Founder of lesterchan.net, a Singapore tech and gadgets blog running since 2002. An engineering leader by day and a WordPress plugin developer since 2003, with a soft spot for gadgets, smart home, and a good deal.
My first driving practical lesson: simple but nerve-wracking, moving back and forth before driving around the circuit. My instructor was patient and friendly. I couldn't stop smiling afterwards; learning to drive is fun. Lunch with Elaine after.
Meant to attend the school's National Day celebration but couldn't; I had a client meeting instead, though I got the free red polo shirt. The meeting ran until 7.30pm, mostly on CBT, whose coding looks challenging.
School for GAME practical, then Clementi to grab the last copy of Sams Teach Yourself ASP in 21 Days. Early, so I wandered Ngee Ann City with Reaper, eyeing a Panasonic DVD home theatre at $599.
Went to BBDC after school with Elaine to help her register and get my booklet stamped for the fixed group. My group G2066 jumped from Bronze to Gold, though early registration kept me at Bronze price.
Breakfast at Hans on Pickering Street before heading to Suntec. Picked up two spindles of 50 Smartbuy CD-Rs to restock, down to 20. I always buy Smartbuy; once you're used to something, it's hard to switch.
Just home after twelve hours out, my latest night in months. My ELIT lecture was at LT4A this morning, though I got lost finding it and met Jacky before heading in. I enjoyed it; the lecturer's a lawyer.
Lunch at foodcourt 1, famous for its western food. On the way to the bus stop, a lecturer caught me without my lanyard, a warning, since we're from ICT, but he threatened to email our director.
Spent the whole afternoon tidying, renaming and reorganising my English MP3s, about 1,900 songs, with my 200 Chinese ones to follow tomorrow. They've all got proper ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags now. Borrowed a splitter from WilloWisp.
Meant to meet my client, but his schedule pushed us to Friday after 5pm. That freed me for my National Skills meeting; I haven't mentioned I'm competing in the Web Design trade. Watched Bad Boys II.
Lunch with Lian at Long John Silver's opposite City Hall MRT, in a building whose name escapes me; my memory's a mess. I don't want to dwell on the issue, but my mind won't let go.
Skipped school, nothing for us programmers to discuss. Caught Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Life with Reaper and gang, after an hour of LAN gaming at E-Games. Sad to find E-Zone at Cineleisure has closed.
Breakfast at a Cantonese restaurant in Apollo Centre, the worst dim sum I've ever had at $79. Lei Garden remains the best in Singapore. To Waterloo Street to pray for my driving, my grandmother praying too.
Went to Suntec City with Reaper for a friend's gift, from a shop beside Giordano whose name escapes me. The saleswoman gave excellent service despite us being students; I can't stand shops looking down on us.
Rick Price's 'Heaven Knows' is exactly how I feel now. She's always on my mind, everywhere I go, and even though she's gone, I'm still holding on. The words keep getting stronger with each passing day.
Stayed home and slept until 1pm, lunch with my mom at the Chin Swee Road hawker centre. My grandmother felt unwell, but after many doctors and x-rays, they say she's fine. Older generation worries too much.
Tried ASP with MS SQL and it works; ASP feels like PHP, less complicated than ASP.NET. I hope we manage, since we've no choice but to use it. Felt sleepy in school today, probably short on sleep.
Just as we were ready to start programming our FYP, another major problem surfaced. The client's IT staff emailed to say they don't have the .NET framework installed, so everything we learned about ASP.NET is wasted.
Slept at 2.30am after playing CS, woke 11.30am for a Korean breakfast at Amara Hotel. Across the road, a condo showflat; I think the manager acted in Unbeatables II. A unit costs about a million dollars.
Steamboat dinner with my secondary school friends at Marina South, a send-off for one enlisting in the army on the 28th. Marina South is packed on weekends, and with bus 400 full, we ended up walking.
Two hours at school for an ASP.NET crash course; I picked up more, and prefer lecturers to books. To my mom's office to sort her computer, which stirred memories of when Lian worked there last year.
Linkin Park's 'In the End' feels meaningful now; Lian liked them too. It starts with one thing, and no matter how hard you try, in the end it doesn't matter. Time is valuable, slipping by.
Dinner at Ikea, my first in a few weeks, where I bought a new bookshelf for around $100. My old one is too small and nearly collapsing, its shelves bowing. I'll assemble the new one tomorrow.