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Monday, June 07, 2010 - 21:06 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

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Thou Shalt Pass

Last semester went well, with an A in Speech Processing, and the qualifiers passed, though I could have stood to do better in both. This means that I'm now officially a Ph.D. candidate, which is a teeny bit scary, and also that I get a raise, which is not at all scary.

The department might reconsider their current modus operandi, though, as the results for normal modules were released on the afternoon of the 31st, with no indication of the qualifier results; this probably led to a deluge of emails, which led to a notification that the qualifier results had been sent out - by snail mail. One mostly-sleepless night was enough for me, and a few days passed before one of my advisors kindly broke the news, which was a nice gesture even if the envelope arrived in my letterbox just hours later.

The good news led me to be a little profligate, as I happily scoured the Bugis area for components required for my D.I.Y project (sneak preview of some previously-acquired parts follows), after lunch and chit-chat with smk and kkok. Visited the new Alumni House for the first time, where they were still installing plaques.


Mostly from Amazon.com



Three Miles In No Shoes

It's not often that I'm up at six on a Saturday morning (while it's often that I'm still up at three), but that was necessary if I was to make it to the Bare Your Sole charity walk at East Coast Park, which I signed up for on a whim a couple of months back. Strangely, it was easier to get me to donate and suffer inconvenience, than to simply donate (remind me to respond to the NUS Annual Giving event someday)

The idea here is to experience what the poor and unshod have to endure on a daily basis, and after a bit of standing around and listening to the football banter between the ostensibly Man Utd and Liverpool-supporting emcees, the walk began at perhaps fifteen past eight. Turns out that going barefoot, even on roads, isn't that painful. Spotted one participant sporting a pair of Vibram fivefingers, which might defeat the whole purpose.


Rain from a distance


There was a drizzle about an hour into the walk, but thankfully most of the rain stayed out at sea.


The end!


As they say, walk a mile in the other guy's shoes; if it doesn't work, at least you'll be a mile away, with a free pair of shoes.

On a more serious note, the walk did make me appreciate my shoes a lot more. It's easy to take stuff for granted. Like alvin's carpooling for basketball the next day made me appreciate private vehicles - can't recall the last time I actually got a seat on the MRT.

Speaking of the MRT, there's been a big hoo-hah over a Swiss guy spray-painting graffiti on a carriage or two. Myself, I don't think it looks that bad, but this is the Singapore that got all worked up about some artistic graffiti on postboxes. Take fun seriously, indeed.

Back to the MRT vandalism, part of the concerns were on the security side (what if he were a terrorist installing a bomb?), but frankly I would feel that a terrorist packing a reasonably-sized bomb would have no trouble getting onto a train at rush hour anyway. Face it, people desire too much convenience to ever be truly secure.

Do spare a thought for the buttocks of the Swiss fellow.

Thought of popping round Hong Lim Park to take in the Overpriced World Cup Package Boycott event, but then the sleepiness kicked in.


Ends

Things inevitably come to an end - Dr. Goh Keng Swee passed on lately, the Dr. Money column in the New Paper stopped, my handphone ringtone got changed from the default Nokia tune (which does forestall a lot of unnecessary checking), and the Keep Rafa At Pool campaign finally failed.

Here's to Benitez, a manager loved by discerning Liverpool and Manchester United fans alike.


(Source: Redcafe.net)




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