Highlights at the weekends

Bright. Red. Beautiful.

Like I promised. Here I am.

I'll start at the very beginning. If I can remember all of the thing that is. Anyway last week was the orientation programme for freshmen. NP is the only poly that made its first week as an orientation week instead of starting class right away. Not sure if its a good thing but meh I had fun.

Day 1.

Ice breaking. Involving macarena chicken dance and stuff. Played rock-scissors-paper evolution edition. Which is incredibly stupid and exciting. Some talks. Get to know course mates. Get to know lecturers. More talks.

Day 2.

Played games with BME (Biomedical Engineering) and the whole ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) division. There's this balloon game and, long story short, I got to perform card magic on stage. In front of the whole 600 700 crowd! Clutch by Oz Pearlman. Pretty damn amazing experience. Later people come up to me like 'Hey you're that magician right!' Then we had to do a sketch and design our own mascot. The other groups were rather risky. Let's just say that it's all boobs and balls.

Day 3.

Fusionopolis! Some place in Singapore that I've never been to and probably should have. It's a state-of-the-art technology research exhibition center. I kid you not the whole place looked like it came out from Tron, Terminator, and Star Wars. There was this translator like when you speak into it the thing translates it into perfect Chinese and Malay. And the kitchen whereby the touch screen shows you what ingredients are in which drawer and the expiry dates etc. And display recipes and if lack of any you could sms via the machine your friends or family to get it. Girls' love that. I would. And got this hospital bed that detects heartbeat rate and pressure sensors and stuff to see if the patient's dead or something. Then the best had to be the brainwave technology. My friend put on the headgear and when he concentrated, the character in the game starts to move and speed up accordingly to his concentration level. MAD AWESOME.

Day 4!!!

GLAM NIGHT.

Glam night was held at the same time as movie night. Movie night's cool although I didn't join. Some 200 300 people lied on a big piece of plastic in the middle of the big grass field and enjoyed a movie played on the wide screen.. screen. I went of glam night. Basically a party. A real party. A prom. It's like a Linkin Park concert except with a DJ. Scratching pop hits and sick beats. My friends and I went together and she dragged me right in front of the speakers. My heart was literally going BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. Freaking high and everyone's fist pumping the air. Then there's a circle in middle of the crowd with dancers doing their solos. It's all too high man. Everyone's partying like there's no tomorrow.

I'll let the pictures talk.

High

Higher

Highest

So yea that's basically what you've all been missing out on. Not trying to make anyone jealous or anything.

* Seriously I came out of the hall half deaf *

Go getchar

Ah sorry guys. Or rather girls.

I've been away for almost two weeks.

Life's busy. Tiring. Amazing.

I promise I'll blog this weekend.

I'm currently in the library.

Kinda like my 3rd home.

Having Physics class later.

Gosh I forgot to eat my sandwich.

See ya.

* I repeat. Performing magic is not to get girls. *

Lock and load

Okay this'll be a quick one.

I'll be heading towards Singapore in just a minute. Poly starts tomorrow. Some have class some have orientation. I'm looking foward to it.

I'm staying with my uncle and aunt at Sembawang for the next 4 or 5 days. So till then, I probably won't be online often. Or at all.

Food for thought. Singapore isn't that small.

Say smksp is 200m x 200m.
That makes it 4 hectares.
NP is 35 hectares!
SP is 38 hectares!!
NTU is 200 hectares!!!
Stanford U is 3300 hectares!!!!
Singapore is 71000 hectares!!!!!

Doesn't feel so small does it. Psychological misdirection is the true magic.

All the best, own the rest.

* Student pass better pass *

A layer of dust

Oh dear.

Sorry to have left this blog desserted for more than a week.

The past 7 days was kinda hectic for me. Yes I am still figuring out some stuff regarding my future studies. For now I enrolled into Ngee Ann Polytechnic for Diploma in Engineering Science.

Tuesday I went to NP for the international students' orientation, which more like a 1 day intro to Singapore and NP. It was okay. Hosted by two NP students. A few talks by the lecturers. Hm they just have this singaporean aura going on.

Surprisingly there are a ton of students of China. Like almost half of those who came were from the Mainland. There were also quite a few Burmese, Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Indon, I heard there was one from Nepal, and there could be a korean. Malaysian not so many. Or it could be that they all ponteng.

The guy who sat beside me just so happens to come from JB as well. Stays in Casa Almyra. Though he has been studying in Singapore since young. The funny thing is he too is into card magic. Though he just started not long ago and can barely do a DL.

The girl beside him was from China. I met one from Fujian, Guangdong, ehh I forgot. It was really interesting. Then there was this talent showcase thingy. A few dancers were there. Looked fun. Maybe I'll pick up dancing...?

Anyway, I'll be moving in with my uncle this Saturday. Orientation starts next week. I'm looking forward to it. Hmm I'll probably have less time to blog and even less time to stay in touch with my friends here.

Right. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

* As sorted out as it seems it is still in a mess *

Lucy with the K

Yo.

I have been offered the Engineering Science course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic! It was my first choice. At first I wanted to go for SP but since the course is only offered by NP I don't have much of a choice. Anyway, I'm very thankful that I got it. Again, I have to say luck is on my side.

The results were out on 5 April, 2pm. I was in standby mode at 1.58pm. I logged into my account and saw that my application status was still, 'under processing'. Then at 2pm sharp, I clicked refreshed. My status immediately became 'offered!'. Singapore's efficiency rocks.

Too bad some of my friends' application were unsuccessful. Actually of the 8 people (including me) who applied for it, only 4 got the offer. One of my friend scored straight A's but it didn't work out for her. I've heard rumours that they've reduced the quota for foreign students' intake. Competition is stiff. So if you think poly is for crap students, think again.

This course, is like no other course offered by any of the schools. Engineering Science is making its debut this year. It is a collaboration between NP and NTU. Taking in only 40 students for its first year. Now you understand how lucky I am. Generally speaking it's a combination of applied sciences and engineering. At year 3 we get to specialise in either Mechanical Eng, Electrical & Electronic Eng, or Automotive & Mechatronic Eng.

Now what really make this interesting is that in year 3, we'll spend 2 days every week in NTU to complete the final project. And many people have the concern that the chances of getting into NTU or NUS after the diploma isn't too good. First off, from what I know if you work hard and get good grades, entering any of those U shouldn't be a problem. And ES students will be well prepared to get into NTU (Says the NP website). NTU collab with NP to prepare students to continue their engineering degree in NTU. Makes total sense. So I believe the chances of getting into NTU is highly increased.

AND. Of the 40 students, 10 will get scholarships. Some 20000 SGD and a laptop or something like that. If I could get that then it'll be wonderful. Needless to say there'll be interviews and stuff. For now, I'm just really glad I'm one of the fourty. So basically. ES is to diploma courses what iPhone is to mobile phones. I think. Hopefully it will be as good as it seems. So I'll take up the offer for now. Will travel to sg tomorrow to collect my enrolment package. Class starts at 18th.

Hm Yong How applied for the same course as well, I don't know if he got the offer or not. He's outstation. Hope he gets it. By right he should cause his results are better than mine. Ah then I'll have someone I know. That'd be nice.

Still, there's a chance I could come back if offered scholarships.

Now, my biggest concern is the student pass. I was a Singapore PR. Cancelled it in 2008. It will affect my chance no doubt. I have heard success cases but again, I am not too confident about it. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

* Congratulations to Yiyong, Soonming and Nigel! *

Hypothesis unaccepted

Yesternight was rather creepy.

I had to sleep downstairs because my neighbour was staying over. My sis decided to join me. So I slept on the tilam while my sis on the couch. After my midnight snack, I watched Death At A Funeral. It's a comedy by the way. So whatever that was going to happen has nothing to do with my paranoia or fear or whatever.

I was done watching at about 3am. Then I plugged into my ipod. So I was listening to my songs when I thought I heard something from the dining room. I paused and listen close. Right then. I HEARD THE DOOR KNOB TURN.

I was pretty damn sure. I still am. It was abrupt. A quick but clear and sharp sound. I jumped out of my bed and woke my sis. We turned on the lights and stood for a while. Then I went to check on my maid and asked if she woke up or went to the bathroom or anything. No said she. I tried to open the door but I felt something push back.

Needless to say I freaked out a bit and thought to myself ' This is not a movie. Which means I'll probably end up hurt or dead if I try to do anything stupid which is often misinterpreted as heroic. ' So I went upstairs and knocked on my parents door. Told them the situation. By now almost everyone in the house is awake. Except for the babies and my neighbour. My dad handed me a stick and we waited.

My maid heard something and she saw all of us at the stairs so she went up as well. She said she thought I was in the kitchen. Obviously I'm not. At the time all of us were quite sure there was someone there. Though the alarm did not went off. Strange. Anyway we called the guard and police. Waited around 15 minutes for them to arrive. They checked the outside of the house and reported that there was no sign of break in.

So finally we turned off the alarm, let the police in to check the kitchen. He's a malay, young, tall, and surprisingly stylish. Heavy scent of cologne. Not in his uniform. No gun pouch or holder thingy. It's just sticking out at the back of his pants. I was nervous yet excited at the same time. Cause if there really was someone then he's so freaking screwed. Wouldn't that be a great story.

He pushed the door open and shone his flash light. Lights in the dining room turned on. Then he checked the kitchen, the bathroom, and the uhhh... cloth washing area. Not a single soul. Guess I was wrong. There was no burglar, no killer, no kidnapper, no rapist, no one at all. And I tried to push the door again like I did before. And I found out that the force I felt was actually like the spring of the door. Okay so we all chilled and went back to sleep.

Throughout the remaining few hours of the night I couldn't sleep well. Eyes opened wide for every slight sound I heard, or thought I heard. I know it's all like no big deal. But I'm freaking absolutely positive that I heard the door knob turn. Like someone trying to make it quick and snappy so no one would notice. Or. It could be something.

Plus kakak heard sounds in the kitchen. Though I wouldn't bet on that. My kakak um... she hallucinates things. No joke. She claims to see things. And sometimes I actually do believe her. Nonetheless, I know for a fact that I heard the sound with my own ears. And I heard it when I was alert, when I was wide awake. So what could it be.

a. Highly trained burglar who disabled my alarm system and dismantled my window and got out the same way they got it.
b. The wind
c. Kakak sleep walking
d. Next door neighbour
e. I heard wrongly
f. Something else

* Paranormal activity. Bad people. I don't know which is worse. *