TGIS (thank god its saturday)

righto,

i've been kinda on hiatus for a fortnight. Its been quite a torrid couple of weeks. Righto, here's a lil insight into what i've had to do so far:

-catch up on three weeks of lectures in one week
-finish all the necessary paperwork for the admin office in one afternoon
-run around campus looking for my mentor
-run from bookstore to bookstore, buying books
-going to the immigration department to geta student's pass
-buy a laptop

all in one week.........

its been bloody hectic and at the moment, i'm just thankful to be able to spend a whole saturday alone in my room, without having to venture out until night for some merdeka dinner thing the student council is organising for the malaysian students (i hear they serve good food).

A few dents here and there with my uni plans so far. I planned to join the football team here, but apparently, you gotta train thrice a week for a few hours and you have to have a lot of free time which i don't.

The system here is pretty simple really.Lecture notes are posted online a day or two before the lecture(sometimes even a month before the lecture) and you're expected to use them as guidelines to prepare for the actual lecture.

A day or two after the lecture, we have tutorials, basically a question and answer session with the lecturer about last week's lecture.

one thing i absolutely hate about this place is....

everything is so damn far apart! I mean, lets say you want to go grocery shopping, you've got to travel for at least half an hour if u want to leave the campus or about an hour is you do it within the campus(inevitably you've got to walk for like 2 km cause the shuttle bus service is freaking irregular on weekends..the only time you have to go shopping at leisure).

The biggest headache is getting to classes. The first week was baaaaaad. The whole freaking place is like a maze. And you're expected to find your lecture hall, tucked away in some smal corner af some building in another corner of the campus...which is inevitably about a mile from your rooms....within 10 miinutes( time we get in between lectures to walk should our timetable be screwed up with two lectures in a row).

Right, i'm feeling lazy at the moment, so i'm just gonna stop here..to the peeps back home "HAPPY MERDEKA!" and to the PE1 peeps whom are flying off to the UK in september.....good luck and have a safe flight.

cheers mates!

I'm Touched

My 13 year old kid-sis made me this.............and she spent 3 days coming up with the idea, getting thread and making it.

I'm touched.........its a man utd key chain, MADE FROM SCRATCH!!


Cheers Mates!!

Hectic days

Got a call on monday:

Person on the other end: Good morning. I'm Miss Ong from the Office of Admissions here at the Nanyang Technological University. Are you Yuraman Visnathan(people generally have difficulty pronouncing my name, Yuvaraman Viswanathan, at first, hence i make it simple and just introduce myself as Yuva, and never bother with my full name as people forget it anyway)

Me: Yeah.

Miss Ong: Ok. You have been granted admission into NTU this year, into the Mechanical Engineering degree course, which is a four year course. Due to your A-Level results being released later than the date of commencement of semester, your admission too will be late this year. We urge you to come to Singapore within the next 2 days to settle all the necessary administrative work, so that you can begin your classes on the 20th of August 2007, which is next Monday.

Me: I can be there tomorrow.

Miss Ong: Ok, i'll be in the office from 8.30am till 5.30pm. Drop by anytime then. You too are required to complete a medical check-up here. Please bring extra money, required for the medical. Thank you

*she cuts the phone call. Obviously trying to cut international call rates*

Ok. Good news it is. Very good news in fact, here's why......

You see, i didn't bother applying to the UK or the US knowing fully i couldn't afford it as Dad is saving those funds for my post-graduate studies later on. So, i had 3 options really:

1) Indian Institute of Technology, IIT(India)
2) off to Germany in March
3) Nanyang Tech (Singapore)

IIT was out waay back in February. They didn't want A-Level results. "We do not accept A-Levels sir. We have our own entrance examination fro which you must sit" was the reply i got when i called them up. Ok, that entrace exam is called the IIT-JEE (Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination). The problem with this is the fact that it happens to be one of the world's toughest examinations for which ever nerd, no make that super-nerd, in India prepares for 3 years, spending hell a lot on tutorial classes just in preparation for this exam. To combat students just cramming for it, the format and subject matter is changed EVERY year. And you gotta get a minimum of 85%-88% to even stand a chance of getting into a course....not even a course of YOUR choice( you need 95% and above to get that privilage). This is due to the fact that you're competing with literally MILLIONS of aforementioned super-nerds for a few thousand seats. Yeah, so i gave up.

Germany, a viable option. But, i needed to take an 8 month german language course and needed to sit for a language test. Its too long a wait, but i decided to keep that option open until i get word from Singapore about my application status there.

Ok, so i then threw in an extra shirt into my backpack and took a 12.30pm Transnasional from Pudu to Singapore. I tell you this. If you are a girl , NEVER take a bus from Pudu at night. Honestly, its one of the shadiest places i've been in at night apart from Masjid Jamek.

Anyway, reached Beach Road at around 6.30am and took the MRT to Mustaffa's, which happened to be the only money changer whom is open 24-7. Honestly, i love going to Singapore for one thing. Its damn-hell easy to move around using the public transport. Ok, the system is kind of complicated, with loads of different lines, but the maps the stations hand out is bloody useful. And, unlike here where you have to be used to using the buses or you'll get lost if you take one, there, they have specific places at the MRT stations where you queue up if you want to catch a bus to a specific place. NTU happened to have 2 bus lines of its own, running throughout the campus, and connecting it to the city.

I did my admin work,opened a bank account and went chocolate shopping, before catching a bus home....all within the same day. If i tried the same thing in KL, travelling alone would have taken up most of my time. Was home by 12.30am...dad picked me up from Pudu. The whole trip kinda zapped me. Was dead to the world until 11am.


Neways, people, i'm going back on friday night by train from Sentral. Weekend in NTU, just to catch up on what i missed, and to join their football and tennis teams..each residence hall has one. I'll get extra credits that way.

Righto, to the peeps in PE1, i'll come for a weekend in September to meet up with you people before all the UK and US guys fly off. And do feel free to visit me in Singapore, here's my address:

Hall 9
24, Nanyang Avenue
Singapore 639811

Just take the MRT to Boon Lay station and take the bus number 179 or 199, and get down at the Hall 9 bus stop, yeah, every hall has its on bus stop.

PS: Will post my new singapore phone number here or on Friendster and will email it to you peeps soon.

Cheers Mates!

Had a surprisingly good weekend.

Now, weekends at my home is family time. Its the only day of the week dad's not at his workplace, so we always go out on Saturday, usually for dinner.

Now, my neighbors and i maintain a strong relationship, but there is one issue we can never agree on....food. We have to date tried out 5 restaurants on their recommendation.......and for the sake of politeness i will just say.....they were all disappointing, so no surprise when i was apprehensive when mom suggested we look into one more recommended place by them this saturday (yesterday), the Colmar Tropicale at Bukit Tinggi. They said the food was good there, and its only an hour's drive from K.L.

Ok....on the matter of food, i'm a little fussy. I'm a down right miser (mom said so), and i rarely spend on anything apart from transportation, books (preferably second hand, why waste more cash on the same thing from MPH or Borders?), sports equipment and rental costs for badminton, tennis and futsal courts. But, i seriously don't mind spending on food ....provided its good. Ok, i cringe at the fact that i have to shell out 4 bucks or so on a mamak's meal......its money wasted in my opinion for the fact that me being indian, i get the same stuff at home, and its better. I would rather fork out 6 or 10 bucks more and have a meal i can't have at home which i would really enjoy, hence the reason i only eat out about twice a week when i was at Taylor's, prefering to wait till 2 to get home by 3pm for a good lunch.

OK, lets get back on the subject of this recommended place. I looked it up on the net and Berjaya gave this description of the place:




Like a picture postcard come alive at your doorstep, Colmar Tropicale, located in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang, is a replica of a collection of buildings from a northeastern village in France dating back to the 16th Century. Accessible via the picturesque Karak Highway, the resort is only 40 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, and the latest addition to Bukit Tinggi Resort, a renowned multicultural resort destination. Surrounded by lush tropical forest land, the 260 units of hotel rooms and one to six-bedroom suites are made up of eight blocks of architectural wonder, each with its unique style, from its colorful roof tiles to cobblestone ground.

The accommodation is an artful combination of old style decor in warm pastel colors matched with modern amenities designed for maximum comfort. There are eight choices of dining outlets serving various specialties. Haute French cuisine is served at La Cigogne, a hodge podge of culinary delights at Le Cafe Coffee House, exotic cocktails and assorted beverages at the Le Blason Lounge, cool refreshments and snacks at Les-Bains-Douches Poolside, home made pastries at La Flamme Sidewalk Deli, sandwiches and various blends of coffee at La Terrace, mouthwatering ice-cream at Le Glacier Ice-Cream Corner, or tuck into a hearty meal at Le Poulet Roti Roast Chicken. Central to the village is Colmar Square where the aroma of the blooms will tantalize your senses.

There are fountains and park benches in the square for relaxation after a hard day's work browsing in the 17 theme shops, or should one wish to take a breather from participating in the various activities. The drawbridge reminiscent of ancient castles, clock tower with an original cuckoo bird clock, and the viewing tower complements the ambience.

Righto, the whole French-Themed thingamajig rang alarm bells in my head. TOURIST TRAP!!!! It sure didn't help that the place was crawling with Arabs. Okok, i won't be a bloody wet blanket now. The place's architecture was good. They got the details right. Cobbled narrow street..only one main street, with buildings and cafes arranged along it, with the rooms above the cafes. The atmosphere was pretty good, that whole French thing coming together pretty well. It wasn't pretentious, didn't feel like the place was a money milking commercialised one. A nice change from the usual Saturday outings. And i really enjoyed it!

Yeah, its a pretty good place for couples i think. Lots of quiet, softly lit small private gardens overlooking the hills , away from the cafes and rooms.


*ahem*

Ok, i think the romantic part is adequate, the food now.

Right, compared to the French restaurants in KL and the ones i've been to in Pondicherry in India, the prices here are pretty reasonable. The swankiest one (some place called Le Cigogne) had a price range of between RM 28 to RM 55.....which is value for money. You get the atmosphere and good food too.But, reservations are a problem. For dinner, you gotta at least book a table at lunch time, and for lunch, book by 9 or 10am. We only got there at 7pm, so i was kinda disappointed. But, but, the other place we ate at (La Flamme) was pretty darn good. Its basically a pizzeria , not French food. Their pizzas were the type that i loved...thin crust, loaded with mozzarella. I HATE THICK CRUST PIZZA! It makes me sick.....all that doughyness. And when i do order pizza, its ALWAYS from Dominoes cause they are the only ones whom make quality pizzas near my house.....thin crust, and u get 2 large pizzas for RM30 if you happen to have a gold card. Ok, so the pizza was good. So, was the salad. Pretty simple one. Lettuce, rocket, celery,onions and a few other leafy veges in it. They give you an option of feta or Parmesan cheese and a selection of dressings. Go for the Parmesan and the olive oil and butter dressing.


The selection here is somewhat limited, but the place allows you to get food from other places and have it there.....we finished off with chicken burgers from that Le Poulet place.......its bloody cheap! RM7 for a large burger (around Burger King's size, and it comes with mashed potato, fries and black pepper sauce).


Righto, the wrap up. The place is good. For once, my neighbor was spot on. If you want to go to the highlands for a quiet weekend, forget Fraser's Hill and Cameron Highlands... they're too far and you enjoy more here...and its a stone's throw from KL, you don't waste the day travelling.

Okies, picture time:

A suit of armor in the lobby. I have no idea if its french. Mom and Dad next to it, dad's arguing with mom on whether its french or not.

Love the chandelier. Not one of those gaudy crystal ones, but a simple and elegant black wrought iron one

Nice

Stairway leading to the private gardens

I like the whole castle thing, complete with a carriage.

View of the narrow cobbled street.

Cheers Mates!

I have a lot to be thankful for.

Got my results today. I have plenty to be thankful for. In contrary to what most of my friends think....NO, I'm not freaking smart, nor am i being modest when i say this. I HAVE HELP! ALWAYS!....when i face problems.

I had trouble with further maths. Loads of it. To begin with, when Peter entered the class and taught for the first week, my thoughts were:

"God, what the hell is he talking about?! I can't understand this summation crap. Ok, to drop or not to drop Further Maths?"

I had help from Chern Han and Jian Jun in understanding that chapter. It was what gave me the confidence to continue ploughing through. And then i hit another snag. I realised i couldn't do any calculus outside the realm of dy/dx. Give me something like diff with respect to 't' the equation y= x^2 .....and i used to just roll over and die......pitifully.

Tim Weng and Ian came to the rescue this time. Ian helped me understand the basics of the chain rule that i swear by when differentiating anything (came in mighty useful with one diff ques in the first F maths paper)

I had help from Tim Weng for the unsolvable questions in the past year papers...few of which came out in this year's exam (the concept that is).


So, yeah. I had help....LOADS OF IT! And i just want to say THANKS to all these pals whom lent a hand.


Cheers Mates and have a good day!

Looky at what i found

Ok......i kinda don't agree on a few players in the line-up (even though most fans voted for these people......i'm right and they're wrong......period)

The back four in this line up are Gary Neville, Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam and Mikael Silvestre. Totally don't agree with this. My choice would be the current defence...the best i've seen since the days of Jaap Stam. Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and Gary Neville is my first choice. Other than that, simply substitute Vidic with Stam or Pallister.

The midfield is Beckham, Giggs, Scholes and Keane. Totally gets my vote this one. Beckham was the supplier from the flanks, Scholes splits the defence and Giggs marauds upfront whilst Keane enforces himself in the midfield. Balanced midfield.

Strikers are Nistelrooy and Cantona. I'm anti Nistelrooy. He's a poacher....kinda reduces the team's mobility severely. Cantona is a playmaker and the person to compliment him would be Rooney. Powerful centreforwards.



Yeah, so here it is...man utd's strongest team:

Peter Schmeichel

Patrice Evra , Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville



David Beckham , Paul Scholes , Roy Keane , Ryan Giggs

Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona

PS: Ronaldo isn't in the line up as he can't be compared to a young Giggs, and his crosses and spot kicks can't beat a young Beckham's

"Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix

Hendrix was the God of Guitar Players....period. I personally rate him better than Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton and Slash. This is in my opinion, his best song. Enjoy.



download it here

Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand

Yeah

Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise a little sand

Yeah

cause Im a voodoo child
Lord knows Im a voodoo child baby
I want to say one more last thing
I didnt mean to take up all your sweet time
Ill give it right back to ya one of these days

Hahaha

I said I didnt mean to take up all your sweet time
Ill give it right back one of these days

Oh yeah

If I dont meet you no more in this world then uh
Ill meet ya on the next one
And dont be late
Dont be late

cause Im a voodoo child voodoo child
Lord knows Im a voodoo child

Hey hey hey

Im a voodoo child baby
I dont take no for an answer

Question no
Yeah


Cheers Mates!

MATHS HELP PLEASE.....TIM WENG OR IAN...HELP!!

Righto, i need help with this question my friend who's sitting for STPM gave me. OK..i am egoistical, and i refuse to admit i can't solve it.....but after an hour of trying to figure it out..have given up.


How do you prove a given quartic equation has 4 imaginary roots?

x^4 + 3x^2 - 2x + 2=0

What i did was this:

I first calculated the squares of the roots,and it was negative as expected. But thats not conclusive enough. One possiblility is that there could be two complementary imaginary roots that just happen to be larger than the other two real roots. I dunno if its possible to use the Newton-Rhapson method......its not exactly proving....and is kinda messy i think. So, tell me how to prove this without actually calculating the roots.

I got another method from Tim Weng. Find the turning points, and using them, try t draw and determine wether the entire graph lies above or below the x-axis. I tried it, but got stuck on the graph drawing as there are only 2 turning points, instead of the 3 that quartic graphs should have. Fluctuation point?
In the end, it seems like this all boils down to graph sketching.....which i wanted to avoid doing. Any other way to solve this question?


Cheers Mates!

God, was i lucky......

Luck and me have never been best pals.....cept when it came to Monopoly during which i thrash my siblings and cousins whenever we play. But that's besides the point. Bottomline...never actually been lucky on a frequent basis. Here's a little insight into just how unlucky i've been:

1) Had my left foot run over by a car (don't ask how..just accept bad luck as an explanation)
2) Had my thumb crushed countless number of times
3) Always end up ill on holidays in India, missing the fun as a result (the latest illness being mumps, causing me to miss a rock concert and a jungle safari trip)
4) Breaking my glasses due to multiple freak accidents (footballs slamming into my face, falling over, and having my glasses being slammed into the ground, getting punched ....this happened once only though)
5) Twisting my left ankle on numerous occasions..the latest being a case involving a durian (just don't ask).
6) My running shoes tearing while out on a run, causing me to hobble home for over 2 kilometers.
7) Having numerous sandals and shoes being mauled by pet dogs (aunt's and my dogs included)
8) Being caught out in the rain, on those days when i forget my umbrella or my fisherman's hat.
9) My old ZEN player's battery dying on one of those long and boring outstation trips......and being unable to get new batteries cause the nearest 7-Eleven is 50 miles away.
10) Too embarrassing to be mentioned here.


So, yeah. Felt lucky today.

I went to the PC Fair today at KLCC..looking for MP3 players and laptop models for university. Found a 5Gb Creative ZEN Micro at only RM329......i can bargain and possibly bring it down to RM300.

Mom dropped me off on the way to Dad's workplace and i planned to take the Putra LRT home. Reached the ticket counter and opened my wallet to find it:

EMPTY

You see, I have this habit of dumping my wallet's content and my allowance into my metal piggy bank every Friday, and then refilling my wallet on Monday cause i go out with my family on weekends and i don't really need cash. Today, i got up and emptied my wallet as always...read the papers....and discovered that the PC Fair was on today. I obviously forgot to refill my wallet and ran out with only RM 1.50 in coins.

The luck came in an unexpected manner. The minute i realised my problem, i knew i was kinda in trouble. No money while out in KL is way past bad. I walked away from the counter pondering on how to get home without having to call mom or dad from work, and somehow, i ended up at those automatic ticket dispensing mchine. At that point, i saw a buck worth of coins in the change collector in the machine my feet carried me to. Picked up the coins and looked around asking anyone if it was theirs ( I am a freeloader people...but not to that extent). Got negative replies, shrugged my shoulders and got a ticket home.

TALK ABOUT LUCK WHEN YOU NEED IT.