Victory Belongs to Those Who Persist

I realized I have abandoned the friendster blog for so long already… Why is it so?  It is because I have a new blog @ chinjianwei.spaces.live.com

This week is one my busiest week in my JC life. 2 major events happened this week. Firstly, Orientation Two was held from 6 to 9 March. As a student councillor, I played the role of movement i/c and game station master. Secondly, I participated in Singapore Science Engineering Fair (SSEF) 2006. The competition was held on 10 and 11 March.

In the SSEF 2006, my project entitled " Fluid Viscosity in a tight channel~~A view from colloidal micro spheres" (project code:PH22) has successfully claimed the merit award. My teamates include Howard and Shan Zheng.

Two other teams from AJC also share the joy of the merit awards. They are Andrew, Wei Cheng, Derran (NUS Nanotech) and Alan (Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition). In total, AJC has won 3 merit awards in the SSEF 2006.

After I got this award, once again I believe strongly that victory belongs to those who persist. During 2005, I participated in a few science projects which include IEEE Rocket Competition, Solar Innovation 2005 and IEEE Science Symposium. However, I failed to gain any awards from the mentioned competition. After sharpening my skills in writing report, all my effort I put in the nanotech project do not disappoint me. Finally, I won a merit award. This is not the end. I will work harder in my coming projects and achieve greater heights.

It wasn’t an individual effort to complete the project. Here I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my teamates - Howard and Shan Zheng who have spend their numerous Saturdays with me in NUS Colloid Laboratory. Research work is sometimes repetitive but all of us enjoy the excitement of discovering new knowledge!

Performing the experiment repetitively was challenging, but preparing the final written report was even more challenging. There was a moment I felt like giving up. I was thinking why do I create troubles for myself by taking up this project. In the mean time, I had to plan for Orientation One. I must do my best for Students’ Council and yet must not compromise my science project. Splitting myself into two to do these two task would be a good solution, but it was just impossible. I had to find a way to complete these two major tasks before the deadline. "Please help me, my Lord", I prayed in my heart.

With HIS guidance, I managed to go through the challenges. I was very impressed by Howard to finish the written report. He worked on the report until 3 am in the morning. How can I enjoy sleeping while my teamate (as well as my roomate) was sacrificing his time to complete the project? With this determination, I decided to stay up until 3 to finish the report. On 14 January 2006, we submitted the report in time.

One month passed by without any news from the SSEF organizer. Thus we had break for one month. In this month, I caught up with my academic work and prepared ahead because I know that I will once again skip lessons for entire one week during Orientation Two.

Last week we were glad to receive the news that we were shortlisted for the SSEF. So, our next step was to prepare for the oral presentation. We designed the poster and we rehearsed a few time for the presentation. The skills we picked up during Project Work was quite useful when we prepare for the presentation.

On 9 March, we set up our booth at the Singapore Science Centre. We were very nervous about the competition on the following dady. I am the kind of person who feel the tension only right before the competition. Luckily, I managed to sleep well that night.

10 March was our competition judging day. We were in our AJ blue blazer, looking confident to present to the judges. Unexpectedly, we spent most of the time waiting for the judges. The judges were free to roam aroud. So we didn’t know what time the judges will come. It turned out that the first judge came at 9.30 am, the second judge visited us at 3.00 pm and the last one at 5.45 pm. I was very bored on the judging day. I regreted that I didn’t bring any reading materials or homework to the Science Centre. After saying this, I realize I sounded like a typical "mugger". But in another words, that was a wise way of spending time.

11 March is exhibition day. We spent our morning and afternoon explaining our project to the interested visitors. Actually we were more concerned about the result, which was later released at 3 pm.

I hope to get something in this competition, just something will do. When the person-in-charge sticked the merit award at my booth, I had mixed-feelings. I was happy that I actually won something, at the same time, I was a bit disappoited that I didn’t get a bronze. Nevertheless, human are greedy, never-satisfied creatures. After that, I was happily roaming around to look at other award-winning projects.

I have come to the end of my SSEF experience. I did a reflection on my project. I also draw some lessons from other team. I learned that communication is indeed a very important aspect in whatever tasks we do. We need to communicate more with our co-partners to have a common understanding and to work with less friction. Too many assumptions held will only result in incomplete work and last-minute touch-ups.

In my future project, I will bear in mind that good communication, initiatives and proper time management are the essential elements to succeed in the project.

Lastly, I would like to thank my fellow friends for their support. Thank you for helping me in one way or another to finish this project. Thank you for your friendships.

Carnival@Marina

8 August is Singapore National Day. Alan, Wilson (Alan’s friend from NUS) and I went to Marina Bay to celebrate and count down.

First we visited the Total Defence Static Displays. There were a lot of tanks and armoured vehicles at display. To my surprise, the soldiers allow me to get into the tank and tried the controlling device (the tank didn’t move anyway). It was quite narrow inside the tank. Usually there is one gunner seat and one commander seat. The soldier told me there is more than 1 way to enter the tank–from above, from behind and from bottom. The weak point of a tank is the connection area between the bottom body and the big gun. A 2.5 cm bullet is enough to pierce through the metal unless it is heavily armoured.. Such a memorable event will be wasted if we didn’t take any photos. I took many photos with the machine guns, tanks, helicopter, pounder and radar vehicle. A tank is for medium short distance while pounder is for long distance attack. There was a pounder than can aim target 12.6 km away! .

On the day, there is armoured vehicle riding. Normal citizens can take a ride on the tank. It is a wonder experience before joining NS! However, I missed it. By the time I went to the riding area, it is already 6 pm. The riding has ended. I also missed the target-shooting activity. I should have gone there earlier. I found out there was an auto drag show in the morning. That was the reason I saw many racing cars parked a long the road. Tomorrow morning there will Aerial and Sea display. Too bad that I can’t witness the amazing display..

~~~

The night came. We had Hong Kong noodles and hokien noodles.

After that, we proceed to the concert. It rained in the morning. The field was very muddy. The condition is not so bad because the ground is covered by ground sheet.

For the next 3 hours, we enjoyed performance form 郭品超, F.I.R. , K One, 183 Clubs, Tanya and Taufik. I love F.I.R !!!!! Other than that, I enjoy "The magic of Love" by Lawrence and Priscilla. The show is a combination of drama and magic show. Irresistible experience!!;11:50 pm. The prime minister, Mr. Lee Sien Loong arrived.

11:58 pm. Every body was busily moving around the field to choose the best spot.

11:59 pm. The new day was approaching. In both City Hall and Marina Bay, the countdown began. "20, 19, 18, …, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy Birthday Singapore!!!" Mr. Lee Sien Loong opened the champagne. Everybody was staring at the sky. ~~The first firework opened like a flower in the sky~~ Charming…..Some firework are like circling plate, some are like falling stars, some are like durian. The spinning comet firework was perfectly synchronized. When 2 fire flowers diminished in the sky, another 2 or 3 fire flowers will open at the same moment, ah.. I was amazed…The firework last for 15 minutes. Throughout the fireworks, I saw a new kind of fireworks. It is like a lot of bees flying randomly towards the sky…The last 5 seconds of firework is the best I have ever seen in my life. The entire sky was so bright, with flower mines above my eyes, and my best friend at my side…This is LIFE !!!

烟花之所以灿烂， 是因为它的短暂。
我在一生中追求的， 是不是如烟花般 短暂的灿烂？