A Pinch of My Life

Humble Origins @ NUS Ventus

2014-04-30T12:51:00.001+08:00

Decided to have lunch at this very secluded location in NUS. Very nice place to sit back and relax. Didn't know NUS has such a nice hidden gem.

Nice scenery from table

Choices are limited but coffee is pretty decent

Lookin' good. Just plain good.

Weird-looking tree. But hey, it makes the whole place feel lush and green...

Did I mention that the croissant tastes awesome? Well, now I did.

Renewing Malaysian Passport in the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore (updated Apr 2014)

2014-04-01T12:04:00.000+08:00

So after a few failed attempt of renewing my passport in Malaysia (system down, change process so that cannot collect in one day), I decided to do it in the High Commission in Singapore. As this is my first time, and they change the process quite regularly, I think it's worth a blog. This might help busy Malaysian PRs in SG renewing their passports in the future, especially if in a rush due to work commitments.

The process was smooth enough. If you want to read up on it, it's available here on the official website. http://www.kln.gov.my/web/sgp_singapore/passport_renewal. In a nutshell, this is how it went for me:

Day 1 - Get queue number, submit documents and old passport along with S$124 when queue number called. Took me from 7:40am ~ 8:25am
Day 2 - Collect new passport at 2:30 - 4pm

Day 1

So I arrived at the embassy at 7:40 with all these documents ready:

Completely (more on this later) filled IM.42 form (Use Singapore address for part A.7)
2 White-background passport-sized photographs (3.5x5cm)
Malaysian IC with photocopy
Singapore PR with photocopy
Original old passport
S$124 exact change

UPDATE:
- Photographs must be taken without teeth visible, else they will ask you to retake.
- Instant photobooth and photocopy machine available if you need them
(thanks mUsiCMeL)

These are the requirements for the most common application, 18 and above, with Singapore long term pass. As these requirements change regularly, I recommend checking the above link to confirm that they are still the same.

There was already a small crowd outside the side gate to the entrance when I arrived, but what they (the people there) didn't tell me is that I needed to change a pass from the guard house at the main gate (maybe because I didn't ask). So off to the guard house I went. I got pass #9. Pretty good for a start, I thought.

The counter doesn't open till 8am. So after the Indian lady guard checked our forms and documents, she seated us in a very orderly fashion towards the left of the hall. Later on, she will ensure that you move to the queue number collection counter in just that order. She's quite bossy by nature, so play along and she'll be an easy one.

This is when I realized that the number on the pass from the guard house doesn't really matter. It is at this step where your position in the queue is determined. So it does pay to come prepared, completely prepared. I was one of the first to verify my complete documents (and sucked up to the guard a little by proudly showing my form to her like a teacher's pet would, hey, don't judge me, I had to rush off to work). When the queue collection counter opened, I walked off with queue #1001. The queue starts from #1000. I'll post the example forms on the notice board here so you can come prepared too (though there's no saying when this will change):

Needless to say, I didn't have to wait much. All I had to wait for was for the actual document handling counter to open. After handing over everything, the lady behind the counter (who happen to be the same one who handed me my queue number back at the other counter) took my left and right thumbprint a couple of times, digitally and once with the traditional stamp pad thingy. And I got me a ticket number to collect me brand new passport tomorrow afternoon! I didn't even have to take time off, and was actually early for work, Surprise!

Day 2

Collection was a very different story. I arrived at 2:50 and went straight to the guard house to exchange for a pass. This time, the pass number is actually the order with which you collect your passport. So my advice for the collection is to arrive as early as you can, and make a beeline straight for the guard house.

Collection itself is a pretty fast process, the line moves at a healthy pace, it was around #50 or so when I arrived, and in 15 minutes the guard was already calling for #81 - #85.

Remember one important thing my Malaysian boss reminded me to do, check all the information on the first page of the passport before signing the acceptance form. He had a bad experience once when they refused to change the info on his passport allegedly because he has already signed. He had to apply for amendment, which is a whole different process again.

So there, my experience of renewing passport at the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore. Hope this helps any Malaysians in Singapore planning to renew their passport but not planning to have a long trip back to Malaysia.

One more thing...

Have this change lately? Is your experience different from this? Feel free to share in the comments section to help other fellow Malaysians in their future passport renewals!

UPDATE 26-Feb-2014: Passport photo is now white background. Included the change above. --Thanks, Yvonne!

The Inkeeper, by John Piper

2012-12-17T15:12:00.003+08:00

Wonder what it cost to bring the Messiah into the world? The world is a place of suffering and sorrow, and turning away from God only serves to make the hurt deeper.

Turn to Him this Christmas, because the truth about love is the only way to comfort deep wounds, and to provide full, everlasting joy.

The book of Jonah

2012-12-10T00:19:00.002+08:00

I always like plots to have a nice conclusion a nice ending, and always hate it when a plot leaves me hanging... Did his dad finally abandon his drug habits? Did the pets reunite with the family in the end, will Batman actually settle down with Selina?

Jonah is one such story in the bible. I always wondered with that story ended with a question and I'm just left hanging. That was until I realised that I haven't been reading it correctly, in the right context. It wasn't a story, it was a narrative, a first-person account.

Most scholars believed it's very likely that Jonah himself wrote that book. In fact, there isn't any significant evidence suggesting otherwise. And for him to write such a book, to tell the whole world that he is such an ass, an ignorant bigot who hates the big city of sin, who is self righteous in every way, running away from God because he do not want the city to be given a chance... It must be the truth, in fact, I think nobody in their right mind would write such a story if it weren't true of himself, and even more unlikely for Jonah himself to have written this unless he have understood the question God gave to him, and have been overcome by God's unconditional and racially or culturally agnostic love!

The thought provoking question itself is the main theme of the plot, it is the resolution to the main climax. The question is a perfect conclusion to the theme in question.

1 month into my first job

2011-09-15T20:05:00.001+08:00

It's a month into my first job as an IT Analyst. Gosh.. That title sounds so chim, I don't even know how does "analyst" fit into what I am doing so far. Haven't been "analyzing" anything. That -- at least I'm sure of.

Anyway, today is the most exciting day so far as my job scope and responsibility is starting to materialize and become clearer to me. Suddenly, I see more and more of what is expected of me, and where I can actually contribute.

First, there was a meeting called by the project manager to clear up on the technical stuff for a project I'm in charge of, which I am taking over from a colleague who's leaving. Then, I went to 2 datacenters to install a server each. Gosh, the way servers are designed and all, makes it so efficient and convenient for us administrators. Little features and gadgets here and there which one wouldn't realize are a necessity until one has seen and used it. It's almost like Apple products... But enterprise class!

Just a picture of the server I installed. Didn't get to take a photo of it mounted and running in the datacenter however, as no cameras are allowed there.

Btw, datacenters are horribly noisy and cold places. Even want to talk also must shout. Not a place anyone would like to be. The moment a server is installed and set up to the bare minimum, which typically takes less than an hour, we normally then proceed to our comfy cubicles (with a mug of hot coffee, of course... Maybe I'll post a pic of my cubicle In some future post more related to that) and remotely do the rest of the installing and monitoring from there. Ever seen one of those remote controlled toy cars that's has a camera attached to it to show you where you're going on the remote itself? Well, this is somewhat like a grown up version of it. With almost everything (except the physical location of the server itself, of course) able to be controlled from anywhere in the world, servers are very expensive toys indeed. :-)

Be Thou My Vision

2011-03-20T04:21:00.003+08:00

FYP is so stressful, I can't fall asleep at night.

Sometimes, I just feel so depressed, and just don't see how I'm going to be able to pass my FYP at all, with the thesis due in 2 weeks time, and my project is not quite completed yet...

And then I was reminded, that I should shift my vision to God and know that even the fact that I'm alive today is by His grace and mercy. Once He's out of our vision, life will be a ship in a storm, no bearings, not destination, and no hope...

This so hard to start from scratch...

2011-02-06T23:45:00.000+08:00

My social networking site is still an empty eclipse project. So much knowledge, so much readings, but actually putting teeth to stone is just so difficult. So many choices, and not having a good estimate of the cost of committing to each one is very traumatizing.

One of life's lessons

2010-12-12T22:46:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, knowing the truth can make one sad...

But it's always so encouraging to know that humans have a remarkable ability to recover very quickly.

It won't be long before one is on his feet again.

:-)

Don't be a dummy, come with mummy!

2010-12-07T16:37:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday, we (Gail and myself) went to watch Tangled with Boss and WMWMWM. It was so cute, and so happy... something expected from Disney!

Actually, I have to thank my MNO1001 lecturer and teaching team for such a rewarding experience. We had to make a video, and our video will be screened ala the oscar awards thing. And both nominees and winners get a prize.

My group's video was nominated, and the gift was very pleasant indeed. That was already more than a year ago...

Fast-forward to last Sunday, we decided to realize the value of the voucher with Disney's 50^th animation. With so much hype about it, and being the biggest budget animation to date, plus the cute characters, we were all quite excited.

Actually, the voucher was valued at $7.50, but the show on Sunday was supposed to be $9.50. Nevertheless, when I claimed the vouchers, I managed to get 4 tickets without needing to pay a single cent! Guess the vouchers actually have some protection against inflation too; each voucher guaranteeing that you'll get a FREE movie as long as it's within the expiry date and it's not a special screening. A very nice touch from Shaw theatres, definitely an extra reason for me to go back.

So much about my vouchers... Tangled is actually a very nice little animation. With lots of songs with cute lyrics that rhyme so well they don't feel lame (they actually are quite a bit lame, refer to blog title for example, but you don't feel it when watching the film).

The amount of effort they put into the animation is definitely commendable, but then again, with pretty good plot, and nice graphics, the soundtrack somehow pales in comparison to that of "How to Train Your Dragon". Quite disappointing, though I must say the latter offers a bigger room for composition, with its Irish or Norse setting and having so much legends and mythology behind vikings and all...

Maybe it's just not easy to make music for a world that's purely imagined, like what Disney always strive to achieve, the imaginary Disneyland. Music comes with culture, history, and civilisations, and it's not easy to make good, deep music for something that lacks so much depth. It's quite commendable that the music is at least pretty good, and the lyrics are entertaining.

Ultimately, good animation, makes one feel rather happy, though if you are in for the depth, and the keep-wanting-to-rewind-and-play-just-to-look-at-it-and-hear-it-again "feeling" that I can't describe, I'll still say "How to Train Your Dragon" left much more impact in me.

Mozart/Buttall - Samba...alla Turca!

2010-06-17T14:27:00.000+08:00

Someone actually adapted this song for the wind chamber... sounds pretty cool eh?

Nikita - Betapa Hatiku

2010-06-10T23:12:00.000+08:00

This is just so touching. Really feel that she brought up the meaning of the song...

EE3208 Speaker Design

2010-05-10T20:50:00.000+08:00

I was stuck designing my circuit for the speaker for almost the past day or so. I wanted to simulate it with SPICE, so I used the free LTspice to simulate it.

Finding the SPICE model for the LM386 power amp wasn't hard, but wiring it up to work took me almost a day.

Later, I found my mistake.

Anyway, I needed to output 8kHz, 8bit, Mono Audio using the DAC0832. I know it's rather primitive, but this is the requirements of that project.

I read again and again through the DAC0832 user manual, but I just can't seem to understand what it's trying to say. Should I feedback, or should I not feedback. This is so confusing.

At the end, I decided to do a simple circuit, using a resistor to ground to convert the current out from the DAC0832 into a voltage, varying the resistor to get the desired output volume.

What a project.

Here's the LTspice schematic and the LM386 model. You'll have to put the model into C:\Program Files\LTC\LTspiceIV\lib\sym\Opamps to use it as a component.

lm386.asy
speaker.asc

Haha, enjoy!

Rain, and the joy it brings

2010-03-11T01:36:00.000+08:00

The rain came this morning, had such a wonderful sleep. And even now, at night, even it didn't rain yet, the weather is already cool and comfy. I'm all prepared to snuggle into my bed and go to sleep.

But before that... Something that rang in my ear, just like that... It just came to me, and I decided to youtube it.

This is quite an unpopular song, very hard to find a nice version that appeals to me emotionally, the music, I mean. In fact, I think this is one of the only 2 versions on youtube, and the other version is from the 70s, and didn't sound very nice...

But it goes against the way I am, to put my human nature down,
And let the Spirit take control of all I do.
For when those trials come, my human nature shouts the things to do;
And God's soft prompting can be easily ignored.

I thank You Lord for the victory that growing brings,
In surrender of everything life is so worthwhile.
And I thank You Lord that when everything's put in place,
Out in front I can see Your face, and it's there You (I) belong.

New tumblr blog!

2010-01-27T01:12:00.002+08:00

I just hopped over to tumblr. It's good, nice, and simple to use.

here's the link

http://januaryjon.tumblr.com/

Chrome running slow on windows 7

2010-01-21T16:50:00.000+08:00

The cool new thing in town is now google wave. Problem is, it runs best only in chrome.

Another problem is, chrome runs very slow on windows 7 after a while.

I've decided to use google wave to compile a public guide on how to solve the problem, hopefully everyone else will contribute too...

Here's the link to the wave.

Netcaster crash course by Simon Lim

2010-01-15T23:02:00.001+08:00

I usually get excited in the first lecture of a module 10 minutes into the lecure because by then I will already know that I'm in for an exciting module this semester.

I was excited the moment Simon started on the gospel today. All that I already know has never been put together so logically and simplified before...

-published from mobile device

Lighting at upper lounge

2010-01-04T12:25:00.002+08:00

Lighting at upper lounge was bad, so I brough my lightbulb...

Well, it was rather harsh, so Thierry designed this ... :-)

-published from mobile device

Of brie and supper with Andrew

2010-01-02T22:54:00.002+08:00

Andrew and I went shopping in cold storage at the last minute. Most of the cook food were half priced. So we bought some sausages.

Then we stumbled over the expensive cheese section, and we finally settled for Brie, being the best normal cheese in mousehunt, apart from SuperBrie+, which is not a real cheese. Also, the brie really looked and felt good, not to mention, smelled good too. Well, so here's what happen to the brie...

As you can see, there's a white layer on the brie... It's cheese mold. It's suppose to help mature the cheese... And you ARE SUPPOSED to eat that :p

-published from mobile device

Back home

2009-12-05T16:36:00.001+08:00

It's good to be home :-)

Oh, my sister got a new bed... It's very comfortable.

And a nice bear for her birthday.

And the wall in the background is the symptoms of SPTM syndrome. Hmm, somehow I don't recall having so much space to study for my STPM. She even has 2 table so that she can alternate subjects. Guess she gets the whole house to herself when I'm not in...

No complaints, I got a room to myself too...

Making NUS webcast sound better with Logic Pro and another free software

2009-11-19T04:04:00.006+08:00

Ever got frustrated over how horrible webcast in NUS can sound? Well, it's 2 days away from the start of the exams, and I'm stuck with webcasting the 2nd half of my econs (which thankfully is not the first exam). It doesn't help that the breeze online lecture for the e-learning week has super low audio quality.

There's this non-stop high frequency hiss around the 5Khz range that super irritating. Not to mention the vocal clarity is pretty poor too. Which leads one to wonder why NUS never bother to provide better quality audio for their webcast when it's so easy (and there are tonnes of free software to do that too) to clean up hiss and noise and improve speech clarity.

Anyway, I decided to pamper myself a little and clean up the noise in real-time. Only problem, the webcast is played in "breeze" adobe presenter, and there's no way of downloading it to play in my beloved iTunes where I can use the EQ to turn down all the high frequencies. HOW? Internet explorer never came with an equalizer.

Ok, for those of you who are wondering, I am using a Mac, and I webcast in windows XP on parallels because stupid Aspresso Classroom webcasts doesn't allow 2x speed using anything but internet explorer. Anyway, that doesn't matter, this method still works anyway.

So for those of you using Mac out there (yea, mac rocks!), here's what I did, and you'll find it quite simple to follow too. What you'll need is:

Logic Pro
Soundflower (which is an open-sourced freeware which is meant to be a bonus product for some professional software)

Firstly, I channeled my sound output from parallels to soundflower. Once you've installed soundflower, it'll add 2 new input and output devices to your Mac's Core Audio drivers (one 2 channel, one 16 channel). As you can see, selecting the 2-channel soundflower as your output device is brainless. Just select it under parallels' Devices menu.

Now, you'll have to catch that from within Logic. So now it's time to fire up logic and select the same soundflower 2ch as the input device.

Again, This is not that hard. Just go to Logic Pro -> Preferences..., and change the input device to soundflower (2ch).

Now, what you want is to crate a new empty project in Logic Pro, which I believe you can do by yourself. Then create a new stereo Audio track, with inputs 1-2 (from soundflower as set in preference), and output to stereo 1-2 (which goes to your built-in output as stated in the preference above). Screenshot attached here for total noobs :-p

Ok, so our channel is set up.

Now, we have to set up our I/O for the audio track. As you can see, it takes input from Input 1-2 and outputs to Stereo Out. I adjusted the equalizer to pull down all the high frequencies (which the human voice will never include anything about 7000Khz, at least for speech, so I pull it down to the minimum). Just double click the dark blue box with the horizontal line will give you the EQ graph. Click and hold those empty squares below the Inserts will bring up a menu, where you can add all the real-time effects. I included Specialized->Speech Enhancer, Dynamicx->DeEsser and Compressor just to hint to you a few effects that could be great for vocal enhancing and clarity. Overall, it should look like that:

Finally, you'll need to click the 'I' down there (it'll turn orange) to monitor the input from soundflower. This way, you'll hear everything from the soundflower outputted from parallels, channeled through the effects and denoise, and outputted to your headphones/speakers. Go on, play that awful webcast again, and it should sound much better, and even super good if you tweak those settings a little. Voila, it's that easy!

You could play with some other stuff like the Specialized->Denoiser, and see whether that works for you. Just experiment till you get the golden voice.

Ok, for those of you who are not using parallels, or if you cannot control which audio device your program outputs to, you'll have to do it the not-so-elegant way. That is, make your whole Mac default output to soundflower, and then make logic output to the built-in output.

To do this, go to System Preference (don't ask me where to find it, you should know!), click on Sound, and choose the Output tab. Under the Select a device...., choose Soundflower (2ch)

The configuration for Logic should remain the same, and it should work like magic. Yup, if you're thinking what I'm thinking... You're most probably right! You can send any sound (from throughout your Mac) into Logic, process it the way you want, and output it. What's MORE IMPORTANT here, you can RECORD anything that plays out from your computer speakers! Go figure... The possibilities only limited by your imagination.

One caveat here. You'll have to leave logic running in the background. That should take about 150MB of RAM. I have 4GB, and I don't feel any effect of leaving logic pro opened, but you may feel the lag, so you may want to close logic once you're done with it. And also, once you're done with all those stuff, don't forget to switch back the audio device (either in system preference of in parallels) to your built-in output or whatever you are using. Else you might be wondering why parallels doesn't have any sound, or why your Mac is suddenly muted. :-)

Ok, I know most of you can't afford Logic Pro (but seriously, at S$698 for student price, it's not that bad an investment after all, you'll never know when those tools come in handy). I am not affiliated to Apple in any way, but Logic is seriously good. I just wish it was more er... polished, like soundtrack pro and logic working better together (or even merged into one)...

Anyway, enough of me rambling. There's a totally free way for you to do exactly what I did (ok maybe with less of the nice effects, but basic EQ and denoise should work fine). Using AU Lab, which comes free with your MacOSX (in the 2nd disc that you've most probably never touched before), you can more or less achieve similar results, which is totally free, and works well too. It will be slightly more technical (there's always a catch to it, huh?), but the reward is sure worth it if your lecturer just doesn't know how to use a mic properly.

I'll go into that once I have some free time (or when I'm bored again after my nth webcast). Stay tuned, mac lovers... I'll be back with more goodies!

Meanwhile, Connie Chung (EC1301) is just so humourous if you webcast her lectures at 2x...

And if you have any tips for EC1301, i'll be glad to have it like... within these 5 days...

It is well with my soul with some history

2009-11-03T23:58:00.002+08:00

The music is just awesome. It has a very strong effect on the emotion. The 2nd verse, especially, just sweeps me up, and throws me right into the turmoil and sorrow of Horatio Spafford, and his beloved wife, during the lost of their children. The feeling of lost, grief, and hopelessness is suddenly so real. Yet, the second part of the verse, though still in the minor harmonic, pumps in so much hope, so much sense of belonging to Christ, that one feels like hope has never felt better than in a time of extreme grief.

"It is through our deficiencies that God is most glorified." Hope will not have it's meaning if we need God any less.

Baffled - Again

2009-10-28T09:37:00.000+08:00

It seems that Raffles Hall did very well so far even at half its usual strength. So well, that people may even start to wonder...what's the secret to keeping such a vibrant and active hall even with so few residents. Jonathan took a closer look at hall life and it looks like we have found ourselves an answer...

It seems time runs backwards in Raffles Hall! No wonder people from outside if hall always complain that events never seem to start on the predetermined time. RH keeps its own time, different from the rest if the world.

-published from mobile device

Be thankful

2009-10-25T08:37:00.001+08:00

Sometimes we ask, how can we be thankful in such a situation? Well, I just saw a commercial on mobile tv I'm the bus, and there was 3 tips.

Be thankful for your mistakes
- they teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful for your limitations
- they provide opportunity for improvement.

Be thankful if you're tired
- it means you've made a difference.

Not sure how applicable is this, but it's sure quite encouraging. Especially when our normal reaction toward such events is always complain first, think later. At least, it can take away much of our stress, and make us more thankful people.

Concert surprises!

2009-10-16T01:28:00.002+08:00

Jerome happily came in to my room with a nice letter of absense for me. Considering I'm not really contributing to concert this year, this was a rather pleasent surprise!

Here's the letter explaining my absense from classes.

Not too bad, eh? I am entitled to 2 years leave. Drats...how am I to reclaim 2 years of leave that I've wasted :-s

-via iPhone

Raffles Hotel a.k.a. Renovated Blocks

2009-09-12T14:32:00.005+08:00

I was so excited coming back from COMEX, having bought a new external firewire HD, with firewire and all... When I reached my room, I found my roomie on my laptop! He was surfing you tube, and wait, something's very different... His side of the room was now EMPTY!

Ok, so it turns out he was looking for the a youtube video that goes auf wiedersehen... goodbye... to greet me when I arrive back in my room. ARGH!!! depressed xia! he's all moved out and settled down in the new room while I'm still stuck with a whole room of mess taunting me, waiting for me to move. Anyway, he didn't manage to find the video, so there... I caught him while he was looking for it.

Anyway, I decided that I'm going to move bit by bit. Yup, just like your serial connection in EE2007, you move data out bit by bit, complete with handshaking, parity, error checking and all... Anyway, most of the crucial stuff have been moved to my new room, (i.e. my printer, notes, calculator, computer fridge, and everything I need to study. So I'll just study, until I'm tired of studying, then start moving some stuff again...

Cleaning the room is another story. The whole room was dusty with all the construction dust, made my whole pail of water like teh-tarik... But it's rather nice and cooling after moping the floor 5 times. We have new window panes too! They have a very mild, slightly off green tint, but transparent for most purpose. Somehow I feel that they are much cooler than the black ones we used to have, maybe because black absorbs heat. I was wondering whether it is those heat reflecting glass, which lets visible light in, but reflects the infra-red spectrum which heats up the room...hmm... but Tirza pointed out that those would be too expensive to be possibly used in RH... hmm, one never knows, since this whole renovation which seems very minor, already cost a few millions...

Tables are much longer too! nice color, and a lot more plug points than last time.

Lighting have changed, the color is not kinda daylight, but not warm white, which is yellow, hot, and dull. Well, at first, I thought I would prefer cool white, or cool daylight, but this one seems to be perfect, much more natural, and closer in temperature to natural light. It doesn't blink when coming on too, and turns on almost instantaneously when you turn on the switch... must be some kind of new energy saving light.

Ooo, and since I'm taking the end of the split, I get the whole end of the corridor to decorate and keep my stuff. Actually, each split level now has a door, making it quite exclusive/secluded/private, whatever have you. Would think of something to do with that extra space some time later...

Still, there are some hiccups. Some rooms still don't have internet access. Water is still muddy in some blocks. As of now, only 1 block have a proper water dispenser (by proper, I mean with attached filter). But the continuous email updates from our beloved Siew Teng is always ready to comfort the disheartened, and offer a pinch of humor when all else fails. Alas, I'm only 50% done in my shifting... :-(