I managed to meet an old friend on MSN today. (Actually, it was more like I didn't talk to him all this time until now.) His nick at the moment was "Giant Hamster". @_@
Oh, well. Giant Hamster worked with me on another project two semesters ago. He has taken CS3214 already, so I asked him for advice. He gave me some tips to start off and sent me some sample codes. We started talking about my predicament. I had 6 more weeks left to the deadline and he agreed with me that I didn't have much time left.
From our conversation, I began to realize that the problem with this project didn't lie just with me. Sad to say, the fault might actually be with my groupmates.
We have group meetings twice a week, and for nearly 3-4 hours per meeting. And yet, we never get anything done cos' halfway through, someone would start talking about fashion, relationship, movies, etc. And to make matters worst, they did not attempt to study J2EE, which was what we agreed to do during the last two weeks. Heck, some of them haven't even downloaded/installed the damn thing yet.
Maybe I am being unfair here. Perhaps I haven't seen their 'hardworking' side yet. Some people need a little stress to spring into action.
Whatever the case was, I started asking Hamster what would happen to me should I fail this module. I told him that, unless my group members can pull themselves together and realize that we are in a most urgent and dire situation, we are all gonna die. Oh, well. I guess I shall now mentally prepare myself in case I do fail CS3214. This way, I won't get a mental breakdown or something.
Monday will be the start of another week full of worries. My project meeting is at 10 am, but who cares. I'm gonna play Cronous through the night so long as it makes me happy.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Friday, September 10, 2004
Cronous Revolution
I spent the whole of today playing Cronous. I was online for 14 hours; haven't played like this for weeks. The new version was simply too fun to try out, and it was a good temporary escape from my real-life problem (*koff*CS3214*koff*).
I played in the new town map (Castle Unos) and got almost 3 times the EXP than before. It allowed me to go from Lv66(65% ) to Lv67(45%). Normally, I would've taken a few days to accomplish that. I feel sorry for those hardcore (yet foolish) players who trained on the old maps to Lv70. I also found quite a number of Divines thanks to the increased drop rate. My biggest joy was when I found a Craftstone from a regular mob. What a pleasant surprise.
My only gripe was that they tweaked the game balance and improved all the other classes except for the one I am playing. I think the Fighter is the weakest class now. Valkyries continue to be overpowered & imbalance. Yucks.
I partied with my guild members in the new Malus Ora map all day. I felt like an 'extra' since I can't kill as fast as the others. Bulaidi came online in the afternoon and this was the first time he was trying out the new version. I also met Guoyi, Orchi, and Jeffrey in the new town.
The game will be going P2P soon. At this rate, it looks like I will carry on.
Just Another Thursday
I went to school for project meeting again, but nothing came out of it. My team was really getting nowhere since everyone was hopelessly lost. We ended up wasting our time, engaging in idle chatter. Since Danny is going overseas for some convention, we decided to arrange for a meeting with his stand-in tutor. Hopefully, this other tutor will help us out and point us in the right direction. There is only 7 more weeks to go and we still haven't gotten our act together.
After the meeting, I went to AMK. I was supposed to meet Chaosmag to go celebrate Xuanzhen's birthday at Pizza Hut in the evening. We ended up waiting till 8 pm for Fengokill to arrive. By then, we were all starving. I had a hard time deciding between the Curry Zazzle and Chicken Mushrooms Tortilla Bowl. I went for the Curry Zazzle, but kinda regretted it cos' it tasted just like any other curry rice I've eaten.
While at AMK, I kept receiving SMS from friends about the new Cronous update. This got me excited about going home. I've already downloaded all the necessary files; all I needed was to patch the game and I was ready to go. The new version of Cronous is amazing. New maps, new items, increased drop rate, tweaked EXP and weakened mobs. Looks like I now have something to keep myself busy when I am not worrying about CS3214.
After the meeting, I went to AMK. I was supposed to meet Chaosmag to go celebrate Xuanzhen's birthday at Pizza Hut in the evening. We ended up waiting till 8 pm for Fengokill to arrive. By then, we were all starving. I had a hard time deciding between the Curry Zazzle and Chicken Mushrooms Tortilla Bowl. I went for the Curry Zazzle, but kinda regretted it cos' it tasted just like any other curry rice I've eaten.
While at AMK, I kept receiving SMS from friends about the new Cronous update. This got me excited about going home. I've already downloaded all the necessary files; all I needed was to patch the game and I was ready to go. The new version of Cronous is amazing. New maps, new items, increased drop rate, tweaked EXP and weakened mobs. Looks like I now have something to keep myself busy when I am not worrying about CS3214.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Blog Updated
Hooray, Blogspot servers are up. Managed to publish a new blog and correct the messed up layout on my XP laptop (The left column was overflowing into the middle column). Now it looks a bit weird on my ME laptop. Oh, well. It's for the majority who are XP users. Only a handful like me still stick to ME cos' we are lazy to upgrade. At least ME is stable (*koff*XP's Microsoft Service Pack 2*koff*).
Nothing much else to point out, except that, despite this being called "The Penguin's Nest", the picture you see on the left column is NOT a penguin. I'll just put whatever picture I want there, but it'd usually be some nice Japanese fantasy artist's work.
Nothing much else to point out, except that, despite this being called "The Penguin's Nest", the picture you see on the left column is NOT a penguin. I'll just put whatever picture I want there, but it'd usually be some nice Japanese fantasy artist's work.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Being Stood Up
I went to school today at 3 pm for my project meeting. I waited for half an hour, and nobody turned up except for Xiaojie, but he left soon after. Alvin didn't answer the phone nor reply to my SMS. Only Sylvia replied, saying that the meeting was never confirmed to be on. Grr. I packed up my stuff, and only when I left, Alvin called and told me that he asked Kok Hwee to inform me that the meeting has been cancelled. Looks like there was a miscommunication.
Anyway, during my one hour in school, I learnt that my new Acer laptop can access the school's network with no problems. Goodie. But at the same time, I saw tons of students armed with laptops, working on their CS3214 project. That was a real morale breaker, considering the fact that our progress is currently 0%. It's not that we are lazy, but we can't start cos' none of us can figure out the damn J2EE thing. It made me feel moody and insecure.
Since it was only 4 pm, I decided to go to AMK (the cab had a TV Mobile set!), where I spent the rest of the day playing deck. I could tell that I was still moody when I unknowingly lashed out at some guy who was making rude comments while I played deck. For dinner, I had the "Ultimate Chicken" meal at KFC. I received a call at dinner. This time, it was Kok Hwee who apologized over the miscommunication. We scheduled for another project meeting on Thursday.
Nigel, Xuan Yu, Hong Rui, and Alan dropped by at night. I haven't seen them in ages. It was quite a surprise.
I reached home feeling very lethargic. Either I've played too much today or it was induced by stress.
Anyway, during my one hour in school, I learnt that my new Acer laptop can access the school's network with no problems. Goodie. But at the same time, I saw tons of students armed with laptops, working on their CS3214 project. That was a real morale breaker, considering the fact that our progress is currently 0%. It's not that we are lazy, but we can't start cos' none of us can figure out the damn J2EE thing. It made me feel moody and insecure.
Since it was only 4 pm, I decided to go to AMK (the cab had a TV Mobile set!), where I spent the rest of the day playing deck. I could tell that I was still moody when I unknowingly lashed out at some guy who was making rude comments while I played deck. For dinner, I had the "Ultimate Chicken" meal at KFC. I received a call at dinner. This time, it was Kok Hwee who apologized over the miscommunication. We scheduled for another project meeting on Thursday.
Nigel, Xuan Yu, Hong Rui, and Alan dropped by at night. I haven't seen them in ages. It was quite a surprise.
I reached home feeling very lethargic. Either I've played too much today or it was induced by stress.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Tiring Monday
I woke up so early today to go for the darn 8:00 am lecture. I learnt nothing from it, and the consultation with Danny wasn't very constructive either because we had nothing to ask him. Anyway, this was the last lecture, so it means no more waking up at inhumane hours in the morning. Oh, joy of joys!
I joined my friends for lunch, then followed by our project meeting. I noticed a strange trend from all our meetings so far; halfway through, we would always diverge from our project discussion and start talking about everything else under the sun. It never fails to amaze me. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I like working with people are not 'fun deficient' ( a phrase I learnt from Sylvia). We ended our discussion at around 2 pm. I didn't want to go home so early to do more work.
Since it was the school holidays for secondary schools/JCs, I went to AMK to relax. I met Fengokill, Hobbes, Chaosmag, Riku and Kang-Kang (who was absolutely hilarious). Chris also showed me the location of his new shop. It's not bad at all, but might be a little cramped for customers. I went home late at night, as usual. I felt pretty tired having been out of home from 7 am to 10 pm.
I joined my friends for lunch, then followed by our project meeting. I noticed a strange trend from all our meetings so far; halfway through, we would always diverge from our project discussion and start talking about everything else under the sun. It never fails to amaze me. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I like working with people are not 'fun deficient' ( a phrase I learnt from Sylvia). We ended our discussion at around 2 pm. I didn't want to go home so early to do more work.
Since it was the school holidays for secondary schools/JCs, I went to AMK to relax. I met Fengokill, Hobbes, Chaosmag, Riku and Kang-Kang (who was absolutely hilarious). Chris also showed me the location of his new shop. It's not bad at all, but might be a little cramped for customers. I went home late at night, as usual. I felt pretty tired having been out of home from 7 am to 10 pm.
Monday, September 06, 2004
New Blog Layout
I spent the past two days looking through the source codes of various blogs to see how they are coded. All the blogs I've seen mostly consisted of many boxes and had those neat little scroll bars. At first I thought these were done using tables, but thanks to Akira, I learnt that they were, in fact, DIV elements.
After many hours of experimentation, I managed to modify the default codes into this current three-box format. I am most pleased indeed.
How I wished I was this motivated when it comes to JAVA programming.
After many hours of experimentation, I managed to modify the default codes into this current three-box format. I am most pleased indeed.
How I wished I was this motivated when it comes to JAVA programming.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Project Blues
My weekend was pretty routine. Saturday was the usual; cartoons in the morning, AMK in the afternoon. Today would've been no different, but I resisted the temptation to go out and decided to make some preparations for my CS3214 project meeting tomorrow.
I spent a few hours reading Learn to Program JAVA by Danny Poo (incidentally the advisor for my project), which is the recommended text for weaker students. When I got to some of my most dreaded chapters, I was like: "OMG, where was this book during my first year???" If they had used this book back then, I wouldn't have been so hopeless at JAVA even after 3 years.
I went to print a few notes and, being ever paranoid, I even printed out one of those free calenders just so that I can countdown to doomsday (1st November 2004).
For those who are wondering why I keep brooding over my CS3214 project to no end (thereby making my blog topics highly limited), I shall explain why.
I am only taking one (yup, 1!) module for this entire semester and that is CS3214: Information Systems Development Project. It's the only thing I can talk about since it is my one & only primary concern. I am extremely worried to death about it cos' there are absolutely no lectures/classes for this course. To sum up the entire course in one line: "Go build a fully-functional polytechnic web portal using J2EE and get it ready by 1st November 2004". No help, no workshops, no nothing; just a couple of links/documentation that a layman like me can't figure out. How thoughtful.
I may sound a bit distressed, but actually, my depression level has somewhat reduced over the past few weeks. I still remember how hopelessly distraught I was during the first two weeks of school. In my distress, I almost forgot that I have 5 other groupmates. They are pretty nice people at that. They are unlike those I have experienced before who treat you merely as a 'tool' and immediately outcasts you once they know you can't help them get that wondrous "A" grade.
Oh, well. I guess, so long as my groupmates aren't in a state of panic yet, I shouldn't be worrying myself silly cos' I know I am not alone.
I spent a few hours reading Learn to Program JAVA by Danny Poo (incidentally the advisor for my project), which is the recommended text for weaker students. When I got to some of my most dreaded chapters, I was like: "OMG, where was this book during my first year???" If they had used this book back then, I wouldn't have been so hopeless at JAVA even after 3 years.
I went to print a few notes and, being ever paranoid, I even printed out one of those free calenders just so that I can countdown to doomsday (1st November 2004).
For those who are wondering why I keep brooding over my CS3214 project to no end (thereby making my blog topics highly limited), I shall explain why.
I am only taking one (yup, 1!) module for this entire semester and that is CS3214: Information Systems Development Project. It's the only thing I can talk about since it is my one & only primary concern. I am extremely worried to death about it cos' there are absolutely no lectures/classes for this course. To sum up the entire course in one line: "Go build a fully-functional polytechnic web portal using J2EE and get it ready by 1st November 2004". No help, no workshops, no nothing; just a couple of links/documentation that a layman like me can't figure out. How thoughtful.
I may sound a bit distressed, but actually, my depression level has somewhat reduced over the past few weeks. I still remember how hopelessly distraught I was during the first two weeks of school. In my distress, I almost forgot that I have 5 other groupmates. They are pretty nice people at that. They are unlike those I have experienced before who treat you merely as a 'tool' and immediately outcasts you once they know you can't help them get that wondrous "A" grade.
Oh, well. I guess, so long as my groupmates aren't in a state of panic yet, I shouldn't be worrying myself silly cos' I know I am not alone.
Friday, September 03, 2004
Restless Times
Nothing much happened today. I spent most of my time mindlessly surfing the net.
I think I am actually trying to escape from thinking of my CS3214 project, even though I know I'll have to work on it sooner or later. Somehow, I feel that I am not 'mentally prepared' yet. Probably I am just scared that, once I start on it, I will no longer have the time to do other things. I am feeling very lazy now; I must resolve to start on it beginning from next week.
Anyway, I just wasted my time away today; going through all the various bookmarks I have in my Favorites and deleting those that are now inactive.
Looks like I really must find something to do or else it will be the same boring & aimless routine for me everyday.
Oh, well. It's near the end of the week. At least I have TCGs to keep myself occupied over the weekend.
I think I am actually trying to escape from thinking of my CS3214 project, even though I know I'll have to work on it sooner or later. Somehow, I feel that I am not 'mentally prepared' yet. Probably I am just scared that, once I start on it, I will no longer have the time to do other things. I am feeling very lazy now; I must resolve to start on it beginning from next week.
Anyway, I just wasted my time away today; going through all the various bookmarks I have in my Favorites and deleting those that are now inactive.
Looks like I really must find something to do or else it will be the same boring & aimless routine for me everyday.
Oh, well. It's near the end of the week. At least I have TCGs to keep myself occupied over the weekend.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
"Garfield: The Movie" Comments
I just watched Garfield today. Even though I wasn't expecting much in the first place, I felt that it was a disappointing.
The first half of the movie was very, very slow-paced and served no purpose other than to showcase some lame & uninspired jokes/punchlines. It only picked up halfway when they introduced an actual plot; only then I started paying attention.
I liked Odie a lot (he is such a cute pup!) and Jon is a nice guy. On the other hand, Garfield was potrayed as overly obnoxious and I ended up hating him (even though I did enjoy the comic strips when I was younger).
The movie is probably targeted at fans only. Others need not apply.
Morning Phonecall of Doom
I woke up pretty late today to find my lunch on the table. I checked my handphone and noticed that I had 3 missed calls from a strange number at 11 am. It told myself that it must be Benedict; I did tell him to call me in the morning to discuss about our movie outing today (we're gonna watch "Garfield"). I SMS'ed him about it, but strangely, he told him that it wasn't him who tried calling me.
I dialed back the number to see who it was. A lady was on the other line and I realized that I had just called up the General Office of NUS. The lady said that it was her colleague who tried to call me. When I asked her what it was about, she said, "it's something to do with your modules". She told me to call again at 1 pm (after lunchtime).
I immediately lost my appetite for lunch and I was thrown into a state of panick. Was dropping Financial Accounting with a "W" grade a fatal mistake? (*refer to this post)
I worried myself silly and waited till it was 1:15 pm. I picked up the phone and called the General Office once again. It was a different lady this time, and she was pleased that I was considerate enough to call back. "You have recently dropped FNA1002 online, but we could not find out which tutorial group you were from. We just need to inform your tutor that you have already dropped the module."
\(*0*)/ "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"
I replied: "My FNA tutorial group was B16. But just to let you know, I have already informed my tutor by e-mail that I have dropped the module."
"Thank you very much. Goodbye."
All that worrying for nothing, but at least I am glad nothing bad happened.
I dialed back the number to see who it was. A lady was on the other line and I realized that I had just called up the General Office of NUS. The lady said that it was her colleague who tried to call me. When I asked her what it was about, she said, "it's something to do with your modules". She told me to call again at 1 pm (after lunchtime).
I immediately lost my appetite for lunch and I was thrown into a state of panick. Was dropping Financial Accounting with a "W" grade a fatal mistake? (*refer to this post)
I worried myself silly and waited till it was 1:15 pm. I picked up the phone and called the General Office once again. It was a different lady this time, and she was pleased that I was considerate enough to call back. "You have recently dropped FNA1002 online, but we could not find out which tutorial group you were from. We just need to inform your tutor that you have already dropped the module."
\(*0*)/ "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"
I replied: "My FNA tutorial group was B16. But just to let you know, I have already informed my tutor by e-mail that I have dropped the module."
"Thank you very much. Goodbye."
All that worrying for nothing, but at least I am glad nothing bad happened.
Horoscope Fun
"In midweek, perhaps on Wednesday, you may be taken out of your normal routine and start an unexpected journey."
That little horoscope excerpt came from issue 725 of 8 Days magazine. I am usually not very superstitious about such things, but since I am already aware of it, I might as well see if I can recognize any 'unexpected journies' I might make for Wednesday.
---------------
My day started off with a CS3214 project consultation with the lecturer, Danny. He touched on the project documentation, but being more concerned about the actual implementation, I asked him for his advice. His reply was rather long, but it all boiled down to one thing: he wanted us to find out ourselves. Looks like it is definitely not going to be easy. Oh, well. Seven more weeks before the deadline...
When we left, there was a little bazaar outside LT27, so we went to shop around. There were all sorts of stuff on sale, including boxer shorts, jewellery, health products, posters and even designer trash cans. I didn't buy anything though cos' it was all too expensive. Oh, well. Enough shopping. Time to go.
When I was leaving, I recalled how Sylvia was admiring a bracelet back at the bazaar, though she didn't buy it. It suddenly occured to me that I could have bought it for her as a gift because her birthday is coming this Saturday. I soon brushed the thought out of my mind when I realized that this is something that I normally wouldn't even consider doing. It felt strange. *_*
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 1: Usually, I would leave school ASAP after any project meeting. Bazaars aren't to my liking. And buying presents for people is something I don't normally do.)
At AMK, when it was evening, I asked both Chaosmag & Fengokill if they were interested in accompanying me to Books Kinokuniya to purchase the new DM book promo. I was rather surprised that the two of them agreed so willingly. Even I myself felt lazy about making the long trip down to Orchard, but what the hey.
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 2: Usually, I would never think of traveling to more than one place on a week day. It's a waste of time.)
We made our purchases quick and returned to AMK for dinner. By then, it was 9 pm. I was rather eager to play-test more DM after the recent new bans/restrictions. After the shop closed, Chris told me that he couldn't give me a lift home, so I followed Damnpissed and the rest to KFC to play more DM. Damnpissed was trying out his new Water deck and I was interested in seeing it, too. We hung out till 11 pm, then it was time for me to take a cab home.
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 3: Usually, I would go straight home at the end of the day, but since Chris wasn't free, I chose to hang out longer and took a cab home.)
---------------
Was it the horoscope that came true or my own subsconscious mind making it all happen unknowingly?
My day started off with a CS3214 project consultation with the lecturer, Danny. He touched on the project documentation, but being more concerned about the actual implementation, I asked him for his advice. His reply was rather long, but it all boiled down to one thing: he wanted us to find out ourselves. Looks like it is definitely not going to be easy. Oh, well. Seven more weeks before the deadline...
When we left, there was a little bazaar outside LT27, so we went to shop around. There were all sorts of stuff on sale, including boxer shorts, jewellery, health products, posters and even designer trash cans. I didn't buy anything though cos' it was all too expensive. Oh, well. Enough shopping. Time to go.
When I was leaving, I recalled how Sylvia was admiring a bracelet back at the bazaar, though she didn't buy it. It suddenly occured to me that I could have bought it for her as a gift because her birthday is coming this Saturday. I soon brushed the thought out of my mind when I realized that this is something that I normally wouldn't even consider doing. It felt strange. *_*
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 1: Usually, I would leave school ASAP after any project meeting. Bazaars aren't to my liking. And buying presents for people is something I don't normally do.)
At AMK, when it was evening, I asked both Chaosmag & Fengokill if they were interested in accompanying me to Books Kinokuniya to purchase the new DM book promo. I was rather surprised that the two of them agreed so willingly. Even I myself felt lazy about making the long trip down to Orchard, but what the hey.
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 2: Usually, I would never think of traveling to more than one place on a week day. It's a waste of time.)
We made our purchases quick and returned to AMK for dinner. By then, it was 9 pm. I was rather eager to play-test more DM after the recent new bans/restrictions. After the shop closed, Chris told me that he couldn't give me a lift home, so I followed Damnpissed and the rest to KFC to play more DM. Damnpissed was trying out his new Water deck and I was interested in seeing it, too. We hung out till 11 pm, then it was time for me to take a cab home.
(*Unexpected 'Journey' 3: Usually, I would go straight home at the end of the day, but since Chris wasn't free, I chose to hang out longer and took a cab home.)
---------------
Was it the horoscope that came true or my own subsconscious mind making it all happen unknowingly?
Oh, well. The latest horoscope in this week's 8-Days (issue 726) mentions that I will soon be able to "kick-start my romantic life".
Uh, yeah, right. @_@
Uh, yeah, right. @_@
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)