theme hospital!

My mom brought back my theme hospital game which she says she regrets bringing back now. I can't seem to stop playing this game, although its been like 12 years. I get a kick out of allocating space for clinics and "designing" how the patients would move around the hospital. You know the process flow that sort of thing. Its a good game and I love playing it.

something mildly happy

yay! finally saw some improvements in my results. Not a lot, but its still something. Extra motivation to continue on. So for my final semester, Fight on!

futurama

Ha, i'm always slow on the uptake of the latest shows.. I'm spending my holidays watching futurama, which is I guess a pretty old show. But hey, its good fun to watch. Just that I'm feeling guilty on not doing work.

googling your name

In a fit of egoistic fancy and an attempt to avoid doing thesis. I googled my name. It is interesting to see the results. The only relation that I have with all these entries are the two images circled.

It puts things in perspective, seeing the same name as you but belonging to different people. Somehow I have the epiphany that the world does not revolve around me. Or rather this name that I have, does not belong to me solely but shared with other people. Although I think that people view this as a coincidence and not a sharing of name. Its just something to think about on the flip side.

It reminds me of this quote, I think by shakespeare: A rose by any other name will smell as sweet. It brings to the question, what defines a thing/person/something? The name? or the physicality of it? What if the flower rose is not called a rose, but some other name like table? or fske? would it affect the perception and association? A bunch of table, a bouquet of table, I'm going to use tables to propose. What would it be like?

Of course there is a certain sense of disconnection. It may not be in english anymore, and this example may not apply as table would probably sound normal to a person who does not know the word rose and its association, but associates the word table with the flower rose.

So what's in a name so to speak. Random and useless musings on a rainy friday afternoon meant for thesis.

nearing the end of the sem

Today is a semi breather from the mad rush of sumission. Although I would say that some will think otherwise. I'm happy to say that tupperware and asus is finally over. Vase has been cool too. I'm satisfied with the outcome and the goals so far. Hope it would continue.

Next stop is thesis, and after that an end to this sem. So looking forward to what happens after but never before.

rainy day

So lethargic and woozy. Too much rain is not good.

v for vase

V for Vase exhibition coming. Quite excited about it. Hopefully everything turns out good. It will be the coolest thing.

facebook in reality

facebook in reality

Hur hur what if people translate facebook actions to real life? I guess it would be that annoying.

something about childhood

Found these erasers while I was rummaging around the drawers. It's amazing the kind of forgotten childhood relics I can find in drawers. A bit worse for wear but it sure brings back memories of eraser fighting in between classes. Increases your knowledge of countries too. The African countries are quite distinct. Think getting a Singapore eraser is kind of cool at that time. Wonder if erasers of this kind are still popular among kids today?

Ha! nearly winning. We will challenge each other with the erasers we have in our boxes.

ahh zombies...

Met up with some band mates for yx's post birthday steamboat, hosted at Janice's place. It's always great fun to hang out with them as there are always stupid and hilarious things happening. We played this game called "We didn't test play this game at all" which sounds really dumb and useless but at the same time challenging once we start playing. We had to follow instructions on the card being played out. For example, one of the card had this instruction saying that whenever a person draws a card, the person had to say "ahh... zombies" before drawing the card. If not the person would lose the game. Given that it's such a totally random thing to do, people tend to just forget about it, and that's when others will catch you on it... Fun game thanks to yq..

Played cranuim too. Very intellectual game, and contextually removed... Didn't get the american songs at all... but anyhow, it was a good game and we had lots of fun on it. Especially the charades and doodling parts of it.

Made me realize I kind of enjoy analog stuff. Maybe after having bad experiences designing consumer electronic and digital stuffs, the world seems to be a much happier and simpler place after that.

It was a fun time and I hope we can do this again.

wedding wishes in beijing

As I was walking home today. A sudden memory came to me. I remembered while I was in Beijing, and just waiting for the subway train. This young lady just came up randomly with a digital video recorder, saying that her best friend is getting married and she is collecting best wishes from everyone in Beijing as a wedding gift for her. So being the occasionally sporting person that I am, I wished her friend the best in her marriage, and that they stay together happily for life.

2 totally random people entertaining each other. I wonder how did I look in that video. Maybe I did not even make it to the final cut..

train to Pasir Ris arriving in 4 mins

sometimes if you read Pasir Ris fast enough, it becomes Paris. So imagine, train to Paris arriving in 4 minutes

zoo!

Went to the zoo to do some user testing on people. We went up to unsuspecting strangers to get them to test some stuff for us. The results were terrible! Have to go back and work on it again.
But it is something interesting. Got distracted by the animals along the way.
Such an old sign. Back in the days when I was still a little kid running around. Some things in the zoo don't change.
Zeepbra preens!

wonder girls

Listening to their song makes me irrationally happy. Nobody nobody but choo..

such great heights

The postal service - Such great heights

Love the music.

mental note to self

It is always interesting to keep a written record of my thoughts. As time goes by my views change and the point of this blog is to have a conversation with my past self.

I like to think of it as time travelling..

bits of life

Looks like little models when viewed from the top. Its the 九皇爷 time of year again.


Heck, I don't even know what I want to say here. Just bits of life at home.

skies of singapore

There is a sense of satisfaction in capturing the blueness of the sky and the colors of dusk.

onion head

oh man, I love this onion head series. This describes the state of mind I'm in right now. Hence the sudden flurry in blogging activity. But it usually ends like this.

new ikea chair

Yay! A new chair finally. Went on a shopping trip to IKEA on Friday to get a proper chair for me to work properly. No more stools as a work chair. It is terrible and back breaking. Now, I can lean back and type properly. Loving every minute of it. I'm all fired up for work.

Assembling the IKEA chair got me thinking about how eco friendly the packaging is. I was thinking if the instructions were printed on the cardboard packaging, and there are little slots to position the parts in the box, it would save up on some material. There would not be a need to print instructions on paper again, and the plastic wrap that the parts came in would also be saved by using the slots within the box. Its clean too! Not too many stuff to throw away too.

i wish for world peace with leopard preens

Today is the start of the mid sem break. I'm a quarter of my way through year 4. Not very looking forward to it. But felt that its a important milestone, so decided to log it down somewhere..

back home

Hur hur. I'm back home in Singapore now. Blogspot was banned for a period of time in China, so I had no access to it. And I don't think I'm going to backdate my stuff any time soon. I'll be posting a few random pictures here and there on facebook? but that's about as far as it gets. I'm pretty lazy about stuff like this.

Had chili crabs today. Met up with some studio mates for dinner. We ate at the No Signboard restaurant. Must say its pretty expensive crabs. But I guess the best crabs are the one that is steamed without any sauce or gravy. Just ginger and crab. That way of cooking really brings out the taste of the crab, and reveals the degree of freshness.

So I guess I'm going to start reacquainting myself with some familiar food that I've been missing out on. Next one on the list.. or jian/or lua.

Going North.3. 颐和园 - 清华大学

晴天

Day 3. We went out late that day. By the time we reached the Summer Palace, 颐和园 it was already late morning. This place was used by the monarchy as their summer villa/resort, to escape from the oppressive summer heat. It was said that the Empress Dowager Cixi used state funds meant for the country's Navy operations to rebuild the Summer Palace. We started from the back entrance.

Whenever Empress Dowager Cixi visited the Summer Palace, a bow would be hung on the arch to indicate her presence on the grounds of the palace.

View of the palace from Kunming Lake

文昌阁

Kunming Lake

The famed 13 arch bridge

Out of the palace

After visiting the Summer Palace, it was already 5 plus in the afternoon. So we decided to hang out at Qinghua University.

Observatory

American styled architecture

Evening at Qinghua University.

Going North.2. 天安门广场 - 故宫 - 胡同四合院

晴天


The second day of our Beijing stay. We went to 天安门, 故宫，then 胡同四合院. The front of 天安门广场 in the morning light. By the time we reached there, the flag raising ceremony was over. The square was still kind of empty at that time.

It was quite cloudy in the morning. Stuff around the square.

In the underpass to 故宫.. there was this relief along the walls. The dark parts are at the height of a raised hand. Can imagine how many people have touched this while walking past it.

The entrance to the 故宫

The 2 lions guarding the front of the palace. The one I'm with is a female lion, because of the small cub playing at her feet.

Random fact of the day: The whorls on the lion's head indicate the rank and status of the owner owning it. 13 rows of whorls on the head indicate the highest rank that can ever be attained and it is reserved for the emperor only. The smallest number is 5 whorls, for the lowest ranking official in the hierarchy. So we can count the number the number of whorls next time when we encounter a lion.

Palace grounds

A painting of a emperor's procession

Was amazed at the size of the umbrella when I compared it the one in the picture above. Its a massive umbrella, you can imagine how heavy it is, and it is held by only one person in the procession. They must be really strong.

Grounds of the palace seen from a high ground

Outside of the palace, where the ticketing counter is. There were alot of people at the time. But its still kind of the off-peak season for tourism. The fun starts in May.

A place which is to the side of the main palace. Its a place where China's history of pottery is exhibited. At the time when we reached there, there was a slight breeze blowing through. So the petals were scattered through the wind..

The road to riches and glory. Back in the olden times, its a pre-marked route for scholars who had made it through the imperial exams and are starting their careers as officials in the palace. So this is the route they had to take in the ceremony I think. So now, its used by the people who want to 发财升官. Participated in a bit of 发财升官 myself too, and walked the entire length.

Andy Lau in the house? What were the people rushing to take pictures of?

The imperial throne... Took part in a spot of mad photo-taking too. Good thing I had a zoom lens, so I can afford to take the shot from the back of the crowd and not squeeze through everyone. It was pretty skewed, but with everyone pushing around, I gave up on it.

Grounds at the back of the palace. Its like those period dramas we see on TV.

后宫. Its where all the women in the palace live and hang out.

A garden within the palace grounds.

Out of the palace

On our way to 后海，which is where the 胡同四合院 is. We saw this group of people doing their evening exercise. Its very coordinated, and its quite common.

In the evening light, at the river leading into 后海。

胡同四合院。Its a place full of pubs and bars, and shops selling lots of small gifts. It used to be a residential area. But there are still one or two houses with people living in it.

Street of the 胡同四合院

Bars with tables on the rooftop.

Very long kites that are being sold in Beijing.

After that, we met Hendrick for a meal. We ate some small stuff. It rained at night.