffeine. Bored of my mp3 collections and currently hearing Kenji Wu leeched from Francis my nice housemate. Trying to read 2 journal about my final semester project, looking for idea of of load-balancing’s application.

Pondering how to control my emotion, not forcing my own desire upon others (certainly sounds ugly and perverted). Neutral mood, unstructured thinking, keep stuffing my brain with knowledge and news, but failed to utilize it in the real world. At last, may everybody have a good night rest. Cheers

A night at Changi Airport November 11, 2007

Good evening all. Currently I’m at Changi airport and have approximately 13 minutes to finish this blog. So, get right to the point. Decided to write this blog because I’m kinda awed by the airport. Actually I’ve been here quite numerous times, but this is the first time I feel that Changi is one of the best airport I have visited, err.. not that I have visited a lot of airport. My previous candidate was Hong Kong’s Airport. Just took the skytrain from terminal 3 to terminal 2, if you walk I take approximately 750m to reach terminal 2 from where i arrive. wekz.. quite a distance…

Actually I was really hoping to meet my “special” someone just now. But she’s not online, and my attempt to ask Asu to call her was to no avail. Well, maybe she is busy.

My flight is at 7 something, kinda boring here. I guess I’ll take a walk around the aiport and then hit my Gandhi’s autobiography if I’m tired. It’s an awesome book about a great man. The first part told about his really ordinary childhood, in which he fell, he stole, and he often despair because of something out of his control. Well, I guess the more a person experience and maybe suffer, the more he can learn and hopefully the greater he will be in facing difficulty. You guys have a great night! Wish me luck in passing the immigration ok! Ciao….. (Hope I’m not talking to myself all this time. Comment guys!)

Exam period October 29, 2007

Greetings all, in this blog I’d like to share a bit about my exam tomorrow, Information and Network Security coded FIT3031. As the name stated, this subject is about network security which encompasses local and also internet security. The unit have 11 lectures which is not coincidentally 80% of them must be memorized. The bad side about this subject in my humble opinion is that it doesn’t have practical classes for us to hack, damage or screw any system (oopss) or maybe employ any security measures to build a hack-proof system. Instead, it requires us to do 2 written assignments which contains quite an open ended question (hard to get full marks, wakaka).

Interestingly, during the tutorial about 2 weeks before the exam period, the lecturer Dr. Simon Egerton tell us that he will email us this semester’s exam paper, which threw the class into a short hectic period. “Are you insane Sir? Maybe you mean last semester’s paper?”, replied Dr. Egerton “No, no.. it’s this sem’s paper you sleephead!”. Actually it’s all my imagination since I have been skipping the class for last few semester, the reason: It’s too early, 9:00. Come on, 3 hours are not enough for my sleeping time. But of course, the deal is not as good it sounds to be. Because the exam file is encrypted 3 times, so you need to employ all tactics that have been taught during the lecture to decrypt it. Now, in my opinion, the challenge is not at the right time. The first encrypted is broken don’t know by which dude. When we download the attachment, the W*ndows system identify the file as an pdf file, which when we try to open it using adobe reader can’t be opened. Probably because it identifies file only using the the extension .pdf. Not quite intelligent huh. As opposed, when the dude mentioned above used Linux to open, it correctly identified it as a zipped file. Yay.. long live Linux Fedora! and so the first challenge is solved. The second encryption is using a DES (Data Encryption Standard). He gave us the software used to encrypt it and we are expected to crack the password. Now at that point I made a little bit research on the net regarding how to break it. The googling brought me to a certain dude’s site that provide explanation on how to crack several software encryption system. I read the whole thing about Camouflage breaking, and it looked easy! Hey, maybe I can do it! Wakaka… but when I try the same the method with S-Tools(the software used to encrypt the exam file) it doesn’t work at all! T-T When I tried to hide a text file named a.txt with the content of single ‘a’ character, the size was blown 2 times the original size. And guess what, of course the content was utterly different, the techniques given at the site cannot be used at all. When I chat with my classmates, he said that the second encryption is easy, but the last will take you days to break, hey, my exam is the next day. So after trying for 2.5 hours. I gave up and use the conventional studying method, Last Minute Brain Stuffing, which I am doing now. Enough of talking, time to hit the books. Have a great day guys!

First rant October 24, 2007

Hi all, welcome to my ranting space. As usual as this is the first blog I started here, it’s only right that the first rant is about the process I went through to activate this. Actually not my first blog I’m starting here, the first one is at friendster which I have deleted for some reason. Like before, this blog is again inspired by my buddy and life-long friend Joni, starts to feel itchy again after looking at his and his friends blog. I supposed will helps my communication skill a lot if I start writing this. Well, let’s just hope that this will last long. And the idea of choosing this site wordpress comes from my college mate, Jonathan Ong. Thanks, it’s really a great blogsite, in terms of display, just started, so not quite clear about the other traits of this blogsite. Will write more in the future.

Regarding the name, after pondering, squeezing my brain and flipping around at my bed for like 30 minutes, finally came out with some cool names, and guess what… Yeah yeah… as usual, the username is taken, and finally the decision come to this blog name. Hope you guys enjoy this first post which is significantly unimportant and boring. Expecting comment from you guys. Have a great night. Ka-ching!!