It’s my sister’s birthday today and the whole family went down to a hotel (I didn’t recall knowing the name, but its just beside the shaw movie building in Orchard road. Opposite Scott’s and Tang’s) for a buffet at one of their restaurants.

I had a good 2 hours meal and I ate a lot of things, and got really really full. I guess, for a stressful time like this, it’s good to have a good meal. The things I remember eating/drinking: Soup, Soba, Salmon Sashimi, Salmon Teriyaki, crayfish, lots of prawns, scallops, mussels, a slice of beef, beef sausage, roast chicken, pasta (daisuki). And 3 scoops of ice cream. I couldn’t even eat the cake that was there. Lol.

Ah well. Not much mood for blogging.

I’m tired of everything in school. I just finished the stupid MKT report and there’s the slides to be compiled. There was also a meeting for the marketing report yesterday, and we spent like two afternoons doing the report and some slides. In the end we divided the work and everyone will complete their share of slides and submit to me by tomorrow night. In a way I asked to be the compiler of powerpoint slides because I felt that my presentation segment was really small so I should do a bit more.

And there’s the issue of the term paper, which I have written plenty of it and it has now exceeded the 2500 word limit by about 300 words. I also have to shift the paragraphs here and there so that the entire structure will be ok.

There’s presentation for marketing this friday and there’s lab for EE2005 on wednesday. There’s EE2005 assignment due friday too and I haven’t done my tutorials. Tomorrow night I’m going to be absolutely busy trying to clear the remaining powerpoint slides. Thankfully I’ve settled 3 people’s slides, including myself. There’s 3 different set of slides to compile by tomorrow.

I think I need a break.

One week has past again, and it just means I’m one week closer towards my examinations which are going to take place in about the last 2 weeks of November. There are a couple of deadlines to meet, and many more things to do. Just a few hours ago someone told me he was doing the textbook questions.

I just managed to complete my marketing individual assignment that’s due this Friday. I’ve had much trouble answering the final question and then trying to squeeze all the words into 4 pages. Frankly speaking I find that by limiting my answer to 4 pages, I won’t be able to give a good answer since there are many things I cannot elaborate upon. I had to cancel a few of my cited articles to make space.

I also have my marketing group assignment due 2 weeks later on the 31st of October and no one has started working on it yet. All of us have other commitments, and all of us are not from business, meaning no one has marketing as a core module. Since core module obviously demands greater attention from us, marketing is somewhat neglected. But at least some of the group members care and we have repeatedly discussed the schedule to meet up. Or the strategy of dividing the workload etc.

The GEK term paper is also going to be due in November 3. At least it’s one of the lesser things I am worried about, since I’ve like completed a huge bulk of it. There’s a 1000 words to write left, some discussion, conclusion and original idea, which is actually the main part I think. But at least it’s moving and I should be able to clear it soon.

There’s Electromagnetics lab tomorrow and we haven’t been taught about transmission lines. I’m just going to figure out what I am supposed to know tonight once I get my hands on my textbook. There’s going to be a run tomorrow, and I’ve got catch up on my MA2216, which is a sick module. The tutorials don’t seem to help. The tutor is also a lousy tutor. He can’t seem to communicate properly and speaks really softly and mumbles. He should get sacked since he’s getting paid to do a job he can’t do. And the tutorials doesn’t seem to link with the lectures.

Well, at least I should still be able to catch up this week. Perhaps I should up the studying intensity.

I haven’t been blogging actively for a very long time already. In a sense I have lost the zeal and momentum to blog, mainly because school is a busy time, and the second reason is that I have gotten really lazy. It seems that Ping.sg, a place I was a little more active in in the past has now become somewhat of an “abandoned place”.

From Ping.sg, I learnt that no matter how good you build your website, it depends on the community, especially for a community blog aggregator like Ping.sg. In a sense, the community can only be enthusiastic about things only when a few people start being enthusiastic. For example, if nobody gives a damn about the community, nobody would start suggesting outings. In Ping.sg’s sense, the community sort of broke up after a few members got banned by the management. Following the unfiar dismissal in many people’s eyes, some of the more influential members have also stopped going to Ping.sg, and stopped ponging their posts there. Now Ping.sg is quite a sad place. The self elected moderators who moderate and stop the porn posts from continuing in the database have now left, and you see that the few people who make it into top 10 normally posts post related to girls or sex.

But I guess this is an interesting experience which many people can learn if they want to set up online communities.

Anyway a couple of updates on my life. It’s week 8 of Semester 3 now and there are only 5 more weeks to go before the end of the semester and the exams start! It’s a mad rush to complete term papers as well as projects before the actual deadline, so that we have time to focus on the rest of the modules. As such, I am trying to finish my individual assignment 4 for marketing even though the deadlines on 17th. I am also trying to finish up my GEK1520 Term Paper as soon as possible, when the deadline is on November 3rd. There is also marketing group project to do on Burger King in Japan.

I must say that the momentum has started and I am trying to put in more effort than I did for the previous two semesters combined. Yet I am unsure of my capabilities and I doubt I can maintain the standard that I am in. I actually wanted this semester to pull my CAP up, but I doubt it can actually happen. 6 modules are no doubt tougher, but I just have to be managing my time better. In fact, I feel that my life is all about studying now, since I spend my weekends studying too. Hopefully the hardwork pays off better?

I’m pretty inspired by the JDrama that I recently watched. I must say that I should aim to become a professional engineer, and perhaps there are some things that I should stop thinking about that’s distracting me. I mean, there are so many more things in life that’s waiting for me to do. And if all else fails, I should have money to buy a flat by 35 and stock it up with everything I want to have in a house.

Well then, got to sleep and go for a run tomorrow!

This is one of the latest dramas that was shown in Japan, having just ended it’s run on September 12, 2008. To me, it’s one of the best dramas I have watched recently. Recently meaning during the holidays, since this is the only drama I watched during the semester. It has a star studded cast, in my opinion, comprising of the follow actors / actresses:

Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi) – Wiki
Aragaki Yui (Gakki) – Wiki
Toda Erika – Wiki

Ok, perhaps it’s not really that star studded, but it’s quite good already. I’ve watched many of their shows. Maybe it’s not much, but if they star in a drama, I’ll probably watch it, sooner or later. I’ve watched Yamapi’s Kurosagi as Kurosaki, Proposal Daisakusen as Iwase Ken, Dragon Zakura as Yajima Yusuke, and Nobuta Wo Produce as Kusano Akira. I realized I didn’t blog about Kurosagi and Nobuta Wo Produce, but both are wonderful dramas in my opinion, especially since Maki’s acting in both.

I watched Aragaki in Dragon Zakura as Kosaka Yoshino (and she looks very different!), My Boss My Hero as Umemura Hikari, Papa to Musume no Nanokakan as Kawahara Koume and in a movie, Koizora (which I didn’t appreciate). Aragaki has grown up over the “years” and looks really different now compared to when she was younger. (Less baby fat?)

For Toda, I first watched her in Death Note (Movie) as Misa Misa, then Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi 2 as Sakura. I also watched her in Liar Game as Kanzaki Nao.

Anyway, Code Blue is an exciting drama about four medical doctors who went to this emergency hospital as interns to train as flight doctors for “Doctor Heli”. Doctor Heli will receive emergency calls from fire engines or ambulances, and within 3 minutes the helicopter would be ready to take off with the 2 doctors and 1 flight nurse to go to the accident / emergency site to help the people in need. Most of the time, they have to do emergency actions, else the person will probably die.

At the start, Aragaki’s character Shiraishi was chosen to be the first intern to serve as one of the flight doctors, and she actually was quite nervous and blanked out upon seeing the victim. Their mentor, who’s the 2nd doctor, immediately took over. This shows how stressful it is, even for a doctor with numerous ER experience.

Yamapi’s character, Aizawa was chosen as the 2nd day flight intern doctor, and since he’s cool headed, he managed to go on site and immediately performed an amputation on the guy who’s hand is trapped in the machine. The rest of the interns would not be able to do it because they feel more for the patient, who’s a young adult. Aizawa is more focused and choose a treatment that’ll allow the person to live. If the amputation was not done, the person will die. When asked what he felt when he did the amputation, he said, “Heat. It’s hot inside”. As such, his character is actually quite “cold blooded”.

Toda’s first mission also ended up with her blanking out and Aizawa actually flew in via the 2nd round to replace her since there was 2 causalities so the senior doctor was busy.

The whole of Code Blue is a sequence of stories showing how the four doctor interns matured and changed, from being rivals to being good friends who’ll support each other. One particular character to note is the last flight doctor who was only allowed to become a flight doctor intern in the last episode after their mentor saw how he changed when reacting in an operation. This shows that if you put in the hardwork, eventually you’ll make it. And that people’s support to you is very important.

Aizawa also changed, after he amputated his mentor’s arm. He began to feel emotions and he wavers in his decision slightly, and becomes more “human”. One instance is when he decided to prioritise the mother in a difficult “birth”, but ended up suggesting an alternative way to save both mother and child. But the part where I could feel very strongly with him is the part where he says “I will save you and let you see your family again”. Don’t you feel that’s the way a professional is? If you are there and you can play a difference to someone’s life in such a way, even though you’re not a doctor, will you do something?

Shiraishi also learnt not to run away and be more courageous and became a more responsible flight doctor.

There are mini stories inside, like when a senior doctor was sued when her operation failed and killed a mother and child pair. Aizawa’s grandmother also appeared and suffered from dementia, during which it allowed us to see Aizawa’s human side when he teared and hugged his grandmother. Or how the proud mentor lost his arm but actually took it in his stride, not blaming Shiraishi (whom he suffered the injury to save her), or Aizawa (who amputated his arm), because if he didn’t live, he won’t be able to see his son for the first time. (He’s divorced because he spends too much time for his patients).

I felt that the whole doctor heli program (which is being implemented in Japan) is a good program, especially when you can make a difference to a person’s life and death. In Singapore it won’t be applicable I guess since our hospitals are not that far away. But I guess this drama has made me wonder what’s my mission in life. For doctors who became doctors because they want to make a difference in people’s lives, to save as many people as possible, I think they are great. But what’s in for me? Suddenly, there’s more things in life to live for.

I particularly like a sentence inside which goes like this: “A doctor can only lengthen the life of a patient by a bit, but whether its 1 second, 1 hour, 1 day, it’s worth it”. Link it to the mentor talking about seeing his son, and I just felt that it’s really true. There’s so many things in life worth living for.

I give this drama a 5/5 because I like it a lot.

If you want to watch this drama, go to MySoju.

For more information, visit the Wiki.

Well this is the first time I see the title with Japanese words and I understand most of it! Well Papa is a duh, that’s English. Musume is the daughter. ‘to’ is the word for and. no is like an ‘s. Nanokakan, as I see from the story, refers to 7 days. So it’s father and daughter’s seven days. Jia Hao wrote a review once before.

Basically, this story is about this Papa and the daughter (played by Aragaki) who’s not on speaking terms at all. Standard. Father has his own strict views, daughter feels differently, and they cannot really click.

The father feels quite sad actually, and wishes to be able to be closer to his daughter. He keeps rewatching home videos of his daughter telling him that she “dai-suki-desu”, which just means she likes her father very much. He is those kind of fathers who feels that having a relationship during school time is not good for a student. On the other hand, the daughter likes this senpai of hers and the senpai likes her too. Senpai = Senior.

During a trip to visit the grandmother (the wife’s mother) (whom they thought is going to die but didn’t) they had this accident while on the way home. They swopped bodies (think Fann Wong and Gurmit Singh). And I guess I kinda expected it when the daughter (in the father’s body) bathes the father (in the daughter’s body).

But this drama, which spans 7 episodes, take them on a journey where the father attends schools and flunks his tests because he didn’t prepare enough for it, and the daughter attends the work on her father’s behalf, and use her principles during a meeting and creating a lot of hoo haa.

However, in the end, they got to know each other better, especially when the father had to go on a date with the senpai on her behalf, and they always talk at night to find out what had happened to each other. The magical thing is that everything went well in the end, and because of what the daughter did in the office, the father decided to improve and managed to finish a project the daughter started off. He eventually earned a promotion to be the Chief of the Reform department and things go well for them. Their relationship also improved as both can understand each other’s position.

This story is definitely not equivalent to the Gurmit Singh and Fann Wong movie, and I think this drama is much much better. It made me laugh many times and I feel happy watching this drama. Recommended! After all, only 7 episodes, very fast can finish one.