Assembly of Mars - Exchange

Note: This entry is way, way, way, waaaaaayyyyyyyy overdue. So like, I'm backdating this.

I've several things to write about, so here's a quick list before I forget: gathering, tongue, vivocity, essay.

First up, the follow-up post to the previous. Let's see... Shall I do a detailed write-up or just a condensed version? It's difficult to think when you have an alarm clock that rings incessantly next door, less than 3 metres away from you. The entire fucking neighbouring family is out and no one is gonna stop the clock and its annoying rings. Anyway, I think I'll just stay between the two extremes.

The dinner was supposed to be potluck style and every couple was assigned to being some food. Dear and I were given the simple task of bringing side dishes from Kenny Rogers. We strutted into the restaurant, pointed to 4 different items and voila! All done. Isn't it simple? The only thing was that Dear complained that things used to be cheaper and side dishes were $2.50 a piece when she was working part-time for Kenny Rogers in her teens and now the price has escalated to $5.

The meeting venue was at the fringe of the island, somewhere we call Yishun. Combined with the heavy downpour and the fact that we're running late, it seemed to make most sense taking the exorbitant cab. Which reminds me, who paid for the cab fare huh? I'll clarify this some other day. As we exited the expressway and entered the residential area, I muttered to myself, "Who would want to live in a godforsaken place like this?" Perhaps the rain made the neighbourhood appear shabbier than it really is but I think what the rain did was to really accentuate the fact that the place is shabby. So much for being a ruling party ward, eh?

And so we arrived. Not the earliest but the not the last as well. When we arrived at our host's place - the home of Yumei and Mark - greetings, handshakes and introductions were exchanged. They had a really neat Christmas tree that was glowing softly in one corner of the living room. The rest start arriving soon and the diversity of food slowly increased. From Indian nasi briyani and curry chicken to Kenny Rogers side dishes and ham platter, to carrot cake (not the fried type, mind you) and sushi, I think what we have there can rival that of an international buffet spread. Oh, did I mention that we even have a nicely crafted log cake that melted before we even ate it? It sure made a great dessert. A mushy one, though.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, such gatherings are more of a girl's thing. Thus, it is almost inconceivable that the boys will end up having more fun than them and the truth isn't far from that postulation. The girls had a great time exchanging their presents, laughing and posing for pictures. It's like, hmm, an all-girls slumber party with 6 boyfriends as spectators. The boys did exchange presents too, as stipulated by our hosts, but I don't think we had more fun than them.

Later on, Dear asked me if I minded her being crazy and wild with her friends. My reply was that I didn't mind. She then went on to ask, "So, aren't you worried that you are not seeing the real side of me? As in, I behave one way with my friends and another with you." I told her both sides are real and neither is any less real than any other sides of her. We all play different roles at different point in our lives and by extension, our behaviors differ greatly as well.

In exchange for the brute strength of a grizzly bear, the agility of a chimpanzee, the acute sense of smell of a canine, the excellent eyesight of an eagle and the speed of a gazelle, homo sapiens gained the unique ability to imagine and innovate. More importantly, to empathize with others. No matter how one behaves, others will invariably be able to discern whether the behavior is genuine or phony. That's how it goes with Dear; I can feel her being genuine and sincere, regardless of the situation she is in or the behavior she adopts. Therefore, every different side I perceive, is real.

And so the night ended, with everyone making our own ways back. The relentless rain was still going strong but it hardly dampened any spirits. Looking back at the gathering, I think it turned out pretty darn well. Another attendance shouldn't be another problem for me. Or so, I hope.

Assembly of Mars - Prelude

Before I go into the main topic of this post, just a quick update on my ulcer outbreak. No, they're not gone ye. In fact, far from healing, they have decided to occupy more prime estate on my tongue, destroying the neighboring taste buds in their conquest for land grab.
















Right side of my tongue. All show signs of inflammation and growth.















Left side of my tongue. Th condition here isn't any better. The smaller ones seem to be thinking of forming strategic alliances to boost their capacity to cause pain.
















The underside. The original 4 gain resources to grow - presumably from bacteria and other organisms living in my oral cavity - and given the low barriers of entry, another new entrant decided to join in the fun.

As you can clearly see, there is no improvement whatsoever. I'm expecting every single one of them to get bigger. Let's see how things go, eh?

OK, now to the main topic. I'm due to attend a gathering later in the evening, something I call Assembly of Mars. It started sometime last week when I got a call from Dear.

*Mobile rings*
Me: Ya, what's up?
Dear: Hey, next week we got a gathering leh.

Me: Oh... OK. Great, have fun then.
Dear: The girls suggested bringing boyfriends.

Me: Ermm.... Can I don't go? (This is my classic line, by the way.)
Dear: No, you must come. You have no choice. (This is her classic line to counter my classic line.)

Me: OK lor. So what will we be doing?
Dear: Hmm... Eat, talk, play games. I also don't know.

Me: You want me to go, can. But at least tell me the itinerary. You go find out more then let me know, K?
Dear: OK, can.

So, there you have it. Dear and her girlfriends decided to meet up for a meal and guess what, boyfriends included. So, I'm in as well. By now, it's pretty evident why the title of this post is as it is.

Honestly, I'm not too big on this idea. I bet none of my fellow counterparts are. The reason is simple. Men are hunters. We don't sit around in caves and talk. The only time we do that is when we come back from a kill and sit around a fire to share the spoils. The other time we gather is to fight, either for mating rights or territory.

So, meeting up and exchanging small talk is more of a women thing. This is so hardwired in our biology for millions of years and I guess it's pretty difficult to change. That said, I'm quite OK with it la. As I told Dear, it's a "make or break" kind of thing. If it turns out bad, I'm probably never going to attend another such Assembly.

I was playing Magic: The Gathering on my computer recently and as this meeting date came nearer, I thought of a great card that can be used.

Name of card: Assembly of Mars
Casting cost: 3 colorless mana, 3 red mana
Card type: Sorcery
Card abilities: For each Girlfriend creature you control, put a 2/1 Boyfriend token in play.
Card quote: Men may be hateful at times but always indispensable.

Cool card, right? It's like doubling your creature count but only for a low cost of 6 mana. Beats those creature creation cards like The Hive and Serpent Generator.

Oh yes, another card that came to my mind was an inspiration from my ulcers.

Name of card: Ulcer Outbreak
Casting cost: X colorless mana, 2 green mana
Card type: Sorcery
Card abilities: For each X you pay, target player is unable to cast any spells for X turns.
Card quote: Let's hear you intonate that arcane verse with your swollen tongue.

This card is a killer. Without the means to cast spells, a player is as good as dead. I initially wanted it to be a black spell but I figured out that some may just spam 4 Dark Rituals at one go and ensure nothing but a sure win. Green seems to be fine. After all, ulcers can be considered a nature occurrence, right? haha~

UIcer outbreak

As you can see from the title, this post is about a very common condition that never fails to ail me at the most inappropriate time. But this time round, it's not just one lousy sore; it has brought its entire extended family along. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so take a look a the pictures and I can spare myself the agony of speaking. Well, I'm not really talking per se when I'm typing but those darn ulcers hurt nonetheless.
















Right side of my tongue. About 6 here.














Left side of my tongue. About 6 too. Hey, talk about even distribution!
















The underside is not spared either. Interestingly, they are evenly distributed here too - 2 on each side. It was 4 initially, anyway. It looks like they are on their merry way to merge to increase their prowess.

So, there you have it. All 16 of them residing on my precious tongue. What started out as tiny bumps have now become full-blown annoyances. This has GOT to be the worst ulcer outbreak ever! I remember telling Dear, "I really don't know which is better: one big one or multiple smaller ones." She replied, "Which hurt more?" "They all hurt the same!" I screamed, nearly ripping my hair off, upset not by her response but by my hapless state.

Am I really helpless? Well, not exactly. There's a way to cure these pesky ulcers quick and I don't mean salt or watermelon frost. Through the innovative use of technology, one can go under the knife and have the ulcers treated instantly. Yup, a surgery but not the conventional type. It's more of a surgery whereby a laser is used to cauterize the ulcers. You can see a simulation of how it works here. I guess I'll go check out the rates for such a procedure before heading down to the dentist to have him/her burn out those irritating sores.

Upgrading works

No, this post is not about ranting about the the election carrot, i.e. housing upgrading, but rather, it's about my computer. Well, not that I have nothing to complain about the upgrading plans but I think my efforts are better spent on doing a show-and-tell on my upgrading works, as compared to doing a commentary on the government's upgrading works - something that is really a function of the number of gullible Singaporeans around. Read "citizens"; PR or foreigners not included.

I went to Sim Lim Square today to get some after market parts, specifically fans. I didn't get anything yesterday, as that was more of a reconnaissance trip. So, here's what I bought.















Ta-da! Two fans, one 80mm, another 120mm, from Cooler Master. I didn't really mind their light colors or fan colors, as all I wanted was new fans to replace my stock ones. The 80mm cost 12 bucks while the 120mm set me back by 19.

After visiting several PC modding forums and websites, I felt kinda enthusiastic about the notion of PC modding too.I've seen super cool PCs with low operating temperatures or silent PCs with massive heatsinks but I have yet seen one that is clean. Thus, my plan was to improve the the overall airflow within the casing, to minimize the amount of dust going into the casing and the noise coming out of the casing.

To minimize dust intake is easy. All I need to do is to seal the wholes and to make sure that the air that gets into the casing is filtered. A few weeks ago, I've already covered the holes in the side panels and the rear part of the casing but as zealous as I was, I missed out a spot. A big one.

See the gaping whole at the bottom of the front casing? I decided to tape up the smaller holes too, just to be sure.







The end result looks not too neat but it does solve the problem.










Here's how the interior of my PC looks like. Pretty cluttered, isn't it? As you can see, I've already folded the IDE cables, short of using round ones but everything still looks messy. All that clutter isn't really going to help airflow much, so I have to reduce it somehow.

My first step was to install the new fans. I can barely contain my excitement as I ripped the plastic packaging apart. Incidentally, the packaging of the 120mm was easier to open so I install it first.

The empty 120mm bay right beside the CPU. This bay was designated as an exhaust and I leave it as that.








The 120mm fan in place. Luckily, the power cable was just long enough to reach the 3 pin power socket at the opposite of the motherboard, so I used that instead of the the 4 pin Molex connectors.

To reduce the vibration noise, I used rubber washers as spacers to decouple the fan from the casing.

The fan in operation. The LED is blue but like I said, it can be rainbow or no LED and I still wouldn't have bothered about it. On hindsight, the LED does add more "life" to the good old casing.



Next up, the 80mm side fan.
The 80mm mounted on the interior side of the side panel. Again, I used rubber washers as spacers. This fan acts as an intake source.





Same 80mm fan but viewed from the outside. What I really liked about the new fans is not the LED lights but the cool hologram.






The 80mm had white LED but what is really cool is the hologram! It looks real neat when it spins.








But I guess I won't be admiring the hologram for long. A piece of Scotch Brite mounted in front of the fan to act as a filter. It is supported by two protruding cable ties. Doesn't look tidy but I'll work on it.


I really wanted to get those filters that are used in vacuum cleaners but those are too expensive for my liking. A pack of delicate duty Scotch Brite has three pieces and best of all, I can wash and reuse them. Save the planet, right?















Another air intake was the top of the casing. I continued using the stock 90mm fan as I had trouble finding 90mm fans with cool looking lights. Thermaltake offers 90mm fans but I don't feel like paying a premium for fans without any special effects, although I mentioned that the lights were secondary.

Top view of the 90mm intake fan. I used only 1 cable tie as gravity would help me to keep the filter in place.







Filter in place. See how lazy I am? I simply left the whole piece of Scotch Brite untouched and uncut and used it as it is.






The third air intake is a passive one. I removed two 3½ front panels that was meant for floppy or Zip drives and placed an uncut piece of Scotch Brite there.




There are actually two fan bays at the bottom of the front casing but they are obstructed by the power/reset button panel. So, I guess this is a good alternative too.

After the fans were installed, the next step was to do a rearrangement of stuff. First, I swapped the places of the two hard drives. Originally, my PATA hard drive was below the SATA drive and that caused some minor problems when it comes to cable arrangement. I also removed the audio cable connecting the CD drive to the motherboard. Heck, I don't even listen to music CDs nowadays, so I have no use for that cable.

I shifted the PATA drive below and unfolded the IDE cable. I flattened the cable to the bottom of the casing with a right-angle fold and I think it looks a lot tidier than it was.



As for the SATA cable, I routed it to the other side of the hard drive bay and secured it there with a cable tie.







SATA drive connected.












Upping the ante on my war against clutter, I removed two components. First, the SPDIF output slot. I figured that since I'm not using it, I might as well have it removed to cut down on the clutter. I removed the connectors but kept the steel plate there and sealed the openings with masking tape.

The second was the rear USB and Firewire ports. Again, I have never used them and they have to go too. It was easier to tape up the opening than unscrewing the connectors, so I too the easy way out.

All in all, I must say that the upgrading works had been pretty successful. Though my CPU unit is still making about the same amount of noise, I'm sure I'll be able to cut it down. I'll have the stock 90mm fan replaced with a silent. Or perhaps I may go get some control panel, e.g. Cooler Master Aerogate, to control the fan speed and the noise generated. Airflow-wise, I think it's much better than it was. As for dust intake, I guess only time will tell.

Here's a final look at the revamped system innards.

Honour(s) me

Tomorrow's definitely a day to remember. Why? For I'm having my final exam. When I say "final", I don't mean "the last one for the semester"; I mean "the very last one I'm possibly going to take in my entire life". After tomorrow, I'm considered a varsity graduate. Well, I haven't really gotten the degree per se but hey, I'm sure to pass the exams, considering the fact that I have done all my assignments dutifully.

A few, well actually quite a number, has questioned me on why I don't go for the honours program or do a double major. My answers usually leave them a little baffled - I think honours is unimportant and writing a thesis doesn't contribute much to my development. I'm not putting down all those professors and researchers who publish their works for a living but writing a thesis just anin't my cup of tea. As for double majors, let's just say that NUS Business School doesn't really offer majors that truly interest me and leave it at that. Apart from the management major, that is.

If my grandma is still alive, she'll be so proud of me. Among her grandchildren, I guess I'm her favourite one. But that's just because she brought me up when I was a toddler and we were close. She was also the one of the two who didn't oppose my decision to go to a polytechnic. Everyone was yapping on why polytechnic will deprive me of "chances" and why JC will be better. Heck! I proved everyone wrong, didn't I? Damn, it feels great. The other one who didn't oppose my decision was my dad. In a strange twist of fate, both of them are dead and ironically, the ones who support my decision are no longer around to witness the end result, while those naysayers are, well, still around.

Truth to be told, I do feel a little lost. This is vastly different when I graduated from polytechnic. Back then, I knew somehow I'm going to come back into the academic circle and resume what I do best - study. Now, I'm not so sure. Perhaps I'll further my studies. But the place is unlikely to be NUS. Despite what the advertisements and reports saying how "world-class" NUS is, apparently it isn't "world-class" enough for the Singapore's top scholars and they have to travel all the way to places like the States or London to earn a degree. I believe I should take a leaf out of the scholars' books and seek a more "world-class" university.

It seems like the most logical course I should take next, is to find a job. I hate finding a job. To be more precise, I abhor the job hunting process. Interviews, false hopes and sending resumes blindly are just some of the things I dislike. Perhaps I should place an advertisement in the papers and advertise myself. Interested hirers would call me and I would interview them instead. That's just a thought, though. Alternatively, I can be my own boss, i.e. to do a start-up. Well, I'll need a good idea to get things started and of course, a good team to run the business. And maybe more.

Alright, I think that's enough. Let me get back to my revision for tomorrow's paper.