Exams over

Exams is finally over. This sem is pretty fast. I will like to say a big thank you for my laptop. It may sound wierd, thanking a laptop in my blog but it has been a very useful tool for work and play. A balance of work and play has made my day. A method for not sleeping in lecture is to indulge in facebook games where I can only play for a short time. One example is country story. Once my stamina is used up, i cannot play the game anymore and I will have to listen to the lecture.

Libraries are great places of obtaining infiormation. I somehow gain enlightenment after each trip to the library. Learning seems to be quite fun when you find the information that you need.

So, what now after everything is over? Perhaps its time that time slows down a little. I don't have to rush for tutorials and lectures anymore.

Time just passes. My emotions start to calm down. Logic has started to prevail in my mind as I gradually let go.

This sem to me a semester where I adopt the approach of seeking the answers to my endless questions or doubts in my mind. I will visit the library about once a week to clear my doubts pertaining to the assignment questions.

The laptop is also another tool that drives me the desire to pump in more knowledge into my brain. Things just cannot get into my brain if I just read the lecture notes. For me, I have to do something the hard way, like writing the summary for the entrie module. The laptop enables me to do that, with the goal of saving lots of paper. In addition, it makes my work a lot more neater. Just my biochemistry module alone, I have about 100 pages already.

Another advantage of laptop learning is that I can download lecture notes right away if I have forgotten about it. Without laptop learning, I will have to print the lecture notes one day before. If the lecturer has just posted the lecture notes on that day of the lecture, I will have nothing to refer to.

One last advantage of laptop learning is that past information can be archived. One can store a lot of things in the computer rather than keeping tons of paper at home which is more "space consuming." With the click of the mouse, the information that I have studied from past modules can be accessed quickly without the hassle of finding it since the computer has the search function.

So, thanks to my laptop which is always with me and pushes me to study. Though it is a non living thing, it is an essential tool for me, a mould that can shape my future and my perspective towards life.

Friday

Last friday was an emotionally-filled day for me. In the morning, it was the testing session for our own fabricated aluminium beam. I have high hopes on the beam that my group members and I have fabricated because based on the facts that we have learnt from Statics ans Mechanics of Materials, the tensile failure will be rather high. In addition, we have taken into account the transverse shear force acting between the reaction force and the loading force.
Anyway, the testing of aluminium beam starts and the result falls short of our expectations by about half. We will grateful that we did not put a flat aluminium strip on top of the I beam as can be seen from other groups, the strip buckles and causes additional tension to the beam. However, our beam has a premature failure due to insufficient rivets clamping the web. In addition, this project involves prizes with the top 4 getting $200. Knowing the results from the previous groups, I think our group is almost one or two places in there.
Sadness start to overwhelm me. It reminds me of the previous bus fan amazing race that I have participated a year ago when there are prizes in the top three and our group is number 4. When I think of that, I feel even more down.
The key is to let go.

Just some updates

Uh oh. I am starting to neglect my blog. 3 weeks since I have last blogged. So, I am preoccupied with mostly academic stuffs and updates from Dota and runescape. In addition, I went on a library spree, visiting libraries at least twice a week. Why? Yah. Why?
Libraries are great places to obtain information and most importantly, it is free.
I couldn't decipher what the lecture notes and so I decided that going on a trip to library would do me some good since it is kinda of stifling to study for long hours at home or school.
I like to travel around in buses as the libraries that I usually go to are Jurong, Woodlands and Tampines.
Furthermore, it feels very satisfying to be able to find the information that I need to solve some problems. For example, I have an assignment problem that is due some days ahead. I know that assignment problem is taken from a book at a library. Therefore, though the book does not have the complete solution to that specific question, it does show an example which is a similar question of how it is done. From there, I think that I learn even better. At times, certain mathematics concepts or facts are hard to present and examples may be a better way to let students understand better.

So, what have been changed? For my life, not really much but for others, it has changed drastically, either for the better or for the worst. It is about adaptation. After one year in university life, I have learnt to adapt somehow. Learning can be rather self-driven and I am fortunate enough that there are libraries in Singapore to allow me to get "free" information.
Phew!! Adaptation is another skill that I will need to learn.

Mid sem

How time flies. This comes with a feeling that the blog is neglected. Hmm. I haven't had the time to catch up with updates in the public transport as my attention is focused on catching up with tutorials and projects. The projects in this semester is pretty interesting where one is a fabrication of our own aluminium beam, where a competition of the strongest aluminium beam will be declared as the winner and another project about urban planning.
The mid term break is timely for me to catch up what is lost, to revise things that I have not learnt during lectures, to enjoy what I have not for the past month. So, this is the last day of the recess week and hopefully, things get more interesting along the way.

A paperless sem

A new sem, a new study method of mine that totally relies on my laptop. It has become a tool for work and play at the same time. Thus, for this semester, I have decided to abort the idea of printing lecture notes but bring laptop instead to all elctures and tutorials. Papers will be printed only for lab reports and things that need to be submitted. I don't know if I can adapt to this new study method but till now, it is so far so good.

A tribute to my favourite bus service on National Day 2009

There are many different things or events that make us love Singapore. Just a few days ago, there was an article that an author expressing his/her thoughts about bus service 67 from Tampines to Choa Chu Kang. This provides me an impetus for me to write a blog entry about my favourite bus service.

During the National Day, questions like what makes me love Singapore often pop up in my mind. Upon thinking hard, I realise that it is more of the native bus routes that makes me love Singapore.

147 Hougang to Clementi
Route information: An average of 35 fare stages in total.
Types of buses deployed currently: Mainly comprises of Volvo B9TLS, and Volvo Olympian 3-Axle and 4 Scania K230UB Batch 2 Euro IV and occasional cameos.

Journey Time from Hougang to Clementi: Roughly about 2 hrs.
I really admire the bus drivers that drive this service because they have to tahan 2 hrs of work per trip.

Some prominent landmarks that it pass by: Hougang, Serangoon, Bendemeer, Little India, Clarke Quay, Chinatown, Bukit Merah, Buona Vista, Clementi.

History of service 147 according to sgwiki.com:
Originally, it was plied between Jurong East Interchange and Potong Pasir Terminal. It is then merged with the then service 83 and extended to Upper Serangoon Terminal in 1993. It is amended to ply Waterloo Street, Middle Road, and Selegie Road (on the direction towards Upper Serangoon) and Jalan Besar, Bencoolen Street, and Bras Basah Road on the other (towards Jurong East).
Previously, it plies Victoria Street and Lavender Street (on the direction towards Upper Serangoon) and Lavender Street and North Bridge Road on the other (on the direction towards Jurong East).
In 1993, alternate trips terminated at Clementi MRT station and then it is shortened to Clementi MRT station during the 1993 Bus Rationalisation Exercise followed by an extension of the then service 105.
Between 1993 to 1998, service 147 is shifted to ply from Hougang to Clementi following the closure of Upper Serangoon Terminal.
It is amended to ply Prinsep Street in 1999.
Later on, in June 2003, following the presence of the new North-East Line, there were requests from members of the public to retain the service 147's present route when news of the 2003 bus rationalisation exercise is released. Service 147M is also introduced as a Nite Owl service during the 2000s but was withdrawn shortly after. The route is originally plied as a one-directional route as its day time counterpart from Bencoolen Street to Clementi Interchange.

I have not gone into bus spotting in the 1990s until I am around 14 years old when I identify bus serial numbers with their types. For me, I have benefited from this service and I am been taking this service as long as I can remember (since 5 years old). Previously, my grandma's hse is at Bendemeer and my parents and I usually take the then services 103 and 147 every Sundays. As my grandma's hse is just in front of the bus stop, I had a panoramic view of Bendemeer Road. I believe that my affinity with service 147 starts from here. 147 can be said as my primary drive towards my hobby of bus route lover.
As the years go by, in 1990s, some of my relatives move to Bukit Merah and Queensway area, and I begin to utilize more of this service. In 2000 to 2009, as I have grown up and begin to go town more often, 147 is the way to go from my hse to Bugis, City Hall, Chinatown, and Dhoby Ghaut. Thus, the bond grows. In last semester of my schooling, 147 becomes my daily service as I have utilized it to reach my school at Clementi. My bond with it grows stronger.
In the 1990s, one can see many non-airconditioned buses moving around the whole of Singapore. However, just within two decades, they have started to phase out. For SMRT, these buses have either been scrapped or converted to aircon buses. For SBS Transit, majority of the non-air-conditioned buses are the ones that ply the Jurong Industrial Services and some selected trunk services and they are mainly double decker buses. Thus, bus deployments for service 147 have come a long way. Non-air-conditioned buses used to ply on service 147 when I was six years old as far as I can remember. Then, between 1993 and 1998, air-conditioned buses started to come in. By 1999, it had become a full air-conditioned bus service.
Initially, when I was in my secondary school days, majority of the buses deployed were Volvo Olympian 3-Axles Batches 1 and 2 and some Leyland Olympian 3-Axle and Volvo B10M Mark II and III, Striders and DM3500.
As Singapore ventures towards a journey of becoming a more disabled-friendly nation in the 21st century, this service has undergone major revamp towards its bus deployments. Now, around of half of its deployed buses are wheelchair-accessible buses (mostly Volvo B9TL) (WAB) as 147 is the 2nd bus service in Singapore to be declared as Wheelchair Accessible Bus service.
About its journey, I can say that in all my journeys in 147, there are numerous interesting incidents. Many of the elderly utilize this bus service from Hougang or Serangoon to Bencoolen Street. Many of our fellow Indians have used this service to go to Little India. In most of my bus journeys in 147, there are always kind people that give up their seats to the people in need. At many incidents when the buses are packed to the entrance door, people move in as much as they can and even the stairs are filled to let others have a chance of boarding this service even though it can be dangerous.
So to conclude, Singapore has gone a long way of attaining 44 years of independence and myself have gone a long way too. I believe that many people have their own areas or things in Singapore that they love. 147 too has gone a long way but the journey has not ceased.
To end, I just add the wonderful pictures taken by fellow bus fans.

So that's it

That's it, my last day of work has ended yesterday 31st of July 2009 in Chiyoda Integre, a Japanese company which I have worked for 2 months. I was quite frustrated in my 2nd last day due to some "external" environmental" reasons. Nevertheless, though my last day was rush, there was a tinge of sadness in my heart.

In my opinion, this part time job is more fulfilling than the previous one, which is about the same as what I am doing now.However, I learn about packing, counting involving greatly on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. You have to have a calculator always on standby when retrieving and packing goods. Due to numerous faults, wrongdoings or carelessness, I have learnt to be very careful and prudent and also remind my fellow colleagues and packers to be extra careful.

I have learnt about coordination, to priorise things that need to be done. With helpful colleagues around to share the load, things are in better control.

Of course, there are things that I need to improve on. I need to have a better control of my emotions when I am under stress.

Anyway, it is left with only a couple of days before school reopens. I have to be mentally prepared for it with a more seemingly difficult modules.

A month after....

A month after my last post, I am still working part time in that Japanese company. Hmm. There are some changes though within this month. Many part timers have come and left within days. My fellow colleague has also left so I have to take over his responsbilities. My back has also been aching, a sign of excessive hours at work.
Time passes by very quickly at the workplace as I am rushing to retrieve goods, attend urgent shipment cases, helping the packers pack some goods and ensuring that the correct goods are printed with the correct labels. After about a month, I become adapted to the working hours although there was once I overslept on a service 858 bus and reached Changi Airport in the night.
School is starting soon as the atmosphere of bidding modules is arriving. Next week is my last week of work. It will be a lie to say that I will not miss the packers and my supervisor but when you got to go, you got to go. Runescape is still my game during my leisure time.

Just some updates

It has been a while since I have updated my blog. For these two weeks, I have been working in a Japanese company. The job scope is similar to what I have done previously as a warehouse assistant, picking and transporting goods. When I entered for my first day, I have heard that the warehouse computer system had only started just the day before. So, there were things that were needed to clear up.
The working hours are normal 5 day working hours but my colleague and I have been working overtime for these two weeks daily. As a result, it is very tiring till a point that sleep becomes a pleasure to me. Time simply just pass by when we are working.

One more month to school reopen.

Fantasy Route Extension of servic 146

Service 146 will be rerouted to go to Sengkang Interchange to reduce duplication with service 147.

New Extended service 284M

Servic 284M will be introduced with effect from 29th June 2009. The purpose of this amendment is to bring a closer link for residents residing at Clementi Ave 4 to NTUC Fairprice at Clementi Ave 3 which is quite a distance from Clementi Interchange. It operates during the off peak hours during weekdays and the whole day for Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays.

Experience of going to the market

I have gone to the wet market with my mum several times when I was young. However, yesterday was my first time going to the wet market alone to help my mum buy some groceries as she was down with a fever.
In my opinion, it is similar to playing in runescape, in terms of getting the items that I need from the shops. However, the problem is that I don't know exactly where to get the items if not the guidance from my mother.
Next, it was my first time that I cooked a simple corn soup. I have much difficulty cutting the corn. Somehow, I am really bad at using the knife. After twisting, pressing and bending here and there, I realise that cutting is a form of technique that needs to be trained and gained through experience. Perhaps, I should get more involved in cooking.

Back to runescape

After the exams are over, suddenly time seems to have slowed down a lot. I no longer have to spend 3 hours daily travelling to my school from now till August. The economy in my opinion, is still gloomy although there is news recently that Asian markets are started to get "heated up". I am still "jobless". Hehe. To make time move a bit faster, I have decided to play Runescape which I have not played for nearly 4 years already.

The word "Runescape" has led me to reminisce my secondary school days when it was my younger brother who had started playing first. After that, I continued from there and for a period, I feel really bored towards the game and have stopped playing ever since. Once in a while, I will visit its website to see if there are any eye-catching updates.

Runescape has certainly advanced throughout the years. Its graphics has been enhanced tremendously and numerous features have been added to ensure a fair gaming experience for everybody. In its infant stages, or in the period when my brother had just created a runescape account, the walls of a house for example is just a white patch while the ground is a green coloured patch. The facial features of a typical character looks similar to one another in such a way that one cannot tell whether it is a he or a she. After a couple of years, runescape had improved the graphics by adding more finer details to the ground and the virtual buildings in the game itself.

After the period of 4 years that I have not played, runescape has changed its trading system to make trading processes fair and square. A grand exchange system is introduced that acts like a massive virtual market. Instead of typing texts to indicate the person's interest to buy or sell wares, utilising grand exchange is certainly a more efficient way to acquire what we want at a price that we desire. However, in my opinion, due to the new grand exchange system being introduced, the "personalised" trading system or p2p trading has been imposed a maximum net asset transfer. P2P trading cannot exceed the maximum net asset transfer of 5000 runescape coins.

Meanwhile, I am still updating myself about the runescape new features while time is passing by.

Fantasy Route Amendment of service 43

At last, I have found some inspiration to amend service 43 betwen Punggol and Upper East Coast. Service 43 is introduced in around year 2005 or 2006. In my opinion, this service seems to be a combination of service 156 between Sengkang to Yio Chu Kang Rd and 76 from Yio Chu Kang Rd to Marine Parade. After about 3 - 4 years since it was introduced, the demand is heavy in peak hours since it can be light in off peak.

With the fantasy route amendment of service 43 passing by Marine Terrace and Marine Crescent, residents residing there can have a direct link from Marine Terrace and Marine Crescent to Paya Lebar and north-eastern areas.

Amendment of Service 882

Service 882 will be amended to link up various areas in Sembawang town to Sembawang Park. In this case, Sembawang residents will have a direct bus from thier doorsteps to the Sembawang Park. Perhaps, hopefully, this will boost the demand of 882 and hence reduce its (cui) frequency.

New blog dedicated to listing out remainder tests of numbers

Numbers are intriguing, fun to play with. They often have pattern between each of them but it takes time for us to find out the exact pattern. Prime numbers are numbers that are very popular as they still remain mysterious as of today. How do we look at first glance that it is a prime number? Hmm. I don't know either. Hehe.

This blog is more of a self research of the remainder tests of several numbers. The aim is to know the remainders when a very large number is divided by another number or called a divisor and the methods to do it. With these methods, the remainders can be calculated even without a calculator with about 10 - 20 digits of numbers. Unfortunately, I don't know how to prove algberically why it works for all numbers. I hope this blog can influence more people to discover more about the world of numbers not only in the decimal systems but also in other conventions like binary systems.

A blog about remainder tests.
2 - 10 is currently up.
http://remainder-test.blogspot.com/

Continued

Left with two more papers. They are my hopes. lol

Mathematics II (MA1506) aka Engineering Mathematics
Living with Mathematics (GEK1505)

Both are mathematics. Have to depend on them to pull up my grades le.
I just realise that I am very bad at looking at statics and structures.

Sigh!! Swine/bird flu is like spreading like wildfire. I hope somehow the virus can be contained. I hope human immunity is able to overcome this menance.

I am really grateful to be healthy.

Inspiration

Ideas flow when I see the question that I can't do the second time.

Instead of that, I hope in exams, I hope ideas flow when I see the question for the first time.

Sem 2 Thoughts

Before I have known it, it is coming to an end.
This semester is a fast and furious semester. I have learnt a lot of new things and have even fell down while studying the new things that I am learning.
Luckily, I have learnt to get over it but the mistakes that I have made still linger in my mind like a nightmare. I hope that I will not make the same mistake again.
I have asked less questions to the lecturer partially due to the fact that many people will be thronging around him after the lecture to bombard him many queries that they have. I do not wish to add on to his burden.
I have spent more time playing casual dota while less time on my hobby.
Studying is actually quite an enriching experience but the fast pace of it is making me breathless. I am rushing for either my tutorial or catching up my work every day. I am just feeling mentally strained for the fact that we are constantly pursuing for something.
However, I still treasure the times that I have now as life will be totally different in about 5 years time.
I am grateful that I am still healthy but the swells on my upper and lower extremities have not totally recovered. Perhaps there is some underlying allergy that my body have but I have not known about.

So, that about it. The process of mugging has to be started once again. Sigh!! The cycle repeats and it is going to repeat for another 3 years.

A Week full of downs.

It was a week full of downs. Rainwater leaking on top of my head today while taking bus 151 plus the fact that I have waited for that bus for about 20 minutes. I have also screwed up one test last saturday due to probably the dearth of practice.
My health is going down now while I start to have sore throat and a "feverish" feeling.

In addition, my sandflies sores have not healed since November 2008 despite the application of several creams and other methods.

So, hopefully, the next week will be a better week for me.

Recycling of Printer Cartidges

I went to Canon Digitalab to drop my used printer cartridges but ended up rather disappointed. There is a special bin to drop the used printer cartridges but the bin contains things that are not related to used Canon Printer's cartridges like used Paper Cups with coffee stains and plastic wrappers.

Disappointed.

My Hour instead of Earth Hour

I went to Singapore Flyer to participate in an event dubbed as "Earth Hour Special" by the organisers. Hmm, frankly speaking, they kept the event like quite a "low profile" with no glamorous countdown to 28th March 2009 2030 hrs.

I will like to thank my friends who have gone and have spent their Saturdays nights with me (ks, kj, yc) enjoying the night air with the burning of candles. This year Earth Hour has gone a bigger scale as compared to 2008. Many buildings have switched off their lights for an hour. (but not the streetlights that we are having the event)

During the Earth Hour period, suddenly many childhood memories flood in my mind. The luminous flame burning the candle seem to mirror an image of myself in the past, playing with them on the roadside, while lighting the candles to put in the lanterns. Time seem to have slowed down for that particular night. Somehow, I feel more relaxed emotionally.

Yay, I have saved the electricity from playing my computer games from the laptop for like 3 hours plus 2 hours of travelling. Lol. Kinda lame!! What is important is that the idea of saving the unnecessary consumption of resources is practised. Lights that are not used should be switched off.

Different Feelings

How will you feel if you know that you spend a couple of days working on a report and maybe one of your friends spend only a couple of hours finishing the report?

How will you feel if you know someone is in distress and asks you for help?

How will you feel if that same someone eventually scores better than you when the results are out?

How will you feel if you have made a lot of careless mistakes in exams or at work?

How will you feel if you are standing on top of a tall building, looking at the scenary below?

How will you feel when you are browsing your childhood photos or photos with your friends that you have met along in your life?

Life is certainly simpler without any feelings.

Fantasy Amended Service 172

With the implementation of service 164, it duplicates 172 at Boon Lay and Jln Bahar. In addition, Pioneer MRT station has opened for about two weeks and hence, with the amendment of service 172, there is a link from Pioneer MRT station to Jurong West St 91, and 92. Besides, it also provides a link from Pioneer MRT to NTU and NIE. NTU and NIE staffs and students can now have another choice of taking 172 back to Choa Chu Kang interchange for transfer.

New Fantasy nService 164 and Withdrawn Fantasy Service 974 and 974A

Wtihdrawal of Service 974 and service 974A is due to the implementation of a new service 164. In my opinion, I think that a new service 164 from Boon Lay to Lim Chu Kang area will be better becuase it is nearer and hence more cost savings. People who are residing at East-West MRT stations can take a direct bus at Boon Lay to Lim Chu Kang areas with the implementation of service 164 instead of switching lines at Jurong East.

New Service 241 and Amended Service 242

The poster is obtained from SBS Transit official website.
New service 241 will be implemented and service 242 will be amended with effect from this Sunday 15th March 2009. This implementation is meant to complement with the opening of the new Pioneer MRT station in Jurong West.
One benefit of this implementation is that residents staying along Jurong West St 91 has a direct link to Pioneer MRT station and time is shortened to Boon Lay interchange since 241 is taking a more direct route as compared to 242.

In my opinion, though I think is not possible, I still prefer service 172 to be amended instead to ply Jurong West St 91, NTU, Jurong West St 63 and then continue on to Jalan Bahar than to implement a new service 241 and shorten 242 to loop at Jurong West St 71. In this case, residents have a direct bus service to CCK and to NTU plus there is a link from Boon Lay to Jurong West St 91.

Local Singer Huang Jin Lun is bus enthusiast.

The pictures are scanned by a fellow bus enthusiast and the article is from Lianhe Zaobao.
http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk090311_501.shtml

Hmm actually, I don't know anything about Huang Jin Lun until he is mentioned in the SG Buses forum that he is a bus enthusiast. Reading the article has brought reminiscence of past memories into my mind for at least an instant about how I become interested into bus routes. However, I am still not as "passionate or extreme" as him. lol. I don't know whether I should use the word passionate or extreme as indicated in the previous sentence.

I have observed some factors based on this article about how bus fans are nurtured. One factor is still to the large number of people in Singapore taking public transport plus the accessibility of places by it which is also mentioned by the him in the article. Another factor is the frequency of the buses and trains are relatively higher as compared to other countries due to the high population density of the country Singapore.

I feel happy, jubilant that bus spotting, bus routes are mentioned in the newspaper article. It simply means that the hobby of spotting buses and proficiency of bus routes are becoming more "recognised" in nowadays society. Woo!!! This event will certainly keep the passion in my mind burning.

2nd half of the semester.

Mid terms are finally over for me. Some are good while some are bad. Some are due to carelessness while others are due to ignorance. I hope that I can learn the mistakes that I have made and not commit them in my final exams.

Layout of the blog.

Oh yea. In my opinion, this new layout is neater than the previous blog. The words are more prominent in this dark background with a bright colour. My fantasy and reality routes are more distinctly separated.

Transitlink Bus Guide 2009 is finally out.

10 years have passed already since I have read my first owned Transitlink Bus Guide which is dated in year 1999. It is this same guide that nurtures my interest/hobby.

The Transitlink Bus Guide this year looks different as compared to the editions of the previous years. It looks fatter now and the font are larger. The arrangement and the wordings are slightly altered. The pictures at the front cover and back cover looks almost the same as the 2008 one.

Flipping into the pages, I realise that the guide has included Pioneer and Joo Koon MRT stations. This is absolutely great despite the fact that the guide is dated at 1st January 2009. In the past, Transitlink was used to be the sole publisher of bus guides for SBS and TIBS bus services. However, there is a Mighty Minds Bus Service and Bus stop guide which is pretty comprehensive too. It complements with the Mighty Minds Street Directory and lists down all the bus services that plies at specific bus stops.

Each has their own pros and cons. Mighty Minds lists down shuttle bus services from one destination to another destination while Transitlink Guides lists down the operation timing of Transitlink Sales Offices and their locations and the prices of bus and train stamps. However, being sticking with Transitlink Bus Guide for so long, I am naturally more of a fan of its bus guide. Hehe.

Opening of Boon Lay Extension: Pioneer and Joo Koon.

The poster is obtained from SMRT official website. It shows the details of Boon Lay MRT extension.
One more good news for residents living on the western side of Boon Lay. Pioneer and Joo Koon MRT stations will be in operation from tomorrow 28th February 2009 0528 hrs.

Reading week

So, half of the semester 2 is over. In my opinion, the pace is way faster than the previous one and more boring. My daily routine involves sleeping, eating, travelling on buses, mugging at schools. Before the tutorials are done, another set has been uploaded in the online portal.

The modules that I have taken this semester is more of learning new things completely.
C Program is the first thing in my mind after completing the previous statement. Programming is fun but I soon become to hate it when the requirements of the output becomes too "stringent". Marks will be deducted if the output contains an extra blank space and I only got to know it quite recently. My view is that since the output looks the same with or without the blank space, it doesn't make any difference.
However, I also try to think the reason why they are being so detailed. Are they training us to be more careful and more meticulous? I don't really know. I feel that their method of teaching doesn't seem to suit well with my form of learning.

Anyway, other modules include statics and living with mathematics. These two modules seem to be rather fun. One got to do with the stability of structures while the other got to do with some sort of mathematical reasoning and graphs.

I have come to realise one thing about blogging. It is better to do the ranting and complaining and of course writing very personal stuffs to the personal diary (the hardcopy one), they are really good "listeners". Blogs simply provide the platform to let others know about your "updates". So, now back to reading in the reading week.

Yay. Lower transport fares with effect from 1st April 2009

Ok. Here is a piece of good news. Transport fares will be lowered with effect from 1st April 2009 to 30 June 2010 to help ease financial burden of Singaporeans. This move in my opinion is timely as small cuts in essential services such as transport will amount to significant savings over a year.

For adult ezlink fares, 2 cents will be cut across all farebands. Transfer rebate will be increased from the existing 40 cents to 50 cents. This increment of transfer rebate will of course encourage more people to transfer between buses and trains and thus seen as a move to integrate the provision of two types of services together. Instead of wasting much time waiting for a direct bus service to bring us from place to place, we can have more choices to go from point A to point B through transfers.
In my opinion, we can only enjoy the benefit greatly if we are aware of the choices present to us.

For child and student, 1 cent will be cut and for concession stamps, primary and secondary school stamps will be cut by $1 while for NSFs, tertiary concession stamps, they will be cut by $2.

Hopefully, all these initiatives by the Public Transport Council (PTC) can encourage more people to take public transport and make it an attractive option as compared to private transport. Singapore is a country where a significant number of people takes public transport. The move towards distance based fares is still ongoing and it is set to be implemented next year instead of October this year. Nevertheless, we have lower prices to enjoy while waiting. In addition, more MRT lines are on the way. Expect more good news in the days ahead.

Extension of service 502 to Soon Lee Bus Depot

With effect from 23rd February 2009, Express service 502 will be extended to Soon Lee Bus Depot. So, it will call for 2 more pairs of bus stops in its route as shown in the poster. In my opinion, this extension makes the route more complete.

Fantasy route amendment of service 14

Following the amendment of service 196 to Lower Kent Ridge Rd to relieve service 95's demand, service 14 will be amended to ply the withdrawn sectors of service 196. In my opinion, 166 goes to Clementi from Dover exactly the same way as 14. Next, 147 goes to Clementi passing by Dover MRT from Jln Bt Merah. Furthermore, 106 also goes to Dover MRT from Orchard where service 14 plies. Thus, there is much duplication between 14 and other existing bus services between points A to points B where A and B are rather close. Close = not more than 13 fare stages.

C Programme

I will describe C language to be a stubborn language that seem to have a preference for numbers rather than characters although my code seems to be logical. Sigh!!

Busy, busy

I guess everyone is busy right now since school has started. As compared to semester 1, semester 2 seems to be a more busy semester for me because my timetable is more spread out with monday from 0800 hrs to 1930 hrs. As compared to semester 1, everybody is working very hard in semester 2. I remember playing a few DOTA rounds with my friends in the first few weeks of semester 1 while in this semester, there is less time spent in games and more time spent in programming.

Last Sunday is a rather eventful day to me. It was a day when I met up by chance one of my ex-colleague in the bus while going to my jc teacher's place. After that, I met up with my JC classmates and teacher whom I have not seen for like two to three years le. Hehe. So... It was a day filled with good memories and good memories are meant to be remembered.

Amendment of Service 128

Poster is taken from www.sbstransit.com.sg.
Serice 128 will be amended with effect from 2nd February 2009 to skip Toa Payoh town as a move to decrease the time taken from Ang Mo Kio to city.

So called answer to the brain teaser qn.

Hmm. The answer to the previous brain teaser qn is, "Does the lady who always tells the truth holds the key to the gold bar?"
Then I realise that I have not made myself clear in the question in the previous blog post. I have not mentioned about one lady holding a key to the box containing cookies and the other holding a key to the box containing the gold bar.


Upon analysing it, suppose the lady who tell the truth hold the key to the gold bar.
If I pick the lady who always tell lies and ask her this question, she will say no.
If I pick the lady who always tell the truth and ask her this question, she will say yes.

Suppose the lady who tell the lies hold the key to the gold bar.
If I pick the lady who always tell lies and ask her this question, she will say yes.
If I pick the lady who always tell the truth and ask her this question, she will say no.

So, in both situations, when you ask this question to a lady, and the lady answers yes. That lady holds the key to the gold bar.

Logic is so confusing.

Brain teaser Qn over the CNY weekend.

Here is a brain teaser question over the weekend.

There are two treasure boxes. One box contains cookies and the another a gold bar. You don't know which treasure box contains the gold bar and your purpose is to obtain the gold bar. Here are the two ladies who can aid you in your conquest. They know which treasure boxes contain the cookies and the gold bar. However, there is one problem. One lady will always tell lies whenever you pose a question to her and the another will always tell the truth.
You are allowed only a question to be asked to one of the ladies. What question will you ask so that you can be 100% sure that the treasure box contains a gold bar? For your info, you also don't know which lady will always tell lies and which lady will always tell the truth?

The new module that I have picked up is quite interesting. It is related to mathematics, study of number patterns, logical deduction and reasoning using mathematics and of course common sense. The module is called Living with Mathematics and I wouldn't have expected that mathematics can be applied into logical deduction and reasoning and about the formation of strong or weak agruments. This module shows several situations where strong arguments doesn't mean that the thing that one argue for is correct.

Fantasy Route Amendment service 49

In conjunction with the opening of Old Airport Rd, service 49 will be amended to ply Cassia Link instead of Guillemard Camp Rd. Any inconveniences is regretted.

Amendments in several bus services during CNY period.

From 16 January 2009 onwards, there will be amendments to the operation timings of Chinatown Direct Services. CT28 plying from Clementi to Chinatown will be operational during this period. View the poster for more details.

From 26 January to 30 January 2009, the frequency of Jurong Industrial services will be decreased due to "projected" low demand of these services.

The two posters are extracted from SBS Transit website. Hmm. There are also diversion during the eve of Lunar New Year Countdown. Visit www.sbstransit.com.sg or www.smrtbuses.com.sg for more details.

Hate clash

Today is the most screwed up and most depressing day. I have to drop one of my modules just because the final year exams clash. Sigh!!!

A new year, a new sem, a new beginning

A new year, a new semester, and hopefully, a new beginning. 2008 is a year that marks the ned of my full time army life, a start to my university life and the year when I have the longest period of holidays.

2009 will be a more difficult year for me in terms of academic committments. However, it is an exciting year too for me. I will be anticipating news about the new distance based fares in October 2009, the opening of certain phases of Circle Line in mid or late 2009, new changes to bus services routes and of course, meeting new people through taking new modules.

4 new bus stops along Petir Rd.

With effect from 18 January 2009. Refer to the poster for more details on the location of the bus stops. This poster is obtained from SMRT official website www.smrt.com.sg

Adult ezlink cards replacement exercise begins on 9th January 2009

http://www.ezlink.com.sg/NEWS_ez_press08Jan09.htm"

Old adult ezlink cards can be replaced at the 42 Transitlink Ticket Offices to new ezlink cards starting from 9th January 2009 which in future can be used as a form of "cashcard" and "ezlink card". Forgot to add some points. Replacement is totally free plus old ezlink cards cannot be used to pay for transport fares with effect from 30th September 2009 as new ezlink readers will be installed in buses and trains. So, it is "complusory" to replace them.

Replacement exercise for child and student concession cards will commence from 16th February 2009 onwards till 30th September 2009.

Replacement exercise for senior citzens ezlink cards will commence from April 2009 onwards.

Let's walk from Kent Ridge Park to Harbourfront.

Photos are taken by my friend.


The event dubbed "Let's Walk" is conducted at 30th December 2008 which is the second last day of the year. Actually, I was quite fatigued when I turned up for this event as I slept at around 0200 hrs on the same day and woke up at 0630 hrs. I was playing a dota match with my friend and his friends and it was quite a memorable - Not a good one actually but that's another story - match for me.
It was sunny and gradually became hot as the time ventures towards noon. All of us turned up at Buona Vista MRT station and we took a bus to Science Park. So, here we began the Kent Ridge Heritage Trail. There were many trees, a couple of flowers and murky and clear waters in our whole adventure. However, as time goes by, the weather starts to become merciless to us as it becomes hotter, taking a toll on our stamina. Nevertheless, as I walked closer to the Henderson Waves, there were quite a few good scenaries which made me feel revitalised. The wave like structure bridge across Henderson Road really lives up to its name. The treetop walk makes me feel that I am top of some trees. It feels great to be on the top sometimes.
Lastly, we arrived at Harbourfront at around 2 plus, relishing our drinks. I feel tired, exhausted but satisfied of being aware of this trail now.