自七岁以来征战无数，至今已十七载春秋。年幼时不懂事，只懂听从指令画圈射题；到慢慢学习基础知识，掌握作战技巧，并从战场中累计经验，至今已是沙场老将。身为老将，记忆已不复当年的神通广大，胜利窍门即使难懂也能强背；斗志也每日渐靡，虽然仍需胜利，但只为保住老命，拿下多少土地已不重要，杀敌一百也不能激励。
今年四月，是老兵退役前作战的最后一个月。五场战役，第一战即出师不利，紧接四天内三场恶战。凭着经验和毅力，前两战有惊无险告捷，不料第四天一开战即遭冷箭袭击，两军未交集己方已亡二十五人，苦战两小时后勉强逃生，士气倍受打击。无奈只好偃旗息鼓，稍为休息后卷土重来，为最后的战役、最后的荣誉而战。
后天一点，最后一战。准备已大致妥当，等待的就是杀敌那一刻。只要结果不是战死沙场马革裹尸，能回家乡见父老的话，无论这十七年来胜多胜少，荣多辱多，一切将成为过去。二十四岁了，是时候闯另一片天地了，虚拟战场里的种种，是否公平，是否残忍，是否完整，是否有价值，是否带来启示，都已不重要。
This is the first time I got so many helps from others in my studies. In wireless, I got a nice prof that offers me re-take of CA; in VHDL I got a nice prof who is very linear; in RF, I got nice friends that lend their CA answers for me to copy; in ENS, I got nice group members to work with; in Embedded, I asked Yip Kuan for favours so many times. But yet, I struggles to motivate myself to study.
Maybe my source of motivation is still there, but it is greatly overshadowed by FEAR. The fear of not doing well in exam. How a person, not attending lectures for whole semester, left with 4 days to study for 3 subjects, still can do well in exam? I don't think I'm that smart. And my last sem's results weren't that encouraging to suggest that I can pass this challenge.
Arsenal's playing now. By right I should be watching. And yet I am not in mood to do anything, not even in mood to slack. I'm terrified now. These few days I don't think I will be sleeping well. The only thing I can rely now, is my fear.
Isn't fear the greatest source of motivation?
Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes your confidence soars sky high, sometimes you doubt your self worth. This fluctuation is greater during life's transitional period, especially at present times that most of us are going to graduate.
Where does one's confidence comes from? I don't have time to find a book and learn about it but I was told before that it comes from two sources:
a) One did something that one feels proud of. So, being the same person, one shall be confident that one could do it again.
b) One improves oneself daily by daily and live as a better person compared to the past.
So long as you are good at something, you will feel positive. How good is good? Better than other person is good, relatively. Everyone compare themselves with others in heart in some aspects, don't you? Thank goodness we have multiple intelligences. It virtually rules out the possibility of a person being worst candidate in every aspects.
I thought of the strong Chinese classic words: 天生我才必有用.
I googled the translation of it and it returns:
i) Heaven has endowed me with talents for eventual use.
ii) All things in their being are good for something.
Nah, both translations sound weak. It doesn't resonate as strong. Does this sound better?
But it's not as strong as "be yourself!" though it means differently. Words are, the shorter the stronger.
Sometimes it's good to ponder and wonder are we really good at something. Because by doing so, we are already better than some people.
Cogito, ergo sum. (Latin)
I think, therefore I am. (English)
我思故我在。
I've noticed that a lot of my recent words are unnecessarily long. Articles are written to be red, so it should be precise and easy to understand. I love "simple language" but I have problems in practising it. It needs more careful attention to write short than to write long. When time allows, I will study on George Well's article "Politics and the English Language" carefully. Before that, let's just get to the summarized six rules for writers mentioned in that article:
Today morning I will have my first exam for ENS (Engineers and Society) but I have yet to finish my studies. Too many things to be memorized.
My mind is full and so can't intake any more. I went to check my web mail and received an interesting email about my missed CA.
I missed my wireless CA and subject prof wanted to give a re-test for absentee yesterday, provided a valid proof to justify absence is there. I didn't have one (because I overslept after mid-night burning) and I sent an email to ask whether can I take it without proof. The prof sent another email to all, restated the need for valid proof. So I assumed that I weren't eligible for the re-test since he didn't reply my email personally.
After the re-test he noticed I didn't take it and he replied my email and asked me to go for a re-test today. Although without any valid proof, he considers to let me take the re-test with some mark deductions as a penalty. He said :"It's waste for you to get 0 marks for CA2 since you got 10 marks for CA1."
What a nice prof! I really appreciates his efforts and concerns for students. Sadly I will be having exam today. Things took a turn a bit too late. Nonetheless, the boost gave to me from this event couldn't be greater. I am inspired to get the rest of 80 in the final. Haha, the mission of rushing course materials in few days and doing well in exam is quite unlikely but I shall keep the confidence high first.
Alas, let's fight for the first paper first.
A short recap from HRM - Psychology part.
"Mood", different from "emotions", is less specific and less likely to be triggered by a particular event; but triggered by a series of events. Mood is a relatively lasting affective state.
In short, you get "bad mood" when a series of shits happened. These shits, if does not happen back to back, are immaterial. But when they add up, they become holy shit, and you feel "moody".
Having said so, it's pretty ironical. Why immaterial things add up become material? One possible reason is that they may seem immaterial intuitively but contradict with your beliefs, indirectly or unconsciously. Another reason is that different combination of these shits give rise to a false sense hood of something you fears. So there's no clear escape from this affective state without help from "reason".
These things are called shits because they are undesirable. They are undesirable because they preclude your desire. So either you disassociate them with your desire (trying to persuade yourself that they are not related), or you reduce your desire.
After all, it's a matter of "desire". Somehow an analogy between "Warlord and Lands" and "Human and Desires" appears in my mind. Sometimes warlord expands lands, sometimes warlord concedes lands, depending on situation; but size of the land matters most in warlord's heart. When a warlord no longer cares about land and doesn't control any land, he/she becomes a hermit.
There's no way human can become saint, and so desires will forever remain the central theme of our heart. The question is, which part to expand? which part to concede?
More of contents about career. I label this article with "career" because it's personal, not like "job", which is tied to company. Career can be "job" AND/OR "entrepreneurship" AND/OR "something else".
An interesting article about job by Guy Kawasaki, namely "The Nine Biggest Myths of the Workplace by Penelope Trunk". I found the first point, "you may live happily even you hate your job", very interesting.
Definitely I agrees that optimism level and personal relationships affects happiness much more than job. But how much you correlates your happiness with your job? That's down to your belief.
For me, the first important reason to work is to earn my own living. It couldn't be false, could it? Whether could I find interests in doing it is subjected to circumstances and chances. Of course I will feel great if I am doing a job that I like, but for most of the job, you don't know whether you like or not until you experience it, and after experienced it, you could find something that can fulfil your satisfaction. To get a task done in a style by itself gives much satisfaction.
Because for every job, there's a reason why it exists. Think not of the job itself, but of who might be affected by your job.
I am actually reading materials on the topic of "entrepreneurship" on-line, as part of my preparation for ENS. I've been linking contents from lectures, questions from assignments and pass year papers, and also web sources to predict what sorts of questions could be asked. I've got a flow chart in my mind but I shouldn't bother you too much with it.
"Entrepreneurship" has become a buzz word for new generation like us. We are fascinated by the success stories of Google, Facebook, and bla. We imagine ourself to emulate their success (at least for one second), craving for the "great superb fascinating idea". In fact, quite of a lot of us had at least took some actions. But how many of us will succeed in the future? To answer this question, we need to understanding few things.
Firstly, are entrepreneurs born or made? The same old debate of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) applies to this context too. Both are essential but which factor is more important? Personally I think environment is way more significant. What you believe now is shaped by what you had experienced from the past.
Secondly, assuming entrepreneurs are bred by circumstances, what is your drive to achieve success and how strong it is? For people with backgrounds like us, that leads to two possible scenarios and reasons behind:
Scenario A: Tried out on few ideas but failed to create big success. Motivation eventually faded off and thus giving up the idea of becoming entrepreneur.
Possible explanations:
- The true reason behind to become an entrepreneur is not strong enough to keep motivation high. Why do you want to an entrepreneur in the first place? Money? Success? Do not want to work for others? Want to help others? Better future for kids? Can benefits from fulfilling this desire exceed all possible costs?
- It's hard to get out from comfort zone. For most of us that are going to finish tertiary education and graduate soon, we didn't grow up in a harsh upbringing. We never experienced famine so we never really appreciates food. We never experienced poverty so we never really appreciates money. We take a lot of things for granted. I am not saying that we are living in a wrong way but that to a certain extent reduces our alertness and weakens our drive.
- "If you have nothing then you have nothing to lose". For many successful entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship is their only opportunity to establish themselves in the society. For us, it's just one of the choice. The difference in mentality, desire and motivation couldn't be greater.
Scenario B: Successful entrepreneurs.
Possible explanation: Needless. Meaningless.
My opinion is that default scenario for us is scenario A. How to reach scenario B? If only we have a burning desire for this, at the expense of other life elements. And then a totally new mind set. Environment that had brought us up may be a curse in disguise if we don't aware of our own weaknesses.
But anyway, be entrepreneur or not, I believe that all of my friends will have a bright future. Cheers.
This Friday was the day where the "last lecture" was conducted, which symbolized the end of a student's life. My "last lecture" is a bit different with others as it was conducted probably one or two months ago.
We usually summarize things towards the end of something. Throughout these 4 years, I think I have improved my consistency. Where was it? In skipping lectures. :)
- First year: Didn't attend 99.99% (can't say 100% though) of lectures in Sem 2 due to dota practices, activities and catching up in studies.
- Second year: Attended 70% of the lectures via lecture recording.
- Third year: Attended 50% of the lectures during exchange programme, of which 80% of time spent fishing.
- Final year: Didn't attend lectures since week X.
Why am I so keen to skip lectures? Here are my top 10 reasons of skipping lectures:
*Please don't read it if you are a good student as it is potentially hazardous to you.
1. Trapped in a dream in early morning unconsciously.
2. Staying up late consciously.
3. There are only morning classes in a day.
4. There are not only morning classes, but it's better to be consistent.
5. Sacrificed for activities, assignments and discussions.
6. It's better away than late.
7. Sleeping in room is better than sleeping in lectures.
8. There are lecture recordings.
9. Lecturers don't know how to teach.
10. Studying notes before going lectures makes you understand no more than what are inside notes, not studying notes before going lectures makes you understand nothing.
Your reason? :)
Wanted to change to this template few days ago, but weird coding errors occurred... The template that works for others simply don't work for me, and I kept getting the frustrating coding error screen. Different coding error at different times, like buying lottery number. @.@ Got help from friend but problem remained. That's why these few days my blog were so merry, got flower la, got butterfly la, got coffee la and got default blogger plain template of course.
Now that I solved my problem, I think different widgets are the main culprit of coding errors.
- Templates that so many people are using by right should work. The common difference is the use of different widgets.
- Some widgets have spirit (perhaps because of staying in the blog long enough to develop it) and refuse to be deleted. When you try to delete it, they call for code bug to help.
- One of these ghostly widget is icon bar that contains "stumble" and other popular sites, usually put at the end of the post.
- If you don't expand widgets in the editing "html" page, and just upload new XML, this widget will follow the new master. Even if the new XML is blogger default. So you can see how strong can this spirit actually can be.
- But if you opt to delete the html codes and paste the new codes manually, the problem could be solved. Because you intervene and choose not to let computer do all the things for you on your behalf, like allowing such spirit to continue staying. '
Moral of this mystic story is that next time when you got errors in changing template, check out previous widgets first.
For gunners who felt the same: (Picture from arseblog and that really sums up everything).
It is a tragedy of apocalyptic dimensions, a human catastrophe comparable to the melting of the ice-caps and the devastation of the rainforests rolled into one. Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League and have all but run out of steam in the race for the Barclays Premier League title. Anyone not inclined to lament, mourn and bewail this fact is not in possession of a soul.
You may say that I am exaggerating, but this is about more than mere football. It is about music and poetry, aesthetics and artistry, hope and audacity. Arsène Wenger could have instructed his team to play with the dispiriting pragmatism so beloved of his rival managers, but the mercurial Frenchman was not prepared to betray his nobler ideals, even when it might have improved his club’s chances of success.
Arsenal’s relentless and unadulterated pursuit of beauty has itself been a thing of beauty: a daring, epic and ultimately doomed journey that has taken the English game, against all expectation, into the territory of the artistic. Wenger has done more for neutral supporters in one season — talking spiritually now, talking of our moral fabric — than an eternity of watching the spirit-sapping utilitarianism of men such as José Mourinho and Rafael Benítez.
Wenger’s posse of swashbuckling and tragic youngsters embraced the vision of their leader with the naive enthusiasm of foot soldiers and now they look around themselves at the ruins. But they should not despair. Liverpool, their conquerors on Tuesday night, may go on to lift the European Cup next month, yet what are trophies except meaningless baubles that moth and rust destroy? What Arsenal have achieved this season will endure far longer, if only in the hearts of those of us who have watched them.
Who has been inspired by Benítez’s Liverpool or Avram Grant’s Chelsea beyond the core constituencies of Merseyside and West London, who cheer out of filial loyalty and never from aesthetic appreciation? Who in their right mind could watch a Liverpool or Chelsea performance and find a wide and happy smile arriving on their surprised lips?
This is not an argument that is pro-Arsenal any more than it is anti-Liverpool: Arsenal under George Graham were as dull and draining as Liverpool under Bob Paisley were thrilling. No, it is about celebrating something in Wenger’s team that goes far beyond success and failure; it is about saluting a philosophy that owes as much to Sartre as it does to Rinus Michels. Wenger understands that, in this curious journey called life, there are things that matter beyond the merely functional.
The Frenchman and his players will be feeling something close to desolation. They woke yesterday with their hopes and dreams, which were within grasping distance a few weeks ago, in tatters. But rather than despair, they should celebrate that they have imbued football with an aesthetic meaning that it has not enjoyed since the retirement of Pelé, Carlos Alberto and Co. They are glorious, even though they have been vanquished. They are glorious, perhaps, because they have been vanquished.
There was a time when it looked as if the English game was doomed to be strangled by route-one football. It is visionaries such as Wenger and the evergreen Sir Alex Ferguson who have resisted this calamity. Manchester United’s attacking luminosity and Arsenal’s intricate creativity have offered an alternative vision of the sport that, it must be hoped, will be embraced by a new generation of managers and coaches.
Football is becoming the beautiful game again. And, for that, we must thank, above all, the incomparable Wenger.
So the trilogy of Arsenal vs Liverpool has ended in such a heart-breaking way.
CL Q.final 1st leg: A clear penalty wasn't awarded.
CL Q.final 2nd leg: A dubious penalty was given.
Justice is undone by referees in the names of Liverpool. And they got all the luck. If luck does evens itself, Liverpool should beware of series of bad luck in the future. I bemoan all the misfortunes that fell to the Arsenal team.
If you want to see goals resulted from keeper's long-kick instead of beautiful flowing short passing game, by all mean get Arsenal out of the way. If only such style deserves it.
A sad day for all the gooners. Yelling "referee kelong" is the only solace. Feel 100% proud of the team but nonetheless this kind of defeat is hard to swallow and they will feel very very hard done. Just hope the squad can bounce back asap.
Looking at the positive sides, both goals are contributed by youngsters whom we have so much belief but have yet to blossom that makes others feel that Arsenal's squad depth is not enough.
1st goal, nicely taken by Diaby.
2nd goal, what an amazing run and assist by Walcott.
Salute! And what a sad classic.
Found a website that can input Cantonese words
http://www.cantoneseinput.com/ .
Also found a java applet that allows you to input Cantonese words in your computer from this website
http://home.comcast.net/~jbmbweb/cantoinput/index.html
Both of them using jyutping (粤拼) input method.
Just in the case of you need to type some Cantonese words, without going through troubles of learning 仓颉 or 五笔（简体输入，繁体输出）.
Don't know how long ago Chinese language and other languages were in jeopardy being marginalised and eliminated when it couldn't be typed into computer. But now almost every language has its own non-Unicode input methods.
I still remembered at first a software was needed to store the database for all the characters and to allow user inputs it. There were 2 popular soft wares serving this purpose, namely Chinese Star and NJ Star. When I first arrived at NTU I wasn't able to type in Mandarin as I couldn't find Chinese Star, without knowing that that was actually outdated and replaced by others like 紫光，陈桥, and ec-cetera.
But sooner or later I felt a bit lazy to reinstall these soft wares whenever I need to format my computer. Also it's not available in public computer. So I've decided to use Microsoft IME Pinyin 3.0, although not so willingly. To be more lazy lazier, I decided to use 双拼 instead of 单拼.
My opinion is that this default key map is very dumb. No clear link in between keys. It's just like any other Microsoft products that drive you crazy. It's not the question of "can you be smarter", but "can you be that stupid?".
A quick re-configuration of the key map becomes like that. Since I made this of course I need to say this is much better, LOL. At least, vowels are linked together in some way that make senses. Does that apply to you? I don't know. You tell me, if you try out.
