Thoughts from a Techie

Tiếp tục truyền thống một note tiếng Việt sau mỗi 2/9. 2/9 của năm 3 có khác gì năm 2 và năm 1 ? Ngày đầu tiên sau 2/9 luôn là ngày để dành cho nhau những lời cảm ơn cũng như những lời xin lỗi chân thành nhất. Lần thứ ba liên tiếp làm 2/9 với tư cách organiser, chưa bao giờ được thật sự "thưởng thức" 2/9 nhưng vì rất nhiều lí do khác nhau mình luôn "enjoy" 2/9, như là một event đặc biệt nhất trong các event đặc biệt. Mà event đặc biệt thì luôn dành cho những con người đặc biệt. Đặc biệt nhất với mình thì luôn là BCH XV. Hầu hết những gì mình muốn nói trong lúc speech thì mình đã nói ra, vấn đề là mình chưa bao giờ chuẩn bị được cái speech nào hoàn hảo cả (lỗi này thì cả mình và Duy Lê đều dính, hai anh em lúc intermission chỉ có ngồi nhìn nhau cười và bảo nhau là tí nữa lên chém gió thôi =)), mà không chuẩn bị thì có những thứ muốn nói nhưng sẽ không nói được. Đơn giản như chuyện... hai năm liên tiếp quên không chúc mừng sinh nhật VPI Hải trên sân khấu (may là m...

The final installment. Credits to my cheeky VPI for guessing this number right. Although it's for slightly different meanings and slightly different times. 16, for what's next. #vnntu16? #ce16? 2016? You get the idea. I used to think that after one year of doing so many things at once, I would sit back and take a long good rest. Then I realize I still have a bit of fire left in my systems; my hands still itchy to try new things. Plus I don't have a tendency to decline when my (close) friends need help. And if I don't do anything my life will be boring as hell. So for every friend of mine who made that choice to focus on other things after this year, I wish you a very happy retirement. Certainly not for me. Starting with #ce16, "CE office hours =))" would definitely go on! I could not deny an opportunity to fix things that are broken and to have one more fun and meaningful year with CE. That opportunity is doing pubs, and I'll definitely attempt to do ...

After the previous two stories, one might think that I'm really miserable. Like stressful or sad and stuff. The answer is too far from the truth. Well there were definitely a lot of great moments doing 15 and 18 for a start. But just the fun counted, this one blew all the other out of their windows. Especially when I got to experience it again and again and again. 12, for this. Pardon me if I throw out too many boss names in the following lines. I simply don't have any subcomm. To begin with, I would like to offer a sincere apology to J-boss for lying to you during my treasurer interview. It was pretty clear at that time that I was going to be the president of another organisation, yet I said I would have little to no commitment the following academic year. A pretty epic lie, but I figured if X-boss could president MSA and boss our club at the same time, and if I was that exceptional at counting money, there should not be any problem. Indeed there was not. The only probl...

Special post alert. Looking back, đây có lẽ sẽ là một trong những câu chuyện khác người nhất mà mình sẽ từng viết. Câu chuyện này có ý nghĩa rất lớn với mình, tốn khá nhiều thời gian ôm mon để viết và chỉ có hai người duy nhất từng biết nó tồn tại. But now everyone who can understand my choice of language will. This is a story of integration, of love, loss, and redemption. 18, for #p18neers Mình ở tầng 7 block 18B. Block 18A-B có một sự đặc biệt đó là sự thông nhau, mà tầng 7 bên A là tầng nữ nên có thể gọi là mình ở tầng mix =)) Một ngày đẹp trời gọi là welcome dinner lần đầu tiên của hall (cách đây 2 năm), 18AB-7 được xếp chung một nhóm, ngồi ăn chém gió, và từ ấy mình quen hàng xóm của mình. Quen cũng chỉ là quen mặt thôi không có gì nhiều lắm, nhưng cũng đủ để cả tầng này biết chuyện phòng 191 6 người. Một năm trôi qua không có gì nổi bật. Mọi thứ bắt đầu trở nên thú vị khi rất nhiều người trong số những người hàng xóm ấy quyết định đăng kí làm GL cho camp hall lần đầu, trong ...

1st June is a special day for a lot of people. For kids, it's International Children's Day. For a selected few, probably the first day of work when it comes to summer internships and stuff. For me, it's the end of many responsibilities and the start of new ones. Talking about responsibilities, there hasn't been any year with more to handle than the previous academic year. Two main comm posts including one of the highest of positions, plus the occasional other commitments. It was stressful, it was tiring, but nonetheless it was extremely fulfilling. This series of numbers serve as a reminder of how great a year it has been. And it starts with a very familiar one. 15, for 15 minutes, and for #vnntu15 Little did I know that a decision made with 15 minutes remaining before the nomination deadline would have such a profound impact on my life. I'm thankful to everyone who have given me the opportunity to care a whole awful lot for this community. And I reserve the gre...

(Special thanks to my good friend/ ex-VPE for contributing to this report. And for agreeing that this might be a speed hack.) tl;dr: Not possible. It's just a click-bait title. I was quite divided between writing in Vietnamese and writing in English for this investigative issue. For a start, it's hard to do running terminology in Vietnamese; however the context is entirely Vietnamese so I'll attempt Vietnamese. Be prepared to laugh at running terminology. Vì phải đến giữa tuần trước mới thi môn đầu nên những ngày đầu nghỉ thi mình khá rảnh. Rảnh rỗi thì sinh nông nổi, trong rất nhiều thứ có thể làm được thì mình đã quyết định... mở forum vnntu ra nghịch (forum đã bị khóa nhưng không có nghĩa là nó không vào được. Mình khóa nó mà). Xem một lượt các sub-forum, đến forum past events, nhận ra một điều rất thú vị là sports comp cách đây 7 năm (2009) có một nội dung thi rất gần gũi với bản thân là Campus Marathon =)) Cái sự chạy một vòng quanh NTU cũng không có gì quá thú vị,...

tl;dr: self-checkout Nowadays the weather is rather hot (34 degrees at noon it almost feels like home). Who doesn't want some ice cold drinks in this weather? Enter Prime Supermarket at North Spine. Enter the cold drink section. Take out a bottle. Extra 15 cents charged for chilled drinks? No problem. Enter the self checkout counter. 15 cents saved, because well the scanner simply can't detect what's cold and what's hot. Enjoy cheap, non-terribly-diluted drinks. All the best for exams everyone.

"Thú thật với mọi người là giờ này năm ngoái mình hoàn toàn không có ý định lên làm President. Một phần là nghĩ mình không làm được president vì không có những tính chất mà một typical president cần có (như nói tốt, điều hành tốt, cứng, vv), phần còn lại chắc cũng nhiều người biết là hồi đấy mình "hứng thú" hơn với việc làm CFC, không phải debate mà cũng phù hợp với chuyên ngành của bản thân. Nhưng mà vì cũng có nhiều người biết nên cũng có nhiều người push là đừng có an phận với việc "đếm tiền", hãy làm một cái gì đó lớn hơn =)) Hôm đóng form là test game cho toàn team Camp FOC15, mọi người cũng bàn ra tán vào, rồi đến tối về một loạt tin nhắn, và còn rất nhiều chuyện khác làm mình suy nghĩ lại và quyết định điền form :D Sau một năm thì mình vẫn thấy mình không có những tính chất của một typical president, và vẫn hứng thú hơn với việc làm CFC (ở club mình vẫn làm thôi, không thấy chán)... ... nhưng mà bảo mình không làm được president thì sai, sai hoàn toà...

So once again yesterday in my travels to Daiso, I came across a rather intriguing object. The Germanium ring. Support your life with the power of Germanium! Well as far as I know, germanium is just a chemical element. Nothing special right? Was laughing really hard reading out loud the description and caution to my fellow traveller, until a staff noticed my taking of photos which is not allowed and we quietly walked away. Anyways, I spent an entire day out yesterday with my two closest buddies in uni - double buffet, double movies, extremely bloated and stuff but hella fun. (And did I mention that both the two preceding short stories contain elements of this? Just crazy how much could happen in just a day...) Dated 26 June. Probably our only photo together - just 3am, 3 people, a cat and their bullshit. So now to the most cheesy statement of the day, to end off my series of three short stories: You two gentlemen, you two are my most beloved germanium...

Contrary to usual belief and even to my studies in computer science, the title of this short story has no link to those elusive function keys on the top row of every keyboard. Since I moved to NTU, thanks to its general ulu-ness and being close to only one "major" shopping mall in the name of Jurong Point, I have more or less limited myself to enjoy only a few of the most basic leisurely activities. My most favorite is definitely movies, especially since I have my GV membership card which allows me to enjoy any normal showing on Tuesday for 6.50; that is .50 cheaper than the usual student discount which only applies until 6pm, and a full dollar cheaper than the discount associated with DBS/POSB cards. But then I usually enjoy those lunchtime shows, so I don't actually benefit much from member discount. But still have to accumulate 4 movies a year to maintain that membership so yeah, Tuesday sort of becomes my sacred movie day; I normally plan my timetable and stuff arou...

Exam is a rather stressful period for everyone; coincidentally it falls on the same period as the final preparations for the race of the year - Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore - and running so happens to be one of my most effective stress reliever. Been clocking miles and conditioning and stuff and it feels really good. Another important part of prepping for a good race is good music; and while my phone has been serving me rather well for short races, it is too clumsy to hold in longer ones. Bought a cable converter yesterday during my travels at Daiso and attempted to revive my old iPod nano. Playback controls slightly off, but still usable. Only then that I paid attention to my rather long list of playlists and definitely this one stands out. Uniquely created to serve a single purpose, only used once, and untouched ever since. The SCMS 2014 Half-M playlist, also known as Err let's finish this race within 32 Blank Spaces. A little backstory: At that time when I wa...

5h ngủ, mặc nguyên cây đen đã cùng mình chiến suốt 12 tiếng qua. 9h dậy. Ăn sáng với người anh em đã không quản đường xa đến chơi, đến uống và đến ngủ với mình (cảm ơn ông nhiều nhé, không biết khi nào sẽ là lần tiếp theo đây...) Bật con lenovo lên, scroll qua timeline, tình hình là chưa ai dậy viết mấy post sến về 2/9 =)) Phân vân không biết có nên viết 1 cái không, càng ngày càng tốn nhiều thời gian produce. Nhưng mà không viết thì... không khi nào viết được nữa; bản năng shortcut trỗi dậy, ctrl+t, b, enter, new post =)) Theo đúng tinh thần Rewind - Ngược dòng thời gian, đề post này giống hệt post năm ngoái . Style tl;dr cũng giống hệt. Nhưng những gì đã xảy ra thì không. Được làm president nên không còn được làm kịch, không còn đứng booth, không còn đứng bus. Vẫn uống, vẫn ngáo, vẫn nói nhảm và ôm nhiều người, nhưng cảm giác thì khác hẳn. 3 tháng chiến đấu cho 1 buổi tối, có quá nhiều thứ để nói với quá nhiều người. Cảm ơn cũng nhiều mà xin lỗi có khi còn nhiều hơn. Trước ...

T+11 days since camp. T+10 days since fried chicken. T+9 days since FOC is not over. T+8 days since FOC is not over part 2. T+6 days since FOC is never over. And T+7 hrs since I officially close the account. Is it finally... over? It's been quite some time since camp ended (for most of us), people are more or less settled into their daily routines; for me personally it's a year of huge responsibilities, and the pressure's already piled up (haiz venues). Find it easy to start penning down my thoughts, my thank you's and sorry's, but extremely difficult to finish them. Yes I have been writing this for the past 5-6 days. But the past 8 months have been something really special, and I cannot not write a tribute to all the wonderful things that happened during the past 8 months. After all, as a man of very few (and generally incoherent) spoken words, all the stuff I'd been saying to everyone is never enough. -- When I was still loving the black-white c...

I wrote about my experience doing transport management for Chingay on Valentine's Day ( read ). That was the preview show for primary and secondary schoolkids to watch. Yesterday was the first day of the main show. And it's turning out to be one of my more interesting volunteering experience.  Yesterday was 10x more taxing on the mind compared to Vday. Work started one hour later because the parade started one hour later than the preview show. The same 4 hrs of nua-ing. The same edible food. Most importantly, more performers sharing the same bus queue. And I did not get to stand with the bus bay folks as with the preview show (which was a much lighter job); my position was smacked right in the middle of the impatient crowd of "900 beautiful ladies". (our running joke on the performers, as this was what written on the Chingay programme brochure) Yet however tiring it might be, there were always people trying their best to give me a good day. Just want to sin...

This is the story of a strange Valentine's Day. 1400 Needed to rush from NTU to get to Chingay. 179 out, first stop outside NTU. Normally it's extremely easy to wave for a cab (it's right after a PIE exit), but for strange reasons, 15 mins out and not a single available one. So I moved to a nice spot to call one instead, waited another 10 mins , got into my cab... Only to find out the uncle did not know where the F1 Pit Building is. First time I raged a person in English. Of course it did not solve the problem. Most stressing issue was finding a way to guide him there. He did not know how to use the GPS unit that's standard to every cab. My trusty Google Maps could not help him. Digital's useless, so he went analog. Pulled out his buddy the street directory and asked me to help him find the place. R to Republic Blvd, map 133, grid 2A. Still slightly clueless... until I pointed out the Flyer nearby. Finally a place he knew how to get to. 10-15 mins of clue...

Tried Facebook's Year In Review function. Saw the obvious limitations of algorithms. Decided to write something of my own. For me, most of 2014's great moments came in December. Hands down my greatest personal achievement of the year (if not my whole entire life to this moment): finishing a half-M. Nothing beats the insane feeling when I crossed the finish line, especially given the equally insane circumstances - breakfast-less, sleep-deprived, and to a small extent, intoxicated (thanks to another great moment the day before. Too much greatness.) The logical progression is to have a shot at the M. Not too soon I guess, but at least I've already got a date to replicate the half-M. And of course this time the plan will include proper sleep and breakfast and zero alcohol. Shortly after comes IHG. First time playing real competitive football with a bunch of awesome folks who always score in the last 10 minutes. The comeback kings, or more formally known as Pioneer Hall...