Design, Interaction, People
Hello. A blog update after a really really long break.

My semestral exams ended on the 24th of April and the Annual holidays were supposed to start the week after. UNFORUNATELY, BECAUSE I’M IN AN ENGINEERING COURSE, I’ve got to do this DIP thingy. That’ll span a whooping 5 weeks! W00t.

DIP – Design INNOVATION Project. What are we suppose to do? It’s just as what the title implies. A project whereby we are required to Design and Innovate. Nothing surprising since we’re being groomed to become future engineers of the world.

The project - An underwater communications device.

Seems very Duh huh? Well actually this device that the group is working on uses a THROAT microphone to capture your voice and feeds this to a microcontroller. This controller deciphers the received signal and checks whether it is a Voice signal or just random noise. If it’s a voice signal it will output the signal to an underwater Speaker that’s supposed to make anyone/anything within 3-5m radius hear the signal. =D

Well that’s theoretical.

In practical, we’re seriously having a lot of problems implementing it. LOL. It sounds really simple and thought implementing it would be a piece of cake…or maybe a thin slice of it… but we’re so wrong. Who would’ve thought that programming the damned microcontroller would be this difficult? G_G.

…it’s 12:42 AM as of the point of time I typed this line. Initially, I had a bunch of stuff to enter but for some obscure reason my neurons decided to stop functioning efficiently. =(

This shall be the first part of my three-part blog series. =D

…to be continued

Random thoughts.

I find it really interesting how it is that some people could just open up and tell anyone about their life story or anything else about their life for that matter. I could never do that, nor will ever I think. I still find it very hard to just open up and tell someone about my personal secrets, my very strong opinions and some of the things I disagree/did not like.
What holds me back from being like this is the fact that it can be used against me at anytime should the fella hate me one day for god knows what reason. I would really hate and be afraid of that. Such attacks are low and lame but people still do it to make ‘em feel good. Human beings naturally find ways to feel good and avoid pain. In the case of masochists, pain makes them feel good. I won’t digress into that.

This is probably why I am so incapable of small talk. I know how useful and small talk be and how its good for networking/finding relationships but, it just seems like I’ve nothing interesting to talk about. I’m sure some of you have been through situations where there is ABSOLUTELY nothing whatsoever to talk about. Both parties trying to churn out a common topic but failing miserably. A few sentences here and there to try and find something that both can relate to but to no avail. You get the picture. Or talking about something and ends abruptly after that burst of laughter.

Silence fills the atmosphere.

Don’t know where to rest your eyes on. Looking at the person straight in the eye would make him/her feel awkward. If its of the opposite sex, you might give up very wrong/bad signals that might be a major turn off. ESPECIALLY, if the person isn’t interested in having your babies.
What suddenly got me thinking about this? Well, someone asked me, who do you pour out your problems too? No one at the moment really. I’m probably an expert at bottling everything up. ;o

LAME.

I know you can’t stop from people judging you and misunderstanding you and bad mouthing you and shit but still, I always try to avoid this. Best way, don’t talk too much. But looking at it in retrospect, it isn’t really a very good move. As much as you know that not everyone will believe what you say, you only need one or two to believe you to feel good. You don’t need the entire world to believe you. Just one or two. No, I’m not talking about having another half just for this. Most people don’t even tell their other half EVERYTHING. Right? Right..

So emo. LOL.

Probably, when I interact with people, I always put up a façade. What façade, well whatever I feel appropriate for that person I’m talking to. Am I being a hypocrite? Shit.

So how? Lol. Am I that hum? Am I such a wuss? Hm? How? Hm. Don’t know..yet.

Currently playing : Yirumua - Fotographia

Your view on yourself:

You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are not looking merely for a girl/boyfriend - you are looking for your life partner. Perhaps you should be more open-minded about who you spend time with. The person you are looking for might hide their charm under their exterior.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education

You may not like to study but you have many practical ideas. You listen to your own instincts and tend to follow your heart, so you will probably end up with an unusual job.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.


....a personality test...awwwwwwww........

http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Arts From The Heart 2009.

I joined this CCA back In September 2008. Why did I join? I had decided to join a CCA then for the experience. I wanted to know how such events are organized and on top of that, was curious on whether I could actually put my failPhotoshop skills to good use. Was gonna try my luck on some girls too.
What is this CCA about? AFTH is a special project by a bigger club in NTU called CAC – Cultural Activities Club. AFTH basically tries to raise funds for charity organizations using the Arts like Dance, Singing, Daiko Drums etc. This year our beneficiary was AWWA(Asian Women’s Welfare Association). The funds we raise will help physically disabled kids enter Mainstream Schools for education.

That’s it for a little background for this post.

In December 2008, I think it was the 6th; the main committee went to the Botanic gardens to organize a little picnic-cum-party for the kids. I was entrusted a 7 year old kid named Jagdish. He was paralyzed waist down. When I met him along with his aunt and ‘brother’, he was on a wheelchair and had his arm bandaged. I later found out that he and his brother were playing on the wheelchair and Jagdish fell off. Hence the broken arm.

Jagdish is a 7 year old Punjabi. His mother is a cancer patient. I’m sure about his dad’s status. His mom does not want Jagdish to get too close to her, that’s why, his aunt is the one raising him. Jagdish missed 2 years worth of schooling as such, he had some problems socializing. When I tried talking to him, he would ignore EVERY word I say. Moreover, he would tell his aunt to tell me whatever it is he wanted to tell me instead of telling me straight. He was quite rude, probably because no one would scold him when he did something bad. He’d scold his aunt(she’s probably in her 50s-60s already) slow coach. I did reprimand him a little when he kept doing that. I was glad that at least he had conscience and he began to think about what I had said. Towards the end of the party, I managed to get him to say Thank You to his aunty for taking care of him. ROFL, I was actually damn proud of myself when I achieved this.

OK, I realize I didn’t write anything about what we had done during the event.

In the morning when the kids arrived, we had a little ‘Ice breaking’ session. It went surprisingly well, we had thought the kids would’ve been too shy to actually participate. Afterwards, we had to teach them to make a Kaleidoscope. Well, we ended up making it ourselves, but hey, they liked it.

Kids like to peep through holes huh.

It was fulfilling to actually ‘teach’ them and give them the finished product and watch the kids smile and their curiosity got the better of them. Unlike some Brats that I know of who can have everything and anything, yet can’t seem to be satisfied. Zzz. The entire event ended around lunch time when we bid farewells to each other. Jagdished actually waved back to me as he entered the Van that’ll send him back home. Aww…so touched… 2 fingers…

Anyway, that’s it about the first outing session for the committee with the kids.