Karma has an interesting (read: annoying) way of biting back. in the previous post from last week, i was just saying how relieved i was that i didn't have to handle safety lead duties. and wouldn't you know it - my professor spoke to me and gave me a new appointment, which is assistant safety lead. while i'm a little bummed, it's still not the top job, so i'm somewhat relieved. that appointment might come later after my friend graduates, but let's not look too far ahead. for now, my job scope includes chemical storage and inventory. it's troublesome and annoying, but still manageable. just have to find where the huge roll of barcode tape went, and designate certain bottles of chemicals for more rigorous tracking.

the past week wasn't really that eventful. lab work as usual (less NMR) for the weekdays, and rotting on the weekends. somehow, this was one of those weekends where i had absolutely nothing planned on saturday. so i quite literally spent the whole day rotting in bed. FINALLY got a couple of errands done on sunday, namely getting a haircut and buying an iphone cable. seems like my regular ah beng phone shop closed down, so i went to this other one which was a 5-minute walk away. it's been there for a while, and i've known about its existence, but i never really went in to take a look. turns out the owner's taiwanese. thanks to exposure via my taiwanese postdoc, i picked up on his accent quite quickly. i've not met a not-nice taiwanese person so far. then again, my sample size is like 4, so there's still quite a large margin of error.

lab work is becoming annoying. no...rephrase. working in lab is becoming quite annoying. the recent clamp down on safety has resulted in everyone walking on eggshells, and being extra-vigilant. not that that's an entirely bad thing, but it does get tiring to maintain a state of heightened awareness throughout the day. i'd rather follow the rules because i know that they're sensible and good for me, not because failure to comply would result in harsh penalties. ok, to be fair, there are certain safety rules which i bend and break from time to time, but only because i know that i'm careful and the odds of me getting hurt are low. like for instance, the NMR thing. my sample is in a closed tube, which is not subjected to any kind of pressure or force. all NMR involves in putting the tube in a holder, putting the tube + holder into the machine, and sitting at a computer to input commands. odds of anything happening are low at best, i'd say. so there actually isn't much reason for lab coat, goggles and all that...even long pants, for that matter. yet, the rules are set as such. nothing i can do about it i suppose.

oh. from last post, is there such a thing as being too safe? my answer is yes. sometimes, you need to draw a line between taking precautions and being kiasu. for instance, if i were cooking at home, would i go to the extent of wearing chain-mail gloves to avoid being cut, or safety goggles just in case the oil splashed up and hits my eye? probably not. because i know that if i'm careful, the odds of either of those things happening are low. although i would take basic precautions such as only frying dry food, and perhaps wearing normal clothes so that i don't get burns in sensitive areas. one of the other grad students in lab was quite annoyed by the safety people, because their level of kiasu-ness was bordering on ridiculous! they grilled us for really stupid things, like having MSDS for harmless substances, and modifying the risk assessment for specific reagents. for instance, if i were to replace triethylamine with diisopropylethylamine, i see no need to create an entirely new risk assessment. both are organic bases, and both are corrosive. so in my mind, we're still covered. apparently the safety people see things differently. but well. i guess they're just doing their job, because if anything happens, they'll be the first to be in the line of fire.

thankfully, my suspension from NMR is almost over. it's also sped up by friday being a public holiday. long weekend! i'm pretty sure that we have mahjong plans, though the date is uncertain. saturday looks packed, with the potential of 2 coffee sessions in a single day. will probably have judo as usual on sunday, where i think we'll meet up with a SEA games announcer. he needs a quick course in the referee rules and technical aspect. let's see how that goes. coming back a bit, there's judo tomorrow, and dinner with the judo elders as usual. only this time, we've got a special guest. although i've heard a lot about him and have had some indirect correspondence through email, i've never actually met him before. so that's something i'm looking forward to.

-random thought of the day: Please let my reaction work!-

Rough start to this week. got busted quite badly for using the NMR while in inappropriate attire. in my defense, it was saturday, and in the evening. unfortunately, the safety people decided to be on-the-ball and check the CCTV footage. on the one damned weekend when i decided to be hardworking! must be uncle murphy. end result: 2 weeks' suspension from NMR facilities. it bugs me quite bad because NMR is one of my key characterization methods. i mean, if i were in a non-synthesis lab, i wouldn't care about the suspension. likewise, if i were suddenly inexplicably suspended from the TEM facility, i'd like to find out why, but it wouldn't affect my research at all. unfortunately, actions have consequences, and although i'm not happy about it, fact remains that i'm in the wrong. that severely reduces my bargaining power. well...i won't die. there are ways to get NMRs done without me being physically present.

but more than that, it feels like i've let my professor down, somehow. if you know the whole story behind my previous professor leaving, and me coming to speak to this current professor, i essentially owe him a huge debt of gratitude for taking me in and placing his trust in me. and by causing problems for him, it feels like i've betrayed that trust. and it sucks. but well...the damage is done, and i can't take it back, as much as i wish i could.

you know what i really hate? when other people suffer as a result of my actions. my professor told me that as a result of me getting busted, the spotlight is on our lab. it's kind of not fair, because since i was the only one from the lab who was at fault, i should bear the consequences alone. evidently, the safety people don't agree. well, at least i didn't cause any serious trouble, like getting the lab shut down or anything like that. the next person who infringes any safety rules might, though, so sorry for spoiling the market? i can tell that my professor is upset about the issue, and by extension, with me i suppose. doesn't take a genius to see that, especially after an email he sent out, which asked us to work to restore our reputation for being a safe lab. i think that sentence killed me more than any shouting or anger might have.

judo this sunday featured a rare appearance by the BPS brothers. well...only one of them is still in BPS (the other graduated, i think), so there's that minor technicality. anyway. after things didn't go down so well between us, i kind of officially "resigned" as their kata instructor. i told their coach about it too; i can't coach or train people who don't trust me. so as a result, they're back to being just random people in my life. can't say i feel too sad about that, considering how hard it was to get through to them. admittedly, they're somewhat gifted in judo, but even talent can only take you so far. i hope that they find someone who understands them better, and who they can get along with better than they did with me.

things don't seem to be looking up anytime soon, as far as school's concerned. there's a sudden extreme clamp down on safety, which is partly why i think i got busted on a weekend. quoting someone's words, it's becoming a "climate of fear". not exactly conducive for research. as much as i don't want to gloat, i'm actually very relieved to not have safety lead responsibilities any more. no more mood to blog, so i guess i'll publish this as-is. in the next post, i think one of the main things i'll talk about is if there's such a thing as being too safe.

-random thought of the day: Nice sushi dinner tonight!-

Today's one of the rare days when i'm done with lab early. yes, before 8pm qualifies as early in my world. anyway. i'm kind of reluctant to go home. feels weird going back too early. and i don't think there are any friends in or around school that would like my company. guess it's just me and my blog, which is not entirely unfamiliar/unpleasant. just that it's odd...i find myself alone during one of my extremely rare extrovert moments. funny. well, that's how life works, i guess.

and look! nobody's in the student room. guess i should fully utilize this quiet time to completely clear my head out. let's see what i haven't blogged about and/or would like to blog about in more detail: kyu grade, sickness, options and priorities, BPS kids and coaches, potential honours students, my genius junior (maybe), and whatever else comes to mind, i suppose.

kyu grade was this sunday, and i refereed for the first half-day. from a referee perspective, things were mildly dissatisfactory. the timekeepers and scorers seem to have picked up judo only in the past 1-2 years or so, and as a result, they were rather incompetent. i'm not blaming them, considering their limited experience (and the fact that they're volunteers). incidentally, i should mention that at the highest-level IJF competition, even the scorers and timekeepers hold a minimum of black belt first dan. perhaps the organizers should find people who actually know what they are doing...like the officials in macau. those people were good! despite some of them not meeting the black belt requirement, the competition was run extremely smoothly, and refereeing there was extremely enjoyable. the guys on sunday...try "frustrating" instead. the scorer, whose job it is to record what technique was used at what time, had to consult us for technique names. i'm still cool with that; sometimes throws happen too fast, or are ambiguous, or are comparatively rare. so it wasn't a big deal to me. what WAS a big deal was that the timekeeper basically ignored the referees' gestures and started/stopped the clock according to what he saw. it doesn't look nice, and opens the officials up to controversy. but what really killed me was that i scored a throw as ippon, and he gave it to the wrong side! since it happened so fast, i just followed the scoreboard and awarded the victory to the loser. there was a bit of confusion before i ha to call both competitors back in and change the score. SO EMBARRASSING! admittedly, i should bear part of the blame for not keeping a mental record of who won. well...at least there's no major harm done.

one thing that REALLY ticks me off is that a certain coach, who also happens to be the federation interim president was shouting instructions at his students and giving his own scores and referee decisions from behind the referee table. i wouldn't mind so much if he did it from across the mats (as he did during national schools), since the volume would be lower and less distracting. to have a rather loud voice behind you booming out instructions and scores...not nice. i did mention it to the referee director, but i don't think that helped much. i don't know what he's thinking, actually. does having the top job exempt him from the rules? or is his ego so big that he simply disregards everything and everyone else? i'll never know, but i hope that i never end up like that.

from an overall perspective, i think that the organization was still rather messy. like, not enough equipment, delays, people generally rushing all over. it looked quite unpolished to me, but i suppose that's why it's the testing event for the SEA games, and that's what testing events are for. hopefully they iron everything out before the actual event in like 2 months. i'll take this opportunity to say this again - i'm so so grateful that i'm not involved in the SEA games at all.

i'm no longer sick! or rather, i'm on the tail-end of my sickness. still don't know what caused it, but i doubt it was the cockles. sleeping was so difficult the past few days! although it's technically possible to survive by breathing through just one nostril, it was extremely unnatural/uncomfortable. if my nose remains clear tonight, i should be more or less recovered. here's hoping.

poster! can't believe i nearly forgot about such a big event. unlike previous years, this year's poster presentation was held on the U-hall link bridge, instead of the first floor. something about a noise complaint. but whatever. saw my lab's posters, which i thought were pretty nice. also went to check out the posters from the previous lab. decent, i thought. up to expectations. my own poster presentation was like 2 years ago! thinking about it, i haven't really made significant advances in my research over these 2 years. sucks. should double up in this lab.

a saying goes "don't make someone your priority when you're just their option". something like that. i can't help but feel that i'm being optionified by one of my priorities. as much as i'm trying to accommodate this person, it does occasionally make me wonder what the hell am i doing. i suppose my rational thought is not the best here, since i'll admit that i like that person quite a lot. in fact, i'm almost prepared to use the other L-word...but it's not meant to be. reminder to self: newton's third law.

once again, the BPS coach has shown me that i still have much to learn about coaching and people management. i really like the way he runs his school club, and how he settles conflicts. like for instance, one of the kids posted something wrong in the facebook group, which insinuated that i was trying to steal BPS students for CJC. i replied quite cuttingly, and the coach himself stepped in to apologize. i really respect him for that (and for lots of stuff before that too), and felt so bad that he had to cover for his student. makes me wonder what if i'd met him back when i was in secondary school, or if i'd started my coaching career with him. don't get me wrong; i'm still indebted to my former head coach for mentoring me, but it's just a hypothetical question. much like what if i'd went to SJI? that sort of stuff. if there's one thing i am, i'd hope that it's appreciative/not ungrateful.

seems like i killed time well. just going to finish the last point about prospective honours students. my professor has indicated that he'd like me to take a student in. the system in this lab is quite different...students see my professor for a first round interview. they're then pushed to us for another less-formal interview. then we get to choose who we want. it's more thorough than the previous lab, where the professor both accepts the student and assigns the project. so far i've talked to 2 girls, and i don't think i'll be taking any one of them. at this point, i need a synthetic chemist. a bio person would be nice next year, but not just yet. we'll see who comes my way.

guess that's it! this weekend seems to be packed with activity, starting with a party tomorrow since one of the lab people is going back to the netherlands soon. then it's CJC/SJI on saturday, before a bit of lab work, and then dinner and drinks at my friend's place with possible overnighting. sunday may or may not have mahjong. in the latter case, i'll just go for judo. nice.

-random thought of the day: Latest words to make me giggle..."aggressive cleaning"-

Somehow, mahjong sessions are becoming a semi-regular part of my weekend routine, as it was about 7 to 8 years back. this time round, it's no longer with my secondary school seniors and juniors, but with my JC friend, his girlfriend, and their mutual friend from university. it's only been going on for the past 3 weeks to a month. even within such a short time, i find myself looking forward to sunday afternoons a bit more. at the same time, it's not like we're addicted or anything; we can cancel if someone can't make it. and we're not playing seriously for money either...at least i'm not. it's just a way to unwind after the stresses of the week. still, i think those early lessons in mahjong helped. i can more or less hold my own against them. in fact, since we started playing, i think i'm still maintaining a net positive balance there. not that i'm counting it seriously, but it's good to know.

i'm falling sick. might be because of last night's dinner (we ate at chomp chomp, and ordered cockles, some of which tested a bit off), or the change in weather. the former seems less likely to me, because i don't have food poisoning symptoms even after 24 hours. none of us do as of this post, actually. as for hepatitis a, it won't show up until a few weeks later, but i think i'm vaccinated. so it's probably the weather, especially since my symptoms are flu-like. odd thing is that they didn't show up until like late afternoon/evening. guess i should pop a couple of panadol and have an early night. with any luck, i'll be better by tomorrow. would suck to attend the poster presentation while sick.

-random thought of the day: Sleep!-

Catching a bit of downtime before my next appointment, so figured i'd blog a little to clear up some brain space. hopefully the thoughts will flow well, because i only have like 1.5 hours before i have to shower and get ready.

let's finish up the hanging thought about national schools. the second half of the competition was generally ok, no major screw-ups on my part. had a few score disputes, but that's normal/expected. nothing majorly upsetting. got a few tips from a senior continental referee, which were (1) point at the person - not at the sky - when giving shido, and (2) take things a little slower. was very briefly given jury duty over one mat when the referee director had to excuse himself for a while, and thankfully nothing bad happened on my watch. wonder if that means the referee director feels that i'm ready for promotion? or maybe because i was the most senior/experienced referee on duty there. could be one or the other, maybe both.

there were a couple of amazing moments in the competition. 2 BPS boys got gold in their respective weight categories! with super-nice throws, to boot. we gave less than 5 direct ippons for throws per day of competition, and these 2 kids got one each on the same day! i can't take any credit for their achievement, since i didn't play any part in their training. but as their friend, i'm super happy for them.

i'm still quite upset about the behaviour of the students from a certain school - hydrogen, carbon, iodine. i'd attribute it mostly to the coach, for 2 reasons. (1) his behaviour is atrocious as well, so his students learn from his example and think that acting like a hooligan is acceptable. (2) he doesn't correct his students when they step out of line, like when the spectators from that school used profanities when they disagreed with the referees' decision. one of the referees goes back to that school for training, and he happened to overhear the profanity. i have his word that he'll do something about it, so that's slightly reassuring.

well...at least the national schools is behind us already. time to look forward to the next competition - kyu grade - which will be held tomorrow. quite bad spacing/timing, but with the SEA games, i suppose some concessions have to be made. and i'm refereeing, but only for half a day. hopefully my performance won't regress.

thanks to some encounters over the past few days, i've been wondering why some people cannot/do not accept it when they've made a mistake, or when they're in the wrong, and others tell them off for it. the first encounter was at J8 this past monday. there was this raffles JC boy with a girl whom i'm assuming is his girlfriend. it was after refereeing and after going to autobacs, so i was in a rush to get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable. they were blocking up the escalator, so i purposely walked a little louder to give them the hint to make some space. they didn't take the hint, unfortunately, it led to a brief exchange of words, which escalated slightly when he retorted, "so fight lah!" although i'm not good at sparring in judo, i'm confident that i could have taken him. main reason: no rules. martial arts training wouldn't have been required either; just push him down the escalator. or break an arm. maybe a finger if i was feeling nice. that's all it would have taken. but then...as tempted as i was, i'm sure that someone would have stomped it, and sooner or later, i'd be traced back to NUS and judo. that wouldn't be good for my health. but whatever. my suspicion is that he wanted not to lose face in front of his girlfriend.

while driving to school yesterday, some idiot cut into my lane at the normanton park entrance to the AYE. it seems that a lot of conflict happens there, huh? anyway, i gave my customary response (wind down the window, show then a certain appendage - mind out of the gutter, please). the other driver (a guy in his late 20s or early 30s) felt indignant to pull up beside me and start shouting. i just kept that appendage extended in his face, which i think pissed him off even more. he actually wound his window down, which makes me think that i should carry a water gun of some not-nice substance for such occasions that may occur in the future.

is it so hard to accept that you may have made a mistake? after all, although i drive a rather ah beng-looking car, i have better things to do than to pick fights with people on the road for no reason. and conversely, if i was in the wrong, i would just suck up whatever the other party had to say. but given my driving habits, i think the odds of me being in the wrong are kind of low...unless it's somewhere i'm not familiar with. perhaps i should learn to be more accommodating? the problem with that is it can be hard to draw the line, like there's a difference between being nice and letting others step all over you. i figure the best thing i can do is just to know my rights and how to make use of whatever loopholes/technicalities in the law. for instance, i can't physically hit someone or display any threatening behaviour, but words (excluding anything slanderous) are fair game. which reminds me. i should confirm with my lawyer friends what the conditions for reacting in self-defence are.

ok. that probably covers everything. just in time, too! a quick shower, and i should be leaving the house in good time. see you all soon!

-random thought of the day: Getting back into the groove of lab.-

Bad thing about taking leave from work (or lab, in my case) is the need to reacclimatize and settle back down into the daily routine. leave feels kind of surreal, somehow. like, it's a complete change from day-to-day activities. if just 3 days of leave already makes me feel like that, i'm a bit worried for my 10-day trip to japan later in the year. well...let's cross that bridge when we get there.

going to keep this post short, since i'm actually quite tired and have to be back in lab tomorrow. so i won't be talking about the national schools stuff just yet. i think i'll just talk about one important thing that happened today. it may not seem like much, but it's important to me, at least.

if you remember some time back, i was blogging a fair bit about this person whom i termed as "favourite SJI boy". stuff like how i had to work on his mental game, his win at national schools, and how insanely happy and proud of him i was. the last update i remember posting about him (around mid- or late 2013) is that he suddenly became distant, and me not having any idea why. even until today, i still don't know what the hell happened...but i did catch him alone after the competition and apologize to him for being a bad senior. i figured it's likely that something i did (or didn't do) may have caused such a reaction from him, but i'll never know for sure since he won't tell me.

regardless, i hope that hatchet's buried. at this point in time, i don't think i can use "favourite" for him any more (actually, i probably haven't been able to use it for the past year and a bit). while i think that it would be nice if one day, we could be as close as we were previously, i'm not setting my hopes too high on that happening. call it my intuition, climate reading, whatever. and also given the circumstances (he's sec 4 and most likely not going to CJC), i think we'd be lucky to keep any form of contact after the sec 4s stand down, which is happening sometime soon.

a saying suddenly came to mind - "people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime". here's the full text:

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

to apply this saying to the situation, i guess i misidentified the time period. i'd thought that he was a "lifetime" person, that our bond (be it coach-athlete, or close friends) could develop into something solid. as embarrassing as this next bit is going to sound, i sort of had a mental image of coaching him at a future SEA games or other major competition. apparently not. according to the description, he is (was?) a "season" person. he helped me to grow as a coach, and showed me that i could make a difference to someone. and of course, to learn that sometimes, friendships/relationships just somehow fall apart, and to repeat a lesson that i seem to have to go through multiple times, that everyone has their own way of doing things, their own style of learning, their own eccentricities. in short, everyone is unique.

as for what i was to him, i'd say i was a "reason" person. i guess he might have been looking for someone to help him through his national schools, and to provide the necessary mental/emotional support and confidence boost at that time. seems like i popped in to fulfil that role. and when the competition ended, and he won his gold, it was time for me to step back into the shadows. that's life, i guess. sometimes, you just have to let go. well, the good news is i'm more or less at peace with it now. assuming all things maintain, we'll just be on cordial, maybe barely-friendly terms. if he decides to go to another school with judo and ends up fighting CJC, i won't blame him. no matter how much my personal values protest, he didn't do anything wrong. it's not something i would do, but then, i'm not him and he's not me.

feels so much better getting that off my chest. i won't say that i'm COMPLETELY over it yet, but at least i'm not angry or sad or assigning blame or anything. i'd say that i feel neutral about it...which is the "correct" feeling. well...that's all i can possibly say about it, i guess. shouldn't brood on it. keep an eye out for the next post soon; have to push this not-so-happy thing down quickly.

-random thought of the day: Refereeing requirements for the year fulfilled!-

My friend shared the following post on facebook some time ago. i chanced upon it again recently while browsing randomly, and thought that it tied in quite well with the whole take-my-car-for-granted thing in the last post. but before reading it, please note that the views of the author do not necessarily reflect my own views, and that the post was lifted entirely, hence the odd deviation from my usual writing style. my comments are in italics after each paragraph.

What car owners would like non car owners to know:
We are not obliged to send you anywhere, it's out of goodwill when we do. So don't complain about it and say behind our backs. You are not the one paying the erp, parking, petrol, installments and maintenance so stfu. Be appreciative. If your friends start to not sending u back or what like the past, reflect on yourself. Have you ever appreciated? Tried to like offer to top up petrol, Cashcard or chip in abit even treating a meal or what? It's not about being stingy. But about appreciating. Even a cup of soft drink/ice kachang would do. Please la, take taxi also how much le. No one likes to do things and end up feeling there for a use.

Stop complaining and whining. It's our car, we have pride in it. When you were having fun, we work hard for it. Having a car is easy, maintaining it is hard. It's our pride. P.s: I may not own a big car, but I slog hard for it.

while i don't expect anything in return if/when i offer someone a lift, such gestures would definitely be deeply appreciated and would earn the person priority seating in the future. i think that i should add another point, don't be too "automatic" and invite yourself, unless we're really really close.

Where we feel like parking is our problem. We may park a distance and walk across sometimes, not because we can't afford it, but we don't feel like paying to the money eating gantries can? Unless we are feeling lazy, and furthermore, you are not paying for it so shut up.

don't really face this problem.

What time we want to head into town is for us to decide, if you think you want to head in earlier or later, go yourself la! Like I said, not cannot afford. But don't want let the gov earn even more can. Before 12 or after 8 only UNLESS I FEEL LIKE IT CAUSE IM THE DRIVER. You don't know how it feels like to top up your Cashcard every 2 days and it will never be enough.

don't really face this problem either.

Don't slam our door. It's our car, Because why? We pay for the repairs. You don't. It's our baby. You won't like people to give your baby a slap would you? Who do we find when our lock spoil because of your slamming and the mechanism malfunction and then tell you, you would say 'how can that be, I not very hard what.' Or 'I only did it once' or 'sorry' and then WE had to pay for the repairs ourself because of you people. Be considerate.

thankfully nobody really slams my doors hard, and those that have done so in the past stopped after i highlighted it to them.

It's our car, whatever color or modifications we do to it, WE LIKE IT, END OF STORY. No need for your comments. If you got so much comments or opinions, get your own car and do on your car.

i don't modify the car, but this may tie in to the next point i'll be blogging about.

**no hard feelings, no direct to anyone, just seen myself and ALOT of car friends having this issue over the few years of driving. Just that it definitely doesn't feel good to be used as an chauffeur**
P.s: having a friend who has a car doesn't make him/her your Ahmad (unless your partner), but learn to appreciate. Be thankful for it.

overall, this person seems to be a fair bit more militant about her (i recall the author being female) car than i am about mine. if you're reading this and are somehow starting to feel your conscience pricking you, don't get too deterred from asking for a lift. i trust you know me well enough to evaluate where you stand with me. worst case, just check with me directly! if we're close enough, you'd know that i prefer to settle any conflicts or potential conflicts openly, with the goal of reaching a mutually-satisfactory resolution in mind.

so...about modifying the car. considering my extremely limited car knowledge, and general desire to comply with the law, i'm not about to put on a super-loud exhaust, or super-bright headlights, or anything like that. all i did was to change the stereo system. real car people might get annoyed with me calling that a modification, but whatever. it counts to me. the story is actually a bit more complicated than just a simple modification. considering that the car was registered in 2007, its stereo system isn't the best in the world. heck, it wasn't even the best in the world at that time! the problem is that it came with an iphone 4-compatible 30-pin connector, that doesn't even charge the phone, only allows music playback. things were fine and well while i still had my iphone 4S. but in december, i changed to the iphone 5S, which uses the lightning connector. and although i tried using an adaptor, i couldn't get my phone to play on the stereo. so i went back to listening to the radio for about...a year and a bit (december 2013 until today).

after poking around online, i found that the iphone cable could be replaced by a cable ending in a 3.5mm jack. it was available on ebay for $7, so i thought, 'why not?' and got one. went down to the workshop to get it swapped, and to my frustration, found that it couldn't work. a bit more googling, and it seems that the cable only works with stereo models after 2008. that means either the ebay seller lied, or the cable is faulty, or i'm just that unlucky. ah whatever. so that was like $7 for the cable and $25 of labour charge for the nice mechanic to remove the front panel to get access to the back of the stereo unit, wasted.

but wait, there's more! i was kind of frustrated, so i decided to go to autobacs to look-look-see-see and maybe think about getting a totally new stereo. and you'd be right in guessing that i did. yes, it's a bit (ok, a lot) of a waste of money, but i figure that my refereeing allowance will cover it. actually, my total refereeing allowance for 6 days of national schools about just-nice covers the stereo and labour charge, with $1 to spare! wasn't planned, but i'm happy it turned out that way. now i just need to recoup the cable and the other labour charge...and the parking summons i got on saturday. rats. time for intensive mahjong.

the stereo itself isn't much to shout about...just the basic radio, CD, auxillary, and USB. the last 2 things are the real selling points, i think. FINALLY i have a more versatile interface! and now, my friends can play their own music if they want to. and bonus - i can charge my phone in the car. decided against getting the more expensive models with car phone, touchscreen, etc. etc. too much distraction. after all, the driving experience is to be aware of the roads around you, and not to be fixated on a device. the only slight downer is that the LED highlights/accents for the buttons are red. that kind of goes against the whole blue theme of the air-con, speedometer, and basically everything else in the car. ALMOST makes me wish i'd gotten the one with adjustable colour, even if only to permanently set it at blue. but well...nothing i can't get used to. and as a reminder to myself: when it's time to scrap or sell the car, save the stereo! can either use that in subsequent cars, or sell it second-hand. that's another item i have to save in addition to the cashcard shield, black seat hooks, phone holder, and whatever else i've put in and conveniently forgotten.

more refereeing! today went decently, but wasn't completely problem-free. have to improve tomorrow. since it's getting a little late, i'll end here with a reminder to blog about some refereeing incedents (maybe), as well as the incident at J8 involving a moron kid, and changes to my weekly routine.

-random thought of the day: Alpine stereos suck.-

Half the national schools are over, which is a relief. refereeing on finals days is always the most stressful. the SJI B division kids got silver! it's a welcome break from the bronzes or no placings over the past many years. i'm happy for them, since it's a new achievement. at the same time, i was a little not-happy, because they fought so much worse than in their qualifying matches. i'm inclined to think that it's a combination of the raffles boys being physically stronger, and the thought of fighting raffles rattling the SJI kids mentally. well...i don't know. i guess it's something to be proud of, and i shouldn't dampen the moment by wondering about could-have-beens. i was not too happy with certain aspects of the refereeing today, mainly the allocation of referees to referee their own schools or affiliated clubs. but given the horrendous lack of people and diversity, i know that not much could have been done about it. and one of the referees went to congratulate his school on winning the championship. i don't know, but it doesn't seem right. maybe do it in a closed group, away from the public eye. and the kicker? there's a photo attached to that post, showing another referee (also from the same school) awarding their school the win.

one thing which really pisses me off is when people criticize the referees. i'm not saying that we are perfect, nor am i saying that we are above criticism. you see, the criticism i'm referring to is when people question a referee's decision, and say that s/he awarded a wrong score. what they forget is that although there is only one referee walking around on the mats, s/he is being supported by 2 table referees and the referee director! so any controversial decision (eg. score change, no score when it looked like a score, score when it looked like no score, one side scoring when it looked like the other side's score) has actually been thoroughly discussed and approved. and the only thing worse than that is when the kids mindlessly pick up on it and start targeting the referee. i wouldn't mind so much if the coaches did it, since most of them have national referee licenses (though some of them haven't been attending seminars), and some even are continental referees. but to have a school kid whose judo experience is about 5 times lesser than mine doubt my ability and professionalism as a referee...they're simply not qualified. but well, that's life. often times, we find ourselves being evaluated/assessed/judged by even less-qualified people, as is the issue i'm facing at the national level. but well...what to do?

i am pretty sure that nobody enjoys being taken for granted. at the risk of sounding selfish, i'm talking about the car. you see, here's my philosophy about having a car. given the circumstances in singapore, and the fact that my parents helped with the down payment, i view my owning a car as a privilege/bonus. and consequently, i try to accommodate requests to send people here and there, even if it means taking some (reasonable) detours. generally, i'm ok with people asking for a lift. i usually offer, so that's all good. but what kind of ticks me off is when people assume/presume that the car and i are at their beck and call. like, see the difference between "can you send me to *someplace*?" vs. "send me to *someplace* later, ah". although it's not very nice of me, i think that i have the right to refuse a lift to anyone who hasn't paid for my road tax, petrol, ERP, or servicing, and who hasn't done any service to/for the car (eg. car wash). that basically includes most people. at the same time, i try to be nice and to take peoples' ages and seniorities, as well as our existing relationship into account. but when it happens too often, there's only so many excuses i can find before it starts to noticeably grate on my nerves.

something else that is kind of getting tiresome is being mentally "abused" by this one person. it's not real mental abuse, hence the quotes. but at the same time, it's dangerously close. some background information: i'm friends with this person. nowhere near chem kids kind of close; not even JC classmates kind of close. i'd say we're at about research group members kind of close. DISCLAIMER: this person is not from my lab, or even in NUS. anyway. this person is, by my standards, not easy to get along with. it's the way they talk...to put it nicely, their words can be quite abrasive. and perhaps it's because i'm generally nice, or maybe because i haven't blown my top at that person before, but i find that i'm getting picked on a fair bit. that's not how you talk to another human being with whom you are on cordial terms! i can't tell if any given statement is meant as a joke, or as a friendly jab with some truth in it, or as a serious piece of advice/caution. worst part is that we may be spending 10 days in a foreign land together (with other people as well) in a few months. maybe things might be different under different circumstances? let's cross that bridge once we get there.

it's getting late, and i'm set for a long day of lab tomorrow. reminder to self: report back from leave. and know your limits. not everyone sees things as you do. just be a bit more cautious.

-random thought of the day: Shoulder is still clicky.-