Archive for January, 2009
it maybe chinese new year, but i was more interested in the partial solar eclipse singapore was about to experience.
it was such a cloudy day, and i didn’t prepare a solar viewing rig, but i was glad i was able to take these photos around my house area, at holland plains.
picture taken through a sunglasses @ 5:42 p.m. (holland plains)
picture taken through the same 35-135mm lens without sunglasses
not too sure how long more before this happens again in sunny singapore though.
friday was here, and i decided to go travelling abit. thinking back it maybe abit of an overkill.
suntec -> yishun sight seeing -> jalan kayu (prata) -> pasir panjang -> rifle range road -> king albert park -> home -> 2nd uncle’s home -> 3rd uncle’s home -> friends’s home -> friend’s friend’s home -> friends’s friend’s aunt’s home -> ho ching’s father’s home -> sister’s home -> gultrie house -> 2nd avenue -> holland plains -> friend’s home -> biopolis -> fusionopolis -> marina at keppel -> henderson waves -> labrodor park -> friend’s home -> home
25 places in 8 hours ! well, it was very fun, and wouldn’t mind doing it again.
holland plains @ 3 a.m.
labrodor park @ 5a.m.
being sick isn’t fun at all. been ill for 5 days straight. so sickening (forgive the pun).
well, eventually i went to see the doctor in the pursuit to cease naggings from friends.
what peeked my curiosity was that i went to the doctor with dewi, we both had the same illness, but we got different prescriptions. not that i am complaining, but considering we had the same cold, dewi received antibiotics, and i received cough syrup. i had to pay $13.50 for my medicine, while dewi had a flat rate of $5 (staff medical benefits) which includes the antibiotics she received.
doesn’t that make prescriptions a vague science of general practitioners. i mean, seriously, we trust our doctors right? so we take any medication they disperse to us, without question.
however, the doctor was nice to explain to me that as an undergraduate, we pay a certain medical free on a semester basis. this entitled us to free and subsidized medication. e.g. like a flu tablet is free, while cough syrups is heavily subsidized. its undeniable, the prescription was written to provide the lowest cost to the student. i appreciate this alot, since it some other doctors would prescribe anything without concern for the price of medicine. but what went through my mind was what if, you can’t afford it? medical fees are so expensive, if a poor man is sick, how would he have enough to see the doctor.
what i’ve learnt from this bout of sickness, is that even though i can keep the symptoms in check, but drinking plenty of water and plenty of rest, i still require medication to be on the path to full recovery.
so what about the less fortunate, what has been done for them to help them achieve a better quality of life. this just makes me feel blessed and reminded me of the importance of good health.
and yes i have since recovered much.
The application form for supper buddy is out.
Interested parties please click on the “supper buddy” link at the pages navigation bar, or jump using the following link.
To be updated.
i just wanted to get away from everything, so i took the car out and i made it as far as the bbc far eastern relay station. here’s a picture i took.
i thought this was a nice picture. though the color composition and lighting has to be improved. i’ll probably compile a collection of photos i have taken. seems to be a long way before i become a decent photographer.
I thought this is a very apt picture that I copied from my friend’s website. Thanks erlin.
Don’t you think this is actually in fact very true? I’m stupid enough to fall for it enough times already. I totally finally agree. Don’t you think its weird that you see things in a different perspective when you’re made promises to yourself.
with the current number of jobless people in singapore reaches 70,000 and many are graduates, it got me thinking about how much do we need or expect as a salary to live comfortably. more importantly, i was thinking about our expectations as undergraduates are well founded.
while these numbers are not guarenteed, but my own guess of the salary of various graduates. Arts - $2.2k, Science - $2.4k, Engineering - $2.6k. All assumed to be an average student lacking of a 2nd upper honours or better. So I would use a pay of $2.5k as a basis. i may be wrong, but i believe we have to contribute 20% of our pay to cpf (thank you singapore government for helping us save because we don’t know how to), that means our take home pay is $2k. to make my calculations, not gender bias, i am going to assume that the undergraduate is part of a couple which helps out in financially greatly. a hdb flat is estimated to be around $300k, which we assume you pay in 30 years. which translate to $300k/(30*12) = $830/mth. Each part of the couple has to pay $415/mth if the burden is evenly shared. car wise, i believe i have discussed this matter earlier and i would just put it as $800/mth for a small car e.g. vios. Each part will then have to pay $400/mth for it. Assume you pay for basic insurance, which costs about $50/mth. Food wise, lets say we spend $5 on a meal on average. That is 30 * 3 * $5 = $450 on food. You can’t save on food, unless you’re on a diet, but hey that would be gender specfic already, not meaning that males do not diet. but seriously? (probably offending some people here). Anyway that translate to $2k - $400 - $415 - $50 - $450 = $685. Thats a very pathetic amount of money left, and you would be wise to save as much of it as possible.
i didn’t really go into detail, but it dosen’t look good dosen’t it. Even as a graduate, we are limited to quite a basic level of living, what else to talk about holidays, shopping and luxuries. if you are single, you will be in deficit already, so don’t even bother to buy a car.
am i being pestimistic again. i always find myself doing these calculations. next time i shall do a posting regarding an income analysis of the coffee shop just outside my house.
its been an intersting but important day. i had a dose of realism pumped back into my head. i had the audition for the student spokesman for ntu, and one of the questions the interviewer asked was what have i done in ntu. well this may be a seemingly innocent question, but it was one of the final straws that pulled me back to reality. year one, i had plenty of industrial exposure, in year two, i had the opportunity to work on some projects and ideals of my down, and even got recognized for it. but year three, what have i done? grades have deteriorated, and nothing really achieved, almost all my plans were put on hold. so what on earth has the bulk of year 2008 been spent on. closer friends might have known the answer. but that dosen’t seem to be a very good one.
so its time to get back to where i left off, and march off to the future thankful that i have only wasted a year on another human being.
so what am i going to do ..
firstly, i have to finish CODEX, else the technology i am trying to pioneer will become obselete before its ready for the mainstream. secondly, be more involved in techx and not slack around, thirdly spend sometime researching on the vr technology that i have been sitting my bum on, fourthly, go back to school to study, and be a serious student, fifthly, be happy and its probably the most important of all.
i finally realized why i don’t blog properly anymore, i guess its because i’ve been spending too much of my time on things that i should be ashamed of. well, hopefully thats in the past now.
as some may know, i recently enrolled for a web site design and application module. thus i decided to brush up on my coding skills and remind myself how to do a website. hence abit of fooling around. i know i have not been blogging for a while now, i promise myself that i will do so once i complete this revision.
UPDATE: apparently its almost done, so yeap, the new blog design is done.
Got abit of a question though, the picture I used of myself was from straitstimes, do i violate any copyright rule? afterall its my picture right?
