Xiaolongnu On Air

A really interesting day

2010-05-17T01:32:00.005+08:00

The time now is 1.30 am, 16/5 Practical Time, 17/5 Real Time. In the past 24 hours, no, the past 18 hours only, I have witnessed the most interesting, most exciting and most incredible incident that ever happened in a Hall 2 karang guni. After that, life at the Esplanade was also unforgettable.

We started at 8 am and went through the usual karang guni procedure. As everyone knows, every karang guni contains some unusual, unexpected, unforgettable experiences. Freshie year first karang guni happened just after I met with a mega mishap, yet it healed the wound. Freshie year second karang guni ended with us tearing Lionel's underwear in broad daylight. Second year first karang guni gave us a few interesting FHM and spent Song Teck and my roommie Kai Leong a whole night unpacking the stores. Second year second karang guni gave us one motherfucker bastard son of a motherfucker who shouted first at Zhengwen and I first through the shower, then at us directly, then at his son. Third year first karang guni set a record for the most plastic bags "torn on purpose", hope you all get what I mean.

I was just wondering why is it that this karang guni nothing happened, when Wendy and Shulin started saying that four people have been stuck in the lift.

All I can say, after hearing the whole story, is that I would love to be one of those stuck in the lift. Seriously. It would have been a ride of a lifetime.

The maintainence staff eventually rescued them by pulling the lift upwards until the next landing.

After this, I hurried back to Hall to wash, change, make my hair, and proceed down to padang, partly to help Song Teck, partly, well, admittedly, to see how X is doing. (For those who dunno, the real name of the person referred to as X is not important. Suffice to know that X is one of my teammates in the Arts Festival event. For those who are with me in the arts festival, it should be clear that nobody in the whole team has a name starting with X, this code name X is purely ficticious, but, those who are in the team, by now you all should know who X is.)

I arrived at Esplanade, thinking that today I would just be purely an audience and not a staff, though I would of course help, should Song Teck need more reinforcements. After a one and a half hour journey however, I arrived at Esplanade, only to find myself in the middle of a dangerous looking lightning storm.

I raced to the tent, taking stops at bus stops. Obviously, I needed the shelter of the tent after all, and it was fortunate that I brought my pass. X and her partner Y arrived after a while, and they spoke of being hungry. I waited and thought for a while, then decided to do what I intended to do. It was Operation Watermelon all over again. Without a word, I took an umbrella and walked out of the tent, toward the MRT entrance. On the way, I messaged X.

Xiaolongnu to X: Mcdonalds ok with u? Help me ask Y and whoever havent eaten.

X to Xiaolongnu: No thanks! We're good :D

I know the truth was that she did not want to trouble me.

Xiaolongnu to X: Ok. Anyway i bought some nuggets to share. So if u all hungry later just take.

X to Xiaolongnu: Thanks!

Xiaolongnu to X: This is called welfare. (: Welcome to Hall life. Hope u are not dripping wet out there...

End.

I did it right, I think.

Common Misjudgments People Make About Me

2010-04-09T04:46:00.004+08:00

I am not weird, just different.

I am not extreme, just passionate.

I am not desperate, just object oriented.

I am not trying to act smart, I am just being myself.

I do not mean to make people uncomfortable, I just follow my feelings.

I do not seek popularity, nor riches, they are all part of a greater goal.

I do not desire having a different perspective. I just have a different perspective.

I am not violent. I just like to swear.

I am neither a maths freak nor a maths genius. I am just a humble student, a Hall resident.

I am not thinking too much. I just have a good memory.

I do not seek attention, I only seek help.

I never feel uncomfortable. In its place, all the three letter and four letter words come out.

I do not never learn. I am learning, just slower than those who are born with what I was never born with.

I kill myself not when I am weak, but when there is really nothing much left to live for.

I am honest not when I cannot control or lie, but when I want to look for help before it is all too late.

A wise girl once told me, "Think of those things that make you happy. This way, even if you cannot be happy 24/7, at least you will be happy most of the time." For years, I have thought this way. But now, it seems like whatever happy memories that I have are tainted with the regrets of what I could have but did not have.

I sometimes wake up wanting to continue sleeping. That you are this uncomfortable with me, is reason alone for me to wish to keep sleeping forever. Legend has it that De Moivre sleeps more and more towards the final days of his life. I am already heading toward this path. Go on, continue to be uncomfortable. Continue to avoid, and you will be sure to one day succeed. For you will literally drive me to my grave. When that happens, you will truly have avoided me, forever.

Always the good and innocent suffer

2010-04-08T01:40:00.008+08:00

For every system there exists couples. We have couples in Hall, among course mates, in electives, in activities. And for every system there exists couples such that for all other people in the system, these couples are the envy of everyone else.

This is especially so for couples of the popular guy and popular girl type. Typically, we have a guy who knows how to talk a lot of cock, everyone very interested in the things that he has to say, knows how to use body language, and a girl who is either very pretty or has very good interpersonal skill, usually both.

But what happens, when things do not work out between the couple?

Popular couple break ups usually are much more dramatic, inreconcilable, and painful and scarring, than ordinary couples. I happen to have a friend, girl, who was involved in two difficult relationships in two years.

This girl came to NTU not green, like most of the girls of my batch, but red, with a guy that she knew just before coming to NTU. I got to know her during a school event in our freshie year, and mere hours later, I met the guy. This guy is a typical charisma. A tough, sporty man, supposedly good looking, with a smile and confidence that is typically the type that would attract girls. But when I saw him, I thought, there was something wrong about him. I could not pinpoint it. It was like in Jedi terms, the Force sensitive part of my brain prompted me that there was something wrong.

It turned out that I was quite right. I realized that he was a jealous bloke who simply did not like anyone to get close to the girl. There was once when he was trying to help the girl carry a whole load of lunch packets up a little hill in NTU, when they found that there was simply not enough manpower. I did the obvious thing of pulling out a plastic bag from my bag, for I was prepared. The girl was mildly surprised and thanked me, and mentioned that "I came well prepared." I looked at her to appreciate her compliment. The guy gave a weird little look as though to say "What are you doing? Are you having designs on her?" This gesture was unmissed by me.

The dubious nature of this guy was further proved later by one little incident after another, as was his lack of thoughtfulness. The girl, meanwhile, was a very innocent, endearing and complying girl.

Exam period came. From what I know, the girl had something on her mind, and therefore did not do very well. I do not know exactly what it is, but I suspect it was the guy, giving her problems. Should this be true, this is definitely the thing about him that I most cannot forgive.

They broke up soon after freshie year ended. And almost immediately, being green for merely weeks, the girl was red again.

This second guy was better than the first. About a year later, an acad year to be exact, they broke up, or perhaps I should say they were never truly together.

I would say, unbiasedly, that this girl's uni life has been scarred by relationships quite as badly as those who want but cannot find. And her story, I feel, is a true tragedy, and finely illustrates how the best of people sometimes suffer the worst fates.

Somebody told me that he pities this girl. I agree with him. This girl, given her personality, did not deserve this. She is a kind hearted, innocent, gentle girl, with a heart of gold, without any ulterior motives to anyone. She was not a flamboyant girl, a bitch, or a playgirl, and it is really sad that a girl with such archangelic purity and almost child like innocence has to suffer such a fate, have such a terrible past, in the best years of her life.

The story does not end here. For her third year, which is the present, the girl has been green. However, I worry about the quality of some of the guys that she is hanging out with, especially one of them. Yet, I am not sufficiently close enough to advise her directly. Worse, the guy that I am worried about is someone who WAS with another good friend of mine.

Therefore, I write the story here, in the hope that she will somehow get to read it. I have included some details in the story that she, and probably only she, will know that I am talking about her. I have deliberately added some details that uniquely identify her. I hope that she will read this post, and recognize herself, which she will be able to, and finally I hope that when she does meet someone who is good for her, that person will be at least thinking as much as I am. I hope that by writing here, you will understand, and be able to avert a third disaster.

Looking for salvation

2010-04-04T01:54:00.003+08:00

I really hope my salvation will come soon. I am really drowning in my difficulties, and despite every effort to keep myself alive, I feel that I may not last much longer unless this miracle comes to me.

She is in name, my friend. But the way she behaves, I would rather she were my enemy. So much for friendship, but she only talks when I am sian, never talking when I am trying to be happy. Doesn't she realize, that just one day would have fulfilled the prophecy and extended my life? But when I am trying to be happy, she would always be busy, with other people, other things, other people who mean more to her than I do.

I would much rather that she is my enemy. Then I could hate her wholeheartedly, go all out to fight with her, look at her with malice in my life, and not now, with confusion. I tried ways and means to leave hidden messages to her. Is my cryptography really so good that she could not understand?

I think I made my hidden messages clear enough to her, and I think she should know the hidden message, the message that she really better reply to me, better not continue to ignore me.

But this one still small issue. The big issue is worse. Totally dun want to reply. It is not that I dun get it. It is she who doesn't get it. She doesn't get it that I am not going to give up until I die, which I will if she continues to do this. This is literally the end of the world for me, I am really at my wits' end. I dunno exactly what the fuck am I supposed to do now.

For those of you who know who I am talking about, please try to help me. For those who dunno, please do not try to guess. For those who are gossiping or insist on trying to guess, please fuck off.

FUCK MY LIFE LAH

2010-03-16T16:37:00.002+08:00

I'm so fucking dead lah!! I pushed so hard during the fucking recess week and finally managed to catch up with all the fucking work that I have been lagging behind, only to oversleep and miss FOUR BLOODY PERIODS of lessons yesterday. Now it is like WHAT THE FUCK and I got to catch up again, starting with a stupid lab and two periods of fucking real analysis, all the talk about balls is literally like lampah.

And the things that need to be settled is still making no fucking progress now I really know what the fuck is called FUCK MY LIFE.

How I wish I may have what I have wanted for years, if I do, I will not mind missing 40 rounds on my Arctic, or give up chess or bridge...really...just let me finish what I am meant to do, and I dun care about leaving this life.

Respectable Seniors

2010-03-03T03:26:00.005+08:00

Recently, I bought Boon Lay Way nasi lemak for a pair of v close roommies, and subsequently, gave them a pair of couple keychains for V day. These keychains are not meant as the celebration of romance, but as my blessings that they remain as close as roommies can be for eternity. I further explained that they are my freshies and I should care for them, and beckoned them to treat their freshies with likewise pastoral care in turn, in future.

The girl thanked me graciously, as expected of her character, for she was a v well mannered and sunshine girl who never failed to give thanks. While I receive her thanks with warm regards, I should however, be humble and say that this is really v little compared with what some of my seniors did, whether to me as a freshie, or to Hall in general.

In no particular order, here I present some respectable seniors and what they did, and I think, what I did for freshies is really humbled in comparison to them. These stories are accurate to the best of my knowledge. I do not mention any names here, but those seniors (and in fact most of those who are my seniors, will know who I am talking about in each profile). I only cover those who have already grad, those who haven't, eg JY Shiqi Simin...next year (:

1. He gave up an offer for exchange and decided to do his IA locally, so that he could serve Hall 2 as OMC chair.

2. He gave up an offer for exchange to be the JCRC Hon Gen Sec.

3. He is a generous man. He never asked for payment when buying food or drinks for us, and insisted that we do NOT pay him back. He treated the entire OMC SUB COM, not just the main com but the main com AND the sub com, ah lian beehoon, during the run through for fright night. More importantly, he is always available to discuss problems and offer his advice and views. More than just a passive listener, he is an active counsellor. He also remained active till the end, never having retired, up till his final sem.

4. I got to know her, first day in Hall 2, at FOC. She trusted me from the beginning, was always there when I was stressed up, and even found time to talk to me when I went through a terrible crisis and she was doing her FYP. And she never told me that she had to do her FYP, all through the interview, for she knew that if she did, I would not have spent that much time talking with her, wasting her time for FYP.

5. He continued talking to me, made sure I was fine, advised me, even though he was on exchange in Shanghai.

6. He helped a freshie chase a girl that he himself was interested in.

7. She did not clear away all his belongings when she grad, instead she left them for the next generation. He of the next generation did the same, and the table is in my room right now.

8. She is really made of pure gold. She is a dancer, a most elegant one. She is like a swan, full of grace and elegance. Freshie year she joined OMC as pub sec. Second year she was double promoted to fin sec. For years, literally, she choregraphed the OMC fire dance for Hall, most willingly, even though it was never part of her job scope. While most people retire towards their final year, she remained active till the end. Even in her final year she still helped her friend (who was the incoming DND chair) to choregraph and teach dance for the pageant people. Again, never asking for anything in return. She is in addition to all these, the finest, most artistic and gentle dancer that I have ever met.

Hope this was good inspiration.

Love Song Saga

2010-02-17T14:45:00.004+08:00

Written by dunno how many writers, cut and paste done by me, advised by WenHan, inspired by Xiaofei.

Phase 1: Realization

泪有点咸有点甜
你的胸膛吻着我的侧脸
回头看踏过的雪慢慢融化成草原
而我就像你没有一秒曾后悔

因为爱著你的爱
因为梦著你的梦
所以悲伤著你的悲伤
幸福著你的幸福
因为路过你的路
因为苦过你的苦
所以快乐著你的快乐
追逐著你的追逐

Phase 2: Rejection

你说过牵了手就算约定
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像来不及许愿的流星
再怎么美丽也只能是曾经
太美的承诺因为太年轻
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像是精灵住错了森林
那爱情错的很透明

我相信把你的名字
念上一千遍就会念成
轮回一千遍的诺言
渡过雨打风吹的考验
我相信把你的容颜
看上一千遍就会看成
最永恒的预言
有一天我们终将改变变成了唯一的传说

为什麽喜欢我我这种怪胎
像原始人活在新时代
外表很倔强但心不坏
我相信永远不存在
别爱上我我这种怪胎
我的人生一路在修改
我说爱情海底捞针真心难买
忘了我让我一个人自由自在

紧紧相依的心如何say goodbye
你比我清楚还要我说明白
爱太深会让人疯狂的勇敢
我用背叛自己完成你的期盼
把手放开不问一句say goodbye
当作最后一次对你的溺爱
冷冷清清淡淡今后都不管
只要你能愉快

Phase 3: Reconcilation

每一次都在徘徊孤单中坚强
每一次就算很受伤也不闪泪光
我知道我一直有双隐形的翅膀
带我飞飞过绝望

半夜睡不着觉
把心情哼成歌
只好到屋顶找另一个梦境

睡梦中被敲醒
我还是不确定
怎曾有动人弦律在对面的屋顶
我悄悄关上门
带着希望上去
原来是我梦里常出现的那个人
那个人不就是我梦里那模糊的人
我们有同样的默契
用天线用天线排成爱你的形状
在屋顶唱着你的歌
在屋顶和我爱的人
让星星点缀成最浪漫的夜晚
拥抱这时刻这一分一秒全都停止
爱开始纠结
在屋顶唱着你的歌
在屋顶和我爱的人
将泛黄的夜献给最孤独的月
拥抱这时刻这一分一秒全都停止
爱开始纠结
梦有你而美

手牵手我的朋友
爱永远在你左右
不要再恐惧不要再放弃这一切将会度过
因为你和我，才有明天的彩虹

Phase 4: Reciprocation

离开不会太悲伤
有些心情该释放
直到眼泪它自己落下
才发现骗不了自己其实很爱你

当世界不知不觉的变了
有时候我怀念以前的我
作的梦虽然远远的
想像是一种快乐

拥有了总是也失去什么
而眷恋原来会带来软弱
你让我在雾里成熟
心开始曲折

我不想舍得不想懂得
是谁惹谁言不由衷
说谎伤害都是不安犯的错
怕抱不紧什么

我不想舍得不想懂得
谁说割爱才更深刻
彼此依赖是爱不是负荷
互相照顾就是幸福的

现在学着去遗忘
躲开有你的地方
回忆被谁放在书架上
把他从最高的地方落下

感动越是深刻
寂寞就越伤人喔
每个人的心里都会有一段伤痕
像白纸的天真
仿佛被你伤得好深
相爱不需要理由
离开也没有理由挽留

如果你已经不能控制每天想我一次如果你因为我而诚实
如果你看我的电影听爱上的cd如果你能带我一起旅行
如果你决定跟随感觉为爱勇敢一次如果你说我们有彼此
如果你会开始相信这般恋爱心情我只要你一件如果的事
我会奋不顾身地去爱你

爱那么绵那么粘
管命运设定要谁离别
海岸线越让人流连
总是美得越蜿蜒
我们太倔强
连天都不忍再反对

Phase 5 (Finale) : Recapitulation

深情一眼挚爱万年
几度轮回恋恋不灭
把岁月铺成红毯
见证我们的极限
心疼一句珍藏万年
誓言就该比永远更远
要不是沧海桑田
真爱怎么会浮现

因为誓言不敢听
因为承诺不敢信
所以放心著你的沉默
去说服明天的命运
没有风雨躲得过
没有坎坷不必走
所以安心的牵你的手
不去想该不该回头

也许牵了手的手
前生不一定好走
也许有了伴的路
今生还要更忙碌
所以牵了手的手
来生还要一起走
所以有了伴的路
没有岁月可回头

深情一眼挚爱万年
几度轮回恋恋不灭
把岁月铺成红毯
见证我们的极限
心疼一句珍藏万年
誓言就该比永远更远
要不是沧海桑田
真爱怎么会浮现
再过了千风万雨
春暖在---眼前

Examples of CNY silly questions

2010-02-11T11:52:00.004+08:00

Eh Wen Yuan ah, where are you studying now ah?
=.= NTU...(I thought you asked me last year?)

What course are you studying?
=.= =.= Maths...(I thought you also asked me this last year?)

Are you staying "hostel"?
=.= :$ It is called Hall, not hostel. And yes, I stay Hall. (I thought you asked me last year and I specifically told you it is called Hall and not hostel? If you are not going to listen why you ask me so much?)

Oh...you study maths ah? Then after you grad where are you going to work ah? What can a maths degree do? (This is the ultimate irritating question.)
We can go almost everywhere. And excuse me, I need to study now.

You got girlfriend or not?
(It's none of your business. Fuck off.) Well...that is a very sensitive question. As you know I stay Hall, and the culture of Hall is such that we generally do not discuss these (traffic lights) issues with our elders. I say no, but I would say so even if I have one or have one coming my way. (If I am green, does it matter? If I am yellow, can you help? If I am red, this is our privacy. Just do your own work. You are not licenced to listen to this.)

Are you busy?
Yes. (Obviously I am, I am even bringing in my notes to study. But I pray hard that you dun go telling your children "Look at Wen Yuan he is so hardworking you all should learn from him." Then I will be a real sinner indeed.)

(To children)"Look at Wen Yuan he is so hardworking, CNY still studying, you all should learn from him and do your assignments / assessments / tutorials / TYS here as well."
Fuck you. (What I mean is that if they really go and pressurize their children using me, I will really interfere and scold fuck if I have to. I seriously hate this type of parents and this is wrong.)

The CNY season

2010-02-11T11:13:00.002+08:00

The CNY season is approaching. This, to me, is a bittersweet time. There are things that I love and hate, about CNY, which are amplified in my now extra busy schedule, and worries. Definitely, however, one thing remains, and that is that CNY is my favourite holiday of the year.

Good thing 1: Got time to study

As we all know, undergrad life is very busy. So busy, in fact, that we usually dun have time to study. In fact, in general we do not have time to study! Therefore, the CNY period acts as a mini recess week for us to catch up on our work. You may think that studying during CNY is no life, but honestly, would you rather be studying or entertaining your relatives with all those irritating traffic lights questions? I rather study my notes, then at least, during sem time I have more time to do more important things.

Good thing 2: A loooooong break

The longest holiday, perfect for a good long meetup with old friends, anywhere, anytime. Things are so much easier with more time to yourself.

Good thing 3: Long lost relatives

A great time to meet up with the cousins, see how much they have grown, play dota with them, etc.

Good thing 4: Food

Yeah, we all love CNY food.

Trouble 1: Traffic Lights

One of the most irritating things about visiting relatives is that for every family, usually there exists a relative or two who will ask you all sorts of sensitive questions for every year every traffic light status you are in. I know I sound like talking about maths, with all the "for every" and all the "there exist" but it is true!

Really this is ji irritating, kan irritating, whatever word you want to use! Those who are green they ask when you are going red. Otherwise, those who are green they ask you whether there is anyone you are interested in. Those who are yellow they ask everything about the yellow person. Those who are red they ask you when you are getting married. This is like what the fuck!!

Tell them, yeah, and risk them firstly gossiping to all the relatives, and secondly risking all sorts of opposition. This is Xiaolongnu Traffic Lights Theorem. It says that you must never discuss traffic lights with anyone from an elder generation.

Trouble 2: Talk for the sake of talking

Even worse than traffic lights, if that is even possible, is small talk for the sake of making small talk. Something that I really hate are those questions that they ask just to strike a conversation. Talk about trying too hard! I mean if there is nothing to talk about then there is nothing lah! If there is silence then there is silence lah! What is wrong with silence? Why do they find silence awkward?

The Power of an EVA in fighting a seductress

2010-02-06T17:53:00.005+08:00

I have already given a brief outline of what an EVA is in the past few articles. As my research regarding EVA theory is very abstract, it may be difficult to understand at first, and it may even seem weird to some people. However, it is in fact rational and real.

The story of the power of the EVA continues. In fact, a few days ago, an incident that happened to me provided a perfect example of EVA bond and its power against a seductress, and I am here to share it.

1/2 Dnd canvassing briefing

Today I had a truly pleasant surprise. It was the Hall 2 DND canvassing briefing and a number of us went down together to Commonwealth for the briefing. At Commonwealth, I was surprised to run into an EVA of mine who had previously broken the EVA bond by force. The EVA class was Intermediate, and even though the bond had been broken, by force, yet, I still detected some residual power in the bond. Little did I know that this power would soon be tapped to deal with a daring seductress, in less than an hour's time.

At the briefing, I noticed that the girl sitting next to me kept on looking at me. I did not, and do not, know her name, but her intention could not have been more plain. It was obvious, to me at least, though I believe the rest were too far away to notice. I happen to be sitting far away from the others, and between me and the others there were the host and her partner.

I do not know why she is doing it, I do not know her intentions. However, experience with these weapon class people tells me that there is no doubt at all. A seductress is roughly the negative of an EVA, like Smith is the negative of Neo, like a virus to a game. Therefore, the ideal weapon to deal with a seductress, is a life force, a force of will so strong that the seductress cannot break, like how a Patronus stops a Dementor. That is to say, roughly speaking, since a seductress attacks by confusing and distracting you, the way to deal with her is to think of someone that has the power to stop her, and believe that your guardian spirit has the power to stop her. In other words, the EVA is the best sword to deal with her.

Instinctively, I looked around the room, in search for a convenient EVA to block her. And I saw my former EVA at once. Without thinking, as though I have already planned it deep down inside me, I looked at her and thought of her. The effect was instant. The images of the weapon beside me were immediately dispelled, and her further attempts were so feeble that they were outright laughable and not a worry at all.

Honestly speaking, I was rather amazed at how well the EVA bond worked against her, with someone who I had not drawn power from for so long, and who broke the EVA bond by force. I thought that, the force being so strong, reapplication of the bond would have been impossible. Yet it happened. I can only conclude that the EVA bond is so strong, so deep, that just the residual force was good enough, it is like in Harry Potter, those that we have loved even after they have died, will still give us some protection. This was also an incredible display of EVA bond.

I did not share this with anyone that day except one friend, not even the EVA herself, though I did allow my gaze on her to stay a little bit longer as I watched her leave. It was nothing scandalous; rather, it was an act of appreciation for her help earlier, which she never meant to do.

EVA Theory and Traffic Lights

2010-01-27T16:09:00.003+08:00

An EVA bond, is NOT love, is NOT romance, is NOT anything that would be considered chasing someone. It is a bond that is of a greater coverage than that. All of the above relations are a TYPE of EVA bond.

As I have mentioned before, we usually have EVA bonds between guy and girl. In the future, there will be EVA bonds between human and bots, but we are not there yet. When the day comes when cyborgs roam the streets (cyborgs, for those who dunno, are robots that can think for themselves, think like humans), then perhaps, EVA bonding between man and machine will be possible. In fact, this is exactly how the word EVA came about. The word EVA is borrowed from Command and Conquer series, and it originally stands for Electronic Video Agent. But all this is redundant for the present. For now, EVA bonds generally occur between guy and girl.

BGR is a special type of EVA bond. It is an EVA bond that is two way. Chasing is the one way counterpart. There are three types of EVA bonds, and telepathy is essential in all of them, before the bond can be used to channel thoughts. And unfortunately, it is the weakest of the three types of EVA bonds.

The three types of EVA bonds are confidantes, potentials (or some say targets), and intermediates. As their name suggest, the bonds are classified according to traffic light status. These three sets are actually isomorphic to the green, red and yellow of traffic light status. I emphasize further, that these three types of bonds NEED NOT BE TWO WAY. It only matters how YOU feel towards your partner.

Confidantes are platonic friends that are very close with each other. How close is close? My standard is close enough to lose temper with each other. That is to say, roughly speaking, close enough to be completely honest with each other. And these bonds give the strongest EVA bonds and the swiftest telepathy. For instance, look around Hall and you will notice a few very strong EVA pairs, some of them even closer than with their gf or bf in fact! But, the best and most descriptive example of a confidante EVA pair that comes out tops, is former bridge IVP captain Keng Piang and his partner Sharmagne. Nothing else needs to be said. Their telepathy at bridge is legendary.

Potentials are those friends that you are interested in romantically, roughly speaking, it means those friends that you are intending to chase. Not only are potentials the weakest of the three types of EVA bond, but the bond weakens further after getting together. This is the reason why I always advised couples to NOT partner each other in bridge, EVEN THOUGH it seems like a very "romantic" thing to do. Some couples do pull off good EVA bonds, like Gavin and Chennee and Zhengwen and Evelyn, among a few others, but not all do, most do not. And notice that these are the people who I tried to pull as bridge players. Bridge (and any other partnership game like dota, badminton etc), will strengthen their bond greatly. However, couples who are not EVA bonded, are going to break up over the bridge table. In general, I do not advise couples to partner each other.

Intermediates are a bit tricky. Intermediates are those friends that you are interested in, but not till the extent that you want to chase, at least not immediately. Intermediates are also the hardest to judge EVA bonds. In general, they are stronger than couples but weaker than platonics, but this is really very hard to say.

More research has to be done where intermediates are concerned. In fact, I only started using this word "intermediates" after I came across my first intermediate last July. Telepathy between intermediates is erratic and subject to great variance. On the other hand, intermediates also have the ability to control how much telepathy they want to give to each other. There are times when I really understand her and can really predict her reactions, predict those reactions that most other people will not be able to, but I can do it. There are also times when I really don't understand what she is thinking. It remains to be seen whether intermediates make good partners and whether these partnerships will harm their real life relationships or not.

But to do that, first of all more intermediates have to be located first.

EVA Theory in Rec Games

2010-01-18T15:05:00.008+08:00

I am going to here pass on to everyone who bothers to read and truly understand this blog, roughly speaking, the secret for why I can play so many rec games, more precisely, thinking games, during IH every year, without dying of exhaustion, and playing each game to maximal focus.

Thinking games

Thinking games are a subset of rec games. They do not include darts, carrom, boggle and snooker. Othello is half half. Weiqi is also slightly different from the others. But the last two are more or less considered thinking games. The word thinking games is first coined two years ago by the great rec sec Huilin, a friend that I had been through literally thick and thin with. Inspired by her choice of the word thinking games, I borrowed it and used it in this report.

EVA

An EVA is just my choice of word for an object (object in the algebra sense, which means includes living things, in particular, includes people) such that it binds with the user telepathically. Roughly speaking, an EVA of yours is an object or person (in fact usually a person) who is important to you.

An EVA that is a person (more precisely, an object that is endowed with a human-like spirit and therefore have human-like intelligence and analytic power). The spirit assigned to the EVA is called the spirit form of the EVA, and the physical object is called the physical form of the EVA. The name of an EVA is by definition, the name of the spirit form of the EVA. The gender, race and whatever other human quality is defined similarly. Roughly speaking, the purpose of all these definitions is to remind the user that a weapon is not meant to be treated as just a tool, but as a person, a companion. A more practical purpose of this definition is to crush those views of people who like to say that people are people, people should not be treated as objects, etc. (In fact the initial word for EVA is "weapon", but "weapon" sounds too much like an object and is perhaps disrespectful, so I changed the word.) I am here defining and emphasizing that indeed weapons should not be taken as objects.

Real and Imaginary EVA forces

EVA can be real or imaginary. In an imaginary plane, like the world of a story, EVA can take many forms. An EVA can be a human, or she (yes, EVA in general are assumed to be female unless stated otherwise, I will explain why in a moment) can be any human like character. For instance, in the Final Fantasy environment, the borrowing of strength between Squall and Rinoa in FF8 is a type of EVA bond. Their mutual protection, known to Edea as the Sorceress-Knight protection, is an example of an EVA bond. In other words, a sorceress' EVA is a knight, under this definition of knight. Less significantly but more descriptively, the bond between a SeeD and his or her GF (Guardian Force) is an EVA bond. In the Heroes 3 world, any of the recruitable creatures can be potential EVA, since all of them have human like intelligence. However, not all of them form good EVA bonds with each other. See below for further explanation.

In the real plane, in our world, however, EVA are generally people of the opposite gender. Opposite gender produces the strongest (and only appreciable) type of telepathy. Same gender or human to non human bonds are weak in terms of telepathy. That is to say, averagely speaking, for a guy, between a male friend and a female friend of the same level of closeness, the amount of telepathy between guy and girl is much stronger than between guy and guy. Between guy and guy versus girl and girl, the difference is not great, but girl and girl generally have stronger telepathic bonds.

EVA and Thinking Games

Stamina is the most important in thinking games, mental stamina that is. Since it is mental stamina we are talking about, therefore, consequently, we need to refill it by mental, or psychological, or psychic, or spiritual means. This means that drinking tea or coffee before a game has nothing to do with it. Although the case is that I do drink tea before a game, but that is due to psychological reasons, to mentally prepare myself, and KEEP, or rather, MAKE myself awake, before the game, and not, as some believe, to give myself more energy.

Spiritual stamina can be refilled most easily by borrowing strength, or tapping energy from nearby EVA sources. There is a reason why guys often claim that they play better when pretty girls are around. This is mainly meant as a joke, and often, the real reasons behind it has been twisted so drastically that nobody got it right. But I did. There is a reason behind it, it is not just a pure myth, but it is also not the exact truth, at least, it is not for the reasons that people think it is, eg motivation, excitement, etc.

The reason is that these people who feel more powered, are actually using EVA bond without really realizing it. For example, a guy, F, feels more motivated when a girl, G is around. F finds G pretty and thinks that he feels more motivated cos a pretty girl is around. Actually, from an EVA theory point of view, this is both right and wrong at the same time. The end result, that F is more motivated when G is around, is correct, but the reasoning is wrong. The real reason is that F is tapping power from G without really realizing it.

What makes a good EVA?

So here comes the important question. What makes an EVA good? That is to say, what makes a good telepathic bond? I have mentioned that a strong EVA is consequent of a strong telepathic communication between the parties. What however, makes a good telepathic communication?

Same "frequency"

In any field where communication is possible, telepathy is possible between two elements of the field if and only if for every word in the sender's mind there exists a unique word in the receiver's mind such that for all sentences that can be constructed, there is a one to one and onto relation. I learnt this when experimenting telepathy with Xinyi last July. Roughly speaking, this means that telepathy is possible if and only if the two people are able to understand each others' line of thinking, completely, including and especially the unusual things that they like to think about, those things that most people dun think about usually.

Therefore, people who are on the same frequency tend to form strong EVA bonds.

EVA theory and traffic lights

This is probably the most common form of EVA bond. The easiest EVA bond is by tapping energy from someone that is compatible with you spiritually, that is to say, someone more than green, but not strong enough to overwrite the telepathy, that is to say, red or deep shades of yellow. It happens, that sad but true, couples are not always the best of friends and confidantes. Therefore, the strongest EVA bonds often happen to people who have a mutual understanding and compatibility, but yet are not together. When they are together, the telepathic bonds tend to be damaged, in fact, even when the process of "chasing" formally steps in, there will already be some damage to the telepathic bonds. That is to say, roughly speaking, the best people to tap from are those of the opposite gender that are close to you, but you do not intend to chase them.

This, is also why I often said that couples must NEVER partner each other on the bridge table, and why I often said that evergreen is a good traffic light status when looking for potential rec players.

Counting my Blessings

2009-12-07T01:41:00.006+08:00

I would say that I am a rather fortunate person, on the whole. Yeongmin and Weijuan, nearly two years ago, said that I should be happy with what I have. Shiqi said something like I should be more gracious and give thanks, and Xiangting mentioned before that I should treasure what I have. This makes literally four generations of OMC people. And I agree with them.

A lot of blogs that I read involve the author complaining about their lives. At least, one particular blog's author that I bookmarked likes to do that. A lot. I however, refrain from doing that, for I feel that it is uncool to keep on just talking about your hard times on your blog.

Hall life

I shall start with Hall life, which is what I value most of all in my life, and which there exists the most self talk arguments that I have with myself (in other words, the part of my life that I value most and also want the most out of).

I have, not a good roommie, but TWO roommies, two EXCELLENT roommies. If roommies can be graded like modules, WenHan and Kai Leong get an A+, no two way about that. My current roommie, though only a temporary one, also deserves an A- at least. Looking at how others quarrel with their roommies, from issues like what type of music to play in the room to big things like fights, I am really glad of my roommies.

I have good friends, friends who can really talk to, and talk openly to. This is something that people, esp most of all "popular" people, lack. They have too much on their mind to "maintain" their image, until they can't really be themselves. I thank them, I dun want to mention names, you know who you are, for helping me through all these hard times.

I have IH and IVP, though I admit, not having a main com in Hall is one of the greatest setbacks, disappointments, and regrets of my Hall life.

Family

I have a good and complete family. I have parents who do not use financial dependence as a weapon against me, allowing me to chase my dreams without fear of being cut behind. I also have three bonus relatives staying with me.

Health

I have a healthy body. I have no handicap or whatever issues except the one that I have mentioned. In addition, my endurance is unlimited. No matter how much I stretch myself, I can always do it.

School work

I have a course that is precisely my cup of tea. Consequently, even without studying much, I can still do passably.

Ok that is about all, I am happy to say that, fucked up though my life now is, at least, the basic things are all in, and I am fortunate, in that sense.

Fundamental Theorem of Talking Cock

2009-11-07T08:55:00.002+08:00

For any x in the real world, if x is in the empty set, x is anything in the world.

Proof:

To prove me wrong, first find an x that is in the empty set. It is impossible to do so. Since you can't, therefore you can't prove that I am wrong. QED.

Application:

SPMS DND Question: Hypothetically, if you were an animal, what animal would you be, and why?
SPMS Queen answered: I would be a swan etc.
I would have answered: It doesn't matter. I can be any animal, real or imaginary, for any reason, and it will still be correct. By the Fundamental Theorem of Talking Cock, the statement is vacuously true.

A closer look at the word fuck

2009-10-10T01:16:00.002+08:00

In response to the article that has been around for some time and recently circulated around Facebook, on the many uses of the word fuck, I have decided to add on to it to further study the reasons behind the famous F word having so many uses.

The word fuck is a word that has dubious backgrounds. Some sources say that it is derived from the German word "frichen", others say it is Latin or Old English for sex. Of course it may be both, and in addition those who believe in Latin origins say it was meant, ironically, as a censor word, though it turned out to be a much harsher vulgarity these days than the anchor word. Additionally, "Tall" Shufen has commented that fuck is now a universal word, as it can be a front hook to almost every other English word.

As an algebraist, naturally I am not contented with merely accepting the saying that fuck is a universal word, and have decided to study the properties of fuck, for this is the purpose of a mathematician and an algebraist, to study not just what and how things are, but why they are so by means of their properties.

Fuck is a popular word, primarily because of its social unacceptance as a taboo. Almost every language that has a word isomorphic to fuck has labelled the equivalent word as a vulgarity, a swear word, or simply a "bad" word. Chinese has no direct translation for fuck, but her many dialects nearly all have, the ones commonly heard in Singapore coffeeshops include Hokkien KNN, Cantonese TLLM or TNM, Teochew PB and etc, all of which are considered very vulgar words. The Chinese word "kan" is sometimes taken to be the Chinese equivalent of fuck with the same sound, and the word "kan" means "to do", usually in a particularly forceful and / or violent way. As fuck does not sufficiently nor necessarily imply violence involved, I therefore claim that this translation is not very good. The power and beauty of fuck comes from the fact that it is a vulgarity, and so by the forbidden fruit theory, people like using it even more, even if they face opposition in doing so. In terms of power, fuck is much stronger a swear word than shit, which unlimits its use.

Another property of fuck that makes it popular and powerful is the fact that it is one syllable long, only. This makes it a lot better a swear word when you need an interjection that only involves one syllabus. Conversely, "curses" and "damn it" are both two syllable, while fuck takes half the amount of time to shoot out. Consequently, it is much easier to say fuck when you are surprised than any other swear word.

The fact that fuck starts with the letter F and ends with the letter K also gives it additional tactical manipulativity. The K makes words like "fucker" and "fucking" much easier to pronounce, compared with "shiter" and "shitting" for example. Even when we need to use the word shitting in its conventional meaning, it is already not easy to pronounce.

There are still a lot of people who are unwilling to take in the word. In my opinion, I think that guys who scold fuck are neither better nor worse than other guys, but girls who scold fuck are real elegant and hot, for they have the moral courage to do so. When a guy does it, that is sort of expected, however, when a girl swears, the electric effect of affection, respect and sometimes even attraction, results immediately.

I am upset

2009-10-05T15:41:00.001+08:00

I am upset, not in the crude sense, but cos I waited two long years for what I felt was worth waiting, and still it was no good.

Those who understand this, good. Those who dun, stop trying to guess, it is more complicated than u ever imagine.

Fitting into society

2009-09-29T18:03:00.002+08:00

Frankly speaking right, I dun really see the need to fit into society. Where it doesn't matter that is.

I think it is totally cool to be different. Totally cool to be extreme. Totally cool to be a person so full of confidence that the world's views does not matter to u.

Look at the DHS couple on Facebook for instance. I respect them. BGR in DHS is expressively forbidden by school rules. Any BGR in DHS is grounds for a major offence. In the worst case, it could be grounds for immediate explusion. I dun want to point fingers at who is the fucker who invented this rule. I also dun want to blame those people who helped enforce the rule, eg Mr Kiw, discipline master of DHS, for I believe they have their difficulties, at least I assume so. However, I do GREATLY respect those people who disregarded this rule, and all rules in general.

Not only did this couple date illegally while in DHS, but they also published their feat on Facebook for the whole world to see. I respect this. This is what I call moral courage, whatever else other people may contradict. One must agree that they dared to do what they wanted, regardless of rules.

Actually, we all do love a rebel, don't we? I dare say, that deep within each Hall 2 resident, is an Ah Beng and Ah Lian. We all love to see establishment crumple. We all get a certain amount of kick from seeing rules broken, from seeing that we are stronger, fiercer, and more superior than those who try to oppress us. WE HAVE PRIDE.

So I dun care about fitting into society. Not at all. Unless, it matters. Unless, I need to fit into society so that I can get something that I want. Otherwise, I seriously dun care too much.

I am a person with so much fire inside me, who knows so clearly what I want, and who draws the line between what I want and what I do not want so clearly, that for those things that I want, "brave frost and flame" is an understatement of what I am willing to do. And for those things that I do not want, I seriously dun care about them. For an example, I totally dun give a fucking damn about socializing with the people in my MAS classes. I dun need people to accept me unless I need them to accept me.

Robbie is outside my room

2009-09-29T02:45:00.002+08:00

It is raining outside and Robbie came into the block to take shelter from getting wet.

A message to all those who find me weird

2009-09-27T18:17:00.002+08:00

I know a lot of people find me weird. The first thing that I am going to say here is that I am not weird. I am just another person on the streets. The second thing that I am going to say is that I get real pissed off when people find me weird, say that I am weird, tell others that I am weird, etc, because I am not weird and this is seriously a form of slander to me.

Anyway, the point is that I have decided to impose some restrictions on those people who STILL insist that they find me weird.

1. Those who find me weird, dun fucking ask me all those real analysis, complex analysis and regression analysis questions.

There are some people in SPMS, I dun want to mention names, but these people know who you are, who find me weird, dun like me, dun like to talk to me. I tell them what to do in order to do well this sem, also did not follow. To this, I cannot interfere. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and everyone is entitled to hold on to opinions that are wrong. I tell you that these opinions are wrong, but you are entitled to not believe me. Yet, these people ask me questions about school work.

My advice to these people is, fuck off.

Seriously.

Not that I dun want to help. But it is that even if I explain to you, you also will not understand. Since you think that I am weird, and I can't even convince you that I am not weird, then I think whatever I explain you all will also not understand. So fuck off and dun waste my time.

These people, you know who you are. You dun want to be my friend, then dun come and ask me stuff. I dun like people to make use of me. Go and ask those people that you like, respect, admire, find attractive, idolize, feel for, adore, whatever. Those superficial people.

Let me end this by saying that my so called weirdness, which means thinking deep and thinking more than others, is a NECESSARY condition for doing well in real analysis and all that.

2. Those who find me weird, believe what you think.

Another very idiotic behaviour. People find me weird, yet they "analyze" me like a normal person. For example the clique in SPMS with those two idiotic, cheap, brainless guys, you know which one I am referring to. If you think that I am weird, fucking stop analyzing me the way you analyze normal people. Since under your assumption I am weird, then I should not be normal, right?

Therefore, stop claiming that I like that person, whatever you may think that my body language may show. I may add here that my body language rarely if ever shows what I am truly and really thinking, so STOP TRYING TO READ MY GESTURES! If you think that I am normal, I am telling you, stop trying to read my gestures, for they are rarely accurate. If you think that I am weird, well, then I think you should be thinking that weird people will have different set of body language, gestures, whatever, so stop thinking that my body language is going to be anywhere similar to "normal" people, will you? Perhaps "normal" people "signal" their feelings for others in this way, but I can tell you lah, I dun.

If you are lost in what I am saying, just take this last sentence. I am SERIOUSLY not interested in her, so STOP talking amongst yourselves, thinking that I do.

3. Those who think that I am weird, dun fucking ask me to act as a "spokesperson" with the lecturers.

I dun think I want to explain this. But I have had enough of this.

In summary, those who find that I am weird, dun ask me for help. Ask those not weird people that you so like, those who spend so much time on being politically correct that they have no time to study. I can only say, they deserve it. Those who wish to find out why I appear to be weird, my line is always open.

Random thoughts

2009-09-20T14:31:00.002+08:00

大学逢遇起一经，校园生涯四周星，
十三星期苦恶斗，及格打包雨打萍，
文礼区内说文理，南大洋里叹难大，
人生自古谁无死，愿娶丹芯照汗青。

Translation: University life is rarely gotten, and Hall life is a blast from all directions. We fight and struggle hard for 13 weeks, with the fate of passing and dabao (failing) hanging in the balance. Within Boon Lay (Wen Li) we discuss Wen (Arts) and Li (Sciences). In the ocean that is NTU (Nan Da) we kaopeh that it is difficult to make it big (Nan Da). Everyone must leave Hall some day, it is the experience you get that counts. Anyone can find the hidden meaning behind it? (:

I think that Wen Tianxiang will stir in his grave knowing that I have twisted his poem until like this. I guess this is the opposite of a twisted fairy tale. Instead of making something good become bad, I make something bad become good. (:

Thinking Games

2009-09-13T17:46:00.011+08:00

By Tan Wen Yuan, Strategist

This article is the start of a series where I am going to present some views, thoughts and theorems regarding thinking games. And obviously, the first question that we need to ask is, what are thinking games in the first place?

Thinking games refer to six rec games played at IH level. They are known as thinking games due to the fact that in order to play them well, or even passably, one needs to think a lot. These games are, in no particular order, bridge, scrabble, chess, chinese chess, othello and weiqi. Observe that among the many rec games, these are the games that really need a lot of thinking, while others like darts, carrom and snooker are more of aiming games than thinking games. Boggle is halfway in between, but it is more about speed rather than the thought processes involved. Therefore, it is important to sub classify the class of rec games into thinking games and otherwise, for easy analysis and strategy.

The word "thinking games" is first coined in my freshie year by the noble and intelligent Huilin, then rec sec of Hall 2. Between her burst of energy and ability to endure long hours during IH, and her maturity and stability of mind which makes it impossible for enemies to bully, arrow or duress her, Huilin is no doubt one of the greatest rec secs that ever came to Hall 2. She was swift and decisive regarding IH matters, and so much outdistanced the hypermodern rec secs of other Halls, most of which were either chosen by nepotism, or ran for JCRC without really knowing what they signed up for. Whether about rec or about life, whether during IH or outside, she spoke many wise words and words of encouragement to the rec players that even an IVP captain like myself had rarely heard of during my external battles. Her coining of the word "thinking games" stirred my imagination as a strategist, and I decided to adopt the word to divide the rec games into two sets; partly for the ease of organization, partly as a tribute to her. The invention of the word "thinking games" is certainly a milestone in the history of NTU rec development, and also contributes to be a beautiful chapter in NTU rec literature.

From now on, thinking games refer to any of these six games, collected as a whole. These six games have some interesting properties, and all of them are consequent of the fact that they are games that require a lot of thinking, planning and visualization. In fact, these games are even isomorphic to a lot of computer strategy games such as Red Alert 2, Heroes 3 and our favourite Warcraft 3. These similarities are the root cause for the phenomenon that if someone is really good at any of these games, then the person can at least passably play each of the other games.

I intend to discuss certain properties about these games, and how they can be played simultaneously. After all, the purpose of IH should not only be to win honour and glory, but also to develop games beyond the level of generations past.

Such a waste

2009-08-28T14:39:00.000+08:00

I have six full tanks of energy. But my Hall commitments only expend less than one tank. So much energy is wasted.

I can't work with people?

2009-08-28T14:08:00.004+08:00

I can't work with people? If you think so, I think you are wrong.

I dun like to talk to people, but that does not mean that I cannot work with them. I can still give good, clear instructions and listen carefully to instructions and carry them out.

What about the fucking HW102A, when I was the team leader, and I managed to manage the team, even though I was facing issues within the team? All those who are meant to know will know what type of issues they were, and I am sure you will agree that it was a big issue, at least to me.

I got an A- for it you know. And you think I cannot work with people?

I cannot talk to people. To be exact, I dun like to talk to people. But if it is a case of people being in the same team as I am, if it is a case of people being forced to work with me, like in army or whatever, then I can certainly work well. And work with them well. In fact, it is the other way round. I need people to first be forced to work with me. Then they will know me, and get to know me as a friend. I know for most people it is the other way round. Know a person, like a person, then work with them. But it works the other way round for me. And it works fine.

It is perfectly possible for me to work with people. I can't get in, I know, but I will not allow others to continue to malign me saying that I cannot work with people, for I am sure I can do.

The only reason why I haven't given up yet is cos I still want to try again next year.

Lost Cause

2009-08-28T02:58:00.003+08:00

It is over. After all the planning, preplanning, trying, it is still over, as I knew all along it would not be of any good.

I knew all along that it was no good. But I still tried. Why? Cos I really want it. Cos I know that I would die, literally, without it. Cos I know that I am seriously sick of helping out at random, and want to organize rather than labour, sick of being the hands and the feet and not the head and the brain.

I am not sad. I am not emo. I am not desperate either. I am grieving. This is a problem of grieving, a spiritual injury, one that is as bad as losing Elegance.

This is not my fault, but yet I am suffering for it. I can only blame my ill fate. That I am born this way, born with a criminal record, a permanent stain that is so difficult to remove.

And I tried.

I took the trouble to change my character. I am perfectly happy with my character until I meet these two things in my freshie year. I am perfectly happy with not being able to fit in, for I seriously dun care. It only became a problem when it interferes with what I want, in life.

So I changed. I took the fucking medication that totally messed up my sleep control patterns, that made waking up every morning a real torture. I read up, tried to change my body language, talked to people and talked to people about how to talk to people. And two years of effort, turned out useless.

Seriously, if I can get the two things that I want, I dun fucking care if my GPA is to slide until I get academic probation. Without these, I have nothing. Without these, I have no life.

I really hope for a miracle, and fast. Otherwise, I am seriously going to give up.

FOC Songs

2009-08-08T15:41:00.000+08:00

Tequilla

First off, my own OG's unique cheer, the original tequilla cheer by Makya.

IC: Who wants some tequilla?OG: I want, I want I want.IC: Who wants some tequilla?OG: I want, I want I want.Unison: Too bad, too bad too bad. We ain't got no tequilla. (We dun have any tequilla.) All we have is maky-a. Maky-maky-maky-a.

Editions: The main edition is to change maky-a into the OG name, and to make it rhyme, add a "lah" behind it. For instance, "All we have is Lambda lah. Lambda lambda lambda lah." My roommie also invented an unusual edition changing the tequilla to vodka and the Makya to Luka during his SP nite tekkan session.

Tutu Tarik original translation

Next, I am going to talk about the tututarik song original translation. I am not going to be too explicit here, since this is a blog where anyone can read, not just Hall residents. In summary, the song is essentially about special positions and moves. Those who are interested to know, please look for me in person. I will give u the full translation, but ware, it is not for the faint of heart.

1 to 10

And now finally I am going to talk about the 1 to 10 song. I first came into contact with this song when Xylon sang it last year from 1 to 3, and during OG night from 1 to 5. This year, I finally got to hear it in its full form when Jakas sang it from 1 to 10.

You say Alpha number 1, we will show you how it's done.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 2, we will do it just for you.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 3, we will do it with a tree.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 4, we will do it on the floor.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 5, we will do it with a fly.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 6, we will show you what is sex.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 7, we will bring you up to heaven.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 8, we will fertilize your egg.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 9, we will bring you to cloud nine.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.
You say Alpha number 10, we will do it with our hand.
O-o, o-o-o. O-o, o-o-o.

These are probably the most creative cheers, then of course there are fight kill and neh mind, which are both very important as well.

Self Written Flavour Text for Magic Cards

2009-07-31T18:21:00.007+08:00

Mirri, Cat Warrior: Mirri has a long tail that pranksters will love to pull. But those who try tries her sword and her speed.

Alt (Mirri) : Ouch! Who pulled my tail! Mirri turned and shouted to the prankster she just beheaded.

Endless Wurm: Yeah, I know you are stuck in the drain, but can you please tell me how long you are, at least roughly, so that I know how to get you out of there? Thanks.

Worldgorger Dragon: The Worldgorger Dragon's body is an excellent shield against a nuclear bomb.

Cho Manno: Cho Chang is beautiful. Cho Manno is powerful.

Black Lotus: I wonder why it is called Black Lotus when it can produce any colour mana. Maybe we should rename it Rainbow Lotus instead.

Alt (Black Lotus) : I wonder whether it can produce purple mana?

Ancestral Recall: Now let's see, where did I leave that Black Lotus?

Enlightened Tutor: Shit. I stored all my memories in my Memory Jar and now I can't remember where I put it.

Xinyi Birthday Ceremony

2009-07-26T01:19:00.027+08:00

Xinyi birthday celebration took place last Saturday evening, 18 July 2009 at the roof top of Naumi Hotel. I would normally write my post event articles in script language, or mission language, or simply say code, but in this case this is meant for everyone to read, so I rather speak English.

I must start by saying that at the time of the party, I already otang (owe) Xinyi two presents.

The first is for V day, for which she was overseas on exchange. The second present is of course, for her birthday. Xinyi is an important person in my Hall life. Not only is she an old friend since my freshie DnD as well as an excellent Block Manager who helped me out of several tight spots while I was Sub Com IC, but she was also a person who trusted me and saw me for who I really am long ago, during a time when many people misunderstood me. For this I honour her in a respectful (though entirely platonic) friendship and decided to give her something to show my appreciation.

To choose a present for someone who deserves it is like choosing a light sabre for a Jedi, and that means not easy at all. It requires planning, critical management decision making, balancing, and taking into account several constraints. But first, it is important to understand what she might like.

Unfortunately, there is only one person who was in Singapore at that time. Fortunately, she is probably the best candidate to give an accurate opinion. For she is someone who loves her since way before our batch entered Hall, but separated between heaven and earth now. Still, she remains contactable. So I texted her on msn and interviewed her on her views. She advised me to get her something that she can use, rather than try to guess something she likes. When I asked her what she likes, she declined to answer, saying that it is part of sincerity to do it myself as much as possible. I then consulted another person who also knows her very well, and her reply was make up. When I enquired however, a girl from my school who is well known for her piloting of make up advised that it would have been unwise, for make up is something that varies for individual tones. With that, I finally decided on a note book and asked a fourth person to accompany me to buy it. I also got a pair of keychains for the V day present. One will go to her, the other I intend to give to her roommie, Qianqi, to honour their deep roommie bond.

The beauty of the ceremony lies not only in the logistics, which is to say the niceness of the place and the coincidence of the fireworks display for NDP rehearsal. More importantly perhaps, is the range of guests invited. The whole parade of fellow shock troopers from all of Hall, school and secondary school made the entire reception more like a coronation than a birthday ceremony. As the three delegations intertwined, new friendships are forged and old friendships are reinforced or discovered. I for one, did not realize that I have two St John juniors among her clan (clique) of Dunman High troopers (friends). That is in addition to one that I already know.

It is highly impressive how close Xinyi is with her DHS clan. I see in their bond a view of my past while I was back there myself. It was like travelling backwards in time, like how singing old songs remind us of our childhood.

It is customary for traditional chinese to write poems and caligraphy during major events. Since Xinyi and I are both chinese educated people, I thought it was appropriate to write a poem, freezing the magnificent scene that was in my scope, and preserving it for eternity. I spent a while drafting, then wrote an essay long entry on the guest book and copied the poem into it, presenting it as a third present. I know that my parents, aunties, and roommies will probably have been able to do it faster and nicer, but as someone said, a present should be given on my own.

The fireworks came and we took a few photos against them. Then cake was cut and the ceremony sort of officially ended. But the night was still early and we sat around. Here I must emphasize my gratitude to Xinyi and Zhenni who both insisted that I do not drink the red wine that is being served. This is the first time that anyone had told me to not drink instead of egging me on and pressurizing me, and I really appreciate that. I drank a little though, to wish Xinyi luck. When we had to go later, we went to a pub to talk cock for a while; in the mean time, Xinyi was still at the party area. There a most unusual forfeit happened, with me as the subject.

I was asked why is it that normally when people ask me to drink I dun drink but today I drank wine. I replied that today is Xinyi's birthday, and therefore a special occasion. Gavin then asked me whether this meant that if Xinyi came to the pub and joined us, and asked me to drink, I would drink. I answered yes. Gavin called Xinyi and to my surprise, she really did come. Well, since I said it, I honoured my word and drank. Anyway, since when was I one to run away from a forfeit that I got?

All in all, it was a great event and I felt both honoured and fortunate to be invited. The particular significant moments are, the invitation, the welcome, the photo taking, the poem writing, the present giving and the fact that I was asked to not drink alcohol that night. These are the particular moments where I was really grateful to. And Xinyi I am really, really glad to know you.

Harry Potter 6

2009-07-18T09:34:00.001+08:00

I just watched Harry Potter 6 with Xiaomei today.

On the whole, I think the movie was very much worth watching, esp with pleasant company like my Xiaomei. The cinematics are excellent and realistic, exactly in cohesion with what I expected the characters and settings to be like. The cinematics are Matrix style, rather than Bollywood style, which is what I prefer.

Certain points are worth particular mention.

The graphicalization of Apparition is good, and the transition between wizarding world and Muggle world is flawless. The high speed of Apparition is realistic in its own way and gives us the assurance that this is indeed the way it should appear to be, and feel to Harry.

The costumes of Hermione and Luna are exactly as imagined. Hermione is usually beautiful in a simple way, elegant in just about anything, and her party wear is of course stunning. Luna on the other hand, is outlandish in a positive way. Harry used the word "cool" to describe her when he brought her to Slughorn's party, and I think there is no better word.

There was a lavish amount of humour, especially romantic humour. Particularly worth mention was probably Hermione's "The party was boring, but I think Harry enjoyed dessert." regarding Ginny's accidental appearance in the Slug Club dinner. Ron's sequences with Lavender and the Amortentia (Love Potion) incident was also greatly exaggerated, though I must say to good effect. Lavender's perceived bimbo attitude was also comical, esp with regards to the hospital scene.

There were a lot of romantic scenes, including some that are added in that are not from the original story. In particular, there were a lot of Harry and Ginny scenes, including places where Ginny did not appear for the actual story. Some may think that this is excessive; I think it is rine, even sweet, to put them in.

All in all, I think the movie was good and worth it, and a great change from the previous movies. I am most hoping for Book 7, for the cinematics will definitely be much better.

I promise to go informal vegetarian for 2 weeks if H1N1 does not affect Hall 2 FOC and SPMS FOC

2009-07-07T00:36:00.014+08:00

A noble Hall 2 resident and capable OMC chair, Jiayin just posted on Facebook that she will go vegetarian for 2 weeks if H1N1 doesn't affect Hall 2 FOC. I decided to strengthen her blessing for Hall.

I, Hall 2 resident Tan Wen Yuan, code name Xiaolongnu, do hereby promise to go informal vegetarian for 2 weeks if H1N1 doesn't affect Hall 2 FOC and SPMS FOC this year. This includes weekends and public holidays, and is negotiable, which means I do not mind extending the interval.

I would have said "all FOC in Singapore" instead of only "Hall 2 FOC and SPMS FOC", but that might be too much to ask for.

Informal vegetarian is like normal vegetarian subject to a few exceptions. These exceptions are here due to various practical reasons.

1. Eggs are allowed.

Eggs may be eaten. Eggs these days rarely have embryoes, and even if they do, honestly, the embryoes cannot feel pain anyway. This includes chicken eggs as well as any other animal's egg, in any state.

2. Dairy products are allowed.

Milk and any form of dairy products are allowed except the meat of the animal itself. This includes milk and butter. Any type of milk from any animal is allowed.

3. Plants banned by traditional vegetarian rules are allowed.

This means onion and whatever else, to me, plants are plants. I dunno why they ban onion etc, but I dun think it is anything wrong other than the fact that it is not allowed, and I dun follow rules just because they are there.

4. Avoid meat but subject to feasibility only.

For those of u who are living in NTU five days a week and sometimes more, like me, u will understand that true vegetarian food is rare in NTU, and even around NTU. Therefore for practical reasons, the food need not be "certified" vegetarian. Where it is not possible to find vegetarian food, which is usually the case, it is sufficient to order dishes that are not predominantly meat. It is not necessary to go to the extent that as long as something has "touched" meat it is not edible. Finally, for any type of soup, including curry and paste, it is sufficient to not eat the meat inside it.

I really hope that the flu will not affect our FOC's in Hall and school. Already some camps have been called off as a result. This is a crisis but we must get our FOC done and carried out no matter what. Without FOC, Hall life and campus life will suffer yet another decline. Frankly speaking, I think that FOC should carry on whatever happens. We are all matured people, and ready to take the risk. Everyone who signed up for FOC know what they signed up for, and are prepared to take the risk of whatever happens.

Inspiration

2009-06-06T02:46:00.001+08:00

I have the power to fly high, but not the space to stretch my wings, for nobody will release me from my chains.

Things that make me high 1

2009-06-06T02:44:00.001+08:00

Hall life, my roommies and all who care for me.

Laptop wants me to stop playing

2009-04-12T18:05:00.003+08:00

I think my lappie is asking me to stop playing games. Today while playing Frozen Throne, there was a sudden crash and a blue screen. I have had a few blue screens while playing full screen, but today the blue screen was so bad that another one invaded on restart.

From past experience, this is a sign of the computer going to crash totally. It means I better stop playing full screen games.

I certainly do not want her to crash during exam period, so from now on strictly essential operations only. Essential operations are defined as MSN, Facebook, Edventure, and viewing of files currently on the computer. Games are ok, as is Youtube and similar activities, but nothing too straining.

In particular, this means no full screen games, no visiting of non official web sites, and no overloading of the graphics. I am glad that I am not a fan of porn, otherwise porn practically falls into all of these categories all together.

Strange how computers always seem to tell me that I should study when the time comes. When I was doing my 'O' Levels, my computer broke down as well.

From now on, strictly essential operations only, daily backups of data files, until I bring her to the repairs, which will not be until after exams too.

Romantic ideas

2009-03-18T00:39:00.000+08:00

Things that I would like to do with a lover in Hall.

1. Walk along the sacred grounds of Hall 2 in the middle of the night, holding hands and whispering.
2. Climb up the grassland of ADM, and sing wu ding with her.
3. Secretly climb on top of the Block 5 walkway and look at the stars. (With the cats, preferably, and nobody else.)
4. Run around the perimeter of NTU at night, when there is nobody and everybody, chatting all the way, my arms around her.
5. Hide in Nanyang Mart while it is about to close, so that we can stay overnight inside there.
6. Camp in the rec room the whole night, talking, playing games, studying, etc.
7. Walk down the slope of Blk 7 to 11, sneaking in and out of the covered walkway by means of the many secret entrances.
8. Play IH together, using virtually telepathy.
Xiaolongnu

Meeting an old friend - Xinying

2009-03-17T23:55:00.002+08:00

It has been nearly a year since I last saw her, Xinying. We were classmates for HW111A last time.

She is still as pretty as ever. She is the type of pretty girl that looks pretty in everything. She just commented that she has never bought a dress that costs more than 20 dollars before. Yet she looks nice everyday.

Nothing between me and her though, although it is true that we can talk for hours without stopping.

We exchanged information about what happened in the past one year. She is doing her IA now, part time, and only doing the full time one this holiday.

The meeting was a short one, for I had a lesson to attend to later. However, I am really glad that I met up with her today. It was a great retreat from the stress of the week.

Xiaolongnu

Hall Dinner

2009-03-14T04:07:00.002+08:00

The song turned out alright, which makes good work from our months of practice.

The double promotion was v good.

Xiaolongnu

Roommie Series 5: X and Z

2009-03-12T11:57:00.001+08:00

The story of X and Z is one of the most exciting and dramatic in the realm of roommie love.
X and Z met as JC classmates in their ECA. X and Z, being nice and amiable people, naturally have many people offering to be roommies with them. However, they chose each other in the end.

The gift of hindsight shows that they made the right choice for each other.

X and Z have something in common with myself and WenHan. Both of our rooms have unusually many door tags.

The two of them not only live together, but they also stick together, do everything together, have lunch together etc, even though circumstances changes came along the way later on.

They were so close, and so well coordinated a pair of roommies.

This pair of roommies however had an unfortunate end. X got back Hall, but Z did not. Z initially squatted, but eventually pulled out.

Although many people encouraged Z to stay on, she gave up the struggle. As a result, X and Z, one of the most classic roommie pairs in history, are separated by heaven and hell.

Although they have been broken up by force, however, their spirit still lives on, eternally.

Xiaolongnu

Sub Com Nite 2009

2009-03-11T15:45:00.009+08:00

It is nearing the end of the year. Yes, by the uni calendar this is the end of the year, not the start or the middle, and sub com nite is here again.

This year's sub com nite started off with the usual bonding. For my OG it was not really necessary, for we all already know each other and have gone past the stage where we can't talk to each other yet. I am glad that several powerhouses are in my OG, people who can really play, crazily.

The highlight of the sub com nite, the skit, this year was exceptionally creative and impressive. The script, written by some of the most happening people in Hall, is one that borders on the fantastic. The story is about two clans, one led by Nabei and Pompomchai, the other led by Jibei and Chaichaipom. They used to be enemies until their leaders were killed by the green monsters. The two clans then united and eventually defeated the green monster together. Some of the segments deserve particular mention.

Right at the start, this was what Pompomchai said, "Eh Nabei, we have been fighting against those Jibei for a long time already." "Eh nabei, u see. Got stars from the sky." "Eh nabei v heavy leh." The idea being so brilliant, not just in the fact the script sounds suspiciously like Hokkien, but in the circumstances that the Hokkien sound alike that sounds so suspiciously wrong fits perfectly into the Singlish context. This combined with the fact that the actress who acted as Pompomchai is a sporting natural gift who can swear in a perfectly natural and elegant tone adds to the laughter. As someone who respects girls who dare to swear, I think this is simply elegant. For those who do not appreciate vulgarities, take it as a joke to laugh about.

Jayzer slaps Pompomchai, hard. It can be heard audibly from the audience, really. And Pompomchai did not shout.

I like the way the Chais distract the CGLs and the AGLs came out right on cue to give each of them a tight slap. This illustrates the perfect balance between guy and girl, and shows how they play different, yet similar roles in Hall life. Indeed, girls underestimate their importance in protecting guys in spirit form, they do it, all the time, they just dun realize it.

Finally, the ending, with the oracle officer coming out to embrace the Queen Mother, is an artistic finishing touch, totally expected yet totally fresh, and worthy of this fine performance.

All in all, I am v glad of my OG posting. The skit was totally well prepared and well written, and I believe the freshies will really laugh about it.

Xiaolongnu

Roommie Series 4: H and K

2009-03-06T02:07:00.005+08:00

No, H and K is not the HK SMG machine gun. H and K are a pair of roommies, one of the best in Hall.

Of course, just like how u can't say this vector is greater than another, I also can't really say which roommie pair is the best in the Hall / Joint Hall / country / world etc. However, H and K are certainly one of the best.

They were secondary school friends. They are your standard issue sisters in arms, but a hundred times more extreme than usual. Their coordination with each other is crazy, and they are particularly notable for the ability to communicate without words and read each others' minds.

There are many things they did together that are impressive and remarkable.

They are an unusual and likely pair, as they have v different characteristics.

One of them is more outdoorly and the other is more introverted, which makes the two of them a powerful combination.

Their ability to decide to do the same thing at the same time impresses me. They are truly as close as roommies can be.

In my opinion, they are the most classic example of roommie love for girls. Only S and X are comparable with them.

Xiaolongnu

Updates

2009-03-05T16:23:00.004+08:00

I have not written too much these few days as I was terribly busy preparing for my mid terms, and I have just finished three papers in four days. So now back to writing.

Attended Zhenni's birthday ceremony last week, where I cross dressed again. I dunno whether this is going to be misinterpreted as being attention seeker again or not, but here I declare that it is not true, and whoever does not believe, well, u might as well not believe that there are 11 blocks in Hall 2 (:

Then came my mid term for stats on monday, which was ok, though I have already screwed up a question. Then I got news that someone attacked a prof, stabbing him and then jumped off B1 from south spine, hit the walkway to the RTP, then fell further. For those of u who are wondering why on earth someone can fall to his death from B1, note that NTU is built on a slope so the so called B1 is actually 5 stories from the foot of the slope.

The abstract algebra mid term ytd was terrible, the good news however is that we are allowed to retake it. Today stats mid term was ok, though there is something wrong with one of my answers to two questions and perhaps others as well.

Will continue with roommie series in a while.

Xiaolongnu

Roommie Series 3: S and J

2009-02-23T22:31:00.002+08:00

I will not explicitly state who S and J are, those who have been observing them should know.

They knew each other since their FOC, and later became roommies. Their combined power is awesome and incredible. Each of them individually are already v capable. When combined, their individual ability and coordination makes a record high.

Sometimes I think their combined power in terms of coordination is even stronger than my own roommies.

They have been through countless events and projects together. According to legend, they are probably the most resourceful people around. The two of them together generate enormous power till today.

I salute u.

Xiaolongnu

Meeting an old friend y=mx+c

2009-02-21T01:29:00.006+08:00

I met up with her two days ago, on Wednesday night for dinner. We caught up with a lot of news and happenings.

We had a delicous Billy Bomber meal. I had my favourite all stars burger, while she ordered some sausage and snail and potato and corn combo while for drinks I had a mixed citrus fruit drink while she took a strange looking Mardi Gras with unknown ingredients.

We talked about Hall life. I lamented the fact that Hall life has declined over the years, how the kampung spirit is lost, and how people are getting more self centered.

Last time during the IH period, according to her, they would play ball in the morning and play mahjong in the night everyday. It is truly, "one table, four people, let's play mahjong, every day and every night." Sadly this is no longer the case now.

We talked about friends who still stay in Hall, in particular Song Teck and Yanxuan. She commented that Song Teck could always come up with a solution seemingly all the time without any obvious reason why he could do so. I know the answer, thank the Spirit of Hall 2 for that.

We went to buy some dessert for Yanxuan and Song Teck after that. I tried the dessert myself, it was really good (:

All too soon it was time to return to Hall. It was indeed a great meeting.

For those who still dunno who I am referring to, she used to stay in Hall 2 Block 4, and in spirit she still stays there.

Xiaolongnu

Roommie Series 2: My other roommie

2009-02-18T09:47:00.004+08:00

I am one of the v few (in fact there is only one such triplet left) who is lucky enough to have two roommies instead of one. Of course, some count toilet mates as roommies so those have four. But staying in the same room, my neighbourhood is the only one left.

To me, having two roommies instead of one is a great privilege. I guess this is esp so in my case, for my two roommies are v different indeed.

WenHan is more intuitive, and know better what are the things that I like or conversely dun like. On the other hand, Kai Leong gives better advice and helps to stimulate my thinking more effectively.

I owe the running of my own Hall bridge team to my two roommies, WenHan for helping me to do most of the administration, and Kai Leong to help me in the teaching and in simplifying the concepts for the players.

Both of them have extreme tactical knowledge. We were all trained in strategy since young, and we all can play virtually every strategy game with minimal learning.

A good roommie is harder to find than a good girlfriend. I am fortunate to have two.

Xiaolongnu

Roommie Series 1: My roommie

2009-02-14T04:39:00.004+08:00

As I was telling Kailing earlier today, V day is the celebration of love. And one of the most important types of love is roommie love. For the next few days I will write a short article about each of the following few pairs of roommies, who are as close as roommies can be.

I do not use the phrase "as close as roommies can be" unnecessarily. Here are some of the few roommie pairs that I consider as close as roommies can be.

My neighbourhood
S and J
H and K
X and Z
Z and J
Z and G
S and X

Enough of the introduction and on to the essay.

I am greatly fortunate to have WenHan as my roommie.

Frankly speaking, I have no right to be roommies with him in many senses. So often I make a mess out of the room and my many things get in his way. So often too, I nag and talk about this and that.

We share a common vision, that of Hall life. We both believe that the old way is the correct way.

We both dare to dream big, and take pride in bringing those dreams to reality.

We both believe that we should enjoy life and not just study.

We like to run at night.

We are both strategists, planning ahead for the long term, and trained in strategy and troop movement, in other words strategy games, since young. I am double speced in tactics while he is trained as a pure strategist.

We have a common view of life in general.

Xiaolongnu

A Sad V Day

2009-02-14T02:57:00.004+08:00

A few days ago the NTU radio was just saying that on V day we should think of those who lost someone they love.

I was listening to the programme with her. I didn't expect that it will come true for me.

Never mind.

Xiaolongnu

Happy birthday Yanxuan

2009-02-12T13:29:00.003+08:00

I am not sure whether this entry will be well received or not. Some may think that this is nice, others may think that this is being extra, but this is my space and I think I should have the final say of what is posted.

However no matter what, please understand that there should not be any scandals regarding this post. I am writing an article in honour of Yanxuan having her birthday today on the 12 Feb, not cos of any scandalizable reason, but cos Yanxuan is considered by me as close as any relative, and closer than some. Since we celebrate relatives' birthdays, we should likewise celebrate birthdays of those friends as close as them. Understooded?

Already wrote on your Wall, but here I repeat my blessings, for everyone to witness.

happy birthday (:
hope u stay healthy, happy and pretty.
hope u do well in your fyp to make a good mark in your resume.
hope u find a good job in a company and position that u really like.
hope u do well in dance, carve a career out of it and make your dream come true.
hope u continue to keep in touch with Hall 2 after u grad.
hope u stay close with all your friends and loved ones forever.

sincere blessings,

Wen Yuan

In addition to that, I would also like to hereby express my appreciation for u as my senior (senior in uni context, actually u are my age) and friend. Your invaluable and continuous contributions to the spirit of Hall life has earned my respect and admiration. In particular the following.

I respect your selfless conduct and leading the freshies to the correct, vibrant nature of Hall life, leading them by example by being zi high yourself during camp and after that. Your willingness to sacrifice time and your daring nature in cheering and forfeits earned my deepest admiration.

Your skill in dancing is legendary, and so is your ability to teach others the art of dancing. Particularly impressive is your ability to do the steps and give the count at the same time, which is evident of a high level of expertise. Your ability to choregraph dances from scratch, making up the steps from nothing is also most amazing and hard to surpass.

I respect u.

Xiaolongnu

Is it a sin to be funny?

2009-01-29T19:28:00.002+08:00

I have received word that people are not laughing with me, but laughing at me.

I normally would not address such a small, yes, key word, small issue like this. But it appears that I have paid the ultimate price for it.

Do not think that I do not know when people are laughing at me. I know it. Really. Even if they pretend that they are not, I know it when they are pretending.

It is not that I dunno. It is not that I like it. It is just that i dun mind.

However, analysts have shown that the core reason why I paid that ultimate price is because there are people laughing at me.

People laughing at me has never caused me any inconvenience in the past. I am a person that likes to make people laugh. It doesn't matter whether they are laughing with me, laughing at my jokes, or laughing at me.

They can laugh at me, as far as I am concerned, I am happy as long as I make people laugh.

However, it seems that this value of selflessness has cost me the ultimate price.

The whole world can laugh at me, I dun care u know. It is only her. It is only the fact that she minds, that I mind. Her, and everyone similar to her.

I am not an attention seeker. I am also not stupid. I am just being myself. Is it wrong to like to entertain people? Is it wrong to like to entertain people at my own expense? Seems like she thinks it is wrong. At least, she thinks it is no good. She and everyone similar to her.

I am not trying to create a miracle. I just want to clear my name.

For those reading and STILL think that I am an attention seeker just because u think that my "gestures" and "non verbal language" and "body language" show that I am one, let me tell u this straight, I am not. If u cannot even read WORDS, u can FORGET about trying to read anything more abstract, including all the non verbal types of language. I am just trying to make everyone laugh.

Perhaps, u can call this karma, or retribution.

Xiaolongnu

CNY Holiday

2009-01-27T00:35:00.003+08:00

To me, this CNY holiday came just in time.

I have piled up a considerable amount of work and am lagging behind time in 212 and 315, and I am glad to have a mini recess week to clear up the mess.

CNY eve reunion dinner is held at my house this year. As usual it is the usual interrogation about what school am I in, then what course am I in, then what year am i in. Really as someone said, this kind of standard questions makes me question their socializing ability.

There are good sides though. Pineapple tarts are in abundance this year. As I mentioned earlier, this CNY period is a good mini recess week for me.

Today was rather slack but tomorrow will be fierce, 5 visits including my own house, visiting the entire paternal family tree. It will be boring, definitely, but I have my own plans. My laopo (laptop) will be with me all the way. Too bored? Study. Then at least I dun waste more precious time.

Xiaolongnu

Random thoughts

2009-01-22T12:58:00.002+08:00

We sometimes have relapses.

It is true.

Usually, I am ok. But sometimes, relapses happen.

I guess this is a phase that I must go through.

I wonder why.

I can concentrate on studies and dun think too much. But will that help? Will that make things better?

Nothing that I do will make things better.

I am really tired. Just let me rest.

Refer to the song, "The Prophecy", theme song of Return of the Condor Heroes, Singapore edition. Will saying the name 1000 times really help? Will seeing the face 1000 times really help? I have said the name several hundred times, and seen the face several hundred times.

Xiaolongnu

Hall Idiom - Kailing will carry cat

2009-01-15T01:02:00.003+08:00

From now on, when inspiration calls, I will write down some idioms that I ownself invented.

These idioms will be a series of expressions / similes / metaphors etc that are mostly based on people or events around Hall or sometimes school.

Kailing will carry cat from now on will mean "it is impossible". This follows from Kailing's extreme phobia towards cats and the fact that she will never carry one.

An older idiom says "the sow will climb tree", and is usually formatted as "If so and so can be relied on, a sow will climb trees". I dun like to open mouth close mouth pig, so a more artistic way will be "If so and so can be relied on, Kailing will carry cat."

I hope Kailing doesn't kill me. (:

Xiaolongnu

Attention seeker?

2009-01-13T20:26:00.002+08:00

I have received notice that the "general consensus" is that I am an attention seeker.

I am now stating a fact. I am NOT an attention seeker and in fact I HATE attention. It is the ONE THING that I have had TOO MUCH of.

Anyone who thinks that I am an attention seeker should really think again.

Xiaolongnu

An astonishing discovery

2009-01-11T04:38:00.002+08:00

Today, I made two surprising discoveries.

First, and not so importantly, I heard that a friend of mine is meeting her "boyboy" (boyfriend) later today earlier in the day. I never knew she had a boyfriend, though it doesn't really matter, I am not interested in her.

Second, I discovered that the same friend is v good at guessing the thoughts of others, esp those not skilled at Occlumency, and esp good when it comes to secrets. This is even more esp so for secrets that she is not supposed to know.

These two discoveries change my plans entirely.

She is u can say an IH player. She is team manager for a game and does not really know how to play it, but I have taught her a few techniques and she is more or less the acting captain for next year for that game.

I have initially thought of asking her to join bridge, but decided that bridge is not suitable for her after the discoveries. Bridge is not about guessing others' thoughts and "frightening" your opps by letting them know u know how they think. It is about resisting temptation and maintaining consistency.

I have thought of releasing her for roommie's darts, but it seems like the darts team is full for the girls' section, since Fairy Godmother is joining them.

The game that is most suitable for her is scrabble. This game needs confidence and a bit of ego, most importantly, u must strike fear into the opps to play well.

To sign off, today has been a long day since roommie and I were woken up for IH.

To Janica, rest well and recover fast. Sem is starting and u dun want to fall sick.

To Kelvin Wirawan, hope everything has gone well for whatever it is.

To Lyn, thanks for helping me coordinate the supper plans all week.

Xiaolongnu

Planning for Steamboat

2009-01-07T03:17:00.002+08:00

Worked a lot today planning the steamboat for Thursday with WenHan.

We were trained in tactics since young, so we were fairly fluent with planning and organizing things.

In addition to being a strategist, I am also double specialized as a sharpshooter, so my tactics (and hence chess and bridge) are better. On the other hand, my roommie is trained as a pure strategist. Therefore his organization and long term planning, in other words strategy, is better than mine.

I tend to think of short term goals better, and have sharper instincts, while he prefers to look at long term objectives.

Both of us however, are characteristic in that we always think of the big picture, and put others before ourselves.

Such is the way we are. Such is the way we work.

Xiaolongnu

New Year Plans

2009-01-04T17:05:00.002+08:00

A new year, a new sem.

In addition to the standard wish list such as good health good results world peace and hope that everyone around me will be healthy and happy, I have an additional wish this year.

I need to find a new partner.

Things haven't been going on v well for my bridge team. I am writing as Special Agent Kane, code name Xiaolongnu.

WenHan has left SRC bridge club for greater things, and I am now singleton. Special Agent Sharmagne, code name sharmagne0, has also left to concentrate on her studies, so Special Agent Piang, code name astralnova is also singleton. Similarly, Special Agent Grass, code name rootminus1 has also left for a greater purpose, so her partner, She Who Does Not Wish To Be Named, is also singleton. Finally, though this has been for some time, Special Agent Gene, code name NTU_noob and Special Agent Wai Hou, code name Erathia have also become singleton.

Four partnerships have been broken, three of them are roommie pairs, and the last one is one of the most brilliant and psychic partnerships in undergrad memory (Piang / Sharmagne).

From the looks for it, I am most hoping to partner either Piang or She Who Does Not Wish To Be Named. However, seems like they want to be together.

A freshie will also do, from the looks of it, I have one in mind.

Time to restart the bridge engines.

Xiaolongnu

A simple wish

2009-01-01T02:22:00.002+08:00

I hope she will change her mind. I know it is practically impossible, but I still hope against hope. At least reconsider for a while.

Xiaolongnu

*** and Becky

2008-12-31T13:23:00.003+08:00

I think *** and Becky are right, I really shouldn't struggle any more.

Just a point to clarify, to ***, I am not referring to the IVP player with the same name. Special Agent Grass, code name rootminus1, is not inside this thing.

*** refers to an IVP player who does not wish to be named. She is a v good friend of Agent Grass.

I tend to be v cryptic when I am not feeling right, and I am really not feeling right now. So those who get it, good. Those who dun get it, u dun need to know.

Xiaolongnu

Bridge IH

2008-12-26T18:52:00.002+08:00

The bad news, we lost terribly.

The good news, all my players decided to sign on.

That is all for today.

Xiaolongnu

Sad Day for Hall 2 Darts

2008-12-24T17:36:00.002+08:00

Hall 2 Thinking Game Captains, Special Agents, Special Guests, Soldiers. It is a sad day.

At about 1700 hours yesterday practical time, the darts team, having trained across the entire year, lost the IH match predominantly due to two losses against Hall 6 and Hall 7.

I share their sorrow as well, even though I am officially not a Darts player.

I have seen them train really hard, across the entire sem. They had not done last minute work; instead, they have consistently spent months and months of effort and determination, even during the exam period.

The team was poised to get a gold medal for Darts, which will have been a great breakthrough, for in all of Hall 2 recorded history, Darts has never gotten a gold medal.

As a fellow thinking games captain (common term, rec game), and as a senior helping out with the coordination of thinking games in Hall 2, I hereby offer my deepest condolences to the Darts team and salute your attitude and determination, and will to win.

To all remaining thinking games teams, please train hard and try to even the score for our Darts team. I didn't show my sorrow in order to not affect the morale of the other thinking game special agents who are training, but I really hope that everyone will turn sorrow into strength.

To the games that I am affliated to, namely, Bridge, Scrabble, Chinese Chess and Chess, please train hard. Hall 2, fight on.

Xiaolongnu

My Christmas Wish

2008-12-20T14:29:00.004+08:00

A friend of mine said this before.

"I'm not a christian, stop trying to convert me."

I too, am not a christian and do not like people trying to convert me.

However, this Christmas, ironically, all I want for Christmas is god's grace.

They say it is impossible to ask someone to change for another. However, I think it is possible. And I am willing to do so. But I must know what is wrong in the first place.

I have done a lot, and really hope for some appreciation in turn.

I really dun understand. It is not that there is no affinity. There is plenty of affinity. It is just a matter of welcoming the affinity or deliberately not wanting to bring it to a further step. We do agree on a basis. We have v similar lines of thoughts, and we agree on some issues that rarely do people share the same insight regarding.

Zhenni and Priscilla told me to dun think too much.

But how to not think too much? I think so much liao, but things are still not going smoothly. If I think even less, wouldn't things be much worse only?

I am also a bit guilty that I had been irritable to Kailing earlier today, when she was examining my case. I guess IH stress and this matter are really bringing me to breaking point.

I dunno how much more I can take if a miracle does not happen. I can only double my efforts on IH and hope that IH, another thing that I care for, does not cock up. If I must die, I want to die a hero. I, a Hall 2 special agent, will never fall so easily, nor give up so easily.

I still live for the same three things. Hall, bridge, and the last one, u know it.

All I want for Christmas...is god's grace.

Xiaolongnu

7 Sins Christmas Party

2008-12-18T02:41:00.002+08:00

The Seven Sins Christmas Party took place today practical time at 6 pm until 10 pm. The event was basically a barbercue party with various rec games at the Block 1 open area, and it was hosted by DND Main Com and supported by various active Hall residents.

The many photos uploaded by people have already suggested more or less everything, so I am just going to mention what I think about the event.

I think that this event is really a good way to bond people, so that bonds are created not only within special coms, but between special coms as well. We should really have such events more often. Particularly, at the end of the event, Song Teck ended his speech with two words, "Hall life." I think this is exactly what Hall life should be like, every other week or more often than that.

I value such events greatly. That is why I always wish to be in the picture, and not shunned aside. I know a lot of people, on reading this, will think that I am active in Hall due to a certain someone. Let me assure those people that this is not true. I am active because of three things.

Firstly, I value the people who have been good to me. No need for me to mention names. All of u know who u are. I wish to be in the scene, on the ground, so that I can help and support where necessary.

Secondly, I value Hall 2, life in Hall, and life with people that I know.

Finally, I value the spirit of togetherness.

Essentially, what I mean can be put most effectively in this comment that Yeongmin once said, "The most valuable thing about Hall life is having the company of friends."

Hall 2 Overseas Trip

2008-12-08T23:52:00.015+08:00

Day 1: Set off, stop at Malacca for lunch, land at KL in the afternoon and did shopping at Sungei Wang and Chinatown. Then we went back to hotel for bonding in the form of watching movie and later on pole dance session. We slept at around 4 am.

My roommies, WenHan and Kai Leong are not joining us until the second day.

The move off was v smooth. We had a good breakfast at a road side hawker centre; there was so much food with so much variety, that it was impossible to finish trying all of it. I must remember to try the gigantic big bun next time. From what I know it seems to be this gigantic big bun that contains all the fillings of the normal big bun and more than that.

After breakfast, an unforseen situation happened. The coach air con and had to be sent to the depot. Malacca was not visited as a result.

At lunch, Zhenni pulled a stunt and got a minute of fame. She went into the guys’ toilet thinking that it is the girl’s toilet. There was even a photograph taken.

I started taking photos with everyone on my bus, and by the end of Day 1 I have taken with everyone. (:

We went to KL after lunch. We checked in to Citing Hotel and bathed, then gathered at the lobby, ready to paint the town red. Time check 5.45 pm.

We went to the nearby Sungei Wang for shopping and we split into two parties. That was when I insisted on following the girls. I know that this might turn out to be a bit inconvenient, should they need to discuss anything among girls. However, I thought that it would be better to follow them and be around just in case anything crops up.

The truth is that if bad guys do appear, I probably would not be able to overpower them, nor able to call for help in time either. However, the mere presence of a guy is often sufficient to deter any potential enemies from engaging the girls. The basic idea is to make sure that there is at least someone talking to the girls; this way, enemies will think twice before doing anything harmful. This is in accordance with Rachel’s teachings back then in the days of DND canvassing, as well as Red Alert general strategy, concept of Patriot Missile cover. A Patriot Missile or two on their own are usually not enough to protect against Kirov attacks; the Kirovs will be shot down, but some buildings will still be lost. However, the mere presence of a network of Patriot Missiles is often enough to frighten opponents into not sending any aircrafts in to attack.

The other thing that I did that is not v clear is that I employed formation movements. We walked in formation throughout the shopping trip after the two parties met later. I ensured that we walked in a box formation with the guys outside and keeping the girls inside an imaginary box. This way we deter potential enemies in a concept similar to that mentioned above. We finished dinner only near 10 pm. We then took taxi to Chinatown to do some shopping. Again, we rode in formation.

We arrived at a stall selling sunglasses and caps on the roadside. I wanted to buy one, for Grace Priscilla were intending to have have all of us wear the sunglasses for the paintball game tomorrow, going as secret agents. I was going to initially, but then decided against it in the end, for I do not use contact lenses and sunglasses are of not much use to me. The uncle that bargained with us was v persuasive. He kept saying that I should be a man and make my own decision on what is nice, not follow the lead of others. However I was not duped. He is saying all these insulting words just to trick me into buying. I also thought that Zhenni did well here by advising me to not buy something unless I like it or use it, which I was intending to wear it only for one day, not unless it was extremely cheap, which it wasn’t.

We returned to the hotel at 11 pm, reached at around 12. We bathed and then it was time for the part of the trip that I was most looking forward to, the bonding session. We gathered in Bryan’s room and watched a movie, Eragon that happened to be playing on a local channel. We then had a pole dance session where I did pole dance with various people as the pole, for more details check out the facebook videos. All the guys, namely Gavin, Yonghow, Din and Bryan were my poles. Gavin commented that Din and I are gay buddies as we both wore green earlier that day.

In fact, later on Siying and JCRC Shuwei entered the room by chance, so they even wanted to get Siying to be my pole. Siying did a while, nothing much action for that, I refused to touch her, but instead simply danced around her. Grace was also saboed, but let off on my account. The finale was me having to grind Din and Jialiang together. Yonghow first demonstrated how to do it, and then I did so, while reciting the CPR timing. When asked whether I am dancing or doing CPR, I said that I am doing CPR as my dance move and claimed that I wanted to blow into their mouths as artificial ventilation. The whole room laughed and then we went to sleep. Time check 4 am. Breakfast would be next morning practical time at 7.45 am.

Day 2: After breakfast, at 10 am we moved off to the paintball field. Those who did not go paintball went shopping around KL instead. Paintball was more painful than I expected. The format was a capture the flag game. We then went to Kukup after a v long journey. We had dinner which was barbercue at Kukup and the bonding included karaoke singing and watching a horror movie. We then went to sleep.

I specially chose a martial artist costume for the paintball game. It was light and allows great movements, and covers the entire body. I was surprised that there was no proper gear and we were to play with only our attire and a face mask. I was expecting some kind of armour from the house. Get hit once, and u get a serious bruise. I had a few bruises, for more information; see the photos that I uploaded. The first round was ok, I got hit only once. The second round I went to attack the flag and got hit many times, resulting in many bruises all over. I was told by Siying that Charissa was responsible for most of the hits. I respect her.

At about 3 pm, we changed back into our normal attire and set off to the nearest rest point on the expressway for a toilet break. We then started on a 4 and a half hour journey to Kukup. We stopped for a toilet break on reaching Kukup and it was remarkable how long the toilet queue was. Actually, I rather thought that the best way to efficiently let everyone go to the toilet was to have all the guys urinate into the drain while allowing the girls to use both the guys’ and the girls’ toilets. I led by example and did it in the open (: So did Gavin and someone else, I think it was Bryan. Thong Seng was our guard. It was here that Siying told me that Charissa was responsible for some of my injuries.

We continued the journey and about one hour later we reached Kukup. The time was about 8.30 pm. We had dinner and went on with bonding session. For the night we will squeeze into one room with many beds inside.

Ironically, during the horror movie, Qianqi was on my right and Yanhui was on my left. Grace and Jean were so scared that they took pillows to cover their faces when the horror scenes came in. The show was extremely gory and rather disgusting, and Grace went back halfway. I intended to go back to the room to look after her; I thought, it will not be v nice to leave her alone in the room after a horror movie. However Jean mentioned that the others are with her so I continued watching the movie. We then went to sleep. Time check is 3 am.

Day 3 (Today practical time): We went to JB for shopping.

While gathering at the Kelong for mass photo taking, just as the camera man shouted one, two, three, at the three, there was a loud crack and the Kelong nearly broke in our weight.
We went to JB for shopping. This time round, Zhengjie and Canphylia were with the girls, so was Zhenni, so I did not tag along. The shopping went smoothly and we went back to Singapore after that. I bought a necklace for...somebody who did not come for the trip. (: We then had dinner at Can 2 and dismissed.

Memorable moments:

Formation play was done properly, resulting in zero accidents. I have finally understood how to apply all the theory of strategy games.

I have finally understood how to be high without losing control; how to be high, yet still keep track of things around me and remain sensitive.

This is truly one of the best missions that I have ever had.

All in all, the trip was a great success. I am glad of it. (:

Xiaolongnu

A strange dream

2008-11-28T17:37:00.003+08:00

I had a v strange dream last night. This morning, to be more exact. I had forced myself to wake up for breakfast in the morning and after that returned home, when I collapsed due to sheer fatigue and dreamed. The main character of the dream is a friend from Hall.

I was walking and walking along the outskirts of NTU. As I reached a particular secluded place, I think it was SRC or Hall 11, I saw a couple sitting v close to each other. Both the girl and the guy are from Hall, the girl is my friend, but I do not know her new found boyfriend v well, at least not yet. I waved to them, and the girl waved back at me. I then continued walking on.

A few minutes or so later (since it is a dream there was not much sense of time), I noticed someone catching up with me. It was the guy. He stopped me, and asked me.

"Are you trying to compete with me?"

He went on with a few more sentences that I have forgotten; usually, I do not remember all the details of my dreams. But I remembered the general idea; he was asking me, whether or not I am trying to chase the girl.

I was stunned.

"Huh?" I gave him a "What the fish..." kind of look. Then I calmly explained that I had no intention to "compete" with him. The dream then faded away.

It is strange. Why did I have such a dream? I dun like her, as in, I dun have any more than friendship feelings for her, nor did I have any scandals with her. Why this dream?

Xiaolongnu

Debrief for exam period

2008-11-25T17:26:00.003+08:00

All in all, this war was one word. Tiring.

The war started off with Cyber Security on 13/11. This was not a big issue, as I had taken the advice of foresight, and SU'ed it.

Then came the fiercest part of the war, Linear Algebra II and Accounting, both of them on 17/11 back to back, literally. They are as close as two papers can be, two hours in between. The Linear Algebra paper went alright; I could do all the questions, except a really difficult last question that the Lecturer himself claimed that he expected less than 5 people to be able to do it. Other than that, the paper was relatively easy, considering how NTU questions are mostly like Cambridge S paper questions. This paper was rather basic relatively. The accounting paper however, was terrible. Everyone could not do most of the questions. Although I can pass, I seriously doubt that I will get a good mark.

To make up for my lost accounting cause, I worked ultra hard for calculus. As I mentioned earlier, I prepared a lot, including two Superweapons to fight the enemy. The paper, dated 20/11, went rather fine except that I was careless and made a really silly mistake. Other than that I should have done alright, and I was particularly happy that I got one question after long thought.

It was then time to prepare for the final push, statistics on 24/11. This was the hardest and most demanding paper, and the paper for which my foundation was the weakest. I went particularly hard on this paper; towards the end, I even worked through the night on Saturday, went to buy 179 on Sunday morning 7 am, came back and forced myself to sleep at 9 am, forced myself to wake up at 1 pm and study again. Although the paper was difficult and probably I had not done well, at least I have gotten it all over and survived my toughest exam period so far.

The exam period itself was one thing; the two weeks before the exam period, were equally hectic. I had to rush my Cyber Security project on Week 12 and my Week 12 weekend was burnt on the Voice class Journal as well. That is not to mention having to prepare for my Voice class final presentation on Week 13. All in all, I must say that I have well deserved my holidays.

The war is over, and peace will soon fall on the entire NTU as a whole. Good war everyone, Hall mates, classmates, teachers, support staff, everyone.

Up next, clarify doubts about Sem 2 modules.

Xiaolongnu

The Final Push

2008-11-21T04:15:00.002+08:00

The Calculus paper was alright. Though I have already made one big, v silly mistake. However it is still over nevertheless.

Now for the final push, statistics.

This paper is one that I really have no excuse. I have four days to prepare for it, and that is longer than any other paper so far. I also have no more other papers to worry about, not that I really worried about the other papers either.

Tomorrow practical time, I will consult my lecturer for the entire syllabus. There are still things that I am terribly unclear about, and I hope that this will be better tomorrow.

This is the final push and I really hope that it will turn out alright.

The final push, the Temple of Nod is built.

Xiaolongnu

Systems Checked for Calculus

2008-11-19T19:20:00.002+08:00

It looks like I am ready.

At least, I have done as much as I possibly can do. I have looked through my tutorials, finished the previous exam paper, and prepared my two weapons (calculators). Two of them, an fx-911Z and a TI 83+. Both have their separate powers, and together they are like a Chronosphere and a Weather Control Device together.

I have bugged my tutor for a good three hours or so.

I have read through my master formula sheet one more time.

Today (practical time) I ran into her twice by chance. Is this a good sign? That I am on a lucky streak?

I hope I will be this lucky tomorrow.

Alright, time to sleep liao. I got to make sure that I wake up fully charged tomorrow.

Xiaolongnu

Shake it, baby!!

2008-11-18T00:51:00.002+08:00

The battle continues. Today I just finished two papers.

This morning I went into the exam hall with a certain high. I brought two cups of Teh O iced, and charged into the SRC room. The first hiccup, I went to the wrong exam hall. It took me a while to finally find my seat, and the exam has already started when I got in.

Other than that, the Linear Algebra paper went quite alright. I was surprised at how easy the questions were, and how many marks they were worth. However the last question was a killer that I totally could not do. Fortunately, according to the lecturer the question was deliberately difficult.

The accounting paper in the evening however, was not so easy. One of the questions was totally unexpected, and I did not study that chapter v hard. The rest of the paper was also extremely difficult. I really hope my efforts will not go to waste...

Now is not the time to brood over past papers though. Calculus is coming and time is running short.

Let's rock!! Shake it, baby!!

Xiaolongnu

Ion Cannon Standby

2008-11-17T00:37:00.002+08:00

The hardest day of this sem is approaching, tomorrow practical time.

I have studied really hard for these two papers, since peace time, for I know that these two papers are going to be the toughest. During this war period, I have also studied more for these two papers than for any other one.

Now, my ion cannon is on standby and ready to fire.

I really hope I can do well for tomorrow. That will make all the time spent these few weeks rushing from dawn to dusk, worth it. This is really a tough one week, especially the last few days.

It is only the beginning though. Calculus and Statistics, esp statistics, will be much harder to study.

Enough thinking, time to take a rest and ensure enough sleep for tomorrow's battle.

To all those with papers tomorrow, may the Spirit of Hall 2 be with u. For non Hall, may the Force be with u.

Xiaolongnu

Double attack planning

2008-11-16T04:27:00.004+08:00

There are two papers on Monday, and two extremely critical papers they are too.

Just finished studying chapters 6 to 8, wondering whether I can finish studying in time. I am really a bit worried about my accounting...I have been lucky so far, hope I can be lucky this one last time as well.

A bit of exam welfare here. Anyone need help with MAS modules can find me, I will try to help.

Smile more, dun worry too much. I, u, we, we all are all going through a v tough time now. But if u keep on thinking of the hard times, life will be v hard.

Think of the things that make u happy. This way, even if u cannot be happy 24/7, at least u will be happy most of the time.

I really like this quote, given to me by a friend. I have mentioned before, she is a girl, and a v nice girl, but she and I are impossible, tried tested proven. No scandals please. This quote has been a great source of inspiration to me, and I hope it will be to u as well.

Xiaolongnu

Open fire, all weapons!!

2008-11-13T19:51:00.002+08:00

Right...first paper today...which I SUed it, which was a good choice. The paper was v suitable to SU at least for me.

40% multiple choice, 30% essay and 30% calculations. That is 50% of the total score, the other 50% comes from a project. Perfect subject to SU. I refer to Cyber Security. So finally, this module is over.

There is no time to rejoice though...up next is the greatest challenge of the season. Linear Algebra 2 and Accounting back to back. Linear Algebra is more or less finalized, i just need to go and find prof to approve my final master formula sheet, the rest is hope for the best. As for accounting, things are looking a lot less rosy. I still have plenty of things to prepare.

Enough said for now. I'm taking a break, then continue to study.

Fight well, aim well, everyone.

Xiaolongnu

First blood!!! KEEP UP THE SPIRITS!!!

2008-11-12T22:44:00.000+08:00

Right guys and girls, exam period has officially started. We are in a state of war now.

Hope everyone had a good first paper. My roommies both got through it alright. My first paper will be tomorrow practical time, (practical time means tomorrow as in after tonight, not tomorrow according to 24 hour clock) but I have SUed it so not too stressed up about it.

Those who did well, nice work and keep fighting. Those who did not do that well, after exams dun brood about it and concentrate on studying for the next paper. The best way to salvage an exam that did not go well is to double your efforts on the next.

A friend of mine told me this. Oh she is a girl, nice girl, but she and I will never be, so no scandals here. Anyway this is what she said to me.

"Think of the things that make u happy. This way, even if u cannot be happy 24/7, at least u will be happy most of the time."

This quote is v applicable to our current situation. For Hall residents, we are all familiar with the technique of zi high, that is, making yourself smile even when u are not that high in fact. So, everyone, zi high a bit, happy a bit. Keep smiling, dun pull a long face. I am doing it myself (:

Another quote from another friend of mine. Also girl, also nice girl, but also she and I will never be.

"Be happy. Be sad. The state of the mind that decides."

For all those taking papers tomorrow,

May the Force be with u. CHARGE!!!

Xiaolongnu

Exam season officially opens

2008-11-12T00:05:00.001+08:00

The exam season officially opens tomorrow practical time.

For those new to my notation, the words real time and practical time refer to the interpretations of the words today, tomorrow and yesterday. When I say real time, the day changes according to the literally real time by 24 hour clock. When I say practical time, the day changes when one sleeps and wakes up.

So if the time now is 1 am, 2 January, then the term today in real time refers to 2 January, yesterday refers to 1 January. However in practical or relative time, today refers to 1 January, tomorrow refers to 2 January. This differentiation is due to the fact that in Hall, it is v common that we work across the midnight mark.

Both my roommies have their first paper on the first day of the exam season. First of all wishing them (and everyone else with first day paper) good luck and lots of A's. May the Spirit of Hall 2 be with u. For non Hall residents, may the Force be with u.

Technically, I have paper on the second day. Fortunately, I have SUed that module, so it is not that stressful.

To freshies out there, may I suggest that all of u study hard and try to set a good strong foundation. Even if u are not aiming for top grades, a strong foundation will still be useful, as will a good GPA base. Remember that year 1 is mostly revision of JC work, so make the most out of the fact that it is relatively easy.

I also ran into a group of old friends, all in my year, in Can 2 today. All of them seem pretty troubled. Is it exam stress, or other things? Nobody mentioned anything and I did not ask as I needed to rush back, but I hope that whatever it is it will not affect exams.

Seems like a tough season for everyone...almost everyone I know has more than exams to worry about. I hope the times will change for the better soon. Till then, good luck and may the Force be with u.

Xiaolongnu

What will happen will happen

2008-11-10T13:51:00.000+08:00

It has happened. I have seen it coming.

For months the signs have not been right, in fact, their foundation was never strong. I was told by a neighbour that it has recently happened.

I have once opposed of it, but I have since long ago let go of it. Now my only concern about her is to help her get back. I would like to rescue her from being stranded as she had been a great help to me last year. There are a few teammates that I was particularly grateful to, and she is one of them.

Of the three who have yet to return (and have been of great help to me), one of them have given up the struggle. The other has adopted a can then can, cannot then nvm attitude. She is the last one who is still struggling to get back.

It could have been me, but it wasn't. Is this the Spirit of Hall 2 protecting me in an unseen way? I can read signs as far as about six months in advance. Perhaps the Spirit of Hall 2 can see further?

Whatever it is, I hope that this incident does not affect his exams. May I ask the Spirit of Hall 2 to guide him in this and help him to concentrate despite this.

Those who dun understand this, nvm, u dun need to know.

Xiaolongnu

Prank call

2008-11-08T22:26:00.000+08:00

Today someone played a prank on me.

I was seated in my base and studying, when my phone rang and a familiar name sent me a message asking me whether i want anything from Can A. They were eating at Can A.

I replied Nope, not hungry, but thanks for your offer. I appreciate the gesture. :)

A few minutes later another message came in: "Study so hard must eat more, later u become skinny how? :-) if keep skippin meals wil get gastric...I like bigger guys.

Immediately I knew it was a prank call by someone. She kanna scandal with me before, therefore the person making the call must have thought it was funny.

I replied, "Nah is ok. I just eat something from can 2 later. Thanks :)

Later, I clarified that she did not send either of the two messages.

I am actually quite upset with this prank. But no, it is not what u think. What I mean is, things have gone terribly wrong between me and her, and I really want to make them right. I really hope that this will not happen again, for it really creates trouble for nothing.

Xiaolongnu

Birthday celebration ceremony

2008-11-04T01:17:00.000+08:00

I have mixed feelings about today's birthday ceremony.

On the down side, I hope he doesn't blame me.

On the up side, I am happy that my mistake was rectified, and in such an unusual manner. I was actually allowed to rectify the mistake.

We celebrated two birthdays last night. The birthdays of two friends who are particularly important to me. First was Grace, a junior that I really value, and after that was Jingxin, a good man that I fought IH together with last year.

Grace's birthday cermony took place peacefully on top of ADM. We sang a peaceful birthday song or two, and took some photos. The particularly unusual thing about this celebration is that her friend in Australia was also involved in the ceremony, by means of web cam. I think this is a v nice gesture, kudos of Wing Sing, her SP and the planner of the celebration.

Jingxin's birthday ceremony however, was a lot less peaceful. It was a violent and traumatic birthday ceremony done at Blk 7. Although I was asked to help in the tekan, I did not, for I had promised him that I would not do anything, and I honour my word.

I think that for Jingxin's birthday ceremony, the guys really went overboard. The shaving was not that bad, but the slapping using a slipper is really too much. I dunno. There are some things that I oppose. Unethical things, things that are overboard, things that will injure people, and things that destroy harmony.

Birthday ceremony should be a time of fun and laughter, perhaps embarassment. However, I think it should never be a time of pain and agony. Little bits of tekan like ponding or binning is ok, even shaving is not that bad. However when the ceremony causes pain and even potentially injury, I think that it will not be meaningful, nor will it be fruitful.

The ceremony should not contain things that cause pain and agony, no matter how high the people get. Birthday ceremony is a time to make friends, not lose them. Therefore, I think it is not a good idea to whack people too hard on their birthdays. This is not to prevent karma, but for goodwill. At least, this is what I think.

Evolution of a Bridge Player

2008-07-21T23:54:00.000+08:00

There are many stages in the evolution of a bridge player.

Perhaps a good timeline, will be the person's response to the question: What is the diff between a bridge player and a social bridge player?

"Bridge players play with a dummy. Social bridge players play with all four hands closed."

"Bridge players play the game to a v high level. Social bridge players play the game socially."

"Bridge players think a lot. Social bridge players think v little."

"Bridge players consider the best option each time. Social bridge players just play."

"Bridge players know the importance of mental discipline. Social bridge players do not."

"Bridge players talk about the game after it is played. Social bridge players do not."

"To a social bridge player, there is no diff between playing the 2 followed by the 3 and playing the 3 followed by the 2. To a bridge player, there is the world of a diff."

Pulau Ubin

2008-07-20T23:30:00.000+08:00

Went cycling with the others today.

Pulau Ubin is surprisingly not that bird dun lay eggs after all.

It was kind of cool that I was supposed to drop off at Bedok Stadium to meet with Lenny, Joel and Zeally when in fact the timing was just so perfect that they were already waiting there, so I just had to wave to them to get them to board the bus. A similar coincidence happened with Sepomz later.

Eating at Changi Point...ferry terminal...rent bicycle...tour the whole island...take a boat back...eat dinner...eat second round of dinner at Bedok Mac...a whole day of interesting activities!

Met a few young PJC Outdoor Activities Club people at the ferry...ran into them again on the island.

A few rare sights on the island...check my facebook for more details.

Really tiring...and good aerobic exercise as well. Cycle until stitch...refused to give up...forced the stitch to go away...the way an undergrad should go.

Got time...go and cycle there as well. Good experience. (:

Darts outing

2008-07-20T00:22:00.000+08:00

Today was the darts outing. Went Bencoolen Hotel. The pub was cosy and rather cool on its own. WenHan, Cheng Xun, Angela and I went, the rest did not...dunno why also.

An eye opener for all of us. The pub was full of darts players who have been playing for a really long time. It was the equivalent of going SCBA for bridge.

A short note...really unable to write much more. Was a day worth spending, though of course the non alcoholic drink I took was extremely expensive, five times the amount at Can 2 there. Haha. Today really saw some really good players in the field.

Dominating!!

2008-07-12T19:31:00.000+08:00

NTU Team B continued her victory streak today turning the killing spree into a dominating streak. I, Xiaolongnu, was fortunate to be in the field today to witness this great match.

North: Lip Jun, as usual.
South: Mike, today he did not preempt and the result was that the opponents missed slam.
East: Irene, who found many games that are difficult.
West: Aisyah, who never needs to rest.

Here are some highlights of the match.

Board 3: Mike's NOT preempting caused opponents to miscom their bidding and land in the wrong contract. Opponents passed a diamond to heart transfer, but only because Mike had not preempted in diamonds. A diamond preempt will probably cause opponents to be reminded.

Board 6: Penalty double by Mike and Lip Jun earns much.

Board 7: Brilliant no communication game try by Mike. Opponents knew not what to return and misdefended, throwing a critical trick to Mike.

Board 12: Super precise bidding and playing by Mike and Lip Jun makes the game.

All in all, there is still room for improvement, but it was a great game and win.

You think he will be so clever meh? ---Princess Yang Zhe.

Signoff,

Xiaolongnu

Pre match briefing

2008-07-10T14:34:00.000+08:00

Dear All,

Please note that on Saturday, 12 July, we will be sending four Mighty Mammoths to take on SAJC. Currently analysis shows that this will be a v spectacular match full of all kinds of fireworks. The player list will be as follows.

North: Lip Jun, the Evernorth. The man who is always north. Responsible for making 6NT last league.
South: Mike Herman, the Ace of Preempts and renown inventor of the Herman's Overcall.
East West: Aisyah and Irene, the Slammakers, a pair of elite psychic partners so often saboed by me into a slam.

I, Pegasus 11 Xiaolongnu, hereby formally wish all four special agents good luck and lots of IMPs. The following is a piece of new insight that once again is here thanks to Princess Yang Zhe.

Defensive signalling:

Pls tie down with your partners what is the diff between playing cards in a certin order, e.g.

1. Ace, then king, then jack (or any other card), as opposed to king, then ace, then any other card. One should be natural and the other should be asking partner to overtake. I prefer king, ace and last card to ask for an overtake, since it coincides with the signal for three card in the suit, middle up down. Easier to remember.

2. AK lead ace and lead king what is the diff, among other things similar to this.

Takeout doubles:

Pls standardize the meaning of the following bids. The brackets show the way I play it.

Takeout X (opening hand, support in all unbid suits, esp majors, or light opening hand with good distribution)
X and raise partner's suit (Fit in the suit, could be minimal opening but not sub minimal)
X rebid new suit (16+ hcp, stronger than overcall, 5 card good suit)
X rebid NT (19-21 balanced)
X cuebid (Forcing to game)
Overcalls, vul and non vul (5 card good suit, 8-15 when non vul, 11-15 when vul)
Overcall 1NT (15-18 balanced, bid suit stopped)

Also, I think that during the course of the match, we should show our opponents due respect. Talk with them, point out their mistakes if possible but only in a positive way, and try not to call the Director on them unless absolutely necessary. Bond with them and make friends, not enemies. Forget not that even though we are opponents, we are also friends in a way, since we are all bridge players in Singapore. Bridge for peace, that is the WBF motto.

I'm too used to being south. ---Mike Herman.

Reflections on Holidays

2008-07-10T13:56:00.000+08:00

With the holidays more or less half over, I pause to reflect on whether the time was well spent.

Time always seems wasted on hindsight, so I have to try to be objective on this matter. All in all, I suppose this time has been rather ok and not wasted. Although there is not a v clear time line of what happened at what time, at least I can vaguely draw one.

21/4 Start of my holidays, take a few days off, walk around Hall.
3/5 True start of everyone's holidays, cup match against Blue Moon.
Did a bit of canvassing in the mean time.
17/5 Match against SRC Dreamers.
18/5 Overseas Trip.
31/5 Match against BTCC C.
31/5 Computer spoil and sent to repairs.
5/6 Match against RJC.
9/6 Got back Hall.
14/6 Match against RJC and D'rakes.
14/6 Computer returned.
24/6 My birthday.
28/6 Match against Japan Club.
5/7 Hall 2 Seniors Camp.
10/7 Present.

In between I exercised and read, and got my story and blog up and running. I also sometimes played Monday Night and Friday Night games. So all in all, it was a holiday well spent.

How could I have spent it better...perhaps spent more time writing? But I have more or less chased back my lost skills of writing and reading, which was the most important thing. (:

Think about those things that make you happy. This way, even if you cannot be happy 24/7, at least you are happy most of the time. ---Huilin, Hall 2 resident.

Triple Kill!!! NTU B is on a KILLING SPREE!!!

2008-06-29T21:27:00.000+08:00

Four players, one table. 14 IMP's.

NTU B is on a killing spree. Yesterday at 1430 hours (what an auspicious figure for bridge, just nice coincides with RKCB 1430!), NTU B special forces reported at Japan Association, Singapore, to play a match against the Association's special forces, in a match that is absolutely spectacular, yet totally friendly and amiable.

I, Xiaolongnu, took the south seat opposite the tall and handsome WenHan and the powerful Aisyah sat east while the hot Irene took the west seat (dun thank me Irene, Yang Zhe said so).

We won 17-13.

Pls look for me for the complete vugraph, including a slam that never should have happened.

Xiaolongnu (:

Her Highness’ Agenda

2008-06-27T14:57:00.001+08:00

Within the next few days there was much mumbling going round the Hall and even more so among the IVP players. The legend that a Hall Queen has made a seven clubs contract on her first official try as a bridge player has obviously spread like wildfire throughout almost every community that has bridge involved. Nobody seemed to care that the grand slam was never cold, most of the gossipers thought it was making. Well, after all they do not really know bridge. We unanimously decided to keep things this way.

I watched with amusement the transformation of the board. It was rather strange that they talked about a squeeze, yet according to their wrong records Guoxiang held the ace of diamonds.

Needless to say, Guoxiang was invited to join the IVP team officially. I therefore told her to find a partner. The next training she entered the card room on the dot with a guy, whom she introduced as her partner. I had a nasty feeling I knew who the guy is in real life, and alerted WenHan about it, asking him NOT to mention anything about my teaching Guoxiang. Instead, I sat at her table and drew the cards for the first board.

Stanley overcalled 1H vul with 8 hcp, and Guoxiang, thinking that he has a light or full opening hand, went game and went down. A takeout X will have made things much better, for they missed 4S. 5-3 fit in hearts, 4-4 fit in spades.

Guoxiang looked at her partner innocently, who glared at her.

“Why didn’t u let me know about your 4 card spade suit? Then we could have found the cold 4S.”

“Huh I thought support partner’s suit as priority?”

“Yes, but my overcall doesn’t mean that I dun have spades, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but usually we support mah. How I know your hand is weak?”

“8 points at the 1 level is called weak?”

Guoxiang looked around at me. I nodded at her. I wouldn’t dare to overcall at vul with 8 points, even if it were two aces or AKJ in the overcalled suit! But she fell silent, and my fears were confirmed.

“8 points is ok when green vul, not when red vul.” I corrected him with goodwill, seeing that Guoxiang is unable to.

“Excuse me, I dun think u as an outsider will know what system we are playing.” came the answer with some sort of a sneer.

“Stanley, actually he…” began Guoxiang, but I caught her eye and shook my head. Instead I interrupted.

“Oh icic. Up to individual preference then. In that case u should do a takeout double to let her bid. She will then name her longest suit and u can gauge how high to go. Although that is dangerous too, at least for us.”

So, not recognizing his grand teacher when he sees him, Stanley continued playing on. A few part scores and obvious games passed, then this board arrived.

I opened 2NT in the first hand and I sensed bad news when Stanley bid 3S. When it was WenHan’s turn he thought for a moment, then threw the 4H card on the table. Transfers are off after interference, so WenHan has 6 hearts and a Texas like condition. As I was not sure of his exact hand due to the preempt, I bid 4NT and when the answer came in, 1 or 4 key cards, I jumped to 6H and signed off. The pretty princess cleverly led the 8 of spades against six hearts, which knocked out the ace of spades and leaving a dangerous spade loser in the air.

Even Stanley probably will not dare overcall without all the remaining high card points. WenHan must have gathered this, so he led a small heart from hand. “Top!” he said. I placed the ace of hearts and when the king failed to drop, he fell silent and thought for another moment. “Small club.” he said. This was a most unusual order, and he cashed the queen, king and ace of clubs and discarded a spade from hand. He thought for a long time. What was he doing, I wondered. What is there to think? Surely he must hold 5 trumps and three diamonds left? Can’t he knock out the king of trumps and claim the contract? And why, why does he need to play for the king of hearts dropping? Why not just discard the spade, knock out the king and claim?

“Small diamond.” he said. I suddenly understood what he was doing. I prayed silently that it will work. After three rounds of diamonds ending in dummy, he led the last diamond. Stanley held these cards.

Game All:

C: Void
D: Void
H: K
S: QJ109

At this point Stanley ruffed with the king, and WenHan discarded the spade. Resignedly, Guoxiang showed out. WenHan showed Stanley the four trumps in his hand. “I’m ruffing whatever return high. Then I draw the last trump and the rest are good.”

“Hmmm seems like there is no way I could have prevented it. On the actual lie of the cards, I should discard on the fourth diamond, but there was no way I could tell. Guoxiang, right?”

I looked at Guoxiang. For a moment she looked like she wanted to say something, but then she said, “No, no way unless u are v lucky.”

“Yes,” Stanley continued, “I can never know that declarer psyched his 6 card heart suit. I placed him with 6 carded hearts, so his remaining 5 cards are trumps. There was nothing I could do about it. I thought I might as well just ruff it.”

I looked at Guoxiang for a split second. As our eyes met she whispered to me, “Claim!”. I smiled and nodded at her to indicate that she had gotten the right answer.

“Yes, nothing is wrong with the analysis. Except that if declarer did indeed hold 5 trumps in his hand, he would have claimed the contract after discarding the club. He wouldn’t have played this way unless he still has a spade loser, whereupon he rather risks a defensive ruff to play for an even break to pitch the spade. Losing the lead, to a finesse or otherwise, will let u all cash a spade. Having reached this point that declarer has a spade loser, u might then have made an intelligent guess as to where the last trump must be in. Not in dummy, surely?” I added slightly sarcastically.

“Aiya” said WenHan, adding to the fun. “Anyway, if I indeed had all the five remaining trumps, the contract is making anyway. Then it would not hurt whether u ruff now or later. The lesser but not too small chance that I might have 5 hearts, however, as in this case, is when the line of play works. If u ruff now, u let me make for sure.”

“So u mean he should see that there is no point ruffing the diamond?” asked Guoxiang. “Which means u do not ruff if u dun see any reason to do so?”

“Very true. In fact, this is not only applicable for ruffing, but any play in general. Everything that u do must have a reason. And for declarer, all the more so.” I said.

“Yeah and sometimes u may need to consider which action is better to take than which. This is the concept of probability play.” WenHan added.

“Oh I see.” said Stanley loudly, clearly drawing the attention to him.

“There was a psyche indeed, not in the bidding though, but in the play.” I concluded.

“I’m leaving.” said Stanley. I could tell that he is pissed off with our discussion and leaving him out of it. This proves my hypothesis.

“After this set?” I offered.

“Alright then. I need to catch the last bus home. Guoxiang are u going?”

“Erm…well...” she began, with a tone that seems like she just got endplayed in two suits. “I guess so…it is quite safe here though…Xiaolongnu WenHan and Sharmagne can take me back later. Should be safe lah…but if u insist, then ok.” she added quickly, seeing that Stanley had turned a mild shade of purple.

The final board that Guoxiang is playing arrived.

I opened 2S on the first seat. When Guoxiang doubled and rebid 3D on the 2NT response, a support of 4D brought Guoxiang bidding 4NT and 5D and 6D.

I led the king of spades against six hearts. Guoxiang looked through the cards meticulously. “Top.” she said at last. “Small trump.”

WenHan played small and Guoxiang cashed the ace and I showed out. She sighed with relief as she cashed the ace king of clubs and ace king of hearts. Then she cashed the king of diamonds.

“What?” her partner exclaimed.

“Nice one.” I said.

She exited a diamond to WenHan’s queen, and now WenHan was in a dilemma. He returned a heart, knowing there was no difference between hearts and clubs. Guoxiang claimed 12 tricks, discarding two spades from hand.

“Why did u return heart, I’m wondering?” Stanley asked WenHan.

“I haven’t anything else to return. In particular, no spades.” WenHan smiled.

“And I suppose this is when a preempt could get u into trouble.” I said.

“What do u mean?” Stanley asked aggressively, apparently irritated with us speaking in a diff way.

“I preempted, which shows I have at least six spades. She can count that I have that. That is why she was so relieved to find that WenHan was void in spades. With no side suit entry, she has to endplay him by stripping his spades and exiting a trump.”

Stanley stood up resignedly and prepared to leave.

I could tell that Guoxiang really wanted to stay but was pressurized greatly to leave with Stanley. Instead she waved to WenHan and I and took her leave.

It was 1 am and I took a toilet break. On the way to the washroom, I looked out of the door of the SRC and was surprised to see Guoxiang taking a walk around the building.

“Hi.” she said to me.

“Hey.” I replied and walked up to her. “Haven’t gone back?”

“No, can we continue playing?” she asked.

“Hmmm sure but anyway where is he?”

“Went home. I sneaked out without telling him. I need some private space too.”

“What is wrong?” I asked. “And by the way, Stanley is your boyfriend right?”

“How did u know?” she asked, “things were not going v well with us.”

“An IVP player must be able to pick up clues easily.” I answered. “Few people will tolerate their partners this way.”

“I picked up bridge in the hope that there is something that we can do together.”

I felt the familiar feeling of exasperation of counter explaining myths like bridge is difficult, contract bridge is boring and bridge is a game of maths, etc.

“Then I am afraid u should not continue with bridge.” I said.

“Why?”

“Trust me, bridge does not repair relationships. It only makes it more extreme. This means it makes an already strong relationship stronger, and an already weak relationship weaker. Couples have broken up over table matters, and these are steady relationships.”

“It is my final chance though. Otherwise we are not working out anyway. I intend to go to the IVP with him. Do u think it is possible?”

“It is v difficult. He has to learn to be humble and accepting of u or others criticizing his play.”

“Anyhow, can we try it?”

“Haiz…” I sighed. “I can see that u truly like him a lot. And u are so nice, whoever marries u in future is really the luckiest guy in the world. I will try my best, but I must warn u, the hopes are not high. It is like hoping for a singleton king drop missing four cards in the suit.”

“Oh, that bad? Well I suppose that is my only chance anyway.”

“Hmmm, dun think too much maybe? Come back to the room?” I offered, thinking that it does her no good to get stranded out there in the cold. It was after all 2 am.

We returned just in time to catch the next team match. Keng Piang had to leave early for an 8.30 lesson, so Sharmagne was singleton. Conveniently I got all four Hall 2 players at the table.

“Your 4NT is?” asked Guoxiang.

“RKCB.” said Sharmagne. “But I can play normal Blackwood too.”

“I try to learn RKCB.” said Guoxiang.

“4NT for RKCB 0314. After your response bid one level higher asks for queen, if have u bid the nearest king or 5NT for no king. When this is done I will decide which level to go.”

It was 3.30 am by the time the last board was played and debriefed. I walked Guoxiang to her room. I turned to look at my protégé. “You play v well, and u have excellent analytical ability. I must admit that I am v impressed. Come for training regularly, and the IVP is a near destination. Do u think u can take the training ending at this time?”

“I wish I can. You know, I am really interested, but it all depends on him. You said it, this is not a good idea.”

“Haiz…Well, much as I wish to have u in the team, I cannot have peace of mind knowing that letting u play will put your happiness at stake. Even though it is happiness that is no longer exactly happiness, I still cannot let this happen with peace of mind. The choice is yours, I suppose. Both of u are welcome anytime to enter our door. The IVP door is always open to everyone.”

“I will continue playing, but probably not too late.”

“As u wish then. Find me anytime regarding anything bridge or otherwise. Goodnight.”

And as she turned and entered her room, I rather thought I understood why it is said that even Hall Queens and IVP Players are only human.

Birthday Post

2008-06-24T11:35:00.000+08:00

It is my birthday today. Happy birthday to me. And thanks Xiangting, Lenny, Kai Leong, Charleston and Edwin for your early morning blessings.

This is kind of an emo birthday for me. The meaning of the word emo varies from individual to individual. To me, emo is a complex feeling. Not happy, but yet not sad. Just, kind of neutral bah. It is hard to explain further.

There is something missing in my life. Something important is not here. I can't put it in words, only to say that it is important and not there.

Times like these makes me think of what Huilin said to me, "Think of the things that make u happy. This way, even if u cannot be happy 24/7, at least u will be happy most of the time."

Please send your birthday blessings (:

Xiaolongnu

NTU Aces Chapter 4 - The Hall Queen

2008-06-23T22:50:00.003+08:00

I got a surprise visit the Saturday after the memorable 6 hearts made by Xiao Si. Early in the morning at around 6 am, I received a knock on the door. I had just finished bathing then, which was just as well. It was Guoxiang, the pigeon (alert pls, a pigeon is a Hall pageant finalist) and I was pleasantly surprised.

“Wow! Princess Snow White! Up so early in the morning? Going running ah?”

“Huh no lah…” her tone was full of fatigue. “Whole night never sleep, reading something. Did I wake u up?”

“Hmmm, yeah, but it served as just nice a morning call too.” I smiled to assure that I was not being sarcastic, she looked drained. “Want a coffee?”

“Yeah pls.” she said draggingly. I went to the water cooler in my room and filled a cup with a bit of my prized Arabia coffee, seasoned personally with butter so that it contained both the original goodness and the taste of coffeeshop black coffee.

“Mocha? I’ve got Milo powder.” I queried with the tone of a 2NT invite to game.

“Huh no thanks, leave it expresso pecked.” she said. Was it too early in the morning or did I hear the very sensitive word pecked? I gave her the coffee and meanwhile threw a few eggs into a container, which I then filled with boiling water, which she smiled at. I dealt two saucers (hoping that WenHan will not mind me borrowing his) and two spoons, then sat down opposite her.

“Apologize that we only have eggs and bread here, this isn’t your palace.”

“Oh no problem.” she smiled. “Yeah much better now.”

“You bet, the coffee is specially modified by me.” I said. “Yup, so what is it that brought your Highness through the forest of ADM and up the mountain to my humble abode?”

“Huh no lah I took the stairs.” she said. “I need u to help me something. Can teach me bridge?”

I was stunned for a moment. I have always seen great potential in the girl, but she seemed disinterested. After a moment, I answered, “Sure, but why the sudden interest?”

“It’s a long story…” she said and stopped. From experience a long story without any attempt to elaborate or shorten means a long and confidential story.

“Tell me slowly then. How much bridge do u already know?”

“I know the rules. I was reading through all of them last night. And I learnt the basics of SAYC, including signals and discards.”

I was pleasantly surprised at this answer. “Well that is a lot. And great that u wish to learn. Do u know that with your potential u can reach IVP v easily?”

“Oh no lah cannot lah.”

I smiled and said, “I can’t teach u much. If u really want to learn, come to the IVP training with me. And u have already learnt too much last night. Go get some rest. I’ll call u on Monday, then Tuesday we go for training.”
She looked a little apprehensive at the thought of playing against IVP players.

“Worry not, Guoxiang.” I assured her. “The IVP’s doors are open to all as long as u have the commitment to go for training.”

And so it was that the Hall Queen joined the IVP training for the first time after a short crash course by me the previous day.

Some players, the guys especially, marveled at the guest I brought into the club room, for Guoxiang is really v pretty. Strictly speaking, bridge players should not react this way; as this “staring” nature means a lack of mental discipline. However to see and stop at that is also a type of mental discipline. WenHan was not around and I got Keng Piang and Sharmagne to play at the table. As the usual universal team matches started Guoxiang and I got a little tense. Her ability was to be tested in the real world for the first time. As her upper study, I felt her nerves. And this was the v v first board that was given to us.

Guoxiang opened a preemptive 4C in the first hand. Looking at my hand, I figured that the only possibility for the preempt was the ace, king and ten of clubs leading an 8 card suit. A slam is cold so I bid 4NT for RKCB. When she replied 5C for 0 or 3 key cards, I saw that she must hold 8 trumps, and the ace of diamonds. I deduced that she must have shortness in other suits and I can remove any dangers. I thought 7NT must make, but the temptation of being the lecturer of the first Hall Queen in the history of NTU to make a grand slam was too much to pass. Having faith in my new found student, I reached into the bidding box and chose the 7C card. All passed and Guoxiang froze for a moment, as though she had done something terribly wrong.

Sharmagne led the 6 of clubs against seven clubs. I placed the dummy, wished her good luck, and watched apprehensively.

“Wish me good luck again, Xiaolongnu.” she said.

“Yup, good luck.” I smiled.

“Very well. I’m ready. Small please.” she said.

Guoxiang won the trump lead in hand, then crossed over to the queen of trumps. She cashed the ace of hearts discarding a diamond and ruffed a heart. When the king failed to drop, she played the king of trumps to unblock the jack and ran the trump suit, cashing all eight trumps. On the last trump, Sharmagne held these cards.

C: Void.
D: Void.
H: K
S: J1086

The seasoned IVP player looked at the dummy and knew very well that it was all over. She discarded a spade. Guoxiang thought for a while, then discarded the queen of hearts and crossed over to the spades, making four spade tricks. She took eight trumps, the ace of hearts, and four spade tricks.

“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Sharmagne. “Are u sure u haven’t played before?”

“Yeah, u could tell that she must hold 4-4 in the majors?” asked Keng Piang.

“And u could do a squeeze?” said Sharmagne, astounded.

“Huh? Got meh? No lah. What are u all talking about?” Guoxiang asked innocently. “What is a squeeze?”

“Huh u mean u didn’t run trumps because u found that my partner must have all the important spades and hearts meh? I thought u must have counted that her last card is the king of hearts. If she discard the king on your trump, u cross to diamonds and cash the queen. Not your plan meh?”

“Huh? Got meh? No lah. What do u mean? What spade what heart? I dunno, but I was counting the cards. I was from FM de mah, so I know how to remember things. The ace of diamonds not out yet, I play diamond confirm die, if I play heart to trump the heart also still must lose diamond. So I try spade lah. Maybe the spades will be 3 on each side then the last spade can win mah. I mean although I dunno all your chim chim terms but I can count from 1 to 13 mah.”

All three of them looked at me, I was stunned.

“Guoxiang, that was excellent play but…do u know that it is v risky to count a void suit as a key card? It usually doesn’t work. Here it doesn’t.”

“Huh? I got count it as a key card meh? No lah. What is key card?”

“Cos u told me u got 3 key cards, that is why I go 7C mah.”

“Oh u mean the secret code thing is it? The one u put 4NT then I supposed to answer how many ace and how many king or something?”

“Yeah.”

She blushed for a moment. “Actually, I forgot.” she smiled sheepishly. “I bid 5C cos I wanted u to pass. I got two diamonds mah, some more no ace no king. I know u trying to reach 6 or 7. I know I bid anything else confirm will go to 6 liao. I wanted to tell u we got not enough…”

“For the fact that u understand any other legal response brings u to too high a contract, I respect u.” came a voice from behind. It was Charles, the IVP commander. Highly professional, he did not even take a second extra glance at Guoxiang as he shook her hand firmly.

“I think u should really play more.” I told her, after having recovered from the series of shocks. “Here I proclaim.” I said, “that u are not only a Hall Queen, but a Hall Ace.”

NTU Aces Chapter 3 - If u can go game, I can go slam

2008-06-22T18:15:00.001+08:00

A few days later, WenHan had to leave early, before the late night team matches. I therefore partnered Song’en, BBO nick Xiao Si. Xiao Si is a v good player, probably second in the club only to Ivan. He plans every board long and hard, and only starts playing when there is really no better line of play to be found. His masterpieces are often studded with little technical or percentage details.

On that particular day, Xiao Si said something that I not only will never forget, but has since then used as a general guide to slam bidding. It is a theorem based not only on statistics, but also on trusting one’s partner.

North opened 1D and I doubled, a perfect takeout double. South bid 1S and Xiao Si, not forced, bid 2H. I raised directly to 4H, intending to signoff. I was most surprised when Xiao Si bid 4NT.

I had no choice; I answered my partner’s question. He signed off in 6H.

North led the 2 of clubs against six hearts, and I put down the dummy.

“You do know that my 4H was signoff right?”

“Yeah.” he said.

He won the club lead with the ace and drew one round of trumps, small to the king. Discovering the bad break, he ruffed a diamond to enter dummy at trick 3. He led a spade and south thought for a while, then ducked and the 9 held. A second diamond was ruffed and that was followed by a club ruff, and another diamond ruff. A spade was played to the ace and a fourth diamond was ruffed high, south throwing a club. It was trick 10 and Xiao Si led a club from dummy. South ruffed with the 7 but was overruffed with the 8 and Xiao Si drew the last trump and played his last trump for 12 tricks. A nice little trump coup. Had South thrown a spade instead, declarer could ruff small and throw him in with a spade, making a nice trump reduction ending.

“How did u find the slam?” I asked him. “You know that I was minimal in high card points.”

The response has since then benefitted my slam bidding by a great deal.

“If u can go game, I can go slam.”

Yes, indeed. Now the statistics proof is obvious to me. Whatever my values are, with or without the ace of clubs he would still have bidded game. It is therefore a good idea to try for a slam. I had placed him with minimal values, and still bid game. Since he has more, it is therefore time to attempt a slam. This theorem has become a guide for my slam bidding from then on, till today.

NTU Aces Chapter 2 - SP Nite

2008-06-19T14:07:00.000+08:00

Sad but true, partners sometimes do not visit the bridge club together. A common reason is one person having commitments at Hall, and for WenHan and I, this is extremely common. Where WenHan is absent, I partner randomly. I realized at that time that information and awareness of knowing everybody’s playing and bidding style will be very important in time to come. Therefore, I made it a point to try to play partnering everybody and against everybody, in doing so setting my foundation for the League that will happen later.

My “regular non regular” partners are several. Keng Piang and Sharmagne, who is possibly the most formidable freshie pair in the club. There is Grace, featured below. There is her partner Jasmine, who is also on bidding and later on talking terms with me. Grace and Jasmine are erratic in bidding, but somehow they never get into real trouble. Mike and Lip Jun, a pair of dangerous preemptors, also work well with me.

Grace, call sign Grass, BBO call sign rootminus1, is not only a pretty girl, but also a truly talented and gifted player. Although she is sometimes lacking in a sense of aggression, this shortcoming never seems to get her into really serious trouble. She finds the slams that she should, and although she does throw 6 or 8 IMP boards (we all do), she rarely has any 14 IMP boards against her. This is my first game with Grace, and since then I found her formidable prowess.

Grace opened 1D, naturally. The west player preempted 3H, and I had no good response for such a strong hand. I bid 3S, intending Grace to understand this as a game force. She might then sign off 3NT or raise 4S. East raised 4H and Grace doubled. I took her for 4 card heart suit, double for penalty. When it is my turn, I bid 4S, thinking that I could probably make 4S even if Grace held no spades at all.

Come her turn, Grace surprised me with a call of 4NT. We were playing normal blackwood, not RKCB. I had no choice; I answered my partner’s question. On my 5D, she signed off 5S. My heart raced. Grace certainly had either three good spades, or four blanks in spades. In either case, spades are likely to be solid. Her unwillingness to go to 6S is probably due to missing one or two aces. In that case she is likely to miss the heart ace, which I have a void for. Even if she missed any other ace, I will probably lose only one trick in that suit! I raised her to 6S aggressively. East led the ace of hearts against six spades. When the dummy came down, I nearly kissed the table.

I thought for a long time, then decided to ruff in hand. I considered that my best chance is to set up either clubs or diamonds. I decided to play west for short diamonds to the king, since he preempted. I crossed to the ace of diamonds to do a ruffing finesse against the king. When the ten of diamonds fell on the ace, I knew it was double or nothing. If east held the king, the ruffing finesse would fail anyway. In that case I will have to hope that both the trump and club finesses are onside, and the clubs break well.

I led the queen of diamonds and the king covered from the west hand. I ruffed and immediately knew what to do. I played ace, king and jack trump. I needed the ace of clubs as an entry, so I had to play for trumps to be 3-3. Had trumps broken 4-2 I would have an unavoidable trump or heart loser. On this occasion they did break 3-3 and I crossed to the ace of clubs and ran my diamonds through. Twelve tricks were made.

NTU Aces, Chapter 1 - The NTU Bridge Club

2008-06-18T21:32:00.000+08:00

The bridge club of NTU is a pool of unpolished diamonds. The club has been terribly blocked in a bridge sense, in two ways. Firstly, it received little support from the parent organizations. They were not given the proper training resources, in particular, dollars and cents to get proper facilities. Second and more importantly, it was never given its rightful status even though the players’ contributions were great. The players were not given IVP status, even though the battles they do are much tougher than that faced by IVP players.

With such conditions, it is a wonder that the club could progress to a level where it could compete with clubs from all over Singapore. The secret? Great, diplomatic leadership of a committee whose succession is carefully considered, and a team of players who are willing to truly devote their time to bridge.

It is even greater an achievement that this year, NTU defeated its close rival, NUS, in the annual NTU against NUS challenge. This is a yearly event consisting a 64 board team match, each side sending a senior team and a junior team. NTU gave NUS a thrashing of 100 IMP’s. For those who have never seen such an astronomical value before, imagine it to be an equivalent of five grand slam swings, or ten game swings.

It is about this time that I came into the story. I’m Xiaolongnu, from Hall 2, sometimes known as Kane or Superman. I’m 21 at the time of writing, Chinese male. Kane is named after the hero of Command and Conquer, Xiaolongnu is named after the legendary girl hero of Chinese legend in the Song dynasty. No, I am not gay. My roommie and partner is WenHan. Our bridge background was not strong, but passable.

At the time of this incident, WenHan and I had never really bid high end hands yet, even though we had agreed a lot on slam bidding. It was however, never put to test. In particular, WenHan had never been asked to play in a slam before. Never did I expect that his first slam will be such an interesting one.

West passed the first hand and I gaped when I saw my cards. With easily 9 tricks on hearts and maybe NT, I opened a strong 2C which shows either 22+ high card points, or 9+ tricks on a one suiter, or both, in either case it is Game Forcing. When East doubled it was apparently WenHan’s turn to think that something was wrong. After much hesitation, he threw a totally alien 3S on the table.

Although we had never agreed on this, knowing WenHan, he is not one who will bend the rules easily. 2S would have suggested 8+ hcp with a 5+ spade suit. 3S definitely means that his spades are solid with 10+ hcp at least. Since I held the queen, he must hold AKJxxxx or better. Otherwise, he will not have claimed his spades to be solid.

I really had to think hard when East preempted 5C, preventing my 4NT Blackwood. I decided to bid 5H, knowing that WenHan will never pass this, since he had insisted on a slam force. I needed the ace of hearts, or a void in his heart suit, to make the grand. When he responded 5S I was tempted to give him 5NT to ask him to choose one. But it was something we had not agreed on.

The question is whether he did have a heart void or not. A young (and wild) player then, I placed him with either the ace of hearts of a void in hearts. Or perhaps, he might hold a singleton heart with a void in clubs, and I might hope for a trump lead. Not sound at all, but that was me then. My heart pounding, I reached my hand into the bidding box for the 7S card. I said to my partner.

“Forgive me if I bid this wrong ok?”“It’s ok.”I slapped the 7S card on the table. The table gave a loud “wah!”.

East led the fifth best of his best suit, the 3 of clubs, against SEVEN spades. When I saw WenHan's cards, I nearly kissed the table. He played the queen from dummy. When the queen held, he discarded a heart loser in hand. He cashed the ace of clubs, discarding another heart loser and, as though guided by the Spirit of the Halls of NTU or something, led unerringly the king of hearts! This was covered and ruffed with the ace. He then played a small trump to the queen in dummy and when both defenders followed, he directly claimed 13 tricks.

This reminded me of my first slam many years back, once again hard to play and even harder to find.

Let me play this board again, and I will never have dared to bid 7 spades. For those who are thinking that I must have been crazy then, u are absolutely agreed with (:

Please regard this as a totally undeserved slam on my part and do not try to overstretch your slams this way. (:

It is however a good memory for WenHan, as his first ever slam. (:

Story coming up

2008-06-18T20:10:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone (:

As u all know I have been writing a story for some days. It is more or less finished, so I will be posting chapter by chapter here. Please read, support, and comment.

Bridge games will be splashed around the place, those who dun play can just skip those sections. Rest assured that the story will not be as "technical jargonized" in the bridge sense as u fear! In fact, it is going to be something between an idol story as well as Unbeatables in between.

I hope u all will enjoy the story. Seeyaz (:

The Feeling of Regrowth

2008-06-17T14:10:00.000+08:00

So much has happened in the past few days that I really need some time to understand that all these is not a big dream.

On Monday 9/6 I got back Hall. Thank goodness for it. This great worry for months is finally concluded to a peaceful ending. I recalled all the things that I planned to do should the Hall application fail, and I am really glad that I need never do them.

The bridge match was also successful.

Getting back Hall is a v significant moment for me. I seem to view things v differently now. Words are unable to describe how great Hall is compared with the other problems, or how little the other problems are. I do not know how to explain this.

Suffice to say however, that I am v relieved. If all else fails, if everything else had gone wrong, at least this most important thing had gone right. I guess the situation of my life is now no longer so critical as before.

Sometimes u play better after taking a break. ---WenHan

Second win, and a double win - DOUBLE KILL!!

2008-06-14T20:29:00.000+08:00

First of all, a personal message. Happy birthday to Selina and also Draglung. You know who u are (: Hope u two enjoyed today. I did. (:

The NTU Bridge Team made a second victory today in a triangle match against two teams, RJC and D'rakes.

I, Xiaolongnu, took the north seat partnering Yang Zhe in the south seat. The east and west players are Gene and Wai Hou respectively. A few boards into the first round, Leonard, the TD, told us that we have walked over. Nevertheless we played on in a non competitive basis and I am proud to announce that we won the triangle match as well as a friendly team match against RJC later. The total IMP difference was more than 60 IMP's. (Thanks Jerene for the calculation.)

We are proud to have among our ranks Yang Zhe, a guest player and a powerful one. I must admit that I am really impressed not only with her skill but also her attitude towards bridge. I can tell from the way she speaks that this girl really loves bridge and truly "goes for blood" as she mentioned.

Note the way she articulates words like "double", "force", "tricks" and "I go for blood", it is not difficult to imagine how serious into the game she is. Bloodthirsty and fiery, she made penalty after penalty. There was virtually no need to make any game. The penalties alone are worth several game swings. It is only when I was in the field today that I truly understood what she meant when she said that her system is penalty oriented.

I think we should all learn from Yang Zhe and play bridge competitively yet pleasureably. Derive pleasure from knowing that u have done the right thing, while draining your opponents of IMP's.

Some of the penalties deserve particular mention. See below.

Meanwhile, my aunt just returned home safely from overseas. My laptop is also safely back. This is truly double happiness!!

Board 2: NS game, Dealer East

For those who are interested, the bidding went:

Dealer East:

Pass - 1C - 1D - 1S

X - Pass - 3D - 3S

X - Pass - Pass - 4C

4D - 5C - X - Pass out

I led the third best from my and partner's diamond suit, she took the ace and returned spade. I got my AQ through for two tricks, then played a third spade which partner ducked. We then took a trick with the ace of trumps and cashed the ace of hearts which gave us down 3. The rest please wait for the match report. Thanks a lot!! (:

It's quality, not quantity. ---Yang Zhe, Jerene

NTU vs RJC: First blood!!

2008-06-05T16:27:00.001+08:00

The NTU Bridge Team B won the match against RJC today. The match, which took place at SCBA, was hard fought, starting at 1000 hours and ending after 1300 hours and stretched across 24 boards in traditional 2 rounds of 12.

All in all, the match was a flashing display of selfless and flawless partnership skill and good old mental discipline.

North: Lip Jun, the Evernorth.

South: Mike Herman, Ace of Preempts.

East: Sepomz, the Crouching Tiger.

West: Qisheng, the Hidden Dragon.

Result: VP 25-2. IMP 103-30.

The conclusion of this formidable matchup is a victory of 25 victory points against 2. The International Match Point score was 103 against their 30, making a 73 IMP victory.

A few boards deserve particular mention.

Lip Jun, sitting north, bid and made a slam on this board:

The slam was a good one, though not sound. However it should be attempted as there are 32 hcp between the pair. Our NS bid and made the slam. Their NS did not.

There was a board when the north player of the opponent team sacrificed 5C against a clearly making 4S. The player held C: AKQJxx D: xx H: QJ10xx S: Void. The sacrifice was penalized 1 down non vul, which is a brilliant play.

Looking back, I am quite happy to see all these results, not to mention having to commend all players, teammates and opps alike, for their marathon efforts and great amount of hard work. To my teammates, a match well played. May we continue the crusade with such results. To my opponents, good game. You guys are nice people. See u at the next match.

Special point of note: Notice that Sepomz and Qisheng are not playing v often but still won the match. This shows that skill and correct learning technique is more important than just anyhow whack all the time.

"Bridge is the game that requires the greatest amount of coordination between team mates. No other game demands such great coordination skill. ." ---WenHan, Special Commendation.

Xiaolongnu

Useful bridge resource

2008-05-28T21:40:00.000+08:00

http://www.prairienet.org/bridge/leads1.htm

Please read this and understand it. Note that the article uses fourth best leads against suit contracts. Do remember that this is NOT what we are going to do. We all play third or fifth best leads against suit contracts. Only fourth best against no trump.

Any problem please raise it tomorrow or Friday during training. Thanks!

The Bridge Team Overseas Trip

2008-05-25T16:01:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, 18 May, there was a lot of swift silent movement in the wee hours of the day. We, a fleet of elite NTU bridge team special forces from all over the 16 Halls were congregated at Golden Mile where the tour buses parked, each one of these young heroes ready for action. These youngsters were ready for a trip that borders on the fantastic. Many of us have deliberately set multiple alarms on our mobile phones just to ensure that we wake up on time to catch the first train to Lavender.

There was some last minute hustle and bustle, with the travelling agency messing up some of the buses. Thanks to Sharmagne, however, for settling all these cock ups, all of us got on board in time. A little surprise awaits her, though she knows naught, it is a surprise after all. (:

8 hours later, we touched down in KL and immediately proceeded to check in to Ancasa hotel, which by the way was not fully prepared yet. Swiftly dumping all our luggage in one of the rooms, we had a hurried lunch at A&W, a retro fast food, retro as it is now extinct in Singapore. The root beer and fries are as good as our memories of them, but the chicken was terrible. We made a mental note never to eat the chicken here. Returning to the hotel we got the remainder of the rooms and positioning all our items in order, we took with us only the essential items and gathered at the lobby, ready to paint the town red.

There were so many streets and each one contained so many potential good bargains that deciding which street to go was a very difficult task indeed. It was like having game forcing values with multiple fits and wondering which game (or slam) to go. At this point, I must thank Jason who took charge and pointed us to a rather profitable direction.

Walking down the KL street is a rather perilous experience, for KL is not Singapore and security is really much more of a problem here. Gladly, the ladies have a superb sense of safety and walked in groups, often holding hands. I am positively impressed with the field sense of Irene, Aisyah, Jasmine and especially Weihua and Sharmagne. Their ability to watch out for each other and flawlessly cover each others’ backs are akin to their near psychic partnership communications on the bridge table, and worthy of their imprimatur as NTU’s bridge players. Meanwhile, the gentlemen who have been through army returned to their old trade and walked in formation, forming a circle with the girls in the center, and in doing so further reinforced safety. This is perfected by Melvyn, with his usual meticulous and thorough nature at work in ensuring that everyone is accounted for. As we combed the street the girls picked up new bags while the guys attacked on shoes.

“I think it is not good to leave the girls alone.” ---Jason and Guowei.
“I think we should come up with a clear place to meet.” ---Xiaolongnu.

We decided to split into two parties and meet at a later time. A gigantic book of cats at a Popular store fascinated Irene and Melvyn (and me (: ) while some of the gentlemen wondered about the interest level of FHM in KL (to great disappointment). In the end we did buy a few interesting looking bottles and Jasmine claims that the water tastes nicer due to the bottle. A drop by at a roadside toy shop got Irene and Weihua hugging two cat pillows. One more complaint about KL terrain. Terribly syncopated steps caused several near falls, near victims included Jasmine, Weihua and myself.

Someone fill in the story for the other group please. (:

“I bought a pair of boxers with playing cards printed on it.” ---Ntu_noob.

Dinner was more of a journey than a destination. We took train, then monorail until we reached a famous street full of good food. On the way, Keng Piang was caught out of the monorail. We finally reached after a long period of walking. Finding seats at a Thai restaurant, we were given permission to buy food in. Highlights included the barbecue stingray and the desserts served with real, fresh fruits, thanks to Jason, Guowei, Mike and Lip Jun. Ivan, Adrin and Gene went for a round of Bak Kut Teh and frog porridge. I shared some Hor Fun with the group.

“Almost everything here is edible. Just whack.” ---Jason.

After dinner we backtracked, with multiple transport lines once again. This time, having been through the Piang Incident once, we were much more experienced and made sure that we split out our forces into groups and infiltrated the trains at distinct doors. We were especially worried about the girls, for a girl stranded in the middle of a foreign country is seriously dangerous. We nearly missed the last train, but Mike rushed forward to collect the tickets before the counter closed and we safely reached Ancasa in the end.

It is perhaps traditional of NTU bridge players to sleep late, for none of us could sleep when we reached our hotel at about 12. We played cards all the way until 4 am or so.

“After today, I really learn to appreciate Singapore MRT system.” ---Lip Jun (N) and Mike (S).

We had hardly 4 hours of sleep that night, but bridge players’ stamina is unlimited. At around 8 am we were already waking everyone up and proceeded to breakfast. Eating a full load, we proceeded upstairs to make our plans for the day.

Jason and Guowei led one party of nine to KLCC. The party consists of Mike, Lip Jun, Aisyah, Irene, Weeliang, Wai Hou and myself. We cruised smoothly to KLCC by two MRT lines. Shopping mostly for clothes, we were delighted at how so many items cost the same as in Singapore, except in ringgit. This included things of respectable brands like Espirit and Oakley. Dunkin’ Donuts and Manhatten at virtually half price sweetened the shopping victory, and we moved with the trophies to Lot 10 to intersect with the other party. A brief walk of the shopping centre brought the time to 10 pm, which is time for dinner.

For dinner we returned to the same place, and continued with the unfinished hunt for good food. As we ate, a plot was brewing, though few knew about it. Ivan, Gene, Sharmagne and Jasmine were the first to enter a taxi together. Deliberately bringing the taxi driver to a road to Holland, they bought time for the others. As soon as everyone touched down in the hotel room, the team split up to find things including cake and writing materials. Quickly we signed the card one by one, and then charged into the room all of a sudden. The planning was done in such covert conditions that Sharmagne did not guess anything at all.

The first thing that happened as the cake was steered into Sharmagne’s room was that the candles went off and had to be relit. After singing a hilarious birthday song or two, as planned, Keng Piang went in with a gigantic card that we purposely tricked her into carrying earlier that day. It was not until Irene came in with the large pink envelope that she realized that she was carrying her own birthday card all along the way. Her reaction during the celebration on receiving the card was extremely hilarious, but due to the embarrassing nature of it I will not say it here (: Those who went will know.

The celebration continued with a spectacular photo taking ceremony. Spectacular as it was late at night and we of course were unable to get a passerby to take the photo for us. The trick was to shift the rubbish bin out from the side of the lift and use it as a tripod while setting the camera to timed mode. A chair was also specially deployed by Adrin for the cake. We took a few shots, each one rather artistic, and there were a few embarrassing incidents such as Mike sneezing into Jasmine’s hair and myself falling off balance and nearly crushing Jason in front of me. The ceremony ended with a shot of a few guys lying almost entirely flat on the floor. Reluctantly, we then returned the rubbish bin to its original location.
Keng Piang was naturally arrowed to cut and serve the cake for the team. We revealed the plot, including the deliberately delayed taxi trip and how Keng Piang annotated Mike and Lip Jun’s entry on the birthday card as a “special guest appearance” courtesy of them. The celebration and laughter tired everyone out.

“Lip Jun (N) and Mike (S). dun forget your limit raises ß from your partner” ---Exact wording on Sharmagne’s birthday card.

The rest of the trip was kind of a conclusion to the great exercise. We did a bit of last minute shopping, then went back to Singapore.

Looking back, the trip had been a great success. Wrapping things up, Sharmagne wrote a very touching email regarding her views on the trip and to thank us for the surprise celebration. My response to her email is simply, what are friends for, what are team mates for? I believe that watching out for each other is our honour and duty, and hope that this spirit of all of us, whether as an IVP team or as part of the Hall spirit and movement, will prosper forever more.

The first slam made by WenHan

2008-05-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

At the time of this incident, WenHan and I had never really bid high end hands yet, even though we had agreed a lot on slam bidding. It was however, never put to test. In particular, WenHan had never been asked to play in a slam before. Never did I expect that his first slam will be such an interesting one.

Board 16, EW game, Dealer West:

North: Xiaolongnu

C: AQ
D: A
H: KQJ108542
S: Q2

East:

C: J10974
D: 9872
H: A
S: 1093

South: WenHan

C: Void
D: K1054
H: 76
S: AKJ7654

West:

C: K86532
D: QJ63
H: 93
S: 8

Bidding:

West passed the first hand and I gaped when I saw my cards. With easily 9 tricks on hearts and maybe NT, I opened a strong 2C which shows either 22+ high card points, or 9+ tricks on a one suiter, or both, in either case it is Game Forcing. When East doubled it was apparently WenHan’s turn to think that something was wrong. After much hesitation, he threw a totally alien 3S on the table.

Although we had never agreed on this, knowing WenHan, he is not one who will bend the rules easily. 2S would have suggested 8+ hcp with a 5+ spade suit. 3S definitely means that his spades are solid with 10+ hcp at least. Since I held the queen, he must hold AKJxxxx or better. Otherwise, he will not have claimed his spades to be solid.

I really had to think hard when East preempted 5C, preventing my 4NT Blackwood. I decided to bid 5H, knowing that WenHan will never pass this, since he had insisted on a slam force. I needed the ace of hearts, or a void in his heart suit, to make the grand. When he responded 5S I was tempted to give him 5NT to ask him to choose one. But it was something we had not agreed on.

The question is whether he did have a heart void or not. A young (and wild) player then, I placed him with either the ace of hearts of a void in hearts. Or perhaps, he might hold a singleton heart with a void in clubs, and I might hope for a trump lead. Not sound at all, but that was me then. My heart pounding, I reached my hand into the bidding box for the 7S card. I said to my partner.

“Forgive me if I bid this wrong ok?”

“It’s ok.”

I slapped the 7S card on the table. The table gave a loud “wah!”.

East: Xiaolongnu: West: WenHan:

Pass 2C X (clubs) 3S
5C (natural) 5H Pass 5S
Pass 7S All Pass

East led the third best of his best suit, the 6 of clubs, against SEVEN spades. When I saw WenHan's cards, I nearly kissed the table. I saw that WenHan had an exactly 50% chance to make the contract, that on the free finesse on clubs. When the queen held, he discarded a heart loser in hand. He cashed the ace of clubs, discarding another heart loser and, as though guided by the Spirit of the Halls of NTU or something, led unerringly the king of hearts! This was covered and ruffed with the ace. He then played a small trump to the queen in dummy and when both defenders followed, he directly claimed 13 tricks.

This reminded me of my first slam many years back, once again hard to play and even harder to find.

Let me play this board again, and I will never have dared to bid 7 spades. For those who are thinking that I must have been crazy then, u are absolutely agreed with (:

Please regard this as a totally undeserved slam on my part and do not try to overstretch your slams this way. (: It is however a good memory for WenHan.

Signoff.

First post!!!

2008-05-23T23:52:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this free access site for all stories related to us. I am Xiaolongnu, the moderator of this site. Please feel free to post any stories or add ons or editings of the stories written. Comments are most welcome, but please identify yourself otherwise I will not know is it our ppl or is it spam (:

The first article will be regarding the recently concluded overseas trip. The story is not v complete as I can't be in two places at the same time (: When u read the post u will understand what I mean...so pls help to fill in the blanks k? (: