.ZNING

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:37:00 +0000

Happy New Year EVERYONE!!!! WOo Hoo!

Its been a very long time already and after browsing through all my friend's blogs, I decided that i had to write something here. Its been a nerve wrecking year for me in 2008 going through school life and all sorts of different things. Most of all, I felt that i have aged...

Firstly, A levels. Its the most stressful and boring thing i have ever done in my life and i really hope that i won't have to do this kind of thing anymore. Going through A levels made me feel how dumb and stupid i can be at times and it has also showed me that with much effort, I can really stuff ALOT of stuff into my head. Stuff that i thought was impossible to go inside my head somehow managed to go inside, somehow.

Life after A levels is confusing. Its a sense of feeling lost after all the routine studying schedule and all of a sudden, "Hey? i don't need to pick up a book anymore?" Hmm... It really feels very very weird. The first few days were terrible. I did not know what to do and how can i pass time. Time seemed to crawl at an amazingly slow speed. Its like the first few days you go to school feeling how time is passing so slowly? Come to think of it, time seems to pass slower when you don't need it and it just speeds through when you really need it. Oh well its all psychological.

Attending 3 chalets in a row was a first for me in my life. Never was I involved in 3 chalets at one go. One sec 4 class chalet, MR chalet and finally SB5 chalet. I enjoyed all of them equally (: Sec 4 chalet was more of a gathering for me to meet up with old friends and catch up with them. Did not stay for the night as i had MR chalet the next day. Although it has been 2 years already, the bonds that we forged during the secondary school days remain strong and i could really feel the atmosphere that reminded me of secondary school days. But oh well, as usual, I don't fit in very well with my sec 4 class. Not that i can't fit in at all, but just not very well. But still, i really like my sec 4 class.

Then MR chalet. It was one heck of a chalet. It was like one big family having a chalet. All the other halfs of most MR members were invited to the chalet and really, it didn't feel wrong at all. We had Charis and Ziyi who joined us even though they were not MR members but they blended in well with us(: Once again thanks for coming(: Although i really hated my buddies teasing about me, i know that they tease me because they care for me, because they want it to happen which is also what I want to realise also. However, sometimes its not very nice to continuously tease and tease cause it really hurts me. Hope you guys can understand how i feel (:

Then it was prom night. I did not attend but i somehow got in =X Saw so many people dressed so pretty and so handsome that i got abit jealous. But oh well i saved some money -_-...Went for post prom party and i can tell you its not my cup of tea. The music is just blasting and piercing that my ears hurts. Me and Shuteng just left at like 3 plus and we walked around trying to find our way in town cause both of us are goon dus when it comes to walking around town. We wanted to find a macs to have coffee and just sit down but no matter how we walked, we lost our way-_- Our initial plan was to find raffles city so we walked and walked from raffles place to cityhall and then somehow we just ended in bugis-_-"' finally found what we want and we just bought food and eat. Slept at the macs till it was like 5+ and we decided to try our luck to catch the first bus. Took 170 and it was a very very fast journey from bugis to my place. I think it took like 30mins the most? No much stop and no much traffic. End of day, Clubbing is not my cup of tea.

Working is fun for me. First time i really work in the real world earning money. first day of work is kind of confusing cause i did not know anything to do with selling. The most confusing thing was each and every products pricing. Just way to confusing. But slowly and surely, i will pick it up. (:

On the last day of the year, I got a very very special opportunity to go behind the scenes of Channel 8 new year count down show. I am really really lucky to have a friend to help me arrange for it. Reached Vivo at like 9.45 and there was like a freaky queue outside. I got the backstage pass and go all the way backstage. Woots! Damn exciting. Saw alot of artiste and sure they are all very gorgeous:D Really was an eye opener on how people run shows. Really an eye opener.

Here's wishing everyone a very happy 2009!

My audio salvation is here!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:20:00 +0000

A's is almost over and finally, after a long time, I've finally got it (:

WOO HOO!!!

Second Repair of GC

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:38:00 +0000

Not mine of course :P Haha. Its my friends. His calculator got pretty screwed up and many of the buttons could not be pressed. He told me that some people said that the battery leaked and the liquid caused the calculator's inside to corrode and spoil. So i decided to take a look.

Opened it up and wah it was a mess. All the dried up battery water was inside and it was slimy. Took it for a wash and rubbed it clean. At first i thought it would be a simple thing cause maybe it was just dirt but after washing and trying to turn it on again, it didn't seem so easy.

Spent like 30 mins before I figured out that the battery water has actually corroded the conducting tracks on the PCB to the extent that a few of them are no longer conducting anymore. So i whipped out my trusty soldering iron and some enamel coated wire and began re-routing the tracks with the enamel wire. It wasn't easy and my hands were kind of shaky today.

After around 30 mins, i finally finished re-routing all the necessary tracks. Tried it again but oh bugger, it was even worst. I tried and tried and tried all sorts of method but it just didn't work. Logic was telling me that what i did was correct but i just couldn't solve the problem. I got so frustrated that i decided to give up.

I closed up the thing and screwed the whole thing up till the final cover. It was only then that i realised that i had screwed the screw in the wrong place inside so i couldn't screw the top cover up. Screw it!

So i had to reopen the whole thing again. This made me hand itchy again and i decided to give it one last shot. I desoldered the whole thing, and resoldered the whole thing again but this time in phases so that i would know which track that i re-routed controlled which buttons. This was a better choice as i could see if the soldering was done right. The first one went in and :D It worked! I restored the number zero and some other numbers when replacing one track. Then i moved on to the rest and finally everything was back and working fine.

I tried to neaten my soldering with some solder flux and dang, that was a bad decision. it screwed the whole thing again-_- Now the stupid feeling was feeling up in me and i was starting to feel damn sian about this. At first i didn't know what was wrong again but heck, i decided to just wash it with some water again. WOW! After washing with water and drying it with a hair dryer, it worked again! So happy. And i realised that this thing couldn't had alot of flux lying on the conducting pads cause i think the flux could conduct electricity too. So yea washing away the flux solved the problem. Closed it up and :D a job done again. So happy!

Yea okay i guess about 90% of the people who read what was up there understood nuts about it but in short i repaired another GC.

So anw, yesterday's night was very very clear. I couldn't resist but to take a photo of it. Here it is:

Peering through the clear night sky, I couldn't resist myself but to feel helpless...

College Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:59:00 +0000

Woots! Fun. Haha. Been some time since i posted too cause of prelims which is quite bad. But anw, College Bowl. Shall just post photos cause a picture speaks a thousand words :D

Life is unpredictable...

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:18:00 +0000

After what happened for the past 2 days, I finally realised how brittle and how unpredictable life can really be. First it was Kai Yan. Though i did not really know her, apart from playing netball with her on a few occasions, I knew what she was going through. I admire her courage and the strength that she had to fight her illness. Unfortunately, she passed away. She was a brave and courageous person. Rest In Peace.

Then today, Clement called me.
"Hey, you know anything that happened to Xing Zong recently?"
"No, why?"
"He committed suicide yesterday."

It was really a blow to me. 2 days, 2 lives. He was a great classmate to me. One that had a happy go lucky attitude. It was totally unexpected of him to commit suicide. Brother Muscle! How unexpected. Life could have taken a setback, but why? Why choose to take your own life?

Life is really unpredictable. A moment you may be seeing your friend so cheerful, being with them having fun with them and the next moment, they are gone. Its really unexpected of him to take his own life. He was so cheerful and always so happy, how could he have committed suicide? Its totally unbelievable, but it has happened. Hais. What can i do, what can i say? It has really been an honor to be your classmate. May You rest in peace.

Goodbye 12th Media Resource Crew

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:59:00 +0000

Friday was the official last day for my batch in Media Resource Crew. My batch was the 12th batch of MRC. Honestly speaking, I am really proud and fortunate to be in the 12th batch. The 12th batch was a magical batch. With each of our individual specialised areas combined together, we were a batch that was made for success. With each and every show that we do that outperforms the previous shows, we were on our road to totally creating a new unprecedented standard in ACJC MRC's history. Oh well, I will really miss my batch of talented people, especially my main comm and sub comm members. Of course i can't miss out all the people who were constantly there to support us. Shu Teng, Wei Enn, Matthew, Kevin, Fang Yu, Tian Cheng, Buo Wei and iVan.

To my wonderful Comm members, thank you for being there to support me. Especially to Kee Ann and Zhong Xian. Haha, our job scope totally changed from the previous batch. I focused mainly on technical aspects while you guys covered my administrative aspects. Thanks alot!

To Brandon: Thanks for being my president, although at times i wonder if did i make a wrong choice back then as to whether to vote for you as my president. Well everyone makes mistakes at different parts of their lives. But still thanks for being there and try to learn to be a bit rational and learn some self control and perhaps reconsider how you package and present yourself.

To Zhong Xian: Okay i love arguing with you although it does not improve my GP in any way. Haha. Firstly i must say that i'm sorry for having a negative impression in the past and perhaps made a wrong judgment about you. But seriously, try to tame down a bit cause for me to have a bad impression of you to start off with means that something is not right with you in my eyes right? But still, thanks for your "anger management" problem that has prevented me from getting anger management problems. If not for your constant lectures with the J1s, then i believe i would have to be the bad boy and do all the bad things. Really Thanks!

To Kee Ann: Wah seriously, YOU ARE A WORKAHOLIC. DO YOU REALLY LOVE TO DO WORK!?!?! OH MY TIAN LA! Work work work non-stop -_- Learn to take things easier too at times (: Although they say you must do finish all the work, you don't need to do it to such an extent. Its really too much for them to ask you to do that. But in all case, THANKS ALOT! I think the person i should thank the most is you cause you really did a wonderful job. Amazing one i must say. Even the people in my father's office can't do a job like how you do it. I SWEAR! I am really fortunate to have you as my QM.

To Shermaine: Thanks for being there when i need your help. Though we didn't really get to know each other well, it was enjoyable having you as my friend. Thanks for always extorting money from me anyway.

To Colin: You and KA, seriously form the totally imbalance stock take team. YOU GO GIRL! :D Haha. Thanks for all your help ad being our odd job worker =X And for that, I shall reward you with the title of "Sir Sai Kang". Okay la, really thank you ALOT. Always there to cover for everyone when we are all busy. Maybe saying a little less of those superlatives vocabulary would make you a nicer person. But oh heck, i love your "wonderful" vocabulary.

To Joe: YAY! MY BUDDY FOR VIDEO EDITING and a great self taught drummer. AND OH! A great dancer too! Never failed to have fun when editing videos with you. Your eyes and perspectives are really a wonderful one. I never fail to enjoy listening to your ideas. Always gives me new insights. Thanks alot!

To Xiang Jun: Thanks for being the camerawoman for like almost every time i need you to be. Thanks alot! I wish you and him all the best too (:

To the rest: Thanks for being in MRC. To the people who honestly regards MRC as their CCA and not like those who have multiple CCAs and always never fail to not turn up for events, no I'm not talking about you big guy, REALLY THNAKS! Thanks for having trust in us, having faith in us. Thanks for not giving up on my comm and continue to support us. Even though there has always been the misconception that we want to get all of you guys out and claim fame only to us, you guys continues to stay on. Honestly, that very day when all hell broke lose, I really didn't mean my words to be that way. Really. And for all you know, i wasn't the one who came up with the various test and quizzes. Irregardless of that, I'm very touched to those few who bothered to continue having trust in me and my comm and not blame anything on us or bear any grudges with us. Really Thanks Wei Enn, Kevin, Matthew, Tian Cheng and Shu Teng. For those who were angry with me, firstly, i am sorry but please realise that i do not have to. Shan't elaborate on that.

Anyway, time really flies. First official event was teacher's day and then seniors night, then orientation then bla bla bla and now its all over. Woah. Just can't believe it. As time passed, we all got to know each other better. We grew, we improved and we became a team. Thanks (: Like we all agreed on, "The development and creation of a crew like ours is not just a matter of talented people but also 'cooperative' teachers." Unfortunately we are bounded by them, or else we could have gone further but also with them, our crew won't be this crew that i know of now. So to the teachers, thanks for being cooperative and understanding while in the mean time also 'cooperative and understanding'.

To my successor. All the best to you. Whatever that i need to teach you, i have taught you. Now its up to you to cultivate and grow your own skills. I don't expect you to be at the same level as me but if you do i would be really glad and comforted.

To our successors. ALL THE BEST TO YOU GUYS TOO! Like what KD said, don't let your small quantity of crew members be a hindrance. All you need is to improve on your skills and efficiency and a small number of crew will be not a problem anymore. Learn to repackage yourself and learn to show some self confidence. Its all about the package, really. So all the best in your future endeavors and in the mean time don't neglect your studies and oh ya, to some of you don't enter depression mode okay? Haha.

CMPB + Passion AC

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:52:00 +0000

4th July, America's Independence Day, my medical checkup day and also Passion AC day. So fun right? Haha. Went for CMPB checkup in the morning with Kang De, Kee Ann and Zhong Xian. The 4 of us had quite some fun at CMPB and the bus ride back to school from CMPB was the best. We were so unhappy with the bus uncle that we were like saying all the guai lan things very very loud. The bus uncle was weird. We went up the bus and tap our cards and he wanted to check our bus pass cause he thinks we cannot be students. So okay lor take out and check. But its so weird, a bit too extreme i think and his attitude wasn't the best kind of attitude. So the 4 of us were just totally du lan by him that we started to like complain about Singapore's bus system and stuff like that. Super funny though. Haha. Oh anw, im in PES B because of having a history of Scoliosis.

So anw, got back to school. Took my own time to settle down before going up to the hall. Much to my relief, everything was more or less there already. Just that the mixer was patched like totally wrong, wonder who did the patching of the mixer. So i just went about re-patching everything and its done. Tested the whole system and it was just sounding the way its supposed to sound. Monitors were also working perfectly fine too just that it is also patched wrongly to the amp-_-. So got everything up and ready by around 4.30ish? Waited for the CF people to come back and we began our sound check. I took a different approach this time round for sound check. I ensured that all the monitors were having a good mix through them. I walked around the stage listening to their monitors ensuring that there was nothing being too loud or too soft. The most fun person to do sound check with must have been the drummer. Quite comical. Haha. 6.30 came and people came in. Started at around like near 7.20 i think. Shall not talk so much about the mix, but i had fun doing the mix, cause its also most probably the last mix for me being an MRC member :'(

Oh wells, there is a time to let go of stuff and yesterday was officially the last event the J2s would be doing. From then on, its the J1s turn to do events already. I'm really kind of worried for them, but I can't do much anymore. What i should have taught them, I taught them. What i should have cultured in them, i really HOPE that i have cultured in them. Now its up to them to up their standards. All the best J1s!

The Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:13:00 +0000

Well, it all eventually led to "The Talk", for which i am glad that all of us had one with him. Personally, it made me see things in another perspective, some that never ever crossed my mind before. Well, our objectives for The Talk were met and I am happy with the outcome, hope the rest of us are happy too. Now that things are more or less settled for the time being, its time for me to change my focus to my descendant. They really would need to start to pay attention to the details already.

Yes you all have already learned quite well, taking into consideration that you are a small group of people going to cover a large group of people's work. I really pity all of you but yet i have no choice but to scrutinise and reprimand you all whenever they do the wrong things. You guys already know how to operate every single thing that you will ever need to know to survive. Learn the basics well and they will carry you really far. Now what i ask from all of you is that to pay attention to all the minor details. Yes paying into attention to minor details may sound like a pain in the ass, why bother when ignoring them would still allow things to work out? Paying attention to all the minor details is the difference between an engineer and a good engineer. You guys can make it happen, you guys are capable of it, its just a matter of are you guys going to do it. Be on the alert, know what to do at the right time, don't panic. If you are not very good at using the touch pad, then train yourself to be good with it.

Its time you guys learn to be independent, its time that we let you go. Honestly speaking, i am worried for you all. Me and KD are very worried for you all. We somewhat already expect what it would be like for the first chapel that you guys will be doing and that thought, really makes us very worried. Being independent would mean that you guys would have to learn the things all by yourself, answer all your doubts by yourself. I know its not easy, but it is possible, take me for an example, i'm sure you guys can relate it well to me. All in all, it really actually boils down to your fundamentals cause if you have realised, a lot of the problems and questions you guys ask, has always got something to do with the basics. Learn your basics right and strong, and most of the problems that come to you all will be solved easily.

I really wish you guys all the best and i hope you guys will start to pay attention to all the minor details. Its never too late you know?

Wat the SHIT?!?!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:40:00 +0000

I swear that I'm a joke. I DROPPED MY GC INTO THE TOILET BOWL!!! Shall not go into the details of how me GC end up in toilet bowl. Worst thing is that it was TOTALLY submerged in the toilet bowl water and i could see bubbles coming out. DARN!

I went home and knew that i had to open the damn thing up to dry it. BUT I HAD NO SPECIAL KEY TO OPEN IT. It did not use the standard philip crosshead screws but instead some weird screw. Fiddle around with it and was lucky enough to find a flat screwdriver that is of the right size to manage to twist open the screws. Phew. Opened it up and boy oh boy. It was wet like dunno what. I removed the PCB and brought it to rinse under a tap to clean it. Then used tissue paper to absorb the moisture and then proceeded to placing the whole PCB under rice grains as i heard that rice grains had the effect of absorbing water. I was really hoping that the chip wasn't fried or anything.

Had to use a hair dryer to like bake the thing a little to purge out all the remaining moisture and then i tried to turn it on. The first few moments were kind of scary. The screen was totally dark but after a few seconds it said ram cleared and all was working well (: Wah must be my damn unlucky plus damn lucky day.

This Week.

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:12:00 +0000

This week has been one of the more productive week. Okay, it has been the MOST productive week for the entire June holidays. Went to school almost EVERYDAY to mug form 10 to 5 in the library. Only day that we did not meet up in school to mug was monday.

Monday, Berd, Bong, Jin Xuan and Vivian came over to my place to mug. Woah! I tell you my place is the worst place ever to hold a mugging session. Just too much distraction. With music that can be blasted like damn loud and a laptop... I guess its totally a very hard to study in environment. So it wasn't very productive. Haha. JX, Berd and I ended up watching Taxi 2 towards the end of the session, but we sure laughed our heads out. Had KFC for dinner at my place and we watched SuperBand together. Laughed and laughed at all the "cannot make it" band. But i admire their courage to go in front of national television and perform. Respect!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Today. Went back to school to mug. Mug from like 10-5 having lunch in between. Been doing chem for the past 3 days. Spend so much time on chem cause i want to finish that organic assignment that was given to us. Left with nitrogen compounds and i am done with it.

Holidays are going to end. What have i done this June holidays? OH MY TIAN! NOTHING LA!

Yet Another Audiophile Post (YAAP)

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:13:00 +0000

And its Yet Another Audiophile Post.

I had a dream last night. I dreamed that i forgotten to pull out the power cord for my Nelson Pass Preamp and left it running overnight. True enough, when i woke up the next morning and went to check, it was seriously plugged in and that means it has been running for like 16hours straight? And the bad thing is that i run them on disposable batteries. My immediate reaction was to run to my room and take out my multimeter to check the voltage. 15.5V on both sides. What a relieve. At least it didn't drop to like 10V. When the batteries are new, they should measure roughly 18V.

So i thought that i should do something about it, like an indicator to let me know if are they turned on or not. So i got down to it right after breakfast. Fitted 2 separate super bright blue LEDs to each channel of the preamp. Hid them behind the big knob so that it looked like the knob was glowing.

Had to drill the 2 wholes for the LED but i did not have a drill-_- I only had the drill bits. So i used my hand to slowly twist and turn the drill bits till there was 2 holes-_-

So this is the final product

Did some internal rewiring too to make it neater

No more messy wires. Okay maybe still a bit messy but at least its neater

The 2 blue LEDs. Wait, it seems like one side is brighter! Shit.

Upon further probing, i realised i had actually used 2 different resistor for the LEDs. This was the dimmer LED's resistor. It was a lot more larger in value compared to the other resistor, so had to swap it out for a smaller value resistor.

After swapping out the resistor, i had to test if did it still work with the modifications

And a nice blue glow(:

Shall take a photo tonight when its all dark and see how the glow effect looks like.

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Was feeling very very emotional. Couldn't stop myself being that way. Decided that i must stop being so emotional and I've got to do something about it. Ran through my head of what to do to flush out the emotional me and this is what i came up with.

Its a power supply for my Nelson Pass JFET preamp.

LM317 voltage regulators

Schottky diode for conversion of AC supply to DC

Final product. Dual transformer, separate power supply.

However got problem. No voltage when i first turn on. I suspect its the schottky diodes that are fried. Didn't have the time to debug the problem.

Added a new component to my audio system

Horns to go with my corals (:

Fostex D252 horns. The board at the side is the crossover for the horns

Not the prettiest setup but heck, it gives good sound!

The diaphragm of the horn

Also redid my battery supply for my Nelson Pass JFET preamp. It looks so much more neater now.

Overall the sound improvement with the horns is very good. Now my Corals still run full range but with the Fostex horns crossing in at around 8kHz. At first the sound is a bit too bright, very ear piercing because of the additional high frequency energy. So did some measurements using a Real Time Analyser (RTA) and figured out the frequency that was causing the problem. Adjusted the EQ on my laptop audio out and ah ha! It sounds a lot more better already.

Now with the Fostex horn, the highs are crisper but not to the extent of ear piercing. I can now also pick up the not so obvious breathing sounds of the singers when they sing. Overall a good improvement la. Only problem is that now when i want to listen to music, i need to use my laptop cause i dun have a graphic equaliser! So its a bit troublesome.

Okay its more like a geek or audiophile post liao, okay it is.

Jesse McCartney - Why don't you kiss her

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:18:00 +0000

We're the best of friends
And we share our secrets
She knows everything that is on my mind
Lately somethings changed
As I lie awake in my bed
A voice here inside my head
Softly says

Why don't you kiss her
Why don't you tell her
Why don't you let her see
The feelings that you hide
'Cause she'll never know
If you never show
The way you feel inside

Oh I'm so afraid to make that first move
Just a touch and we
Could cross the line
Everytime she's near
I wanna never let her go
Confess to her what my heart knows
Hold her close

Why don't you kiss her
Why don't you tell her
Why don't you let her see
The feelings that you hide
'Cause she'll never know
If you never show
The way you feel inside

What would you say
I wonder would she just turn away
Or would she promise me
That she's here to stay
It hurts me to wait
I keep asking myself

Why don't you kiss her (tell her you love her)
Why don't u tell her (tell her you need her)
Why don't you let her see
The feelings that you hide
'Cause she'll never know
If you never show
The way you feel inside...

Why don't you kiss her?

FunOrama XIX Video

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sun, 25 May 2008 08:49:00 +0000

Something that is way overdue. But nevertheless, here is ACJC FunOrama XIX Video!

NAPFA

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:42:00 +0000

WOOTS!!!! I PASSED NAPFA!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally! (:

Must really thank those people who motivated me to pass my pull ups. Jin Zhe, Berd, Cynthia, Vivian, Derrek, Kai Yuan and more la. Ever since the day i saw Kai Yuan pass his pull ups, it has been my motivation to train for it cause i saw a living example that it is possible to pass pull ups for people who fail it. :D Must thank him for giving me the motivation to pass my pull ups if not i guess i would still be slacking and failing my pull ups not even wanting to pass it.

Have to thank Berd and Jin Zhe for pacing me for the last lap of my run. I really could feel my feet ache already and i was almost going to give up. But they came along and pushed me on. Thanks alot! (:

To everyone who has in one way or another help me pass my NAPFA, Thanks!

enCOre

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:25:00 +0000

Went to watch the enCOre concert yesterday. Pretty good one i must say.

Wanted to go there with a listening ear to really enjoy the music but the day before, Vivian just SUDDENLY call me and crap, have to do videoing... Oh wells. Ended up watching the whole concert through a view finder which is just so not good. Life of a Sai Gang warrior.

So Anw, had to go to SCH just a bit earlier to setup my camera and get a good spot. Supposed to meet with Shiyi for dinner first before going over to SCH but then she pang seh me, call me when im on the bus telling me her mother cooked liao. End up i decided to just grab a light snack ALONE at burger king. Super lonely. Haha. After my light snack at BK, went to the library at Westmall. Grab a copy of HiFi Choice magazine and indulged in it. Read the magazine till like 5.50pm then Shiyi came. Made our way to Tanjong Pagar MRT. Okay la, at least she was understanding and agreed to go there earlier. (:

When we reached Tanjong Pagar, she met her classmates over there so we went split ways. Went over to SCH first to get ready. Was given the circle seats. Setup the camera and was deciding which tripod to use since i brought my own one. Once i was done., i SMSed Q cause he used to work at SCH. I asked him if could he help me ask his friend to let me go visit the control room. =D. Was very fortunate cause his friend allowed. Damn happy. They had a lot of equipments inside. A few racks of it and their speakers were EV speakers which sounded just great. The mics they used throughout the concert were DPA mics anw. Good stuff. However, throughout the whole concert, there were no amplification done for the orchestra except for the soloist performances.

So anw, the concert started. I started off using the tripod. It was super duper jerky. It came to a point that i really wanted to just throw the tripod away... and i did. I decided to use my hands halfway through. Although its very tiring and i would most probably shake more, at least its not jerky. I felt pretty lonely up there at the circle seats myself. Like a man on a island alone. Although it was like a best spot to watch a concert, it was really lonely up there.

I liked the last encore piece cause the conductor really energised the atmosphere by bringing the audience into the music. Its like he has bridged the gap between the audience and the orchestra. Great job Mr Shen!

The concert ended and i just packed my stuff and left the circle seats. Found Vivian and got her to bring my equipment back to school and take care of it cause i lazy to bring everything back myself :P

Took some pictures with the class with Vivian and Miss Too, then i left already. It was pretty late already and they wanted to follow Vivian back to school so i just decided to go home from SCH. Met up with Shiyi and we left for home together. Met Kok on the way. Ended up being lame with him and our conversation is really very very lame. Reached home at around 12.

=D

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:27:00 +0000

Just want to say thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday and to SB5 for buying the cake to celebrate the May baby's birthday. Thanks a lot (:

Pictures!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:52:00 +0000

So here are some picture of the crew during AC got talent.

Everything looks blue...

Curtains Closed

After the show

Wrap up for last week!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Last week was kind of tiring. But oh well all our hard work has FINALLY paid off. AC got talent. One of the best show i have ever done. No major hiccups and cock ups and the best thing of all, we have won the challenge set aside by ourselves. We did a live telecast thing! First time ever in ACJC and it was made possible by us. GREAT JOB GUYS!!! Shall post some pictures after i get back my camera. Have to thank the councilors for being so meticulous in everything they did cause the script that they passed to us was just so comprehensible. In short, one of the best shows MRC has ever ever done. BEST!

On the other hand, i have missed out a lot on my academics. Sleepless nights made me very tired and unable to concentrate at all. The thought of AC got talent makes my mind wonder away from lectures and tutorials. Just cannot concentrate. Some teachers are considerate while some aren't. But oh well, can't really expect all of them to be so understanding. Right? In fact its a blessing that even some of them understand (: Sometimes what i need is time for myself to adjust myself back to the right mood instead of someone always pushing me. All i need is some time alone to sort out my thoughts. A quote from Randy Pausch at his last lecture: Life ain't about achieving your dreams, its about how you lead your life.

I'm back!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Yep! I'm back and im not going to blog about how tired i am this time (:

Monday was maths test. I kind of forgot to retrieve the probability tutorial that i promised Miss Kuah to retrieve by the end of Friday after the AC's Got talent rehearsal. I feel really bad for that. She is really understanding cause i only passed it to her on that Friday afternoon and she just marked it for me without doubting me or anything. Really appreciate it, but it just slipped my mind to retrieve it after the rehearsal. Anw, Monday morning after chapel and cyberwellness talk, Miss Kuah called me but i accidentally hung her call!!! Argh!!! Then she smsed me. Wah i feel terrible doing that although it was an accident. ZZZ. She actually smsed me to remind me to collect my probability tutorial although the test was just like an hour away. I really really appreciate it. Thank you Miss Kuah for your understanding! Really thanks! Sometimes when you are feeling so tired and down about everything single thing in the world, it is this kind of acts of kindness, care and concern that brightens up your day and make you realise that all is not lost. Really thanks! (:

Tuesday was Chem test. I think I was prepared for it but then Murphy's law never fails to amaze me. Oh well. It was really Chem day. Wah so many period of chem and then chem test and chem MCQ time assignment. Chem Chem Chem. BAH!

Today was physics SPA. Wah its the last of SPA. I hate it but i am going to miss it :( Undeniably it is enjoyable for me to do physics SPA. I really pray and hope that i did not screw it up cause its double weightage from the rest of the SPA's I've ever done. Hope all goes well and i did not forget to write anything cause i ALMOST forgot to write the whole section on Hypothesis. OH MY TIAN LA! Lucky i realised it while i was writing my procedure on the hypothesis and then figured out that the whole section is missing!!! It kind of made me nervous and not able to concentrate after that cause i became so concerned about if did i screw up. Hope everything goes out well.

Oh anw, can you believe it? Miss Kuah has finished marking the papers and she returned it to us today. Very efficient! AND................................~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I GOT 20/25!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOTSSS!!!!!! ITS MY FIRST A FOR MATHS!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like punching my fist in the air after looking at my marks cause i was so happy!!!! MY FIRST A!!!! YAY! I'm so going to fight to the end for an A for my maths! With hard work, all is possible. I got everything on complex numbers correct (: So its just the probability question that i sort of screwed up but im not good at probability cause my head is kind of the think in one direction kind. Haha.

Tmmr's labor day. A much awaited holiday. Finally some rest for good (: Shall sleep like a pig tmmr then go for tuition during the evenings.

So tired...

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:29:00 +0000

Its been long since i've updated. All is fine (: Just that i'm feeling a little worn out. Everyday is like a tough one to pull through. How i wish i can just don't worry about stuff for one day and do what i like most. It's so tiring... So many tests this week. Chem test, Maths test, and PHYSICS SPA!!!! WOAH!!!!! Going crazy... Most likely will fail one of them but it shall not be Physics SPA cause it determines my A Level results. What Mr Chew says makes sense, totally. Okay i shall mug hard for next week!

phew, finally over...

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:44:00 +0000

Finally its Saturday and the week is coming to an end. Just came back from Maths tuition and now i'm just lazing around listening to music on my system. Its been long since i turned it on to listen to music. I miss the sound of my Corals. They are seriously like gems.

Monday - Supposedly to have AC got talent auditioning. Somehow ended up with only one pianist auditioning... -_- So we just left la. Waste time.

Tuesday - MP Mdm Halimah Jacob came to our school to conduct a GP enrichment talk. Had to do it with Shermaine in the end cause if screwed up confirm GG to MRC. Lucky no screw ups at all and Mdm Halimah knew how to use a mic properly. Concurrently, there was CB Paul Quiz rehearsal. The rest of the crew did the rehearsal. Ended kind of late.

Wednesday - CB Paul quiz. I opted not to have a blue slip cause i felt that there were just too many people over there. No point for me to be present. Furthermore, with my presence, i will be doing everything including sound check and stuff cause thats my nature. So thats why i best felt that i just opted out of a blue slip and leave the stuff to the J1's to do.

Thursday - AC got talent audition. At least this time got a few bands. But heck, 1 band only-_- Did the semi full setup with the board in the center of the hall. Must thank KD and whoever who helped out with the fast setup. Had a bit of fun while mixing for the band.

Friday - Julia Gabriel Debates. Something like CB Paul but without monitors. Oh man, had a screw up during our manpower transition. Crap. Luckily the teacher was not so petty about stuff. Ended at near 1030 and by the time i got home, it was 1130.

Today - Community Games. Shall not say anything about it.

Finally its over. But is it really over?

I'm Burning Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:07:00 +0000

This week is very very hectic. I'm not sure how am i going to get pass with it. So many events. Multiple events happening at the same time. Everyday filled with events, even Saturday. Miss Too asked us if have we ever wondered and I told her that i wondered if will I ever get to rest. I can really feel myself starting to burn out. Really very tired. Everyday in class, my physical self is there, but my soul is somewhere else worrying about other stuff or if not, resting. I really feel very tired. Plus all the problems that is happening with my CCA, I really wonder if i can survive through this week. But i know, there would always be people who are even more tired than me. Hearing what Bernard told me today, i realised that I'm actually quite fortunate for some teachers understand my situation but don't know and understand his.

Had CB Paul event today. Only ended at 6.30pm. By the time we finished packing up, it was around 7.40pm. Really want to thank her for waiting for me to be done with MR stuff and trying to lift my spirits. I was feeling pretty moody the whole day, just didn't really want to do anything but she came along and brought a smile to my face (: Thanks alot!

Really feel like just dropping down and sleep now but i know i must persevere!

JIA YOU! I MUST MAKE IT!

A trip to telex

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:13:00 +0000

Yesterday, i went to Telex. A company which was taken over by Bosch and carries brands like Midas, Klark Teknik, EV and Dynacord. Brought my camera along but did not take any photos -_- Haha. Was so engrossed with all the stuff there that i forgot to take photos. But i took a photo of gifts that Q gave me. Anw Q invited me there cause i wanted to know how to EQ the sound.

I got to use the Legend 3000 Console. It was the 48 channel version but still it was damn big already. Confirm cannot put inside the tiny cage. This is a picture of the board that i got to use. Very cool i must tell you and I must really say that the board is really designed for the engineer and not designed for the engineer to learn.

Q went through everything with me on this board and its really amazing. The way it mutes certain circuits when it is not in use to reduce noise floor, the way it routes its matrix channels, the way it inputs ambience sound into its aux channels, simply amazing. Surely you won't find anything like that in a Yamaha console.

Q was like fiddling with his Smaart Live software cause it wasn't working and in order to teach me how to EQ, he needed that software to show me the graphs. Unfortunately his Smaart wasn't that Smaart yesterday so in the end cannot teach me EQ but he still taught me all the kinds of EQ, like shelving, parametric, constant Q parametric, proportional Q parametric. All these weren't known to me until yesterday. So thanks to him i got to know more!

By the time we finished everything about the Legend 3000, it was 2 hours later. So we moved on to the XL8! Woots!

Damn cool piece of mixer. It's so good that i won't even say that it is like a mixer but instead its more of a audio network system. No audio processing is actually done on this board. Really! Although it has like 7 Pentium 4s in it plus 5 more dunno what processor, just not from intel. Really damn good. The 5 screens in front are high contrast monitors so no need to worry that cannot see. The faders fly like so damn cool and all the functions are just mind blowing. Again, it is a mixer designed for the engineer and not designed to let the engineer to learn. I picked up how to use this board in quite a fast time. Midas paid a lot of attention to this board. Attention to how engineers get so worried about the values when on a digital board causing them to slow down, attention to like what if there was suddenly a board failure and what should the system react to, all these made up the XL8. Seriously its one of the most amazing and impressive board i ever seen.

As i said, the board does not do the processing on board so it has 22 outboard modules in order to run with it. It has ten DL471 DSP Engines, two DL461 Audio System Signal Routers, five DL451 Audio System Modular I/O, four DL431 Audio System Input Splitters and One DN9331 Klark Teknik Helix Rapide. All this for one board. And the best part, it runs on a fibre cable and it has a redundant 2nd fibre channel in case one fails and even if it fails all of a sudden, the sound will stil be there, just that there is no control over the sound but it does not mean an instant mute. Damn powerful.

96 channel is a standard for this board. You may ask, 96 channels but the board is so short? That was my qns too but then i realised this damn thing is actually like a page thing. You can flip the page to the next page and all the channels will change on the display! Its like OMGWTFBBQ! And even more cool thing is this. There is a layer B function so i can actually work on one of the bays on this board, which actually has 5 bays, and what im working on is independent of what another person can be doing on the other bays. Its like effectively having 2 separate mixers to control the same thing. Seriously i have NEVER seen such a board with all these functions before. Crazy shit but very impressive. I really nothing to say but just go wow!

Learned the XL8 operations then it was about time to go home. On the way home, Q lent me his Westone earphones. OH MY TIAN! I listen to that earphones liao then feel like throwing away my HiFi system. Its like a few WORLDS APART. Damn good la! The bass is so deep and so punchy and the mids is just SHIOK!

Okay enough geeky stuff liao before SOME people poke fun at me with my geekness again. Haha.

PW Results

noreply@blogger.com (Zning4) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:22:00 +0000

We got back our results today. I got an A but somehow i did not feel as happy as i should have been. Only 2 people in my group got As. See Toh and me. The rest all got B. I felt that i have sort of failed as a PW group leader cause i did not lead my group to success. On the surface, it looks as if i worked for myself only, cause i got an A but the rest did not. I'm really sorry for not doing a good job PWAC122... Really sorry.

Seeing Marshella's and Vivian's expression when i told them that got B's hurt me quite a lot. The fact that Marshella did not get an A made me feel irritated. She was the one who did the most work in the group but yet she got a B. She was the most hardworking one, most determined one but yet she did not get an A. I'm really sorry Marshella. Vivian, the most cheerful one. The most rationale one. The most analytical one. The one who really cared about team spirit. But she did not get an A. I really don't know what to say. Her sad, dejected face just made me feel guilty of not doing a good job as a PW leader. Alvin too didn't get an A. I guess all i can say to them now is that i'm really sorry and not to be sad cause whats done cannot be undone. Must look ahead and strive hard to score for other content subjects! Getting a B isn't the end of the world, be optimistic!