okay... finally it's all over... now I can fully concentrate on what I'm supposed to do - MUG!!! haha~ yeah... i din get anything from the competition again, like last year, but a cert... oh well, I wasn't expecting anything anyway, given the time I spent on building my prototype (less the one for my model... that was only for fun). Didn't really think much about it this time, unlike last year, when I spent loads of time on it, only to realise in the end that it was only an immature idea... Hopes were raised, Hopes had fallen... Glad that I didn't spent this much efforts (and $$... I kapok around 300 this time... wahhahaa... Had a $427 grant, but I think I just spent $100ish... heehee~ how many hamburgers are those? Or the hot stuff in Mc - The Spicy Chicken burger which ain't spicy at all) again on this competition... So my expectations aren't that high at all... Was just doing it for resume... wahhaha~ next yr will be the year I try something outta my specialized field... Was talking to my dad the last time, when I wanted to set up a small business, which I didn't of course, because my dad disallowed it, and I wouldn't have even a morsel of time this sem to even think of starting it!!! But he said that one should always use his specialized skills in his career, if not why are you paying so much and studying it in the first place? Yeah, it may sound obvious to many... and it does to me as well (But I just wanted to have both)... But now I further understood the meaning behind those words... College education places you in a more advantageous situation in that field you are in and if you don't make use of it, and instead head for an unrelated field, you're disadvantaged, and the chances of failure is much higher, because you do not know enough to succeed in that area, especially with other BIG BOYS around. I learnt and understood several things from the competition this time. One of which is that you really have to make use of your own specialty to win, unless you are really that innovative. Out of so many contestants, I think I'm one of the few in EE. Others are mostly in Engineering Mechanics or Mechanical Engineering and stuff like that... They build the physical part of the machines... While I (should) specialize in the electric circuits... Well, anyway, I don't know enough to use my knowledge in the circuits anyway... And it isn't that easy to do it either, without proper equipment and skills in computer program as compared to ME or EMA students. There's much more complications. But I guess next year will be different... I'll be in the Senior year and would have taken more Advanced Electives class to apply what I learnt. Hopefully things will turn out better... Anyway it's a little embarrassing if I took the competition for 3 years and not winning anything, esp when the judges are always the same... They could recognize me man, other than the fact that my handsome face appeared on the super big poster in the auditorium... haha~ hopefully i get something outta next yr's competition, provided that my next idea succeeds... Will be thinking of sending in 2 entries... heehee~ one is more mechanical (I never learn... ahha) and the second one is more electrical... hopefully the second one works... cuz if it does, it'll probably be a breakthrough in the world's mission to find alternative sources of energy... whaha~ okay... then it may not work in the end, else someone in this world would have discovered it already... it's so simple... I guess my ideas are still very immature... Gotta work harder to think of more professional ideas... Well, I guess this is still the beginning and i always have been a slow starter... Will wait for the day I take flight... Hope it's not too late then... Oh yes, sorry for the digression... The second thing I learnt from this competition is that no matter how badly you (or others) think your innovation is, there'll still be someone who thinks that it's great. Just like the fan i made last yr, I thought it's crap, but the coordinator still joked that it's really gonna come in useful for that day, cuz someone complained that the airconditioning is too cold and yet he's feeling so hot himself... It's rather gratifying to hear such comments when you think what you have come up with is short of promising. And this year, one of the judges (the older and more experienced one) said that my invention is not going to work (which is why I didn't manage to get anything, despite the fact that I have more confidence in this one). But when I was about to tear down my booth, there's this prof who came over and said that my idea is really good, that the use of mirrors in light transportation may actually be the solution to what the Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is looking for. We had the same sentiments, that is to make use of solar energy in the day to brighten up the room... The ORNL are researching on something called "Hybrid Lighting", which is making use of light pipes (made of glass i guess) to transport light into the room... It looks rather gorgeous actually. But the heat from the sun is giving them some problem... The pipes got too hot and they start to melt... They're looking for ways to remove the heat, so that airconditioning bills will go down together with lighting bills... The prof was saying that i was also heading in that direction and suggested me to take up and intern with them if I wanted to pursue more in this area... Well... probably not... but it's really gratifying to know that at least someone sees the quality in your product when many others, especially the experienced judges, don't. And I learnt the importance in believing in your product, because I think that's how most inventors will feel when they try to come up with something novel and crazy... Everyone will be saying that it'll not work... and if you yourself don't believe in it, it'll never pull through, and you'd never in your lifetime, be successful in this area. But then again, even though I've been told many times (in books) to believe in my product, it's really hard to keep believing in it, unless you really have loads of confidence in it... I mean, given my miserable knowledge and experience now, when a more knowledgeable and experienced person comes to you and says that it wouldn't work, are you going to continue to believe that it does? You'd probably start thinking that maybe it really will not work... because otherwise, someone would have done it already... It's so simple and just a slight branch from what they have on textbooks. Maybe someone had tried and failed, which is why it's not in the market right now... I mean it's quite easy to have this kind of thoughts especially when you have something new and simple in this era. It's totally different in Thomas Edison's era, when a light bulb is analogous to nanotechnology now... Does that mean I have to try something much more advanced to invent something??? Or to be sure that I'm not treading on a path that someone else had travelled on before and it came to a dead-end? Anyway, that prof was quite shocked when I told him I was an EE... He was expecting EMA or ME... but he still said that the ORNL takes all disciplines in engineering... haha~ but that really made me understood the importance of making use of your specialty to compete against others who also makes use of their own specialty to challenge you to the competition... yeah, I shall always remember that - the advice my beloved dad gave me :)

Anyway, my hopes were slightly raised yesterday during the prize presentation... As the started from those non-prize winning teams first... and I was the last in that category to be called... Even though I was already expecting it, I wasn't really expecting my name to be called last. The next person called had a prize... ahaha whatever... I've already won... 300 bucks... wahaha~ and possible some scholarship money next time... whahahaha ~ Next year, we shall see again... One day, when im more experienced and knowledgeable, I will re do my ideas and prove to them that my idea works... Sell it to them and squeeze their $$ outta them and get back what I deserve!!! Yeah!!! Wahahah~ *sounds evil* hehehehehehehe