Amateur Mathematics and all things masterful

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2012-01-06T02:31:00.004+08:00

Hahahaha okay let me try to write a corny love letter to express my feelings right now.

I've been afflicted by awesomeness.

You are the apple of my eye, and

Tonight, I'll be dreaming a little dream of you.

But you're gonna be gone gone gone gone gone.

Yes I love all of your idiosyncrasies.

And I just wanna tell you that you're so beautiful.

And although you'll never get to see this,

You deserve someone much better.

#########################Okay the end##########################

AND BY THE WAY FENDY I'M SORRY DON'T SO PETTY CAN.

Happy holidays!

2011-12-29T03:06:00.001+08:00

I am too bloody lazy to write stuff. Happy holidays.

I'm a genius

2011-11-12T03:28:00.001+08:00

OMG it took me just over 5 hours! I figured it out. Hahahah. I'm not emo anymore. Genius.

Stressed up

2011-10-23T19:06:00.002+08:00

The tense atmosphere is in the air once again. Finals coming. Personally, I feel that I'm lacking in stats horribly I don't even know whats a hypothesis test. I'm gonna diediediediediediediedie....

LA and calculus are also tough. Really can't afford to play much in uni. Sucks.

I'm afraid for cass. Read : stop wasting your time on useless events!

Kaythxbye.

TIRED!!!

2011-10-06T02:37:00.002+08:00

Woah its been a freaking long time since I updated this space...

Just completed the mid term exams, all really easy. No shit compared to the A levels.

Feel sick recently from all the studying and emoness. Got two lymph nodes under my neck now. Doctors says the blood tests are all normal and the nodules are small, and to observe and see what happens. If they grow bigger => my cancer is back lol.

But its okay. I'm not really afraid of it anymore. They can bring me to hell again and I will fight to live again because life is worth it.

Besides, I have more people with me now than in Sec4.

On a happier note, I woke up one day and realised maybe I don't really like her. But all this talk about like/not like makes me sound like the master Tian in Sec2. I wonder why I didn't go crazy for anyone in JC. Maybe the standard just really...

Maths is as fun as always, though linear algebra is starting to be a pain. Levels of complex computation and definitions. Supspaces, bases, and other mind blowing objects when actually all that we're dealing with are vectors. Theres no beauty in that for now.

Having a car is awesome. Get to fetch people(read girls) around and go wherever I want. But it makes everything a lot more tiring too. One moment you're in school watching lecture, the next you're playing pool halfway across singapore,then the next you're eating dinner with your parents. Crazy frantic!!!

Skip this if you are a girl:

Best tactic to ask for girl's phone number and know where she lives.

Requires: Car x1

Hey where you stay ah? I see if its on the way I give you a lift.

Eh gimme your phone number also in case I can't make it or got jam.

Two steps QED.\

End of skip.

I'm really tired and down with cough. Sick right after mid terms. Lol. I think I'll do well though. Nitez everyone. Yes you Fendy.

151 YET AGAIN

2011-09-13T01:30:00.002+08:00

Okay I have deleted the last post. Today was a fairytale. Awesome. Got to see Fendy and sing K, Eat mooncake see moon with crush. And gave 10 bucks to charity.

I promise not to be emo again.

University.

2011-08-10T01:36:00.005+08:00

Yes, I know, I haven't blogged for more than a month. Been busy lately with uni events. Seriously, university students have infinite energy and enthusiasm. There are events like every single day, OG outings, rag and flag, and 111001001 camps.

It is time to give a short summary on what I've been doing.

SOW : science orientation week '11
Really crazy and fun and tiring. Part I of the camp lasted for 4 days and 3 nights. Did many crazy things like getting ourselves wet and dirty, and running around Singapore with our face painted, and even going on "blind" dates. Last part of the camp ended at Sentosa where we played crazy games the whole day. Came down with a blistering sunburn after that X.x. Thereafter we had a break of about a few days then part II began, lasting for 3D2N. Unfortunately, I came down with a flu on the second day and had to leave early morning.

Flag
Running around Katong area collecting donations. Really tough work. Sometimes, we would run into the same people who were working there who would give us dirty looks. One guy even said "Dammit, you guys are damm persistent" , before reluctantly dropping a dollar into my can. However, we also met generous and rich people who donated like 10 bucks at a time and didn't mind donating repeatedly. Whole experience can be summarised as, "Hi sir/maam would you like to make a donation? Proceeds will go to HCA hospice and others."

I'm too tired right now to mention the numerous OG outings, family gatherings and pool sessions. Photos are all on facebook. Go see. BB.

Hi!

2011-07-03T02:33:00.003+08:00

Once again you have clicked that most improbable button in your internet browser that links you this to site, expecting a detailed voyeuristic essay of my life which unfortunately Facebook is not suited well for. Gladly, I provide.

It is with a Cassandra-type exhibitionist mindset that i write these reports, hoping secretly to dominate the world through my charms and spread the ideas of autolatry. There is also something about recording down your precious moments, whether it is watching your level 50 Lapras perform a recumbentibus on the opponent's Zapdos, or the many acts of sphallolalia with teenage girls online. Of course, viewers who know me would know that I do not do any of these.

Okay, enough with all the moonshining and long words, the only reason why i wrote this essay is cause some people apparently read regularly all the crap that i come up with and they have requested for more crap to read.

Nah the real real reason is cause I think that its important to keep track of your life in periodic episodes so that as my memory which is already deteriorating deteriorates, I will still remember who I was, or at least have an indication of what I was feeling at this point in my life. It is scary to forget who you were, it feels like you have lost yourself.

I've come to the realisation that I've been exposed to a large variety of media recently. I shall give a list of reviews.

Transformers : DSOFTM
Okay lor. Girl not hot enough.

Green lanturn
Okay lor. Girl not hot enough.

La Noire
Okay lor. (Dead)Girl not hot enough.

Pokemon Black
Okay lor. (Pokemon that looks like a)Girl not hot enough.

Aiya, you get the idea.

Okay but seriously, Transformers is freaking awesome and I'm waiting for people to watch Imax 3d with. Its a MUST WATCH. Like [Avatar] and [P̄hī tāh̄wān kạb xācāry̒ tā bǒ].

Green lanturn is okay but feels like power rangers, and La Noire is not my type of game (I don't wanna be a goody shoes detective! I just wanna blow things up!).

So recently, I have been working on a mathematical problem called the Collatz Conjecture, and i know I risk turning people off but this is really really interesting. Its like a game.

Games states,
Start with any number,
1)if its even divide it by 2, if its odd times 3 to it and add one.
Repeat (1)

For the number 28, this leads to the following,
28->14->7->22->11->34->17->52->26->13->40->20->10->5->16->8->4->2->1

The Collatz conjecture states that no matter which number you start out with, you'll eventually get to 1.

The trick is to prove it for all numbers and its been almost a hundred years but up to now, no one can. I know I probably can't, just playing around with it for fun. Its my pastime.

Ok next news, I've went out with Gabriel Elmo and Fendy today. Nice to just hang out and ogle at girls. The author is a little ashamed at getting to evade NS and not suffer hell like they do, but what methinks is that they would rather go through hell than lose their hair.

Also, I've been working on the Battle subway thing with Kenneth and we are using hacked Pokemon. (OMFGWTFAYD!!) But seriously, there's no other way of beating it.

And by the way, bought Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time 3ds. Gonna try it out soon. By almost all accounts flawless, I'll see if the remake lives up to its fame.

And if you love the author, support his cause by liking this facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/OperationRainfall

A tribute to my pool table

2011-06-09T05:05:00.004+08:00

Today marks a significant day in my pool life. From tomorrow onwards, the pool table that I have owned from Secondary school will no longer be mine. This is a tribute to the best pool table in the world, and a dear friend.

It is hard to put my emotions into words right now, I feel like I have lost a part of my soul, for the pool table was not only a game or toy, but a soulmate.

I remember the first day I came home after secondary school, seeing the pool table in all its glory as I walked across the maisonette from the door. I remember it being beside the window, and the lights were gleaming onto it. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling, like the beauty of a fresh morning sunrise by the sea and the gentleness of a demure teenage girl.

As I stroked my bridging palm across the table face, the blue baize felt smooth and inviting. I immediately picked up a house cue, which came with the table, and began hitting a few balls. At that time, I was still using the taiwanese variety. The feeling was simply magical as I watched and heard the balls bounce into the pocket and roll to the front. I remember the first game that I played was against my dad, and I remember running out from the break in that very first game, which only made me love the table more.

Of course, as with any love story, the infatuation slowly changes, and you start to realise that the table is not as perfect as you thought it to be. I realised that the table was made from a wood core and not a slate one, which produced more noise and made jump shots near impossible. Also, the pockets were not really well designed, and the balls would many a times spin out of the pockets easily even after being potted. The return system is also not perfect, as many balls often got stuck at the back corner pockets. The lackluster cloth meant that it was harder to execute draw shots, as any spin applied would be lost to the cloth after a few revolutions.

These imperfections however, did not stop me from having loads of fun with the table. How could I forget the times where I trained for hours on end even as the O and A levels were approaching? When my math tutor in secondary two, who was also a pool fanatic had a game with me in the middle of math tution during a break? I remember too teaching Royce and Loic and Tzeyong how to play pool on that very table.

But perhaps the greatest memories that I have on that table would be TWOT. The days were Royce and Loic or my maid would hold that lousy video camera for hours, recording my attempts to recreate those amazing trickshots. I would often rush down from the computer room upstairs when i find some new trickshot concept online, and try it out on that table. One particular trickshot took 100+ tries.

Then of course there was the TPA cups, and numerous house parties, christmas... etc. And slowly over time I began to accept and come to love the many quirks that only the table possess, such as the fact that drainage, throw and squirt were so much more amplified on my table. I have even come to love the unique sound that it produces, balls go bouncing into the return system instead of a smooth descent. Theres really nothing like watching a target ball slam hard into Hq pockets and spinning upwards and flying airborne for a few inches before descending into the pocket. And how else would I have mastered the formidable Tian's screw without the fact that the tables cloth absorbed so much spin?

Recently, during the cancer stretch of my life, the pool table to provided a haven for me to get not only entertainment, but also as a means to get some physical activity done, instead of always lying in bed. Often, the first thing that I would do after recovering from chemotherapy was to go and shoot some pool.

The table provided similar support when I was doing my O and A levels, whenever I felt stressed out studying, the table would me with minutes of therapy to get my mind focused again.

Over time, it became not only a toy but a close friend, where I could go to to express all my troubles. Somehow, the table would understand, and take it in, and I always felt better after shooting some balls, whether I was feeling sick or feeling emo or just being bored. And when you're playing pool, things somehow become simple, when things fuck up, its your fault alone, and when you clear, you can have all the glory. Not true in real life.

Right now, I just can't believe that it would be gone tomorrow. How could I sleep, knowing that when I awaken tomorrow my soulmate would be gone? Sure, these days it is rusting away at a small corner in my house, too cramped to show its real glory, but even so, every now and then, I would pick up my viking and have a shot or two for old times sake.

Before typing this blog, I wiped the rails for one last time and hit the cueball one last time, and muttered, "goodbye old friend."

Chilling out.

2011-05-20T04:37:00.004+08:00

Been busy with alot of things lately, trying to complete every good game on the nds before school starts is no mean feat, FF tactics A2 alone is a time black hole.

Each week passes really fast, before I know it Saturday is here. But its kinda nice just hanging out and doing nothing. Like mediatation really, take a break from all that pointless success chasing. Just zone out and zen mode.

That said, I've been working on a secret project lately (its true!) and I currently need someone to give me legal advice. Also, anyone who has experience in photoshop should contact me. I am willing to give a small tip in return for basic advice.

Just sent my Samsung i8910(aka Omnia HD) for repair, and was really impressed with the service! Philipino girl was really friendly and repair time takes only 2-3 days, and after that they'll send the repaired stuff to your house, all for free!

I think Wang Leehom is really cute in his movie, Love In Disguise, really likeable and expressive. Compared to Jay Chou who IMHO only knows how to act cool(its quite disgusting actually), I think Leehom has more talent. Jay just knows how to market it better. Seriously, it has been so long since Jay came up with a good song, let alone an album. I really think since Secret, Jay's productivity seems to have gone downhill. Investing his time in pointless talkshows and Hollywood movies rather than his music.

Screenshot from Love in Disguise. Know it looks and sounds like a drama but its a movie. Of course, Liu Yifei is lovely as usual. Actually I think she's like spot-on bullseye Fendy's type :)

Alright thats all, realised that I hadn't blogged in over a month! And one day, I'll write the matrix part II. One day...

Believe the matrix.

2011-04-15T04:58:00.003+08:00

To show people that I have been doing some work at home, and since I dun really have anything else to blog about these days except my new R4 and level 100 lapras, I'll do some math.

The topic today is on Matrices, which I felt was severly glossed over by the SRJC math department. (Read:They suck)

As a recap, I'll use the example;

2x + 6y = 5
3x + 3y = 10

To put that into matrix form, it becomes

(2 6 5 )
(3 3 10)

Subtracting two times of row 2 from three times of row 1, or 3R1-2R2->

(0 12 -5)
(3 3 10)

Switiching,

(3 3 10)
(0 12 -5)

This gives,

y = -5/12 and
3x + 3y = 10
x = 1/3[10-3(-5/12)]= whatever this is.

Of course there is another method using inverse matrices,

(2 6)(x) = (5 )
(3 3)(y) = (10)

First we find the inverse of (2 6),(3 3)

Which is 1/24 of the matrix (-6 12),(6 -4)

Multiplying that to the equation at the top gives
(1 0)(x) = 1/ (-6 12)(5 )
(0 1)(y) = 24 (6 -4)(10)

of course (1 0),(0 1) is just the identity matrix which acts like 1, so,

(x) = 1/ (-6 12)(5 )
(y) = 24 (6 -4)(10)

And we have the same answer as before. Or we should.
Of course all this is just simple secondary school stuff, more on matrices next time LOL.
In particular, I'll do inverse matrices and the rotation matrix, which again is elementary stuff but largely left out unwisely by the A level syllabus.

Dissidia is cool.

2011-04-04T10:53:00.004+08:00

My god its been one month since i blogged. Not my fault, nothing much to write about these days. Everyone is in the army or working.

Me? I've been playing video games. There seems to always be an endless supply of video games to play. I can never ever finish them all. Just like homework. Just to give you list, theres-

Dissidia 012
Parasite Eve: The Third Birthday
Golden Sun
999
All the Kingdom Hearts games, of which there are at least 3.
Metroid Prime
Mario Galaxy
Grand Theft Auto IV ........

The first two of which are AAA titles for the PSP. I'll bet there're more, I just can't remember.

Oh I've been studying partial differentiation too. Really hard to visualize everything in 3D.

And nope, I'm not gonna find work.

Best results ever!!!

2011-03-05T12:35:00.003+08:00

OMG I DID DAMM WELL FOR A LEVELS!

On Wednesday morning, I got a call from the Mrs Teng, saying that the "media" wanted me for an interview cause of my illness. Of course, that would have to depend on the results that i gotten. If they were good, she would call me again on Friday to ask me to go to school earlier.

Of course on Friday morning, I was anxiously awaiting for the call from Mrs Teng, knowing that if she did, my results were probably going to be good.

AND I FUCKING GOT THE CALL.

Not only from Mrs Teng, but also from the school, who wanted to give me an interview as I've done "reasonably well".

So i went down to school at 1030am, still feeling apprehensive about my results and still wondering if they truely wanted me for my grades or if it was just because of the illness. Once I reached, I met up with Mrs Teng, who gave me a short prep up on how to do the interview, of course then I learnt that it was going to be in Chinese.

Unfortunately, the interviewer couldn't come and instead had to do it over the phone, I was quite annoyed as I could tell that he was not very interested and seemed merely wanting to get it over with. Fuck him for wasting my time and precious sleep.

I met Mrs Pah, who seemed serious and questioned me sternly on what I wrote about in my GP essay. And she also asked me, "what grade did you expect?" I told her I expected a B. Then her expression indicated that I didn't get a B.

Then, I had to take some photos for the newspaper and the school. At that point, I still didn't know what my results were, for they said I had to recieve it in the hall with everyone else, so you could imagine my doubts when I posed witht he schools top students for a group shot. Did I really do well or did the school merely wanted me as a "special mention" case? After all, there was no way I could be among the top students right??? Everyday play pool and pokemon one!

Of course then we had a long long wait for the anouncement in the hall, longest two hours of my life.

Then as they announced the results, SRJC did better than last year, many more students were going to the university and bla bla bla... Yeah...

THEN IT WAS IT, top students in SR, people who got more than 80 points.. At first I saw some familiar names like gabriel (81) and cassandra (81), and then the score was climbing, 82..... 83....... And then I thought that was it. There was no way I was going to be this good. Hell I failed two subjects for Prelims! And I thought I was doomed, I was really a special mentions case.

And then the score climbed to 84... Still my name didn't appear... Then the next slide, At the bottom of the screen, I saw : TIAN WEI ZHOU 84 BOWLING.

And everything inside of me went hysterical after that. I wondered if it was a dream, and I was going to wake up. Pinched myself. Nope. Not a dream. I opened my mouthed wide in disbelief. It was really me, I was among the top 15 students of SR.

After that I immediately called my parents to tell them, all the other people who were interested.

However, in the midst of exhilaration and relief, I despaired and was heartbroken for many of my friends who didn't even do well enough to secure a place anywhere. I want them to know that there is always a way out, like in pool, and like in life.

Of course I got an A for GP, the only A that I'm really proud of, cause A for Maths was expected. And Mrs Pah revealed that the reason she asked me all that cause she saw a talk by cambridge markers which showed a script doing the same question as mine, and sounded a hell lot like mine. And that If it was, I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN 50/50 FOR THAT ESSAY.

In all honesty though, I don't think my sub par language would have gotten a perfect score of 20/20 from cambridge.

Okay, here are my results

GP - A
CHEM -B
PHYSICS -B
ECONS -B
MATH -A
Project Work -A

THIS IS WHAT MASTERFULLNESS IS ABOUT.

Of course getting a B for chemistry and econs was a joke. I didn't even practice nearly as hard as the others. The only slight disappointment was physics, I thought I had a chance of scoring an A, but clearly I messed up the SPA component of paper 2. Or was the SPA part in paper 3? Anyway it doesn't matter now.

According to yihui, these grades are equivalent to an AAA/B, which will warrant me pretty much a place in any course that I want, except the straight A courses like med and law. But my guess is that they'll give priority to students with more H2 A's.

Anway, this pretty much secures the mathematics course that I'm thinking of. However, I would really like to think it through, and to hear more of your opinions. Tagbox everyone!

Chinese new year!

2011-01-18T00:43:00.002+08:00

Holidays been really great! Just passed my driving test today. Went to fetch mum at night right after that from work at marina square. Didn't really check when coming out from a give way lane. Really dangerous cause it was a high speed road. Could have died. Luckily there were no cars. Got scolded badly. But well, it was a good experience.

Really didn't expect myself to pass, but i guess i was kinda lucky, driving was pretty much perfect. Aside form that, been having a lot of fun lately, picked up playing LAN from my classmates. I am know well versed in flying a helicopter in battlefield 2 haha.

Recently hustled a chinaman at kpool at AMK 15 bucks.

So thats pretty much it. Holidays are fun. Never trust anyone who tells you that staying at home and having nothing to do sucks, because they don't know how to enjoy life.

I wish the A level results would never come, cause i know i will definitely not do well.

2011 (prime number) !!!

2011-01-04T02:59:00.002+08:00

Welcome to the first prime number year after 2003!

Anyway just wanted to sum up some of the things I've done last year.

Completed A levels.

Went to the World Shanghai Expo in June.

Completed:

God of War III
Final Fantasy XIII

Pokemon Heartgold

Uncharted 2

Won my first official pool competition.

Thats all... Yeah I know its pretty boring. It is the A level year after all. A level sucks!!!!

Funneh!

2010-12-23T00:46:00.004+08:00

Omg Christmas is coming!!! I'm so excited for nothing lol.

Btw, these are damm funny.

Physicists
http://xkcd.com/793/

Dimensional analysis
http://xkcd.com/687/

Thanks Ray XD..

best mother

2010-12-17T19:52:00.001+08:00

look at what my mum sent me.

(0,0)

2010-12-15T19:37:00.002+08:00

Somehow after two years in school. I feel like I have returned to square one. Still the directionless mathematician. Been reading alot recently, completed a proof on the fundamental theorem of algebra.

Gosh its been so long since I did any Maths here.

The fundamental theorem of algebra states that any polynomial in complex coeeficients has at least one complex root.

Its a simple collorary then that a polynomial of degree n will have n complex roots, since we can divide the original polynomial by the factor x-r, where r is the root, to get another polynomial of degree n-1, which will itself have at least one root.

The proof sketch hinges on the fact that a general polynomial, hereafter refered to as f(z), where f(z) = az^n + bz^(n-1) + ... + k , where a,b,...,k are complex;

1) is smooth, which means that as z changes gradually, so does f(z).
2) can be approximated by az^n for large z (meaning that the modulus of z is large)
3) is close to the constant term k for small z (meaning that the modulus of z is small)

First we consider the image of f(z) in the complex plane when modulus of z is large. It will trace a large circle about the origin of radius az^n as all the other terms in the polynomial become relatively small.

Then we consider the image when the modulus of z is small, it will trace a small circle about the constant term k, as all the other terms in the polynomial become small. We can also, assume without loss of generality that k is not zero.

Hence as the value of z shifts throughout the complex plane, decreasing in magnitude, the image of z will deform from the large circle about the origin, to the small cicle about the constant term k smoothly. In doing so, it must cross the origin at least once. Hence there must be a value of z which the image is zero, meaning that f(z) must be zero for at least one value of z, which completes the proof sketch.

I think this one is due to Gauss, one of the many proofs of this that he supplied during his lifetime.

It is regretful to think that even Euler couldn't figure this one out.

Rapunzel

2010-12-06T14:49:00.003+08:00

Todays gonna be the third time i watch Rapunzel (Tangled in US). Must-watch for all Disney fans.

Its the first Disney fairy tale to break gender stereotype. Although the film feels modern in both its script and art direction, there is an unmistakable quality of Disney magic to it. Very heartwarming. 9/10.

Ok going to watch now. And please if you're gonna watch it, watch in 3D. I've watch both and the 3D one is much better.

Holidayzzzz pom pom po pom.

2010-12-02T22:30:00.008+08:00

Okay actually the title is a lyrics from the song "Holiday" by Boa. Really gives you the holiday moood hahahaha. Ok at least I think so. Was feeling quite emo about being lost during the holidays but cheered up after talking to someone.

For all the emo lovers out there, dun worry there is always someone more emo than you. His name is............

Jacky Cheung!!!!!

Okay this is my most emo song of all time. There was once after a heartbreak i rode home on a cab hearing this song at midnight. Most empty feeling ever...

Actually why am I even posting this. I'm far from being emo.

This is more like it. Cute girls are everywhere.

Emo time.

2010-11-25T03:21:00.003+08:00

A level is finally finished!!! Actually, I'm supposed to feel alot happier but i'm kinda blank now.

Actually, not working means more time for emoing.

Whats next? 9 months of nothingless while all my friends go to the army.

At least school meant that I could see her.

I wanted to learn driving so eagerly just so that I could drive her around.

Looking at now, I shatter.

pretty singers

2010-11-07T04:59:00.003+08:00

Omg there are pretty and talented singers everywhere! And I can't believe Andrea Ross replied me X.x!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Vixa3KqVA&feature=related

New idol

2010-11-06T14:18:00.005+08:00

閻奕格 is the most beautiful female singer.

Sorry cass you're not my favourite female youth singer anymore XD

Good luck!

2010-10-27T22:39:00.005+08:00

Good luck to everyone taking the A levels in two weeks time.

Study hard, but still must take some time off.

Okay actually I'm just trying to convince you to watch this...

Btw that song by 田馥甄 is very nice. And thats not just cause she has the same surname as me. The best songs are those you relate to.

Pre-A's

2010-10-14T19:55:00.003+08:00

Yes for once in my life, i passed chemistry! Even though its only a D.

Anyway I didn;t really study that much. The miracle was scoring a B for my paper 3, which I strongly attribute it to the steely eyes that was given to me this morning. I think it has magical powers.

Like Dark/Evil kind of magic.

Damm scary...

Mathematics suck

2010-10-13T15:51:00.002+08:00

I'll say that I'm not a smart person, no matter what others might think. My adequacy in Mathematics comes only from the fact that I've been lucky enough to get interested in it. I used to believe that Mathematics, being the supreme form of knowledge and truth, can answer all problems, but now i know that is not true. As i dwelve deeper into Mathematical insanity, I discover that this is not a garden of eden with the nightingale and flowers, but the land of the blind, where the one-eyed-man is king.

I did not used to be like this, thinking, calculating before I did anything. But was led onto this path in part by logical reasoning, and in part by the game of billiards. It has ruined my life, making me the lifeless person that I am now. Sacrifices must always be made, to learn such an arcane and sacred skill requires you to give up some of your humanity.

Is it true that Mathematicians always die young? Or that they seldom get attached? I write this post to remind myself to separate from the erroneous belief that Mathematics will be all I need, because unlike the Pythagorean motto, not "everything is number".

I swear Colin Cheong is my favourite writer.

2010-10-12T20:12:00.001+08:00

Super chio story. It just comes together so naturally well, without the glossy language that plagues most english writers works.

A Gift of a Lifetime
Colin Cheong
25 Dec 2001, The Straits Times, Life!

My uncle's house stood on a small piece of land screened from the world by a line of old trees that marked the perimeter of his home. He was a public man, perhaps too well known for his liking, and his home, a curious assembly of planes and cubes and texture, was his sanctuary.
I'd been to that house only twice in my childhood and both times, I'd been awed by its beauty and intimidated by its silence. I went there twice again, in my young adulthood, the first time when my uncle gave me the cheque that would pay for my education in England, the second when I returned to show him my treasured but impractical degree in History.

I was not an ungrateful boy - I'd asked to see him in the three years in between, but each time, he merely sent me money and asked me to tour the continent. Just send me postcards, he said. Tell me what you're doing. But only if you have time.

I found time - as much as I could - to write to him from wherever in the world I was doing research. I sent him my papers, the journals in which they were printed, photographs of the historical sites we were digging at, newspaper clippings about my work, the books I wrote. Sometimes, he would send me a card, thanking me for a book or artefact I'd mailed to him. But no more.

It pained me, strangely, that a man who took such an interest in my life, should also keep me at such a distance - and ask so little of me in return. I often wished our relationship could have been less formal, more familiar, if not familial.

The fifth time I saw my reclusive uncle was also the last. I was 40 when he died in the November of his 95th year, and I knew him hardly more than when I was four. So it came as a great surprise to my family, our community and the circles in which my uncle had moved, that his estate should pass to me alone.

Don't let the talk bother you," my mother said. And with more honest regret than I'd ever heard in her voice before, she said: "You were the only one who never asked for anything but his time."

"Which was the one thing he never gave me," I said.

The rest of the world was less kind. I did not need his fortune, or his home. Why had he not given everyone a part of his life? Why pass an estate to another heirless scion? Why was I distributing it to every relation with a claim? His home was not the castle from which he ruled. It was his last defence against the mob.

His household staff were ready for me when I arrived and his valet, a man almost 70, showed me to the room that my uncle had prepared for me. The keys to your uncle's study are by your bed, he said as he left the room.

I had not brought much with me. I'd travelled lightly all my life, and sometimes too lightly to make a deep and lasting impression. History was where I found it and the only keepsake I carried was a small, blurred black and white picture of the woman I'd loved from the time we met.

She'd said then that nothing must happen between us, but that we should be the dearest of friends forever. We were, and every night, I'd whisper a prayer for her and bid her, through her photo, goodnight and sweet dreams.

With her picture by my bedside, I picked up the keys and headed for my uncle's study. I realised then that he hadn't just left me his money and home. He had left me his life.

In his bookcases, I saw the volumes he'd read and written. On the walls were his photographs and paintings. And in a special cabinet, the cans that held the films he'd made. There were letters, diaries, journals - a written record of a life, full and complete, a lifetime of memories for me to share.

He had made me the custodian of his memory, the curator of the museum of his life. And what a life it had been! My heart soared. In his own way, he had finally given me his time - all of it. And a lifetime of getting to know him - though I regretted that he would never know me well.

"Is there anything you would like, Dr Wong?" my uncle's housekeeper asked sometime late in the night as I sat reading at my uncle's desk.

"What did my uncle use to ask for?"

"Warm milk with brandy."

"Then warm milk with brandy it is." She seemed pleased at my answer and left.

And so it went for a few weeks as I settled into the comfortable pattern that had been my uncle's life. I spent most of my time in his study, reading, studying and trying to understand, to grasp the character of a man I'd loved and respected all my life, but had never truly known.

Meanwhile, the discontented relations made their usual demands for a piece of the pie - choice pieces of furniture or antiques (in that single tour of the house that I'd allowed, they had catalogued it) or large cheques for Christmas. I began to understand my uncle's decision to leave it all to me.

That way, his whole life would be kept together, all the little parts of it that depended on the others for context and continuity. And here in his home, through me, his time could live on, remembered exactly as it was, linked and extended through my life.

On Christmas Eve, I asked for the key to his bedroom. The entire household staff - valet, housekeeper, cook, gardener and driver (an ageing workforce, if I ever saw one) - followed me to the door. We said a prayer and made a toast to my uncle's memory and then they left me alone.

I did not expect the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present or Future. But there was a heaviness in his room that I felt nowhere else in his house, a heaviness that pulled down at my heart and spirit.

It was a simple room - just his bed, his wardrobe, a reading chair with a side table, and an escritoire. I sat at the escritoire, hesitated for a moment, then rolled back the cover. The mess caught me by surprise.

Everything else in the house had been cleaned and tidied after my uncle's death, but his escritoire looked as it might have had he still been alive. Writing paper on the desktop, his fountain pen on the right where his hand would have left it, a half-written letter and a small box that must have been half a century old, and in a tiny silver frame, an old black-and-white picture of a beautiful woman.

With a guilty feeling that I was now prying into the most secret area of my uncle's life, I picked up the picture, gazed into that woman's gentle eyes and then read the words on his unfinished letter. He had a graceful hand and his strokes were certain, strong. He had written:

"Would you make a life with me?"

"Beneath the burning shade of angsana trees, we'll dance on a carpet of petals, your hands in mine, with a dewdrop on your finger to say my heart is yours..."

I did not need to wonder what the rest would have been. As I opened the drawers in his escritoire, I found the rest.

Every year at Christmas, he had written the same letter, to the same woman - and never sent them. For 59 years, he'd written these proposals, but never sent them. For 59 years, that dewdrop had sat in the darkness of its little box here on his desk, never to grace the finger of that beautiful woman in the picture.

My heart broke. For my uncle, for that lovely woman who might have been my aunt, for myself and that dear friend who might have been my wife. And I felt the weight of that room begin to lift.

It was early Christmas morning when I'd recovered enough to gift-wrap the letters and the ring, packed an overnight bag and head for the garage. The housekeeper was already up.

"When can we expect you home, Dr Wong?"

"When I've delivered this present. And when I've delivered my heart."

"I'll set the dinner table for two then.'

"Please do. And from now on, always."

Galgun!!!

2010-09-19T03:07:00.001+08:00

This going to be the best fps ever.

More GalGun - (Xbox 360) Videos

TPA commemoration part II

2010-09-16T19:19:00.000+08:00

continued. Part 2/3

(xi) - Concentration Camp

LAST DAY OF THE MOST WONDERFUL OVERNIGHT EXPERIENCE OF MY SCHOOL LIFE:

We arrived in safra, and it was here where i played the few of my best rounds of pool ever, no competition, just as friends, i mean, we just went through 3 days, and i felt very close to them, very refreshing and clean, although i haven't bathed. I played great pool with yuan hong, thrashing him, but we were laughing throughout, and i was recalling the bumblebee song, and i decided to record it on teck's handphone the following week. When kenneth challenged me race to 3 racks, that was were my mood sank a little, we were like a real competition. Kenneth really wants to beat me, i can tell, i know he isn't too happy that i'm ranked higher than him, he's been in the business much longer than me, and i don't think he ever thought that i would outrank him, i would think that way if i were him. But thankfully, i beat him 3-2. And for the rest of the night, we were laughing as i watched teck siang play.

(xii) - The Dragon awakens

Much to my dismay, i will not be going for the snooker tournament anymore. I was at the church camp when mr yeo, at the eleventh hour, told the tpa about the tournament, and they failed to sign me up for they could not contact me. But when i returned, although there was much confusion, and the forms were already sent, darren kindly gave me his place for he told me he didn't want to go. When wei zhou called wiraka, they didn't answer. I was elated at first, but i knew, how could it be so perfect? Something will hinder me from going to this tournament. Facing my mid-life pool crisis, i was at the pinnacle, where my skills shone, but pool was fading, i don't need pool, to live. I wanted to quit after the pool tournament, only to find out that it had been changed to snooker and my friends didn't sign me up for they thought i wouldn't like a snooker tournament. It wasn't meant for me to go, i knew it, firstly, mr yeo had to inform them so late, just perfectly while i was away, and when wei zhou called wiraka for the change, they didn't pick up, and they only did after 10 days before the tournament, where a change was allowed, and so, the change was disallowed. It was never meant for me to go, i do not regret going to the church camp, thank you, wei zhou for putting so much faith onto me, but, i quit.

(xiii) - Tournament Snooker

I wasn't supposed to play, i wasn't there when they signed up, i went to school feeling very down on monday. I could see the excitement that was waiting to explode within the eyes of teck and yuan hong and the rest, they pitied me, but i was unconsolable, i didn't show it though, i just wished them good luck. During reccess, wei zhou was busy trying to cheer me up. Towards the end of the reccess, wei zhou realised his great folly, he realised that a team could have 4 reserves instead of two, he then wrote my name on the excuse form and since they already told mr yeo i was playing, it wasn't much of a problem. So i was really excited but a little doubtful that i can go. But i did, and in the end, we met mr yeo and took a cab here, me, teck, wei zhou, kenneth, yuan hong, darren and aaron. When we got there, most of the teams were already warming up, and we were late, we looked at the other teams, ACS(barker), presbyterian high, montfort, and several others, they were all so professionally dressed, outram sec even wore long sleeved shirts and black leather shoes, they had coaches and many teachers surrounding them, while we, rushed over with our bags, with mr yeo and our cues, and we looked nooby and unprofessional.

Our match started soon after, with teck siang playing first, against montfort secondary, and since i wasn't in the starting lineup, i was told to be a ref for the other teams...... how nice, looking and keeping score of 4 games of snooooker.... i was standing alone there, refing outram sec and presbyterian sec's match and their's was the slowest everrr match, they were all so dry, potting at first but spending the next hundreds and million minutes just hitting balls that don't go in.. so i watched teck's first match, he was freaked, the first in the tournament, against a small cute, cuddly, chubby, adorable sec 1-2 montfort kid. When they started, teck attempted to smash his confidence by potting a red and a blue, a total of 6 points, but the boy wasn't impressed, and instead, smashed teck's confidence, he was a powerhouse, he pocket balls with great accuracy and was a master of snooking, making teck unable to hit several balls, when i saw the boy's ball hitting streak, and teck's off form face, i knew for sure, the first match was gonna be there, teck looked like some idiot standing there, getting thrashed by a pro, and teck was playing unprofessionally, at that point, we thought we had underestimated the the level of play of the competition, i mouth to teck, "wake up!" and he managed a weak smile. Then, teck returned at the turn of the tide, he started making several good shots, and surprisingly, the young boy's confidence was shattered, the young boy seemed to turn to what teck was, he missed many shots and didn't play well, at first, when we saw the boy score point after point, i thought he must have got at least forty points. But when i saw teck running the table for a really long while, with the boy missing a trillion shots, without looking at the score, you'd surely have the gut feeling that teck's score must have leveled with the chap's score. And when i saw teck pot the colored balls, i thought that he must have far overtaken the lad, i was so engrossed with their match, i didn't even notice all the fouls that occured in my match, till my montfort helper told me. finally teck pocketed the black ball, then i saw him smiling happily and walking back , seized him and asked him if he won, he told me they drew, when he returned the others, wei zhou was hugging him and the others were just congratulating him, but afterwards, he was recalled to pot the black once more, to decide the winner, this was worrying for me, i was afraid he'd lost, he started and he missed, now it was the lad's turn, can he do what he did before? I mean, he's the super lad! how could he not? i thought to myself, he's gonna pot it, dude, he's superlad, but maybe because all that was left of his thin glass of confidence were tiny shards on the floor, he missed the middle pocket narrowly, our reaction were all, "whawaaaaaaa, heng ah...." And teck, being inconsistent today, worried us a little, but with ease, he potted the black, and we all clapped, what can we say? Nothing much but pure brilliance

A remarkable comeback, From a miserable thrashing, teck turned the tide and made an unbelievable comeback, who could have thought of that? I congratulate and commend teck on his brillance but i want to beat his buttocks for his inconsistency, but still, we had won amazing game in hand, next was Master Tian.

Master Tian was up against, who we believed was the best among them, we rejoiced, for we knew, we had the game in hand, for which best was good enough to beat that bloody veteran? In fact, wei zhou's matches are boring, no excitement, because we know for sure, that the opponent might as well walkover rather than play, cause wei zhou's gonna do what he does, to look like an old man and thrash the opponent. So ya, he lived up to his expectations, and he beat their best player not by alot, but well, still do what he went to do----with easeeee.

Next was kenneth, now this was pretty unsure, i wasn't sure about kenneth, i had an instinctive feeling that he would lose, because i just know kenneth's not meant to play snooker, so i told my instincts to shut up and i had to slap myself a few times before they did. I love my instincts! it was right again, kenneth played very badly, he even jumped a ball while trying to screw, if i'm not wrong... And he was thrashed 70 plus to 30 plus. When he got back, he received a big scolding from that tian kid, lots of criticism, tian kid was utterly disappointed.

Then next was another worry, it was aaron up, i say worry for i haven't really seen him play and according to wei zhou, he says he isn't very good, but having seen him play pool, i predicted that he'll be ok, but still lose, when he walked past me, i told him, "Win this aaron!" and he gave me that sly smile. We were all on tenterhooks, because we were unsure of his ability and with his first shot, he cannoned the cue ball and all the balls jumped about, with that kindof shot, ......, when i looked at wei zhou, he immediately covered his face in grieve. Luckily he was playing against their lousiest player, and although aaron played anyhow, he lost by one point. We went home punching our faces, knowing that we could've won.

Then Second day of the tournament was even more exciting, i told myself that i wouldn't go this time, but when i met wei zhou he told me i had to go, or we wouldn't make a team of 6, since kenneth doesn't want to go anymore, and wei zhou told me either me or yuan hong would play. We had many discussions and wei zhou told me to challenge yuan hong and that the winner shall play, at this time, i was afraid, i could thrash yuan hong easily in pool, but i have had many problems breaking through my psychological barrier he set up for me when i play snooker against him, he's a psychological bomb, you'll see later why in the upcoming exciting events that follow, and i, am a foolish brat who cannot control his emotions and his impatient. Throughout the chem lesson, i was nervous, nervous that i would not be able to play, and nervous about the match against outram if them play, because i've seen them play when i refed their match, they all had ear piercings and all looked intimidating, and they were pretty good. Wei zhou worked it all out, he said that if we lost the match against outram, as long as we win the match against presbyterian, we could progress into the semis, but if we won this match, and lost to pres, we might not, because outram beat pres and have 3 points, montfort have 1 point, we have 1 point, and pres have 0. If we lose, we keep our 1 point and will have 4 if we beat pres, and if pres beat montfort, they'll only have 3, and mont would also have 4, so we might still get in.

When it was time to go, i was really very fidgety. But with our wonderful 3e2 classmates cheering and supporting us, we grabbed hold of that little bit of confidence. When we reached there, we met a guy called jason whom mr yeo hired for a while to teach us. He told us to snook or play safe whenever we feel that we didn't have the confidence to pocket any shots, so me and yuan hong tried a few shots to see who'll get the place. I did, but i imagined myself for a moment, there, with the outram fella, i suddenly wanted to puke, i told wei zhou to let him play, i couldn't undertake the pressure and had totally no confidence of my skills, call me a coward, but i really wasn't ready that day. Lee Hexun is ranked at 3, the shark, the highest in TPA, notice the P in TPA stands for pool, and i excel in pool, not snooker, i was unsure of my snooker skills, and even if yuan hong goes down, let him drag his opponent down too! With Yuan hong there, his opponent might feel the need to see a psychiatrist or even call my mom for psychological help. This time, yuan hong was to start the ball rolling.

Yuan hong started and the match slowly progressed, we highly doubt yuan hong's pocketing skills, but we do not, for a single moment, doubt his psychological skills. Of course, yuan hong is the master of luck and suprise. From the start, just by looking at yuan hong's small and skinny frame, with that happy happy haha face and that never unsmiling smile, i'll say every snooker/pool player will surely think that they're gonna win, with a possibility of 98%. I was always that snooker/pool player, i've been tricked, and i'm happy that this time, i'm gonna see them get tricked, hahahahahha. Even teck commented, " I think the guy see yuan hong also no mood to play already.." We agreed, yuan hong was always laughing and smiling at his mistakes, and he played the game very slow, and snooked and played safe many many trillion times, we were all proud and unimpressed of him, because we know him. His pure personality plays the game, not him, before long, his opponent was frustrated, he kept missing and missing, and he was totally pissed, while yuan hong was missing and smiling, playing safe and grinning, now, who wouldn't be frustrated now? Looks like this guy is unable to beat yuan hong's psychological barrier, he was totally disheartened, and missed even the simplest of shots. And scratched (meaning, pocketing the cueball, which is a foul of 4 points, depending on the situation) 5-6 times, can you believe it? Yuan Hong dropped his never ceasing psychological bomb on that fella, beat and killed 6899 x 10^49 of his brain cells and stole like, forty points! We never gave up hope on yuan hong, when he made mistakes, i was at the seats to give him a thumbs up and we were all laughing at the game, with that happy happy haha yuan hong face and that totally flustered opponent's face. Yuan Hong committed a grave mistake, and lost 4 crucial points, the opponent, having been psyched, potted the green and the cueball too. Yuan Hong didn't know they respotted the green, so he proceeded to aim for the brown, at that moment, we were all like: lskdghjsngnwqngwkrng;knwergnqn~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!! OY!!!!!!!!!!! Until i couldn't stand it i shouted Yuan Hong! Yuan Hong looked over with that question mark look, and i couldn't tell him, if not it wouldn't be fair, but yuan hong wasn't aware of his impending doom, and all we could do was, .....oh no! And he did it, when Yuan Hong realised his mistake, he laughed, hahah. Another crucial mistake was when the opponent, being too psychologically disturbed, scratched again, yuan hong had a clear and easy shot, and he missed, in the end, yuan hong lost by a margin, but we were all eager to congratulate him, for losing, haha, but no, we were proud of him for almost killing his opponent, his opponent was on the verge of going totally crazy, he was already 80% psyched. And we were all laughing with yuan hong, we called him the feeder, he pocketed less than 5 balls but went head to head with that guy and fed on his flaws and mistakes, and he managed to suck out 40 over points! THATS STUNNING! TO GAIN 40++ POINTS BY BEING HIMSELF??!!@!@ I was very happy with his performance and i stole him away to have a snack with him, there, i was busy telling him how unbelieveable he was and that i couldn't have got that far if i played (i'm unsure). I was really glad that day.

Then was teck, and he played against an indian, who was said by a few of us to be the best, teck, influenced by jason's word of advice to play safe when you've no confidence, totally wrecked his own game, teck, was an aggresive player, and for the whole game, he daren't pocket many balls for he wanted to play safe. It was a really tough match, and he lost 40-48. He was totally psyched by them, their whole team was there cheering that fella and disturbing teck, and their coach was really really irritating, all teck had was me, wei zhou, and yuan hong quietly standing behind him. But i congratulate Teck, nerves of steel, to play against their best is one mean mean feat. Teck Siang went back to the seats cursing nonstop, he wasn't happy about losing, and said that that guy wasn't even their best, he wasn't happy, and he cursed jason for disrupting his style of play. But he really put up a good fight.

Next was that boring guy tian, we didn't even bother to be excited, it'll just be another boring win, i shan't elaborate, all i can say is, he gave that guy alot of chance, but what else more can i say?

Last of all was Aaron, against another rumoured best, by then, we were the only team playing, and everyone was watching us. They started, and we were all curious at that chap's style of play, he seemed very good, but either he was frustrated at missing some shots and having his frustration influence him, or he really was a lousy player. But aaron played very well, much better then he did yesterday, he was serious, but cold, he even borrowed a sweater from another player from presbyterian. Aaron received several applauses from the spectators and surprised us, we were pretty amazed, and throughout the end, we were convinced that that fella was a noob, cause he kept missing. But during the last few shots, while we were clinging on to hope of winning, that guy just potted the pink and the black so easily, then we realised, he's good, haha, we lost, again, but we came here expecting to lose, we have to beat presbyterian tomorrow or teck would have to go to detention on thurs, hhaha. And we were kindof worried as pres beat montfort today, although that adorable boy was a steamroller against one of the pres guys and totally flattened him, maybe yesterday he was err, unlucky? Judging by yuan hong's superb play today, i declined to play tomorrow for i believe, to play yuan hong would be a much better effect. We'll see if teck goes to detention on thurs by tomorrow morning, goodbye.

(xiv) - My Promotion

I'm a pool player, any teens now playing hot games under the sun, repent now! Before its too late. Realise that you all are getting tanner under the scorching sun, be like me, boys! Being fair is in! Girls don't like tan guys, and even if they do, i'm still gonna love being fair, i'll teach you pool! Its fun! But don't get addicted like teck. If you'd like to repent and convert, i'll pour my whitening lotion on you and bring you to have fun at Safra some time.

(xv) - I return to you at the turn of the tide

So finally the busy week has passed, today i was exceptionally happy for i reason i shall not share with you guys, but yeah, after sch i gave robelle her gift and she was really glad, she hugged darren, not me =='( Then i went to safra... Now i know why Teck was promoted to CHAMPION, he really was one, i thought i had finally surpassed him, but he proved once again that pool is unpredictable, he beat me so many times!!! Yeah, then some guys from beatty came over. Then kenneth went over to their table to talk to them, it was Max, Daniel and Yap Yap i think, and kenneth asked them whether they wanted to play, then daniel said that he wanted to play with hexun! Lol, when kenneth came over to tell me, i was really surprised, hahaha, he specially chose me to play with! WOOHOO! yeah, kenneth said maybe cause he hadn't really seen my play in school. So when he walked over, i was finishing with teck, and i pretended that i was a total noob, that was like so embarrassing. Yeah, then i asked daniel how many matches he wanted to play, he said one. Then i set up the balls and i started to break, i miscued, hahaha, then i asked him again, i said race to 3 la! Then he said ok. Then i set up again, then i started to break, then i missed again, hahahah. Then the 3rd time i broke the pack really hard. Then when i started running the table did daniel realise his great folly, i was really having a great time there, i was clearing and clearing. Then teck came over and said, let him win one round la! Then i told him that if i did that i'd be wasting his money since i'd most probably win. And i did of course, i cleared him again and again, then out of the corner of my eyes, i saw two guys and they were looking at me, kenneth told me if we invited them, they'd surely play with us. So daniel payed for the table, and then kenneth asked the guys whether they wanted to play. They agreed a tag team match, race to 3, as usual, being friendly, i asked them what school were they from, they said they were from balastier hill, then we started, yeah, we didn't have much of a problem. In fact, i felt bad making them pay, when they paid, one of them patted my back and said, thanks, i said good game and bade them farewell, haiyaaa, they were such nice guys, maybe cause i first made a friendly approach. Then wei zhou arrived with darren and a new TPA member, borath, so i left for church.

(xvi) - Personal Achievements

So anyway, me, darren, teck and kenenth made our way to safra, of course, joined by our new member, borath and his friends. I started out playing snooker with wei zhou, starting a day in safra by playing snooker helps a lot, it helps calms the heart for real playing, because snooker requires enourmous amounts of patience and accuracy, a single twitch might result in a loss of points. And yeah, wei zhou was playing like a darn pro as usual, but i did make a marked improvement. Then after that, i proceeded to the pool table, where i played with wei zhou too. Then i borrowed darren's borrowed ipod and listend to quando like one million times while playing, and yeah, yohanus challenged me, i didn't play properly, i didn't intend to, i was singing away instead, and yohanus kept asking me to play seriously, but i insisted on singing, and kenneth was telling me about table 7's interest in playing pool, and he asked if i wanted to challenge them, as i was listening to music, i kinda spoke really loudly and kenneth immediately pulled away my ear phones and told me not to say loudly, ahha. Then after that, borath must have sensed my lousy playing and yeah, he challenged me. Yeah, and before that, teck siang ran over with that ecstatic face of his to inform us he cleared the table!!! Oh my goodness, teck siang cleared the table! To those who do not understand the meaning, it simply means, his opponent broke the pack of 15 balls, it was a dry break, and teck siang cleared all seven of his balls while his opponent pocketed non in one turn. I was so happy for him, every pool player has his first time! haha, I congratulate Lee Teck Siang on his clearing. Yeah then i kinda expected a normal match with borath. Then i broke, and potted the yellow. Then i started pocketting and pocketting, and darren said, ''clear table! Wah!'' Only then i realised i was really clearing the table! woohoo! then i positioned for everything really well, then when i was in perfect postition for my last solid ball and the black, i was already in joy!! And i did it! I cleared the table for the first time in my entire life!! haha, wahoo!!!! Then rattitya or something, (whom teck cleared) walked over to our table, and i heard borath telling him, he clear table leh! I haven't even hit a ball then he cleared. Then i found it really funny, haha, rattitya got cleared and when he walked over, his pal was cleared too, haha, what a coincidence, its really like they lost a big war, both of their flanks got heavily hit. That'll show them the prowess of TPA, although borath is already in TPA

Then later that evening, kenneth proceeded to challenge a lone ranger at table 11, his friends were playing snooker, and kenneth challenged him. Kenneth later told me he lost, and he wasn't happy, cause he wasn't really good. Then teck went over to challenge him, and won an impressive 2-0 match. Then, of course, my heart itched, then i walked over to ask him too, his expression was really funny, he was like " Huh? again ah?'' haha, he has been attacked repetetively. He looked pretty old, probably in his late thirties. I won my first match, and all his friends were helping him and stuff, but i didn't mind much. He won the 2nd. I was really nervous when i played the 3rd, but i found, i didn't play seriously, i didn't even aim properly as i would for serious matches against strangers but i found myself missing. I has a 5 and the 8 left, and he had one 8 left. When i saw that his 8 was at the jaw of the mid pocket, i thought he must have won, so i left the table to pay for the table, when i heard ''hexun!'' not after 5 steps and realise he missed, haha. Then the TPA were like, "good psyching skills hexun!" haha, i did not intend to bring mind trickery into my game, i won that game. Then when he paid for that table, wei zhou challenged him again, i described this guy as a near death insect, and we were all flies, sucking the juice out of him, one by one, and now, the insect's gonna die. Lol, that was what we thought would happen but wei zhou started by giving that guy a lot of chance, then it was too late and wei zhou lost, haha. Yeah, but anyway, the insect was kinda sucked dry, ahha.

I think TPA should have an achievements list, like who we beat, how old was that person we beat, and what remarkable thing we did. And yeah, we're pretty impressed with ourselves, we've beaten people from every age group, from young teens, to mature adults aged like 40-50, and i had a match with a 70 pluser where i almost won, and of course, how could i forget that chubby relief teacher from sch, i wanna know his name, i'm so proud to have won him, he's a really good player.. And so ends another chapter of my trips to safra and my experience with the game.

(xvii) - Pool and Man and the other

Anyway, i've been flipping thru some of my father's club magazines cause i'd really like to participate in any pool tournament available. I think i'm quite ok and although my goal is not to win, at least i can see where i stand. And of course, pool gains respect, especially from the much older men. One example is that fat relief teacher that amanda and her friends seem to hate, as written on her blog. lol, we didn't know much about him either, but one day he just strolled to the pool table, asking for a game. He's a really really good pool player, in fact, he's a snoooker player. He only played against our best there, which meant, he played against TPA only, and out of Me, teck, wei zhou and kenneth, only kenneth lost. And i really loved my match, cause i cleared him, haha, anyway, winning him gains respect from him. I mean, you can hate him and speak bad of him, but to us, whenever we see him, we feel good, cause we know, he's under me, i owned him, haha, its a good way to get back at people you don't like other that speaking behind his back and hating him that much, cause when he sees you, however bad he might treat you, he would respect you and wouldn't talk so much cause he got owned, hahaha. Have a nice day everyone!

(xviii) - My death nears

And then there's the pool tournament, me and kenneth have discussed with mrs , forgot her name, the school counsellor and nothing seems to be coming out of it. I mean, i want a level champion, and then an overall champion, but we only have 1 week to carry out the tournament and having all levels is a headache. So kenneth suggested to leave out the sec 4s, and he was unsure whether to leave out the sec 1s, but the students the pool committee are teaching now are sec 1s anyway. Its such a headache, nothing'll come out of it, we might still have to meet all the class monitors to look at the interest level, its really difficult, not everyone wants to play pool you know. Then mrs counsellor wants to fight for 1 per class, to shorten the time, but i told her there might be conflicts. Like for example, for our class, there's me, kenneth and teck siang.. who to send? The winner will bring back glory, while the left out will feel jealous. And there isn't any team sprit, nor any of class sprit, a one man show isn't spritual at all is it? So no matter how much mrs counsellor proposed for a 1 man team, i made clear my stand of having 3 in a class, so its a real headache, we don't have much time, manpower and authority to do much, we're not even discussing as a committee, mr yeo, he won't do much of what he promises, haiya, but i really want a pool tournament..

(xix) - Shores of the Sea

After that, took a train back to toa payoh and sat 238 to get to safra, and i got down and saw weng fung and his friend at the bus stop, they asked me where i was going, i said safra, then they said i was really stupid cause 238 would go one big round and end up in front of safra, i felt like a fool, but nvm, it'll take a long time, but it was raining, they told me they wanted to board 238 too, they wanted to get to safra too, haiya, safra was just across the road and they can't take out their umbrellas, they wanted to hire a cab but instead got out their umbrellas. So when i got there, i immediately sensed new blood when i saw wei zhi there, so i challenged him, i've deproved a lot, since the last time i went was like close to 1 month ago, but luckily i beat him, so i played with daniel 2 whole rounds of snooker, chalked up a total of more than 100 points for both games, although it was really really really slow, but it felt good to be back in safra playing snooker again, and when you make a good shot, sometimes when people from the neighbouring table see it, he'd tap his own table and say good shot, and one ex-beattyian did just that, he looked really old. Satisfaction....our school has produced a new breed of nerd snooker/pool players, we're gonna stage a revolution, a nerd revolution, to let the first though that come into people's minds when they hear pool or snooker to be: ''Yeee, nerd's game''

(xx) - I'm the next Pianist

Yesterday, after the excruciating 4-5? hours of physics extra lessons, we could finally relax, so me and yh got to lorong 8 to eat a very fufilling meal, nothing much, just a plate of chicken rice and one plate of carrot cake, then wei zhou and they guys came along, they just came from wei zhou's dad's confectionary store and brought much more goodies, so i gobbled them up too, so it was quite a filling lunch. Then after that we headed to safra. Yeah, so i was in the snooker mood as usual, i've kinda lost my love for pool, i'm more interested in snooker, but i cant seem to exceed my 50 points mark, but i was pretty on form for the first game, then after that decided to change to pool for a moment cause the pool table was free, then after like 4 game i told yuan hong i wanted to play snooker, so we switched again, but this time i was playing lousily, i even ordered a plate of mee, lol, i guess i was quite hungry yesterday. Speaking about mee, i would like to tell the whole world how the safra snookerium cheats our money. One plate with special maggie mee, 3 dollars! Its just a small amount of mee, with chilli, and dark sauce, an egg, 2 luncheon meats, and that costs 3 dollars! Although it really is addictive, i hate it! Cause they cheat our money!!!! Its like, the whole thing doesn't even cost them like 1 dollar and they charge us 3 dollars! But then again, no one complains and everyone still continues eating it.

TPA commemoration

2010-09-03T04:01:00.004+08:00

To all TPA members, home is no more. Although TPY safra has been demolished, the bonds and memories forged will forever remain.

Part 1 of a 3 part series.

Excerpts from Shark Hexun's blog, the most naturally gifted player in TPA history. It is a pretty long text, but it really does bring back what the TPA was about.

(i) - Secrets of Pool revealed

Pool is a gangster's game, a common misconception which is more or less true, haha. I thought so too actually. But if you watch real competitions on tv, westerners wearing vests and tight pants looking really serious, you will change your perception on pool. So how did pool start for the 5 of us? Wei Zhou, Kenneth, Teck Siang, Yuan Hong and me? It all started at sabrina's house. At that time, we were all still nerds, it was only me, kenneth and shi xiong then. And at that time, shi xiong was a hero to us, a hero we all looked up upon. We were all noobier than noobs can be. Few trips to her house later, i figured that i wasn't a pool player, this is not my thing, so i stopped. A while later, they invited wei zhou to play and this was where wei zhou started to love the game, his father was a pro but he never had interest in it. In the months that followed, wei zhou was in a pool frenzy, the seed of pool was planted in his heart and the roots have taken hold, paralysing it...forcing him to PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY!!! So he was crazy and his skills escalated as he took courses, had a coach and constantly played, he invited several people to safra where they started to go to play. One fine friday afternoon, teck siang asked me if i knew how to play pool. As i thought i had much more experience although i was a nooby noob then, i said i knew and i could even play better than him. So he and everyone else went to safra. That was my first time, and my last time, of my noob career. Teck siang thrashed me like he could never have thrashed me before. I was throwing a tantrum then, haha, i was pissed, dumbfounded, and pissed. The cocky me thought that teck siang was a new fry to fry, so i underestimated him.....So i continued to believe that i was not a pooler.

Many months later, in june 2005, my family went out to have lunch. My father then took up his handphone and called someone, he then told me he'll be going to some warehouse to look at foosball tables. When we went there, i saw a lousy pool table but still it was a pool table!!! So i begged my father to buy it. In the end, he bought one foosball table and one pool table. This was the beginning of my unnooby career. For days and days and weeks and weeks i trained myself at the table, lousy, yet it built my basics. In the middle of the summer of july, i decided to move on to my No1 target, Lee Teck Siang..a.k.a Teck Tea Siang. I challenged him, to one game of pure pool. That day, several people went, and i played. While we were travelling on the bus to safra, because murali was taking the same bus home, i stressed to him the importance of me winning teck siang that afternoon, i said that if i didn't win, that month of training at my home proved worthless and futile, then i would still end up the worthless lousy nooby player that i once was.

The game started and me and teck siang were neck to neck, pocketing balls after balls, there was definitely improvement in my game. Alas!!!! Teck Siang was down to his last ball, the black 8, and he missed. I had 3 striped balls and one 8 to hit in. I was stressed. Very stressed. first hit, pot, second hit, pot. third ball was sticking to the cushion, small roll, pot, and with ease, 8 ball, pot. I was happy.

I HAD FINALLY WON TECK TEA SIANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, he smiled at me, the usual dirty smile, but by the looks of his defeated face, he was depressed. Word travelled fast, i had evolved from noob to not noob, a miraculous evolution. Teck Siang was pretty sour about it, ok maybe not that sour, but he definitely wasn't that happy was he? So Wei Zhou invited both of us to his house to play. So, it wasn't nothing really, i only beat teck siang 6-0, so that wasn't much...haha....sorry teck siang. I promised him i wouldn't tell everyone the following day, but when i got to school, everyone asked me whether it was true in disbelief, hey ah teck, you told them yourself! HAha.

So that was how we began, and as the days went by, the ranking was: 1-wei zhou 2-kenneth 3-me 4-teck. We began to go more frequently, and the numbers lessened to the 4 of us, plus yuan hong. Teck was wei zhou's disciple, he had a huge advantage and he went to safra more than me. I learnt and trained myself and my table sucked. So that was how we were, although we were still quite amateurish.

As the months went by, i slipped in to the great depression, I felt i wasn't a good player, teck siang beat me game after game and proved that he was stronger in terms of his skills. To tell you the truth, no one knows who is better. People say he is accurate, he makes good shots, people say i have a great stance, accurate, make good pots...hhaa, isn't that all the same? But i'm an emotional pool player, emotions affect my game. When i'm in a good mood, i'll play relatively well, if i am not, i'll just get thrashed round after round. One thing I admire teck siang for is how relaxed and cool he is. HE IS EMOTIONLESS!! But he psyches alot!! He'll just have to make girly noises and give a dirty look on his face...that's enough to make me miss...Back to the depression days, I couldn't believe it but i accepted the fact as i kept losing. I realised that i was too rushed, too nervous, and too eager, when i am losing, i can't keep my cool and that spoils that game, and the game after the next, and the game after the next, in fact, it spoils every game for the day. I changed, i started to cut down on saying shit after missing balls, i started to praise opponents, laugh more, joke more, encourage more and be more quiet. But under such hostile environments when i sometimes feel left out, i can't help it. Wei zhou's always siding and giving tips to teck, and kenneth can be quite sarcastic at times, haha, which demoralises me and i feel alone many times. But teck can keep his cool quite well except on times when i'm on a run and teck goes crazy... In these few weeks, i proved to teck siang again i was the better player, always beating him, because of the improved way i played the game, but because i didn't want much competition among us, i told him that i'd settle for equal...But actually, i always seem lousier, i never keep my form when i play with people looking at me, i feel that they expect something good, something i can't deliver when i'm pressured to.

So, enough of boasting about myself, i ain't that good, the fact is, i am amazed the 5 of us 14/15 year olds can attain such a great skill of this game...really, i think we're pretty good for 14/15 year olds. No one has ever expected us to be good before, besides wei zhou, everyone knows he's good. Although, there are still alot of 14/15 year olds in this school or outside better than us, but that's the minority of singapore, and we belong to that minority of average 14/15 year old pool players in singapore. But many of them aren't good people to mix with, people who just play pool for the friends they make. That's why people always get the misconception that pool is a gangster's game, but for the 5 of us, we are the absolute opposite, haha. We're quite decent actually, although the other 4 do splurt vulgarities, haha, but we aren't bad, if not how do we get to e1 and e2? The thing that keeps us together is our spirit and our togetherness. For example when we play tag with strangers. It's really hard to keep your cool when you play with strangers, especially tag games, on top of feeling the pressure to win, you feel the pressure to make good shots so as not to cause the team to fail, and you will feel bad if you make bad shots. But our team has worked pretty well thru the months. The first thing kenneth says after he misses a shot is, '' Sorry hexun, sorry.'' Haha, that explains the pressure. But the trick is to boost the morale of your team mate, make him know that you don't mind him missing shots, and when he feels that, you enter his heart and you assure him, he knows that now you're with him 100%. When you're playing tag, your friend is somewhat like your enemy, i mean, in the sense of missing shots, you are afraid your friend blames you. So, make him know that you're rooting him 100% and he will do it. That was how we did it, and because the other team from another school couldn't do it, they lost 3-0 to me kenneth and yuan hong. Sometimes, one just feels proud of what he is today, honestly, we aren't bad for kiddies. Like last time at my friends house, there was a snooker table there. An old man challenged me to a game of pool on that table. I was so scared i wanted to pee in my pants for 1 hour. On top of that, there was a group of foreign teens watching us, on top of that there was a bunch of 6-7 year old kids, where one of the boys was boasting to his friends how well he could play and criticizing how i played, seriously, i felt pissed he was criticizing me, he kept snorting at every stroke i made and laughed at me. I told him i was sorry for being such a lousy player. Until i did a masse for him, wei zhou taught me this, the ball curled...that shut them up..haha. So, back to the game and by the look at his stance, i knew this wasn't an amateur, he was good. I didn't lose my cool, i just played how i usually played, in high moods actually..and also because my church friend was by my side. So in the end, i lost, he hit the black ball first...it was a close game. And luckily for him he won, could you imagine how embarrased i would feel if i was 70+ and i lose to a 14 year old? Haha, but nevertheless, i congratulated him and told him it was a good game, he just nodded and walked off.

So, pool isn't about the atmosphere, how it is always filled with undesireable characters, it is about the adrenaline rush, about the feeling of people behind you eyeing your every stroke, your movement, your execution. It's the sense of achievement. But to some people, it's a chance to get back or show people who's the boss to people they don't like. Sometimes, you don't really like a person and by peaceful ways, like playing pool, he steps back and respects you, and in some cases, it works for me, haha.

So this is my pool, not the cursing, not the fights, not the bad sportsmanship, not the gangsters, not the undesireable characters, but the sport, the adrenaline rush, the game.

(ii) - The Importance of the Wizard and the Battle of the Gangs

So i was quite in a dilemma at the cross roads, my old gang imran, ray, latif, avinesh and murali was standing on one end. And my academy was standing at the other side, wei zhou, kenneth and teck siang.. And poor me was in the middle, and i was in a huge dilemma, to play pool or my old passion? And both gangs were pressing me for an answer, if i joined soccer, wei zhou would be hugely disappointed because he's pretty interested in me lately, but if i joined wei zhou my old gang would feel very downcast for some reason, because i left them for pool... So i decided to play soccer and i promised wei zhou i would meet him in Safra afterward.. We left each other's hands in tears, and Wei Zhou couldn't bear to walk away, but i could..

So, we toured around toa payoh finding a place to eat, and my mind was wandering towards wei zhou... We finally got to the street soccer court, it wasn't very fun today as my heels were killing me, and it was really hot.... After a few short games, i changed to my uniform and took a cab to safra to see my beloved. There, Aaron called me while i was on my way in, and he told me i had a nice friendster profile, and that he would challenge me one day.. I felt pretty afraid and intimidated, how many people out there thought the same way as he did? Any way, the only showing off line was '' Every week we go to safra to hone our already great skills.'' hahaha, its all a joke, although its partially true, but i wonder how many people out there want a piece of my head..so i put on my really really nice E-journalism shirt over my uniform, (Its M-sized, borrowed from Faizal [faezah] ) Then they almost burst out in joy and relief and happiness when they saw me enter the battle arena. So, i played many games, it seemed that everyone wanted a piece of my head, everyone wanted to battle me today, but i played exceptionally well today, although wei zhou was busy psyching me with his voodoo rituals, i still managed to win him for a few games but i know i shouldn't be too proud because Wei Zhou wouldn't play100% with us, i've seen him in action against strangers and he's a powerhouse... Wei Zhou's playing style is the joking and play play type, then when we gain confidence and lessen our balls, he'll just come up and kick our puny butts.. So i played well today, drawing with the veteran player Kenneth... At three, i decided to leave and take a bus to school for the annual awards ceremony.

(iii)- Tight Fit

And after school the kind teck siang waited for my 163 as he made me miss my previous 163, so we talked about pool and how i'll avenge them by challenging the SA boys next time.. It seems that the SA boys have gained confidence after luckily beating us a few times and teck told me last thursday they walked up and challenged teck and wei zhou.. so brave!! Its usually us that do that! So Wei Zhou, being Wei Zhou cleared the table easily and left the boys dumbfounded, i wonder if they'll be brave enough to challenge us next time...

(iv) - The Tainted world of Man

And before we end,

A Tribute to the late, Joey Tian Wei Zhou, founder of Tian's acedamy, person of great knowledge, person of incredible pool skills, the person responsible of breaking one of safra's pool cues, the person responsible for our enjoyment, while we sat back.. watching his trickshot videos.. doubting his skills, doubting the genuineness, he put in a lot of hard work into the videos.. for what? For your enjoyment! So doubt his skills no more, do not doubt his authenticity or i shall smite ye with me staff, and me sword, and me cue, for he hath the skills you hath not. For he is my master and my chalk...He is the one, the one who led me to this path, where i constantly see my wallet empty.. We remember, Tian Wei Zhou, and although he isn't here with us today, Tian's acedamy will go on, Me, teck siang, kenneth will lead the noobs..

13/04/06.. Tian Wei Zhou wasn't with us today, but we will continue.. although we'll all see him next monday, but we will all remember this day, 13/04/06, the day, we lost our master..

(v) - The world's ending and the Wizard's scarring

So, me, my master ( wei zhou), kenneth and teck siang took a cab to penisula. When we arrived, we saw a S.E.X and the city store there, and the 5 of us were like standing outside the store, frozen, we were staring at it, not me, but they were guessing what was inside that store, boys would be boys.... So we searched the whole penisula plaza and i spent 9 dollars on pool cue tips.

Next, we took a cab to safra. There, we didn't have any tables, and we played snooker first. When we finally got a free table, it was snatched away from us by the same st andrews boys we beat earlier this week. Then, me and teck siang couldn't stand it anymore, we went forward, riding our dark steeds with speed, and we confronted them, we challenged them, but they stood strong, and they fended us off and they told us, our doom will come not at this time, but at a later period. Disappointed and rejected, we rode back to our castle snooker. I kept telling teck siang how scared they were, they were hum ji bangs, to people like kenneth, he would say hum ji, but i said hum ji bang, which is some biscuit in mandarin. I wasn't satisfied at all. To our enormous surprise, those noble knights kept true their words, knights of honour, they rode bravely to our castle snooker and they boldly invited us to battle at their grounds.

Me and kenneth followed them to their castle table four pool. That was where the fierce battle started, we were ambushed by 7 other knights. We fought well in the first match, but a fatal mistake by me and i accidentaly potted the black. We lost round one of sparring. Round two was coming up, they had the confidence, it was home against away, and they had support, we were a lonely evil force. They cleared their balls and we had four left. They only had one black. It was my turn, i potted one, stunned the shot, then potted the next one, a screw, then i potted the last of my balls. It was time for the black, and i told them the final destination of the black, and i hit it, it rolled, slowly, slowly, and boom, it droped in to the desired pocket. We won, i redeemed myself.

(vi) - The end of my days

Today's wasn't satisfactory pooling for me, i haven't been performing up to my standards, emotions are affecting my game, kenneth is affecting my game, teck siang is affecting my game. EMOTIONS... too much of it, too competitive, to much hatred, too much jealousy, too much anger.. But at least wei zhou told me something that i wouldn't stay here... and i think, its time for the return of my pool table to my hall again, its time to practise..

(vii) - The world's ending

So after school, i just told the yh kenneth and teck siang i was in a pooling mood because i watched the mosconi cup yesterday night and i've got the feel. When we went today, yuan hong beat my surprisingly 3 times in snooker. This was his day. Then kenneth proceeded to challenge some students from st andrews sec, a tag team game. I played horribly, that's why we lost. I knew although kenneth didn't say so, he blamed me for it. Then kenneth decided to tag with teck siang instead, and he said i wasn't on form today. But i told him i needed to redeem myself after showing everyone how nooby i was. But it was only appropriate for kenneth to decline tagging me and tag teck siang instead. I was definitely unhappy of being left on the bench, on the sidelines. But it turned out teck siang suffered the same fate as me and he played horribly as well, thankfully, they won, but just by luck. I decided to set a game for myself and asked them for a last game, this time, i decided to tag yuan hong. Yuan hong is a good player, but he doesn't seem to play seriously, he laughs all the time. But because of this wrong perception, that he isn't a good player, you feel pissed when he beats you, because he is quite a good player. This time, with an element of good playing alongside me, we played very very well, and i told yuan hong he was playing great today. He almost got the last ball in but it unluckily hit the jaw of the mid-pocket and missed, but it was great effort. They missed a couple more and it was my turn this time. The eight ball was right down the bottom half of the table. And my cue-ball was at the top half of the table. The eight ball was in the middle, and near the cushions. For this kind of shots, people like kenneth, teck siang and yh would surely try to double it. but i tried to go for the cut. I positioned myself and feathered a few times, then positioned my cue to the left side of the cue ball to create a left spin, then, the final draw back of my cue and i struck the cueball, it spun leftwards and so thinly sliced the eightball, sending it rolling sweetly into the bottom left pocket. WIOWWWIWWW, ok we won.

(vii)- General Elections

Today is General Elections day, George yeo must win, because my mum told me we are analogous, we are thinkers=))) So, elections day is really cool, politics is really cool, and i'm gonna be a candidate one day, vote for me.. So lately i haven't been doing much except studying and playing pool. The more stress we get, the more we wanna play pool. For example, last week i wanted to quit pool so much that i wanted to quit pool, i promised not to go this week, but i ended up playing after every paper. So last Friday was the Pure Geography examination day, it was relatively easy, compared to the previous papers, although they weren't that hard either, but they still weren't that easy... but i don't think i'm gonna nail the A1, although, A1 for all humans is a must, i didn't put in much effort for that paper.. After the paper, me and Teck siang followed the e2 pure geog girls to have lunch at the lousy coffee shop where we've eaten everything almost 1000 times... So Teck Siang was there busy critisizing everyone and i was there minding my own business quietly until he had to blue toot everyone my bee song.. That bee song was recorded by me at the safra toilet when teck siang taught me that kiddie song.. I attempted my gayest tone at that time and only he, wei zhou and kenneth had possesion of it.. now, teck see ang had to SEND IT TO EVERYONE THERE!!! And they were laughing at my sick gay voice over their loudspeakers...That was quite embarrassing.. I thank You Teck Siang... So our good master called us and he told us to rally to him, at his castle at serangoon, so we obediantly listened.. After we reached, we immediately engaged in battle after battle and we displayed all our sublime cueing and superb shotmaking skills.. So, i was the sole survivor and teck died a miserable death, my honorable master promoted me to the level of 2.5, the highest among all TPA members.. So, me and Teck Siang got a sneak preview of the impending completion of TWOT 6.. TWOT 6 will be great.. trust TPA, we only produce quality pool.. For the past few days, i have been focusing more on pool than on my studies, every 30mins, i'll run down to clear the table at least once, and my dad would keep nagging at me for playing pool all the time.. And lately the San Miguel Asian 9 Ball Tour is airing on tv and its incredibly exciting.. Francisco Bustamante v.s Efren Reyes! It was a great match.. I've improved my pooling style lately at home but i find it difficult to display it in Safra, its a different feel.. but i'm determined to kill off Lee Teck See Ang once and for all, although we're forever in equilibrium.. This should be my last post before the exams die off.. and i must nail my A1s this time... goodbye.

(vii) - The hustler's temptation

I'm a hustler, wei zhou calls me that. So lately teck siang went crazy and scolded Master Tian.. Teck, having violated law number 12a of the TPA: Disrespect to the coach/instructer, received an indefinite suspension from Master Tian. Teck was pissed and he quit TPA. I was largely influenced by Teck and was in a dilemma.. To quit pool totally or not? I, being ranked 2.5, am the best player yet in TPA, surpassing veteran Kenneth. And wei zhou has been so good to me, should i renounce my citizenship? Yesterday night i decided to take a 2 month leave away from my stressful job of hustling gullible youths. Then today, Wei zhou showed me so much love, always emphasizing on the fact that i'm ranked 2.5 and i'm the best student, he wanted me to go home to play, (home, being 3rd home, wei zhou's home) But i had already taken leave and for the first time i felt so carefree.. In the end, i gave a straight NO. But wei zhou, being a great actor, gave me a face of pure disappointedness.. being a sympathetic person, i could not forsake my Master, i followed, and teck followed too. There, wei zhou suddenly became hostile and i wasn't playing well against kenneth, my heart sank to the stage of depression, i told wei zhou i quit, and i formed my own Lee's Pool Academy, Teck Siang immediately joined, both of the political parties engaged in raging battles, and we were doing very well, Lee's Pool Academy has been placed on the map, we've made a name for ourselves, seeing how well our party was doing, darren decided to join our party. Then all of a sudden again, i regretted quitting TPA, but it was too late. So smart me devised a two way plan, i organised the Word Pool Finals against Wei Zhou, the loser's academy was to cease function and disband, then, all of its members was to join the other academy. What a smart plan! A win-win situation. Look! if i lost, i would be back in TPA! If i won, better yet! It'll be LPA!

Of course, i lost the race to 3 expectedly, and i was glad to resume my position as 2.5. Then, Wei Zhou brought me to a corner and told me that what i did earlier on hurt him, that i was his favourite student, i was touched to tears and i promised never to forsake my master again, not until i become a master at least.. But what i said still stands, i will take a 2 month leave and after my exams, i shall not go to safra, but instead i'll follow xuan xuan to Changi to buy chocolates...

(viii) - I'm a nice hustler

Basically what a hustler does is to misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling, in our case pool, we've seen the ability of Wei Zhou, he hustled some guy for ten bucks, even my bro's somewhat hustled, someone challenged him for 20 bucks a game and he won 3 games, he didn't keep the money of course, his friend took it. Let's face it, how can Lee Hexun be a true hustler? How can i gamble? Tian Wei Zhou, i was born one but i cannot be one, i cannot gamble.

I congratulate Kenneth for making his first professional hustle today. Kenneth was hungry at safra today, as so he reports, he wanted to buy the special maggie mee, but was short of 30cents, he glanced over at table 11, where 3 guys and 2 girls were playing. He walked over, he told a guy that they (Wei Zhou and Teck Siang) wouldn't let him play for he was too noobish. So the guy agreed to one game, kenneth told him to punch first, but he refused for he was too lazy but he suggested that he let kenenth play for free. So kenneth said it wasn't fair, then kenneth suggested 10 cents for each remaining ball and the guy agreed. According to kenneth's mind blowing 8000 page report, the guy was a noob and kenneth cleared the table easily in 3 turns! He left him with 5 balls. But the guy didn't have 50 cents, so he gave kenneth 30 cents. Mission Accomplished! Kenneth got 30cents for his maggie mee! Good job Kenneth.

Then another report came from Wei Zhou, he lost terribly in a money game, Wei Zhou profusely apologised to me for his poor display today, tarnishing TPA's record. He stated his reasons.

1. Exccesive use of mental trickery by opponent
2. Being sick
3. Physical fatigue ( 4 hours of playing )

" I apologise for the shame brought unto TPA due to my loss." Master Tian

That was my day, if only 2.5 was there to being TPA further glory, you guys will see at the School's Pool Tournament.. oh no, we doubt we'll win, but we'll put up a good fight..

(ix) - The Houses of Healing

I did nothing much for the rest of the day until my family went out for a pot luck at my church friend's house. So, knowing that i was keen about pool, my friend heng yi's father booked the snooker room just for us, then, i informed Wei Zhou about my impending pool tournament. Omigosh, is it really a big matter? Wei Zhou called me four times that night to confirm me and to ensure i do TPA proud, i mean, what do you expect Master Tian? I'm ranked 2.5!!! And Teck Siang also expressed concern and wished me luck... this wasn't what i quite expected, must every match be a MUST WIN match? I'm on a two month leave!!! Two months vacation!!! Yes well, when i got into the snooker room, i didn't play well, i didn't score 100 points as i thought i would, i was focusing on getting the points, not snookering heng yi or my brother, they weren't that good. The best i managed was a 50, while my friend and my brother were like in the negative section of the scoreboard. But still, i'll state my reason as i should:

1. No cuetip, the table was 900 years old, the cues were rotten and all the tips came off, except the one i was using, but i was busy masseing till the tip came off =(
2. Excessive use of deep mind trickery by the user, too much backfires..
3. Bent cue, my cue wasn't exactly straight, i had to aim left to get a stun shot.
4. Colour blindedness, the balls were not easily distinguishable
5. Lack of interest in opponents, they only seemed interested in seeing me trying to get my 100 points, while they were stuck at negatives.

So that was my interesting day..

(x) - A tribute to Ashworth

So at Safra, it was full house today, and i wasn't playing pretty well. Then, Desmond, the ex-beattyian brought his ite friends over, and he took over my table for his said they weren't staying long. I asked him if he wanted to play with me, he said he didn't have money, so i went back to master tian. There, i kept telling wei zhou that i wanted to hustle them, but they were a big group, 4 girls, 2 boys, and one tank top dressed ''muscular'' desmond. I was a little intimidated, actually, i only wanted to challenge desmond. Then wei zhou and kenneth kept telling me to go over, but i was a little afraid. Then, with my ultra high frequency tone that only dogs and desmonds could hear, desmond ran over, i begged him for a game or two, but he rejected me flat. Wei Zhou kept telling me to challenge his friends, for he hated nooby guys who teach girls pool, so he kept forcing me to go, but i couldn't find that courage, for desmond already rejected me and i feel quite embarrased to challenge his friends. Then kenneth and wei zhou decided to go and play with them, and lose tragically on purpose, this was to give them confidence, so i could solo with them next, and thrash them, but sadly, as we were about to carry out our plan, they left.

So today, while being off form, i played straight pool with wei zhou, won him, and got an unexpected promotion to the level of shark, at lvl 3, i was surprised. Kenneth seemed to be a pro, in fact, he's the veteran, but how come a youngster like me can be promoted so fast? Maybe i'm really good but i don't actually realise, while teck is ranked 2 and kenneth at 2.1. So, it was a satisfactory safra visit, i don't really regret breaking my 2 months leave promise, but this shall be my 2nd last before the hols...Happy after exams to all you guys with fat wallets in your butts!!

- Shark Lee Hexun

To be continued...

Prelims

2010-08-22T01:29:00.000+08:00

I'm gonna get A for maths and fail everything else again. A levels suck.

Toughest thing in the universe

2010-07-09T00:39:00.007+08:00

Some people say this is code....

.
.

I say, what the hell is THIS?!?!?!

Cryptography at its best.

Seriously, I have been spending the last five days trying to decipher it.

ZzZzZZzZzzzZzZzZzzzZzZzz

btw thats the correctly encoded message :)

Turtles in the rain

2010-07-02T23:58:00.006+08:00

I can't believe Fendy has left the class. Seems like just yesterday I got to know this boy in class who also likes Jay Chou and equations.

Of course I later got to know that he is not a boy but a man and he discovered that actually I don't really like Jay Chou that much and we even went to Shanghai together.

It was a funny feeling watching him and Hye June do maths in s2 under the rainy skies today. Sorta makes me wish I had put in more effort all those times that he tried to interest me in some relavistic physics.

But I guess such is the fragility of human relationships in city life. People adapt and move on so fast that feelings are always fleeting. In the end, the only thing that has stayed with me since primary school is a Pikachu i raised from level 5.

Maybe I should just move to China and be a farmer...

Last IT/BMA

2010-06-23T22:40:00.002+08:00

This shall be (hopefully) one of my last cancer posts.

Today was my final intrathecal and bone marrow aspiration procedure. Was quite apprehensive as it was like almost 2 years since I did the last one. And my friends would know I always had lots of problem with this procedure. I hate the feeling of the needle searching and poking in your back, and the worse part is that soemtimes they would not get the right spot after multiple times so they would have to reinsert the needle. I think my record was like 6 times before they could get it.

But even after the procedure, there would be severe after effects like headache and nausea and backache. There was once i was bedridden for more than 2 weeks after a particularly bad one because the fluids in my god-knows-whats-the-name spinal cord area were disturbed, causing severe headaches and backaches whenever I tried to sit up.

Actually what most people do not know is that during the later stages of my treatment, I was so scared that I often escaped from the hospital and wanted to give up treatment, effectively opting for euthanasia.

Of course, that didn't happen (or else I wouldn't be here writing this post today) thanks to my family encouragement and a particular social worker.

SO anyways, about a month ago when Prof Tan said I had to go for the last BMA and IT, it was like deja vu all over again. And when i woke up today suddenly the feelings of fear and flight came back lol.

But I decided that this time was different cause I'm bigger and older and wiser and stronger! So I decided to randomly spam my JC classmates with sms to ask for support. (JC because I knew my poly friend would still be sleeping XD) I expected them to give a one time reply like "Dun worry you'll be fine" kind of thing but that was okay because something was better than nothing.

But then, at my darkest hour of hopelessness and despair....

HALOGIRL APPEARED!!!

Actually I'm fucking touched cause despite being busy she still tried her best to encourage me all the way from like 10am till I went in for the procedure like at 1pm. And after that still got customer support till 7.

And so from the most abysmal abyss of my blood pumping organ, I sincerely thank her.

Anyway the procedure went damm well and I'm having like zero side effects, which surprises me honestly. I expected something like at least a headache or some nausea but there nothing!

So yeah if the result of todays test are good I'll be officially off maintanence drugs which is like...

----To prevent the author from becoming too emo, this blog post shall stop here----

Back from Shanghai

2010-06-19T01:59:00.004+08:00

Back after 5 days! Shanghai was nice. Lazy to write a full essay so I'll just sum it up:

Likes :

- Pretty girls.

- Hot girls.

- Cute girls.

-Damm Good HaoLeDi KTV.

20 SGD for whole night 11:30 till 6:00am
sounds system's awesome
controls damm good- can adjust air con, change the lighting ambience, playback clapping and whistling sounds for yourself or your frens hahaha. And can boo them too.
Plasma 42 inch TV
Choose song using a computer which is damm fast and easy
room is big

-Everything is big and spacious and you really get the feeling of freedom cause cab's cheap, can go anywhere you want.

-People are generally nice and helpful.

-(Commoner)things are generally very cheap.

-every road and street has lotsa people at all times and its full of life and enthusiasm, even at midnight. You dun get the lonliness and emptiness of city living, unlike in Singapore.

-Nice cooling weather.

Dislikes:

-Food not nice xiaolongbaos skin rock hard, and we tried many different restaurants. Noodles taste floury.

-Everything is in Chinese! I can't read!

-Way too many people, everything you do, you have to queue and wait for at least 10 people first.

Thats about it. Generally I love it there.

Ok some KTV pics.

Damm nice and spacious!

Haha short video of us singing some warm ups.

PS: I have a million videos and pictures measuring like 5 GB.. how to upload?!?!?

Fallacy

2010-06-10T17:36:00.001+08:00

The bible says : women were created for men and pi is 3.00.

Sianz

2010-06-10T05:09:00.002+08:00

Holidays here. So sickening everyone's busy.

Obtained Deoxys and Dakrai(hacked) today.

Going to Shanghai with Fendy and Almo On Sunday. Quite excited. But down with slight flu hope can recover before then...

Been feeling emo recently again.

Arghh Hate boring Holidays.

Physiz

2010-06-08T19:19:00.002+08:00

Got an E for physics. Quite disappointed but sorta expected it also. Had no time to complete the paper. Should have chionged through...

Hope maths can get A.

Doom

2010-06-06T23:15:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow receive results. Die liao.

Actually i'm sian cause school starts at 730 tomorrow.

Can't wait for this week to be over.

Checklist for June holidays

-Complete driving lessons and theory
-Complete at least 1/3 chemistry yellow book
-Complete at least 1/4 physics Prelim book
-Play lotsa pool and bowling

Seems quite impossible lol XD

stunned.

2010-06-04T02:02:00.006+08:00

I didn't know Messenger kept all my Chat convos in the past year.

Was reading how we used to talk and laugh.

This poem is for you. Coped somewhere from the internet.

--------------------------------------------------

Just Friends - Ann Marie

Sometimes I wonder if you know
Exactly how I feel
Our love is not romantic
But still is very real

You come to me when you feel bad
And everything goes wrong
Always expecting happiness
And to hear a cheery song

I sympathize and pull you close
And try to ease your pains
When the sun comes back, you are gone
‘Til the next time that it rains

I’ll always be here when you hurt
I know you know I’ll stay
But I’m not sure you’d miss me
If I ever went away

Friends in deed are a very rare find
Not too many stick it out
Through the good times and bad
Giving no cause to doubt

So don’t take that friend for granted
Tomorrow you may be alone
With no one around to help you
And pain like you’ve never known

---------------------------------

Lol this is too emo.

"I think chemo drugs make you more emo"
-Darren LFH (who can't read this now cause he's in the army :P)

Pokemon!!!

2010-06-01T20:21:00.002+08:00

I want a Manaphy egg. Willing to trade legendaries: Mewtwo / Kyogre / Rayquaza / Latias / Birds/ Beasts / Regi's.

Best Live Performance of all time.

God of Singers

2010-05-25T01:08:00.001+08:00

Wang LeeHom's idol is.... JACKY CHEUNG!!!!!

Good singers.

English!

2010-05-21T18:12:00.003+08:00

Different inferences... With emphasis on the red words.

"I never said she stole my money" - Someone else said it, but I didn't.
"I never said she stole my money" - I simply didn't ever say it.
"I never said she stole my money" - I might have implied it in some way, but I never explicitly said it.
"I never said she stole my money" - I said someone took it; I didn't say it was she.
"I never said she stole my money" - I just said she probably borrowed it.
"I never said she stole my money" - I said she stole someone else's money.
"I never said she stole my money" - I said she stole something of mine, but not my money.

Different meanings given by a computer when asked the phrase..

"Time flies like an arrow"

1)The common simile; time moves quickly just like an arrow does;

2)Measure the speed of flies like you would measure that of an arrow
('time' being an imperative verb and 'flies' being the insects) - i.e. (You should) time flies as you would (time) an arrow;

3)Measure the speed of flies like an arrow would
i.e. Time flies in the same way that an arrow would (time them);

4)Measure the speed of flies that are like arrows -
i.e. Time those flies that are like arrows;

5)A type of flying insect, "time-flies," enjoys a single arrow (compare Fruit flies like a banana)

Broken

2010-05-14T17:03:00.002+08:00

Health's been really bad. Missed GP mid year today cause was having fever yesterday night.

Dun feel like doing anything. Really gonna fail mid years.

Sux.

Bowling!

2010-04-30T00:26:00.004+08:00

Went for bowling nationals on monday and today(thursday). Fell damm sick on Tuesday got asthma attack lol... But now its okay.

Bowled like shit on Monday, average 147. Oiling totally messed up my game. And fatique destroyed me during the end. Bowling 6 games continuosly is no joke...

And MJ girls are damm cute. Damm distracting.

Luckily decided to return to basics on Thursday. Throw straight ball, cueing was damm on form and on target too.

Haha in the end bowled an impressive 176! Even coach said he was proud of me! Together with my awesome partner who bowled average 189 i think we can make top 20. Got chance.

Topped class for Gp again. This is almost too easy...

Mid year in two weeks. I'm gonna DIE.

Brotherhood

2010-04-01T19:33:00.003+08:00

Found this old video in my inactive youtube account. Can't believe its already four years old.

Any votes for TPA cup 2010?

death!

2010-03-24T19:16:00.001+08:00

Sianz failed all my subjects for common test. Siao liao =/

Holidays!

2010-03-16T20:03:00.002+08:00

Omg holidays past damm fast. Only got 5 more days O.o...

Been playing FFXIII recently. Not nearly as good as the other ff's. More like a big dungeon crawler actually because of its linearity. Still though I love it cause the storyline's really great. But I'll have to agree with IGN's 8.9 score.

Other than that. been spaming driving lessons. Halfways done already. If this keeps up I'll be able to drive way before June. Really glad I got "inside help" so I can cut all the queues. Hahahahhaha!

Drove really well today. Very happy with my progress :)

Can't wait to play bowling.

Happy holidays XD

dissapointment.

2010-03-11T12:38:00.002+08:00

I fucked up my maths paper today.

I was overconfident.

For the first time in 5 years.

I did not get an A for maths.

woohoo

2010-03-10T16:51:00.002+08:00

Common test is over!

Okay actually its not over. cause still got maths and physics.

But no need to stay up late to mug anymore XD

And next week's school holiday.

Shiok can spam driving lessons.

I think the Chem paper today was disastrous.

Actually so was the GP and econs paper.

Hope physics is not too hard -.-'

Common test

2010-03-08T00:25:00.001+08:00

Tomorrow is common test shouldn't be blogging now.

Luckily its Only common test...

Bowling with Dad.

Dun ask me why he's so good-.-'

A levels

2010-03-06T21:17:00.005+08:00

Results were released on Friday. Most of my classmates recieved good results. Hard to describe how i feel now. Most of them were able to make it to the university.

Time really flies cause it totally feels like 3 years ago when we took our O levels.

I'm not too worried bout my A levels. Know I'll do reasonably well. If not just repeat no big deal.

Common test next week. Hope I'll do well. Would be an indicator of whether or not to drop to H1 economics.

Feel kinda lonely now everyone seems to be going on to the uni or army.

Oh yeah and I found something old in my computer.

hahaha FAKE consent form created by me to allow Teck Siang to attend TPA night.

And I'm real into bowling now cause pool's too easy. Anyone wanna spar?

TIANS AWESOME FORMULA

2010-02-26T02:04:00.005+08:00

i have concluded. From data collected on 2s01 and cassandra's blog. There is an awesome formula that relates the time spent studying and grades!!!!!

Assumptions:

everyone is nearly as smart as me
One nights worth of studying is approximately 3 hours.

Me
Ionic equilibria test
Time spent: One night just before test
Grade :U

Cass
Organic chem test
Time Spent: One night before test
Grade: U

Me
Organic Chem test
Time spent : two nights before test
Grade: D

Hence here is the awesomistical formula!!!!

One night = U = <40
Two nights = D = 50
Three nights = B = 60
Four nights = A = >70

Soooo for one chapter, in order to score an A we'll need four nights worth of revision = 12 hours.

Multiply that by the number of chapters and its approximately 20 so....

One subject = 20 chapters = 80 nights of studying for 3 hours to get A

I actually think this is damm accurate.

Fuck this is damm scary. Better start now.

(Except that it doesn't hold for my maths cause 0 nights = A -.-')
(Dun kill me I'm just kidding. I actually practise really hard for maths.)
(Really!)
(Why so many postscripts?!?!?!)

The beginnings

2010-02-13T14:22:00.001+08:00

Extracted from my other blog that I think should be here as well lol.

It was a time before the Tian's screw, before the Brotherhood and before the TPA. It was a time not too long ago, yet it is so far away. Tian was still a amatuer to the game of billiards. Then taught by the best snooker player in Safra, which he affectionately calls Shen, god in chinese. Tian can still remember the first time he went for training.

I sat down on the small coffee table in front of the counter. My father was waiting for me with a plate of nasi lemak. He said,"Finish this and quickly go over there for your training." I looked over to the far end, a short man in thirties was surrounded by three other teens. The man was holding a cueball and seemed to be explaining something. They must be waiting for me, i thought. I'd better join them quickly. At this moment, Miss Tan came out from behind. In her hands were a smooth and classy looking cue. My Dad took the cue from her, weighed it and feathered it between his fingers. "Joe davis, good cue, make sure you learn seriously."

I recall the first time i held that piece of equipment in my hands. It was so different from the usual house cues that we used. Unbended, untainted, unused. This was my cue and mine alone. I stroked it with the open bridge. It was so smooth. It seemed so solid, so perfect. There is really no word to describe it. There is a particular elegance and beauty to a snooker cue that puts it in a class of its own. It really is an incomparable tool, even to the most expensive pool cue.

I went over to where my lesson awaited. My eyes went to one of my classmates. He was the pai kia (bad boy). He had a short hairstyle, the kind you would expect from army men, or prison inmates. Worse still, both his arms were covered in tatoo. I began to be intimidated by them. Luckily, Shen was very friendly. He did not mind the fact that i was the nerdiest in the group, or that my mandarin sucked. Instead, he tried his best way to explain things to me in english, of course, in his own inarticulate way. The first thing he made us do was to shoot a straight ball into the middle pocket. The students went one by one and potted the shot. I was the last one. Although it was a simple shot, there was the pressure of being the lousiest. Fortunately, i managed to squeeze the red ball in between the jaws. Shen then proceeded to teach us the basic things like our stance, holding the cue, stroke, cueing... After that we went on to drill for one hour. Potting the red and following the cueball into the pocket as well. I guess it was this period of time that my stroke really improved. This was my first step to being a pro. The intense snooker training of shen prepared me for the skill shots of pool that would require extreme stability and stroke.

I got to know Mathew, Darrel, Victor, and many other pool players. Some experts we admired and respected them, like Benny and Shen. It was a great environment for fun. We really enjoyed ourselves through the various training sessions and we became friends. Not very close, but enough to enjoy a great game of pool. At that time, most people do not yet know of my new found hobby. It was the start of sec 2. I went to Safra every Wednesday to train with Shen. But i began to worry that my best friend and snooker opponenet from school, kenenth, would lag behind me too much. I started to explain to him some of the things Shen taught me. Slowly, his billiards improved. Although i still always managed to beat him, but he remained interested in the game. That was a good thing. It was here that we learnt the skills needed to excel in the game, and ultimately my snooker training would be a big part of how i played pool. And how i taught it. Gradually, i wanted to expose more people to this great game. Then Shen would do something that almost cause me to quit.

100th!!!!

2010-02-09T22:16:00.004+08:00

OMG THIS IS THE 100th POST ON JOEYMATH!!!!!!

Didn't know i wasted so much time blogging-.-

Schools been terrible. Failing all my subjects now. Dun think I'll make it to Uni.

Think I shoud just buy a snooker cue and start playing snooker as a career.

Nah jk snooker players in Singapore starve. Sides theres still like 9 or so more months to go.

Okay time to study hydrocarbons. Chem test next week. Right after CNY. Actually we should complain. This is like total disregard for Chinese tradtions right! Ruin holiday lor.

Cousins : aei stay later leh. Blackjack just started only!
Me : Dun want la no money already. Besides I got chem test tomorrow.
Cousins : .......
Aunt : Siao CNY still got exam ah. What idiot school is that?!?!
Me : Its that **Ahem**RJC lor.

LOL.

Resorts World

2010-02-02T16:47:00.004+08:00

Went to Sentosa's sneak opening about a few weeks ago. Almost feels like you're overseas cause everything's so nice. Almost like Disneyland.

Nothing's open cept 3 of the 6 hotels. Offering damm cheap rates now cause all the facilities not up yet. 250sgd a night.

Casino looks real classy. But not flashy or showy.

Steamboat at Vivocity! very nice.

Been sick damm bad these few days. Missed alot of lessons le. I think I'll fail common test.

Boreded.

2010-02-01T21:45:00.000+08:00

SRJCians got no life.

Tiring

2010-01-28T19:35:00.003+08:00

Been going to school regularly already. Can't afford to miss too many lessons this year. Really hope my body can hold up.

School seems much less fun these days... Everyone seems segregated.

Was digging up some old TPA stuff.

TPA SKILL TREE

BEGINNER
Cueing
-Snooker stroke
-Basic stance
-Simple technique(bridging, grip etc)
-Follow through
Potting
-Ghost ball theory
Basic spin (stun and follow and screw)
-90 degree rule

ADVANCED
Basic spin II
-Sidespin
-Bottom siding
-Wavy tech
Breaking
-Popping
-Wing balls
Positioning
-Inside/outside angles
Basic siding (left and right)
-Effects of throw
-Effects of squirt

INTERMEDIATE
Mental concentration
-Stage fright
-Consistency
Advanced safety
-Guards and safeties
Positioning
-Risk-taking
-Pattern play
Accuracy building
-Cushion shots
-Banking and kicking
-Two way shots
Advanced spin
-Cue-bending
-Slight masse
-Jump shots
Super positioning
-Breaking packs
-Push outs
Accuracy building
-Combination shots
-Carom shots
-Two-way shots

EXPERT
Super spin
-Super masse
-Superscrew
-Topspin
-Sharp jump shots
Trickshots
-Theory of trickshots

Actually I think that the TPA had one of the most effective courses and training methods. Given the short amount of practice time that our players put in (4-6 hours per week) , we were able to develop sound and talented players like Teck and Hexun.

Anyone interested to enrol? lol

My GP sux.

Silence

2010-01-20T17:32:00.003+08:00

I feel sad :(

This is depressing.

Mastered!

2010-01-18T16:46:00.002+08:00

Went for snooker zone's competition yesterday. Was almost kicked out of the competition for being late. So actually it was kinda my fault. But in the end after lotsa begging and quarelling I got to play. After all, I already paid for my entry fee.

Was quite disappointed to find that the prize money was reduced due to there being not enough players. There was also going to be no trophy.

But anyway I knew I was not on form cause haven't been training. So i was just there to try my luck.

First opponent was a china/taiwanese guy who didn't play very well. Lost the first two racks cause haven't warmed up yet. But after I was in the mood I beat him 5 racks in a row to win 5-2.

Second opponent was one of hitlary's friends. Experienced but not skilled. It was a close fight though, although I truly think he got a bit lucky with the one-nine combination at the 8th rack. Anyway we were hill-hill and he scratched on the last four balls. So i took ball in hand and cleared him. Was damm nervous. In the end won him 5-4.

Third opponent was the hitlary himself. This one I was really scared of since he's a really good and experienced old player and had like 3-4 guys cheering for him. I didn't really expect to win. However, he was on terrible form and I played a solid game. Banked three eights in a row and got superb placing on the nine to beat him 5-2. I was really happy. Going into finals now.

Final match was against Roy Gan who was the champion of the previous two competitions. Got thrashed spectacularly 5-0 LOL. Actually I just lost my nerves and played horribly against this guy cause he's just fucking good. At 4-0 i thought to just let loose and play relaxly but he broke and run out the last frame. Didn't even have a chance to shoot. This guy is really of a different class.

So in the end I got second. Not bad for a first timer at snooker zone. Prize money was a pathetic $60. supposed to be $80 but not enough players. Oh well $60 in four hours means $15 dollars an hour. Not bad i guess.

Busy

2010-01-13T18:03:00.002+08:00

Went for my first practical driving lesson on Saturday! Was there about 20 minutes early and was damm shocked to find Soomin there. She was accompanying her uncle who was also taking lessons.

Luckily, my uncle, who works as a senior instructor at the driving school, helped me to find the car that i was assigned too.

My instructor was a small sized malay man named raj or haj or something. He went through with me all the basics of car operation. Including stupid things like wearing your seatbelt and look for cars before opeining the door. Of course he also went through things like how to drive/steer and stay on lane. After about 45 minutes of explanation, it was finally my turn at the wheel.

At first I was not used to the sensitivity of the pedals and braked and accelerated damm hard. It really requires you to be damm soft and slight. A slight depression of the brake will stop the car really hard. If i were to give a number to it, you will probably only need 5% depression to smoothly stop the car from a low speed (below 20km/h).

Once I got the hang of it, I think I drove quite well. Haj even asked me to learn manual cause auto would probably be too easy. Then I gave him some crap reason like no time and not practical. Which actually isn't crap la.... -.-

Slip ups:

-When doing a sharp turn I accidently went to switch on the wiper. Naturally I panicked and went off course. Luckily it was just a little bit, was able to return after that.

-Not my fault, but some idiot from the oncoming lane veered off course and almost crashed into me head-on. luckily my instuctor helped to steer me away.

It was a good result for my first practical lesson and very fun. Can't wait for my next, but earliest basic theory test is 4th of Feb which means I can't do anything till then. Darn...

-----------------------------------

School started on Monday. Damm crazy everyday ends at at least 5:30, to which poly students will probably laugh at. earliest is Friday ends at 3:30. But then again its CCA day which will probably take till 7:00.

Monday was also the first time in my life that i really mugged. Sat down for 5 hours straight to complete my GP homework. Finished a months work in a night. I think I'm superhuman.

Oh ya pool competition at Snooker Zone this Sunday. Teck will be joining too. Wish me luck:)

Okay time to go chiong econs homework.

Chapter One

2010-01-08T01:15:00.003+08:00

Gonna go for my first practical driving lesson on Saturday. Heard that the first lesson is always the scariest. But kenneth said I'll be a good driver. Plus I'm learning auto so shouldn't be a problem. Getting really excited with all the small boy feelings of driving.

Discussed this point with Darren before, but time seems to flow faster the more you age. i think theres more to it than that. Following the symmetry of life, perception of time should accelerate now and then slow down again when you're old.

The future is scary.

Thousand year chinese wisdom.

话不能说竟
事不能做竟
凡事太竟
缘分早竟

Maybe the words are wrong... But it reads correctly.

I think.

happy new year

2010-01-04T02:54:00.002+08:00

Can't believe its 2010. Feels like just yesterday i was in Pri 3. That was TEN years ago?!?!

2010's gonna be a good year. A new Dawn. Life : second attempt.

Time for some new year resolutions. Which never work.

-Get driving license
-Do well enough to get into NUS
-Get a Jump/break cue
-Enhance mathematical knowledge (onwards to 21st century abstraction!)
-Play and complete;
Final Fantasy XIII , XII, X-2
God of war 3
Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver
All Kingdom Hearts Games
.......

Actually, i think I'll fulfill most of them...

Christmas!!

2009-12-24T13:57:00.002+08:00

Just returned home from my Batam trip! Trip was moderately fun. The things there are really really cheap. I bought two shirts for S$3 each, damm should have spammed more.. Went for some sea sports also. Jet ski, banana boat, swimming, kayaking..

Been studying with cass's study group at school. Starts at 8 a.m. I'm dam proud of meself.

I might upload the pictures soon. Merry christmas eve!

HOLIDAYS

2009-12-04T21:30:00.002+08:00

WOOHOO holidays are here! Actually I'm not that excited. Seems to me like there're not many activities this holiday. No overseas trip. No class chalet. No planned parties. Theres absolutely nothing to do except play pool and video games. Which I already do during school days. Boring!

Okay actually theres something to do which is to get a driving license! Hope i can get it before the next June hols.

Went to play snooker with champion teck at home just now. He's too zhun already. Long shot pot like no mother business. Lost 2-3. And after that we went to play pool, teamed up to play scotch doubles with two idiots and thrashed the hell out of them. Whch was expected. We are the TPA. Anyway halfway when we were playing a group of damm chio girls strutted in to play pool. Damm distracting. How come such things never happened in the old days?

Hmm.. what else is there to say. Nothing.. Just bought another wii motionplus. So that means that you can play multiplayer wii at my house. Bet some yellow fruit will be excited.

Okay enjoy the peace.... woooo....

idiotic.

Post promos

2009-11-18T23:25:00.003+08:00

Stupid school holidays still have to go back. Got cca somemore.

One of my classmates who's a trained singer is leaving the class. Bringing the female count to a saddening 3 out of 17.. Jokes aside, she's quite a good friend so I'll miss her.

On a brighter note, been learning how to play the piano recently! Still can't read notes fast enough to play them real time. Always have to memorize a few notes and play from memory. Damm suckish i know. But I can play silent night okay!! double handed somemore! Just in time for christmas next month XD

I remember there was a girl in secondary 2 who said that I'll never be able to play:)

I kinda miss her and wonder what she's doing now...

Started on Kingdom Hearts 1 recently, can't help it theres way too many KH games coming out and I'm a huge fan of Square's Rpg's so i must know all the stories!!!! Going to complete it soon and start on KH2. I think my KH skills are godly. No heartless can stop me!!!!

It a bit hard to believe that a year has passed since entering j1, and that its been 2 years since my fight with cancer.

It seems almost unreal now, typing these words out, it all seems like a dream. Reflecting now, I think I've been a bad patient and student. Always not taking care of my health the way i should and not studying. But everything always turns out fairly well in the end for me. Maybe I'm just lucky, or I create my own luck. Its hard to know for sure.

Been emoing and reflecting a lot recently. Went back to where i used to live from 2 to about 5 years old, and there were many memories and a tear. Places disappeared, friends lost and emotions forgotten.

And the beautifully heart stringing song that is probably playing now is "KIMI GA IRU KARA" which i have no idea what it means. Its the theme song for final fantasy 13, and i currently think its the best song in the world.

Talking bout ff13 I'm absolutely drooling. Release date is march next year. I CAN'T WAIT XD!

results

2009-11-01T22:21:00.003+08:00

LOL got third in class with rank points of 63/80

not too bad for someone who goes to school less than going to a pool parlour.

and i beat hitlary twice

5-0 &
5-1

yupp i know.. too good... Nah actually he was on terrible form.

But a win's a win.

Tomorrow A level chinese. Die

Okay time to go memorize all the useful phrases.

post promos

2009-10-14T18:21:00.003+08:00

The promos are over! Did dreadfully for chemistry and physics. Gonna fail chem i think... So far only got back one paper which is chinese... And guess what? I seconded the class muahahahahah.. Its really stupid cause anyone who knows me knows my chinese sucks. Its really all luck, MCQ tyco right LOL. Hope karma doesn't strike me back.

Gran turismo is finally out on the PSP, and its an amazing game, the reality is simply unmatched. I mean there're like 700 cars from real life manufacturers and all of them handle lifelikely, plus polyphony even went to record the whur of each car.. So psp owners, make sure to check this out. For people with custom firmwares, drop a tag if you need help on getting the iso to work. I know a good source ;)

School's boring as ever now that promo's over, PW and Chinese are in full force.. Boring! And the class seems to be getting fonder of me.. surprise surprise///

Exams and pool

2009-10-04T00:15:00.002+08:00

One year in college really passes very fast. Promos are here already. Die liao X.X

I'm just kidding I think i did quite well. Especially for the maths paper.. Actually, only for the maths paper haha... the rest can pass and can get promoted. Thats most important... Next year then come and chiong. But i think even so, with all modesty, I'll still thrash many people in the class -.-

Self confidence is good. Especially yesterday, played pool quite well at fusion. I know its right in the middle of exams but. Still need to train right? I'm a pool player.

Okay going to play my just-downloaded "Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 days" on nintendo DS. Looks bloody awesome!!!

AHHH

2009-09-09T01:37:00.004+08:00

Okay spent a lot of money today buying a new set of headphones... The mighty Audio-Technica ATH-A700. Sounds really good and clear, although its all bout personal preference.

Read 125 pages of the econs textbook yesterday... Supposed to read the remaining 125 pages today BUT..

Went to hospital and went shopping... Came back at 8 plus. been listening to songs nonstop since getting home..

Feeling a little unwell since the treatment today so I'll skip school tomorrow :(

Tinkerchel!!!

2009-08-29T01:38:00.003+08:00

Fucking best cosplayer ever!!!

I think some of you would know her already. Her voice is also fantastic. Sounds BETTER than the original XD can't stand it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY54_JEeAaM&feature=related

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG6Gikqpk-I&NR=1

Its good to know there're cute girls who have nothing better to do..

H1N1 !!!

2009-08-27T17:29:00.000+08:00

Wah really got H1N1.. Lol bad mouth. Stayed in KK for 3 days damm unbearable. released on Monday. Got a 13 day MC.

Dissidia is out! Must have for Final Fantasy Fans. It has been a long time since the PSP had a top quality game like this. Last one was Crisis Core and God of war from more than a year ago. Completed both in the hospital XD.

Schools really bad. Missed i think like 20 days of school this term. Promos die already. And theres chem SPA make up soon...

Bored

2009-08-20T23:30:00.001+08:00

Been missing a hell lot of school recently. Down with bad flu. Maybe its H1N1.

Also doing a lot of mathematics lately. Contour integration, Fourier series/transforms, Laplace transforms, hypergeometric series. Can't help it H2 mathematics is really too boring.

Also came up with a new theorem, but bet someone was there already.

My favourite Linkin park song is new divide.

Chester Bennington's voice is too good.

Strange

2009-08-03T20:28:00.001+08:00

I always thought that i was overconfident. But for the past two days, i was defeated by the lack of it. For pool and physics. Fear of losing. I guess if you really want to achieve in life you just have to do it without considerations.

bowler, hustler and mathematician

2009-08-01T15:25:00.000+08:00

yesterday bowled a terrific game of 190 points. Could ave gotten 200+ but got distracted by the slow girl playing beside me.

Just downloaded the lastest version of Mathematica. Combined with my new Intel Core 2 quad PC. Calculated pi to a million digits in like less than 7 seconds damm cool.. The same feat was acomplished in 1973 using a GDC7600 supercomputer which took more than 30 hours. Shows how fast technology is increasing. Just can't imagine what he would come up with if Euler or Gauss had access to all this tech.

Here are the first few hundred or so digits.

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781\
6406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231\
7253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109\
7566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664\
8213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364\
3678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919\
5309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575

Okay gtg study. But I'm already too good.

Brilliance

2009-07-17T01:06:00.003+08:00

"You don't study for a test, you just do it" -TPA destructor level inf

Junior College

2009-07-04T15:55:00.003+08:00

Woohoo got 2nd in class. Rank points of 61/80. Totally didn't deserve it cause i didn't study. Just ask kenneth, everyday play pool one.

Yesterday went to check out my attendance records on the school's e-learning portal. I was absent for a total of 20+ days last term!!!! last term only had like 60 or so days btw. And still can get AAE/S. I think SR's MYE standard is really really really low. But then again there are people who did far worse... Don't know what they're doing la. Maybe they should play some pool.

Still too lazy to post the perhentian island pictures.. Which is like a month ago already.. One of these days I'll do it.

For the pool player who doesn't know how to sing a Jay chou song.

Lyrics are here but nobody really cares cause he's mumbling anyway.

冷咖啡離開了杯墊
我忍住的情緒在很後面
拼命想挽回的從前
在我臉上依舊清晰可見

最美的不是下雨天
是曾與你躲過雨的屋檐(oh~~)
回憶的畫面
在蕩著秋千夢開始不甜

你說把愛漸漸放下會走更遠
又何必去改變你說過的誓言
你用你的指尖指示我說再見
想象你在身邊在完全失去之前

你說把愛漸漸放下會走更遠
或許命運的簽只讓我們遇見
只讓我們相戀這一季的秋天
飄落後才發現這幸福的碎片
要我怎麼撿

Good luck XD

fed up

2009-06-16T01:25:00.002+08:00

Long anger post...

I most hate people who think or consider too much before doing something. They make sure every shit little thing that can be taken care of is taken care of before they do something. They call it responsibility, but in fact they are just being cowards. These are the people who think before every move and don't like to take their chances. Most of the time, these people are highly educated.

Maybe it is because these people have too many things. The more you have, the more you want to safeguard what you have, and the more ham ci you become. What I cannot tolerate is their inherent fussiness. They have to make sure that every spot on the chair, table, plate, utensil is wiped before sitting down to have a meal.

So I don't care about anything or anyone before I do something. Irresponsible? I'm just not afraid to do what I like whenever I like. Regardless of what other people think, your world has only one person in it. Yourself. You only live your life once, entrapped in the shell that you call yourself. As a conscoius being, thats all that matters. All other things outside are external stimuli that is not you, and that you can't feel no matter how hard you try.

The people that i hate most, think about all the external stuff that is not related to them, take care of all external stimuli which is really not needed at all, and spend a lot of time on bullshit. In this life, you are only responsible to one person, and that is yourself. In a more philosophical question, how do you even if these external stimuli are real, for all you know we are living in the matrix and in the end you end up worrying about something that really doesn't exist.

Even if it does exist, life is too short to be bothered by minor details. Which is why whenever i feel like doing something fun or i feel that i want to do, i will do it regardless of any opposition or concerns. Problems will always be there, why solve them today when you can relax first and solve them tomorrow? The most important thing in life is to have fun.

Every time happiness is forfeited for worries and concerns, it means one less moment of happiness in your life. How many people can carelessly skip schoolwork to play a video game, scold the unreasonable teacher "fuck you" or walk into a poolroom betting 5 dollars on every pool game with hustlers and end up losing $100+ in a single night at the age of 17? It is easy to follow rules, but true joy and the meaning of life comes from breaking them.

It is risk taking and adventure seeking that brings about exciting and surprising moments in life. Ten years from now, you are not going to remember fondly how you cared about everyone when planning for a party, or how you did all of your homework during the holidays. More likely, you will remember , with laughter, how you stole your parents money and got discovered. A life with everything well thought out of and planned is just not as invigorating, fun and interesting as an unexpected one.

Do what you want to do, whenever you want to do, because it might be the last chance you have. And don't ever look back, don't ever regret because it was fun. Life has not many ten years, the most important thing is to be carefree.

Pooling with class...

2009-05-29T00:51:00.004+08:00

Okay went to watch night at the museum 2 with class. Then went to play pool. Pics are on facebook, but i'll post them here anyway.

I look noob. Perfect hustling skills.

Another dunno-how-to-rack racker... Hahaha.. Then after she tried for a while i got it and racked it in half a millisecond. Too good.

Members of the TPA what style is this? Closed bridge, never bend low and aim low.

Proper follow through! Haha i look cool in this picture. And behind me the semi cute girl is Cassandra with a impressed but dun want to admit it look.

Classic example of "i can shoot better with a rest cause i dunno how to bridge" mentality.

Erm... Pool is meant to be cool.Try harder =X

EXAM

2009-05-18T19:53:00.006+08:00

Walau 3/2 years never had an examination already. almost forgot how it feels like. Okay la not as tense as playing pool for 10 bucks a game. I think its more pressure to do well then nervousness.

So ya had first paper today. MT and GP. Mt was easy. GP was easier. Topic was on porn. If all goes well should be able to score. Tomorrow is econs. No shit just be confident.

Realized that its been a super long time since i did any maths on this blog.

A simple result from graph theory states that given any non self-intersecting graph (not the y=f(x) graph, another kind of graph which has vertices, lines and nodes),

nodes + regions = lines + 2

This is basically a sort of graph. It has 6 nodes, 7 lines and 3 regions (2 insides and 1 outside)

Since nodes + regions = lines + 2
We have 6 + 3 = 7 + 2

Thus the formula is correct in this case.

It is not difficult to prove, by mathematical induction, that this formula always works for any graph you can draw.

Hint: let nodes be the variable and prove Pn for 1 node, then prove that for n=k nodes, the formula also holds for n=k+1 nodes.

Defeat

2009-04-25T15:50:00.001+08:00

....

sick....

2009-04-14T17:49:00.002+08:00

Don't know whats up recently. Keep getting sick. Haven't been to school for two days already. Last week also missed two days... Fuck how to catch up... Haiz nevermind, I'm smart :)

Damm tyco man

2009-04-06T19:29:00.001+08:00

Somehow, i feel really lucky these days. First I got top in class, then i beat two uncles and won ten bucks at icez and now i'm one of the four who passed chinese in the class, out of 18. Schools been really good, just damm tiring. But its okay cause its not important.

Masterful

2009-03-26T22:06:00.002+08:00

Okay so I've been toping the class for all my subjects. Don't ask me how i why i have not put in any effort. So its just luck.

But you know.. tests aced on luck feel twice as good as tests aced on hard work.

And real men make their own luck.

So good luck this Sunday master, and pawn them all.

Middle of hectic schedule

2009-03-24T23:26:00.001+08:00

Really busy. But dun care still going to go eat with darren and soomin. Must stick to my principles and still have a life. Oh yeah and wish me luck this sunday at icez. Oh well i got one less subject to worry about anyway :)

The Greatest Hustle of all Time

2009-03-20T02:48:00.002+08:00

Too good man..

holiday

2009-03-14T18:20:00.002+08:00

woohoo..

"All of you failed this essay. Except one. The person is..... Weizhou" -GP teacher.

hahahahaha too good to be true.

But still its a subpass LOL....

But i guess for the first try its good.

Well done Tian keep up the good work and be student of the year!

Nothing much to write. Holidays here, gonna learn more programming on my ti-84. Its really fun... Besides if you've been forced to get one, why not make the best of it :)

Haha just dug out a poem i wrote from like 509237 years ago:

Untitled

I stayed back in school today
Under the cover of the TPA
To watch you from afar
Like a distant star

Something in your eyes tell me
That you want me to flee
To Safra maybe
Or to home
And leave you alone
But i could not

As the students of the last bell leave
I pack my bag to go
And all that is left
Is a heartbroken master
and a girl who doesn't know
or care

Buses do not wait for people
I returned home slightly late that night
All because i was wondering
How to set things between us right
Though i know they'll never be

Every close friend has asked me
what i see in thee
I tell them she's pretty
They tell me i am blind

Love is blind.
Her eyes are beautiful because they had seen my world
Her hair is beautiful because they have touched my shoulders
And her lips are beautiful as they have once shared my joy
And my heart is always hers
A willing prisoner of a captive spirit

-end-

Emo right.. yupp i know too...

Who can guess who's the girl lol.

MASTER

2009-03-07T00:15:00.002+08:00

Okay so what have i been doing...

1) Learnt how to write programs on my calculator ( I wrote a binomial expander and series summer program anyone want?)
2) Learnt how to bowl properly
3) Learnt how to use my new viking
4) Won my first victory in a pool tournament yesterday

Okay busy must complete all my work now so i can use Sunday for pool!

Life's great:)

WTF?!?!

2009-02-22T09:27:00.002+08:00

WTF?! Its Sunday again!

Okay lets see... Last Sunday had an awesome party at home, got guitar hero (with 2 guitars). Really addictive game to play but sadly i don't have the time to play it.

Okay then after that was school.. Wednesday got bowling trials.. Bowled like 140 best of the J1's immediately got chosen to go back on Friday XD.

Okay then Friday.. The maths lecturer made a mistake in lecture.. Corrected him after that, he was very nice and thanked me courteously. Love it when teachers are courteous instead of the usual sarcastic and evil exposition.

Kay then Friday got my first official bowling training. Learned all the basicky stuff like stance and movement.. After that went to tpy central with darren to eat and hang out with YH and Weng Fung and PSP spoiler.

And I'm down with a bad cough... coughed 10345378 times yesterday night. kidding but its really bad.

And thats it! That all I've done for the week?!?!? Where did my free time go man.. Cannot must find them back today. But shit i still have chem and gp homework =X

Crazy.

Masterous

2009-02-15T02:48:00.002+08:00

In life, I always strive for perfection no matter what I decide to do. I worked hard in the things I believe, not to be the best, but to be the best that I can be.

I always tried to be nicer, to be more desirable, more confident, more engaging. I never knew what was wrong with the old weizhou, only that people didn't like him. I tried, and still try my best to change. But maybe even after a year's brush with death, weizhou hasn't changed at all.

Perhaps master will never change, but definitely to a certain extent, he has matured and grown.

Don't judge me if you don't know me.

On a lighter note, I am super excited about the party tomorrow. My deepest thanks to Ivan and Janet, who made this event possible.

ahhh no its 3a.m. gotta get some sleep!!

HEctic

2009-02-08T22:21:00.003+08:00

School's already started for a week...

School, not bad thus far. Haven't really made any new friends, all still considered acquaintances (my god never knew this word was so hard to spell)... But i got to learn a few things like the cover-up method lol... Very cool... And i got to dance with a reallllyyyyyyy cute girl. Super cute. I am officially infatuated with her.

Been feeling really tired though, not sure if its because my health's still not 100% yet or that i'm just not use to the pacing of school life.. After all, i spent one year slacking and sleeping. But woah jc life really passes damn fast.. i mean the weekend is like wtf that Was the weekend?!?!?! And i haven even played pool yet!

Yeah and the gp homework is to read the straits times from friday onwards... Hope they dun give any kind of test on it cause i totally didn't read...

Okay went to the botanical gardens today with my cousins...

The misty and cool path to nowhere...

Inside the misty path :)

alright la... had fun and also went to eat yu sheng with the whole maternal side....nice closure for CNY i guess... Sian I am having flu and tomorrow got school. And its not like I can skip it cause its fun and games... I mean if it was like lectures i would have skipped it right away... Darn :(

SCHOOL!

2009-02-04T19:40:00.001+08:00

third day of school damn tired to blog. shall update this weekend.

"Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes." - Shakespeare; R&J

Lost

2009-01-19T03:52:00.003+08:00

I'm starting to get sick of my deteriorating pool skills. Sure, i can break and run out more often now, but somehow, I'm losing the feel and confidence of my younger days. Perhaps its the year long cancer break, or maybe pool is a young man's game. But I'm afraid right now, I'm no longer a master.

Today i got beaten at icez pool by someone who was lousier than me. Giving your opponent to win 3 racks in a row to win the match when you're on the hill stings like a bitch. But more importantly, I'm gravely upset by the fact that I do not have the confidence to win even someone who doesn't really know the game well. I think I'm becoming too trained, too cautious, too scared of losing.

Well like theres only one thing left for me to do now, train, go back in a month, and thrash the fuck outta him.

My name is Joey

2009-01-17T18:43:00.004+08:00

Went to Icez pool at Kovan on Wednesday to meet up with soomin and darren to play a bit of pool. No actually my main reason was to sign up for the pool competition that is going to be held tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Part of me actually wants to go to SJC cause a lot of my friends are there and its near my house, not to mention near the bowling and pool centre too. If i go to SR i think i would have a comfortable time. Not neccesarily a good time, but a comfortable one.

For the most part though, i want to go to CJC. Change of environment, get to know some new people, get a new life. Sick of the old life, sick of the old Weizhou, tired of Darren and SM.. No hard feelings here, just a thought that distance would make us better friends.

A fresh start, a new beginning, a better life.

Please call me Joey from now on.

new year

2009-01-13T15:17:00.002+08:00

Its been two weeks since new year already so i know this is late.

reflections:

2008. What more can i say, I was in and out of hospital, suffered under chemotherapy, operations, injections, but amidst all the suffering and pain I could still be happy at times, because of the people who supported and stayed beside me, and i thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Now I have officially finished chemotherapy treatment, done the last lumbar puncture last Thursday. Hopefully after all that is done, I can win this battle. With cancer however, nothing is sure, but I am glad that I will have a chance to step foot in college next month. Thank you professor Tan at KK for bearing, and treating me.

Looking back, I'm really surprised at how brave I am. The bravest experience was when they cut open my chest to insert a port into my chest that connects to the heart. It was all done when I was awake okay! I could feel the surgeon cutting open my chest and the tube going deeper and deeper till it reached my heart, which was like beating at lightspeed! It wasn't really painful, but it was bloody and traumatizing. Okay just kidding it wasn't, actually at that time, i even found it quite an interesting experience.

Then came chemo. Which was unbearable. Many people ask me what it feels like.. I used to say it was undescribable, but i found a nice analogy. If you have ever sat in one of those sampans, and got seasick, multiply that by about 4, plus the worst headache you have ever felt, multiply that by 10, and then play golf for 2 days nonstop, that would roughly be it.. There was even a point where you could feel you brain ratllling inside your head due to the lack of cerebrospinal fluid.

Of course in 2008 i learnt how to cook too, play pool better, and advanced my mathematical knowledge a little... I got closer to some friends, distanced from most, and played a hell lot of games.

2008 i saw how strong i was, how nice some people can be, how mean other people can be. It was not a good year for sure, but nonetheless it had its rewards, more of like lessons actually.

My new year resolutions.

To be happy.
To get into cjc.
To play pool every week.
To master abstract algebra.
To slim down 10kg.
To learn how to cook sambal kangkong.
To complete all my rpg's
To learn driving.
Not to let JC work take over my life like many other people.
To expand the TPA
To be a master.

hahahaha

One more year to grow, to mature, to reach out to the stars and chase our dreams.

Aftermathe

2008-12-29T17:22:00.002+08:00

Christmas is over. Thanks to everyone who came. I hope you had a good time.

Finally completed the game the legend of Zelda : twilight princess after 60 hours of gameplay.
Fantastic game even though its a gamecube port. rating : 9.5/10

I realized it has been a very long time since i did some proper maths... Today lets talk about one of the most important aspects of modern mathematics, and indeed all of mathematics, isomorphism.

The concept of isomorphism is simple. When we add up 30 oranges with 20 oranges, we do not really add up all the oranges, rather we assign the number 20 to the 20 oranges and the number 30 to the 30 oranges and add up 20 and 30 to get 50 and thus our result would be 50 oranges.

It applies internally in mathematics as well.

consider the pair of numbers (x,y)

where x is the integers (mod 2), and
where y is the integers (mod 3).

if we list out all (x,y), they will look like this.

(0,0)

(1,1)

(0,2)

(1,0)

(0,1)

(1,2) ............. and so on.

notice that the elements repeat themselves after the sixth one.

If we assign each element to a number like this, where the right hand side is the integers (mod 6),

(0,0) -> 0

(1,1) -> 1

(0,2) -> 2

(1,0) -> 3

(0,1) -> 4

(1,2) -> 5

then something fun happens. Realize that if we add the sixth element (1,2) and the fourth element (1,0) we would get (2,2) but 2 (mod 2) is simply 0. s0 (1,2)+(1,0)=(0,2)

note that (1,2) is assigned to 5 and (1,0) is assigned to 3. If we know that the two columms are isomorphic, we can just add 3 to 5 to get 8, which is simply 2 under mod 6. and the element assigned to 2 is just the answer, (0,2).

Using the concept of isomorphism, areas of mathematics that are new can be "mapped" into areas of mathematics that are well known and mathematicians can use all the developed tools of this familiar area of mathematics to attack the new ones.

Think about geometry and algebra, in algebra it is a fairly tedious thing to solve a cubic equation, however if we port the problem over to geometry, we can find the roots simply by plotting the graph of the cubic and measuring the distance from the origin. Admittedly when we draw it the answer is never perfect, but in the ideal world of mathematics, that distance is exactly the root.

Retrospect

2008-12-23T00:41:00.004+08:00

KK this christmas thursday at my house. 3pm onwards.

Present exchanging ceremony
1) 10 bucks and above
2) cannot be something that can be eaten
3) cannot be a book.. magazine.. etc..
4) cannot be a decoration item

haha i think it'll be fun

Damm i was watching this video of me playing pool bout two years ago... Din realise i was so cool back then. and shuai also k.

Mathematique

2008-12-20T03:27:00.000+08:00

Running out of blog content. I assure you that I'll have something to write about by this weekend..

For the time being, I've decided to try my hand at poem writing.. Seems like a good idea cause Shermin always does it and I am a literature student after all :)

And i decided that the theme shall be mathematics since its challenging..

History of mathematics (part I)

Early thinkers seemed to know
that two from two would make zero
regardless of what they were

They used this knowledge to run their fields
To keep track of what was in the mill
They realized it was a useful skill
To know the numbers from nil

Then came the famous brotherhood
Who said that all numbers were good
But when they found irrationality
They threw a member into the sea

This anti-number number
Made all of them astounded
It destroyed the simple ideals
In which the sect was founded.

The world thus turned from number
Afraid of the irrational monster
And a thousand years thereafter
there were to be no maths on paper

Instead they focused all their minds
On points and squares, circles and lines
And it all seemed to work just fine
Till people started to repine

Then came descartes' x and y's
That linked numbers with points and lines
And showed all of the other guys
That Algebra is Geometry

Thus from then they knew the world
Was simply never rational
And any form of b/c
Is simply not to be

But that was only the beginning
Theorems and formulas were awaiting
For mathematicians to spend the evening
To discover, and to invent

Fine fine i know my poem lacks emotion and atmosphere. So what its factual (I hope)
and simple and easy to understand. I will continue this part I... better write it down..

To be continued.....

Xmas

2008-12-15T15:54:00.004+08:00

Friday:

Teck Siang was supposed to come to HQ to play pool. In the end never come. So I stayed at home and watched tv and played pool the whole day.

Saturday:

Kenneth came over and played Zelda again. Very fun. Collected all the tears and gained a new suit. Also defeated a water bug with the help of a walkthrough. People who snigger at this have never played zelda before. After that about 8 went to pool fusion to play pool with daniel and kenneth. Played until like 5am..

Total bill : $73
Each pax pays : ~$24
Total games of nine ball played : 80+

Crazy pool night.

Sunday(which was yesterday)

Went to the esplanade with sm darren and daniel and yunhui to watch some chinese orchestra concert which sucked.
Lack of impact, lack of harmony and lack of memorable pieces. Anyway i took a cab there in order not to be late, but in the end they came like half and hour late and didn't even bother to call me when they reached, which pissed me off a lot.

Daniel kept refusing to pay me the six bucks he owed me and was very sore bout losing to me the night before, calling it beginners luck and that he could thrash me and stuff. I would love to see him beat me someday in pool, but the day is not today.

Afterwards they decided to go watch twilight which i refused. And i didn't want to waste my money and time watching a movie which i knew wouldn't interest me, pluss i was feeling pissed, so i deserted them and called my cousin out to watch the movie TDTESS, which was nice. Keanu Reaves is dam cool.

But it was quite an unhappy day for me.

Face it Daniel, you can't beat me yet.

Fun

2008-12-03T17:20:00.003+08:00

Decided to do something on Shermin's blog cause must make up for the long absence.

Rules:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

* Turn to page 57.

* Find the fifth sentence.

* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall, and post your sentence in a comment here as well. Include the title of book and author.

"4.24. When a,b,c are elements of Z, prove a*(b - c) = a*b - a*c."

Abstract Algebra - Lloyd R. Jaisingh, Ph.D. & Frank Ayres, JR., Ph.D.

-.-'' Lemme try another book..

"Hey- he licked me!" Kermit exclaimed. "I think he licked me."

Goosebumps-Monster Blood IV
R.L. Stine

Lol...