exams, etc.

hmm. i suddenly love photoshopping so much. it's been some time since i was excited about photoshopping. maybe it's because of flickr. with flickr, i could just go around and find nice photos everywhere. took those licensed under Creative Commons and just do some editing to the photos. this time, i tried to use the photoframe effects again. but slightly harder one compared to the one i did before.

basically, what i did was:

1. create rectangular selection on a new layer and fill it with non-transparent, non-dithered gradient (with light colour, i think i used very light dirty green colour, but any oft-white colour will do i guess, then the gradient pattern is from oft-white to white) from bottom right to top left.

2. contract the selection (using select - modify - contract) by a few pixels to create a white border effect (how much will depend on the size of the canvas, just use your judgment).

3. then copy the photo you want to put inside the frame and use edit - paste into to paste the photo into your selection. you might want to transform the pasted photo a little, especially if the nice part you want to include in the final product is cropped.

4. create a new layer, ctrl+click the first layer you created to load the selection of the whole frame and photo. revert to photoshop original colour selection of black and white by pressing the 'D' button. fill the selection from bottom right to top left with black to transparent gradient (remember to enable transparency which you disabled on step 1). set opacity to about 50%.

5. don't deselect! instead, we are going to create a nice shadow by creating a new workpath (by clicking on paths window and clicking the new workpath button) and using pen to add a few anchor points. adjust each anchor points to create an impression that the picture is curled/folded slightly. then revert the workpath into a selection.

6. create new layer. feather the selection, fill it with black and reduce the opacity of this layer to 50%. experiment with the feather radius to create a nice shadow effect. shift this layer to the bottom, just below the first layer. this will create a nice shadow effect.

7. optionally, you can rotate the whole thing. just select all the layers involved in the process, and transform the selection (ctrl+t). then simply rotate the thing.

there you are. a nice photoframe effect. much better than the one i did previously.
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master's list.

how can a person get a master's list? how easy is it to get one?

sigh. so many things to consider. after exam, i've to trash this one out with my new chair. there's a friend of mine who wanted to apply for my hall but failed. so his only chance is through master's list. he probably has the skill set necessary for my comm. and also, he seems responsible from past experience. so now the question is whether he's good enough for us to secure a master's list. it's not easy to get, especially for external person to get in. if you're already staying in hall, it's not so bad. joining the hols comm will get you a master's list. having us recommend you will likely get you a master's list too, if you've the skills that are important for the hall.

yet, another difficulty for this guy is that he's a year 2. i'm not sure how easy can it get for a year 2 to secure a master's list. he's also a committee guy. he got 70 points under comm. yet, due to the cap by OSA, his points were only 40. that will most likely repeat the coming year. that will be another consideration for jcrc. sigh.

it's tough lar. but have to try it out. barring technical difficulties (like running out of master's list, etc), we should be able to bring him in if we really wanted him.

shit. i still have the server room key. where's my ex-chair? damn. think he's asleep.
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cheh, i've been listening to the corrs songs the whole day. i've most of them except for their latest album (which sucks). talk on corners is still really their best album. in blue wasn't bad, but borrowed heaven is much better. their songs are so freakin' nice! but for today, would you be happier is still my favourite. and i'm so much happier now. not much bad things happened in the past couple hours. got some chance to calm down and relax. ate some instant noodles. edit some photos.

hmm, i guess must be the photo editing part. really relaxing. experimenting with different methods to get what i want. seriously, it's fun!

anyway, i did something. it achieved the effect that i wanted. so i was happy too. not only for me. but for whoever is involved. finally. i can truly say that i did a good deed once. too cryptic to understand? no worry. no need to understand. look at SeanLam's blog. got a "random person" leaving funny messages at his tagboard. hmm. i also talk cryptically, so somebody should leave some messages here too! ;) =P

2:36AM - i just sent a final message to a friend whom i aren't going to meet until 28. or talk to. or sms. so yea. that's another knot to be sad about. but i guess, it's for our own good, both of us. we both need to study hard now. me harder than my friend of course. that's for sure! all the best girl!
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reading list for the next two weeks:

Computer Organization and Design
Digital Logic Design
Wall and Mirror's Java
Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
Calculus (whatever textbook i can put my hands on)

things to do in the next few days:

two essays
one project final write-up
touching up for another project write-up

coming exam:

Data Structures and Algorithms
Computer Organization
Calculus
Theory of Computation

not so bad i see. i think i've secured two As (one A/+ and one A/-) this semester. and the talk about failing one module? forget about it. i think i'll pass that module after all, due to some technical thing. another module is in the limbo between A- and B. another one likely to fall within the vicinity of B, hopefully a B+ of course. the one that i said i was going to fail? hopefully a C+/B-. the last one is S/Ued. tough one. but i suppose i can probably get an S for that.

all right. that's my exam prediction. we'll see whether my prediction is correct.

i realized that i can crap out sensible rubbish if only i were thinking. but 'thinking' is rare nowadays.
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anyway, how's the new design? simplistic huh? this is just a temporary design to celebrate this blog's one month anniversary. i also prepared a poster for the one month anniversary. it's already uploaded to flickr. will post it here on April 18.
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i saw my friend's nick at msn just now. i almost laughed. no, i'm not sadistic (there khai, i'm NOT sadistic, don't judge me just by reading my new sci-fi, in which i killed ten people). it's just, hmm. judge it for yourself.

i wish i know how to let you go...

i knew this girl. i knew her story well. well, a lot of people know her story anyway. so yea, nothing to be shocked off. usual boyfriend problems i guess. they always fight. last time it was worse. now she's much more free time, so not so bad.

aiya, come back to the topic. there! it's not so bad really. at first it's difficult to let go. but well, when you do, it's not really all that hard. it's the first step (how ironic huh, your name? ;)).

sorry for the laugh, btw.
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i went shopping alone just now, after we had lunch. it was so serene and surreal. my iPod was playing some of my favourite songs in sequence. i just walked round and round at sheng siong supermarket. seriously i spent over an hour just walking around and around, looking at stuffs. at the end i only bought some instant noodles to stock myself up for the coming week(s). ah, should have bought a lot more. i forgot that exam is just round the corner. looking at past experience, i become a greedy instant noodles consumer near and during the exam.

wah, 5 packets of instant noodles for $1.10. that's a really good deal lar. although a month ago, i got the same 5 packets for $1. nevertheless, it's a damn good deal.
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read the maths from the previous post. i feel like repeating the same post here again! why? don't ask! you wouldn't wanna hear me whine about it.
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"And the colour itself fades, as oblivion previously known to human as nanorobots devours the very colour itself."

—Jonathan Robert Henry
A science-fiction writer, 1986-2053

that's how my new sci-fi began. ten pages of double-spaced sci-fi story? hard to pull off a good one. but well, no choice. i'm half way done now. doing the epilogue right now. still thinking how to write the climactic part. i know what story to put there. but still, it's difficult to pull that one out in a mere one and a half page and make it exciting. anyway, this will be the first story i wrote in the past few years. shall post the story here someday.