I was very touched with the scene starting at about 13:43.

ZQ came back to Pittsburgh for a day (yesterday - today). We had dinner with him last night, and ran into him again at the NSH Atrium just before he left for KPIT to go back home. I guess it wasn't tt long ago, but it felt like old times. Of course, he came and picked up his enormous stack of mail from me, and two new ones came in for him today AFTER he left. And it felt kinda sad when I told him that "since the last time I saw you off at the airport, I hvn't left this place" haha...

And JK you sneaky fella :p haha but congrats, very happy for u :)

That's 3 deaths in the past week. First, Dr Balaji. Didn't actually know much of him, but from all I've been hearing he was a decent man. Now my GRC is short of a MP.

Second, Ms Tan Mingwei. Killed in a hit-and-run accident in London. I don't know her personally, although I've been told that I did meet her once about 2 yrs ago. She most definitely didn't deserve to die like this. The physics aside, I absolutely cannot imagine anyone going through the ordeal of being dragged 2 km down the road. And again, I'm terribly sorry for your lost. May she rest in peace.

Third, Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. Well, in a way, I guess this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. But I have to admit that I quite liked her. How she has always conducted herself properly, and never (at least, not that I know of) got involved in any controversies whatsoever. While she never played a direct part in any of it, traces of her can probably be found all over Singapore's modern history. And it's very interesting how, in The Straits Times report about her life, there is absolutely NOTHING mentioned between 1965 (helping draft the separation agreement) and 2003 (the stroke she suffered in London, and, if I rem correctly, there was a small public outcry about how a SIA plane flew specially to London to bring her back for treatment. I thought that outcry was absolutely ridiculous, and anyway, it was unfounded since it wasn't at public expense). It's amazing and really rare that someone who has actually done a lot doesn't need nor want any credit.

It's just sad. Really sad. These were all good people. Suddenly having not eaten anything from Monday dinner to Tuesday supper (and only realising it at Tuesday dinner time) doesn't seem like a huge thing at all.

Just when I thought this day couldn't have sucked more, something good happened on the other side of the world to remind me that there's still some good things left in this world.

Congrats WH :)

我好喜欢她的耳环。

明月几时有
把酒问青天
不知天上宫阙
今夕是何年

我欲乘风归去
唯恐琼楼玉宇
高处不胜寒
起舞弄清影
何似在人间

转朱阁
低绮户
照无眠
不应有恨
何事长向别时圆

人有悲欢离合
月有阴晴圆缺
此事古难全
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟

我欲乘风归去
唯恐琼楼玉宇
高处不胜寒
起舞弄清影
何似在人间

转朱阁
低绮户
照无眠
不应有恨
何事长向别时圆（月时圆）

人有悲欢离合
月有阴晴圆缺
此事古难全
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟

中秋节快乐。

It's a nice song. What I didn't know until Melvin Dong pointed it out to me early this morning was that the MV was mostly shot in Pittsburgh. I just re-watched it, and I totally believe him now.

Sometimes you get this sense that the people in this country enjoy too much freedom. Kinda sounds odd doesn't it? Is there even such a thing as too much freedom?

But when you have ridiculous pastors making ridiculous remarks and planning ridiculous events, and even more ridiculously, when the government actually can't do anything about it, I really can't help but wonder if these people know what is called exercising your freedom responsibly.

I just find it kinda ironic that for all the talk about this being the land of the free, your freedom can so easily be trampled on by someone else exercising his own freedom.

Seriously, I guess this is (part of the reason) why we have such a thing as the Sedition Act.

The following song came to Sir in a dream last night, and I'm simply too amused to pass it up. So here it is (I've taken the liberty to correct a grammatical mistake).

My signed int flows over the ocean
My Bitlab lies broken in C
My signed int flows over the ocean
Oh bring back my Java to me

Background: Bitlab is the first 15-213 (Systems Programming) assignment that requires us to perform tasks such as integer comparison or negation etc using only bit ops (or, and, xor etc). There's also the need to deal with integer overflows, again only using bit ops. Of course, if you think about it, the code would have been pretty much the same whether it was written in C or Java, but this song is still amusing.

City Lights from Sing City 2, by the Singaporeans at UPenn. Reminds me a lot of home, even though the song was about another city (the City of Brotherly Love of course).

City lights, are city bright
Glow-worms and office lights
Shining bright
When lights are off at home

City girls, are pretty girls
Dressed up and spiffy girls
Princesses in castles of
Their own

And ain't it the funniest thing
That in cities like these
You got hustlin' and bustlin'
But loneliness disease

City nights, not silent nights
Are laughter or bar-room fights
The sirens squeal out
Over my neighbour's TV

City fog, thick'ning fog
Settles on building tops
Can't see more than half a block
Away

And ain't it the funniest thing
That in cities like these
You got hustlin' and bustlin'
But loneliness disease

And I stopped for a word
With the main on the street
I said "Brother, what weather"
He just scowls at me

City of
Brotherly Love
What are you dreaming of
If you would dream of love
Maybe there'd be
Maybe there'd be
Maybe there'd be
No loneliness disease

You know, I used to dislike the fact that Singapore was always so bright and all. But right now it's the bright lights of Singapore that I do miss.

With reference to this entry, I just got an e-card congratulating me on my excellent academic performance for the last semester. My GPA was a good 0.16 lower than what it was last year for crying out loud.

So it's not alright for me to get a GPA that's higher than what I got last sem? -confused-