A New Environment

This post will be a long one, since more than 90% of it will be anime sceenshots. I'll also start posting random songs for download from this post onwards. It will be mainly in MP3 format, at bit rate 320kbps. I also hope you all can stop complaning in my tagboard, I will update it when I feel like it. =P I just realised this is only my 3rd post this year. hahaha

Skip the screen shots and MP3

 

WARNING!!! The following screen shots may contain M-15 pictures. If you are not 15 years of age or above, please LEAVE this site immediately.

NOTE!!! You are free to used these screen shots for your own use, but please give me some credit. DO NOT DIRECT LINK THOSE IMAGES!!! Upload it to your server if you want the pictures on your web site. If you cannot meet the requirements, LEAVE this site.

Gundam Seed Destiny:
Episode 49 (Rey)
Episode 50 (The Final Power)
Final Plus: The Chosen Future

Shuffle!:
Episode 1 (The man who could become god or devil)
Episode 2 (I wanted to see you)

Canvas2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~
Episode 1 (Forbidden Classic Red)
Episode 2 (Mandarin Orange Reunion)

 

NOTE!!! Songs downloaded from this site must be deleted within 24 hours unless you own a legal copy of the songs you download. DO NOT DIRECT LINK THOSE SONGS!!! Upload it to your own server if you want the songs on your web site. If you cannot meet the requirements, LEAVE this site.

Ignited (Gundam Seed Destiny 1st Opening)
Pride (Gundam Seed Destiny 2nd Opening)
Bokutachi no Yukue (Gundam Seed Destiny 3rd Opening)
Wings Of Words (Gundam Seed Destiny 4th Opening)
Reason (Gundam Seed Destiny 1st Ending)
Life Goes On (Gundam Seed Destiny 2nd Ending)
I Wanna Go To A Place..(Gundam Seed Destiny 3rd Ending)
Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (Gundam Seed Destiny 4th Ending)

 

Lets compare the differences between secondary school and polytechnic. I will be comparing the easy-to-spot ones first:

• No more school uniform! You can wear whatever you want to school, as long as it is not too revealing. There may be no more school uniform, but it seems that the dress code for most students is t-shirt with jeans (maybe mini-skirt for ladies). You will likely be attracting attention if you wear anything else.
• The campus is MUCH larger compared to my secondary school. A large campus will obviously not short of:
  • Food. There are 5 food courts, a mini restaurant and a small bar inside the campus. Food court, 2 McDonald and a KFC outlet within walking distance outside the campus. Though most of the food sold are as awful as those from my secondary school canteen, there are more kinds to choose from. If you are hungry when walking around inside campus, there should be a tidbits outlet nearby
  • Sports facilities. There's a stadium (which we're not allowed to use), basketball courts, tennis court, street soccer court, soccer field, swimming pool and gyms (you need to book beforehand to use them). The sports clubs get priority to use them, and we no longer have physical education, thus I find it a little wasted.
  • Study areas. There are wooden benches almost everywhere in the campus, most with power plugs just in case your notebook went low in power. Even some tables in the canteen have power plugs. They are good places for self study, do your project work, or even playing computer games (by yourself or with your friends through wireless LAN). You can always head for the library if you want an air-condition environment.
• A big campus can hold a lot of people, and that means more women. If there are more women, that means there won't be short of pretty and cute ones. That's simple logic. =P And it is not that I am a pervert or something, I just state the facts. Someone said once on IRC: when I went to college, staring at women was pretty much my declared major. Before you lay your hands on the good-looking ones, you make like to take note (quoted from my friend's blog): most are at np for 1 reason... most came with their BOYFRIEND!!!
• The campus I am in now is a wireless campus, and there is good and bad things about this "free" wireless network. A wireless campus means I need a notebook, and that changed my life quite significantly. The plus point is that I can now coordinate better with my guild/ kingdom mates in the-reincarnation/ utopia. The negative point is that the campus block ports to IRC and online game servers, and gives you a slow transfer rate if you download anything outside the local intranet. They even have trojans running around inside the wireless network (which I heard cannot be detected by norton antivirus provided by the campus).
• Now there isn't a need to reach campus before flag raising (I think it is 7.30am for most secondary schools, and there is no more flag raising), and no one can guarantee your class will end at 2pm everyday (or 12pm on fridays for my secondary school, or what time your secondary school used to end at). For me, classes can start as early as 8am till as late as 1pm, and it can end anytime from 12pm to 5pm. There are days which I only need to go to campus for only 2 hours, not forgetting days which last 8 hours long and only an hour of lunch time.
• No more textbooks! That was what I was told before I come to this polytechnic, and it is not entirely true. There are still modules which still requires me to buy textbooks, and the remanding modules I have to buy lecture notes for it. Those notes, bind together with a plastic sheet on top and a cardboard below using plastic bind, are not cheap (most cost almost the same as secondary school textbooks). I'll rather have those notes in book format.
• In polytechnic, you don't study the same subject for the next three years. The modules you take changes every semester (half a year). You will take 4-6 modules every semester, and it is very likely that the modules you take next semester have no relations to the modules you are taking now. With that amount of modules, it also means that tests and exams are more frequent. There will be a common test and a final exam every semester, not forgetting quizzes which can pop out along the way.
• Now there is no more youth day, teachers day, or any other school holidays. There is also no more (or very rare) sports day, 4.8km run, or large-scale school activities. Lessons will go on according to schedule, and if you want to attend a campus function, you have to skip your lesson. That's the "small price" to pay for having 18 weeks of holiday every year.

 

There are others not-so-significant differences in my opinion:

• Most lecturers in polytechnic are worse off compared to secondary school ones. Most have the attitude like: I come here, I teach, I finish my job. Whether you catch it or not, it is none of my business. It is amazing how they can teach in a noisy, only-a-few-paying-attention class. There are of course those who can grab the class attention under these circumstances, and they are equally amazing.
• There are only 2 classes for my course and the points we get for O-levels determine which classes we enter. A few "bad eggs" from the other class seemed to be not happy with my class, and tried to pick a fight at times. I don't know what grudge they hold against us, but I personally feel that they should stop using the fact that they are in a better class than us and try to show off. You are not much better if you ended up studying this course.
• The above is not the only "attitude" problem I face when I came here, there are classmates which I think have it too. Money borrowers who almost never return the money, telling [person a] off the moment [person a] do anything he/she don't like or thinks it is wrong, showing off expensive goods brought only a few days back, and a lot more. All these never really happen during my secondary school days, so I guess I will need to adapt to it. Just like when I just enter secondary school from primary school, you mean a lot of new faces in this whole new environment when you go from secondary school to polytechnic. I can still remember people hitting me anytime they want last time (I call them "bully" and report them to the teacher), but still ended up as friends.

 

As I said earlier on, the notebook changed my lifestyle.

• These are the computer games I played in the past half-a-year: (DON'T ASK ME FOR THE INSTALLER)
  • Need for Speed: Most Wanted
  • Age of Empire 3
  • Fifa Manager 2006
  • Fifa Football 2005
  • Half-Life: Counter-Strike 1.5/1.6
  • Simcity 4
  • Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne (mainly Defence of the Ancients and other custom map games)
  • Talesweaver (japanese) (Stopped till I have the time)
  • MapleSEA (Replayed it, lost interest of it after a few days)
  • Shattered Galaxy (Login once every 2 months)
  • Gunz (Flooded with hackers, almost give up)
• As you can see, most are graphic demanding ones. I also started following up on anime. I guess one of the main reason is the performance of my notebook, which is much better compared to my personal computer. My laptop also have double the amount of space my PC have. The other reason will be the sharing of the installation file among my classmates. Normally everyone will pooled in money to buy a single original copy, and everyone will install it, though you will need to find the crack of the file yourself. That is what I think a way to play at low cost without using the pirated version. Some also share the anime they just downloaded or got from someone else (it is hard to download such big files off the net most of the time).
• The reason why all these is possible my polytechnic, and not in schools (or at other places where laptop is not a must), is the portability of the laptop:
  • During secondary school days, if everyone want to play the same computer game which only you have the installer (and you are willing to lend), you can only lend it to one person for one day, hope he/she return the next morning, and lend to the next on the list who is interested. It will take at least a month to get only half the class installed with the game. You may op to burn copies for that installer, but you will need money for empty disc and game manufacturers today are not that stupid to let you burn images that easily. The scenario changes completely if everyone has a laptop and meet at the same place (classroom). Everyone should have installed the game get to play by the end of the day, or at more in a few days.
  • The same things goes for sharing anime or other series. If you have all Gundam Seed episodes (1-50) including the special episode, and someone wants it from you, you will need at least 17 empty disc for burning (and you may risk spoiling your CD-burner). 15 CD-R cost at least 10 bucks here, so unless you buy those disc in bulks, they may not be cheap. On the other hand, if both you and your friend has a laptop, and your friend have 12GB of free space in it, you can sent all to him in just a few minutes.
  • The portability of the laptop can save a lot of cost and trouble, and also increase the cases of illegal file sharing, something big companies are fighting for a long time. As long as no external network in involved, almost no traces can be found after file sharing is done. I think I can safely assume that my polytechnic itself is a major file sharing "server".
• The "portability" of the laptop also means that I can use the computer almost everywhere: anywhere in my house, in the campus, even on the bus. As long as I feel that I have the need to use it, and there is enough power inside the battery, I will switch it on and use it. It also affect my studies as I cannot resist doing something else instead of studying. Laptop on = games time.

 

Other things which I took note of outside the campus.

• Public transport. I suppose this is something no one can avoid (unless you are in a very rich family). My parents fetch me to school when I am still a primary school student, and my secondary school is just a few minutes walk away from my house. Now I need to leave my house at least an hour earlier in order to reach the campus on time. The following are my views on public transport (especially buses):
  • Due to the time my lesson starts, I have to squeeze together with other working adults on the bus at times. This caused me some "inconvenience". If I took service 156 at 8am, There are usually no more seats, and I have to stand near the exit (the back of the bus are filled up). When 156 reach Bishan MRT, almost everyone start making their way to the exit (Yes, there are only a few passengers are left on the bus after that). I cannot alight at Bishan MRT! There was once which I was forced out of the exit because there is no space for me to squeeze inside the bus, and the driver said I have to retap my EzLink card when I reboard. That is totally bullshit! If I don't have bus pass I will be repaying the fares again.
  • Patience pay off at times. I have to change to either service 151, 154 or 985 before I can reach the campus. 151 buses are single-decked, usually not air-conditioned, and pretty crowded. They also come earlier than 154 (double-decker, air conditioned, almost empty most of the time). Whenever 151 come, everyone will get on that bus while I wait for 154. =P
  • People are choosy, they choose seats on the bus. If possible, guys will choose to sit beside pretty girls and girls will choose to sit beside handsome boys. As long as I am awake on the bus, I have no luck of having pretty and young ladies sitting beside me. At times there can be empty seats beside me but no one will go for it, they will rather stand. I think I need to take up social psychology to understand people.
• Wireless Network. I don't know if the local internet service providers are behind this (they give away broadband router for free if you sign up or renew their plan), there is an increase of people with their own wireless network. When I first search for wireless network in my house, I can only find 7, and 4 of them are locked. Now my notebook can detect at least 20 wireless network, though those network receptions are low. It seems that people had become "richer", but as long as they don't lock it I have evil plans for it. *evil grin* I don't know if it is true, but my friend say he got warned by starhub for using other people wireless network. If you are going to tap a network, don't tap it too long.

That is so much I can recall for now. Till next time ~

Happy New Year. Welcome 2006

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain (1835-1910), American Author

 

Gundam Seed Destiny Episode 49: Rey

I forgot the order so I'll just put the screenshots anyhow

 

Gundam Seed Destiny Episode 50: The Final Power

 

Gundam Seed Destiny Final plus : The Chosen Future

 

 

Shuffle! Episode 1: The man who could become god or devil

 

Shuffle! Episode 2: I wanted to see you

 

Canvas2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~ Episode 1: Forbidden Classic Red