On the first day of 2007

On the 1st Jan 2007, I had actually went back to school for project meeting. Sounds pretty pathetic right considering most people are still sleeping in due to the party last night. But then it actually turned out to be quite an interesting day.

Usually when you embark on a New Year, everybody will start asking what your New Year resolution is. So my classmate asked me that question too. And for fun peace and laughter I told him my New Year resolution is to be young haha. Another classmate immediately said this is a losing proposition. Oh manz! Thanks for the encouragement haha.

Actually on my way to school, I heard the DJ asking too and was thinking of my resolution for this year, I don’t really ask for much. I just don’t want to be afraid. Don’t be afraid to change. Don’t be afraid to dream. Don’t be afraid to do what I want to do. And no matter what, don’t be afraid of what lies ahead of me, of the criticisms and scolding that I will face for some decisions that I will make. The only thing is I am not sure if 2007 is the time to execute these changes. I admit I am a procrastinator. “Better the devil you know (than the devil you don’t)”. I am always afraid of the unknown. And I really don’t know if what I plan to do will be right. So I will just go where my mood leads.

Anyway back to school, what they crapped about, talked about actually make my day bright, make the New Year hopeful. I remember at one point, one of them was talking about Marriage. He realised that there is never a perfect somebody out there for you. You just have to work things out. It is something I realised a few years ago too. That “The One” that the movies always talk about is actually inexistent. You are the one that make this person “The One” due to your mentality.

Then another time another classmate was talking about Detachment. This is something I am interested in. I have always wanted a kind of feeling that you can step out of your body and see things around you. To understand worldly things better. To see the causes and effects. Maybe it is because I am an easily affected person, so I wish to be more calm and collected. To have less desires and wants. To make less demands.

The married guy also gave an advice that I find very sound. "Never find yourself in a compromising position." Is something that I always believe in, why seek trouble? Although he mention it in the context of relationship where unfaithful occurs when you put yourself at risk, I believe this advice can be used for any context. When you are driving, do not put yourself in a spot that will cause you or someone else harm. When you are at work, do not let down your guard and cause mistakes to happen. Of course I am not asking myself to be on guard 24 hours, I just feel that at times, one should be careful of his/her actions.

Come to think of it, I can’t really remember what we have all talked about. Maybe we crapped more than we talk haha. But it brings back the days when I was an undergraduate with my friends and we prattled around in school while doing our projects. Oh and we realised we are now going to be seniors!! Gosh 1 year has passed in a twinkle. Many times I felt the going gets tough, that part time studies really sap up all your energy and I really want to give it up. Then I think about the happy times I shared with my classmate, the chances where I get to hear interesting opinions, the concern these classmates give me. And I don’t regret my decision to take this part time course.

Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu

Be With You (いま、会いにゆきます, Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu 2004)

I remember this movie because of the Teru Teru Bozu doll (てるてるぼうず "shiny-shiny Buddhist priest"). It is a little traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth that farmers in Japan will hang outside their window by a string. This amulet is said to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day. "Teru" is a Japanese verb which describes sunshine, and a "bōzu" is a Buddhist monk The doll is not cute but I had wanted to watch it because of its attachment to rain.

2nd Jan 2007. Happen to be a public holiday today. And that my brother had to do duty. Thus I got to use his computer to burn stuff. So while burning up my stuff, I decided to clear some movie. And chose Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu. I actually had no idea what movie it was. Because my friend did not tell me what he gave me. He just asked me to watch.

When I saw that little doll that the little boy hang, I was pleasantly surprised. A movie I had wanted to watch long ago. The male lead is Nakamura Shidou who voiced for Ryuk in Death Note. He is so wooden in this show. So like his character. The female lead is Takeuchi Yuuko who acted in Ringu too. Ringu is the only horror show that I ever watched on TV. After that, I never watch another Japanese horror show because I really freaked out while watching that show.

Watching these 2 leads and the little boy, I really felt happy. A 6 day miracle, a lifelong romance. Their love story is sweet, simple and to the point. Plus it is the rainy season for Singapore this few weeks. I really felt connected to the movie. It is as if I am destined to watch this movie, to understand why Mio had chosen to fall in love with Takumi even though it meant she will die at the age of 28. Weirdly it did not rain the whole day while watching this movie. And I thought I heard rain. Maybe I had wanted rain today... and strangely, it really rained at night. Which gave me a strength to write this post first even though I have a few other draft posts.

I don't think I am very coherent in this post. Because I am still very affected by the movie. Oh and I love how understanding the teacher was towards the little boy. The rain had stopped... my writing will stop too.

Thot of the Day

张小娴说：
在错的时间遇上对的人，是一种无奈；
在对的时间遇上错的人，是一声叹息；
在对的时间遇上对的人，是一生幸福。

Bflygal's comment : I heard this quote many years ago on a radio. At that time, I felt it was a very beautiful stanza. I remember on and off, I will get to hear snippets of it. But somehow the last time I vividly remember this stanza, was with a group of friends in a classroom in NUS. That was my last semster. We were doing our HCI project. And I heard this phrase again. I think was from 933 Music Diary. And I pondered about it once again. Lately, this phrase comes back into mind again ...

Question of the day

When you wear it,
you will feel warm.

When you take one out,
you will see an emotion.

Hint : Is actually 2 word.
Source : Heard it from a DJ on Class 95 FM.

Answer : Glove, Love

光良&江美琪 - 对你有感觉

[江美琪]
我曾深刻体会
对爱感到胆怯
还好有懂我的你
给我安慰

[光良]
看你失落的脸
又再为爱憔悴
我心痛的感觉竟如此的强烈

[江美琪]
眼角的泪它给过谁
[光良]
伤透了心也无所谓
[江美琪]
我会愿意静静地
陪在你身边
[光良]
如果说爱已不可为
[江美琪]
那我宁愿藏心里面
[江美琪 &光良]
其实我害怕会失去你的感觉

[江美琪 ]
怎么会开始对你有了感觉
[光良]
又深怕朋友默契转身不见
[江美琪 &光良]
矛盾着犹豫不决
没准备
跨越爱的界线

[江美琪 &光良]
怎么会开始对你有了感觉
深陷朋友恋人之间的危险
进与退
被爱包围
谁犯规
都狼狈
谁能解围
让一切完美

[江美琪 &光良]
怎么会开始对你有了感觉
深陷朋友恋人之间的危险
你和我
拥抱瞬间
不后悔
这暧昧
星光唯美
把爱放心里面

Omo... what a beautiful song.

How to remove Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop

How to remove Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop

If using XP Pro

Go to START > RUN

Type GPEDIT.MSC

Navagate to USER CONFIGURATION >ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES >Click on DESKTOP,

On the right hand pane find " Remove Recycle Bin icon on the desktop " , double left click on it to ENABLE it.

Sorted!

If using XP Home

Either use TweakUI or make the change manually in the registry.

Create or modify the following registry entry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

REG_DWORD

0x00000001

Source : www.tweakxp.com

Ms Shenton's Stories

Ms Shenton from “My Paper” told some interesting stories with meaningful morals. I decided to translate them into English (because I’m lazy to type Chinese).

Story 1
In an unknown little town situated in France, there is a fountain which can grant you what you wish for. Miracles are known to have happen and illnesses are known to be cured.

One day, a retired general was slowly walking along the road in town. He was crippled having lost a leg. As he slowly makes his way to the fountain, the townsfolk whispered among themselves.

“So pitiful, is he going to ask God for another leg?”

The general heard what the guy said and turned to face them.

“I’m not asking God for another leg, I’m asking God to guide me how to live the rest of my life without the missing leg.”

Moral: To learn how to overcome your loss and accept your fate. No matter what you gain or loss in life, stay hopeful and live life to its fullest.

Story 2
An old man was fishing when a child came forward to observe him. As the old man is an expert in fishing, after a while, his basket is filled with fish. He felt an affinity with the child and decided to give the child his basket. However the child rejected the basket. The old man was shocked and asks him the reason for rejecting.

“I wish to have your fishing rod” the child replied.
The old man was puzzled and asks why again.
The child said the basket of fish will soon finish. By having a fishing rod, he can fish and eat fish for the rest of his life.

Moral: The child sounded clever but maybe he is too clever for his own good? If the child does not know how to fish, he might never be able to catch a fish and he might end up not having a single fish to eat even. That is because technique matters in fishing.

The same can be applied in life. If you think by owning an office like your boss, you will be rich like your boss. However if you did not put in any effort or be equipped with knowledge and technique to be rich and successful, then success will never be associated with you.

Story 3
Little snail asked his mummy, “Why are we born with a heavy and hard shell on our back?”
His mummy replied “Because we do not have bone structure thus we can only crawl. And crawling is slow. The shell is to protect us.”
“But Miss Caterpillar does not have bone structure either. Why doesn’t she need a shell too?”
“Miss Caterpillar will one day grow up into a beautiful butterfly. The sky will then protect her.” His mummy tenderly explained.
“But Mr. Earthworm does not have bone structure and he crawl slow and he will not turn into a butterfly. So why doesn’t he need a shell too?”
“Mr. Earthworm knows how to dig into the earth. The earth will protect him.” His mummy patiently explained.
Upon hearing this, little snail cried. He felt pitiful because neither the sky nor the earth will protect snails.
His mummy consoled him and told him “That is the reason why we have shell. We don’t rely on the sky or the earth. We rely on ourselves.”

Moral: Understand your own strength is the key to survival. This way, you will not brood over not having what people have and be able to find your special niche.

Story 4
A pig, a sheep and a cow were locked in a barn. Once, the farmer tried to catch the pig causing the pig to squealed and protested violently. The sheep and the cow could not stand the pig's squealing and scolded the pig "Mr. Farmer usually catches us too but we don't squealed like you."

The pig replied "But that is different. Mr. Farmer only catches you for your fur and milk, but he catches me for my life!"

Moral: Different people faces different situation and environment. Thus you should learn to empathise others and be more broad hearted.

Story 5
Someone once conducted the following experiment.

Put a shark and some tropical fish in an enclosed pool but installed a glass barrier to separate these 2 types. Initially the shark will keep banging straight into the invisible glass to catch the tropical fish. But these are fruitless attempts and the investigation team will put in some carp for the shark to hunt as food.

However the shark still attempts to hunt the tropical fish at the other side of the barrier. He tried every nook and cranny to get past the barrier withou much success. Every time the glass reflects cracks, the team will replace the glass barrier with a thicker one.

After a while, the shark no longer attempt to catch the tropical fish. He waited patiently for the time where his feed, the crap, arrived. Then he will showcased his expert hunting skill and hunt down these craps.

Towards the end of the experiment, the team finally removes the glass barrier. However the shark remains emotionless. He still sticks to his comfort zone and catches his daily share of carps. When the carps swim to the tropical fishes side, the shark do not bother to catch them back.

The shark was ridiculed for being so weak-hearted.

Moral: If you are heart-broken or facing a failure in your life, you will know the meaning of Pain. And if you are afraid of pain, you will not be able to solve your problem. The shark was afraid of getting hurt again. So he chose to give up trying and be resigned to his own fate. Should you?

Car and Horoscope

An article in "My Paper" states that Libra does not make a good car driver. The reason is because when driving, there are occasions where one need to make last minute decision and making hasty decisions is not Libra's ability.

Other than Libra, Aquarius and Aries also face difficulty in driving too.

On the other hand, Leo being cheerful and enthusiastic faces the least problem while driving.
Cancer and Gemini also fare pretty well.

The source came from the insurance data provided by various big insurance companies. They were trying to analyse why these companies insurance premium differ when they make this interesting finding.

Reminded me of my data mining classes and the clustering techniques...

NUS IT COOP

Exam period is the only time I will pass by YIH and boy I was so amazed to see this IT COOP. Firstly, in my undergrad days, this place was parked in the Central Forum. Secondly, the stuff it sold may or may not be cheaper than SLS but it was never a cool place to shop.

So imagine how surprised I was to see a new signboard. A pretty xmas tree and nicely decorated shop. And lots of spaces to showcase the lappies and mp3 etc. Indeed it had an image makeover.

At least with the new image, shopping seems so much more interesting!

Management Movies

I don't watch a lot of movies. Thus the following movies that I'm listing down, I actually never watched them before. I just wanted to list them down because they were recommended by Mr. Daniel Theyagu, a keynote speaker and seminar leader (Lateral Solutions Consultancy) in the CATS - Recruit Section.

These 6 movies allow one to gain insights on good management and leadership skills. I hope to be able to watch them one day.

1. Twelve O'clock High (1949)
Timeline : WW2

2. K-19 : The Widowmaker (2002)
Interesting quote
"Without me, you are nothing.
Without you, I am nothing."

3. Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957)
Timeline : WW2
About POW in Northern Thailand building the infamous bridge over the Kwai River.

4. Gung Ho (1986)
About American workers and Japanese managers.

5. Braveheart (1995)
Timeline : 12-13th century Scotland

6. Modern imes (1936)
Charlie Chaplin acted as a factory worker who has to deal with constant changes of work practices and to meet unrealistic deadlines.