:: it's time to reflect and learn ::

"what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." It all started from cs1101s. When I started to really learn, not only academically wise but to really start thinking and solving problems. It was so different from what I've encounter and it was an eye-opener. Then came cs3216. I was hesitating at first, whether to take this module and in all due respect, 3216 is not only an overload module but also "useless" in my academic pursue since it goes no where in my double degree. However, I knew that it would teach me much more than what the textbook does, it would teach me real-life experiences. In addition, i was still so new to computing and i never really knew what should i do. I was eager to explore, coupled with the fact that it would be the last time prof will be doing it, I sent in my application.

This whole journey through 3216 has opened my eyes to so many things. Not only did i gain academically wise but 3216 opened my eyes to the deeper aspects of life that I've either taken for granted or was just too naive. I've learnt so many things, experienced so much. I won't go into much details about the technical aspects of the things I've learnt since i believe it's secondary to the life lessons and experiences that I've gain. Illustrator, photoshop, flash, SQL e.t.c., these are just some technical stuff that I'm sure everyone's learnt over the course of 3216. Put it this way, most of us, especially freshies like my group signed up for 3216 and noobs like me know nothing about whatever that was required of us. The most important learning point is not the technical stuff but rather the willingness to learn, the resourcefulness in which we search for things that we need but not know and most importantly, how to teach ourselves. (Google's been my best friend) I find the education system these days are lacking rather severely, many students just learn what their teachers teach them, in other words, they were spoon fed but they never seem to know how to teach themselves. Through 3216, we were taught to teach ourselves from scratch. While I can't say that I've totally learnt everything that I need to know computing and the various programs but I know that I won't be lost and that if I need anything I know how to learn them myself, or source for help. Which I'm pretty sure everyone in 3216 can do.

That aside, I've also learnt how to make things work. Gone were the naive thought that as long as you are good at something you can succeed. Well, it is mostly true but i realise that hardly everything can be a one man show since we aren't all perfect. Add on to the fact that most of work nowadays emphasise on teamwork. If you can't work in groups, it's going to be a tough time. We need people who are different from us, to help us in areas that we are weak at while we concentrate on our strong areas. It is important that we learn where our weaknesses and strengths, so that we can keep on improving. For me, as a human, we have to keep learning and evolving, afterall, we are better today then yesterday, otherwise we'd just be at a standstill and life'd just be so dull. 3216 has really helped me in the area of self discovery and I'm starting to learn to love myself more.

Along with that comes teamwork. I've worked with different people and I must say this particular group work have left a rather huge impression on me since i've never worked in such a close knit group for something so huge (most of the projects in the past are either rather small scale compared to this or that we have a lot of manpower). I've learnt it rather keenly that everyone is unique and have their special quirks and working style. It is important that we learn how to accommodate each other and allocate the work between us such that we optimized our working capacity. The key and in my opinion, the most important part of a group work is communication. Miscommunication can cause a lot of trouble and is an art that one has to keep refining. A lost of idea between groupmates are fatal and can costs us a lot of precious time.Apart from that is to also keep learning from one another. No one is perfect and we can learn from others and by observing the world around us. There can never be enough of learning. 三人行必有我师焉，择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之。 For people who doesn't understand, it simply means that we can learn from anyone, be it their strengths or from their mistakes.

3216 has taught me a lot about patience, the importance of communication as well as responsibility and also how to be resourceful. Patience wasn't one of my stronger suite before this semester but I've learnt that different people understand things in a different manner and at different pace. It allows me to be more patient and understanding. I understand that every single one of us plays a very important role in the group and that if anyone is gone, codename penguin will collapse. With that comes responsibility. It is very crucial in a group like us that we deliver what we promise and give our 100% since all our work are interlinked and dependent on each other. All of these just link back to our working attitude in life. No one but us and only us are responsible for our own actions and results. We have to work hard and there's no shortcut to success.

There is also the issue of personal interest versus what is best. Group dynamics was one of them. To choose your friends or people you can get along with or to choose people who can do the job. It's a dilemma and i think choosing the balance point is very important. However, when you are thrown out from the sandbox known as college, I doubt life gives you much of a choice as to who you will be working with unless you are your own boss and get to choose who you want to work with. Moreover, life's unpredictable and it's hard to come by people you really work the best with. For me, it is important to apply the lessons we've learnt in teamwork and treasure your group mates for they are the one working alongside you.

Life's unfair and it is hardly simple. A lot of times we think that our ideas will work and everything will be fine but guess what, reality often turns that up-side down for you. You'd realise that reality differs a lot from what you think and until you try it out, you'd never know if it works. Many times our ideas failed and we have to keep trying. I guess in the end, we must learn to be able to change spontaneously and not cling onto our ideas too much since we have to keep changing and improving. One good way is also observe and learn from successful people around, see and  understand what makes them so good and adapt from it. Afterall, most of the ideas are development of other ideas, as a designer, i take inspiration from other people's work and this can be applied to every aspect of our lives. In addition, it is also important to network and create connections, to find people to help and guide you. Laurence's taught me that.

Most importantly, I've learnt perseverance, developed my passion and kept up the never give up attitude while learning from my mistakes. I've cultivated my will and determination to keep on standing no matter the number of times i fail or fall down. Whenever things start to go wrong, the worst thing one can do is to start pushing the blame onto others and pointing finger. For me, i think it is rather pointless. What's done is done, there's no turning back and no amount of whining or finger pointing is going to solve the problem, only active work can do that. Solve the problem and learn from it. Only then can you keep growing from it. Not only that but also provide action to your thoughts. Many times in life have i been passive but that shall not be the case anymore. Nothing's absolute in life and studies' definitely not it either. I totally love this quote "Life'll be fine in the end, if it isn't, it's not the end yet."

Never give up, keep on learning and make sure to count your blessings everyday. I'll be better today than I am tomorrow, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger so let's all be a sucker for pain.

With that I must also thank proffy for allowing me this chance to explore and discover, the wonderful tutors for all the guidance and endless things that i've learnt from you guys. My wonderful coursemates, i've learnt a lot from you guys as well:) 3 cheers for 3216 !! heh, that ryhmes :)

:: the flip side of life ::

Life is not as simple as it seems to be. Many people, in fact most of them just like to skim the surface and look at life at face value. How grossly wrong they are sometimes, how naive many people are and still is, stubbornly refusing to look further than what their physical eyes tell them.

I've reflected back upon my life and what i observed about many people. Life's much deeper than that. There's a flip side to what we always see on the surface. I still remember back at the CEO session, where prof mentioned that entreprenuership is over sold. I agree fully. Many people only see those people as being lucky, that they are "talented" and are successful, living a peaceful life full and enjoyment. How wrong are they. They don't see the struggle underneath it, the constant stress, the ups and downs. Not only those big shots but also normal people around you. Those that excel in their studies. Many just concluded that they are smart. While you can't deny that they are interllectually capable, people tend to forget that they are also the hardworking people. Most tend to overlook their hardwork, their constant revision and what not.

Life's never just black and white but in shades of grey. There isn't just one side of life. There are people who are rich but with it comes the stress. There are people who dun really do that fantastically well but they are happy. Several studies showed that while singapore is one of the more developed country we are rather low on the happiness scale. On the other hand, the happiest nation just so happen to be the poorest. That makes me wonder now, so what's the goal of life. Be rich? Be happy? or just to be able to live....they're always the pros and cons and i guess we just have to find the balance in it.

More importantly though, i think we should learn to treasure what we have. Most of us simply take things for granted and we will never know how much it means to us until we lose it. I'm starting to learn how to take time and appreciate the little gifts in life that we have and that to give my best in everything I do. Not just sit there and admire people but to put in effort to achieve what I want since i know nothing comes for free. At the same time, also taking time in enjoying life and slowly change my mindset to see things positively, afterall you only live once so why inflict unnecessary pain on yourself. Even though it may look bleak, i believe the dots will eventually connect in the future. Afterall, everything will be fine in the end, if it isn't fine, it isn't the end yet. I've learnt that in small little everyday occurences and it's time to start believing and learn to enjoy life to the fullest, even as i struggle through things in life ^^

:: Testing :: You’d never know what went wrong..

What’s wrong? When the application has something wrong, what’s the problem? Is it the program or is it the server and network problem. No one would ever really know at first glance, especially if you don’t do testing. There will never so much a straight answer in the real world, be it problems related to computing or just plain normal day-to-day troubles. Life can never be simple nor is it fair. While in sandbox mode, everything may look perfect, everything’s running smoothly, there can never be anything wrong but when you hit the real world, that’s when more often than not, shit hits the fan.
Life can never be forever smooth sailing, those who say that life’s a smooth sailing journey haven’t really experienced life, especially when it’s being mean. However, what’s the most important thing, i feel, is to make sure that we’ve prepared ourselves to the best of our abilities. That when we do something, when we start something, we give our absolute best or not at all. A little lesson drilled into me by my primary school teacher. Do it well or not at all. And when things really start to go wrong, the worse thing you can do is to start pushing the blame on someone else. Which i think loads of Singaporeans especially, is guilty of doing so. The first thing you should do, rather than pointing fingers is to strive to solve the problem first. As mentioned, there’s hardly the case where only one specific area caused the problem. So try all methods and look through everything to try. Afterall, you want the bug to go away, so do it the most efficient way by start looking or else you’d be forever stuck if you don’t work together and hard to get to the root of the problem. Else you just be like the puppy below, can’t roll over.. Most important thing is to learn from your mistakes and never stop trying even when life puts you down, there's only one way up if you're at the bottom pit of your life :)

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3251560/puppy_cant_roll_back_over/

:: What really Matters ::

A web conference at NUS, a little shocking considering our network but at the same time makes me really excited and interested. It’s like, woah, so high-tech and cool thing to actually have the actual staff of gwave to help comment on our projects.
I guess, other than the technical stuff, it hit me once again how important users plays a part in our application design. All through the comments, it keep drilling into my head that we always have to put our users in the forefront. Though it sounds like common-sense, it is not always as simple as it sounds. While we have ideas in our minds, they don’t often coincide with the users’ interest. We might want complex stuff but then it has to be simple for the users… On the other hand, she’s mentioned a few points that though it seems like common sense, we tend to really forget about them.
Little things like, allowing users choice (but also guiding them), not replacing the user’s data, allow them the freedom to use the features whenever they want e.t.c. Though i may seem like a very easy thing to do, i find it rather hard at times. Though we may come up with all the features, only after testing do we realise that there’s always a flaw, that we somehow overlooked some stuff and took some feature for granted that people would know what to do. Then there’s always the balance between making it easy to understand while making it complex and interesting. I’m starting to appreciate how tough it is and be it applications or games, it’s a really fine art. There’s never say, a perfect edition. Even mafia wars keep upgrading. It just drives home that there’s always room for improvement. Even if you think it’s perfect there’s always something more you can improve on. Caleb’s still improving on his farm wars and I believe that we’ll keep on improving Gentoo, even after 3216. It’s what we've spent endless time and effort coming up with, our baby and i’ll treasure it along with the memories.. I guess it’s all about improving and making this better. I'll definitely remember this for the rest of my life, i'd never want to stay still at one point. After all “I’ll be better tomorrow than i am today” :)

:: Varsity Chronicles :: What it really means to be a team

What are the pros and cons of working with people you are already acquainted with for work/project?

seriously, i believe that working with people you know is much more efficient, you can get straight to work and not worry about bouncing ideas off each other. moreover, you do not need time to break ice and won't feel as awkward and won't be as "reserved" in how you react. Moreover, you'd feel more comfortable in setting dates and times to get together for work. You'd already know your group mates and how they work as well as their strengths and weakness, that makes the project proceed smoother. Though i must admit that perhaps working with people you are already acquainted for will make one more vulnerable to be lax with how they work or their comments / expectations of others though it might work in reverse for some people. Overall, i believe it's a good experience since you need not the time to build strong relationship between group mates to work well and allow the group to work at their potential level with much less time in comparison to working with new people though the latter provide more learning experience. Moreover, working with people you already know makes you more comfortable with throwing out comments and criticism(though some may feel other wise, taking into consideration their existing friendship) then when you try to "hold back" with those you do not really know.

List out the important traits that you would look for in a team member. Share and compare them
with your team mates. How similar or different are they?

*** being able to work in a team
well, this is quite obvious, i do not need nor do i like having people in my group that can't work with others, it's a waste of time, energy and effort. My group mates all have their own strong points and we segregate our work rather nicely. i would say we work quite well together and since we already know each other before hand, communication isn't really a problem for us:)

***willingness to work / learn
if you're not willing to work, why are you here at all. I won't accept people who do not do their job or at least contribute to the group work. It's called leeching and i absolutely loathe those kind of people. It's also important to have the willingness to learn. If you know you aren't good or need to get something done, go learn it, those who don't want to learn will never grow and i neither need or want these kinda people in my team. Your team-mates aren't baby-sitters. Well, for me, i believe that everyone in the team should contribute and learn together. My team mates are wonderful in that sense, we work overload and dun have a single problem with learning and exploring new stuff on our own.

The members of VC considered their team “ideal”. However, what are some of the problems
that you can foresee?

i doubt there is ever a really IDEAL team. well, dream team yes, you can see yourself working great together to achieve something big but i doubt any team can be a ideal team. There are flaws in every team, even in my team, which i think is the dream team for myself. I guess the most important thing is not to be too full of oneself  and no matter what, make sure you work hard. It is because it is a dream team for yourself that you owe it to yourself and the team to work even extra harder to make things work. Always know your limit and not be too overconfident.

Is it better to work with talented people or people you like?

I believe a mixture of the two would work extremely well. If you work with talented people, you get work done but you won't enjoy it a bit, why suffer? If you work with people you like but they don't contribute much, why work with them in the first place? I think for me, the most important thing is getting to work with people you can work with, enjoy working with. It is also important that everyone will be willing to work and learn. Not everyone is talented but as long as you are willing to work and learn and i can get along with you, I'm most happy to work with you. Talent to me is not the most important trait unless your main purpose is to get things done. For me,3216 is to have fun and learn.

VC started out with an ambitious design, aiming to make many changes to many Facebook
game conventions (i.e. combat system, story as a reward, semi-exploratory quest design).
Would you have recommended them to pick a simpler design or would you have encouraged
them to go along with it?

well in the beginning i might say go ahead and aim big, there's always penguin award. Now, i know better. For one, i suppose you really have to study the market, fb is definitely not a platform for overly complicated games, and most of its users are idiots. For me, the most important thing is to get the basics done, if you can't even come out with the basics, you can never get anything done well. I believe, that's a over-achiever ideal and I would have recommended them to filter what is most important first and get the basics done. If they have the basics structure out and is well received, they can slowly add in more features (like what we do with gentoo, loads of ideas but we're going for basics first) and their game might have worked. One problem though with these kinda game design, i suppose, is that the game has a time limit. Once you're done with that stage, there isn't much else you can do.

How different would the situation have been if there was another strong programmer within the
team (a 5th member)?

In my opinion, it wouldn't have caused much different. They might get the coding done faster but i doubt it'd be much help. Their project is a very grand one that needs a lot work to be done on all parts. They try and achieve and get everything done at once before they release their game. As i said, i might have been a little bit too "overwhelming" and since they didn't just need the basics done as they "basic" is basically everything, it'd do very little different except for faster coding though that may not be the case since between the programmers themselves, they have to work out the details on who does what and how to combine the code e.t.c.

How would you decide on how much to do given the composition of your project team?

Oh well, for my group, we basically pool together all our ideas and decide which are the main features to be done. We will go through with the programmers what can be done and they'd come up with the basic framework that would support these extra features in the future. We then make sure the basics of the game is up and going before we invest more time into either improving the existing features or slowly add in more features though basics are always an important part of the project we focus on.

Before you read on, what are some of the potential hazards that you have found in
the decisions made for the Final Project thus far?

 I believe it might have been a decision flaw to do such a major change of structure to their game. For one, they haven't managed to get the game going for the first assignment and now they're going to change the whole program in order to cater to one programmer that's good in another language. I believe that is a very huge decision flaw. There's always the time factor and considering how huge their whole project is, it isn't a very wise choice. They should have make careful decision on their programming language and stick to it instead of just changing the whole thing for one programmer. Secondly, it's the whole issue about basics. They did not have the main basic features of the game out yet and they were focusing on the real time conversation which could have been a bonus feature. It is a rather poor decision on their part i believe to invest so much time in this real time thing that is not a main feature of their game, especially when prof have advised against it (meaning if they can achieve, it'd take them SUPER long time to do it). Well, it might not be my place to say it, i do believe that their initial idea of story progressions is much better then what they decided to do. As i said, no matter their decision, they have to make sure to stick to it and at least make sure that the basics are done first. Having such major decision changes require time which they obviously do not have enough, judging by how they haven't managed to finish their game on the first assignment.

How different was the environment for working on the project during the school term as compared
to the vacations?

Frankly speaking, it's all about discipline. Most of the time, you do the work you are required to do at your own time and space, not when the group are huddled together. I believe, a group discussion is just that, discussion about the project, piecing the thing together, getting opinions and not time to do your own stuff. In that case, you can always do it over vacations. Moreover, with msn and dropbox e.t.c. communication isn't a very big issue as most of the time, you only need to discuss with certain group mates not the whole group. Isn't that how things go without group discussions, need anything, the other group mate is just a chat or phone call away. I don't see how it is much different other then school term facilitates group meetings better. Vacation gives you more time to complete your job and communication is so easy nowadays. Environment, to me, isn't much change. It's just how much discipline you have during the vacation to do your part. That is determined by how passionate you are about this project.

What were the main reasons for VC’s failure during the vacation? What would you have done
differently to prevent it?

Well, im not their group mate so im not really sure but i believe a lot about it is to do with discipline as well as how close knit is the team. If they are more passionate about the project, they'd have try to complete their own parts and communicate with their groups better and fork out time for group discussion when they really need it. Communication is so easy nowadays that i don't think it could be used as an excuse. My group always keep each other updated, through dropbox or msn. Other that decision that affects and requires the whole group to be present, there isn't much need for group meetings since other communication could be done over the internet. I can't advice much except that for me, it's more on the issue of discipline and passion regarding this project. Im not sure if that's the case but to me, those 2 are very important factors that make project over the vacation possible. Of course communication between group mates are also very important.

Am I overdosed?

hmmm, im starting to think whether im overdosed on my medication..hmm... let's see, my current count of med is 7 different type, one of which is an anti-biotic, the third set im eating as of now... am i overdosed? shrugs, dizzy, i think it's the med's influence, i read one of them induces drowsiness...

Help GetHelp! :: why i think it might not have made it big

I think it's rather cute that the case study we're supposed to do is Get Help! makes it rhyme with the help Get Help! haha

Overall, I think the whole project idea is very good though I do suppose they would have to put in more time into designing their applications and make sure that it is easy to use it to accomplish their goals : Get help outside of those you know, higher chances. Though i do have to mention that while the idea is good, it has a huge competitor, search engines like Google. Most people, when they want help they'd just search the internet and have instant answers at their finger tips. They might to want to post at Get Help! Perhaps, also one of the biggest reason why they might not have made it big, there're already established forums out there to solve different needs, help sites everywhere, just a keyword and enter away. As this is not spontaneous help and people have to check each day if someone replied which i might add, might be days or weeks before you even get one comment, it is not as attractive as search engines.

That aside, on a first glance, the whole application looks pleasing enough, the graphics are nice, it was aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. However, this problem and question keeps stumbling me throughout my journey to help create Gentoo. Is aesthetically nice graphics always enough to sustain or make a successful application. More often then not, the answer smacked me back straight in the face (quite hard I must add), no. I learnt it the hard way the first time round. Yes, I agree that good nice user interface is a deciding factor and is needed but definitely not a must or a will lead to success factor. Just take a look at facebook, many of the most popular applications out there don't really have the aesthetics. Fancy stuff don't always work if it's not user friendly with the stickiness factor, especially on facebook. With so many appliciations out there, fancy graphics alone will not help keep the users, cause i'm sure when they use an application, they stay because the application is fun and useful to them, not just because it's fancy.

That being said, Get Help! graphics is really nice and pleasing on the whole, however, I do believe that there can be improvements done to make it simpler, or rather, more focus as well as more user friendly.

For one, I feel that the diagonal tabs was rather placed in a very awkward manner. Firstly, i have to tilt my head to look at what it is about. It makes me feel, out of balance with the tilting of the tabs. The stats 3D model idea was nice but admittedly doesn't quite fit in nicely. for one, the like the tab, it's slanted and is a top-down view that i have to consciously take closer look to make out what it is about. Furthermore, the different slant between the icon in the tab and the actual one when in the stats place slants different direction and while i don't think it does make a great impact on the first glance, it does subtly put the user off balance, especially when the other icons are not as solidly 3D. It some how put user off balance in a subtle way.

That aside, I think the words for the tabs could have been bigger or at least more obvious, since when i win+left the browser, the words are meshed together and rather hard to read. I do recommend for the profile icon to be simpler in design since it's rather complicated and not as focus.

As for the shield, i do believe that the outline could be bold (standardise with the rest of the tab icons and the shape more defined) with the middle picture a obvious design, of perhaps a medal so that it will stand out? The actual badge is rather cute as well though I'd suggest different design for perhaps, different categories of medal, perhaps, colour code it like a real medal, bronze, silver, gold e.t.c. it might entice the user to want to get a nice medal~ nice idea to have nice nicknames for that goes hand in hand with the medal as well. Another suggestion could be that the user can "pin" their medal on their facebook profile with perhaps and optional personal description at what their area of specialties are so that 1) acknowledge user's contribution, makes them proud 2) spread the word 3) allow the user to want to create an image that they can provide very good quality help. You might want to create ratings for how well each help goes as well.

A little side note on the invite icon, the guy looks rather fierce and if i didn't see the invite, i'd have thought that it was for perhaps complain or something like that. A more friendly icon would be preferred in my case, or a simple icon.

There're also a little thing that some people have noticed, the inconsistency of interface. For one, if the tags are there as navigation tags, then i suggest all major navigation should be there, there're missing elements like the projects page. When all the tags are in monochrome, it makes me wonder, where's the tag that's supposed to be in colour? that is one thing that i think should be noted. Moreover, the tags should be consistent, either overlap or be overlapped at all times, or if you want, on the active one is overlapped. The disparity can be rather unpleasing.

Regarding the user interface, i do think the Project Page was rather badly designed since i have no idea what the whole page is about. (I believe a good application user interface should allow the user to use the application without even looking for instructions, i myself am working hard towards it for penguin >w<) The layout is rather cluttered and as mentioned above, i have no idea what to do about them. I would suggest a clean and need page with perhaps a divider between one's projects or rather their own help needed (btw, why is it called project, it's rather odd considering that this is about getting help) as well the general list of all the help out there. One question that i have in mind, how do i know if others need help, from what i can see, you'd have wait for people to ask you. I believe that an additional structure feature that could be added is perhaps common area for all the projects to be placed at. One thing, it makes getting help easier, secondly you can also take a look at topics that interest you, something like that of a forum. The Project page, in my opinion, should be clean cut with just 2 area, one dedicated to your own need and other to those that you're helping. That said, new interface would have to be created instead for contacts (that upon clicking the person will show the links of all the help he's provided or required) as well as a general help area.

Though I think the refer a friend! Help Her! Wish her Luck! thingy is a rather nice idea, it does create incentives to create the necessary network. An opinion of mine would be that helpers dun need to add the application, just be directed to a page where they can post comments and such. This will make things easier and people more willing to help out without all the trouble of adding the application and what not. When they need help, they just add the application, this might be a plausible approach in my opinion.

As for the overview and the statics page, I would suggest that it could be merged together so that it's more focused in one area and the layout should be simple to catch (perhaps the top few and if the user want, could expand it) so that it is easy on the eyes and to use too.

Now that we are on usability, I do believe that they can improve on it. For one the need help page is really cluttered and confusing. For one, if i want a help, I'm not sure if I should type it at the top column alone or need to fill in everything. It is rather tedious to post a help and might not be that user friendly. For one, I do think that the default image really needs to be changed because 1) i have no idea the link and 2) it's rather hard to decipher what it is since the star outline is not consistent and I have no idea what is the background image, is it a gun barrel? Perhaps a catching understandable icon could be used. A suggestion would be to create genres for the various different type of queries so that 1) it is easier to organise and 2) easy for other users to tell and pick the type of help they can provide instead of reading through everything. With the different categories, it's more focused and easier to get help. If i'm a programmer seeing if i can help, I won't really go read through all the help request to see which one i can solve will i? Though the idea of putting personal picture up there is a nice freedom given to user, i don't see how it'd help if im scanning through request using the pictures?

That aside, i do believe that the interface really should reduce on some optional stuff. For example, they could have adopted the library search structure. With just the main title there (at least the general genre as the caption) with the description and the specific type of help that they might require. The should placed in a expandable button or extra details. That said, i wonder what's the deadline and estimated time dong there together? I suppose the deadline (i personally would have prefer a nicer phrasing since deadline is like chasing someone for answer/assignment like that) would be when the person needs the help by (most won't bother, are they gonna take down the project once it's past the deadline?) I have no idea what estimated time does and why location matters (this is to get help over the internet through network isn't it) but I do believe that users should be able to create their own tags, if I'm mistaken then sorry. In this case, with all the options and what not listed out there, while it gives users wider choice, it also gives the impression that user cannot just post "express" query that's straight to the point without those fancy stuff.

Regarding the "who do you want to ask" I think it's a great idea to allow the users to choose who do they want to ask but I do believe that one of the choices would have to be put it up for all to see and help. Limiting the query to just friends is a nice way to get more people to join but i do believe that it can be rather restrictive in the sense where other non-friends can come see and help as well. Though that is accomplished by reference ( to friends of friends) it is not as efficient and user-friendly to ask everyone for help. One of the main purpose is to use facebook's network to get to know other people outside of your circle that might have just the right set of skills to help you. The max scope being posting to all your friends perhaps is a little restrictive in the sense. I am curious that if i click those contradicting choices, what will happen? How to the sms work btw, quite curious, pluck handphone numbers outta friend's profile and spam? interesting concept here but if it's just sms, I could have sent it to my friends myself using my phone which is more accessible unless you can provide me with the contacts i don't have?

Though the fact that they provide different modes of communication, i am curious as to how it will work. How do i reply to you if im on twitter and see that you need help or perhaps received an sms from you? convenient contact by my own means, perhaps msn, (what about strangers? how to contact them back) or open the browser, go to fb, then to the app then look at your request? what if i'm not on the list on the people that got your request through fb, what then, how am i to help? That is perhaps, 1 major loophole they've missed. In terms of freedom, i think they could've done better by allowing people the choice to pick and choose (something like the normal fb interface where you can check off people or things like that) and also allow them the privilege to create their own personal list and choose to allow which group of people to be sent the request for help in which mode. For example, if i have 2 groups of friends, first one to their profile page, perhaps the second to contact then through twitter, the user are restricted in this sense.

it is a very interesting and workable concept though i do think they need to put more thought into it's structural design and what not. A consistent platform for queries to be answered or made would be nice. I personally feel, these should come under the extra options portion, perhaps on another button for extra form of help (the call for help should linked to the general place everyone goes like in forum like that as well as to post help onto the walls of friends, though perhaps im missing something but I don't think they have (sizzling fires don't count). Talking about sizzling fires, i do believe that flame makers should change a name since when first read it, i interpreted it as those flame wars out like like those at jon's blog...

that aside, while these may be problems of the application have faced, I do not think they are as major as being faced with harsh competitions from search engines. Until they have found a way to get around or get better help then a few keywords in search engines like Google can do, they will face a rather hard time to make it big. just my 2 cent, or rather a lot of cents input >.<

Sweat and cough through New Year :: Pitching~

omg, this year's cny's celebration was rather unique, busy preparations, visiting relatives, studying and what not. Surprisingly, not, i can't seem to stop coughing and flu throughout the new year till now, really suck, i sleep like a pig throughout the days.... omg.. haha, but overall it was a nice experience, to be able to just sleep, im so gonna miss it once tomorrow start. sleep, what a wonderful word..

Just read prof's mail and realised, omg, i did forget to post regarding the pitching session!! shock! i was like, totally outta it, haha, i tend to off my phone and not check stuff during holidays >.< the sleep is just too tempting..mwahhaha, but that being said, here's my blog for the pitching session. Well, it's rather new that i'm going to post and reflect on it after so long and i guess it's a new fresh perspective since I really remember the really impactful points I've learn.

One, there's no such thing is no idea. There's so many wild ideas out there that i can't help but to think that some people are really being boxed in to think that there's nothing else to do out there. There's so many new stuff going on out there and new opportunities. It left me rather inspired. It's just a feeling like, there're so many ideas and opportunities out there to grab, so many people have tried and they've made it. Why not us, why not me! That's a really important feeling and point that I've kept with me, even after so long.

It was rather nice to listen to all the ideas and opportunities out there and 6wave seems to be able to really help us take off once we've managed to complete and enhance our game. It makes me shiver with anticipation about what my group can achieve.  Though sometimes it seems a bit far-fetched but it also seem so very possible within our grasp that we can succeed and come up with something that will make a breakthrough.. it's just exhilarating!! It makes me all the more motivated to want to make this happen. After the break is google wave and yet more sprints to be made. Though frankly speaking, I'm feel like I'm quite dying now, like there's so much to do in so little time, like i keep running around trying to get things done not even looking where im going. However, at the end of it, i'd go, whooo, i actually did it! let's hope it's the same for this as well. I'm trying my hardest now :)

:: Presentation :: Pillow Fight ::

Awesome manz, this whole facebook seminar, I actually enjoyed it. Some of the presentation styles are rather unique like Joshua's video and most of them presents some really interesting points admist laughter. Rumour has it that Henry wants to bring someone to bed tonight is so going to be stuck in my head for quite a while. I rather like the pace of the whole seminar presentation, 7 mins really does have it credits, it makes presentation more or less concise and the general flow is rather nice. That aside, it's my time to start to evaluation on pillow fight.


Review

Pillow Fight - just when was the last time I actually have a pillow fight, perhaps when i was around 8 with my sister? I still hold those fold memories close and loved how we use to just whack each other with pillows and my favourite: bolster. The trill was there and it just feels nice to let go and literally whack! That was years ago, actually I can say decade ago. It really does bring back fond memories. Nowadays, as I observe that while I still find enjoyment and fun in other activities, I miss the child-like trill and fun in letting everything go and just do something silly just for the fun of it. It’s been a long time. That was what I thought of when I registered the words pillow fight. It was a representation of letting oneself go and have fun. It represents childhood and something, just pure of us.I believe that that's what the app's trying to achieve and bring across so that people can still put aside time for these small pleasures (though i do admit the clicking of the buttons can be a rather waste of time). I went to look at some of the post and it warms my heart to see stuff like this:

This pillow fight thing really does have its appeal. One of the points I still remember from the seminar more than 24 hours ago is that it is free, easy to use(even grandmas can use them) and though it's similar to super poke, it differs since it's competitive. I shan't go into those aspects as I'm sure you know those factors as it is. I guess the more important learning point in this is how does those features draws players in. As a matter of fact, pillow fight, first impression before this seminar was that it's similar to superpoke, just that the icon's a little different and it's competitive. when I come out of it, i still see roughly the same things but perhaps when i step one step back and review it again, i can perhaps, pick out why it succeeded.

It's free. I have nothing to say over this, it's in my impression that apps on fb are mostly free, even though super popular ones. Hence, I am still rather puzzled over the emphasis that it's free. On the flip side, this brings me to a point that i still strongly remember since it disturbs me a bit and when I went to the app it's so blatantly staring at my face. It's rather disturbing. Multiple rather inappropriate advertisement. Like that:

Im a 19 going to 20 lady and I'm highly disturbed by that. I believe the app is directly at all age groups, for friends and family, children, adults, grandmas.. To see similar contents with different pictures, no it's not even pictures, it's moving clips. it's rather disturbing i admit. It makes me wonder, are they that desperate for money to have those plastered all over the app? It just makes me wonder, are you doing the app for money or for the app, so that others can enjoy it. It's rather sad to see such a, how to call it, purely fun and innocent intention app to have these kinda advertisements all over. Though i do understand that it's nice to earn some money out of it, i personally do recommend to clean it up a little, at least put it at reasonable place, not in between your app and perhaps, spend a little more thought and time into selecting the appropriate types of advertisement. As the group mentioned, perhpas pillow advertisement may seem not as out of place and definitely decent.

Moving back to track, it's easy to use and also have the element of competitiveness in this as compared to superpoke, just like how it's counterpart in reality works. easy to use. really, if even grandmas can use them, i must say they're rather simple to use and that's the draw points. The learning curve is smooth, anyone can play, even your grandmothers. This pulls in the family factor and also the fact that adults can have virtual pillow fights though they may be a little on the old side to really play them. easy to use really do demolish the barrier of entry and attracts people into the game. A point i'd make sure to always keep in mind for our apps, to make it simple, easy to understand or like fameleauge, my seminar group's app, very elaborate and fanciful but it's sooooo complex after dunno how many days i still dun really quite comprehend how it works. If a group that's suppose to study it thinks like that, what about those players, i doubt they'd last 2 mins. One of the major drawpoints of pillow fight is its simplicity in concept and of course, you get to pillow fight with your friends and also your family - it's been a long time since i last whacked my sis with a pillow hmmm.... back to point.

competitiveness, which human doesn't have, though some a small degree but they still do have competitiveness. This creates a stickyness for the game and encourages players to come back. A rather smart move, esp if you're in a "serious" pillow fight and aboslutely won't want to lose. This works rather nicely. Though playing on the competitiveness part, the app can actually use some extra ideas that adds the fun elements. For example, certain features such as pillow enhancer can be added during the match using the credits or coins in this case to perhaps, shorten opponents' "reaction time" or lengthen yours. Not a complusory feature but do help enhance the game and make more interesting. Such brings me back to this observation, I don't really see much fundamental changes or enhancement for the app. Well, for my group, as im sure for others in 3216, the app's like our baby and we'll nurture it. We've spend a lot of effort, sleepless nights in the basement to bring our apps to life, for me, i'd always seek on ways to improve it. Improvement and enhancement, a VERY important element i believe in making an app not only successfull in the short term but also the long term is to literally keep it on its toes. Even Caleb's improving his farm wars~~

Talking about improvements, i see that pillow fights' updates mainly on the type of pillow you can throw. You've seen the pictures where there're like 50 odd page tabs of pillows, each only have 6 pillows. I think the really bad part of it is that some people'd get tired of looking through all the tabs, they stop at around 10 or so and worse thing of all, there's no indicator on which tab you are, good luck to those who forgot which ones they do click. While i think it's nice to have so many variety and introduce some level concepts where some pillow's still lock, a better presentation could have been imployed like, more specific tags, or perhaps a serach bar? Though i do believe that the picture quality of the pillow do have to improve and more though spent on this because some pillows are really just any random picture anyone can paste.

This one actually looks like those game models out there

and this is firstly, out of place due to the different template but oso it's rather obvious that's it's a pasted picture from somewhere else





While i like the concept and idea and considering that this app is successfull, i do believe that more effort can be spent on this app. Im not sure if you can really see it but through these small stuff like this and those spam advertisement that can be a little inapporpriate at times,makes one feel that this app is not really that much cared for,

Though talking about new pillows and stuff, i find this concept rather interesting and a little sad that pillow fight didn't really exploit it. the personalisation of pillows. Flipping through numerious pillows, i realise that a lot of those pillows are basically a background standard black pillow overlapped with a picture on top of that and viola, a new pillow~.This can prove to be a rather strong feature that pillow fight can exploit. I find this to be very true:

You can send a message without saying anything. In fact pillow fight do have these alr like seasons greetings, help raise awareness for certain issues like the given examples:

Notice the pillow's the same just that the picture that overlayed it is different? I believe this is a rather cool idea if you can expand it to allow user the power to customise. I believe this can be a huge attraction point if people can have a certain amount of control, such as over how your pillows looks like. You can have a few different pillow base and with players adding their own pictures, there'd be so much more pillows. I realise that player'd like control over these kinda stuff and customisation allows them that. Most importantly, people can pass messages through this, it makes it more meaningful rather then just a "waste of time" as some said. I believe this can be implemented in my group's app, in fact, it's already designed to do so but we're looking at ways how this can really help enhance while maintaining a balance of control between players and developers.

and oh woah, look at that, that's a rather long entry with my pictures alr so without further ado, i'd like to point out certain points that aren't exactly favourable in this application and while i learn from it, hopefully to not repeat those mistakes in my app. Pop ups.

This is very true. I went to the application myself and basically, if you want to throw a pillow, this infinite loop appears, and trust me, the infinite word is used correctly.

The don't Allow button is a fake trap, it's just go from 1 of 3 to 2 of 3 to 3 of 3 and back to 1 of 3 and the process goes over and over again in an infinite loop. I'm not sure if this's a bug, i hope it is. Because if it's not, i think it's rather irritiating. Not only irritating but you aren't really respecting user's privacy and decisions. Just because of this, I've not throwed a pillow and I don't think i'd be throwing one anytime soon. This loop is a rather serious problem and if it's a bug, i do hope it can be removed soon and i seek to make sure that such things won't happen to my app. It repulses users and can be a huge drawback from the game. My own seminar app proves it, I hate it, the pop up and spam invites, Cedric hates it, John Lew(his review on it) hates it too and I'm sure many others as well. Though certain pop ups are necessary, it have a huge potential at irritating people through it so i'd be caution at using it. One thing I don't mind about popups in farmville though i still don't really like it is that their pop up window are rather special, the first one anyway, before moving on to the default facebook ones. It can soften the edges a little and is definitely something that i can use in my app.

With all those said, i believe pillow fight do have a potential to do even better. Cleaning up with the advertisements, pop ups, add in a customisable feature, attack or defense bonuses e.t.c. are just ways to improve them. I guess, back to the foundamentals, it's there for entertainment, to let people have fun, involve friends and family, play with them and engage them through simple means that everyone have real life experience in, or at least know about it.

I've learnt a lot, not only from pillow fights but from the other applications presented in the seminar as well as other applications such as farmville (and here i thought someone would critique on it), farm wars, mafia wars and its variant. Truth to be told, a lotta features(those that we think make those app great) are picked from all over the place to complement our game. Look around, research (i mean comon, laurence played mafia war just for this app lol, LAURENCE PLAYED MAFIA WARS for a few days!!!) learn from them, adapt and innovate. We all start out as babies and i think what we do best is to learn from observing. I've learnt a lot from this and have thought of various stuff to make sure my app'll be better, have you?

Team needs coordination of ideas and communication

throughout the week where we're rentlessly rushing to get the assignment done, or at least the basic stuff up, i realise that communication is a very key issue and the crux of any group work. I know it is common sense but i learn that it is VERY important to have constant comminication, an update or what you and your group mates are doing, to always keep each other up to date. To always make sure that each of us have the same goals and how things should work is a very important point in group work. NEVER ASSUME. it's a fatal mistake to commit especially if you're doing a massive group work and the jobs are highly interdependent.

BASICS. it always boils down to this. basics. A very important step in all projects. foundations are to be layed and set upon before other fanciful stuff can be added to it. The same applies for any projects. the basics and the foundations of every project must be strong and able to support any future features(wishlist) you would like to add on to it. For my group, a major part of our foundation lies on our project plans and the underlying concepts. Our backend must be strong enough to support our front end and looking at our schema, i can honestly say i can't make out what the diagram's about, the lines are neat but are so closely knited it's hard to see without hovering your mouse over it and see it highlighted. All of those, while we hardly implement them are vital ascepts towards our project and forms a huge poportion of our project's foundation. Once our group's basics are up, it'd be much managable to implement it and extend it. It's this basic foundation that have us slaving nights and days without slp to get it out. I must admit, I'm at awe with the level of commitement my group's showing. Honestly, I'm impressed. though proff has a point, it's time to catch up on other modules, which for me is a lot >.< a great many thanks to my group mates for making it through though im sure life's still as busy, esp with the school work and hall commitements catching up with me and im sure many others (my ihg just start as well as my hall's internal projects though they're well on their way).

This brings me to the point of time management. People always complain that they do not have enough time but i believe we can always squeeze out more time. Definitely, it jsut needs discpline. Well, it's true that we can do a lot of things if we don't slp (my group have prove it time and again) i believe it is important to allocated time efficiently and diligently to different aspects of your life. Im not just talking about school, module stuff but also with your friends, family e.t.c. I keep feeling as if a whole semester have just passed and though it's only like, less than a week, i feel as if it's been decades i've not gone home. I missed my home. I went back on sat afternoon (slept it away) and came back on sunday to do seminar stuff and subsequently my hall internal project. Sometime it feels as if we're running a marathon (one that im glad to run) and i learn that it is VERY important to manage your time very properly or you'd miss a lot of stuff. Well I miss home so now that the fb assignment's done and the seminar will be done tomolo im going back home to spend the nigth with my family on tues. I miss the smell of my home (shrugs, im being sentimental but i really do miss the smell of my home and the blankets they're nice >.<) so im going back. oh well, free time now's dedicated towards catching up other modules and like prof said, we'd get a break starting from wed and I'm really gonna spend the time till cny to enjoy, rest and catch up with my studies.

Till then, i better catch up on my slp (never seem to get enough of it, it surprises me that this can make laurence, the one who never slpt past 10 and always wake at 6+ to overslp, it's jsut astonishing) and rush my tut tomolo, shrugs. I actually had a rather intersting conversation with my seminar teammates on a lotta things, like quirks and different events and what not, it's rather interesting >.< perhpas that can be my next blog~ till then, before my face crashes into my lappy~ good nightz~

:: version 3 done !! ::

finally, after like, 60+ hours of awakeness (in fact, another 5 hours and it's three days, wohooo~ prof really wasn't joking when he said we'd have little slp, i wonder when's the last time i slept and wake up when i want), I've finally done up the version 3 of basic interface, loads of hard work, numb hand and finers but after it's done, I've this sense of achievement, that in the end it's really all worth it >w< though im like, psedo awake now ... okay, better hurry go slp,, tomolo's a long day of lessons. One thing that's VERY important for team project :: COMMUNICATION :: communication break down and you'd have loads of problems :) constant communication of ideas's the way to go to a as smooth as it can get group project XD

aniwae, im like.. floating now, better go replenish my sleep. I feel like it's the end of the semester(of 3216 only) already where it's barely the third week where tutorials just start. But the pace's set, let's keep moving forward!! ONWARDS to bed first...haha, urg, friday got ihg, im like aching everywhere from training.. was it yesterday or day before..shrugs, my sense of time is a little skewed... omg, i jsut realised i have a lot of things to do >.< ihg, photog, seminar.. OMGGGGGG lol, ignore me, not thinking straight..slp slp slp!!!

:: Take 2 :: push and march forward ::

Simple is the way : that's the first thing I learnt while designing user interface... my first version was rather messy and not as unified. That was scraped and version 2 was up with the firm mindset of keeping it simple and easy on the eyes. That was version 2, I focused more on the various "pop up" windows layout. The buttons came out as a disaster since I don't really have much time to spend on it...looks like the UI wasn't quite well received and I feel a little like I've let down my teammates but never mind, i shall march forward and read up on more books and see if i can improve and make it better. A little setback but nevermind, I shan't be dishearted for long, there isn't time for it anyway...keep moving on!!

Sometimes I always wonder if I am ever good enough, a stupid self confidence issue of mine but I will keep telling myself that I'd be okay, there's a reason why I am here and I'd just give my best and things will eventually work out >.<

Anyway, give my all and learn what I can is the route i'd take, but of course, think and learn smart, now on to study more about GUI...

In the world of hell and heaven, each person have a very very long spoon. In hell, everyone starves because they can't feed themselves but in heaven, everyone is always full since they feed each other.

:: Finally UP :: TeamWork :: Friends

OMG, my group's app: Codename Gentoo's finally up, though it's a hardly functionable game but it's finally up:) After the scraping of the first design, we've finally decided on the current one. After sleepness nights (literally) and many hard work, the design's finally up on my part and the code up on my friend's part. We've worked rentlessly. I realised that I've hardly had dinner back in my hall, in fact, I can't recall when was the last time I did or spent much time with them, I was always in school working but I have to really thank my hall mates!! they were very understanding and helpful, always helping me da bao dinner so i can eat when i went back and though i hardly did go back for dinner, they still informed me on when they're having it or their activities >.< I'm really touched, that though I've not really spent much time with them, they were still there helping me, informing me of their activities and for that, I'm happy that I've made such wonderful friends >.<

Back to working. I think when my team was formd, our roles were rather defined, Im the designer, Laurence's like the team manager and overall lead like that, coming up with game ideas and what not with our God (that me and laurence pray to for things to materialized) programmers, Patrick and Eldwin.

During the lesson on Monday, where we learn how to break down our projects to smaller modules and how to assign the different workload to people who do them best and also how to coordinate and make the things work. While the case study were large, rather "long-term" projects, much longer then us anyway, it might not really apply well if we do it case by case. This is especially so since we aren't working on this full time and it's rather hard to coordinate and really put down all the details of what we do, when do we have to complete it and how it is interdependent with things other's do. However, the key idea was there. I guess everyone knows in their heart how to work in a group and things just naturally progressed from there. Breaking down the assignment, assigning jobs to people who are good in them, communicate on what each other require from the other as well as setting deadlines and updating each other. It is afterall, a groupwork, we have to work together. While we know this and how to work in a group, the model presented to us on Monday was rather interesting and gave me a new insight on how things work with huge groups. Things were more organised, dynamic and there were a lot more planning within it. Dispatching work and working in a close knit group is very important if you want to get a good work done.

However, in the world around us, i can see a lot of people that don't bother to really think and look at what they are good at. They hardly pursue what they're interested in while those that do enjoy themselves and more often than not succeed. It's rather sad when you see a lot of adults out there complaining about their jobs, hating them and what not since they aren't really doing something they like or is good at. They drag themselves to work everyday and I dunno, just see to plough through their very dull day. I wonder, we have limited time on earth, why not spent time enjoying ourselves. For me, though I've been working non-stop and literally didn't slp to come up with the second version of the design, I'm still happy and willing to do so since I'm excited about what we do and really want to do it well. I hope that this can continue on and in the future I'd be working like I am now, happy :) No, i shan't hope, I WILL get such a job. When I know how it feels like working for what you like, the excitement, the sense of accomplishment when you've finished, I won't want to settle for something I don't like and have to drag myself through:)

That brings me to another point i've observed. People are multi-talented. No matter where you go, there're people with different talents around and in a group you need tha variety in talent there. Like prof said, the programmers and non-programmers, though they do not have the same set of skills, they are invaluable to the team, to make things work. I believe, in order for things to work, in this case a project, people really need to start doing what they do best at. If you get a group of super good programmers, if they can't design, the app will not look as appealing while on the other hand, if you don't have a good programmer, no matter how good looking your app is, there isn't really much substance :) Another thing is that people learn VERY fast. Be it the programmers or designers like myself who are new to all these things, i must say we're doing and coping pretty well. This proves one thing to me, if there's a will, there's a way, there's no such thing as too hard or no time, if you really want to learn, you can fork out the time.

Talking about learning, I better start going through my other modules. It was such a busy few weeks that I hardly read through any notes and now I'm behind the notes for some modules.. okay, weekend shall be dedicated to that!! let's just hope I can wake up tomolo and absorb things XD until then >.<

::Amazing People:: Of Impression and being impressed

Tired. Now I know why prof said to sleep more during the holidays. Well a lot of things has happened in the past few days it felt like weeks to me..

The first lecture was really inspiring and make me think a lot on life which I'd taken time to really think about it and will post it sometime later when I can put my feelings into words more accurately without losing my thread of thoughts. It makes me feel that many of us, or rather, most of us are rather passive about our lives.All of us knows it in our head, how to succeed, reach to your goal, make changes, find your passion and many more factors. All of us know but how many people really make an effort rather then sit back passively without doing anything? Somehow, it feels like, everyone's a automatic robot going about things in their life monotonously and the world's coloured black and white.

However, there are people out there that are coloured and vibrant, full of life and purpose. I've meet a whole bunch of those wonderful people, brimming with loads of different talents, ready to pursue their dreams, to take action on the first day of class, Monday, 11 Jan 2010.

Excited. That was how I am when I rushed to the first lecture of cs3216 with my dinner on hand. I've attended prof's cs1101s and I know from the description that cs3216 is going to so much more crazy. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" I've experienced that throughout my cs1101s course. While I know that for cs3216, I'm going to be struggling, going to miss many nights of sleep, going to "vomit blood" while trying to juggle all the other modules, I know deep down in my heart that I'd still take cs3216. cs1101s has been LOADS of fun, I've made close friends, I've met different people, I've learnt many things, be it thinking process and life lessons. It was terrific and if given the choice i'd take it again without thinking. I know that cs3216 is more than an ante up with the crazy factor being overloaded, there's no denying it but I'm prepared. I'm prepared for all the hard work, for the endless nights to come, to go crazy. I'm prepared to learn, to make friends, to listen and see things from different perpestive, to venture out of my safe heaven. I'm prepared to go wild, take chances and spread my wings. I'm more than prepared to reach, to stretch my limits and give my all. But most importantly, I'm prepared to have LOADS of fun and learn with my teammates and treasure each and every memory.

Impressive. Amazed. Awed were just the few impressions I have of my new classmates, some more than others, some less but there's no denying that I'm more impressed by the pool of talent and passion radiating from each and everyone then I've seen from others. Impression made by the human "instinct" under less than a minute is often accurate and I'd trust it when my heart tells me that everyone is promising talents. They are people crazy enough to take cs3216 but more importantly, people who let it go and really take ACTION.

Throughout superhero and the show-and-tell, my impressed level just goes up and UP. Through my JC life where I'm surrounded by crazily MULTI-talented people, I realised that those really talented people reallly DO excel in MORE than one area. This thought just solidified when I saw everyone's show-and-tell. It buffles me how can people be good at SO many things but I can see it before my very eyes that day that people like that do EXIST:) I believe that it stems from all the actions they take in their life whereas others just sat there passively, wasting away their talents.

I must say I'm totally awed at the wide variety of talents my module mates have. Instrumentalist, singers, dancers and all the wonderfully cool ideas and projects they've displayed, the raw talent, the courage, the PASSION. While I have nothing to say about all the impressive show-and-tell, I must reflect on the feelings, the thoughts and what I see from it.

While it was pretty obvious that the show-and-tell is there to allow you to showcase your talent so that people can appreciate, remember and be impressed on you. (I'm starting to remember people by what they've performed during show and tell >.<) I can see how this is a very important event during this course of the project. On the more serious note, it allows you to leave your print and impress upon others your presence. It is extremely essential because what follows after that is that you have to form groups for your assignments. This show-and-tell inadvertently aids you in that. We don't really have the time to mingle around and get to know others better and that was basically (for those who don't know you) what others will use to "judge" you. Those people with impressive show-and-tell gets "snatched" up pretty quick since they leave a good, strong impression on others. There are also those who stay back after show-and-tell to mingle with others so as to get a better impression

I've observed that different people have different ways to go about "showing off" themselves, some better than others. It is sad to note (though i know these kinda thing happens in real life) that some people are naturally better presenters than others. While it doesn't affect the actual potential, the first impression made (especially in cases like this) is so important that it very much determines whether people'd like to group with you according to their "image" of you. In the real life, it's rather sad that talents may go to waste since people can't really showcase their and don't have space to spread their wings because they can't really communicate with their colleagues or peers(though they can go their own way). There's always the talent-spotting people but if one's not good at communication or being a team-player, it's quite hard to survive out there where mostly everything's about teamwork nowadays. It's rather sad seeing talent being buried.

On the bright side(back to show-and-tell), I can feel the youthfulness, the energy and everyone has. It creates such a positive atmosphere that I can bask in it, feeling inspired by the endless talent, passion and energy. I feel privileged to be a part of a group of such amazing people and it more often than not make me want to never want to graduate cause I know the working world (I've worked before, it's terrible) will never or near rare to have such concentration of passionate, hardworking and inspired people working together with the drive to succeed and the readiness for action.

::Looking Forward::

You know, before I've decided to take CS3216, I've hesitated for a very long while. I kept wondering whether I should take it (frankly, the MCs goes nowhere for me, so it's like a totally optional module i can take). I knew that it's a very heavy module and I've only just started programming last semester, i wonder if i could make it. There's also the worry where my other modules would be affected and all those stuff, and in the worse case, i might drop out of my ddp programme. But after much thought and discussion with a few people, i've decided to take it.

I've had doubts, that's for sure but I also understand that I'd gain invaluable knowledge, friendships and experience from it that's beyond the classroom. I thought hard about it but i know it in my heart that it'd be worth it in the end. (most of prof's killer stuff definitely fit the category "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" to a T).

Now that we've been assigned the task of thinking about what we can achieve from this module, I'd just list some of the major reasons that influenced me to take this module:) Oh well, the most obvious one out there is of course the exhilarating experience that we'd experience when we see out ideas take flight as well as all the interesting knowledge that comes with it. Well, I'm still new to computing and all those stuff, so i thought that while it's fun and i'd definitely learn a lot from it, it'd give me a chance to experience projects of this scale so that i can gauge at least what i may do in the future when i get out. It was a chance for me to explore my interest and grasp for myself the feeling and knowledge that as long as i have a will nothing is unachievable(since in this case it looks so far outta my reach but i know im gonna make it:)). I've done a few production projects in the past, it was always satisfying but i always had this feeling, that anyone can do that, and i want to progress to do bigger things that have more impact. CS3216 just helped me realise it.

Next, which I think are very important as well is the friends that i can make, the network as well as a glimpse at how things really work out there, outside of the "protective shell" that schools protects their in. I'm certain that this will help me improve my teamwork, that I'd be more understanding, more accommodating and also learn how to support others in a team project. More importantly, i can learn from my peers and vice versa so that we can all learn from each other, that we can build strong, lasting friendship and understanding as we go through "thick and thin" as im sure we will, esp near the deadline..hehe..To those who knows me well, they'd know that i have a little problem with my confidence and i hope that through this, I can find confidence in myself.

These are one of the major reason and hope i have for CS3216. I know that though i'd have a hard time, I'd also have a GREAT experience. One that i know i'd look back and cherish all my life. Now that school's starting, I'm looking forward to this great new adventure :)

sulks

have i said i hate going out, esp shopping? no? i'd say right now, I HATE GOING OUT.. it's so tiring and rather boring since im not the type of person to really shop... well, spotting nice clothes is rather nice, and when i get my new year clothes is rather nice but i still, it's tiring and exhausting.. sigh..aniwae, thnx to my sis who went with me and my cousin...though im still tired... aren't i a weird girl?

phew now that that's out of my system... sulks, sometimes, i really hate the fact that i can't control my feelings.., not even my logical thinking can...

the thing is, i noe i have a reason for missing training and technically, it wasn't my fault for my injuries but still, i cant somehow, lift this heavy feeling off my chest...oh well, i logically know what my mum said is correct, that in the end it'd just get worse since i still cant run or else it'd just get worse but somehow.. just somehow, i still feel bad about it. dunno just feel weird...

it's nice to finally see my friends again~~

heh, it's been a while since i updated >.< just received a mail that I can only go back hall like... on the 11th when school starts? That's just plain weird, to allow us back when school reopens.. shrugs..

oh well, that reminds me of my hall mates and JC friends... these few days, due to the stupid sprain I suffered, I'm rather confined to my home but shrugs, it was fun to go out for dinner on Saturday with my hall mates >.< Huang hua, pretty smart little yellow flower was the best scorer among us so she had to treat us free dinner >.< which she choose Sakae buffet~ mwahaha, due to her request, i decided to erm.. spend a little  more effort in dressing up (tilt your head a little~):

 shrugs, i attempted. Throughout the dinner we cracked jokes, share stories, gaped at the amount of food the guys can inhale (and really inhale) got stunned at how the twins and Huang Hua mix their wasabi and soy sauce that it literally became a PASTE.. stare, i cannot imagine eating that (shivers). But as time goes by, I can't help but miss all the fun and joy we had together. It was sorta, liberating and on my way back home, i can't stop thinking and waiting for the next time we can play together again. I feel myself quite lucky to have such great friends...

Talking about great friends, i can't forget Nessa, Sophia and Cai Sang, my 3 best friends while in JC. Nessa's back in Singapore but she has to leave soon so we went out shopping yesterday (my first time in ion in fact...) i miss the times where we just talk non-stop and share our experiences.. from what Vanessa (or Vaness as her handphone strip says.. *Snickers) share, London's really unique place to be, i wonder when can i experience snow myself...but sigh, stupid stomach cramps just had to be so bad i have to go back home earlier and sleep off the pain, it still hurts now... but oh well, it was nice to spend time with them. I always feel awed at how much we grew, how much prettier they all become the next time i see them:) Sophia's hair is so much longer now~ It's be a while before Vanessa comes back again and I can't wait for the next time we meet again~

Oh, i still remember i have to do some new year resolutions as well as a post on what I expect to learn with cs3216.. still thinking about it... I feel sorta guilty now since due to my sprain which i haven't recovered from, I've sorta, missed a lot of trainings which I don't mean to.. but my mum's right i suppose... it'd just take all the more longer to heal. sigh, still doesn't stop the feeling of guilt eating me up, aren't i weird? shrugs... and sulks, my pps refuse to work, oh well, better be back to read java, which I'm still processing a bit slowly.. threads confuse the hell outta me..

Rats.. and cat..their friend?

recently rats.. and i mean a lot of them are giving my family a headache, they drill holes in cupboards, shit everywhere, stink up the place and steal our food... we recently found their nest, which is a mountain of panda bread in the cupboard, which they drilled holes into... sigh... oh well, we've caught.. erm... 3

It was rather interesting, the first and last one was caught by the rat trap, which is normal but guess what, the second one was trapped in my room (since it's just beside the kitchen). when me and my father when to look for it (poking around the floor) and found nothing, we thought it escaped... when i thought, hmm, nice of them to not have bitten any wires and when i looked to my desk.. HOLY, it was right there staring at me with its paws in front of it. Funny thing was it just stared at me when i called for my dad, only after that it ran and hid behind my screen... and even funnier, when my father's hand poised to catch it, it still stared at him... quite cutely too, only until my dad caught it did it struggle and it bit my dad!! just hope it's ok...

Out of those three, one died(overnight), one we released it and the last one's in the cage being accompained by... of all things.. cat??? at first the cat was on the cage, i thought i wanted to eat it, but now the cat just lay there under the shade for all things, accompanying the rat?? they look so relaxed then.. see the pic for evidence~~can't really see the rat but it's really in the cage!!

i was just wondering, what'd you do to the rat?? release it like my sis suggest, drown it like my dad's idea or to "boil them, smash them, stick them in a stew" as suggested by Patrick? i mean, it does cause us a lot of trouble and it's unhygienic but it's still a life isn't it? but then when i think back it is sort of, contradicting since we have rather low regard for ants as compared to say rats since they're more tangible and cuter?? but regardless, i think cats now a days really don't eat rats anymore huh??

A New Year, a new start

Hi, Happy New Year~~~ it's been a very long time since I've touched blogging and frankly speaking, my previous ones didn't last very long either..hehe oh well.. This is started for my class blog cs3216, but i was thinking, oh well, since uni's such fun for me, might as well document some of my experiences so perhaps in the future i can look back and laugh so please don't mind if personal stuff comes up in this blog:)

oh yeah, see the wolf to your right, help me feed him kz, and if you want, you can click on the moon to make him howl, quite literally >.< Happy new year guys, and hope to see ya soon >.< i miss my hall mates... mwahaha, nice that they called me yesterday to wish me a happy new year though xian yong, as usual wants me to pinch my cheeks.. LOL