Monday

What a great day, some nice weather in contrast to the scorchers we've had in the past few weeks.
So, it looks like I've got the entire holidays right in front of me! My exams just ended last Friday, so I guess todays the official start :)

Time for my usual holiday wish-list, hope I don't blow it playing games again like I did last time...

• GSOC! This is very exciting, I get to work on a open-source games project. Having to write code that will be used by others... is kind of an honour. So far, I've only done personal stuff and school projects, which I assume they throw in the virtual bit bucket after grading.
• There's some friends who want to start a club in NTU to advocate open-source. Not sure if I'll be roped in the committee, but I wouldn't mind helping out in some of the activities.
• Study...? There's a lot of stuff that I want to learn before entering the working world, especially math which I've never been good at. I've some books on statistics and calculus, fundamental stuff which I've been neglecting for too long.
• Get some exercise...
• Get some more music and books
  

Marketing complete

Just finished the presentation, we got a B, which is decent for the effort which we put in :). Now, I'm left with the AI assignment, getting an attachment, exams and then I can start to enjoy the holidays!

Todo for holidays

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Game prototype
3. Upgrade hardware, for:
4. PC games (too many to list), but there's also some Wii games like:
5. Smash Bros., Fire Emblem, Mario Galaxy
6. Iain M. Banks novels
7. Plenty of movies
8. Try/Buy Sam n Max, Aquaria, Audiosurf, anything Indie
9. Get new music

So much to do, perhaps I should get started right away.

Firefox Beta 4...

performs really badly with Chinese language sites. On linux at least.

Problems

• Slow to load
• Slow to scroll
  
• Formatting out of place

Otherwise, it's great.

Currently a little stressed by marketing presentation tomorrow.

Today was fun. Had lunch and just hung around school preparing the presentation. Then met with family for dinner. We talked to Benny, the owner of that restaurant. I'm tired, so my sentences are shorter.

edit: Had to install the proper chinese language fonts to get smooth performance. So apparently Firefox has some builtin support for chinese? Cool, I guess.

Updating for the sake of it

Now I'm going to sleep.

I need it.

I've been working late nights for a week, submitting school assignments. Last monday I submitted 3 assignments. AI, Networking and Software Engineering. Bang bang bang.

On Tuesday it was the Marketing presentation. I wouldn't say it was bad, but the tutor said it was. :) Two of our four team members failed to turn up, leaving me and another guy to basically improvise our presentation from whatever slides they gave us. Fun in a twisted way.

On Wednesday I stayed in school to work on the ALICE game. I copied the wrong file over and found out when I got home. My friend then said the school purges the accounts at the end of the day, so I spent the night redoing the same work again. Didn't take as long as I feared actually.


Next up: Marketing plan, Last AI assignment, Exams
But before that: Sins of a Solar Empire? Should I?

What's been going on

Applying for GSOC (fingers crossed).
Got a driver's license.
Got an Eeeeeepc.
Abandoned this blog (until now).
Exams coming up!
Using this post as an excuse to procastinate (again).

Exams are over!

Exams are finally over! Or at least, they will be after this next paper, in 2 hrs time. I can't help but think of the holidays now:

1. One-week school project, 9-to-5 daily
2. Practice for driving test
3. Train for IPPT

So much to look forward to!

I love you Grandma

My grandma passed away this morning at 2.15 am. She died of cancer.

I just needed someplace to write this. My grandma was a very kind person. Even up to yesterday, on the hospital bed she was asking questions about us, about our well-being, showing the level of concern for others that really made her special.

When I was younger, during primary school days, I would stay at her house when both my parents were working. From what I remember, I always liked it there. I loved staying there, because my grandma and aunt were such warm-hearted, caring people. Back then, she was always talking to me in Hokkien, and I was always unable to reply because my dialect was so poor.

There was a sense of urgency in her yesterday. She wanted everything to be just right, and she commented on everything around her. Her blanket had to be covering her feet, which were already cold, but not all the way. The table had to be shifted to the right position. A box of tissues had to be placed next to her. We put one on both sides just to be sure. :)

She was admitted more than 2 weeks ago. She had complained about her swelling foot. Who knew that it was a symptom of cancer? But other signs were there. She was already barely eating food for some time, due to the tumour in her stomach. By the time the pain starts, it's already too late.

The Lord works in mysterious ways. I was praying for her sustenance, at least long enough for my aunt from Sydney to arrive, but when her condition became critical yesterday we all feared the worst. My mother told me that she went peacefully, while we were asleep.

God bless you Grandma, you are surely in a better place now.