Heads up! Discount!

http://www.mine.com.sg/train/mall/productdetail/4900

Remember that $79 student price on Adobe CS3 Web Premium?

Well, The guys at mine.com.sg have started pre-orders for students & MOE staff for CS4 Web Premium at $99.

GoGoGo!

Yes, Zexun. It's CS4.

coming End November.

UPDATE: btw, 14 days.........

Windows 7, Microsoft's saviour.

I never thought I'ld say this, but I kinda like the look of Windows 7 and how it's turning out in its current pre-beta release.

Link 1: http://windows7news.com/2008/10/28/official-windows-7-m3-screenshots/

Link 2: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.html

Why I like Windows 7...

1. No more friggin sidebar!

2. Look at that beautiful taskbar. It's so much smaller than the dock + top taskbar on my [still] favourite OS [hint: OS X]. Oh, by the way, it's customizable, which I'm a big fan of.

3. Calculator is so much smarter now.

4. Ribbon interface everywhere. I'm a big fan of the Ribbon, and now, WordPad, NotePad, and Paint has it.

that's about it.

Let's see how 7 turns out...

Super random music chart.

You'll see some older songs in this list, and some that may not have appeared on current music charts [i.e.: very new]. But trust me, this selection is not too shabby.

Just to be nice to you guys, I'll start off with a newbie.

1. Keane - Better Than This
2. John Mayer - My So Called Life
3. Daniel Powter - My So Called Life
4. Erin McCarley - Pony (It's OK)
5. Lenka - The Show
6. Keane - Spiralling
7. Marié Digby - Stupid for You
8. Jason Mraz - Love For A Child
9. Daniel Powter - Not Coming Back
10. The Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go
11. Keane - Pretend That You're Alone Now
12. Jason Mraz - Details In The Fabric
13. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
14. Charlotte Sometimes - How I Could Just Kill A Man
15. Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone

Yes, I just bought John Mayer's "Continuum". It's a great album. Perhaps I'm not used to Blues, and I normally don't associate myself with Blues, but John Mayer's enjoyable... Maybe it's an 'Apple cult' thing...

And about Keane's album, I have to say, Keane's going in a new direction from "Under The Iron Sea". Much like Avril Lavigne went from matured to punk in "Best Damn Thing" from her previous album, Keane went from guitar + keyboard to a little bit of techno / punk / electronica. A LITTLE BIT of EACH. It's not completely bad, but I was just not expecting Keane to go in this direction. Then again, their first album was so ballad, their second more modern, their third just electronica-ish. What's next for Keane? Can't wait. But now, let me sink in to the music while I revise for my exams.

Oh, speaking of exams, wishing all the O Levelers and A Levelers all the best [belated, current, and in advanced]. Also wanna wish a speedy full recovery to Jon Phang, who apparently just had a surgery over the Deepavali weekend. Saw him in school just now for the History paper, but he was not with the rest in the exam hall. Hope he still has enough time for the revisions.

Kinda sucks having to cope with some surgery aftermath in the midst of a major exams.

And I thought my Triple 2008 Birthday Whammy was bad. The first whammy was my birthday itself, which was a little unpleasant. The second was the Common Test, which I didn't do very well for. The third was my eosophagusitis-like disease, which caused me to take 3 MCs -the first and last in the last 4 years in SASS. The illness lasted a few days, and I still went to school for tests in the midst of the wheezing and nose leaking. Yeah, well, glad that's over.

Outlook for the rest of the year: CHC Arise and Build Campaign, Grad dinner, Pa Camp, Bratislavia, Fly to Indonesia, Prepare for Australia by March, Collect Results for 'O's in January, Canceling my Student Pass officially.

Reflecting upon the last 10 years in Singapore, I must say, I really sacrifices a lot of time away from my family [time which I could have gotten had I not been involved in any CCAs or competitions or overseas trips]. My parents probably aren't happy that I'm not with them, going on the various family trips overseas / missing out on major family events.

Just to name a few:

My Second bro's graduation,

My 2 nephews' birth,

my eldest aunt's funeral,

the family's countless trip to Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, France, China

my family's recent move to a new house,

my new personal room [currently empty].

my family's christmas gift exchange [cancelled last year due to my later-than-usual arrival into Indonesia. Choir Concert.]

9 of 10 Chinese New Year Celebrations.

6.5 of 10 of my birthdays went uncelebrated.

all of my family's birthdays in the past 10 years, except 2 of my dad's birthdays.

Well, regrets will be regrets. Can't change any thing that I have missed. Time to move on and work on NOT extending that list of regrets.

It's time for a fresh new start. I am intending, with God as my guide, to move to Sydney, NSW, Australia to study Accountancy.

pretty much...

i'm going to australia to further my education.

Sydney, hopefully.

a new week, starting 28 oct

on the agenda for the next 7 days...

combined humanities history 2192/03

physics spa revised 5058/02

mathematics revised 4016/02 *

biology spa revised 5094/02

combined humanities social studies 2192/02 ^

[*this paper marks the end of mathematics as a subject in secondary school for me]

[^this paper marks the end of humanities subjects in secondary school for me]

After the above papers: HCL and ALL Sciences Paper 1.

It's all ending soon...

Sec 1 vs Sec 4.

Before: Julian in Sec 1. [the one nest to Isaac Cheong]

After: Julian in Sec 4.

No difference? thought so.

deband!

My braces are completely gone!

And talk about old and new:

I bought John Mayer's Continuum [old]

and Keane's Perfect Symmetry [oh so new].

Still listening through them,

let me get back to you on a review.

I've been lucky on the last few albums that I bought.

Daniel Powter, Coldplay, The Ting Tings,

Jason Mraz, Madonna.

Don't forget Hillsong United!

Maybe I'll get a keeper with Keane.

We know John Mayer's a definite keeper.

Don't know what took me so long to buy this album.

Oh, for those who are interested:

Iron Man and Wanted are out on DVD at Borders,

but Wanted is M18, so be warned.

my eyes are wide open.

I feel smarter watching this video. It's about the way the US electoral system works. Think it's just about total votes? think again... WATCH IT!

EL revision

Because English is one of those subjects where NOT typing out on a blog is just wrong. And besides, I'm so bored, I feel like blogging.

Firstly, watch a Sarah Palin SNL video [1, 2]to amuse yourself. Also, realise how important it is to have structure and organisation in what you say.

Then, read Mr Sim's Essay Sutra.

Ok, after that, I'm not controlling you anymore. you know what to do.

Progress

Cleared one subject: Art.

Clearing one more completely tomorrow: English.

Papers left: 15.

days left: 24

Why I like the new MacBook/ MacBook Pro.

Ok, just to clarify, I do like the new MacBook Pros and MacBooks.

And for many reasons, too.

1. Durability. My MacBook Pro is like a beaten-up chainsaw. Scorching, noisy, scratched, and a little dented. I think [and seriously hope] the MacBooks' new Unibody structure and glass display helps in keeping the Macs durable.
2. Cost to get the same performance as my MacBook Pro: US$1299. The MacBook's GPU is nice, even if it is intergrated. I checked it out, it's around the same performance as my Mobility x1600. Nice...
3. Oh, Hallelujah! Hard Disk Drive Accessibility! Finally, after cracking open my case 2 times with just a size 00 Phillips Screwdriver, I can throw the screw holding case and just open the latch to get to the Hard Drive. That wasn't too difficult, now was it, Steve and Jony?
4. Illuminated keyboard! On a MacBook! That's amazing! enuff said!
5. Did you see that display? I can't even see the iSight, and it looks so good, just like the iMac!
6. Me likes the GPU on the new MacBook lineup. Finally, a useable intergrated GPU, and a nice extra discrete GPU on the Pro line that you can turn on or off. That's really nice.
7. UPDATE: DDR3. Higher Memory Bus threshold. Potential to be faster [and more pricey], I guess?

I'm hoping the reflection off the display and the trackpad are useable. I'm a bit scared, but if they're useable, I may just upgrade at the end of 08 or beginning of 09 after MacWorld!

As the last Apple event of 08 comes to a close, let me start thinking what is ahead for Apple.

Apple's Future?

1. iPods in general

Firstly, Apple has a very stable iPod refresh rate: once every year, in September. But seeing the popularity of the iPhone, the iPod sales may start to dip after this year's holiday season. We may see very little changes to the iPod lineup. Maybe everything will transition to a touch-based control.

2. Pro Macs & Xserves

The Xeon-powered goods will get the Core i7 / Nehalem advantage early next year, probably around MacWorld. The Mac Pro in specific will get an upgraded Standard Configuration, especially in the GPU, to an Nvidia GPU.

3. Consumer Mac desktops

The iMac will probably be updated to gain Nehalem, new GPU, new Mini DisplayPort. I'm guessing that Blu-ray support may come in to the iMacs next year, but 'when' is another question altogether. The Mac Mini has not been updated for over 400 days to date, so it can go in 3 directions from here; get kicked out of the product line, get the 'budget Mac forever' treatment like the polycarbonate MacBook, or get morphed / redesigned [i.e.: updated]. If it does: it'll gain a new GPU and mobo, new DisplayPort. Before I forget, we may get Blu-Ray next year.

4. Notebooks [not laptops]

The Notebooks have just been updated. But don't be fooled by the new design. In April, they will be upgraded to Nehalem. If we're lucky, we have Blu-Ray support like the Mac Desktops, especially since the MoBos in the current MacBooks [just updated ones] have Blu-ray H.264 support. The GPU will be re-updated next year, around the same time as today.

5. OS X + Softwares

Snow Leopard. WWDC. Enough said. No big, major feature updates other than the ones advertised on Apple's page. I'll be freaked out if Apple actually creates an "OS X App Store". Please don't, Apple.

Oh, iLife needs updating to iLife '09. When iLife is updated, iWork will be too.

Oh, why not? Final Cut Pro 3, a new version of Aperture & Final Cut Express.

6. iPhone

I hate to day this, but Apple will probably add an improved camera, front facing camera, video chat, WiMax, Copy-Paste [in firmware].

7. New products: HDTV and NetBook?

Jason Calacanis mentioned HDTV with TV. I say nay. And during the Q&A session of the press event this month, the executives said something about the NetBook market still being a nascent market. When it matures [and it probably will by next year], don't you think  will start trying to dominate with a new product? Oh, TV may be extinguished. Not enough demand, IMO.

8. New CEO / iCEO

iCEO = interim CEO. [don't get the 'Haha! you're such a noob Apple fan, calling everything i-something!' cap on. This was Steve Jobs' title for some time when he just re-joined Apple. The 1st Gen iPod days... Who're you calling noob, now?] The candidates for iCEO / CEO: Phil Schiller, Tim Cook, Jony Ive. Steve's healthy blood pressure [110/70] shows he'll be around for a long time, but he's gonna have to make transition plans. Hence, the iCEO prediction.

9. Singapore Stores

Singapore will still not get an Apple Store with the fanciful Genius Bar. Get your friends to get Macs, maybe we will once 400,000 people in Singapore buy a Mac in one year. iTunes App Store is already open, iTunes Music Store may open next year if Apple is nice, but I'd say 'unlikely'.

10. Ads

A few more iPod silhouette ads, a few more "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads + something new for the Macs, and maybe new iPhone ads when new models arrive.

I <3 MacBooks!

One ironic thing about this video: it shows scenes of the MacBook up-close, macro shots, sexy, nice, professional, clean, and then they cut away to a shot of a Chinese factory where the aluminium slabs are cut out to form the unibody: unglam, uncool, dirty, rough, disgustingly creamy liquid washing the metal as it is being cut. But hey! friggin lasers on friggin sharks! minus the sharks.

Anyway, I'm really tempted to get a MacBook. Yes, a MacBook. Not the Pro. Its GPU is powerful enough, it's smaller, and it has a swappable Hard Drive! Hallelujah!

My only concern: Really, Apple? You had to remove FireWire 400 off both MacBook & Pro, and no FireWire 800 on the MacBook? Why? And One More Thing: Why No Trackpad Button?! And No Adaptor for the Mini DisplayPort? And no Apple Remote? And Is it any cooler [in Degree Kelvin / Celsius, not the 'sexy' factor'.]. Any Why the heck is the MacBook Pro 0.09kg heavier than the previous version? It's supposed to go down! Not up by 'two-tenth of a pound' up! Go on a fracking diet! And Blu-Ray! A bag of pain? Take it like a man, Steve! No pain, no gain!

Oh, Apple, just to let you guys know, you have a product that is so long in the tooth. enough said. Go design & research, Jony Ive!

I cooked a meal!

Well, there was no bloody perishable thing to eat at all in my house, so I have no choice but to cook myself out of the boredom that is Stalin and the League of Nations.

Fried rice and a yellow mackerel flower.

Ingredients:

• Rice, just enough for one person to consume
• Sesame oil, 2 tablespoons per person's portion
• Sweet Soy Sauce, As much as you want before it caramelizes.
• Egg, 2 per person, or one if you are stingy. if 2: Beat one egg completely [break the yolk too], but don't break the yolk of the second egg, just stir gently, taking care of the yolk]
• Salt, 1 dash
• Chicken Seasoning, use sparingly
• Sunflower oil, 1 tablespoon
• Cheese, 1 slice.

Fried Rice

1. Add the sesame oil to the frying pan.
2. Start the flame, add the rice, stir the rice until it evens out as much as possible on the pan.
3. Add soy sauce onto the rice [as much as you want, I recommend 1.5 tablespoons or so.], stir as much as possible until the colour is even.
4. Turn off the flame. Remove the rice from the frying pan, place on the plate, make sure it is shaped like an upside-down bowl.

Egg

1. Add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil to the frying pan.
2. Start the flame, add the egg, be careful of the yolk.
3. Fold the egg into a square of some sort, covering the yolk [make sure it's still liquid]. try to make a hole in the egg so as to make the yolk visible.
4. flip the folded egg! [careful]
5. Remove the egg and place over the fried rice.
6. Cover the egg with a piece of cheese, while the egg is still hot, so that the cheese can melt over.

Enjoy! [photos to come]

Music quiz time!

Saw this quiz thingy on Ryan Lee's blog, so I decided to do the same, since he didn't tag anyone...

The Rules:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.

2. Press forward for each question.

3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense.

4. With the answers, give your own comments on how they relate to the questions.

5. Tag 5 people.

1) How are you feeling today?
"When The Stars Go Blue" (The Corrs)

1 word: "Nice..."

2) Will you get far in life?
"Soldier's Poem" (Muse)
How far is a soldier's poem? I guess 'very poetic' and 'emotional'? Nice...

3) What’s your best friend’s theme song?
"Cerf-Volant" (Les Choristes En Concert)
Who? Whoever it is, must be some guy from choir... Raymond? Ernest?

4) What is the story of your life?
"Everytime [Hi-Bias Radio Remix]" (Britney Spears)
Sh*t. This is true, and I must confess, I loved this remix. I hate to confess this. And yes, I can relate to the song... somehow...

5) What was high school like?
“路口” （蔡健雅）

school is like a road with many intersections, I guess.

6) How can you get ahead with life?
"Rush" (Aly & A.J.)
so true. I love to live life filled with exhilaration and lots of rushing...

7) Whats the best thing about your friends?
"To Be With You" (Mr. Big)

So true...

8) Describe your grandparents.
"While We Wait" (Jack Johnson)
Well, actually, they moved on to a different place, but I guess they've been waiting on each other for nearly 24 years. My grandma passed away 5 years ago, while my grandfather wasn't around when I was born. So, yeah.

9) How’s your life going?
"Baby Girl" (Nelly Furtado)
wtf? No, my life's not going 'Baby Girl'...

10) What will be played at my funeral?
"Spanish Lesson" (Madonna)
Erm, maybe because one of my relatives' picking up Spanish, and is listening to Spanish mixtapes, or maybe I'll die in Spain! Nice! The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain! Éspanol!

11) Will you have a happy life?
"The Show" (Lenka)

My life's gonna be like a show. I'll persuade people to buy tickets, and then they want their money back. Listen to the song.

12) What do your friends really think of you?
"I.O.I.O." (S.H.E.)
Erm.... This is vague. I'm changing.

"Wisemen" (James Blunt)

That's nice...

13) Do people secretly lust after you?
"Love In A New Wave" (Electrico)
As Ryan commented in his own version: i'll leave this one to your imagination.

14) How can you make yourself happy?
"Shine Like Stars" (True Worshippers)
Quote Lyrics: "We will shine, shine like stars above, shining in YOUR life, guided by YOUR love, let YOUR fire burn in us, burning like the sun, as we glorify, show YOUR kingdom come, in all the earth!". Amen.

15) What should you do with your life?
"Addicted" (Kelly Clarkson)
Getting addicted... to blogging? or songs? or what? who knows? maybe everything good!

16) Will you ever have children?
"The Visitors [Crackin' Up]" (ABBA)
I don't want alien kids! You gotta be joking...

17) What song would you strip to?
"纪念“ (蔡健雅)

Same as Ryan: this is such a bad song to strip to. I thought this song is more of a 'sit at a bar drinking from an elegant fluke' kind of song... or a dance? it has nice drum beats in the middle part...

18) What does your mom think of you?
"The Little Things Give You Away" (Linkin Park)
Personally, I know she knows both of us are materialistic. But no, we were not affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami or Katrina.)

19) What is your deep, dark secret?
"Melancholy Interlude" (Hayley Westenra)
iTunes refuses to let you know, so it's giving you an interlude. I'm not even kidding.

20) What is your enemy’s theme song?
"Fernando" (ABBA)
Wow, my enemy must be my friend. I love this ABBA song! So melodic and saddening, just the way I like my music.

21) Whats your personality like?
"Intuition" (Jewel)

I follow my heart; my intuition.

22) What will be played at your wedding?
"Angel" (Jack Johnson)

Never thought of that, till now. Well, I guess this song is appropriate.

oh, after all the above songs, guess what song played [while still in shuffle]?

"Uptown Girl" (Saints Choir A Cappella Group)!

So my tag goes out to the Saints Choir A Cappella Group people with blogs...

Raymond, BenSee, Ernest, Ethan, Kenneth.

SHOUTOUT!

http://cxytrixie.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/six-sova-block-test-2/

I think Jasper will like this link.

Just scroll all the way 3/4 down the page. Lang Kacang is waiting to introduce itself!

Music chart for the moment - 12 OCT 08

Haven't done up a chart in a while, so here goes one!

There may be some Indie stuff. Don't worry. They're good stuff, I assure you.

1. Lenka - The Show

2. Katy Perry - Hot N Cold

3. Erin McCarley - Pony (It's OK)

4. Charlotte Sometimes - How I Could Just Kill a Man

5. Marié Digby - Stupid for You

6. Amy MacDonald - Mr Rock & Roll

7. Kanye West - Love Lockdown

8. Daniel Powter - Not Coming Back

9. Jason Mraz [feat. James Morrison] - Details in the Fabric

10. Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine

11. Duffy - Mercy

12. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Last-lap Revision progress

12 days to go before the major season kicks in full gear [or 7 if you count the start as my art exam]...

My progress so far in revision.

EL:

Gone through Paper 1 Free-Writing, Paper 2 Comprehension Question Types

Left with Summary, Paper 1 Situational Writing

HCL:

Gone through 综合填空,公函，演讲表，私函。

Left with 长文缩短，报章报道，阅读理解。

PHY:

13 chapters down,

9 to go [Whole of Thermal Physics + Light, Sound, & Waves, + Static Electricity]

CHEM:

19 chapters down, 6 to go [Most of Organic Chem + Ammonia]

BIO:

1 Completed. Just begun.

Add Math:

18 chapters down, 3 chapters to go [Trigo Identities, Plane Geometry, Rate of Change]

E Math:

All down. [Did I not mention: I'm not touching E maths]

Art:

Gone through all 3 question types w/ Ms Chua, Artists / 24 out of 36 Artworks

12 Artworks to go...

combined humanities Question types:

Inference, Comparison, Utility - quite firm.

Reliability - needs practice.

• SS: Not Finished with any, but... Studying All except Venice.
• Hist: Finishing 2.1, Focusing on Germany, Russia, and Cold War

学习。

“玉不琢，不成器；人不学，不知义。”

《礼记–学记》

Pocketful of simlish hotness.

the original version...

The Simlish Version...

It's videos like these that makes me want to make music videos...

P.s.: Check this video out, too.

OMGWTFIWANMBP

definition: Oh My Goodness What The Fudge I Want A New MacBook Pro

The stars are indeed aligned...

1. My MacBook Pro is dying. The fan is screwed, the hard drive is packed, the DVD slot is no longer functional because the aluminium bit has overexpanded, and the case is in terrible condition.

And yet, God has answered my prayers with a solution to all the problems above...

2. According to 9to5mac.com, Apple has switched their manufacturing process for the aluminium case . It's now made using lasers cut from one whole block of aluminium, rather than carving out the way they are now with Foxconn.

3. They're getting some funny Nvidia GPU and MoBo for the new model. Hopefully, this will cause the case to be thinner, the laptop to support Blu-Ray [without draining the battery], and some people claimed better power management with this MoBo.

4. I'm still hoping the HDD is replaceable, like in the MacBooks.

5. I'm still on an Intel Core Duo, for goodness sake, with an underclocked ATi Mobility Radeon X1600. The Apple Stats have shown: The current model's GPU is 220% as fast as my current laptop, and the CPU, around 160%. And best of all, these models don't burn your skin. [or man-parts.]

Me wants a new macbook pro.

If not, a Mac Pro.

chips galore

chips galore, originally uploaded by ronaldLIONG|.

went to crack open my Mac today to clean up the bloody fan. Ok, it didn't have much blood. None, in fact. But I did find a couple dust-balls in there. Pretty disgusting, but glad that I removed them, and made my Mac cleaner on the inside.

Couple of problem popped up, and that was that
1) the HDD was left shaky and not screwed down from the time I swapped it out the last time. There was 4 screws I had to swap to the new HDD (that I didn't), which helped to dampen the HDD. But since I didn't, well, My HDD is at greater risk of failing. Oh well...
2) The bloody fan made the noise again. Bloody Hurricane...
3) The DVD slot on the front actually caved in, thanks to my right arm's constant leaning on it. Now, I can't use the DVD drive, unless I want the DVD stuck in there permanently, or get it scratched when dissecting the entire Mac out to pull it out. [That's what happened to my Daniel Powter CD, which I just bought today. Luckily, I ripped the songs first.]
4) I lost 4 screws off my Mac. Whoops.
5) I found out the wire over my right fan always overheats, and I saw some sort of melted plastic around the right speaker. Soldered, or melted? You be the judge.
6) My 50mm Canon lens can't shoot in AF and / or RAW.

Oh well, technology. You just can't trust them, can you?

Oh, off topic, since I'm ending this post soon: I got the lower braces off my teeth, retainers to come, and top ones are going soon. w00t!

And one more thing: In case you guys are still asking: my probability of staying in Singapore will be zero, UNLESS I can find an alternative accommodation option in Singapore [e.g.: a room for rent, with clothes washing, dinner, internet access, and a toilet.], and even then, the probability will only increase by 20%. At most.

and NO, i'm not going into Dentistry. Ever. Maybe Accountancy...