the pressure begins today… the seven of us met with our project supervisor and the theme for our projects are unconventional vehicles… some of the suggestions given to us were flying saucers and hovercrafts… it’s all about pressure really… air pressure to be precise… by the end of this semester we would have to finish designing and fabricating it… an uphill task for a noob like me… but it’s a challenge that i will have to accept… throughout the coming months… the progress of my project will be charted here… and hopefully by the end of everythin’… it would be a success… :)

time to research and amass as much information as i can… this is definitely not a year to sit back and relax… well… not so much as before i mean ;) fly away… float away… it’s the year of amphibians!

and so the pressure rises…

a screenshot from my suse… it’s quite a cool distro for beginners… well… i’m currently writin’ this in konqueror… and last week i burnt a couple of dvds for the first time with k3b… so far so good… no glitches…

the first week’s been pretty cool… it’ll be much more hectic in the comin’ ones i’m sure… i hope i get a reasonable supervisor for my final year project… i guess the same goes for everyone else… time seems to be getting scarcer… and it’ll probably continue to be this way all throughout this year… hence… the need for effective planning and management arises…

my pc’s got a fresh dual-boot install of suse and xp… all geared up to handle the many programming tasks ahead… C++… IA32 and 68HC11 assembly… and quite possibly matlab… not forgettin’ my own experiments with web and database development… life exists only at the desktop… or so it seems

on a lighter note… it was a great weekend in singapore… dined in a couple of nice restaurants… ma maison and marche movenpick… the food was great… with a dozen or more people queuing to enter… it would be a disappointment if it wasn’t… spent the evenin’ at the east coast park beach… it was a hive of activity with people picnicking, cycling, roller blading and splashing around in the water…

most (older) people would do anythin’ to look younger… oh well… almost everythin’… on the other hand… i didn’t manage to sneak into two bars with a 23-25 age restriction lookin’ as young(?) as i do… they didn’t even buy that i was 22 this year… anyway i ended up at harry’s@esplanade… comedian harith iskandar was there too… with a few tables of his entourage (groupies?)… the resident jazz guitarist was simply superb… a seasoned veteran obviously… had draught kilkenny’s ale (at last!) after having only previously heard about how nice it is…

sunday was spent at orchard mostly… i got my long-awaited neeon :) nothin’ much has changed at orchard since the last time i went… the keyboardist is still playin’ at the underpass… he’s been there since forever i guess… it was the last day of the great singapore sale and babes were thronging all the fashion outlets… like i said… it’s nothin’ new…

on the bus home… i had the unfortunate opportunity of being on the same bus with a man who stank like he had just went swimming in a pool of refuse… and he had a way of ending up somewhere near me in the queue, bus and customs… hard as i tried to avoid…

after an enjoyable distraction… it’s time to get back to work :)

yet another chapter closes… will be drivin' a few hundred miles down south over the next couple of days… and then monday marks the beginning of final year… had a farewell lunch with my fellow teammates and manager earlier on… well… i guess this is it… back to school… :)

my nikon died so i guess i shan't be havin' much pics to post up in the near future… oh well… the korg also died two months back too… i'm not sure if i can get 'em fixed… but i sure hope so… they cost a thousand in total… hmmm… such luck…

final year project looms…

four-times world champs… this is the moment i’ve been waitin’ for since the azzurri’s unfortunate defeat to the brazilians in the ‘94 penalty shootout… fresh in my memory… and many of yours too i suppose… were the misses of baresi and baggio… the stars of the italian squad at that time… truly a heartbreaking moment it was a dozen years ago…

fast forward to today… all of the italian strikes found their way to the back of the net… and even though buffon couldn’t dive the right way from zidane’s first penalty in the opening minutes of the final till the last one in the shootout… they are the new champions as trezeguet’s crossbar miss proved to be a costly one… well… penalty shootouts haven’t exactly been italy’s cup of tea… but in the most important match of all… it has turned out well for them… and the golden goal scorer of the euro 2000 final kind of handed the world cup to the team he defeated six years ago…

before the final match… no other team had scored against italy at all throughout the campaign… the only one they conceded was an own goal against the us of a… well… and if you exclude zidane’s penalty and the shootout goals… that would mean no opponent could put the ball in the back of italy’s net under normal circumstances… :) simply solid!

it is indeed a day to PARTY!

clubbin' 101 for cheapskates… cash-strapped students… whichever label u prefer… ;)

• go early to grab a good table… and besides… enjoy a buy-one-get-one-free offer to double your alcohol supply…
• latecomers who can't find a table in the packed-to-the-brim club will politely ask if they could share your table… and they will in turn open a bottle of chivas and share with you and your friends… shot after shot…