Toys

I must say I've just completed the most enjoyable semester so far. We actually had the chance to make and design stuff, instead of following pre-written recipes! It's also hard to complain when your first programming project is to write a game (albeit a very simplistic one). *grin*

Yes, I'm a kid who's been given heaps of toys. Unfortunately, I seem to have developed the urge to constantly write programs now. Hmm.

One of my plans was to smuggle the following software into our Digital Systems lab; that way, I can make our automated car play music while it does its laps around the track. I didn't manage to finish the program in time though, so that plan got scrapped.

Doo bee doo bee, dat, doo ba dee, doo ba da...

xkcd.com

Oh yeah, I just remembered... I'm a student!

The first day of uni has come (again. We sure go through many "first days" in our lifetime). Heading off in 15 minutes.

I'm doing a unit on C programming this semester, but my laptop has begun to show signs that it will pass away soon. Might make my homework a tad bit hard to finish.

Oh dear.

The invasion of the little children, accomplished

It's been a while since I was able to crawl out of bed at 10.30am! Not that I minded, really. I miss the kids already... especially my Blue Baboons!

Colour-coded leader nametags. The one on the top-right shows that Sze Howe became Jeremy for one week ^_^

The kids were split into 3 teams: The Red Rhinos, the Green Geckos, and the Blue Baboons. The Rhinos won overall (grr! well done!), continually competing with the other two teams on being the quietest (when other people were talking on stage), being the loudest (when doing team chants), remembering memory verses, producing awesome crafts, winning games, and answering quiz questions.

Listening carefully to instructions...

...and they're off!

Behold the cute fearsome cute monkeys

.

.

Playing with the parachute

Part of the obstacle course

Big circle

The games that Adele prepared were not designed to cater for such large numbers, and it was probably illegal to have so many kids crammed in one room anyway. So, we had more group subdivisions than in previous years. Traffic congestion became an issue during activity swaps, as a result.

Nothing that a PowerPoint presentation can't fix though!

Now, it would be rather boring if that was our only challenge, wouldn't it? :-D We never had to worry though, "dull moment" was a term that's definitely not in the King's Club dictionary.

There were kids who grazed their knee; there were kids who got very sick.

There were kids who needed help cutting out their puppet, because the lines were too close together; there were kids who needed their mummy, because they were overwhelmed by this unfamiliar place.

There were kids who wanted to be chosen to go up on stage every time; there were kids who wanted to just crawl around the chairs while everyone else was singing.

There were kids who wanted to tell everyone in their small group about their fishing trip, during the discussion about the drama. There were kids who wanted to know, in their small group: since God is forgiving, does that mean we can wait a bit longer before we come back to Him? (yes, children can be intellectual too)

There were kids so timid that we had to constantly look out for them; there were kids who were hyperactive enough to...

...bring...

...giants...

...down.

And then there are kids who mess with leaders' minds:

Kid: Somebody else took my mask!
Me: *panics* (What?! This happened to the same kid yesterday! It can't possibly happen twice!!!)
Me: Are you sure? Have you looked around here? *points to the few uncollected masks on the table*
Kid: Somebody took my mask! I saw it!
Me: *groans* Ok, tell me what your mask looks like, and we'll try to find it, alright?
Kid: Mine has a blue nose, like this one. But it's different. *points to the blue-nosed mask with brown squiggles*
Me: *inspects mask, but can't find a name written on it* Hmm... a blue nose? Well, this mask has a blue nose. Is it yours? *holds the same mask out*
Kid: Nooooo! That's not mine! Mine's different!
Me: Tell me more about your mask. What is the colour of its face?
Kid: *squints at the blue-nosed mask with brown squiggles* Black.

(At this point, Mom arrives)

Mom: Ready to go home?
Kid: Somebody took my mask!
Mom: *stares* Not again?
Me: (This ain't gonna be pretty)
Kid: OH, THIS IS MY MASK! *grabs the blue-nosed mask with brown squiggles*

And you wonder why old people get wrinkles.

Nonetheless, despite my complaints about high blood pressure, it was definitely a fulfilling 5 days. It's also not everyday that people across the many generations to work side-by-side like this -- Generally, the younger engaged with the children directly whilst the elder handled the behind-the-scenes preparations. Other congregation members got involved too, through continuous prayers for the King's Club.

Within each colour group itself, the modes of operation varied with the age of the leader. The youngest leaders tended to socialize among themselves more. Several times, I reminded them that their role was with the children, but I also had to remember that I was like that myself just three years ago! Haha, so this is what growing up involves. At the same time, the younger leaders had less to organize than the older ones, hence they spent more time with the kids and got to know them better.

What I also found was that the younger leaders would forge deeper relationships with a smaller group of kids, whereas the older leaders would get to know more children but couldn't develop the same level of closeness with everyone. Both types of interactions are important in their own ways; it just feels frustrating when we realize that we can't accomplish both at the same time. At times like these, it's helpful to remember God's words through Paul:

A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another. (Romans 12:4-5, CEV)

Lookie, the Bible teaches about teamwork.

The week ended with a "banquet" on Friday evening. Here, the children came back for dinner and their final chance to win points for their team and the parents got to experience King's Club first-hand. It was quite fun watching the kids teach their parents their team chants!

Steph and Fiona decorating banquet tables

Chirp!

Jamie and the baboon monkey thing

Red rhino

Alas, these are the final photos from the week; I wasn't able to take any more once the kids arrived. Sean, who took most of the other photos, didn't go to the banquet. No matter, I'll finish off with some more pics from throughout of the week.

The tireless lunch ladies who kept us all well-fed

Steph's and Brittany's discussion group

Peter and his kids

Nyek

Concentration

Endangered species: Gameous equipmentus

Colouring station

Jamie, the musician who was sadly left out of the official video

Belting out the team chant

King's Club birthdays

And that's all, folks. Goodbye Blue Baboons! Farewell Red Rhinos! Adios Green Geckos!

The invasion of the little children begins

King's Club is an annual holiday program for primary school kids, run by North Beach Baptist Church; many of the participating children are from our own church, but we also advertise it around the local community. It began 9am Monday and finished 8.30pm tonight. I had originally decided to take a break this year, but somehow got myself talked backed into it in a conversation that went something like this:

Me: I won't be at King's Club this year.
Noah: What?! Why?
Me: No big emergency or anything. I just decided to take a break.
Sarah: You can't take a year off... We're really really short of leaders!
Me: How come?
Noah: All the senior leaders like Jo and Decky can't do it anymore cuz they've started working full-time. WE've been put in charge of an entire group now!
Sarah: C'mon... we need you. Don't leave us. Our age group is now basically the senior group, and there aren't many of us at all. You HAVE to do King's Club!
Me: ...
Me: *inner conflict*
Me: ...
Me: Ok, ok... I'm in!
Noah & Sarah: ^_^

(I go off to look for Laura)

Me: Hey Laura, I've been talked into Kings Club... you can put my name down. What do you need me to do?
Laura: Great! We need your expertise in making a fool out of yourself in front of the kids.
Me: (-_-"

As a side note, Noah's real name is Wynand, pronounced 'Vay-nahnd'. That kinda explains why we call him Noah.

Anyway.

We expected about 150-160 kids on the first day, but got 201 instead. That's the largest group we've ever gotten, and sure made things a tad bit more complicated! (40 extra heads might not seem like a large number, but just imagine a Malaysian classroom of 80 kids as opposed to the regular class of 40)

Nonetheless, the leaders -- both novice and veteran -- worked well together over the past 5 days to keep things organized. There were several hiccups as well as triumphs, but the details shall be left till tomorrow's post; old people like me tend to become half-dead after 5 days of kiddy action.

Before I leave though, I'll share some photos of the props involved. I can only wonder how long it took the Woodworths to construct the scenery and for Mrs Crosby to produce the costumes. If the lion, monkey and antelope look realistic, it's because they used to be alive; these are ex-museum exhibits. Also, the theme was officially "African savannah", but I guess green leaves make the place livelier.

Decorated stage

Green savannah

Roar

Face-off

Peek-a-boo

Explorer monkey

Toy monkey

A 7-foot-tall wire mesh/newspaper giraffe

Live animals. Clockwise from the front: Zoe the zebra, Mikey the monkey, Brutus the buffalo, the Cheetah, and the Lion

That's enough for now.

Need. Sleep.

Da Capo al fine

I attended my final piano lesson today.

I'm halfway through my preparations for my diploma, but still have a long way to go. Recently, I realized that I'm unwilling to invest all the time, money and energy anymore into taking things to the next level.

My trusty piano; a Technics SX-PX224

It's been a fruitful 10 years on the electric piano (I've never owned an acoustic one), and it all started when my mom dragged me to MASS Music in Tabuan Jaya after she heard that musical education is good for a child's development. I eventually started liking music and got quite good at playing, but never got passionate about it.

I won't let the piano simply collect dust, of course. There are still tunes that I enjoy, but exactly where I'll go with my music now remains to be seen. Time will tell, I suppose!

P.S. Above is the first published photo from my new camera. :-)

A slight inconvenience

It's two weeks till exam time.

My zeal to study (which had been with me since the beginning of the semester) has gone M.I.A. as of last week.

Dam.

Winter's advent

The cold season is here again. Along with it comes 5pm sunsets, rainy days, frozen toes, thick clothing, and...

...garden snails on footpaths.

I'll have to start watching the road as I walk again, lest I hear the dreaded crunch beneath my foot.

Can we have... 42 boxes of chips and 42 bottles of juice, please?

Actually, the exact words that the guy used on my supervisor were, "We're in charge of this group of kids here. Would we scare the sh*t out of you if we ordered 42 boxes of chips?"

NOT what a chip fryer ever wants to hear!

My day as a cashier at Subiaco Oval yesterday started normally enough. The event was only a West Australian Football League game (not a national one), so only about 5% of the stadium seats were filled. My food outlet wasn't getting many customers at all. Wish I'd brought a book to read! And so, I thought a good way to pass time would be to pester my friends. ^_^ I only managed to SMS 2 people however, before the crowd started getting larger and larger. Ooh, looks like it's back to business as usual.

It almost seemed like business as usual too... but then the 42 mini humans in football jumpers turned up, chattering and hollering away. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of cooking chips at the time. :-P Unfortunately, I still had to handle the payment. You see, the cash register did NOT have a multiplier, meaning that I had to press the "Hot Chips" button 42 times (Kirsti got the chance to push the "Assorted Juices" button on the other register 42 times, so it was all fair and good).

I should probably mention that this happened to be my first morning shift. I made the mistake of assuming that it lasted 4 hours (just like all my afternoon/evening shifts), giving me a few hours to spend in the city library before starting my evening shift at Perth Oval. Good time management, no? Turned out that I had to hop into my supervisor's car as soon as we finished at Subi, and we sped over to the other stadium together for an immediate start. They'd better pay me well for this! :-P

Here's a list of other exciting goings-on at both workplaces:

1. Argued with a bloke that no, we do NOT give out free packets of vinegar.
2. Got paid $8 in tiny tiny coins. The kid had to cup both hands, and they STILL looked like they were gonna overflow.
3. The power went off every 2 minutes while the customers watched me making burgers from outside. To keep them happy and entertained, I got them to count down the seconds until the patties came out of the microwave. (Yes, Spotless Services has strange cooking methods)
4. Snuck in to watch the live performance for free at the end of my shift.
5. Got told off by Security for carrying an umbrella around Perth Oval. Nobody told me they were illegal!!! :-S

Life is never dull.

I should get back to finishing off my physics assignment, completing my physics and biochemistry pre-labs, and studying for my upcoming maths, physics and pharmacology tests. It's amazing how much freedom a student gets!

Under the microscope

This post is in response to Sam's attempts to resuscitate a blogger who seems to love staying comatose (i.e. me ^^;;)


1. Do you believe in love at first sight?
According to the principles of probability, there is a chance that there exists at least one person in the world such that if you achieve visual contact for the first time with him/her, then you develop a loving relationship with him/her.

Mathematically, for some x which is an element of W,
Where
W = {People in the world}
a: The event that y enters the field of vision of x for the first time
b: The event that x and y form a loving relationship


2. Do you eat without brushing your teeth?
Doesn't it seem silly to clean your teeth, and then get them dirty again immediately after?


3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Kingdom Come sounds like an awesome place


4. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
:-)


5. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?
Oh yes. All I have to do is look 42 degrees above the axis of sunlight, after it rains.


6. Do you like being who you are today?
Yes, I like Sze Howe at the moment. His likability can still increase, though!


7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Drop my jaw.


8. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Of course. Just not sure when!


9. Would you swim in a vat of chocolate?
Well, the viscosity of chocolate is low enough to swim in if and only if its temperature is uncomfortably high. So... no.

I'd happily eat it though. ^_^


10. Do you Obsess over things, Anything?
Yeah... I suspect that I suffer from a mild form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder when it comes to collecting things that I MIGHT find useful in the future. Am learning to chuck things away! >_<


11. Which type of cars I love the most?
...ones with engines that don't die when I drive them. *grumble*


12. Which do you prefer from your other half? hug? or a kiss?
Can't have both ka? That would be sad...


13. If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
A certain BB Corporal pointed out my faults when others kept silent. It was a very kind thing he did for me.


14. What new hobbies are you considering at the moment?
Sword-fighting, hang-gliding. Seriously, they seem fun! Alas, it's a bit hard for me to pursue them at the moment. =P


15. Are you a shopaholic or not?
Do pigs fly?


16. What kind of electronic device/gadget you own that you like most?
My Sony Ericsson K610i is serving me VERY well. I'm also looking for a camera to replace my ailing Cybershot DSC-T33.


17. If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
My instinctive reactions to others.


18. What makes you feel disappointed?
When I fail someone who counts on me.


19. If given a chance, do you want to see your future?
I don't think there's a need to. However, being the ever-curious (and kepo) person that I am, I'd say yes. ^_^


20. What would you do when your secret is found out?
Be relieved that I have one less secret to carry.





P.S. The chain of tags die here.
P.P.S. Normal posts will resume soon!

The Universitian Life Returns

1. Get really pumped.
2. Work hard.
3. Gradually lose motivation.
4. Start slacking off.
5. Take things easy.
6. Very easy.
7. Stress out the week before exams.
8. Scrape through exams.
9. Have a 3-month holiday.
10. Repeat #1 - #10.

For some reason, many students have similar semester outines which can be modelled as above (granted, not all academic institutions make #9 possible). Unfortunately, I allowed myself to fall into the same trap last year, so my results weren't as good as they could've been. Let's see if I can avoid it this year.

Nowadays, they like to tell you that there's more to uni than just learning, which is true. If only you could have been at O-Day (the final day of orientation week) and seen the few hundred stalls, with people trying to con encourage first-years to join their clubs! I think I'll take Cantonese lessons with the Chinese Society if they don't clash with my classes like they did last year.

Yep, this should be an awesome year. If only we didn't have to start classes on a public holiday, of all days. (It's supposed to be Labour Day tomorrow) Ah well. Time for bed!

Interlude - The first BB lesson of 2008

The Leader oversaw the distribution of the coloured tokens. Each of the four Groups received two round discs -- one green, one red. Once accomplished, the Leader stepped forward to explain the rules of engagement.

Every round, each Group shall choose the colour that they will use. Discussion between different Groups is allowed, but no Group can reveal their final decision until the Leader says so. Points are awarded based on the green-red ratio of the round.

The goal is to score the most points possible.

Table 1: Scoring scheme, based on the number of greens/reds played each round

Tally	Greens score	Reds score
IIII	5	-
IIII	0	3
IIII	0	2
IIII	0	1
IIII	-	0

Murmurs filled the room as the Groups swiftly developed their strategies.

"Let's stick to reds every round; This will guarantee that no other group can score higher than us!" That was Group One's plan, and they made sure nobody else heard it.

Group Two had a different thought in mind. "Guys, the goal is to get the most points possible, not to get more than everyone else. We should all play greens to get 5 points!"

Group Four liked the idea and nodded in approval. There was no visible response, however, from Groups One and Three. The stakes were now high for Groups Two and Four. Do they go ahead with the plan? Can the others be trusted...?

"Hold out your tokens," instructed the Leader.

The Group ambassadors clutched their chosen tokens in their fists and extended their arms. They awaited the signal to uncurl their fingers.

"Reveal."

Eyes darted from hand to hand. Did they make it? Had their investments paid off?

As expected, Groups Two and Four had placed their confidence in their ability to score 5 points, and played green. As for Group One who originally planned to take the safe route, they had been persuaded to work together with the others, and their ambassador held out a green token also.

Things are looking good. The 5 points are now within grasp, since Group Three's token colour was...

Red.

Indignant complaints ensued. "Traitors!"

The Leader smiled. "3 points for Group Three, zero for everybody else. Now decide which colour you will play next."

More murmurs filled the room. Group One took the initiative to speak up this time. "C'mon, work together guys! Everone play green!"

The effects of distrust were becoming evident though. It was taking longer for the Groups to make their decisions.

"Hold out your tokens."

They did.

"Reveal."

Green. Green. Green. Red.

Whilst Group Three had agreed to join in the big plan, Group One had backed out and reverted to their original approach.

"Three points to Group One, zero for everybody else. Next round."

This isn't working! Group Two gave up. They are risking everything to help everyone score together, but all they have succeeded in was to get backstabbed. Their efforts leave them with no points while the backstabbers get the loot. This round is their turn to get something. Their ambassador plays with the red token before hiding it in his hand, and putting the green one out of sight. He smiled and waited for the signal.

"Reveal."

Red. Red. Red. Red.

The Groups burst out laughing, even though there was nothing to be happy about, really.

"Looks like nobody scores anything this round," commented the Leader. He paused for a while before continuing. "We'll go for two more rounds. Make your decisions."

This announcement alarmed Groups Two and Four. They were still stuck with nothing, after three rounds.

"Let's do this! Everybody play green!" Group Four presses on. Whether or not it will make a difference, they don't know. Every Group readies their tokens.

Green. Green. Green. Red. Once again, the calls for collaboration falls on Group Three's deaf ears. There is no stopping them now; no matter what happens in the final round, they would be the top scorer.

In a futile last-ditched attempt to raise their levels, no matter how slightly, every Group played red in the final round. A bad decision for all involved, of course.

Final scores
G1: 3
G2: 0
G3: 6
G4: 0

The Leader began the reflections stage. "Who scored the most points possible?"

Enthusiastically, Group Three raised their hands. It was time for the Leader to drive the message home.

"No. Every round, the most you can possibly score is 5 points. Given five rounds, you could've earned 25, but you only managed 6.

"Why? Instead of keeping an eye on the goal that mattered, you only cared about beating everyone else. You weren't willing to risk losing all your points to help the other groups reach the goal.

"If you're not prepared to risk yourselves, you cannot possibly bless others."

---

Interesting, isn't it, how even Groups Two and Four who were aware of the goal from the beginning, still ended up trying to do what the others did?

---

Side note: I'm horrendously unfit... one lap of kickboarding was enough to make my thigh muscles as stiff as a corpse's. Probably because my cells lacked enough ATP to unbind the motor proteins from the microfilaments.

Yay, I remember my Level 1 molecular biology. Level 2 biochemistry, here I come! ...after 1 more month of holidays from today, that is... ^_^

The Odyssey - Part II a - Faces and Places (West)

Kuala Lumpur was a strange and unfamiliar land, where Christmas trees are perpetually surruonded by camera-wielding tourists, and where huge malls dot the landscape. Not to worry, I came prepared!

Page 3 of 5

My sense of direction is absolutely appalling, so the tourists' map (which I photographed from the airplane magazine) came in handy when I got lost in the maze of malls. If my camera battery had died at the time, I would've been in a sticky sticky situation.

Taxi drivers, on the other hand, know their way around better. We hired one of the to drive us to The Curve, Malaysia's "first lifestyle pedestrianised shopping mall"

Model: Sze En

It's not often that I'm impressed by a shopping place, but the designers did a fantastic job with The Curve's exterior. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about some parts of the interior. I would've spent more time taking photos of the place, but Dad and Sze En were always eager to be on the move...

One thing that DID manage to stop Dad was the sight of NanXiang Steamed Bun Restaurant! I do recommend their tea, but only if you're not short on cash. Most Chinese restaurants in Malaysia only serve a "standard" type of Chinese tea; I haven't been able to find different brews anywhere else (possibly because I haven't actively searched for any, heh heh). Oh, and they have the quaintest china, too.

Cute!

These little buggers cost us a bomb

For grub of lower price but not necessary lower quality, Cousin Jenny took us to Taman Megah, an oversized open-air food court.

Many many many stalls

My beloved claypot rice; Something which is non-existent in Perth

You should know what this is ^_^

Scale: The mug on the left is about 15cm high

I'm normally not fussed about food (you might think I'm lying, since most of the photos above are of edibles, but it's true) but a strange thing happened that evening. As I walked around, deciding what I'd have for dinner, I couldn't help grinning when I saw some of the stuff. Pohpiahs, claypots, kueh chaps, etc. etc. etc.... I didn't miss them over the past 3 years because I never thought about them, but seeing them in front of me again was quite an experience!

Oh yeah, this entry is entitled Faces and Places, so I should show some faces, eh?

Cousin Jenny. She's married, guys... tough luck!

Slurp
(Naruto and his ramen are from chapter 181 of Masashi Kishimoto's manga)

Yes, I'm a mean mean brother who aims to shoot the most horrible photos possible of his beloved younger (but taller) sibling. To be fair, here's a stupid photo of myself.

Reeeee-tard!

This face of mine was snapped by Voon in Times Square, when I met up with the BB guys (and girl).

Representatives of 1^st KL, 3^rd KL, 10^th KL, and 1^st Kuching
L-R: Caleb, Debbie, Sam, Kenny, Sze Howe

The 5 of us were the ones who stayed the longest, actually. There was a much bigger group at the start, including many whom I've never met before. ^^;;

The story's like this: I first met Debbie, a budding young artist, through a chance encounter in deviantART. After learning that we were both members of the Boys' Brigade, we got to know each other more by insulting each other at every given chance commenting on each others' art. After that, I was discovered by Kenny Voon, who knew both Debbie and some UndergroundSquare members (partly because he shares the same name as one of the UGS founders, hehe). Small world, huh? Finally, I met everyone else through the BB Malaysia forum, and also become Sai Hong's correspondent for his International Relations award.

So, I thought I might as well meet up with them in their hometown! (No, I am not aware of any dangers about meeting up with people you met online) We had dinner and chatted at some Egyptian-themed eatery, then chatted some more at Starbucks (their coffee is overrated, actually). What else...? We also did a badge trade, hee!

Spot the odd badge out, among the bottom 2 rows

Captain Grove quite liked my new 'Arts, Crafts and Hobbies' badge when I showed it to him. ^_^ A certain 10^th KL sergeant now possesses my old Australian 'Skills' badge. These types of souvenirs are the best, I reckon.

Alas, given my short stay in KL I wasn't able to see everyone that I wanted to... Mian my fellow cross-dresser from Penang, who cancelled her debating competition in KL; Annabelle from my counterpart class in St Mary's, who was far far away in Sunway; and Sam the rhizobium who was also somewhat far away (and had a very squeezed shopping schedule to top things off).

No matter, I managed to catch up with the Kuchingites at a later stage. More details in the next entry which will be published over the next few weeks or so!