Kok Hong

Reference book on Electromagnetics

2008-11-19T03:00:00Z

Just strolling around the univ bookstore the other day, ...

Gauss's Law on electromagnetic fields...

Much alive

2008-11-18T12:06:44Z

I'm finally back here... I've just submitted my reports and sat for Mid terms (though only one subject - 1 more to come)

I have no idea where to start...

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basically, its autumn now ...

and the weather is crazy!! ..

Just yesterday I was sweating cos my room temperature was 28C ..

And this afternoon's temperature dropped about 15

and the wind is much crazier...

Anyway, many days ago, probably 3 weeks ago, a bunch of us went all the way up to Sadowara, which is a town up north, probably 50mins away by highway... just to have mcdonalds where Husna's friend works... then stopped by at Hisamine Park and played on the grass slope... before that we bought the sleds...

Then on the way back we visited the Uni farm where I had my practicum in summer ...

Just over the weekend last week, Univ festival was on... too busy to even attend. I was there only cos I had a shift for photo exhibition at the cafeteria, which was probably for 3 hrs.

Every year they have this girl costume show where they do all sorts of dances and sorts at the center stage...

And the other end is the much more serious stuffs...

Then round off the show with a fireworks display at the field ... Its great to live at the dorm... (though not 6th floor)

And dinner was Chinese Gyoza ... apparently the chinese students made too much and couldn't sell everything at the bazaar, so it was left for all of us for dinner.....

(photos taken with another camera)

Sometimes...

2008-11-13T08:28:48Z

Sometimes... sometimes... when it comes to certain stuffs....

I really wished I had a Japanese identity which I could make up...

Sometimes... I really wished I was in Tokyo instead...

*emo*

Re: I need a life, badly!

2008-11-04T13:45:59Z

This entry is in respond to Audrey Chow's latest post.

I thought it would be fun so I thought of having my own version of it.

I've been up to too many things lately.

I missed out a lot lately....

And I would like to emphasize that the statement "entering a National Univ in Jpn is extremely difficult (agree only up till here), but graduating from it is easy" ...is not right at all!!

That applies only to Japanese people...

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compared to Audrey's, my journey home is a lot shorter, and I didn't stop by at some random place to have a meal.

I went back to class to take a picture so that nobody noticed

The view as I walk along the corridor

yes... we get the message clearly....

Spot the illegally parked motorbike

Imagine yourself : this place in Spring

This place smells like a worn out shoe

god knows why that dress is there

ok... back to work

Customers' Thanksgiving

2008-10-30T14:00:01Z

Besides the fact that it is 99yen day (every Thursday is 99yen day…) Every 20th and 30th of every month, Aeon card members get 5% off from their purchases …

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I'm too poor to get myself an Aeon Credit card so I got myself a prepaid + point card

It works like Touch n Go ... with points and a lot cuter.

Instead of that boring beep tone... the cashier machine barks when your money is deducted.

Another brilliant way to save money!

Not using their plastic bags (which I haven't done for months...). From next month this supermarket will deduct 2yen from your purchases if you don't use their plastic bags ...

A photo taken on my way to my part time job interview... (which I was turned down)

don't mention ... I'm so sick of looking for part time jobs now...

Anyway... Happy Halloween!! ... not pumpkin but persimmon...

hehehe... life science

2008-10-28T16:08:18Z

I would never expect a textbook used in a university to look like this ...

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trust me... I would've gotten myself those manga reference books with topics like Quantum Physics or Semiconductors...

but I'm not interested...

New template

2008-10-23T12:33:12Z

I just needed a fresh look ... white is getting a bit dull ...

right stripper

2008-10-21T12:13:20Z

Some parts of my lab work can be seriously dead free.

At one point, I cycled home, ate some bread and brought my laptop to the lab.

Then typed my report until my battery died 3 hrs later…

And eventually I had a conversation with my groupmate …

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"... what's the difference between men's and women's lab coat? Why do they sell it separately in the bookstore?"

" ... the way it is buttoned up ..."

" ... but why??"

" ... good question .... hmm??"

And after coming home I realized I read about this somewhere some long time ago and so I dug out the book.

Its called 'Street Smart Trivia' ... which answers all the weird questions an alien would ask a Japanese explain the eccentrics of Japan.

" Traditional robes are worn the same way for both male and female; left part over the right. (Opposite is for the dead) As for western clothes, it is different (as portrayed in the illustration). First of all, left-over-right (men) is made easy for right handed people.

In olden days women still wore corsets and it was rare for a woman to be able to dress herself. Most women of the aristocracy had servants help them dress.

Another theory is that right-over-left (women) is more convenient for breast feeding (even lab coats??)

Lastly, a sexual theory : it makes it easier for a man to remove a woman's clothing ... (even lab coats??) "

hmmmmm... who said scientists live sexless lives?

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an update about what happened on my birthday which is more than a month ago. I have not received the photos because I didn't use my camera on that day. Anyway, this town is dead over summer and there were just 3 people around to celebrate... in an indian restaurant. Gee-san made tiramisu (or was it cheese cake) ... and we ate loads the end...lol

And received several text messages so at least I know I exist in the eyes of most people...gah...

enough talking... back to work

Food from abroad

2008-10-15T08:47:30Z

So Pja and May went home over summer and I asked them to get these for me and they did.

Then, weeks ago I received another parcel from my sis and her bf...

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Finally some REAL cereal ... and REAL cookies ...

fairy tales

2008-10-10T13:58:17Z

Finally its Friday...

For three days nights I've been stuck inside the lab doing my experiment ...

Well... not really night ... say... it begins at 1pm and worked all the way till 8pm....prof made us go home early probably because he didn't want us to suffer any longer maybe?

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its basically an experiment to find out the amount of fiber, protein and moisture inside a patch of grass and it is seriously and i ain't joking .... considerably little work but requires a lot of patience.

We spent more time waiting than actually doing anything else...

Waited for the machine to finish grinding our samples;

waited for everyone else to finish because there were only 3 grinders and there are 15 of us... 5 hrs

waited for the cans to dry in the oven ... three times 2 hours each time

waited for the cans to cool down inside the vacuum flask whatever you call that in English... 30mins twice

waited for our substance to pass through the filter papers... 4hrs

waited for many many many other things ....

more drying and cooling and boiling and evaporating coming soon....

So while waiting, what do we do? ...

We did our homework and other reports ... a few of them lined the stools and slept...

waiting for the substance to get through the filter paper... and we had to scrape the beaker till there is nothing left inside ...

waiting for the stuffs to boil in (simple said) soap water ...

while waiting, we did many other stuffs like playing with the pigs and goats ...

Why is this entry called fairy tale?...

There were 3 pigs and my friend started telling us a tale about the 3 little pigs...

Then there were 3 goats ... and came the story about the 3 goats crossing the bridge...

that's all ... (for now)

and this is just one third of the whole experiment...

only today i realized that i've not updated on what happened on my birthday, my global food delivery and many other stuffs ... gotta sleep now..bye

Japan's problem

2008-10-04T13:56:34Z

This is something you should see... its really cute.

I know it is sometimes really inappropriate to embed videos in my blog. This video is basically about the current problem in Japan - Low rate of self-support aka too much imports... The issue i hear in almost all lectures, which is caused by favor of western food, which leads to health problems, and lack of farmers due to aging society etc etc.

I've heard this somewhere....

" In a bowl of udon, the only ingredient which originates from Japan is the water for the soup ... "

anyway, I'm working on a few reports and I don't have much time to update this blog at the moment... see ya !

CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!

2008-09-27T06:49:36Z

" IT LOOKS LIKE A JUNGLE IN HERE !! "

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yeah it sure does....

*sweep*

there were 2 practices lately and both were carried out at the forest field center located at some town not far from here. First was Surveying which had to be cancelled halfway due to the approaching typhoon.

For Forest Surveying, we supposed to create a 20sq meter plot and survey the height and circumference of all the trees inside the plot, do many calculations and etc. Well anyway, I have to continue this job next week....

The following week, a totally different practicum (which was a few days ago) is a terrifying story.

Here's why...

(this was taken on the last day cos there was no chance where I could take any picture while the 'real thing' is on)

As soon as we arrived at the center, we were given our tools and began walking around inside the forest, collecting samples of leaves and branches. As we collect, we were told the names and the characteristics and we had to tag everything.

Tags, pen (covered pens are troublesome, so it has to be clicky-type), bug repellent, secateur, plastic bag

We brought them back and we were told to memorize the names of all 48 species of samples.

A test will be held that evening.

Repeat routine for Day 2 - SIXTY (60) species

Repeat on Day 3 - 40 more, but the test includes species collected on day 1 and 2;

Which means a total of 148 !!!

memorizing suffering on Day 3

Passing mark is 16/20. Which means, out of the 48 samples we've collected, I'll be given 20 samples and I pass for each day if I can recognize more than 16 of them.

My mark on the first day ... 15. I was told that I had failed the whole practicum. #`@' $%!!!!

And told to preserve all 148 samples which we collected in order to get my credit back

this reminded me of this

And so I did ...

I was so traumatized and I didn't have the mood to continue on Day 2 .. I mean, I've failed the whole practicum anyway... I did badly, only 7/20.

Well, my friend consoled me and I tried on the third day.

I got 15/20 again. I'm more than happy actually because its a randomly picked 20/148, which means i can remember around 70% of everything.

And my teacher told me it's okay.

Thank goodness he said so or I would've slapped him with a bunch of カラスザンショウ　(Japanese Prickly Ash Plant)

Well its really unfair. I come from a tropical land and never seen most of the trees here. Well, that may not be an excuse. Then the fact that they're all Japanese names and my prof can't expect me to memorize 50 names in 5 hours, (MAY not be an excuse too cos I study here anyway).

Cantonese : Lau hok sang dai sai meh??

Translation : Foreign student... so??

The most unfair part is the fact that the Japanese people had done the same thing in high school so they already recognized more than one third of the samples already !!

And ironically, back in secondary school, we were forced to memorize the ultimately ridiculously useless NILAI MURNI ... i didn't give a damn anyway and I am still amazed I got a B4 instead of a C or D ... hehe

leave the sad part of the practicum apart ...

Since its autumn now (northern hemisphere) , I shall introduce you some different kinds of maple leaves. It looks the same ... but there are differences. The main difference is their sizes. The 2 large ones are different in terms of their edges... one is wavy and the other isn't ...

The view from our room

This is a red pine ... there's black ... you can tell from the colour of it's trunk.

square rock

Then on the final day, we went trekking and the prof brought us to 2 spots, the younger part of the forest, and the older region. Then told us to list down 15 to 20 species we find in each of these regions. It was really fun, I would say...

Well honestly I did enjoy what I've done ... Its really rare for me to get a chance to trek around and learn so many new things. Its all worth it. And not just me, the most of us started looking at leaves and trees while walking home after this practice.

And I used to think people doing this are weirdos.... Now I'm turning into one...

You must be wondering, what in the world am I doing in University?? ... fishes, counting grass, feeding cows, now observe trees and leaves...

Well, I have no proper major yet ... Its only decided at the end of this year, so until now, I have to do everything.

I talked too much ... good night...

Tungking

2008-09-22T06:54:53Z

so I will finish the miscellaneous parts of the trip once and for all...

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One of the days when we rented a bicycle for 200yen for the whole day.

And we rented for 300yen on this day because we'll be back late

Shinjuku at night, Tokyo Dome City (where didn't pay to ride again)

View of Tokyo from Metropolitan Building (for free) , our bikes

Statue of Godzilla , Golden poop at Asakusa

Cute Machinery, Asakusa Kaminarimon and behind are stalls of bloodsuckers

Ueno Park, our bed at the YH

Dragging our bags to the YH in the rain, Yosakoi performance at Yoyogi Park

Rock Band performance at Yoyogi Park, Harajuku Takeshita Street

Metropolitan building (free entrance), Electrical store at Ikebukuro, tripod speakers for mp3 players

And the best of all, Shibuya...

Wangping

2008-09-18T08:53:00Z

Yokohama

basically its like this...

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We had to go to Yokohama because accomodation was full on one of the weekends. So we dragged our big butts and XL luggages to the station (without escalators) and left it in the lockers.

So while in Yokohama, we went to Kamakura because of some popular Buddha statue. We went to Kamakura and....

got a map and started walking for approx 3kms instead of taking a tram or a bus. good exercise and you can stop by at any interesting places anytime.

We didn't wanna pay 200yen just to get closer to a statue so this is all we could see...

the following illustration depicts how we stalked the Buddha.

tourists on budget ... cool eh...

then we continued walking towards this filthy beach

This was a hot day and we decided that we should take a tram back to the station. Packed with tourists and no air conditioning, we struggled our way back to Kamakura station. I sat down at the station, eating ice cream and suddenly the bag beside me started wriggling around and out came a dog's nose, sniffing my food.... hehehe

Came back to Yokohama and we walked around the harbor at night, without paying a single yen for any of the rides there, and also the street performer.

not that beautiful, its a saturday night on a public holiday,... not many people staying for OT.

Summer trip - 3rd leg

2008-09-12T11:48:30Z

(most of the photos here were taken by Ken Han)

It looks something like this.

YH means Youth Hostel, where we lived. We walked to Akihabara (2km) to save on transportation. Then took a train down to Tokyo station. There we walked around the station and finally made our way to the Imperial Palace.

Then, (instead of spending on subway), we walked to Ginza (1.2km)

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Our breakfast at Yoshinoya, which is the cheapest and best choice. Then off we walked to Akihabara.

Here we are at Akihabara. First store we entered was a grey-coloured-barrel-like-building called Yodobashi Camera. It sells everything that is related to electronics, from chips to massage chairs.

this is a waterproof case for ipod, for people who wants their music so badly, they bath with their ipods on

then we came across this thing which Ken Han dissolved into; Gashapon. He got himself a Vegeta figurine

these are all keyboard protectors. I have one

this is a forest (literally) of tripods.

this is what I've noticed about Akihabara. Its seriously creepy to look at the people here. The men all have 3 distinguished looks. One is portrayed above, fat, giant tv screen spectacles, and horrible sense of fashion, which is the majority. The other kind of look is small and skinny, also in spectacles and usually a bagpack containing god knows what, and one more would blur tourists, like us. Girls on the other hand, all have 2 different looks. The pretty ones dress up like maids, and the rest look like Ugly Betty

see what i meant

So off we went to Central Tokyo, on my beloved Yamanote Line train... so musical.. so much noise... still love it.

And we arrived at Tokyo station.

Guess everyone is back from the Obon holidays...

So Ken Han was overjoyed to find a place to sit just outside the station. And we sat, and I started looking for the palace in my cute little map

And we're here... this is somewhat the closest we can get. Japanese people don't laugh at us (unlike Malaysians laughing at tourists at the Istana). Japanese people come in tour groups!!

Then we walked to Ginza, which is also nearby.

I took so many pictures, none of them looked good. So I shall draw what my photo was supposed to look like

There you go....

We're tourists on budget... we can't even afford to sit in a proper restaurant, we stood... eating buckwheat noodles ...

then we strolled around, looking at the stores from the outside. Those stores... my goodness... their aircond were all set to full blast!! ... Oh, we did enter one store... Apple store... not a fruit stall... the one which sells computers.. you know...

sigh....

and we're here! at the sony building... I am never a fan of Sony. It works like this, Ken Han (user of Sony) had to please me (Mac user) by entering the Mac store, so... vice versa.... hahaa...

And we went home... That's the display screen inside the train of Yamanote Line. Its so cute and so detailed... I could've hugged it...