ouch .

i pulled my forearm muscles .

and it hurts reeaaaaaaal bad , among other things that hurts .

but this pain is pretty overwhelmingly insane .

_______________

tried out with my ccd imager yesterday morning ,
had to wake up 2 hours early to catch it by my window .

this was what i got
thats 14 individual pictures ,
jigsawed into 1 big mosaic .

and this is barely even 1/3 of the moon .

it was taken in bright daylight ,
had to render it B/W due to contrast differences .

i have another 32 frames moon picture
which is a pain to frame it up into 1 mosaic .

but up till now ,
im still pretty satisfied with what my new imager
is churning out .

_______________

and hahahh ,
ive been getting alot of
seriously ?!
what !
omg !

yeah im done drinking .
SERIOUSLY lol .

lets just say ,

its personal .

_______________

other than that ,
these days at home waiting for the lit paper

is rather eventless .

spending alot of time staring into thin air ,
stoning .

or well , staring into the computer screen but .
it still gets boring after a while .

_______________

im going to get lunch

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 2158
activity : pretty much doing nothing .
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : somewhat cranky , and a familiar swell of emotions .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

i announce that ..

i officially quit drinking .

i mean yeah , for sure .
for those who know me how much i loved to drink

for real .

i heard that my grandpa
said , when i was really young , that i shouldnt drink next time .

im respecting that .

i shall thus announce that
i will not abuse my free authority to drink anytime i want ,
and will only drink on occasions which i deem ,
drinking is necessary .

seriously .

_______________

i dont know , just felt like saying that out loud .

hah .

its seriously getting rottingly bored at home .

the fact that , LIT on friday , is something
you cant really study too much for ,
and something
you cant really study too early for .

is annoying .

its like one part of me screaming
"ey , STUDY . LAST PAPER"

and the other part screaming (obviously louder)
"HAHAH still got so long , and you cant really study lit !"

_______________

recent days of slight freedom ,
got me thinking .

about older stuff , things .

i dont want to dwell on it but
when something with such massive stop-thinking-about-anything-else power ,
namely the major exam , is now mostly over .

somehow it just naturally swells back into my mind .
like it finally reached the front line of thinking ,
after queuing up for so long ever since
i decided to dump it to the back of my mind .

make a conclusion ?
perhaps im just afraid .

_______________

gonna camp out the evening for something in the sky
thats worth taking by my window

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 2158
activity : pretty much doing nothing .
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : somewhat cranky , and a familiar swell of emotions .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

back on course .

friday .
i couldnt wait to fix my scope .

i daringly asked my mum to allow me to use my own cash

yes my own , those i earned last year slogging off as a teacher .

after a heated debate with her ,
i was finally granted access to my bank account .

_______________

slinging my scope on my shoulders ,
i headed down to science center to get my scope fixed .

but first things first , cash .

i wandered into Jurong POSB bank and for the first time ,
queued up in a bank .

security guard kept staring at me .
clearly my scope in my black Nike bag fitted into the grid of
"suspicious object"

i applied for a few cards , updated a some details left
unscathed ever since the creation of my account ,
and THAT was really long ago .

_______________

i purchased a few vital accessories to further
my journey in astrophotography .

a 32mm eyepiece .

to add to my collection of
a 40mm eyepiece .

along with a set of
three vibration suppression pads to
reduce mount vibration for precise photography .

and finally
a CCD solar system imager

thats equipped with
a painfully sensitive CCD chip .

_______________

phew , that was a long photojournal of my purchases .

here are the results of today's session ,
armed with new eyepieces and V. suppression pads .


im back .

_______________

cant wait to use the ccd imager ,
i need the moon by my window , cus it needs to be hooked up
to my PC .

for now ,
im off to sleep .

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 0356
activity : yawning .
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : tired , stomach's feeling weird .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

ahead

everyone's rejoicing .
today marked either the last paper ,
or second last paper for many .

clearly i am the unfortunate latter ,
who have to wait 8 more days to declare absolute freedom .

lit urgh .

8 days a lil too long to study lit anyway .

_______________

at least we have the class outing and class chalet to look forward too .

and my numerous photo outings when im geared up .

and my trip to most possibly new zealand .

my long break before national service .

re-pick up air-rifling .

pick up e-guitar .

finally practice/make
music
without
worries .

liberty , freedom .

_______________

notice i didnt mention gaming .

somehow gaming's getting a lil too overshadowed by all
these things i wanna do above .

but be sure i will game , and i do hope those promises by peeps
to join me in game will be kept .

but heck .

planting my butt in front of the computer and game
isnt the way to spend 5 months .

_______________

400 hundred years after Galileo pointed his
handmade telescope in the skies

finally , astronomy is gaining some international recognition .

International Year of Astronomy 2009

YEAR .
not day , week , or month .

http://www.astronomy2009.org/

its for real , and im looking forward to it totally .


the official trailer for IYA2009
_______________

finally a breather ,
im going to try finish that book that's lying on my bedside for weeks .

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

kinda hard to understand , but a rather intriguing read .

_______________


catcha' all real soon .

time : 1109
activity : surfing the web .
music : Beachball - Nalin & Kane
mood : wonky still .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

LIT .

been mugging lit for the day .

not doing me much good
since theres so much to remember .
to learn .
to absorb .
to comprehend .
to understand .

and its turning me slightly wonky too .

_______________

four papers left ,

Lit , CSE , International History , Lit .

realise that its ALL writing subjects .
if i count , thats 13 essays more .

THIRTEEN .
thats more then 10,000 words .

phew .

and i thought i survived alot .

this week's gonna be packed and tough .

prepare for more wonkiness from my side .

_______________

somehow this A's doesnt feel a wee bit long .
i cleared 5 papers , 4 more to go .

ive been through more than half of it , and through my
most hated subjects .

i ought to buck up , this massive week
will pass quick .

and somehow the three hours per paper
doesn't feel as long as the prelims or any other exams .
maybe its because we are all writing for a better sake ,
and squeezing everything possible we learned in two years
on that piece of paper .

im contradicting myself .
1st sign of wonkiness .

_______________

back to lit .

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 2125
activity : lit lit lit lit lit .
music : not listening to anything currently .
mood : wonky and grumpy .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

dazed .

had my maths statistics paper yesterday .

and i just learned statistics 1 day before the paper .

yes , the ENTIRE statistics syllabus ,
thanks to Ms Seah .

it was actually pretty decent , the statistics part .
i could actually DO statistics with confidence for the first time .

and as usual ,
he first section was a turnoff .

_______________

i got extremely fortunate and lucky yesterday night (or today morning) ,
my half-hopeful trip downstairs
turned out to be the most rewarding session .

i caught NEBULAS .
you heard me , yes , nebulas .

but clearly i did not have the equipments ( and skills ) to capture
similarly beautiful images on the books .

but dang , i caught nebulas .

first up , the Pleiades Star Cluster .

here it goes ( im will accompany a untagged photo with a tagged one from now on ,
just for a clearer view without lines and arrows obstructing ) :
click on them for a much clearer view .

Pleiades Star Cluster

Pleiades Star Cluster Closeup

Pleiades Star Cluster, perhaps the most famous nebula in the sky , is also one of the most distinguishable . Also known as the Seven Sisters (Greek mythology), and Subaru to the Japanese (uhmm yes , Subaru car company actually adopted the Pleiades as its car logo)

(thanks to Zane for pointing out its not a nebula , and a star cluster instead)

hmms ,

it may look like just a patch of stars in these pictures (even a patch of stars are amazing) , in actual fact , with the equipments and skills , it'll look like this : thats a comet on the right , and Pleiades on the left .

Up next :

Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula in the Orion Hunter Constellation .
the brightest and most identifiable nebula in the sky .
nuff' said .

upclose (credits to Remus from Singastro):
_______________

phew , im still dazed from yesterday's expedidtion .
i saw too many things , though my scope is uncollimated .

jawdropping .

_______________

Lit on monday .
i better start hitting the books .

and for real , Lit needs ALOT of brushing up .
which means hitting LOTS of books .

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 1246
activity : lit lit lit lit lit .
music : Nalin & Kane - Beachball (Myon & Shane 54 Dub Mix)
mood : tired .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

urgh .

sigh .

maths wasnt good .

i heard a few "i lost alot of marks !" , "this sucks" , "GG" .
and a handful of "okay luhs" .

for me it didnt went that well ,
but i can say i did and tried my best as promised ,
squeezing and lemonading every braincell i could onto the maths script .

lets see how it goes .

_______________

heard H1 was terrible too .

makes me wonder ,
(along with the complaints from GP , unexpected History questions)

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS YEAR'S A'S ?

hmms .

and i thought our batch's the surprisingly good one .
with previous benchmark breakers at the PSLE and O's .

but hey .
maybe im wrong , maybe im just stuck in this little space with a few others .
others might be doing
WELL .

_______________

finally ,
after considering that my maths starts at 2pm today ,
i took a breather and took a trip not far downstairs to take a few pics .

no zooming , no nothing , just with a plain camera ,
with my scope as a mount .
(clearly because my scope is baaaaaaaadly out of alignment)

i finally learnt how to take longer exposures of 8 seconds !
NIGHT MODE

dumb enough .

anyway here it goes :

Part of the famous Constellation Sagittarius in the sky ,
undetectable with naked eyes under the pollution and terrible moonshine .
only visible after exposure shots :D
(click on it to see individual stars and names)


Jupiter , Moon , Venus lined up . (top to bottom)
very clear night yesterday .
(that thing on the left's the head of my scope)

tonight's skies kinda suck though .

_______________

time passes pretty fast with the
exams going on .

good thing .

stomach's grinding again ,
need to head to the toilet .

________________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 2047
activity : photo editing
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : still grumpy .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

GP .

GP was gross .

gross .

eww .

but hmms .

i tried my best , i did myself justice .

wasnt THAT bad ,
i made a decent effort , but its just gross .

_______________
im not going to expect too much
from maths tomorrow , just going to go in
and try my best , do my best .

dont wanna let anyone down , 'specially ms seah .

and myself .

_______________

2 days of exams down ,
6 more to go .

heys it isnt that bad .
its going by pretty quick .

its good when you have the post-exams madness to look forward to .

_______________

im feeling sick already though .

cough , throat , flu . common illnesses .
just feel slightly drowsy .

PLUS the painful tooth .

bad deal ,
bad timing .

_______________

looks familiar ?
perhaps like the Moon ?

nahhhhhh .

thats Mercury , the closest planet to the Sun .
(certainly not taken by me . Credits to MESSENGER Spacecraft)

amazingly its not the hottest planet in the System .
Venus win's hands down on this one , winning a whopping 66 °C at 466 °C .
despite being twice as far to the Sun as Mercury .

_______________

im starting to drill maths .

will update soon .

_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 1936
activity : maths maths maths .
music : not listening to anything .
mood : grumpy . drowsy .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

exclusive .

exclusive interruption
to my daily blogging schedule .

gp paper tomorrow ,
doubt i'll blog again later in the day .

_______________

Moon and Venus's meeting .

you can even trace out the unlit side of the moon , and even the details on the dark side ,
too dim for naked eyes to see .

rare opportunity .
_______________

argh .
GP tomorrow .

argh .

_______________

maths after GP .

argh .

argh .

argh .
_______________

gonna mug .

JIAYOUS EVERYONE
_______________

catcha' all real soon .

time : 1122
activity : reading GP essays .
music : not listening to anything .
mood : grumpy .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

ouch ,

my wisdom tooth is giving me problems again .

intolerable pain .

painkillers arent helping much .
it did , but not now .

_______________

GP on monday .
followed by maths .
then maths again .

thats for the coming week .

i have no idea how to approach
studying GP .

reading essays ,
focusing on particular topics .
praying that the question comes out .

but its just so hard to concentrate

with this pain .

_______________

my mum asked me ,
if i would like to spend
a relatively long period of time in New Zealand after my exams .

3 months she said .
THREE MONTHS .

thats the length of the entire VISA permit .

say , if i spend 3 months there .
i'll practically return as a new zealander .

i told her .
"nahh , i'll go , but not THAT long"

come to think of it ,

NZ is photography's heaven .

*grins*

_______________

The Witch's Broom Nebula .

elegance , beauty , magnificent .

nuff' said .

_______________

study study study
study study study

sighs .

_______________

catcha' all very soon .

time : 1858
activity : in pain . hmms , is this an activity ?
music : Head Throbbing - Lester's Head
mood : im in pain by hey , mood's still decent .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

breather .

one of the hardest paper

(certainly excluding maths)
is over .

i wouldn't say i did badly ,
it was pretty decent actually .

considering the first thing i did when the paper started ,
was to make a toilet trip to
jettison my cargo .

had a bit of a time management issue after that ,
but i made it up by churning out words
at the speed i never did ,
at the expense of a sore hand .

_______________

a breather indeed .
other than maths ,
and perhaps a little literature
for me to worry about .

now it has begun ,
what else can i do ?

looking forward to post-exams ,
but grind on till then .

_______________
couple of pics spacecraft Cassini sent back from its trip to Saturn over the years .
well just skip it if you aint interested .

Jupiter : Cassini on its way to Saturn .

Jupiter and its natural satellite moon .

Jupiter's storm-rich northern hemisphere .

Approaching Saturn .

even closer to Saturn . notice the rings .

current orbit of Saturn .

hardly photographed northern hemisphere of Saturn .

_______________

ought to practice some violin for now .
lesson tomorrow .

music keeps me going .
for sure .

_______________

alrighty then .

jiayous everyone !

_______________

catcha' all really soon .

time : 1053
activity : violin-ing
music : currently listening to my own playing .
mood : hmms . decent .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

here it goes .

sorry for not editing for ,

hmm .
quite a while .

_______________

been busy with
obviously the exam ,
and yeh , computer's acting up abit recently .

and this competition thing after my A's ,
knowing that i still cant enjoy immediately after the exam

kinda suck .

but well .

lead on .

_______________

A's starts in 7 hours .
History SEA paper .

Clock ticking down to both the start and the end of A's .

_______________

of all days ,
my wisdom tooth chose to hurt TODAY .

terribly painful i'll say .

and i cant even revise at all . AT ALL .
what a time to be NOT able to revise .

-which is clearly why im trying to catch up now at 1am in the morning-

and i kinda need a short brain now .

_______________

couple of pictures update :

150million miles away , 109 times larger then us , our great Sun .

couple of sunset's i caught :

and Venus , at 25x magnification :_______________

yes yes , i know i cant sleep too late before the exams .
some theory on our adjusting out biological clock before the papers .

but i napped 2 hours in the afternoon ,
that ought to make it up .

_______________

gotta get back to do abit more history .

all the best to everyone's papers .

_______________

catcha' all really soon .

time : 0109
activity : mugging history .
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : cranky , somewhat nervous .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

new layout .

new layout .

basically just an addition of a background image
which i spent the evening designing by hand.

thanks to felicia for helping me out ,
oleng and eileen for comments and suggestions :D

sorry if its abit creepy .
i just think it really fits in .

comments , suggestions and criticisms still welcomed .
_______________

graduation yesterday .

nothing fancy though , just a symbolic "closure" to
our 2 years of JC .

it did brought the entire class together for good ,
and we headed out for lunch and movie later on .

kinda short on pics now .

but here's for the day :








_______________

i got lucky with the calibration
of my scope the previous night .

heres what i got

i made it into a simple moon map , with picture enlargement
of noticeable features on the moon .

enjoy (:

_______________

thats it for today ,
have to catch some sleep soon .

_______________

catcha' all really soon .

time : 0141
activity : chatting .
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : decent .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [

hmmmms .

moody moody moody .

getting moodier and moodier .

maybe its the weather ,

maybe not .

_______________

its the exams i believe ,

but stress never (or rarely) had such effects
on me .

_______________

study study study .

avoid avoid avoid .

shut myself up from the outside world .

thats what i do best perhaps ,
taking things by my stride .

compliance .

how ironic .

_______________

grind on !

all the way guys !

_______________

catcha' all soon .

time : 2308
activity : playing some browser game zoe introduced to me xD everyone's addicted.
music : currently not listening to anything .
mood : moody , decent though .

bang the drums . hit the tyres . light the fire . boost the bass . spin the discs . turn the tables .
mix the jelly
and
FLIP THE WORLD

] DJ LT [