I-Fest 2009!

Thanks to the Bowling Death Match, I missed the entire 1st Rehearsal for I-Fest. No worries though - I made sure I was there for the 2nd and 3rd - the latter where I brought my tripod along.. hehe. It's amazing how much difference a tripod can make in the range of quality pictures one can capture.. Anyway, here are a few shots and vids from the 2nd and 3rd rehearsals, before I get to the main event itself!

Krishna on the flute (how apt.. haha)

Bhakti serenading us with a classic

The most awesome emcees eva!

French Student Association - These guys were hilarious!

The Indian Students Association - Certainly lived up to their high standards

Xuan!

IIT Chem E Class 2009.5.. lolz. I'll miss these two fo sho.

Lookie here! - Some of our awesome board members

Our very own reigning IIT Idol givin' a rendition of her winning song

Emcees Rob and Fazeel working the Chicken Dance!

This was just sooo random.. Anyway, you've just been Rickrolled! :D

Then came the big day itself.. unfortunately I was wayyyy too busy during the afternoon's Taste of IIT event (which certainly deserves a mention for the sheer volume and variety of people that it drew together) so I couldn't even think of slipping my camera outta' its case. I did manage some shots and videos during the evening event though. Here are some of my picks amongst em.'

Rob & Fazeel all dressed up

Global Spice

Our guest performers for the event

These guys were simply awesome.. apparently they even performed at Lollapalooza.

The Fall 2009 ISO Board (Minus Yao plus.. k I won't mention him) - Excellent job guys! I'm gonna miss all of you!

The ASO Performance: Sleek; Smooth; Silky..


The International Superstars - In my opinion (and perhaps many others), this was the highlight of the night. A fitting finale..

_________ . _________

And so it drew to a close... I certainly enjoyed every bit of it. If my epilogue on the last post was saddening, this one borders on depressing. It was the last event I organized as an ISO board member. Suddenly so many memories are rushing to my head.. It's quite difficult to leave a group I've grown so fond of.. A place I've instilled within me a 'sense of belonging' to.. Brings back memories of my last few days in the APD Board in VI..

Thanksgiving break is coming up, but not before an exam right before it (wth..).

Bless..

AIChE Bowling "Death Match" Against UIC

A long week is finally over. At the end of it all, I'm left exhausted, tired, empty - yet begging for more. It was fun while it lasted. Let's take it from last Friday (the 13th.. heh), when I visited the UIC campus to participate in the AIChE Bowling Death Match against the UIC chapter. We played two games, and though the pinfalls weren't all that great - the fun we had certainly was. So we did lose the 'death match,' but I guess we gave it our best (plus they had home advantage.. :p). Anyway, here are some random shots off my S5IS.

With the UIC chapter's team (they outnumbered us like crazy)

Team AIChE IIT!

IIT.. and god knows what Michael (right) was holding up.. lol

Good times.. Sadly it seems like that would be my last AIChE outing.. Next up, I-Fest 2009!

Southern Comfort

The weather's proving to be quite interesting this year. Almost halfway through November and we're still experiencing relatively warm temperatures.. Chicago's weather last weekend was excellent (or so I've heard from many), but I wasn't here in the Windy City to enjoy it. I was 400 miles south of it - in Nashville, Tennessee. So here's the lowdown on why I was there, and what I thought of it.

I've been a member of my school's AIChE chapter for quite a while now, and I've finally attended my first (and last) National Student Conference. I was pretty excited about it from the moment I registered.. after all, I was heading to the home of Country Music! One thing that did make me laugh though (at least before the trip) was the name of the resort where the conference was happening - the Gaylord Opryland. A hilariously odd name I must say. So it was a group of 10 traveling from IIT (evenly distributed gender-wise), and after a short flight we were in Nashville. From there, we were chauffeured to our resort.... on a limo! If that wasn't enough to put me over the moon, the resort was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!






It was like a city within the resort. The attention to detail was impeccable. After going 'gaga' over the interiors for a while, our stomachs finally demanded some food, so we had dinner at a sports bar within the resort.

Come Saturday, and we were up and rolling early (well 10am is early for people like me.. heh). The whole afternoon was filled with talks by industry experts on various topics. I attended a few of them, but I wasn't all that enlightened by any of them. They certainly seemed quite basic - perhaps I'd be more intrigued had I been a freshman or sophomore. I did spend a significant part of the afternoon snappin' away frenetically around the resort. Heh.









Anyway, come dusk and we were off to downtown Nashville for the Bash at the Wildhorse Saloon. As we walked in we were greeted by a group of girls whom I immediately recognized as Malaysians! After much deliberation (put Wai Kit and myself together and you expect quite a bit of it - especially when it comes to socializing), we finally went over to the group and greeted them as fellow Malaysians. I spent the rest of the night watching line-dancing, and a dance-off competition. Well despite the diverse crowd of students from various US universities, they generally stuck to their own group.. which made my attempts to socialize all the more difficult.. Ah heck, who am I kidding? I'm just not a natural socialite. Anyway, I did have my camera to keep me company for the night. Lol.




Once the event ended, Wai Kit and I walked out of the Wildhorse Saloon - to this!

I still have no idea what was going on (I still don't think it was a flash mob as Wai Kit had assumed), and after giving up on figuring it out we took a stroll down the street to the City Hall.




A short bus trip and we were back at the Gaylord - expecting to do something fun for the night. Well it was certainly not to be - and after 2 friggin' hours of deliberation (and watching someone hang on the phone), I finally decided to go to bed. Sunday morning began with a Speed-Networking Brunch, where I met quite a few students from across the country. We had a inter-table trivia competition and my group did fairly well - still don't know if we won though since I didn't attend the long-and-boring awards ceremony. Instead Wai Kit & I headed to Opry Mills - for glow-in-the-dark mini golf! Well it was my first time playing mini-golf, let alone in the dark and I enjoyed it. Kinda wish we could play more but we had to rush back for the Graduate School & Sponsors Fair - which really was of no use.

Lunch, a limo ride and a short flight later and we were back in Chicago. It was a short trip (well rather than a conference I'd like to look at it as a weekend getaway.. lol), but it's definitely one that goes down memory lane..

Cuídate!

Flight of The Conchords

Here's to one of my favorite bands - funny part is I don't think I've mentioned them to anyone before.. Well now I have.. so.. umm.. yeah..

I've pretty much got the whole lyrics/conversation memorized. Maybe I should do a cover sometime.. of course I'll need another person.. Here's another anyway.

_________ . _________

Windows 7 is finally out, so I went ahead and looked at the procedures to receive my 'Free Upgrade' for my laptop. Apparently I could have friggin' ordered it much earlier but heck I'm not complaining. What does bother me though is the bloody 17 USD I need to pay for shipment. Other than that twas' a rather relaxed weekend this one (incredibly uncharacteristic of weekends at IIT)... haven't been too productive. Calm before the storm perhaps? I truly enjoyed the solitude though.. Bliss!

Khuda hafiz.

Sand Animation - At Its Best

This morning I came across an interesting video on Youtube (yes that's pretty much a general pastime of mine - browsing videos on Youtube - unfortunately), and figured I might as well share it here.

This emotional performance is basically about World War II and the German invasion of the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was one of the most affected. Kseniya Simonova's performance on this year's edition of Ukraine's Got Talent (which she eventually won) practically left the audience speechless. Her simple heartfelt story and sand animation captured a universal chord where emotions run deep, entrenched in a war that has generational wounds. It's not necessary to understand the culture.. just the atmosphere and humbling of the people touches the heart. By the way, the final words mean 'You're always near.' I personally felt it was a truly amazing performance, and though there have been a few other sand animations I've watched (by the very few skilled artists that exist), I haven't really come across something as captivating as this.. There's also another video of her performance for the finals of the show which is almost equally amazing - a simple story peppered with deep symbolism.

__________ . __________

Finally I'm at ease - after 2 weeks of being bombarded with a torrential mix of exams, assignments and presentations.. I know it won't be for long (given I'm at IIT.. lol), but I'm going to savor it while I still can. Everything looks pretty bright this semester, with the exception of my job hunt. By the way, I-Fest 2009 is coming up in a month! There's a lot of work to do, but I'm going to once again enjoy every bit of the process. Heh!

The Long And Winding Road

Ola!

The semester finally got to me, and once again I've turned into the disorganized lunatic I was during previous semesters. My diary updates have become sporadic, but its still not as bad as my frequency of updates on this blog. Oddly enough, it's the extra classes (Philosophy of Law & Learning Theory) that are draining most of my time..

Anyway, there's always something significant during the weekends, and here's an update on what the past few have been like..

2nd weekend of September

Trip to Six Flags Great America - my 2nd time! Twas' a lot of fun, although we rode less rides this time. Memorable moments include Alex Ong's constant "Why am i here?" quips as well as Esa's application of Physics II to coaster rides. Oh and of course the Roaring Rapids where we all get wet but some more than others.. heh

3rd weekend of September

This is the weekend when I finally got the T400 out of the box for good (Yeah despite it arriving earlier). There was also a nice little dinner and afterparty at HK's new place (I guess you could consider it his housewarming although his hall was as empty as a karate dojo.. lol)

4th weekend of September

It was Homecoming Week at IIT, and it never is complete without its awesome Homecoming Carnival which was no less awesome this year, despite being held indoors due to weather concerns. Seriously, I was having way too much fun I couldn't be bothered to stop and take photos.. To add to the games there were also a lot of take-home souvenirs this time around, as I got myself a sweet little dogtag and.. *deep breath*.. my first caricature!


If that was not fun enough there was a housewarming party at Harry's place right after. That's where I got a chance to meet some familiar faces (some who I had even mistakenly assumed left the school) and discover how much fun Beer Pong can be!

1st weekend of October (oh heck that would be last week)

Our good old friend Sam paid us a visit from Wisconsin. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, although I ordered something quite ordinary. Kinda wish I could have spent more time with him though after such a long time, but hey.. it's a small world after all ain't it?

As much fun as it has been during the weekends, my weekdays have been quite the opposite as my only claim to entertainment lies in that very series that has kept me going in the past - Bleach! (Speaking of which the subbed version of the 3rd Bleach Movie - Fade To Black is finally out and I must say it is quite awesome.. serves as quite a reminder of what Bleach was in the beginning, and what it always will be)

On a side note, I'm still on the lookout for a job, although my hopes are slowly fading into that bleak gap that is creeping towards me. Uncertainty is annoying, even for a fickle mind. Why am I getting this feeling that my environment is slowly shifting back to a not-so-distant past? It is almost like I'm anticipating déjà vu...

Great! Now that I'm done with this post, you won't be hearing from me again till the semester's end - or you will. Either way, there's still a long way to go before I can even think 'end of semester' and 'winter break'... Goodness gracious me! I don't have a plan for the winter break!! Ah just keep me posted if there are any good, economical plans I could join, although I'm already having this vision of a poor, drab me sitting at home, still scouting for jobs.. *sigh* As for now, I shall return to ponder over my pathetic fall break (and life's irrepressible ironies wtf)..

Hasta' luego!

Meet My Soulmate, T400

After much ado, I had finally decided on the Lenovo T400.. a relatively costly investment, but definitely a bargain given what I was getting myself. For more than a week I cracked my head over the laptop issue.. After some basic streamlining I was still left with the following choices:-
- Dell Vostro 1520
- Dell Studio XPS 16
- HP dv6t
- Lenovo Thinkpad T400
- Lenovo Ideapad Y550
- Some Toshiba Sattelite (forgot the exact model)

Price-wise, the HP, Toshiba and Dell Vostro were quite appealing. However I wasn't too crazy on their performance and online ratings. As most of you may already know, I'm not much of a gamer so I didn't need one of those extreme-performance laptops. However I did want something that would allow me to multitask and leave programs and windows open without too much of a compromise on speed. Of course, I was also looking for something that would last me for a long time. Suddenly the Dell XPS and T400 were on the top of the pile... And I finally chose the T400 for:
- Its amazing reviews (It was voted best laptop for 2008 on notebookreviews.com)
- I wouldn't really have to worry about overheating (just check its reviews on heat)
- It's sturdily built, although I am not really planning on dropping this baby anywhere
- Its legendary keypad
- The P8400 Processor it comes with, which was the best among all my options

Yea it was slightly above my budget, but I decided to just go with it anyway. Unfortunately I haven't really used the laptop yet, just turning it on once since it arrived to test if it was working properly.. partly because of my busy schedule.. partly because I just didn't have the heart to shove it into my bag at times - at least not until my sleeve for it arrives.

Here are some photos of my new toy snapped upon its arrival..




That's it for my first of what I'm sure will be an array of posts from my T400. Till then..

Ego vobis valedico..