Tuesday, November 24, 2009

OK Computer

Many things crosses my mind whenever i'm too bored of studying.. I keep thinking of what i wanna do next year as an intern in my one last year in India. I wanna buy this buy that, take plenty of leaves and travel around India as much as possible, or even go to South Africa for World Cup..
Recently, i bought a 22" LCD monitor, Dell SP2208WFP. It's the monitor i've been eying for the past one year, and so far i'd not found any new monitor model better than that.. This model is way too good in terms of performance, features and value till it's being discontinued, and luckily i found a second hand one on eBay India. The monitor is 6 months old, hardly been used, and still look brand new without any problem. Actually i bought the same monitor in July when i was back in Msia, it's still unopened in my home and i'm supposed to bring it over next year, but then i decided against it and wanna get one more over here.. The reasons I wanna have a monitor are so that my desk will be cleaner and have more space for books,; i can watch my HD movies more comfortably; have a better desktop experience in my daily windows applications; and also due to peer pressure cause many of my friends in the hostel already have one.. The monitor cost me Rs9000 (RM650), and i'm really happy with its performance.


Recently, Liew's laptop died and while he was going to buy a Dell desktop, i advised him to buy all the parts separately and custom build one, which he did. His new PC cost around Rs80000 (which is almost the same price as the Dell desktop he's gonna buy here but more than doubled its performance). His PC is extremely powerful (with Intel Core i5 CPU, ATI Radeon 5850 GPU), and is undoubtedly the strongest in our whole hostel right now.
Now, my heart is pumping to build one for myself too. I'm really pissed with my 2 year-old Dell XPS 1530 laptop cause it can no longer support any of my games in native 1680x1050 monitor resolution smoothly, even watching HD movies lag sometimes.. All these while i was planning to buy a Alienware m15x next year, but when i think about the price of it (RM6500) and how well can it support new games in full details, i decided against it.. If i build a desktop myself, it'll only cost me less than RM4000, and i can assure it will support all future games in full details in the next 3 years and will not die on me for at least 5 years. It's totally a bargain compare to a laptop, considering laptop's life span of 3 years.. Average laptops has a 30% of total failure rate after 3 years, and also each manufacturer has different failure rate. Check this out:


My plan now is to sell my laptop in eBay India for around Rs30k, scrap my budget for a PS3 and its games which is another Rs30k, and use the money to build a Small Form Factor PC gaming machine. I want a really small and cool looking PC case cause i'm bored of those tower casing and it's more challenging and fun building a SFF PC. Also, i can easily bring it back to Malaysia when i leave this place. I'd already made a list of all the components that i'll be getting when i go back Malaysia, and i'm really looking forward to it. Below is Thermaltake Lanbox Lite and Lian-li PC-V351 small form factor casing which i'd been eying:


specs i have decided on:

CPU: Intel Core i5
RAM: G Skill 2000Mhz 4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS Maximus III Gene
PSU: Corsair HX620W
HDD: Western Digital 2TB Cavier Black
GPU: nVidia GTX 275
HSF: Noctua NH-U9B

So right now, my sole aim is to study well, do well for my exam and pass all subjects in one go, reward myself with a new PC, and then fully enjoy my last year in India as an intern.. May God bless me..

Bitches Brew

Whenever i'm in my posting, the word 'bitch' and 'pussies' will keep lingering in my mind.. This is going to be my one last posting as a MBBS student, and it's Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and it is one load of a hell.. Everyday something stupid happens, some of us will get screwed by the "b****y" lady prof.. Things had gone from bad to worse again this morning, which i wont elaborate here.. I really hate OBG postings, and it had also made me lose some interest when i open my OBG books to study.. i really cant stand that almost all (except a few) OBG profs are so unpredictable and PMS all the time..
Our end posting exam will be on the 30th Nov, which is the latest among all the units.. Some units have even completed their end posting today and can concentrate fully on their preparation for sessional exam, but we're still stuck in this stupid posting. Every morning is filled with fear of getting late or get screwed out of nothing or losing attendance. Life sucks under OBG posting.. Even though i know this will be our one last moments of posting as a student, and we're supposed to treasure all the experiences that we have there, but still, every moment of the posting is like living with an unexpected timed bomb, it can explode any time..

My final sessional exam is exactly one week to go.. I realize there are so much more to study.. The text books are like never ending.. There are just too much things new to me.. Everyday, i'd spent most of my time studying like a bitch. I think this is the period my knowledge in medicine improved the most among all my 4 and a half years of the course.. One dilemma i'm having is that many times when i flip through the pages, even though i know the topic is not in the question bank, i will still read it thoroughly just for better understanding of the subjects and for future use. I know it's time wasting in the exam point of view, but i think that particular 'extra topics' are more important in my daily life, they're not those big diseases but they're cases of which i will encounter more... Actually if I'm going to be really exam oriented and analyze the past years well enough, I only need to cover half of the book to pass. However, by the time i become an intern, i will not understand or remember a single thing.. The most important part of medicine is understanding the basics, as many of my profs stressed on.. If you do not, then there's no way you'll succeed as a good doctor.. So now the irony comes.. I have only 1 month plus before my university exam, should i spend more time understanding the subjects, or be strictly exam oriented and memorize only the FAQs.. How i wish i have more time studying properly, and pass out being a doctor who know the subject well.. But then again, if i was given more time, will i be studying seriously, or will i be too relax and start fooling around? (which i think most likely i'll be the latter.)
One more thing is, i really hate this place. Many things over here pisses me off.. If i fail this uni exam, i'll have to stay for another 6 months. Yes, i'll be much better in my knowledge within the 6 extra months, plus i do not mind staying longer provided i have the money to spend and all the entertainment and friends that i have here; but on the other hand, I also want to pass out my exam in one go and leave this stupid place asap.. So ironic..

Also, my classes officially ended today, but i din go cz i'm too sleepy due to the mental pressure in posting. Now, i do not need to wear formal shirts, go to class via the crappy school bus, walk under the hot sun, and listen to boring lectures and seminars, or get scolded or thrown out due to misbehavior, just for the sake of attendance. To me, lectures are over-rated. To me, taking attendance is stupid and time wasting. To me, sleeping in class or reading other books is a student's right. To me, yawning is only a reflex to take in more oxygen. To me, chewing gum in class helps students to be awake. To me, morning classes are meant to be bunked. To me, wearing T-shirts and short pants in classroom is totally alright.
Who have attention span of 1 hour sitting quietly in the classroom? (except those really nerdy students). My attention span is only 30 mins max, after that i get restless. I think most of my time in lecture hall are spent on sleeping, or day dreaming, or studying by myself. I'll only pay attention if the lecturer is really good or the topic is interesting and important. Yes, now i no longer need to suffocate myself inside classrooms (hopefully in my whole life) anymore, woohoo!
"We don't need no education,"
"We don't need no thought control,"
"No dark sarcasm in the class room,"
"Teachers leave us kids alone!"