"Long" weekend

It's payback time. This coming weekend will lengthened by an hour, so I'm getting my "lost" hour back before leaving Sydney.

This usually takes place on the final weekend of March, but it has been delayed by a week this year. To cater specially for the Commonwealth Games (which ended last Sunday and which next to nobody cared about, even in sports mad Australia).

We'll probably squander it on cards, Xbox, movies... and a trip to the Blue Mountains.

14 days to go.

I get my little kicks V

I've paid my last set of phone and internet bills. Two weeks ago, actually.

I've just paid my last rent to Jim. A couple of days ago, actually.

I've also informed him he can go ahead and advertise for the room. On the same day I paid my last rent, actually.

In fact, someone has already come to see the room. Yesterday, actually.

Still 15 days to go.

Two types of fish whilst waiting for one type of ice-cream

I have mentioned before that my niece loves fish. One other fish dish that frequently makes it to our dining table is fried bah-tu fish. "Bah-tu" is in hokkien and I have no idea how to translate it. The fish itself is rather small, maybe 15cm long. Its texture is described to be smooth and a little similar to chicken when cooked. Therein lies the attraction (so claims the reviewer, i.e. my mum). My niece is another fan of it. To me, fish is fish. Yucks.

Anyway, according to my mum, bah-tu fish is seasonal and not available all the time. Recently, she had gone marketing and to her disppointment, it is not available at the usual stall she patronises. But the bah-tu fish of a neighbouring stall caught her eye and she decided to abandon her loyal customer tag for once.

Lunch for my niece that day therefore included fried bah-tu fish. After trying one piece of it, she pushed it aside, saying,

“不好吃，不要！”

Taken by surprise, my mum tried a piece and detected a slight difference in taste. The very next day, she went back to the usual fish stall she patronises and asked the stallholder if there are two types of bah-tu fish. The answer was yes, and that his stall only brings in the supposedly better tasting ones.

So she bought the better tasting ones which were in stock now. Another lunch and more fried bah-tu fish. 慧 tried a piece, proclaimed,

“好吃！”

and finished everything on the plate.

Well, I'll be! My niece's taste buds are really sharp! I think she takes after me in that aspect. :P

Speaking of my niece and food, her diet has been severely restricted in the past month since the Disneyland trip. She had fallen ill shortly after her return and have been suffering from a persistent cough since. So bad was her cough this time, it affected her sleep from time to time. This is the first time she had been down with a cough for such a long time. It usually clears up within a week.

And so lengthy was the recovery period, 慧 herself got impatient and kept asking us,

“爲甚麽慧慧病還沒好？” (Translation: Why haven't I recovered yet?)

As encouragement for her, I told her that once she recovers, we can have Haagen Daaz ice-cream together (ice-cream was of course one of the banned foods during the recovery period). Upon which she gave her enthusiastic voice of approval.

In my last phone call home, my mum told me the good news that her cough has finally cleared up. She added this,

“你知道她好了后問我甚麽嗎？” (Translation: You know what she asked me after she recovered?)

“甚麽？” (Translation: What?)

“她問我慧慧可不可以吃ice-cream。” (Translation: She asked me if she can have some ice-cream.)

Ah well... so much for wanting to wait for gu gu to share the ice-cream with.

15 days to go.

Diary, blog, ogre, ergo

I used to keep a diary. I had started on it when I was 17-18. It didn't get updated everyday though. Depending on events and my mood, accounts may be as far apart as a few months, or they may be on consecutive days.

Towards my mid-20s, the lapses between accounts began to lengthen appreciably. And it wasn't because I was lazy. There just wasn't "anything" to write about.

One day in 2003, about half a year after the birth of my niece and just before flying over to Sydney, I went back to read a few of my older accounts. I realised "anything" meant something that frustrated me, that saddened me, that worried me, that disappointed me. If anything "happy" happened to me, more often than not, they did not make it into the diary. If they did, they tended to be one-liners.

I also realised why the frequency of my updating had decreased so significantly: the "happier" days were now far outnumbering the "sadder" days.

The day after this realisation, I deleted my entire diary.

This was amongst my biggest considerations when setting up this blog. The catalyst behind its birth wasn't "healthy", so to speak, and I didn't want it to morph into another diary, recording only the "sadder" events. I wanted it to reflect my everyday life as accurately as possible. What better way to make sure of that than to write and post something everyday.

And that was what I did.

Now when I look back at my older posts, I feel I have succeeded. Resoundingly so.

This blog is truly my 心情寫照 for the past eight or so months.

Akan Datang: The thaw

16 days to go.

Red, flip, outside, without

Maybe this time, I should really wear red underwear.

And I should flip it first.

Or even consider wearing it outside.

Or maybe I should just go without any.


OK, all set. Let's go!

Still 17 days to go.

Free advertising

For helping me locate a supposedly 絕版 George Lam CD.

For remembering my request, even though it was made more than half a year ago. I had thought you hadn't been able to find it. Either that, or you had clean forgotten. I was wrong on both counts.

For holding onto my CD orders for eight months.

For locating 黃韻玲's 絕版 CD, titled 黃韻玲的黃韻玲, in doublequick time. I'm so looking forward to listening to one of my favourite songs of hers, 出發. It has been buzzing in my mind since you informed me of the good news yesterday.

For informing me ahead of time that Tanya's newest CD will be out in about a month, and that you will retain a Taiwan import copy for me.

For all that and more, over the ten years as a member of your shop, 老闆.

And so, I strongly recommend to my small band of readers:

飛鷹音樂廣場
100 Beach Road
#02-32/33
Shaw Leisure Gallery (Shaw Tower)
Singapore 189702

17 days to go.

What are the odds?

(Pic from Geo Australia. I own a set of polyhedra dice, and had just bought another set whilst writing this post up. They were used in a game known as Dungeons and Dragons during my schooling years. I was more interested in the dice than the game.)

We've reached the business end of the football season. Only the bravest will think Man Utd still has a chance of catching runaway leaders Chelsea. Here's an attempt to quantify just how small the chances of Man Utd overhauling Chelsea and putting one over Mr. Boh Ho Seh are.

Background information

Man Utd has eight matches left, of which three are away. One of those three away matches is against Chelsea. Chelsea has seven matches left, of which four are away. The most vital statistic is of course Man Utd is 12 points in arrears. Here are the remaining matches for the two clubs:

For Man Utd,
West Ham, Bolten (a), Arsenal, Sunderland, Tottenham (a), Middlesbrough, Chelsea (a) and Charlton

For Chelsea,
Birmingham (a), West Ham, Bolten (a), Everton, Blackburn (a), Man Utd and Newcastle (a)

Assumptions

Ignoring the match against Chelsea, I assume the chances of winning each of the remaining seven matches for Man Utd to be uniform, i.e. the same. This is to simplify calculations. I also have to make the simplifying assumption of ignoring draws. These same assumptions apply to Chelsea as well.

And I'm ignoring the currently healthier goal difference of Chelsea.

Model

Now here's the model.

The match against Chelsea, I consider special enough to warrant separate consideration. I am therefore going to calculate the overall probability hinging on its outcome. The remaining seven matches for Man Utd, I model with a Binomial Distribution, with one set of parameters. The remaining six matches for Chelsea, I model with another Binomial Distribution, with another set of parameters.

Now, Man Utd is playing at away for this match. That gives Chelsea a distinct advantage. As such, I assign a probability of 0.3 that Man Utd wins it.

If that fortuitous event takes place, it means Man Utd will be 9 points in arrears, i.e. they have to win 3 more matches in their remaining matches than Chelsea. Keep in mind Man Utd do have a game in hand over Chelsea. If however, Man Utd loses it, it means they will be 15 points behind, i.e. they have to win 5 more matches in their remaining matches than Chelsea (we shall see later that this probability is virtually zero).

Now to estimate the parameters for the Binomial Distributions of both clubs. The matches that are away from home will get lower predictions for the team's winning probabilities, as is expected.

For Man Utd, here are my estimates of their chances of winning each of their remaining matches (given in square brackets after the team's name):

West Ham [0.8], Bolten (a) [0.7], Arsenal [0.5], Sunderland [0.95], Tottenham (a) [0.65], Middlesbrough [0.9] and Charlton [0.85]

Here are my corresponding estimates for Chelsea:

Birmingham (a) [0.9], West Ham [0.8], Bolten (a) [0.7], Everton [0.8], Blackburn (a) [0.7] and Newcastle (a) [0.75]

Now to make them uniform (see Assumptions above), I take the average of these for both teams. That gives 0.764 for Man Utd and 0.775 for Chelsea. In other words, for the seven remaining matches of Man Utd, we are modelling it with the Binomial(7, 0.764) distribution. For Chelsea, it will be the Binomial(6, 0.775) distribution.

Results

So what we're after boils down to this:

Probability(Man Utd wins the league) = Probability(Man Utd beats Chelsea) x Probability(Man Utd wins three more matches than Chelsea for their respective remaining matches) + Probability(Man Utd loses to Chelsea) x Probability(Man Utd wins five more matches than Chelsea for their respective remaining matches)

For Probability(Man Utd beats Chelsea), we already know this from above. It's 0.3. Probability(Man Utd loses to Chelsea) is therefore just 1 - 0.3 = 0.7.

For the other probabilities, they're a bit more tedious:

Probability(Man Utd wins three more matches than Chelsea for their respective remaining matches) = Probability(Man Utd wins 7) x Probability(Chelsea wins 4 or fewer) + Probability(Man Utd wins 6) x Probability(Chelsea wins 3 or fewer) + ...you get the idea... + Probability(Man Utd wins 3) x Probability(Chelsea loses all 6)

Probability(Man Utd wins five more matches than Chelsea for their respective remaining matches) follows the same logic.

Here's where the two Binomial Distributions come into play. I won't go through all the calculations because they are similar. So just one example should suffice. Let's consider say, Probability(Man Utd wins 4):

Probability(Man Utd wins 4 and loses 3) = 7C4 x 0.764^4 x (1-0.764)^3 = 0.157

Keep in mind also that the probabilities for Chelsea are actually sums of individual probabilities. Let's consider Probability(Chelsea wins 4 or fewer) as an example:

Probability(Chelsea wins 4 or fewer) = Probability(Chelsea wins 4) + Probability(Chelsea wins 3) + Probability(Chelsea wins 2) + Probability(Chelsea wins 1) + Probability(Chelsea wins none)

OK, *Phew*, now putting all that together (you'll have to trust my binomial calculations), we obtain

Probability(Man Utd wins the league) = 0.3 x 0.113 + 0.7 x 0.003 = 0.037

In other words, 3.7% chance or an odds of about 1 in 27.

Conclusion

So like everyone has suspected or assumed, we can basically kiss our chances goodbye. Till next season then.

Akan Datang: Diary, blog

18 days to go.

The plan and slightly beyond

Don't laugh.

I've already made plans for the entire weekend that is 15th-16th April, thereby extending The Plan a little.

Venue and time of dinner for the evening on 15th April is virtually confirmed, though one invitation is still outstanding. In fact, pre-orders for the dishes will be made on the day before.

Kiasu, right?

On the 16th, I will need to go look for 慧's promised gifts. Yes, they will be from Singapore. :P At the same time, I'll be meeting up with the first of my pals. We're going to watch the Singapore GaGa docu-movie. It'll be the last day of its planned run, so I had asked my pal to help get the tickets early. That has since been accomplished.

Kiasu, right?

19 days to go.

I get my little kicks IV

Two of my favourite eateries/restaurants' owners have asked me when I am going home. On consecutive days too. Heh.

The first is a smallish eatery run by a young Hong Kong couple. They have two daughters, around 7 and 8. The eatery is located near a hospital and till today, I find it quite a comical sight to see so many patients, some in wheelchairs, some in drip, making their way into the eatery and ordering food. The food in the hospital must really suck.

I'm such a regular customer, they give me an unmentioned discount everytime I am there. A couple of days ago, I was there again. Out of the blue, the wife asked me,

"So when are you going home?"

Upon which I gave my favourite "less than one month" answer.

The second is a restaurant owned by a Singaporean in his 50s. I only found out he was Singaporean a year after I've been here. When time allows, he would ask me an odd question or two and I the same to him. I had in fact bumped into him at the Sydney airport once, when we were both returning home for the summer break of 2004/2005. We had flashed knowing grins at each other then.

After paying for my order that day, he looked up and asked me,

"So are you going home for the Easter break?"

Upon which I gave my favourite "yes, but I am going home for good this time" answer.

20 days to go.

Why I dislike the Commonwealth Games

It causes the Late Show to be later.

Just over 21 days to go.

Convoluted junior

Coincidences have a strange way of timing themselves. I've recently "met" three juniors from my profession. All within the space of a fortnight.

Two of them had found me via my blog. One of these two is a Singaporean too. *Grin*

The third was introduced to me in person in a rather roundabout manner. You see, she is my ex-housemate's wife's ex-colleague's new housemate. No, I am not making this up. Allow me to explain.

The ex-housemate I am talking about here is Dan, so the wife is of course Stef. She had a colleague, also from China, who has just left her department. Despite that, they (actually, more like we, since I am included) still meet up regularly on weekends for fun and games. At around the same time, she also moved to a new apartment and would you have it, her new housemate is an actuarial undergraduate studying in the same university.

Somehow, they've mentioned me to her and she was keen to meet me (I suspect they exaggerated some facts), the "granddad" student. And once we met, she started bombarding me with questions on all things actuarial. I was able to reply to them all and even offer more, because I have a close friend in the line now working in Beijing. He fills me in on the actuarial line in China occasionally and I was able to pass on this information to her. She also seemed to be in awe of me, most probably because I "only" (key punctuation!) have two papers to go. It was a strange feeling having someone confess to being envious of you on the first meeting.

Oh, and I wasn't exaggerating about being a "granddad" student. She is a full decade my junior, both in age and in the exams. Like most new entrants to the line, she seemed to be in a big hurry to complete the exams. After I told her about my exams history (read failures) and some of the horror stories I've heard of, she became much more subdued. But I believe I painted a realistic enough picture of the profession for her. Hopefully, she will be able to make a more informed decision when she graduates.

The common denominator of all three chance "meetings" was, I was able to offer a little bit of help in my own puny way. That left behind a residual feel-good feeling. Enough to make me want to write about it.

21 days to go.

Actuaries use dice

So says my second regular reader.

I had sent out a similarly worded e-mail to two of my readers. One lao jiao and one newbie. Just to poke see poke see what their reaction will be:

"Whilst "researching" for a blog post yesterday, I came across this:

http://www.warpuppy.com/chessex-speckled-polyhedral-stealth-p-103.html

and made an impulse purchase. *Grin*"

The old bird reader came back with this reply:

"Simplified mind of mine associates your profession with numbers. Ordinary dice for ordinary users. Actuarial professionals use the dice you just bought."

22 dicey days to go.

More reasons for excitement

Besides home, besides exams, besides new readers, there has been a couple more reasons to get excited about.

Firstly, the cover of volume six of The Complete Peanuts has just been released. (Reference here)

And I've of course pre-ordered volume five eons ago, from my favourite local online bookshop. That'll arrive at my doorstep in May. (Reference again here)

Then there is the release of version 11 of 三國志. It's the Japanese version but that should mean the Chinese version will be out in about half year's time. (Reference here)

Still 22 days to go.

P.S. Since I am on the topic of excitement. My landlord, Jim, has recently been getting real excited after discovering eBay. He has just bought two new handphones for himself and his wife through it. And in the process of doing so, saved about AU$160 per phone off the listed price. He's happy as a lark.

<宴席>

Recently, it has been a case of 三天一小宴，五天一大宴.

Maybe my pals over here know my style liao, i.e. everything settle early early better. Or perhaps they're being considerate, knowing my exam is next Tuesday and my report is due on the 13th April. Or they feel I need the time near my departure date to get presents and to pack my luggage. If that is so, then they've underestimated me. :P

In any case, they've been asking me out almost simultaneously, at this early date, to bid me their respective early goodbyes. So it has been a string of lunches, yumchas and dinners for the past week or two. This coming weekend, Dan, Stef, Fred and I are planning to splurge AU$50 each on some lobster lunch at the Sydney Fish Market.

Hopefully, all these will make a difference to my weight. I need to gain some! I believe I am still 3kg down from my pre-Sydney weight. And even back then, I was already underweight (BMI was like 18-19).

Don't be too (key word) envious now, my lady readers.

And don't be too envious too, my one male reader (this added on request by my sole male reader).

22 days to go.

Chinese phrases

Conversing frequently in chinese with Dan, Stef and Fred inevitably improves my own. I've picked up quite a number of phrases from them, some of which I've never heard of nor used in my life:

i) 拖拉機 - This literally means some machine or vehicle that pulls a trailor. But they use it to mean a hand of cards where the numbers run in a series, e.g. Ace with King and Queen. They enjoy playing a card game called 八十分 which is a little like Bridge (so they tell me). I usually just watch them play because I really suck at it, especially the memorising bit.

ii) 估計 - Literally means estimate but they use it more to mean "I suppose".

iii) 55555... - Read the numbers in chinese, i.e. 伍伍伍伍伍。。。 They are actually the sounds of a person weeping. It appears in their e-mails to me a lot.

iv) 趨勢 - Trend. Dan uses this to erm... explain Stef's weight a lot. :P

v) 擒 - To press, as in pressing buttons. We normally use 按 in Singapore, but I suppose 擒 sounds more classy and polished.

vi) 牛 - Bullish or strong. Used interchangeably with 強. It seems like everytime I tell a new China friend I am in the actuarial line, they will use this word on me.

vii) 鉄感 - This one's a little difficult to explain. Literally means metallic feeling. It is used to describe that feeling of brotherhood. I once told Fred the French beans dish he made was very tasty and 鉄感 was his reply.

viii) 一刻 - Quarter of an hour. I had thought this meant 5 minutes until I double-checked with them.

ix) 做人要低調 - A reminder to be humble. Actually, we use it more as a dig at the other person/team. For example, when we've (as in Dan and I) just won a tennis match against them (as in Stef and Fred), we'll do some impromptu celebration, then we'll follow that up with a very audible reminder to each other to 做人要低調.

x) 爽 - Shiok!

xi) 奔四 - thirty something pushing forty. It actually came from the chinese name of the Pentium 4. Fred, the only one still in his twenties, used that term on the three of us, despite the fact that we're still very much in our EARLY thirties. You can also have 奔三 to mean a person in his/her twenties pushing thirty.

xii) 拍連續劇 - doing "big business". Yes, "that" big business. There was once when we were waiting for everyone to be ready before starting a DVD movie. Dan was still missing, so I asked Stef where he was. She pointed to the loo and said 在拍連續劇 with a snigger.

Actually, there are a whole lot more. But I tend to remember the easier ones only. The cheem cheem ones, I've returned to them liao.

Akan Datang: What are the odds?

23 days to go.

My birthday "gift"

In a phone call last Christmas, 慧 and I were "discussing" what gift she wanted when I returned to Singapore for good. That seemed simple enough for her. “鴨鴨！” and that was the end of that discussion.

But it wasn't the end of the conversation, for she suddenly turned around and asked me what my favourite animal was. For want of something to say, I blurted out my chinese zodiac sign, i.e. the Rabbit. Then she turned to my mum and asked the same question. Who also played along and replied Pig.

Small sidetrack. My plan to get her another duck has since been vetoed (behind her back of course). But I have back-up plans and she has already bitten the bait. :P

OK, back to the main story.

I have since forgotten about that phone call. That was until my birthday.

“慧慧，gu gu打電話囘來。快點來跟gu gu happy birthday。” (Translation: Gu gu is on the phone. Come quickly to wish him a happy birthday.)

Sounds of a chair pushed back (she must be drawing or snipping again) and pattering feet,

“Ggguuu ggguuuuuuu! Happy birthday!!!”

“Ok! Thank you arh, 慧慧！慧慧有沒有買present給gu gu？” (Did you get me a present?)

“有！” (Yes!)

“買甚麽present？” (What did you buy?)

“買Rabbit的present。” (I bought you a Rabbit. But of course, I knew she didn't actually buy me one. She was just saying it off the cuff.)

I was really really surprised she remembered that little nugget of information. This has to be my best ever birthday present.

24 days to go.

Old songs I miss

Nostalgia hit me after my earlier Karaoke trip, where I had heard 黃韻玲's 出發 for the first time after a lapse of maybe 5 years. Titles of old (read early to mid 90s) songs that I had enjoyed but have not heard for ages started re-surfacing from my subconscious. Maybe I can hear some of them in the next Karaoke outing, if there is to be any more.

I've since made a list of these songs:

i) Don't Break My Heart by 黑豹

ii) 最浪漫的事 by 趙詠華

iii) 十二少 by 伊能靜

iv) 靠進 by 庾澄慶

v) 味道 and 遺忘 by 辛曉琪

vi) 盡在不言中 by 周慧敏

vii) 風箏 by 陳昇

viii) 鍾愛我一生 by 杜德偉

ix) 寂寞公路 by 伍思凱

x) 愛情的盡頭 by 伍佰

xi) 亂了 by 關淑怡

Some of these singers, e.g. 趙詠華 and 陳昇, are on my so-called "nearly" list. Singers whom I like, but not enough to want to get their albums. And no, I very the support original music one, so no downloading from the internet for me.

25 days to go.

I get my little kicks III

From the RTA:

"Our records show that a Driver's Licence Renewal Notice was sent to you some time ago and that you have not renewed your licence which expired on 26 February 2006.

If you have renewed your licence since 13 March 2006 or you do not want to continue driving (my own bold), please disregard this reminder. Alternatively, if you wish to continue driving, you should attend a motor registry and renew your licence."

Still 26 days to go.

Scissors

慧 has recently mastered the scissors. Not just random snipping, but actually cutting out shapes drawn on paper. (This, I so gotta see when I get back!)

And like any other new toy, she has recently been cutting through a lot of paper with her pair of scissors. Of course, we don't leave her alone when she is at it; Someone is always besides her whilst she is snipping away.

On the first couple of days of her new found skill, she was at it for almost the entire day. Everyday. Until one fine afternoon, she finally put down her scissors and told my mum,

“Ma ma, 我手酸。” (Translation: Grandma, my hands ache.)

Her obsession with snipping has since died down a little.

Last Wednesday evening, my sis had brought printouts of uncoloured pictures of ducks (what else!) for 慧 to colour, cut out and paste onto another piece of paper. 慧 seems to enjoy doing that a lot.

The following day, she wanted to get started on it and told Grandma so. But she had wanted to do it in reverse order, i.e. cutting them out first before colouring. Grandma insisted on otherwise and a mini "cold war" resulted. In the end, 慧 simply refused to touch those duck pictures.

Tsk tsk tsk...

That lasted all the way till Friday night, when my sis came around to pick her up. My sis was naturally quizzed at why those duck pictures were all left untouched. Every single piece of them.

“慧慧，爲甚麽鴨鴨沒有colour，沒有剪出來？”

My niece turned around, gave it some thought and replied firmly,

“我沒空！”

Tsk tsk tsk...

26 days to go.

New recruit

We've found a new recruit for Xbox tennis. And I've found a 徒弟 and 接班人.

He's a new student from Stef's former university. Another of those from the exchange program between the two universities. He has only been here for about a month and the guys are already working hard to "convert" him to our ways. :P

Indeed, he himself had professed to being fearful of his life in Sydney, i.e. dry and boring, until we had rescued him. Heh.

We, actually primarily I, am now in the midst of teaching him the intricacies of Top Spin. I was joking that I can retire my created player in style in a month's time after the new recruit has mastered the game and created his own player.

That's right, you can create your own player in Top Spin (to match your own characteristics). Right down to facial features, body shape, body size and glasses! Then you can train up your player according to your own preferences, picking from the different sets of skills available, within a pre-set quota. Dan, Fred and I have long created and fully-trained our own.

You know, it'll be kindda sad to leave behind my full-trained, fully-customised Top Spin player.

Yeeeeaaaah, right! HA HA HA...

27 days to go.

Commencement on Conclusion

I've finally got my butt moving this week on writing up the Conclusion to my lengthy report. It should at the most be only a couple of pages long.

Despite that, I had been real reluctant on getting started on it and had been procrastinating for like a fortnight. I have instead been spending that time making corrections to the main body as my immediate boss reviews it and gives me his suggestions, perfecting my graphs, checking my own grammar, punctuation and spelling, re-checking my references and adjusting font sizes. In other words, everything, except writing up that Conclusion.

I think it is just me.

I don't want to conclude until I am very sure everything is nice and dandy.

I don't want to be caught concluding (and celebrating) prematurely because it feels like putting the cart before the horse.

I don't want to conclude because I might get lazy after that and not bother with the body anymore, even if I were to find something wrong with it later.

But I DO want to conclude. I'm glad I've finally gotten around to it.

28 days to go.

I get my little kicks II

I sat down, surprised to find that there wasn't any other customer. My regular hairdresser reached for the nearest plastic cover (what's the proper name for this?) and threw it over me.

"So this will be your last time here? Second last time?"

"Second last time."

She gave me a big knowing grin. So big, I could see her white pearlies on the mirror without my glasses.

Still 29 days to go.

No. 3

This time round, I am No. 3.

Receiving the exam entry permit always gets the adrenaline pumping a bit. I could feel my mental state click into the fifth gear once the letter fell into my hands.

Oh boy oh boy...

29 days to go.

Keychains

“Gu gu,慧慧買Bear Bear的keychain送給你。” (Translation: I've bought a Pooh Bear keychain for you. From Disneyland of course.)

"Orh. Thank you ah, 慧慧."

I collect keychains. Have I mentioned that before? It's yet another of my weird hobbies. This one probably started during my early teens when I received a few keychains as gifts from various sources simultaneously. After that, I started going out specially to look for them. I believe I have over 150 now.

I take this hobby rather seriously too. They're kept in those sealed plastic containers to prevent exposure to air and rust. On top of that, I will oil the metallic parts from time to time, with some hairdressing cream (I am not kidding). Those that are 24K gold coated, I keep them in tiny ziplock bags to further protect them (I really am not kidding).

I'm not into those keychains where you have a small piece of picture declaring you have been a Hawaii or such. Instead, I like those with everyday objects. Shoes, food, cigarettes, dice, billiard set (numbers 1 to 15 plus the cue ball!)... etc.

My favourite keychain, or rather set of keychains, involved Ah-Gee. Heh, he seems to get involved in all the stranger tales I've related here, doesn't he? Anyway, this set of keychains is a FULL SET of mahjong tiles. Yes, every single tile with a keychain attached.

So how did Ah-Gee come into the picture, you ask? Well, this set is homemade and he made them for me. I think it was shortly after graduation. He was still looking for work and had some time on his hands. I had received four such keychains (東，南，西，北) from my new colleague who had just been to 女人街 in Hong Kong. I showed them to Ah-Gee and mentioned it was a pity I cannot find the full set anywhere in Singapore.

Upon which he hatched the idea of making them for me. Getting those small sized tiles (each about the size of your thumb) wasn't too difficult. Getting those keychains to attach to the tiles seemed a bit trickier but he had his lobangs. Drilling the holes into them at the correct angle and without cracking them was probably the biggest challenge of them all.

A few weeks later, he showed me the completed articles. Well, I was most impressed. He did pretty nifty work on them. And I have to believe nowhere in Singapore or perhaps in the world would you be able to get a full set of mahjong tiles on keychains.

Yet another of my treasured gifts from a friend.

My latest acquisitions to the collection would be the Pooh Bear I've mentioned above and a 棺材. The latter comes with a sliding lid. My mum had seen it at Great World City about a month ago and bought it for me. That should be quite a hoot to look at!

Since I've left Singapore for Sydney, some of my keychain collection have become toys for my niece. But my mum has been careful enough to keep the more fragile ones. Hopefully, everything will still be intact when I return.

Akan Datang: Chinese phrases

30 days to go.

Edit: The pictures below were added on 25th May 2006. They were taken after my return home, thanks to the digital camera borrowed from my sis:The first half of my keychain collection. The jackpot machine on the extreme left actually works (with a battery of course).The second and more interesting half of my collection. Note the full set of pool balls, mahjong set, and pair of brass fish keychains I had mentioned in a guest blog post.

Hair band

More from the Disneyland holiday...

慧 had seen a Pooh Bear hair band at one of the multitude of merchandise stores there and declared that she wanted to be "Bear Bear" for one day. So she did. Probably at the store where she first saw the hair band.
"Light" activities (read break for mum and dad) time. Note the infamous and omnipresent Mr. Beanie Duck who "took part" in the activities as well.
On the MTR train.
In the Mickey Mouse maze.

I've been told that there are already plans to visit ALL the Disneylands over the next couple of years, starting with the one in Tokyo. At this rate, Mr. Beanie Duck will be more well-travelled than gu gu.

31 days to go.

I get my little kicks

*Ring... ring*

"Hello."

Brief silence.

"Hello?"

Still nothing. At the back of my mind, I know it most probably is one of those automated dialors and there'll be someone advertising something to me once they take the call.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you too."

"May I speak to Mr. Johnson please?" (That'll be my landlord)

"He's the landlord here but he doesn't stay here."

"So you are his tenant?"

"Yes."

"I have a house loan package here that I'm sure you'll be interested in. It offers the best rates in town and I'm sure you would want to become your own homeowner, don't you?"

"No."

A pregnant pause.

"But why not?"

"Because I am leaving Australia soon."

"Oh, ok. Then have a good day then. Bye."

"You too. Bye."

Still 32 days to go.

School assignments

Time seems elastic at times, its pace changing according to one's perspective.

Ma ma told me late last week that 慧 will not need to go to the nursery this week.

Huh, but why?

It is the one week school break.

Oh. Already?

Yes, it has been ten weeks since that first day in nursery which got all of us sweating over.

You mean it has been ten weeks already?

Yes. Time "flies", hey?

To mark the end of the semester, 慧's worksheets were returned to us. They were mostly pictures for colouring, with a few of those join-the-appropriate-category-with-a-line type, e.g. honey is to bees as milk is to cows.

These worksheets were actually dated and "marked" by the teacher. Closer examination of them revealed interesting developments in 慧's emotional state and learning. She had always been reasonably good at her colouring, even before attending nursery. When she put her heart into it, she can colour a mean picture.

So we were initially surprised to see her first few colourings in nursery. They were very messy. She didn't bother colouring within the lines. In fact, it was all over the place. A lot of strength was exerted on the colour pencils and this transferred onto the paper. And she tended to doodle other pictures on them, e.g. Pingu.

They seemed to convey a sense of frustration. At having to attend school. Of being alone, without her loved ones whom she had gotten so used to. Not knowing exactly what to make of the sudden change. Discomfort.

These symptoms slowly but surely subsided. Her recent work were quite impeccable. She (as in 慧) even proudly pointed out to us the three stars her teacher stamped on almost all of her recent worksheets when they were brought home.

When my mum related this story to me, the first "person" I thought of was Mr. Beanie Duck. I guess I understand even more so now the sudden elevation of his status in early January.

32 days to go.

La Perouse

Yet another good part about having Dan and Stef back are the impromptu field trips we occasionally go on. About a fortnight ago, after a particularly sumptious sushi dinner (newly opened restaurant, so got big discount), we decided upon a trip to La Perouse to see the sunset.

Now, I've been to La Perouse quite a number of times. It is a little mound of land jutting out into a bay, so you can see water almost all around it. It's quite a picturesque tourist spot. La Perouse is actually the name of a French explorer who was one of the earliest explorers to discover Australia.

Here are a few of the pics we took whilst there:
At the centre of this little hilltop is a watchtower. I thought it looked a lot like the Rook piece in international chess.
Connecting to the outermost part of La Perouse is a tiny island known as Bare Island. It used to be a defence post with cannons and such.
A crow and a seagull on the little hilltop.
And of course, what we had set out to see that evening. The sunset at La Perouse.

33 days to go.

卡拉永遠OK

Last night, or rather, this morning, at close to 1a.m., I received a phone call from Dan. He tried to sound surprised at the fact that I was still awake but failed spectacularly. They had decided inpromptu to go Karaoke and wanted to invite me along.

At 1a.m.? Will anything be open in Sydney at 1a.m.?

Oh yes, we know of one that is open till 4a.m. We're trying to round up the people (meaning their friends from Stef's former university in Shanghai) and hope to get as many as possible.

I told him I can't sing to save my own dear life, but I will tag along. Five minutes later, I had changed and was outside waiting for their car. Not surprisingly, there were just the four of us (Dan, Stef, Fred and me) in the end. I asked about the "others". He laughed and said all of the "others" had gone to bed at 10p.m. He gave up trying after disturbing a few of them from their slumber. So there.

I cannot remember the last time I had gone to a Karaoke. Maybe it was during my undergraduate days. Seemed to recall going with a group of friends that included 秋. Technology never ceases to amaze me. And it did so again last night. Not only that, I was surprised by the wide repertoire of chinese songs available at the Karaoke. In Sydney no less!

The three of them seemed to enjoy themselves a lot singing. And I enjoyed their antics a lot. Fred tended to shuffle slowly backwards and kick as he tried to scale the notes. Stef would declare from time to time she was going to sing properly NOW, then promptly stood on the sofa and sang whilst lightly bouncing on it (Dan explained to me later that's her definition of singing properly).

After hearing them destroy belt out a few oldies, it suddenly occurred to me the Karaoke may carry singers or songs that I had come to love but for some reason never got around to purchasing. Top on that list was 黃韻玲's 出發. I believe it's a song from 1993.

Surprise surprise, they had it. I remember first hearing this song in JC2 on radio. Before I could make up my mind about getting the CD then, enlistment, BMT and an ex-girlfriend combined to push that idea to the back of my mind.

But it had re-entered my conscious mind recently, without any known trigger, and I have been toying with the idea of getting the CD since (if I can still find it). Hearing it for the first time in years, on a decent sound system, had left quite an impression on me.

I've now decided to look for it when I get home. 飛鷹 at Shaw Tower may just have it.

Still 34 days to go.

P.S. The title of this post is actually the title of an Alan Tam song from his 1990 album, 夢幻舞台.

Prime number

Prime numbers are positive integers with only two integer divisors, i.e. unity (the sexier name of 1) and itself. Another way to say it is, prime numbers are numbers that cannot be factored.

Prime numbers have many interesting properties. For example, according to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, any positive integer can be represented in exactly one way as a product of prime numbers.

A fine example of a prime number is 31.

Oh well... it's just a number.

34 days to go.

Gone regional

I've recently gone regional. West Malaysia, to be exact. Because of this post.

Heh.

It gave me a strange sense of satisfaction. Totally unlike that when I discover I have new readers.

Anyway, I hope what I've wrote there and my replies to your e-mails have been of help, CM. Pass exams must tell me, ok?

Still 35 days to go.

Nifty hands

I probably don't sound it or look it, but I have pretty nifty hands. I used to enjoy (actually I still do) doing craftwork. I discovered this skill during my secondary school years, during the Art lessons.

I used to handmake pop-up cards and send them to some of my friends. Those 180-degrees type where you need to string parts of the cut-out patterns to the base piece of construction paper. It wasn't often though, for they can be quite time-consuming.

But that's not my favourite type of craftwork. Indeed, I've stopped making them eons ago.

My favourite craftwork is 剪紙. The correct or traditional way to do it is with rice paper and a pair of sharp scissors. I was introduced to it by my Art teacher and the way we did it was with a photostated pattern or design, construction paper and a pen knife. It was very time-consuming too. I remember spending one whole weekend on the one assigned for homework. But finishing it without any mishaps gave me immense satisfaction. That was how I got started on it.

I used to look out for designs or patterns from the newspapers. Sometimes, they'll appear in advertisements, especially during Chinese New Year. I got a set of zodiac signs' designs from one such advertisement. Unfortunately, good designs are few and far between.

My favourite set of designs is, not surprisingly, of 三國演義 characters. I had gone to some chinese culture exhibition at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce during my NS years (NS years very eng, you see) and saw the set there. It was a set of ten of the more famous characters from 三國演義. Very exquisitely cut, and on rice paper too! The original type!

I remember debating with myself on whether to buy it. You see, they were going for $40, that's $4 per paper cutting (!), and NS pay then (and now too) isn't exactly something to crow about. I hesitated, then left the exhibition. After a short walk, I decided to the hell with it and doubled back to get the set. Afterwhich I got each design photostated (with great care!) for my own use. Each character design can sit comfortably on an A4 sized piece of paper.

Then I started cutting. And cutting. And cutting. These were the largest designs I've ever gotten my hands on and they required real patience. In the end, each character took me about one to two months to complete. I would spend about half an hour every day on it. Anything beyond that, my hands would start tiring and I would start getting impatient. That's when mistakes occur.

I have since completed cutting seven of the ten characters. They are namely 劉備，諸葛亮，關羽，張飛，趙云，黃忠 and 馬超. The latter five characters are of course the infamous 五虎將 and are collectively my personal favourite. I'm really proud of these particular five cuttings. Some of these seven designs, I've done multiple pieces and gave them away as gifts for friends (I am not kidding).

Unfortunately, I can't post pictures of the seven here as they are obviously at home in Singapore. You'll have to take my word for it.

I had also on occasion shown my work to some friends and they inevitably will gasp and comment on the patience and care I must have then to complete them without mishaps. I suppose I did.

And maybe still do, for more recently, another person was to make this same comment to me, but on an entirely different matter. It was from my immediate boss.

I had shown him a certain handwritten mathematical proof that ran into pages (for that recent publication I had mentioned some time back). It wasn't a cheem proof and I was able to summarise the basic steps to him in a few sentences. But it was a tedious long-drawn proof. After seeing my pages of neat and small (keywords) scribblings, he made that comment.

I suspect he never did double-check my workings for possible errors. Actually, I suspect the reviewers didn't as well. Maybe that's how we got it published! :P

35 days to go.

Edit: The pictures below were added on 25th May 2006. They were taken after my return home, thanks to the digital camera borrowed from my sis. Click through to see larger pics of the paper cuttings:劉備 in emperor robes. And yes, that's an eunuch standing behind him and fanning him.諸葛亮 in his traditional fanning pose.關羽 reading a book. Standing behind him is his loyal servant, 周倉. He is carrying 關羽's weapon of choice.張飛, with his weapon of choice.趙云 with spear and sword (plundered from one of 曹操's generals). If you look carefully, you will find again a baby wrapped in his 戰袍.黃忠, who is known for his archery skills, hence the bow.馬超 with traditional headgear. He is from the north-western part of China.

Impatience, a subset of 浮躁

My niece is getting increasingly impatient about my prolonged absence from home. Initially, we had told her I would be back after Christmas. Then that became after Chinese New Year. Most recently, we have been telling her after her Disneyland trip. Of course, all these dates and events have passed us by. We're rapidly running out of "after"s.

Her impatience is causing mine to grow as well.

On a different note, but leading to the same conclusion, there has been a stabbing of an old man in his own home late in the night recently in my suburb. Despite his shouts for help, his neighbours did not venture out to help. In a way, I can understand why. The old man is now in hospital, fighting for his life.

Some time ago, there was this other piece of news about Sydney bus drivers' protests. They did not want to drive through certain areas (one of them being a neighbouring suburb) at night because many of them had suffered beatings. Then there was the other one about two fourteen year olds robbing and killing a cab driver, also at night. The list goes on...

I've heard so many such stories over here, I'm getting genuinely sick of it. But this most recent one about the old man's stabbing struck really close to heart. Because it is in the very suburb I am staying in. It might have even taken place a few streets away from my own apartment.

And my suburb is supposedly one of the safer suburbs.

Yeah, right.

I've never ever felt safe in Sydney. Back home, I can be walking around in the death of the night without ever having to check over my shoulders, without having to squint to make out if that was a shadow moving ahead of me or just my imagination and without giving up altogether and just staying put in the apartment once it gets dark.

Such events just forces my own impatience, at time and at getting home, to resurface. Actually, impatience does not quite describe how I really feel. Perhaps I can borrow a term from Faye Wong:

浮躁.

36 days to go.

Ole!

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is my second all-time favourite Man Utd player, behind Giggs. Whilst Giggs is known as the Welsh Wizard, Solskjaer's nickname is Baby Faced Assassin.Seriously baby-faced, right? He has just turned 33, but this pic should be taken a couple of years back. Sorry ladies, he is already married with two children.

Unlike Giggs, I cannot pinpoint exactly why I admire Solskjaer this much as a football player. Perhaps because he is such a natural and gifted finisher (read striker). Perhaps because he too, like Giggs, is very loyal to the club (he had turned down several moves to other Premiership clubs despite not holding down a permanent first XI place in the team). Perhaps because he has always been and still is such a humble player and servant of the club.

Oh yes, he is a very natural and clinical finisher. No better example than the match against Nottingham Forest on 6th February 1999. Deep into the second half, Man Utd was already leading 4-1. Home and safe, 3 points in the bag. So the manager, affectionately known to us as Fergie, threw on Solskjaer with 15 minutes to go, to save the legs of his captain, Roy Keane, for more important battles ahead. What did our Baby Faced Assassin do? He proceeded to score four in the last 13 minutes of the game. 8-1 was the final score.

Still, that was not the highlight of his career. Ask any Red Devils fan and they will tell you that it would HAVE TO BE his injury time winner in the Champions' League final of 1999. That won Man Utd's second European crown, the first being way way back in 1968. That goal made him a 20legend amongst us fans.
Pic from Man Utd Zone. The moment that will remain immortalised forever in the hearts and minds of all Red Devils' fans, when Solskjaer stuck out a foot to score that injury time winner in the Champion's League final on 26th May 1999 against Bayern Munich.

Solskjaer is Norwegian, by the way. Like Giggs, Solskjaer did not get to display his skills much on the international level. He did however get to play in a World Cup (1998 edition) and in a European Championships (2000 edition). More importantly, he played in that famous victory over Brazil in the '98 World Cup group stages match that ensured Norway qualified for the second round. How often do you hear of Brazil getting beaten in a World Cup?

Sadly, Solskjaer has been injured for about two consecutive years now (since May 2004). Despite his lengthy recuperation, fans have not forgotten about him. Well, I know I haven't. I dearly wish he would score at least once more before retiring for good. To be forced into retirement due to injury just leaves a bitter aftertaste, even if he had enjoyed a highly successful career.

Indeed, his recent comeback progress has been good. Fergie has expressed his optimism about it. And he himself seemed to have gotten through recent reserves matches ok. Fingers crossed!

(Edit: The following is added at 8:38a.m.)

This piece of news just in. Shucks!

(Edit: Another update, this at 8:48p.m.)

I wonder if he'll ever play for Man Utd again. *Big Sigh*

Akan Datang: Keychains

37 days to go.

In limbo

So I've gotten my farewell gifts done a long time ago.

So I've more or less packed (I can leave in a day's notice, if I can do so).

So I'm almost home and dry with respect to my work. Just waiting for my boss to finishing reviewing it.

So I've almost completed my preparations for the exam that will fall on 28th March.

It seems like I've built in too big a buffer this time round, resulting in a recent pervasive feeling of being neither here nor there.

It's like driving a car off a cliff at speed, then everything goes slow-mo whilst the opposite cliff slowly comes into view.

It's like seeing a singular pimple on your face and having to stop yourself from squeezing it everytime you see it on a mirror (incidentally, I hardly ever get pimples and I use normal soap only :P).

It's like being a worried husband and father-to-be, pacing a hospital's corridors whilst waiting for news of your Significant Other's well-being and the arrival of the baby.

I hate it when I'm in limbo. And I know you hate it too, Le Tis. Hopefully this month will go quickly enough for both of us.

38 days to go.

More language marvels

More language marvels from my niece.

She had described a little of her Disneyland escapade to me on the phone. Amongst other things, the flight experience, the kiddy rides, the photo taking and of course how much she wants to go back again. Then grandma interrupted by asking her from the background,

“慧慧在Disneyland住幾樓？” (Translation: Which floor did you stay on in the Disneyland hotel?)

"Bhat lao."

39 days to go.

End of moonlighting

Time flies. My second regular reader returns this evening, hopefully still in one serviceable piece.

This also brings to an end my stint as guest blogger. I rather enjoyed it, I must say. The ideas I get whilst writing on her blog are very different from those I get on mine. Hope you guys had enjoyed it too.

Still 40 days to go.

Income taxes done

I've just gotten my income taxes done. The Singaporean one. For the past few years, I've been playing the early bird. Simply because everything is so easy for me to fill in. Zero, zero, zero, zero, ok submit.

Then in a few months' time, I will receive some rebates for my stocks' dividends, since I fall below the taxable threshold (currently S$20,000). HA HA HA...

But from next year onwards, I will be a 好公民 and pay my share of income taxes. Assuming I find a job.

Hey wait!

If I start work in the middle of this year, or even later, my income might just fall below the taxable threshold again for the year of 2006. OK, then I be 好公民 only in 2007. HA HA HA...

40 days to go.

Envy

所謂風水輪流轉。

Two, three months back, I was green with envy with Dan, Stef and especially Fred, about their flying home to Shanghai for the summer break. But I had kept mostly quiet about it when I was with them. At the most, I might have alluded to it in a self-depreciating manner.

Now it is their turn to be envious of my impending homegoing. Their reactions, however, are opposite of mine then. They've been pretty vocal about their envy for my present situation. Perhaps a large part of that has to do with work. I'm almost done and dusted now but they are only at best halfway there.

They also professed to their reluctance to see me go when the time comes. It is quite difficult to find other students/colleagues with similar frame of mind with respect to work, i.e. to just do enough to meet the minimum required rate of return :P (recall that for me, the primary aim is the actuarial exams, not this piece of work for the school). Most other students/colleagues are too uptight about their work to have as much fun as we do.

Those were their own words, not mine (though I agree).

41 days to go.

Arrow deflected

This afternoon, I deflected an arrow originating from the head of department back at him. All from the comfort of my room. With the help of my immediate boss and another colleague. I don't usually enjoy doing such things, but I sure am enjoying it this time round.

I think there has been a resurgence of that ROD feeling recently.

Still 42 days to go.

Disneyland, Hong Kong

獨家！獨家！The much awaited and anticipated pics of my niece in Disneyland, Hong Kong: On the plane with earphones on. Note Mr. Beanie Duck at the bottom left hand corner of the pic. He made it to Hong Kong afterall. *Grin* Note also the spare tyre in the background. It belongs to my bro-in-law. :P
Hamming it up at the hotel lobby with a Mickey Mouse statue. Mr. Beanie Duck makes another appearance.
At the Mickey Mouse theme restaurant.
And of course, that promised pic (to gu gu) with "Bear Bear" and "Ti Ti".

I was told that on the morning of their return to Singapore, when informed about it, she laid on the hotel bed and sighed,

“我不要囘家！”

42 days to go.

Explaining death

Shortly after Chinese New Year, 慧 suddenly asked mee mee some death-related questions,

“Ma ma的pa pa和mee mee在哪裏？” (Translation: Where is grandma's dad and mum?)

“Ma ma的pa pa就是lao gong。Ma ma的mee mee死了。” (Translation: Grandma's dad is "lao gong". Grandma's mum has passed away. Note: We had introduced my maternal grandfather, her great-grandfather, to her as "lao gong" during the Chinese New Year visiting.)

“Ma ma爲甚麽還沒有死？” (Translation: Why hasn't grandma passed away?)

A pause.

“Ma ma還很健康，所以就還沒有死囖。” (Translation: Grandma is still very healthy, that's why she hasn't passed away yet.)

A few days later, at my place, 慧 comes upon ma ma's diamond ring and plays with it for a while.

“Ma ma，妳死了后diamond給我。” (Translation: Grandma, after you've passed away, can I have this diamond?)

Grandma actually said yes in between loud guffaws.

43 days to go.

Putting part (ii) into action

Aye, today is the first of March. The first day of Autumn. And the day part (ii) of the plan kicks into action.

Please join your hands in welcoming Le Tissier, 秋 and Ah Gee to the blog.

Still 44 days to go.

P.S. Guys, same question as what I had asked in my e-mail. Mini-celebration on the same evening that I reach Singapore? On or not?

Three measures

I've always had this hypothesis in my head about the three measures or types of cleverness, namely smartness, intelligence and wisdom.

For quite some time, I placed one on top of the other in a vertical manner, i.e. smartness is a proper subset of intelligence which in turn is also a proper subset of wisdom. In other words, an intelligent person would also be smart and a wise person would possess intelligence and be smart as well.

That of course didn't model reality very well. I often meet people who were for example, intelligent but certainly not smart. Similarly, I've met rather wise people who were neither smart nor intelligent.
So I tweaked my hypothesis a bit. First, I allowed the three attributes to be mutually exclusive. Then I allowed them to be independent of one another.

Mutually exclusive meaning the possession of one attribute does not exclude the possibility of inclusion of others. Independence meaning the chances of possessing one attribute does not affect the chances of possessing another.

This seemed to match reality more closely because I've met a wide spread of people with all sorts of permutations of these three attributes. For example, people who are intelligent but not smart, people who are wise and smart but are not intelligent. And if there was any supposed dependence between the three, I didn't detect any, e.g. people whom I find wise did not necessarily have a greater chance of being intelligent or smart.

Why am I telling you about this silly hypothesis of mine?

Well, for my Significant Other, I hope to find someone wiser than me.

Note that I am not saying I am wise. I am just saying I am attracted to wise women. :P I am also indirectly saying that I value wisdom more than the other two.

For the record, I think (key word) I am half-smart, three-quarters intelligent but only one-quarter wise.

On a different note, here's another belief of mine. It's a slogan that I live by which also revolves around the number three. This is with respect to money:

有借無還，下等人也。
有借有還，中等人也。
無借無還，上等人也。

At the current moment, I am very stuck in 下等人 mode. But soon I will be promoted again. Soon.

Akan Datang: Ole!

44 days to go.

P.S. This is about as mathematical as I can get. Occupational hazard.