Thursday, September 29, 2005

midterm season...

Have two midterms tomorrow. Graph Theory and Topolgy. Pretty fun; unfortuante that they are on the same day.

Anyway, the format for graph theory is pretty interesting, A/P Tay will be testing on Chapter 1, connectivity. Full open book. And then he won't be testing this chapter in the exam. Wierd. The last time I sat for one of exams, Geometry: Ancient to Modern, I failed it. But passed the re-test... so not so bad. Wonder what it will be like tomorrow.

As for Topology, everything is fine from an analysis and metric space standpoint; nothing but definitions. But the minute the algebra (abstract algebra that is) comes in... *bleah*. Unfortuantely (for me), the algebra is where topology gets really interesting. U-liang, if you go to graduate level you really should take this module, you will see analysis and algebra coming together.

Anyway, format is closed book with help sheet with 4-6 true/false and 3-4 standard type questions. But as some of you may know, a simple sounding one line question can have a proof that is a few pages long. But I doubt he will ask those type of questions anyway. And yeah... true/false questions are not that easy to score!!! And I rather it be completely open or completely closed (hehe.. sounds like metric spaces) then I don't have to copy a helpsheet, not much use anyway.

Anyway, been working on my honours project, preparing formy honours talk in 2 weeks time. Seems a long way away, but I am really starting to wonder what I should put in it, been jumping around the proofs so much that I haven't really proofed anything yet. Most are partial proofs, or rather proofs that are very close to completion just need some re-organisation and will be done.

Need to get some inspiration for my science of music project. Thinking of composing a song in some weird timing. Marvin, "Marching Season" by Yanni is in 7/8 right??? Trying to compose something as weird as that, then will be unique! :)

MAW

From Ryan's blog...

My first attempt:

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

Second attempt:

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

hmm... not much better...

Third attempt:

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

getting worse... not good...

Fourth attempt:

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

this is shameful... loosing to the arts people

Fifth attempt:

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

slightly better...another day perhaps! hehe...

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

in Step

yup... changed the address to my blog. Now I can truly call it my own blog. Didn't want to hog the One Voice name and didn't want to give the impression that the old site was still a "worship team" blog.

Anyway, the blog is still the same, except for layout. I will still post the usual kind of stuff that I post here. But in addition, the name change kind of gives a little more freedom to the kind of stuff I can post. So, I will post a little more personal stuff. Yup, the blog is becoming a completely personal one.

So why "In Step"?

It's taken from Galatians 5:25, which is the theme verse of the worship team. I choose the phrase "inStep" to reflect my personal desire to continue moving in step with the Spirit. Next year is going to be a very exciting one for me. And my desire is truly to move to where the Spirit is. Also, Galatians 5 is about the Fruit of the Spirit which are the qualities we should all have.


EDIT: Realised I forgot to disable the comments. But I think I will enable them from now on, to allow more freedom in replies.

And yes... linking policy... if you have noticed the number of links has increased a little bit. Here is my policy on linking, a blog is not a private journal. It can potentially be read by 6.2 billion people worldwide. So, if I find your blog, I will link it to this blog. At by the same measure you are free to link my blog.

If you don't want me to link your blog, please post on the tagboard, I will respect your privacy and remove the link. But please do bear in mind that your blog is not private! Keep it password protected if you want to make it private or simpler still, just keep a proper diary or journal.

Monday, September 26, 2005

moving...

Will be moving this blog to another address soon. Will inform those who linked me of the new site by posting on your tagboards.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

anyone old enough??

This post to de-stress after a short holiday. Spent the whole afternoon doing topology. It was fine doing the analysis part, epsilon-delta etc, but when the algebra appeared...lost...and I have to look through past module notes on find out how to prove that a certain group is the subgroup of another group...

Anyway, enough math, was looking through my old emails. Found this one. Anyone of you out there old enough to remember these things? hehehe...

Remember these? Well, This really brings back so much memories. For those who studied in Singaporean primary schools...Heartwarming and a little funny... the things we used to do... 54 things for Singaporean teenagers. Sit,enjoy and think back about the past...Were you one of these?

1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silver hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Ninja turtles and Smurfs too.

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a colored mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too.

3. You know what's Bin(1) Fen(1) Ba (1) San(1) is all about.

4. You know what SBC stands for.

5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV.

6.Internet? What the hell is that? So you thought a decade or more ago.

7. You find your friends with pagers and handphone cool in Secondary school.

8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushion is red. The big red bell gives a loud BEEEP! when pressed.There are colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on the ticket.

9. Your favourite actor and actress is Huang Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next is Lee Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman.

10. You've probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who's Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable.

11. You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.

13. Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.

14. You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.

15. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents per pack) and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.

16. You watched TV2(also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the Hong Kong serials you watched on TV2.

18.Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even SweetValley High and Malory Towers.

19.Civics and Moral Education was "Hao3 Gong1 Min2".

20. KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates and let you use metal forks and knives.

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS 'super white'...you just couldn't bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.

22. Catching was the IN thing and twist the magic word.

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. (jotter books???)

24. CDIS was your best friend.

25. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths.

26. Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis balls in the basketball court or play something that uses tennis ball to hit other players known as "HUM TAM BOLA" during recess /after school or >>chateh for that matter

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chateh and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too...

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives.

30. Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally.

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and frog jumps.

32. Every children's day and national day you either get pins or pens with 'Happy Children's Day 1993' or dumb files with Happy National Day 1994'.

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.

34. Chinese teachers were always old, boring and damn fierce looking.

35. Your form teacher taught you maths, science and english.

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality.

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

38. Famous Chinese singers were only Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai

39. School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.

40. There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday.

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag along in case someone gets lost at Orchard Road.

43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.

44. Handkerchiefs were a must for both genders

45. Collecting notebooks and all kinds of stationery was a popular thing.

46. Autograph books were loaded with "Best Wishes", "Forget Me Not", and small poems like "Bird fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you, hard to forget".

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say "You talk somemore, I write your name ah!"

48. There were at least 40 people in one class.

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried.

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable.

51.Eraser wars! white erasers with the green top and a letter of the alphabet and a little picture on it. or different country flags

52. The dentist bus

53. Boxy pencil cases with buttons that opened different compartments. usually some kind of spongy material beneath the 'soft' plastic exterior...(I think I still have mine somewhere!)

54. Getting our IC's in primary six! a rite of passage

Monday, September 19, 2005

BGR?! (Part Two)

I ended off part one by saying that I don't think God intended for any of us to go through 10 relationships and end up bringing scars into our eventual marraige. I think this naturally begs the question of "Then, what did God intend?" Yeah... that's what this post is for.

It seems that nowadays, the buzzword is "purpose"; we have "Purpose Driven Life", "One Purpose Camp" and so on. So, let me abuse the word again and say that what I think God intended for anyone to have in any relationship is a purpose. A purpose, a direction and a destination.

The Bible is all about relationships. There are so many examples of relationships in the Bible, and the ultimate one is abour God's love for His people; our relationship with Him. In every relationship there was a purpose, an ulterior motive if you will.

For example, with Jesus and His disciples, He had a purpose for them, for them to carry on His work and spread the Gospel to the world. When He met the woman at the well, His purpose was to save her and through her, the entire Samaritan town.

If you talk about romantic relationships, well, Adam and Eve; their purpose was to propogate mankind and populate the earth. David and Bathsheba, well, didn't start off right, but through their son Solomon, God built the temple.

In the context of a romantic relationship, the key question is really "where is this relationship heading?" In my own personal opinion, which many would probably disagree with, if it is not headed for marraige, then why continue?

If you are not yet in such a relationship but you do like someone, the the question should be, "Do I really see myself with this person for the rest of my life?". Sometimes, we fall for a person whom we are not even friends with, that isn't a Godly relationship, it is wild fantasy.

I ended my last post by saying that it takes two hands to clap. And yes, a BGR takes a lot of sacrifice and commitment. If you are not prepared to work through the differences, if you are not ready to give the time and commitment, if you think that it's going to be a nice bed of roses, no arguments and all, then think again.

I think some of you have read books and the word "courtship" is mentioned. Well, if you have never heard of it, it means (to me at least) to for two people (of opposite sex, to appease my brother on the tagboard) to intentionally persue a relationship which ends in marraige.

But I do think that it is within God's intent for such courtships to end not in marriage. It is not a failure, but a success. It is a Godly relationship that has brought two people closer together as friends, and that they can walk out of it with their purity intact.

This to me is what I think BGR is about. Building Godly Relationships. To find out more, 25 September 2005 Aldersgate Hall, Pentecost Methodist Church, 1.30pm. :)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Concert of Prayer II

Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Aldersgate Hall
Date: 17 September 2005

This concert of prayer will be similar to the one held earlier this year. This time the focus will be praying for the exams. The Book of Hebrews tells us to encourage one another and not give up meeting each other, all the more as the Day of the Lord approaches. So even as the exams draw near, don't forsake the Lord and do come down and pray.

This year's exam season in Singapore is very long, the Polys are already in the midst of exams, in fact TP has already finished theirs. At the moment the O Level prelims are on-going. When that ends, the actual N-levels (and PSLE) begin. When that ends, it will be the normal sec one to sec three exams and JC1 promos. When that ends the actual O and A levels will start. And when that ends, the universities will begin. So, the exam season has started and will last till December.

How great is our God
The splendor of the King
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice
He wraps Himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice, trembles at His voice

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
All will see how great
How great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end, beginning and the end
The Godhead, Three in One
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing how great
How great is our God

(C) written by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

BGR?! (Part One)

The past Sunday was very interesting. The AGM (All Guys Meeting) went pretty well... I think. We knew that we had to bring some of you guys out of your comfort zones in order to get our points across. So, well, we brought ourselves out of our comfort zones as well. Honestly, my heart was beating very fast when I asked THAT question.

But well, all has been said and done. And for the guys, I hope you all have a different perspective on your leaders now. As you can tell, we are far from perfect and we also struggle and are still struggling everyday. In fact, even more so, now that we have much more responsibilities.

But, one thing that we did not address was the issue of BGR, "Boy-Girl Relationships". And like we stated earlier, the reason was because this would be addressed at a more general setting, the BGR forum on 25 September. I am not on the panel, so I am writing this to drum up excitement and give my own personal views on the matter before 25 September. So, here it goes!

Have you all ever sat down to think how people in Biblical times found their "girlfriends" or "boyfriends" and got married? Or did you ever wonder how people 1000 years ago courted each other? We don't really think about it isn't it? Why not? I guess we think it's weird to think about something like that... and yah... it is!

Well, the reason why we think its weird is because for a vast majority of human history and for a vast majority of cultures, the issue of BGR never existed. The norm was arranged marraiges. I believe in many cultures today, arranged marraiges is still the norm.

Well, obviously this really doesn't work today. And so the whole idea of BGR was created by man to serve man's own purpose of trying to "look" for a suitable partner for life. But what happens? We get into a series of relationships and break-ups and carry excess baggages into our subsequent relationships and eventually our marraige. These emotional scars can ruin a marriage and, I believe, is the reason for the rising divorce rate, even among Christians. Do you think that God really inteded it to be this way?

Over the weekend, we asked all of you to write down your questions about BGR so that we can address them at the BGR forum. I've looked at the questions, and I don't know where to hide my face! I can safely say that the girls are asking much better and honest questions than the guys. But then again, this was immediately after the AGM, so maybe the representation was a little skewed.

I'm not going devulge any of the questions. But I will say this, the girls asked questions that pertained to the more emotional and spiritual side of a relationship. The guys, being guys, asked questions that dealt with the physical aspect of relationships. (DUH?!) But either way, I think we've gotten it all wrong. But I won't talk about this anymore. If you want to find out what questions were asked, and what the answers are, then make a date (pun inteded), 25 September 2005, 1.30pm at Aldersgate Hall, Pentecost Methodist Church. Everyone is invited.

I will end this post by making some assertions. Firstly, I don't think God intended for any of us to go through 10 relationships and end up bringing scars into our eventual marriage. Secondly, what I think God intended for us, is to build good relationships with everyone and love each other with the same love Jesus showed for us.

Finally, when you are in a relationship. It takes two hands to clap. And that is a lot harder than we think it is, it takes a lot of time, effort, commitment and sacrifice. I myself and still trying to find my way in all this.

This is part one of a series of posts, and as you can tell, I'm leaving it hanging. Take it as an introduction to a long essay. I will get to my point evetually. As for those questions that were asked, I will give my perspective on the guys questions after the BGR forum

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

for the benefit of those who are "perturbed" by Shaun's questions

this post if to help Shaun's friends visualise what is going on... and to help him realise that there is a mistake in the last paragraph of his latest post...

sine normal

This is a normal sine curve, y=sin(x). But unlike what a lot of people think, the inverse DOES NOT exist for this particular domain.

mod of sine

This is the modulus of a sine curve, y=modulus(sin(x)). This curve has worse properties than a normal sine curve. At least a sine curve is diffentiable everywhere. This one is not differentiable when y=0.

sine of mod

This is, y=sin(modulus(x)). Slightly better than the one above, but still has a point of non-differntiability. But, it's still bounded by 1 and -1. And that's the problem with the 2 basic trigonometric ratios, they are bounded.

exponential

This is an exponential curve! This one is unbounded above, so it will continue to increase and at a very fast rate. Not just that the rate of increase is very special, because when you differntiate the function, you get back itself. That is very special! Show that you are steadily increasing rather than jumping up and down.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

TOFU Blog

Dear all, please note a new link replacing the bible quiz link. It's a link to the TOFU blog! Do check it out, will be posting stuff on it relating to TOFU.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

hahaha...

ripped from Becky's blog...couldn't resist putting it here:

Mechanical Artificial Soldier Hardwired for Immediate Mathematics, Assassination and Rational Observation

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Happy Teacher's Day 2005

In the Light
I keep trying to find the light
On my own apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside me?
I despise my own behaviour
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That's I'm still a man in need of a saviour

I want to be in the Light
As you are in the Light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light

The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Honesty becomes me
(There's nothing left to lose)
The secrets that did rue me
(In your presence are defused)
Pride has no position
(And riches have to worth)
The fame that once did cover me
(Has been sentenced to this earth)
Has been sentence to this earth

(C) Performed by DC Talk

Dedicated to all teachers everywhere! But especially to the late Mr Looi Chin Keong my former JC math teacher who passed away earlier this year. What he taught me has a direct impact on the path my life took after JC, what I am doing now and what I want to do in the future. So may the Lord have mercy on your soul wherever you may be now.