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Showing posts from 2007

Comic Market 73

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Nothing happened. Just that the Comiket 73 at the Tokyo Big Sight or 東京ビックサイト (International Exhibition Center; 国際展示場 ) had took/is taking place from the 29-31 Dec. The crowds are like crazy. How crazy? Well think of it as a subway train in the central area of the city fully packed with people. Photos were forbidden there except the cosplay area. Also, to get in, there is an extremely long line and had to wait for an extremely long time to get in. Had to head there early to avoid the crowd, though the earliest train to there is already crowded (note that the Taxi fare rates there are the 2nd most expensive after London). The image on the right would give you some idea on how crowded it is from the previous comiket. Below is an overhead image from Google Maps/Earth showing the location. It's just next to Tokyo Bay. The Big Sight is just on the right of the text 国際展示場正門 in red.

Sinjuku train station

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Shinjuku Station (新宿駅) is one of the busiest station located somewhere near the Shibuya area. So busy that it recorded an average of about 3.31 million per day last year (2006). Since it serves that many people, of course, there are about 25 train platforms served by 5 different operators along with about 200 exits. It's so large that you can compare it with a small city. Of course, like any other station there is an automatic fare gates (except in towns and villages which may not have any). The card used to enter is called Suica (based on Sony's Felica, which is also used on the Octopus Card in Hong Kong and some card in Singapore with an uncreative name). It can also be embedded in mobile phones (Keitai denwa / 携帯電話). That's why there you can see people putting wallets, handbags and keitai on the card reader to enter. Of course, there are machines to purchase tickets. (Near the New South Entrance/Exit (新南口). The train station is that short long building on the right of ...

Writer's block

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The worst thing that could happen to anyone is having a writer's block . Back in secondary school, I always seem to be unable to come up with anything when doing the assignment of writing essays or writing more than what is already provided. Of course, this would be worse if it involves creating something new or choosing whatever topic I like. I got this project to do that is to be done by the 9th of next month, but I'm already stuck at the 1st slide. It's supposed to last for 10 minutes. My laptop comes with Microsoft 2007 but it's on a trial period until I enter the serial number. So I end up using OpenOffice.org instead unless I'm using a different PC. Maybe I just don't know how exactly to do this. Or maybe its just that I just lack of exposure of learning. If only I could turn back time or things happening differently in the past, things could be different now. Speaking of learning, I want to forget what I learned about the Malay Language (Bahasa Melayu / ...

Furniture broke; a lot of photos taken

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(Note: Photo taken in November 2006 (13 months ago); all the things in this picture had moved quite a lot since then.) The black part near the top you see in the picture on the left broke some time ago when I was moving boxes up there. As I had removed the mattress below earlier to do stuff under the bed, I managed to grab hold of the closet to the right (not reflected in the image) in time. The frame of the bed looks like its falling apart (it's made of wood) and could break at any moment. The furniture set is quite old. It's been around since I moved in in Dec 1996 (11 years ago). Anyways, I now have images taken from yesterday (24 Dec 2007) and today (25 Dec 2007) that would (probably) help with my school project, which I haven't started. More would come soon from the same place until 2 Jan 2008. Of course, not all of the images would appear in the final version. I'll try to do it differently from other people (that are around me). Since it's most likely to be Ja...

Something amusing

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(image souce: 2chan.net at Dec 2006) I know this image is 375 days old, but I find it quite amusing that Haruhi (from 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) on a protesting sign in the Gazaa City by a kid. What is even more amusing about this is that this image appeared on intenational news (via  Agence France-Presse, a french news agency) on newspapers and online worldwide. I wonder what they were thinking. Anyways, enough of that. This would the time of the year that people of developed nations waste their hard earned money for something and giving it away, having parties that would waste water, electricity, petrol (and somehow contribute to polution) People far and near are also gathering together (good or bad is another thing). Public transport and roadways are crowded too, leading to traffic jams and overcrowding which also leads to delays, waste of energy while waiting for the jam to ease and unhappy people. Heavy floods and snowstorms in some areas. Accidents that leads to injury or death would happen mor...

21st post on this blog

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I don't know why but that "thing" (I can't say it here) above "random image (from anywhere)" is in japanese sometimes. Another thing is that the banner of the same dimentions on my other blog has images instead of static text. I exchanged money with my sister for lower denominations (eg. 1 $1 coin -> 2 $0.20 + 6 $0.05, 1 $1 -> 2 $0.50) and then $8.60 worth of 1&5 cent coints for a $10 note, then 10 $1 coins for 1 $10 note. I use the vending machine (it has "Polar: the popular choice" on the side) to exchange the $0.10, $0.20, and $0.50 coins for $1 coin. They don't accept $0.01 or $0.05 coins. I'm doing this so that I can have as little coins without the bulk of coins (and help the vending machine to have small change). Too bad the bank deposit machine only accepts $10, $50 and $100 notes. The bank would also charge if you deposit too many coins (250 of mixed denominations i think), an amount equal to buying a meal at a fast food...

about contacting me

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I don't like it when people communicate to me when not in person. Here are the things you should take note of: If contacting me by mobile/fixed/internet phone: I have a caller ID Make sure I know who you are when you are calling. Me giving my number and you not doing the same is as good as not knowing who is calling me. Do not call me on all my numbers for more than a total of 2 times in a day, even if I do not answer. Otherwise, I see you as a prank caller and have a bad impression of you. When messaging by SMS/MMS, say what the hell you want. Not " Are you free next ___? " or " Go online, I got something to tell you. It's urgent. " (for the latter, I would assume that it is not urgent since you are telling me to go online instead of telling me what that "urgent" thing is.) What I'm expecting is "There will be a ___ meeting on ____ at ___.", " Do you know how to solve this equation? x=2y-y^2+3z " or " Thanks for what...

Class outing (IQ0704F)

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[I tried to record the 1280x768 version of the 1st 5 episodes of the 1st season of 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (The Depression of Haruhi Suzumiya) in cronological order on my VCR . It worked, but the playback on the tape make it look old (with mono sound) as compared to the original HD version. Also, possibly due to age, the tape player did not indicate the position. Also, even though the counter reach around 2h 15min (since I fully rewinded and started recording) on a E-195 tape, I tried recording the 6th episode but mid-way it behaved as though it already reach the end. Also, when rewinding, the VCR turned off by it self.] There is a class outing for IQ0704F of ITE college central bishan at East Coast Park this Saturday, 22 Dec at 9:30am (i think). The meeting place is at the MacDonalds there. The direct bus to there is 401 from Bedok interchange, but that bus operates on Sat, Sun & Public Holiday. On saturdays, it operates from 2pm-10pm with intervals ranging from 20-29 mins and 10am-8pm on Sun...

vector drawing

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[Yukari Takahashi (who also helped me with my japanese language blog ) would kill me if I put up the full size version in colour here because she already has a reputation / large fan base somewhere. She said it's fine if I use one of my images on top of the one you see here. Don't ask how I get to know her.] I'm quite blur when it comes to vector drawing. At first, I don't even know how to create it. Now, using inkscape , it looks alright, at least, for 2d people and basic things like a box. I'm still unclear on how to do something as complicated as a city scenery. I have done at least a few and uploaded some of them online. It's been a long while since I have done vector tracing since I have use the pencil (erm...) to do the same thing, but in monocrome. To find the earlier vector art, you have to dig deep since it was a long time ago. You can try looking through my 1st blog  (that blog used to have the same url as this blog until around April 2007 ) or image...

editing mp3 files using iTunes

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I spent most of the day adding missing/corrupted information, making sure that compilations in an album appear together instead of seperately, and adding album images. At first, I was clueless at to why mp3 info looks okay on this pc but when I transfer to another pc/device, the info (that is not in latin charaters) appears messed up ( mojibake ). I noticed that when I added/edited info using Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes (above), the text becomes okay, though the ones I edited earlier in windows explorer are still messed up. The problem now is that the music I "received" from chinese sites are messed up. I can solve it by copying the file/folder name or open the readme.txt included in it using firefox by changing the encoding. It's time consuming though. As for the album art, I was clueless as to how to add image until today. 1st, I have to move the folder of the songs away from where you originally save to (otherwise, the text info can be edited). Then make sure...

Annoyed...

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Here are the stuff I'm annoyed with: People calling/messaging me at the inconvenient times (especially when I'm in the middle of drawing/sleeping) My laptop is too laggy but upgrading the RAM would mean voiding the warranty. There's always speed boost but other than my portable HDD, I don't have anything that is at least twice my current RAM size. People asking me to do things when I don't want to. (Even though I say otherwise) My body is aching The whole "national/racial/religion identity" thing. Not enough money to do/get what I want. The weather (I don't mind the rain, but THERE IS NO SNOW!) People smoking, especially in public areas Applied for about 5 jobs, but so far none of them called me back How I'm not what I want to be (biologically) grades and not getting courses that I want time limits, especially short ones felt like living in the past 4chan.org banning me for some unknown reason Being accused of something I didn't do Can't t...

Japanese Class on 15 Jan 2008

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On 15 January 2008, there will be acting/singing and have to say out the words in japanese. I just sent the english and japanese to the email address around 11am today. My group consists of 3 people. Here is the japanese script I submited (I was supposed to send it as romanised text): 伝説は特定のビデオを監視した人々を言って、即座にぞっとさせている死を持っているでしょう。 二人の人が匿名の人によって送られたビデオを 監視していました。 中途で見ている間、彼らのひとりは、トイレに行くと決めました。 それ少しもずっと後に、禎子はテレビから這って、その人をテレビへ引きずりたがっていませんでした。 その人をテレビへ引きずる禎子の代わりに、彼女はその人を怯えさせようとする部屋の周りで追いかけられました。 いつか後に、禎子はテレビに登って戻ると決めましたが、脚によって捕らえられて、引っ張り出されました。 それらの間の恐ろしい戦いの後に、 禎子は、テレビまで這って戻るのに最終的に成功しました。 それを見て、その人は、テレビを持ち上げて、それを震動させるのを始動しましたが、禎子は動かないでしょう。 長いときに、より遅れていなくて、その人は、あきらめて、去り始めました。 その瞬間に、禎子の手は、見えて、その人をテレビへ引きずり始めました。 その人がそこにいた間、禎子は彼女に関してその 人に過ぎて話しました。 禎子 : およそ 10 年前に、私は粉砕を引き起こした人として私の幼な馴染みを間違った元のボーイフレンドによって井戸まで押し下げられました。 私たちが親密に見えたように、彼は激怒に負けま した。 ( それは、私の死を引き起こしました ) 。 私は、報復を取るためにビデオを作成して、それを彼に渡しました。 ビデオが彼のために作られていましたが、それは、どうにか他の人々に渡されて、あなたで終わりました。 私の過去の経験から、ビデオを見た人々が私に死ぬほど怯えるでしょう。 いつか後に、私は、非常に孤独で...

Days i'm not free in Dec 2007

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Better put this down before I forget 14 - 16 Dec (Friday - Sunday): Have to submit stuff by the 15th and then go to the open house at Republic Polytechnic at Woodlands sometime later. 18 Dec (Tuesday): 9:50am - 1pm, outside ITE Bishan staff room for video editing 21 Dec (Friday): 10am onwards, meet ming rong and skye outside payar lebar MRT station. 22 Dec (Saturdy): 9:30am onwards, class outing at East Cost park MacDonalds (no idea how to get there). until 8 Jan (Tuesday): Prepare presentation for business communication. after 21 Dec (Friday), before 15 Jan (Tuesday): Subsequent (bi-)weekly (not confirmed) meething with sky and min rong Unknown: Visiting relatives in Negara Sembilan, Malaysia. Unknown: Cleaning up my room (it's messy) Unknown: Finding time for a (full/part time) job. (need 50x of what I already have by 2013) Holidays during the period (which makes no difference to my life or would care about): 20 Dec (Thursday): Hari Raya Haji 25 Dec (Tuesday): Christmas 1 Jan (Fr...

Events that took place this week

Here are a bunch of entries that took place from 8 Dec (Sat) to 12 Dec (Wed) 8 December 2007 (Saturday): Stayed at home most of the time. Decided to make major changes to my 3rd and 4th profile after making this post just the night before. Managed to watch "ef - a tale of memories" and "灼眼のシャナII" (Shakugan no Shana Second). 9 December 2007 (Sunday): Woke up earlier than usual (7am) on a Sunday. Father comes home with mother (she works the night shift and he went to fetch her) with MacD breakfast (it happens every week) at 9am. He also wants to watch "Doraemon" (ドラえもん) on RCTI (an indonesian free-to-air network). Had to connect the external antena via VCR (which is almost 12 years old) as the widescreen tv bought almost last year can't display it. Made a lot of changes to friendster, blogger and youtube profile. Later on around evening, went out with parents to fech my sister from work (Hans Art, Bishan Branch) without changing. Went to Sheng Siong sup...

Friendster profile

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[Taken on 2007-12-07 20:00 (UTC+8)] Many people have been asking if this is my profile or had overheard people asking those around them whose profile this belongs to. Yes, this is my profile. How the profile turned out to be like this? Well it's a long story, so long that it dates back to around when I turned my (then) spare account . Also, I don't like putting a picture of myself or put my real name. ( 5th friendster profile , MySpace acc no.2 and Facebook are exceptions. Though nether of the people in the display image at myspace is me.) At one time (some years ago), the aim was to have a profile of an anime charater ( School Rumble ). At the time I did that, I already added my (seconday) school friends to both that account and the (then) main account . On that account, I did put in "would accept anyone from around the world". The number of friends quickly rose to half the limit (in those days, it was 1000) when I turn my (then) main account into the same thing. ...

Changed layout

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I had changed the layout as the prevous one had problems displaying images from my previous post. For example this image from the prevous post : Under the previous layout, you wouldn't be able to see the clock or the woman on the right of the image. You could only see the rest and the shadow of that person. The same goes for images of the same size. Since the layout has changed, I try to make the page elements at the same position as before (only on the left instead of right). Also, I have reduced the number of post appearing on the main page from 10 to 5 since the average post is quite long, even without images. This would also help people with slower bandwidth to load the page faster. To view the earlier posts, you can just go to the archive tree at the bottom of the sides. (Since my posts are long most of the time, it might be located midway throughout the blog.) I have also enable annonous people to post comments on my posts.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test

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I took the JLPT level 3 at the Japanese School (日本人学校(小学部)チャンギ校) today. (Level 4 is the easiest, 1 being the hardest but enough for living in japan) I'm aware that there is also the Standard Charted Marathon run with the SC that morning. Well, I registered for it back in August (about 1-2 weeks before regestration ends) at a obscure place called Midland House at Middle Road (hmmm). I hardly studied. Some of the reasons for that is that there is the lack of study (though i have studied a bit), too much school related activities (mic money sense, sc oath taking / grad night), watch/read too much anime and manga (though they are in japanese with no subtitles). I went there from my house (simei blk 164), walked to Jln Pelatok (there were dogs barking madly at me around there one night) and take from the bustop along Upp Changi Road East and alighted at the school at Upp Changi Road North (quite near). Removed shoes before entering the exam room. During the 2nd part of Listening (聴解) se...

iPop @ Singapore National Museum

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I'm too lazy to describe the event. Go to ipop's website to find out more. Here are some pictures: This thing happened to be there As you can see, there are celebrities in there from a lousy camera and angle. That same camera is used for this post and the next post .

How I get home

As I mentioned earlier, my school is at Bishan St 13 and my house is at Simei Road. People keep asking me why I didn't end up at the College East campus. Simple: I passed only 1 subject and therefore the chances of getting there is slim, in addition to the facilities there. (FYI, I did choose the one at College West if I didn't get at College Central) Anyways, as most of my schoolmates would know, I would take the train at Bishan in the direction towards the city. Sometimes in the opposite direction, or take the bus from Bishan interchange or outside the MRT instead. In case you are curious, here are the routes i take for each of the above 3: Train towards the city: alight at City Hall (Raffles Place if the train is already there and is/has depart) and transfer to the East-West line towards Pasir Ris and alight at Simei and walk from there. Total time: ~50min (~54 if from raffles place) alight at City Hall and transfer to the East-West line towards Pasir Ris and alight at Ta...

the Moneysense event

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There was a moneysense event project with the actual day on 1 nov at ite college east (simei). It started when lawson called me for something during the holidays for 3 days on weekdays (sc oath taking practice was on the other 2 days). I initally didn't want to do it because i did the classofclowns just a few months earlier which was crazy. But due to "lack of manpower" (the other 3 didn't do much/anyhting) and lawson working for some media company (he offered me to work with him but i indirectly rejected the offer for reasons mentioned 2 posts before this ), I had to do the work in the end, though mdm salinah (along with people whose name i cant remember) did the music and final edit. There was conflict with my class lessons, the moneysense rehersal, jan intake graduation nite preperation meeting, another oathtaking rehersal, and japanese class. All on the same day and is supposed to be between 3pm and 6pm. Then the rehersal 2 days before the actual day. (More detai...