The Root Of All Evil

Ever wondered where we get all our anime from? And how they are uploaded so fast?
Here's ur answer.
From here.

This guy has like over 10 recorders lah. So if u think I'm a pirate, I'm just a end user in the bigger picture.

Monday Blues

It's one of those lazy Monday where it's raining and you just feel like sleeping in after a long Sunday night of studying. You dread the week ahead with how much u still need to cover and what questions the crazy lecturer will unleash upon us in that 2 hours of hell.

As I take a break now n then and walk about to rest my eyes. I usually check what the others are up to. It's also my first time I stayed through the weekend in hall, and in 8 short, so I wonder what these guys do on Sundays while I'm at home catching up with my family.

In actual fact, this week was diff. Everyone was in study mode, so there wasn't much activity. But when the sun sets and moon rises, that's where the fun begins. Remember the breaks I took now n then? I decided to do a bit of snapping...

Found a guest in 8short. Looked rather satisfied in bed. (bottom half couldn't be shown)

Usually, Abhi would be in Eshack, otherwise, he'll be back in 8short photoshopping or sleeping the day away. I guess the sleep caught up to him faster than he can catch up with the news.

So you see, mugging has always been a tiring process, even with 3 years of experience behind our backs..

On another note....
Most of you might be wondering what all the going level 7 and taking sugar is for. Well you see, my lecturer gave us some dragonfruit seeds a few weeks back. I decided to plant a few of them and watch them grow. Besides, I'm studying plants in all my 3 modules, so watching them grow is like have watching what u learn come alive, literally. It also helped me wake up each morning so that these guys can get the morning sun that enters my room each day.


And of course, the bottle was stolen from the labs. But hey, I paid so much for my school fees, so I kinda paid for it.
I was also did a project on roses and I'm trying to resurrect a rose stalk right now and maybe grow roses at home. Hence, the sugar was needed cos the stalk has no roots and proper leaves to get it's own sugar. No photos at the moment cos nothing conclusive appeared yet.

Well, that's all for now.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.

Updates

Just and update on whats been cooking on level 8 during reading week. While everyone's pretending to study for their exams, the old men of here have pretty much succumbed to fighting fate and seem rather relaxed about taking exams for the seventh time yet.

Wednesday night saw us watching the England-Croatia game at Potato's room and what a rollercoaster of a game that turned out to be. As the game kicked off, Potato and Lawrence took their seats around the screen while I was still doing my own stuff, not expecting anything exciting to happen so early on in the game. But surely enough, potato soon shouted GG! on seeing Scott Carson's blunder which caused me to rush into the room by the time the instant replay was on, which was followed by a colorful series of expletives being doled out by the three of us, so loud that it woke Ian up from behind his closed door where he was stocking up on shuteye for his morning paper. Ian would then be voluntarily woken up several times on from that point, as our agony turned to ecstasy after half time, and then back to utter disgust once Croatia's third goal went in. I think enough people have said plenty about Carson and Maclaren so I think we'll spare you that bit. But our heart does go out to our fellow level 8 resident David Beckham who should've been brought into the game so much earlier, and when he eventually was put onto the pitch, his effect on the game was instant, what with that excellent ball in to Peter Crouch. But alas, owing to atrocious managing by Steve-o, David may not have a chance, after winning his 99th cap that day, to become the first 8-shorter to win 100 caps for his country. We feel for you bro...

David after coming back to level8 and realizing he might not win his 100th cap!

Soccer aside, the 8-shorters only get to see each other at breakfast over the weekdays, which each of us finding our own unique 'study' spots. Pon and Potato each in their own rooms with their new loves (Grace and Call-of-Duty respectively), Lawrence in the Library, JK in self-imposed exile, Jun Ming in engine, and me in the E-shack. But its really quite shiok studying in the E-shack with the TV on in the background, especially at odd hours when channel 5 reruns old tv shows and sitcoms like Alf, Picket Fences, Wonder Years etc. This is the stuff I was weaned on and it feels really good to be seeing them after all these years from a completely different perspective that too after having grown up (a little).

Today was our Forensic Science paper with atleast a dozen shearites taking this module. Lawrence challenged me to finish the paper in time such that I'd be able to buy Subway and come back to the MPSH before he and the rest managed to get out. And surely enough, I left the exam venue at 1030 with Joey Gan and was happily waiting for them outside the door (subway in tow) as they emerged from the hall at 11 plus. That said, another thing i'm going to miss is slacking around NUS when its broad daylight, whether its while walking from one faculty to another handing in term papers on a lazy afternoon during reading week when there's not a soul around campus, or perhaps like today, after a Saturday morning exam buzzing around the YIH area buying food from various outlets and strolling from point to point while shouting out to other Shearites one might spot across from the bus stop to subway. These little simple experiences are really hard to put to words because their very nature is so trivial, yet when you're living in that very moment its just so peaceful and free from interest in its triviality that you just want that sublime instance to last forever.

If spotting Shearites left-right-center during lunch wasn't bad (good) enough, this evening was even more obscene. Probably the entire present population of blocks C,D and E decided to descend to level one and make their way to Ginza for dinner at the SAME time. I'm not kidding but I think there were at least 30-odd (maybe even 42) people at the bus stop by the time the bus arrived, so many such that block D actually had to take the next bus. Other people in the bus were thoroughly amused though with the fact that Ian, Myself, Jun Leong and Robin had to spend the entire journey with our neck tilted at 45° angle due to the height (or lack thereof) of the ceiling of the bus. But again, the cluster$^!% at Ginza was fun too as 8-short managed to catch up over dinner after quite the hiatus.


In other news, a certain block C female kindergartener commented to me that the level8 guys are rather un-'sexy' and unkempt. Scalding to the ego as that statement might have been, the optimist is us likes to believe that that probably means that we aren't superficial but true-to-ourselves, less concerned with outwardly artifice and more about substance and virtue. But if the rest of you think my BS is only speaking for myself, then I suggest its high time we do something for our image. I also learned that these very same girls have a list that ranks the guys in order of unsexiness, and I do have some information pertaining to this list, however I shall refrain from disclosing any of these facts based on what I also learned from a recent episode of South Park whose moral suggested that probing lists can be highly injurious to not only one's health, but to the very notion of what we believe the female species to be.. and we also wouldn't want things to end ugly with someone throwing up on.. someone... (inside joke)

Finally, if you're bored and there's nothing to read on 8short, pop over to the Acers blog where Bona and Sean post almost a daily fix of hilarious videos to provide you with adequate reasons for procrastination. Below are my top picks from their last few posts. More of such can be found if you follow the link above. Cheers.

When It's Too Much To Take

It's less than 24 hours to your first paper...

You've been studying non-stop for days...

Your neighbour isn't helping by playing cool games he just downloaded and showing it to u...

Your internal clock is screwed, the only indication of time is when u have your meals...

And you have ur gf writing on ur whiteboard that plucking her eyebrows is more impt than the last exam...

You have your itunes playing in the background, pumping rock music.

You sit back n ponder about it all...

....and this is what happens....



JIAYOU everyone!!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9556722784

Yeaahhh the holidays are coming.. something to look forward to after the wretched exams..

here's something to start the festive mood with

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9556722784

A Series of Unfortunate Dua Kangs

Last night Lawrence asked me for my Matric card so that he could pack 2 breakfasts in the morning instead of 1. He was planning to eat the other one for lunch. Since I wasn't going to sleep before 4 as usual, which would narrow the possibility further of my waking for breakfast, I decided to oblige Law's humble request and give him my card to keep overnight so he wouldn't have to disturb my slumber in the morning when he needed it.

Little did I know that the next morning, I would be paid a visit at 830am by my other friendly neighbor Ian, who decided to do the courteous thing and wake me up to ask me whether I wanted to join him for breakfast. Below is an extract of the conversation that ensued:

Ian: Abhi... Abhi.. Abhi...... (by this time he's already in my room and looming over my bed)

[I finally wake up and see him staring down at me]

Me (groggily): Yo.. whats up

Ian (seemingly genuinely): Wanna go breakfast? It's 830.

Me (still disoriented): Huh? Hmm.. Breakfast? .. (thinks a while, searches brain for meaning of word).. oh... hmmm.... ...... . ... ... uhhh... nah no thanks.. actually... ok la ok la fuck lets just go

Ian looks a little disappointed for some reason (I dont know at the time) and I step out of my bed and get halfway across my room...

Me: CB wait.. Lawrence took my bloody matric card so that he could get double breakfast

Ian: Oh.. noo.. then how?

Me: Nvm lor.. I go back to sleep..

Ian (sheepishly): actually, I didn't think you were going to come down in the first place. When I woke you up I was hoping and expecting you'd say No since you slept late, so then i could borrow your matric card so that i could eat double breakfast.. heh heh heh

And with this revelation of my dear neighbor's true motive i went back to sleep with the image of the thinning moral fiber of the 8-short brotherhood running through my mind. But this was not the end.

When I finally surfaced later that afternoon, I bumped into Lawrence and narrated the story of Ian's dua kang masterplan which was foiled first by my willingness to wake up for breakfast which was followed by the realisation that Lawrence beat him to my matric card. Lawrence had only one thing to say in response:

"Actually... you could have taken your matric card back in the morning, and mine too even, coz i didnt even wake up to pack breakfast in the first place."




I have nothing left to say.

Except, that I am flanked on both sides by C#@­­®£3$3$....

The Day The Glass Broke

It was one of those lazy Mondays. You know there's no school and you should be studying...
Woke up for breakfast at 8.30am but hit the bed again till like 12 noon.

The winds were picking up and the sky was darkening, I was at the corridor asking Junming
how was he settling his lunch when it happened. The loud sound of glass shattering caught everyone's attention. I looked across and just said, "Deja vu sia. Not again."

This wasn't the first time the glass door broke. This was the second. Kenneth opened his door and gave the WTF look. He looked over at me trying to find the answer, but the block auntie appeared from the lift lobby.
"Aiyo, I heard the glass breaking from level 1 lah and rushed up here." She said in a mix of chinese and english. She rushed to get the broom while I grabbed my camera to take photos.
It woke up the whole level I might add. But luckily no one was hurt. The incident was report to the office shortly afterwards.

Apparently, the winds were so strong it slammed the door in and shattered the glass inwards.

Oh well... another day at level 8...

Flashback to June holidays....
This time it was a saturday morning. There was a thunderstorm raging outside. Everyone was sleeping, knowing they don't need to wake up so early compared to the weekdays doing internships and attachments. Again the loud shatter woke everyone up.

I was staying in Darius's room that time. I opened my room to see the damage right in front of my door. My shoes were filled with glass fragments. It really looked like a scene out of a Hollywood set. Like some monster had jumped through the door and smashed the glass.


We didn't have the luxuary of blk auntie to come clean up the mess and had to sweep, pick and brush all the glass fragments up. Even so, some of the fragments were so small I had to brush all my slippers and shoes with a used toothbrush to make sure all were gone. When Monday came, I heard the whole office came to view the damage. A few weeks later, the guys came to replace the door.
Oh well, one of the perks (or not) of staying near the rooftop.

For 8 Short---

(Abhi showing how big the hole was.)

Friendly Senior Advice

Advice no. 42: No matter how ingenious it sounds, don't appeal to CORS to allow you to take 2 modules which have clashing lecture timings, even if you're really sure you can juggle/recap/catch up on whatever you miss out at either one. Sometime, somewhere, something will definitely go wrong.

And that's exactly what ALMOST happened to me on thursday. Every thursday of this semester, I have my USP Cyberarts seminar from 2-6 which happens concurrently with my 2-hour Mech Engg module. I really needed to take both modules this sem so I managed to appeal and get the university to allow me to register for both. Since the ME module is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I made it by this semester by only going for the Tuesday class from 4-6 and attending the entire Cyberarts class on Thursdays from 2-6.

Unfortunately, the last few weeks of the semester saw the ME lectures come to a close, only to be replaced by lab sessions that were 10% CA each. Though the first two of these labs fell on tuesdays, the last compulsory session was to be this Thursday, which also happened to be the last Cyberarts class where we were supposed to present our final projects for the semester. So now i had 2 simultaneous CA's happening on thursday, but thankfully enough, my Cyberart tutor was kind enough to let me and my group present first, so that I could leave by 4pm and head for the other CA at the lab.

However disaster still struck as I had happily assumed the lab was from 4-6 (recollect that I had never attended this lesson on a Thursday before, and the tuesday slot was 4-6) and at about 5 minutes past 2pm, as i'm setting up my computer for the presentation, i get a call from Neo Jun Leong asking me where the @%$^ I am because the lab has already started. Yes, on thursdays, our ME class apparently happens from 2-4. So i had to frantically apologize to my teacher for the mixup, promise her that i will be back by 4 to present, and run from USP to the lab at E3. All this while i was sick and with another term paper due at 2359 that same night.

Moral of the story: Check your timetable properly. Better yet, don't leave things for last minute. Better yet, don't take two modules that run concurrently. Even better yet, don't take Mech Engg and USP because the combo #$@%ing sucks and every semester all the modules I want/need to take always !%#@ing clash.

But that said, i still love school :D

Finally, after such a harrowing day, which ended with me submitting my paper at 2353hrs, I decided to go and try out level7's supper and it was pretty darn good. Pasta with cheese sausage and a complimentary pocky on the side. Haha. Yummy stuff. Can check out their blog at yellowscramblyeggs.blogspot.com
Their cooking's really good. But their business model needs a serious overhaul.

My Buaya Week (2007)

Updated my blog about buaya week. ie, what my buaya did and so on.

Long overdue but still, something worth compiling.

Go check it out.

http://nukescientist.blogspot.com/

Oh and remember to support my blog by clicking on the ads. ;)

Last Days

Potato just told me that today is going to be his last day of school. Ever.

Unless of course he goes to grad school.

But even then, how time flies. 3 and a half years. Screw that. 22 years of school. Of carefree childhood. Of innocent youth.

We complain every morning when we have to wake up for class, all the way from kindergarten, to jc, even in university, that we have to go to school. When it's your last day of school, suddenly all those years didnt seem so bad huh?

Potato, i'm not trying to bum you out by rubbing it in, but i'm saying this in the hope that I and everyone else around us or who reads this blog, cherishes every remaining day of school life, or life in school, (especially those who've enjoyed it), and for those who don't enjoy it, maybe you could take notice and appreciate the little things around you in school that make these memories so precious, and savor them before its time to get into the merciless working world.

Little things like knowing what time the buses frequent each bus stop, so that you know you can buy your subway and still be in time for that once-every-half-hour bus that takes you back to hall on a wednesday night after a long and shagenating handball training. Or missing that bus and cursing your judgment of time but being pleasantly surprised by a BTC that shows up at the YIH bus stop shortly thereafter.
Or reaching your morning lecture early for a change, and just relaxing in your chair, watching people stream in, someone reading the newspaper, someone blogging away on their laptop, another taking a nap after their long ride to school (which makes you appreciate your proximity).
Cheap food. Free medical care. Great sports facilities. Bazaars. The fact that you can wake up one morning, look and the dreary weather outside your window and just say "ah fuck it" and go back to sleep and drop an email to your prof later saying you had something on (if he's bothered) and take the rest of the day off and do this as many times as you like (something you so cant do once you're working). The list is endless. And i'll sure i'll come up with a longer and more organized list soon.

But just wanted to write out something when potato threw this curveball at me out of the blue, and this will be us in six months time. Like i said man, this wasnt meant to bum you out - we've had awesome times together in hall, and i'm sure we'll continue to because you're definitely coming back, but we will sure as hell miss you around here when you don't. Hope you enjoy your last day of school. Do shit you've never done before in school. Take pictures of the lecture while its in progress. Stand up and ask a question halfway thru the lecturer's sentence. Put your legs up on the chair infront of you (make sure no one's sitting there first. Heck, do it even if there is!). Eat during your tutorial and if the tutor looks at you funny, offer him some food. Take a 'souvenir' from your lab. Video your entire last day!

Anyway, lets hope you manage to get that apartment we were talking about and we can carry on the 8-short legacy there!

Here's some random pictures i rummaged from our archives

Year4Fun GoodLuck PotLuck Dinner VIDEOS

Here are some of the snippets from the amazing night we had at the block E rooftop.
This is the video of clips from the guessing game. Sean Bai, you especially must watch this!



more videos/posts regarding the event coming soon

for now, here are links to the facebook photo albums

album1(food)
album2(games)

Happy Birthday Jun Ming

Haha i know this is kinda late, it shouldve gone up yesterday, but oh well, better late than never..

It was priceless seeing James Tan Jun Ming walking in a drenched white tee shirt with a bright red bra underneath, from block B to block C where the level 7 girls didn't even realize he was wearing a bra as according to a particular Ms. J "it blended in so well and he carried it off so naturally."

Looks like we've discovered a new talent. Pictures and Videos to be up soon?

Anyway, after all the sabo-ing, i must say it was super shiok sitting with the rest of 8short on the rooftop, good drinks, good company, good weather, the clouds flying real low, cool breeze - perfect weather for talking cock and reminiscing about JC days until we realized it had become 5 in the fucking morning. That probably explains why no one was awake and available for the rest of the day to post you your happy birthday message on the blog. SORRY :D

Lets get the photos/videos up soon so everyone can benefit from James' misery

Choon Han/Yen Bin are you reading this?

Pool Finals highlights!!

For those who missed it. Watch how Ian lost the final ball to Ronald.



And his comments right after match!

8Short-lived Halloween

An excerpt from the block C diary, posted by our dear blockhead in response to our stunt in the lift. Unfortunately it scared the bejeezus out of our resident toddler and had to be taken down prema

Halloween is here...

Being the lazy person that i am, i wanted to take the lift up to
level four to reach the comm hall this morning... even though i was on level three.

To my horror, this is what i found in the lift..









wah lao.

# posted by joyceh- @ 12:12 PM 0 Comments


For a link to the accompanying back-story about peter, here's the post from the diary..
http://blkcdiary.blogspot.com/
hmm apparently individual posts on the diary don't have their own links.. strange..
anyhow.. just go to the diary and search Peter if you're curious. :)

Doldrums

Exams are around the bend. Everyone's busy
Term papers, lab reports, job hunting's not easy
Comm's have closed, no recent ponding
Even been missing out on our breakfast bonding

Played boardgames last night
With Pot, Grace and Pon
Settlers and Citadels
Till the break of dawn

Jake, where are you
hope everything's alright
and its just academia
thats keeping you away at night

For some of us, final year
is merely a formality
For others its the last chance
to make our dreams reality
For some its the final stretch
after 3 hard fought laps
just need one final push
to solidify our CAPs

For some of us its not even a year
but just one final sem
"Should I try and up my grades
so that I can spend more time with them?"

Its a pensive time for all of us
But time doesn't plan to wait
Could that explain the lull on the blog
Reflecting the doldrums in level 8?

But winds one day will blow
As doldrums they come and go
Once we see these waters through
We'll be back soaring through the yonder blue

Lets not forget our dear James
(my apologies for protecting some names)
His special day is coming near
so ready the soakers and the beer
And there's our good luck dinner
which promises to be a winner

So up the spirits
and burn the oil
its time to mug
its time to toil

but all work and no play
is just plain... gay
so lets rework our clocks
unfasten our locks
and start the new week
with the breakfasts we seek
and get back in this together
through fair and foul weather



Jake we miss you man. Hope to see you spreching soon