Just a little bit of updates to show that I am not dead yet. I have cleared 3 modules! EE2001 project is done, EG2401 exam is done, ACC1002X exam is also done. Hope to get good results for EE2001 and EG2401, but I’m not having high hopes for ACC1002X because I have a sucky project.

What’s left is GEM2900 this Saturday, something that there’s nothing much to prepare for. Written the help sheet already. And read the notes already. I shall see if I understand it.

And the final two papers after the GEM paper are the most important. EE3408 and EE2007. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish everyone and get good results.

Sometimes I wonder where has my time gone to.

It’s like time speeds up infinitely fast when the semester begins, and it’s one big mad rush till the end, when you finally shout in desperation and in victory after the final examinations. And then it finally slows down again, relaxing, when you have your holidays.

And within the month, the semester begins AGAIN with another 4 full months of studying and examinations. And a 3 month long break, which I will never have again since it’s time for the Industrial Attachment.

Which brings me to the point of, where has the time gone to? I’m so lost during the semester time. Time is filled working on projects and assignments, writing essays and reports, doing flow charts, creating programs and more programs. It’s fun yet, but where’s my other hobbies. They seem to have disappeared.

It’s like you suddenly stop being you once the semester begins, because you become a STUDENT. And when the holidays come you feel like relaxing and watching dramas and what have you. It’s like impossible to do anything, isn’t it?

I think I’m just giving excuses. The successful always have time to do their own things. Time to learn more about time manipulation.

I finished my presentation today for EE2001. We all wore formal and gave our best in this presentation where we showcased what we did for the entire semester. It’s a 100% CA module, and there’s only 10% left, which is the project documentation. It includes all the plans we have made, the Gantt charts, the designs, photos, user manual, team communications, minutes and so on and so forth. The beginning 90% has already been completed, what’s left now is to wait for the grades. I hope it would be great.

My group was in the lab at 9am to test our system. I encountered the bug that I always had, and suddenly I had a flash of inspiration, and I discovered what the bug was and I hunted it and conquered it. The last bug of the whole system is a GUI bug. After testing, we went through our rehearsals and then we filmed our presentation down using our video camera for submission as part of the project documentation. We are going to cut it and link all the videos together, and maybe put it on YouTube. It’s currently at 100 megabytes.

We then sat down, watch Bleach, went for lunch, and came back at 2pm waiting for our presentation at 3.30pm, and those were the longest time in our semester life. We got so bored that we didn’t know what to do. Other teams seem to be doing well, and the professors smiled a lot for one team. And finally, it was my group’s turn and we gave a quick presentation. Prof Sahoo smiled and said “Good”, but I still think it isn’t fantastic. He didn’t smile as much as he did with the other group, but I think generally, we should be average, if not better. At least our systems were all working. Some other teams had systems that weren’t working properly.

But well, it is a load off my shoulders, and I have only one more project left, the one which I feel totally lost for. At least I got most parts done. I think I have done as much as I can already, maybe I’m just not cut out to take microelectronics. It’s quite stressful. I think I deserve a nice break after tomorrow, and then it is time to prepare for the examinations again!

Exams are coming, and it’s one mad dash again. If can, I’ll post videos and photos next time!

This quiet, slowly gaining pulse of anger grew, and it grew steadily and exponentially until it exploded in a myriad of various colours, enough to keep any spectator in awe. It is so colourful that it was beautiful, and by colourful, I meant in a vulgarities kind of way, the colour being anger streams coming out of a long buried source.

In this semester, I took 6 modules, 25MCs in total, enough to make any average undergraduate feel that life is lousy and that life is extremely stressful. Not to mention there were 5 modules with projects, meaning there was 5 project in total in a semester. Of which the weightage in order of descending magnitude is 100%, 30%, 30%, 25%, 25%. Enough to make anyone feel burdened. Enough to burn your weekends trying to make things work and get reports out.

And it feel really rotten when you get rotten group mates. But before that, let me do a small tribute to my All-Star team, comprising of Tai Man, Nelson and Feng Fu. The 3 of them accompanied me through my EE2001 (100%) project. Taiman and Feng Fu through my EG2401 (25%) essay project + presentation. Feng Fu with me through EE2007 mini and major projects (25%++). Feng Fu accompanying me whilst doing our own design projects (individual) (30%).

Why is this an all star team? This is because there was no need for any instruction. Nobody needed to be scolded or directed to do work. If there is work, it get’s done. Nobody leech off one another. For example, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when Feng Fu came to email us about the documentation for the EE2001 project, and he took a few tasks to do. I then shaved some off the list for myself, and the rest I let Taiman and Nelson settle since they were familiar with the other parts. This team does not need frequent meetings to decide what to do. This team does not need prompting. This team get things done, and put in effort to make sure things get done, and done well too. Hence I am very fortunate that I managed to gather this All-Star team since last semester, and it is my loss that Feng Fu would not be joining us for the EE3001 project next semester since his iLead program will allow him to map it to EE3001.

Now back to the anger, which is streaming of all languages, such a multiracial anger, with hokkien and english coming out occasionally. And all vulgarities cannot sooth my anger. Why is it that in a semester, I experience the best team I could possibly have, and also the worst team I have experienced in my entire life?

I have freeloaders in my team. Freeloaders who don’t do work. Who slack and wait for things to happen. Even when I have 5 projects and this is the project I am least concerned with because I will s/u it the moment it is not an A. Meaning high chance I’ll s/u. I’m taking this module out of interest. Hence I don’t appreciate it when I do most of the work. And it makes things worst when people still arrow you LIKE you never did anything. Totally pisses me off. I did so much work and even the handing up, they want to arrow me to do it. I’m very pissed off. I wrote the freeloader form and printed it. I will hand it up with the report. I guess I’m going to pay for the printing + binding too. Stupid assholes.

Now I just hope to get this over with. I want no more to do with them. Not with people who can’t prove themselves.

Waikit said something which I will adopt it here. I can’t see why I won’t get a 5/5 on a peer evaluation for any project. In my opinion, I did equal, if not more work in any of my projects. I try to do more because I will feel guilty not putting the same amount of effort as my team mates. I don’t like to burden them with unnecessary work.

But I guess not everyone has the same passion and convictions as I do. Time to form my new all star team for next semester.

Well, not only NDU has a hell week, or Guards have the Guards PT. Or the 1 week of field camp HELL. In NUS, I’m having the hell week too. Where you have a cumulative one shot all projects due, and the weightage is 100%, 30%, 25% and 25%! Not a minor project at all.

I’ve just gone to school for the 7th day straight. Yesterday I spent the entire morning and afternoon in school fixing up the RFID problem. When incorporated into the other subsystems, the thing doesn’t coexist properly. Not to mention the RFID throws up error characters until we press reset. After we press reset, it’ll work. But we can’t possibly press reset when we start our presentation, can we?

So we spent one whole day fixing the problem. At last the RFID can coexist with the other subsystems. The LCD system works, and the servo motor doesn’t vibrate wildly. And best of all, the correct characters are sent at the beginning without any need for resetting.

It was a great moment for the four of us as we suddenly levelled up in school grounds and all of our health and mana points went back to max. For that few hours. Then it was back to home to rush the ACC questions for today’s group meeting IN SCHOOL AGAIN.

Frankly I am very irritated with the ACC groupmates. They are not contributing their answers. I met one guy for the first time today in a meeting, and he came late. He also didn’t actually contribute one single proper answer which we incorporated into our assignment.

The other guy did about half, although his standard of answering was not good enough. He obviously didn’t put in much effort for the 2nd half because when I asked him for answers, his answers were always not up to standard. Plus he kept giving me the stupid questions, those that you want to slap him because he obviously just misread the question or misread the answer you have given.

The last guy is alright. Before today’s meeting he contributed his answers on time, and his answers are almost always incorporated into the assignment. But he didn’t prepare today’s 25 mark question. I spent so much time on it doing the ratios and the graphs. I hope they will go and compile everything and fix it. I am washing my hands off because I think I contributed enough to this project.

It feels worse because:
1) This is an extra module on top of the 160 MCs I need for graduation. Which means, I don’t need this module to graduate.
2) Even if I need this module to graduate, I have enough S/Us to use. I can effectively ignore this and just learn for information, and then get maybe a B or a C and change it to an S. Then I can concentrate on other modules.

So I’m just going to do that. I don’t see the point in me doing so much work when I got other modules to care about too.

I’m rushing the last part of my EE2007 flow charts and reports now, due Wednesday when I present my working monopoly game that’s going to be played using two computers connected by the RS232 cable. After that I will feel more at ease when one less project is on my shoulders.

Have to work hard!