The Law of Bus Waiting

The Law of Bus Waiting states that when at a bus stop, the service number you are waiting for will not come until all other service numbers have come at least once (if not multiple times) thereby resulting in personal frustration and an increased lack of faith in the public transportation system. 

This Law is not restricted to a particular service number, but instead, applies to whatever service number you are currently waiting for. 

The frustration level, F can be denoted by the following relationship:

F = f (n, t)

where

n is the number of buses arriving at the bus stop before the FIRST service number (which you are currently waiting for) arrives

t is the waiting time

Mathematically, F can be calculated as follows:

F = (k + 1) t exp (n)

where 

k is an amplification factor equal to the ADDITIONAL number of service numbers (which you are currently waiting for) that arrive together in quick succession (i.e. one or more buses immediately behind the other(s))

Find your perfect job in the Empire!

For those of you who use Facebook, you might have noticed the large amount of quizzes friends are taking like, "What colour are you?", "How many kids will you have?", etc... (there are heaps of these quizzes and they are totally full of crap but great to laugh at). Well, being a Star Wars fan, one particular one stood out which I took rather eagerly: "Find your perfect job in the Empire!"

After finishing the short quiz, my outcome was,

TIE Pilot 

We buy Em'/You Fly 'Em! Soar to new heights as a pilot in the Imperial Air Force. Sure Imperial TIE fighters are not exactly aerodynamic, but they look cool and that's all that really matters, isn't it?

My friend Eugene similarly took the quiz some minutes later and got the following,

Snowtrooper

Congratulations! You are definitely going to be working in the coolest place possible! The Empire will be sending you to the scenic winter resort on Hoth. The slopes are always open! The Empire recommends you pack plenty of thermal underwear. Word of caution: Beware of the native creatures - it is rumored that not only do they smell awful, but they can and will rip your arm off.

What followed after this was a comical T.C.S. (Talk Cock Session) between me and Eugene:

Me: Regardless of where we are posted, we will always be disposable free-frag fodder (esp for Vader's tantrums)

Eugene: yah lor.... some more i bobo shooter.... my laser rifle will not hit anything one.....lol

Me: Don't worry, our sheer numbers are there for quantity, not quality

Eugene: only stormtroopers are so "precise"

(You need to have at least watched Episode IV to get the joke)

This. Is. MADNESS!

This is Hell Month. I just tackled a particular job interview at the beginning of the month so now comes the wait (it's killing me!). That over, I got an Aerodynamics quiz tomorrow. FYP Final Oral Presentation the week after. Study Week the week week after, and then 3 x Final Papers the week week week after. Following that will be the end of my university course. But for now, it's going to be madness:

(turn up the volume for maximum effect; the insanity grows around 3:10!)

I'm lovin' it.

Jam-ming Session

Those of you who didn't go to the I.T. Fair today or did but didn't notice the OMFG-traffic-jam, allow me to enlighten you. 

I was heading for the City Hall area today and as I was leaving my house I saw my bus (Service 14) pass by and missed it so I decided to take another bus (Service 10) which would drop me at One Raffles Link instead. Little did I know that I would come head on with one massive jam at Nicoll Highway. 

Let me elaborate a bit more on that. The jam in fact started - coincidentally - at the ERP gantry along Nicoll Highway (near Kallang Stadium). Now using Google Earth, I measured the distance from the start of the jam to my final destination at One Raffles Link (red line in Fig. 1). 2.70km. WTF. (Those training for IPPT, just start 300m away from the ERP gantry and run all the way to the Suntec City junction). The last I remember of a really bad jam was during the IMF when roads were cordoned off and buses had to plow in nice circles around the War Memorial Park. Today's jam was phenomenal. 

Fig. 1. A bird's eye Google Earth's view of da jam

I travel on Nicoll Highway 3 times a week to go to school and back and today, I have never had a more scenic moment. I actually spent enough time at a particular section of the highway (yellow X in Fig. 1) to admire dragon-boaters training, the resultant ripples in the water from their boats, and the nice backdrop of condominiums in Tanjong Rhu. The bus inched its way closer to my destination but at the rate it was going, I reckon I'd be spending another good 30 minutes admiring more scenery. The bus eventually approached its next bus stop (opposite the Concourse and two stops before One Raffles Link) and I saw some people getting ready to disembark, obvious that they felt they would make better ground on foot. I decided to follow them and got off. 

My walk from that bus stop to One Raffles Link (blue line in Fig. 1) was one of relief, awe and pity. Relief, because I was definitely getting to my destination much faster. Awe, because the amount of buses stranded along that stretch was incredulous. I saw the bus I missed earlier on. I saw at least two more Service 10's further down. I saw three Service 16's, two of which were practically sardines on wheels and that's where the pity part came in. I was basically counting the number of buses as I made my way down. When I reached the Suntec City bus stop, I saw the amount of people waiting for buses there and thought to myself, "Whatever bus you're waiting for, there's at least 2 or 3 of them down the road." 

I finally made my way to my destination and then realised that the jam actually further extended all the way down Raffles Boulevard and cars from Bras Basah Road were constantly trying to squeeze in. Because of that, they clogged up the junction there and thus caused the entire Nicoll Highway to literally jam. The roads leading to Esplanade Drive were totally empty.

The initials 'I.T.' probably meant two things that day depending on who was involved. To shoppers, it probably meant 'Irresistable Take-away's' since it was the last day of the fair and prices were slashed to facilitate clearance. To drivers, it was probably 'Impossible Traffic'. So the next time the I.T. Fair is in town, well, get ready to jam. 

Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove

This has got to be one of the most grooviest, groovadelic, groovalicious and groovamongous music videos around. Jeez, just look at the super old-school outfits and hairdo's... and MAN, check out the psychedelic colours... this is uber retro-ness to the max. Get your disco balls out NOW and LET'S GROOVE!!!

Lord of the Dance

I went to church this morning after a somewhat long hiatus. Yes, I know, I should be more... regular. Anyway, today the choir sang a beautiful hymnal called 'Lord of the Dance'. Following are the lyrics:

I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem
I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe
And the pharisee,
But they would not dance
And they wouldn't follow me.
I danced for the fishermen,
For James and John -
They came with me
And the Dance went on.

I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.

I danced on a Friday
When the sky turned black -
It's hard to dance
With the devil on your back.
They buried my body
And they thought I'd gone,
But I am the Dance,
And I still go on.

They cut me down
And I leapt up high;
I am the life
That'll never, never die;
I'll live in you
If you'll live in me -
I am the Lord
Of the Dance, said he.

It seems that the 'dance' is life itself. Life is one long dance of ups and downs. Yes, we all fall from time to time, but He picks us up and guides us through those difficult parts of the dance so that we may carry on.  And eventually in the end, He hopes to see us complete the dance well. For which teacher does not delight in seeing his/her student finally accomplishing the task at hand?

Sorea

Wow, it has been a long time. Too long. Well, I admit that I had neither the inspiration nor the drive to post for the past two months. 

Anyway, here's a pretty cool video featuring a group called Sorea (Sounds of Korea). Sorea is something of a fusion group which uses traditional Korean musical instruments like the daegeum (bamboo transverse flute), haegeum (string instrument similar to the erhu), gayageum (12-stringed zither) and janggu (hourglass-shaped drum) fused with modern elements to create something culturally chic. It seems that fusion groups are growing in popularity as people realize that while traditional music may not appeal to all, fusing them with today's music probably would. It's also good in a way that by doing so, we remember our cultural roots lest they fade away with time. Ok, enough blabber - Enjoy Seoul in Panic by Sorea!