A short reprise

Today we thought of using SVG to improve the quality of the graphic. I thought finally I found a way to avoid those horribly rasterized PNG. But I think we need to drop that plan, the file size of SVG are just too big to handle! Hopefully using the "Aligning to pixels" option in Illustrator will help make the rasterized graphics quality better.

I think this is about the most intense time of this first assignment. We have hit a few bumps along the way. I think one of the biggest takeaways from the course should be learning to handle pressure and stress, especially while working in a group. We will stick together through this though!

Back to the all-nighter.

to talk and to Do

It does not feel like the 2nd week of school at all. It feels like 12th week of school.
But it's alright. I knew what I was getting into from the start. Indeed, I kind of enjoy this busy schedule. I think when I'm freaking dead tired, I feel most alive. I know I'm doing something that I care about, and in this case, something that I may feel passionate about.

Passion is a hard word to define. I'm still looking for it.

I feel so blessed to be with my two group mates. It was tough to have just 3 people making an app. It was tougher when I basically cannot help them with the coding. I felt really bad seeing Pei Yi and Pallav struggling to get the page up without being able to help them. The front-end works fine (at least in my opinion) on our trial page. It just refused to work on our actual app page.

I learnt how to put images together into a "sprite image" to reduce the number of HTTP requests sent to the server.
It's funny how much time I spent on making the field pieces and the cards. I made them all in vectors, even though I know clearly that they will be squashed into a little pathetic square of 60x60 px (I kinda understand why Ipad3 go that Retina display). But I enjoy doing them. If I don't give 101% effort into my work, why should I bother to start?

Pei Yi recoded her html file and uploaded to a new hosting server altogether, even though Pallav has said that he would help her debug her previous code. She wrote in her email "i couldn't sleep ): couldnt get any peace because of the mistakes i made, so i went to redo it". That is just so... great. I'm really blessed that I have such teammates.

I made a promise to myself. By the time we start on our final project, I will be able to help with the programming works. Hopefully we can work together again.

Droning with inspiration

So all the group works, tutoring and CCA responsibilities have finally accumulated into enough sleepless nights to leave me in this permanent state of semi-anesthetized.

I have finally started designing the graphics for our game. Rather than using Photoshop as per normal, I decided to pick up Illustrator. Fortunately I have some experience with Corel Draw before so things are not too difficult. I also think using Illustrator will help me modify the graphics more easily.

The lecture yesterday was quite good. I especially liked Scrum. It was so simple yet I think it what I (and our group) need in order to clearly plan out and prioritize the milestones of our project.

About time to leave for tuition.
P/S: should not have gone to school today. Should have just stayed back to finish the logo =__=

Tuesday

Tuesday is always tiring.
Proof is I have ponned all the lectures on tuesday so far.
We get so pumped up on Monday, spent ounce of energy that we have, and basically laid flat on the bed on Tuesday under the perils of our own eagerness. Probably it's just me.

Get all the projects start running. At the same time.
It feels good discussing stuffs. It sucks being in lecture.

Seems like we got a pretty good idea of what we want to do for CS3216. A game. And from my impression, can be a potentially fun game. Now lies ahead the execution.

Some sketches of the elements of the interface done by today. Should be fine.

Miles to go before I sleep

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

 

First project meeting today. I realized I'm very likely the technical liability in the group. But it's alright, this is the time to learn. And I will learn.

 

"Miles to go before I sleep."

Another gloomy day of the lonely heart

I'm watching, or actually, listening to "The Last Lecture" again. I have read the book before and watched the video at least 3 times, if I remember correctly.

Sometimes when you feel like crap, listening to speeches by great people somehow makes you feel like you are great as well. It just feels like they are born to be great the way they are. Of course I know that's not true. They must have gone through all kinds of stuffs before becoming who they are. It's supposed to be a consolation for me. Supposed to be.

What troubles my mind is something that's supposedly got nothing to do with me. Why something that does not belong to you in the first place troubles you so much, idiot?
May be it's the dreams and images that I drew for myself that I miss more. Maybe not.

I attended an one-hour 8o'clock lecture today. It has been a while since I last attended such an early lecture. Or as a matter of fact, since I attended a lecture.

I wonder whether the lecturer actually wonders whether the students understand what he was saying. Or probably after a while he just stops to give it a piece of his mind. Why bothers? From his point of view, probably he sees more than I can from the back. Students sleeping, chatting, droning through the lecture for a sense of security as they think they learn something. I wonder how many lost dreams he sees from there, or probably there's never been a dream.

Just the start of the new term and my schedule seems so packed. 1 DCC project. 1 CS3216 project. 1 archi project. Duty of a committee head. And I still want to return to sports. No wonder I don't have time for what I should have done. Or maybe it's just not meant to be.

I talked to a friend yesterday. He was kind of amazed by what I'm doing. "You should plan your future more carefully". Why the hell should an Electrical Engineering guy takes a CS module? If you want to start a business, why choose to take another technical minor. I think he must be shocked if he knows I'm doing an archi project.
Maybe I don't feel like myself without overworking myself. Maybe that's a way to forget other things. Most probably, I'm crazy.
I didn't want to argue with him over "the future". I always believe I cannot "plan" it. In the short term, maybe I can try to "align" along some direction, but I cannot tell who I will become in the next 10 years. "We can only see how things piece up looking backwards."

Another freaking gloomy day.
Probably because of nothing but the drinking and almost all-nighter tomorrow.

Or maybe not. Because of my eyes.

Another journey

Finally I get some free time. The 3 months spent on Rag have been a hectic time. Everyday we come together at 10am and work till 3,4am, sometimes even 6 or 7am.
Eventually we never "won". Nonetheless we won the objective of making great friends, staying together as a family.
For me, I got what I want. I have always wanted to make "something real". Probably any person who is crazy enough to join engineering shares that same dream. Eventually joining engineering means a tough career, less chance to get an internship, less chance to make big money. I think only those who are the craiziest join engineering.
I ramble. Probably because there are so many things that I want to say after so long. Probably drinking after so many exhausting months of hard work just push my brain to its limit.

I have a list of child-hood dreams that I want to achieve:
1. Have a book published.
2. Have a comic book published.
3. Going to Germany.
4. To become rich like Bill Gates.
5. Build a green city of my own on desert.

I'm sure I have more than 5 childhood dreams. So many times along the way I have forgotten what I want to do. So many times have I been overwhelmed by the work and hand that I forgot what I truly want. Sometimes maybe I have too much doubt on myself, on my ability, on my dreams.

I have crossed number 3 out of the list 2 years ago. I never planned to achieve it at that time, but I just grasped it when the opportunity came.

I almost had number 2 crossed out of the list. I got to have a float built upon my design. I have so many people help me build that. That's all I want. That's my dream comes true.

There are still 3 more left on the list. Number 4 and 5 are so much related.
I hope I by being in CS3216 can make my mind focus more on reaching those dreams.
May be not. But I know I will work my heart out for it.
Engineers are the most romantic. We always believe we can do something no matter what.

"We'll do it all, everything, on our own.
We don't need anything, or anyone."

Serious, I don't need anything or anyone. Just to get my dream, my love.

Someday when I'm sober.