Image Processing tutorial n Asian BBQ!!

There was a early Image Processing tutorial at 10am... i chose a pretty nice spot when i reached the classroom.. one with a very big window looking out to a nice tree n a nice sky..

a perfect place to daydream n drift away if the lesson gets too boring.. haha
took some pictures of the class..

every classroom in KTH has four sliding whiteboards or blackboards.. so that the teacher need not erase everything to make space for his next writings.. pretty efficient.. n for those classrooms with a chalkboard.. there would be a cabinet for them to wash their hands of chalk when they r done.. but this classroom doesnt since no chalk is involved..

Me "hard" at work in the tutorial class...



This freaking course txtbk that i tok abt in my previous blog post costs 650kr (abt 160 Sing dollars) in the sch bookshop.. but when my gf checked out the prices of the same txtbk for me in Singapore.. it costs just 38 Sing dollars!! (abt 5 times cheaper!!) wah.. my gf will be shipping LL n my books over together with the library bks that the 4 of us so stupidly lost on our trip last Easter.. hopefully, we will be able to sell the txtbk after we have used it.. haha even if i sell it for 400 kr (100 Sing dollars) i will still make a profit of abt 40 dollars after factoring in the shipping costs.. :P

after the lesson, LL n I went to the student room, Elektro to have our lunch... we bought some cheap pizza from the fridge.. abt 19kr i tink.. remember my previous blog post abt this room?.. take a look here if u dont..Elektro

We heated up the pizzas at the kitchen microwave..

We were tempted to try another snack in the fridge so we paid n took it out to the heated b4 digging in... tastes pretty good

After this "sumptous" meal, we proceeded to the library where we used the computer there to pass time b4 going for the Asian BBQ at 4pm.. i was tinking why would anyone do a BBQ at 4pm.. i guess i m too used to BBQ-ing at nite in Singapore.. n BBQ in the open during a rather cold Spring.. well thats a first for me too..


It was a pretty unique experience.. Spring isnt getting any warmer.. the temperature range is around 7 degrees that day.. haha not really the appropriate temperature to BBQ outside.. it was freezing.. its ok to walk abt in this temperature but definitely not staying at one spot waiting for your food.. n the wind is terrible n strong...
THe food..

Each of us paid 40 kr (10 Sing dollars) for this BBQ.. it was a pretty alrite price considering how expensive meat is in Sweden.. i heard from Eric, one of the organisers, that they bought abt 800 kr of food.. thats a lot..
Some Korean ladies, there could be gers of other nationality inside this pic but i m not very sure..

The mostly SIngaporean clique..

basically we were sort of in our own cliques.. because there were 3 places available to BBQ food.. ours is a portable BBQ pit.. n the fire is not very strong.. so it took quite some time.. our group consists of mostly Singaporeans, Malaysian and some Chinese n Taiwanese.. so we spoke Mandarian most of the time.. one of the other clique where the fire is much stronger spoke mostly Japanese or Korean.. haha interesting..
THe Chinese speaking BBQ pit.. haha


THis is the first BBQ i have been where:
- i ate rice using a plastic cup.. Ian, one of the orgainsers, say to bring our own utensils for this BBQ.. i m too lazy to go to LL's corridor kitchen to get the utensils so we improvise by using our plastic cup to scoop up rice n eat by pouring it down our mouth as well as drink fruit punch n Coke with it..
- i see everyone gathering around the BBQ pit at all times instead of sitting n lazing around waiting for food... i guess in such a cold weather, its best to be near the fire..
- i felt so super cold.. with the cold wind blowing.. n my nose dripping n my hands close to the fire..
- we all encountered a drunk Swedish guy who tried to fool us by keep saying he was a student here.. n tried to take some of our food.. he tried to pay us a measly 3 kr but we rejected him.. he was pretty crazy, kept toking abt some nuclear holocaust.. we ignored him n some nice Japanese guy tried toking to him for most of the time until he left.. we heard that Jap guy even gave him some money... he chose the wrong BBQ to mix in.. this is an Asian BBQ n he doesnt look a bit Asian at all..

well.. after the BBQ, LL, dom n I went to SC's place where we watched Constantine.. a pretty confusing but interesting movie.. it feels as complicated as the Matrix to me.. i guess the reason why i tink of Matrix is becos Keanu Reeves is the main actor in Constantine as well.. by the time it ended, it was already near 12mn.. i took the bus back to my place n reached at around 1am..

Tiring Day.. Slingshot Swedish Movie

Took the Swedish Culture class today at 5pm.. first hour was a super duper boring lecture which i couldnt really bother to listen n understand.. its abt the Swedish model of politics... how the trade unions, capitalist big companies n the govt made some form of a deal in the 1930s to keep the country in stability.. the trade unions will agree to rally their workers to vote the Social Democrats (one of the political parties in Sweden n the one in power during the deal) into the govt for the next few years n the capitalist companies will also support the govt.. the trade unions will not arrange too many strikes or demonstrations against the capitalist companies employing their members while the capitalist companies will have a favorable pay scheme for the workers.. the govt in return will grant these 2 parties concessions in terms of workers' welfare n lower tax rate for the capitalist companies.. this triangle r/s seem to work fine in theory but the problems r that the trade unions represent mostly metal working men (which is the biggest industry then) n the capitalist companies r really major ones.. thus those small n medium size companies get left out of this deal n their employees do not really enjpy favorable concessions from the govt.. this model finally faded away in the 1960s with the big companies going international.. as a result, the dreaded issue of outsourcing occurs n the special r/s bet. companies n trade unions come into conflict.. n that spells the end of this triangle r/s..

there seems to be attempts at achieving a newer Swedish model.. but it takes time.. yah i tink i remembered all these parts.. haha to tink back, actually not bad of me to remember so much..

after this boring lecture, we moved on to our smaller groups to our seminars where we discussed stuff more in detail.. the seminar was a joke as there r 3 groups, A ,B and C in each seminar team.. but the average attendance of each group is abt 2 out of 5 so in the end, we were divided into 2 smaller groups of 3 to discuss.. pretty boring as well..

after this seminar, we proceeded next to see a Swedish movie, Slingshot..

This cover picture is from one of the scene of the movie.. Roland, the boy in the pic is looking up the skirt of a ger with a lit matchstick.. This ger, lets boys look up her skirt for some money.. Roland earned some money to buy his bike but however was told that it was sold.. he then decided to spend his money on that ger instead as he was pretty curious abt wats under the skirt.. when he first went in, he said he cant see a thing, the ger passed his a matchstick n warned him against burning her.. haha.. of course the show is not just abt this but this is one of the funny scenes in the movie..

It was a pretty good movie.. very interesting.. Synopsis as below.. if there is a chance, one shld watch it.. of course with English subtitles..

Ake Sandgren's "The Slingshot" is a moving, poignant film. Set in Stockholm in the 1920's, Sandgren envelopes us into the world of a twelve year old boy, struggling to find his own way in the world. With his Jewish Mother and Socialist Father, life is not easy, but with a little help from his imagination, turns - what to an adult is taboo - into a slingshot. This is touching, moving, poignant, melancholic, happy and humourous. Ake Sandgren takes us away from ourselves and a glimpse back on childhood, and the relentless ache of growing. Sandgren uses some delightful details and a sophisticated use of imagery.

The movie title "Slingshot" came from the condom slingshots that Roland was making from condoms he took from his mum who was selling them illegally to other women.. it was banned under Swedish law to use condoms during the 1930s..

yah thats all for the movie.. by the time, all this ended, its abt 9pm liao.. by the time i reach home, its pretty late.. tiring..

Interesting article on NUSSU Hooked..

Well forgot to check the course website of one of my modules.. turns out there is a lecture at 10am today.. i thot it was on Friday as it usually was.. nvm.. :p

Received an email from the lecturer from another module at 11am then the lecture scheduled at 3pm will be cancelled.. good good..

Well.. came by this interesting article found in the NUSSU E-magazine, Hooked.. seems pretty related to the recent NUS lecture proposal saga..

Dear Miss-Know-It-All,

Do you know the feeling when you really like someone but you’re too much of a wuss to do anything about it? Well that about sums up the way I’ve been feeling this whole semester. There’s this chick in my lecture that I totally dig. She’s pretty and her dressing’s way hot. I so want to ask her out or even talk to her. But I can’t seem to pluck up any courage whatsoever when I’m around her. I don’t even think she knows I exist! What do you suppose I do? Do you think I should just go up and ask her out? Or come up with some lame pick-up line maybe? Or should I just talk to her, start it off as friends? I don’t know what to do! And I don’t think I have the guts to anyway. Is there some other way? Maybe an e-mail or is that too psycho-stalker style? In fact, I’ve heard about some guys declaring their feelings in lectures like after their presentation and stuff or pakat with the lecturer. Should I try that? Do you think that’ll work?

Unloved

Dear Unloved,

Your last option of trying out what I call ‘lecture theatre proposals’ is frightening and sad, to think that NUS guys have got it so wrong in getting us girls. While we appreciate that you are trying to be unique, I must say it borders on being humiliating for both parties.
Firstly, let Miss Know-It-All share a story I heard directly from my friend, who was in the lecture theatre and is a friend of the one who received one of these ‘lecture theatre proposals’ (*grin, you get the picture!). It’s a true tale and very scandalous! Well, okay… More disastrous than scandalous.
Miss Purple Sweater (name changed for *duh reasons) is a pretty business school student who (unfortunately) caught the eye of a guy who pretty much thinks like you do on the ways of female courtship.
After his presentation, this romantic Romeo (a year 4 arts student) gushes his liking for a girl in a purple sweater telling her that he really likes her dressing and that he hopes to get to know her better and requests to take her out to lunch (after the lecture presumably). The little downfall to this pretty full-proof plan would probably be the fact that
a) He didn’t care to mention this to the lecturer, who in typical Singaporean-old-school fashion reprimanded the poor Romeo and in addition to that took down his and the girl’s name down (for what we have no idea!)
b) The poor girl was so taken by surprise and shocked and devastated by the suddenness of things (and not to mention the horrible humiliation) by this, -- did I mention sudden? very impulsive professing of liking to her plus the fact that she somehow inadvertently gets into trouble with the lecturer for no apparent reason and not to mention gets a whole new level of popularity (and sympathy) that is entirely unwanted!
So it wasn’t really quite surprising that the girl rejected him and if she could, would choose to never come to school anymore or would have at that moment, preferred to have a paper bag over her head.

Later on the same day, during an engineering lecturer, some science guy decided to declare his affections on power point as well, and even got the lecturer to make a speech on his behalf. Needless to say, the poor girl was mortified by the sudden unwanted attention. Miss Know-It-All even got to speak to this lecturer to kay po a bit. The lecturer said that he didn’t expect for this to go so far and sounded regretful that he let it happen.
You see, it did no good. Both girls rejected the guys (they’re nice girls, but you can’t force them to want you just because you made a grand gesture of ‘lecture theatre romance’).
So, what can we learn from these two incidents?

1) DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT TRY THIS AGAIN unless you thrive on getting rejected publicly and in some sick, masochistic way like to see someone cringe and traumatized by your declaration of love.
2) Even with the help of your lecturers, it’s no sure route to success.
3) Try smaller steps than grand gestures.
4) Be yourself. If you’re shy and can’t go up to her/him, going about it in the exact opposite way is not going to help!

So dear ‘Unloved’, clearly you’re not the only one out there who’s trying to get that girl. I hope you really don’t try this stunt of being Mr. Romeo because it’s tried and tested and the current rate of success is one big fat zero, nada, zilch geddit? Instead of publicly humiliating yourself and the girl, the best way to go is personally and from the heart. Girls can’t bear to say no to a sweetie who’s sincere. But don’t be too intense all she’ll just think you’re psycho.
You must be thinking, "don’t girls want elaborate, on the spur, spontaneous gestures?" Well as much as they may be flattering, they’re only for show and are clearly superficial. In fact if you do get the girl that way, it just goes to show that she’s into getting all the attention and likes her ego being inflated. So, if you really like her, save the grand gestures for when you do get her and surprise her with your spontaneity when you’re together, but for now, stick to no-frills methods and you’re sure to clinch her (we hope)!

First lesson of Period 4: Image Processing

Got up pretty early for my first lesson in KTH for Period 4..
Lecturer was pretty boring but the subject is interesting..

He showed us some optical illusions.. interesting..
Optical Illusion 1:
R the Red Lines in the picture on the left straight?
Optical Illusion 2:
What do u see in the picture on the right..

This stupid course txtbk costs 650kr.. (over 150 Sing bucks).. i tink this bk would cost at most 50 dollars at most in Singapore

Dinner for today... (tabao-ed from DS place..) nice chapati n chicken patti n some vege..


Some more pics of the dinner at Irene's place yesterday.. (haha u actually get to see the delicious food in these pics)



Wont be going much for the next few days.. sch starts liaoz.. haha n lazy to plan next trip.. see if any idea for a trip crops up, then we will get going..
a bit strange though, last period was the cold winter n its the worst time to go out but we went everywhere.. this period is the warm spring, ideal period to get out of the house but i felt rather lazy to get out (must be due to travel fatigue)..

so wont be much exciting pics for the coming blog entries.. maybe food stuff.. haha
but still can check out my past blog entries with regards to my Euro trip.. still updating now.. 20% done.. (4 days of travelling in Paris updated)

Nice Dinner at Irene n JiaKai place..

hmm.. been rather busy procrastinating n at times updating my blog of my Euro trip the past Easter holiday.. did some grocery shopping some days back.. bought quite a lot of stuff..

2 onions.. (the rest r all rotten or dont noe wat lah.. these 2 looked the best..)
3 Multi vitamin juice.. (ITS 3 for 10 kroners!! thats abt 2.50 Sing dollars.. Cheap!!)
a very big slab of butter!.. can last til august.. good enuff for me.. but its whute butter.. shld be the same lah hor..
big slab of cheese.. i tried this b4 n it was good n the cheapest..
n finally 20 eggs that will last til 14th April.. haha n that means i have to finsih them asap.. maybe 1 per day.. (omelette uses 2 eggs.. )quite cheap as well.. 1 egg for 1 kroners (0.40 Sing cents) not very cheap compared to Singapore but this is the cheapest here liao..
n all these just for 71 kroners.. (less than 20 Sing bucks..) i tink thats all the groceries i need for the period til i leave for Singapore.. except the eggs lah..
Meat i bought a lot in London.. 1kg of bacon n 2.5kg of chicken..(total of abt 15 Sing bucks) very cheap compared to meat here in Sweden..
Nice.. my fridge is fully stocked now.. good..



The sun is setting at a much later time compared to when i first arrived..

the picture above shows the amt of sunlight we get at 7pm.. previously when i just arrived, it sets at abt 3pm.. haha n according to locals.. the sun is gonna set at 10pm n gets up at 1am in summer.. cool..

anyway now Singapore time is just 6 hours away from Stockholm time instead of 7 previously.. thks to Daylight Savings Time (DST)..

Some reasons why we have DST:
One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time (DST) is that it saves energy. Energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year. When we go to bed, we turn off the lights and TV.
In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for lighting and small appliances, such as TVs, VCRs and stereos. A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs in the evening when families are home. By moving the clock ahead one hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day.

Daylight Saving Time "makes" the sun "set" one hour later and therefore reduces the period between sunset and bedtime by one hour. This means that less electricity would be used for lighting and appliances late in the day.

We also use less electricity because we are home fewer hours during the "longer" days of spring and summer. Most people plan outdoor activities in the extra daylight hours. When we are not at home, we don't turn on the appliances and lights.

In the winter, the afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset by the morning's need for more lighting. In spring and fall, the advantage is less than one hour. So, Daylight Saving Time saves energy for lighting in all seasons of the year except for the four darkest months of the year (November, December, January and February) when the afternoon advantage is offset by the need for lighting because of late sunrise.

In most of the countries of western Europe, including the countries that are members of the EU, Daylight Saving Time:

begins at 1 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday of March and
ends at 1 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday of October

Spring is coming or rather its spring now.. daytime temperature is around a comfortable 14 degree celsius compared to the crazy -5 or -8 degree celsius that we had in winter.. but the nights r still rather cold.. haha ..
Today for the first time since i m in Europe, i didnt wear my thermal pants (just my pair of jeans) when i went to Vastra Skogen where Irene n Jiakai(JK) were having a gathering.. it felt cold but it was alrite..

We had dinner with Angie (Irene's friend) who came all the way up here from Lund in South Sweden.. we had a nice meal of curry chicken n some veggie n there r even desserts.. nice..

well. this picture SC is supposed to take of me with the dessert n the gers around me but aiyah he missed that.. but its still fine.. haha

haha Mean Gers!!.. trying to punch me!!


Had a very full n good dinner at DS's place yesterday nite.. tabao some back for dinner as well.. maybe will heat them up for tomolo's dinner.. haha

so many things to say abt my Europe trip during Easter but rather lazy to update.. now just done abt 10% of my trip.. 2 out of 21 days done.. 90% more to go..

Starting sch again tomolo.. a new period.. classes start at 10am for Image Processing.. ok hopefully this period.. i learn more things from sch (too slack; learnt a lot but thru my travelling around).. but also travel around at the same time
Dom went back n calculated the number of days we travelled around last period.. My touring days for the last 3 months are a whopping 33 DAYS!!