Lunch with Robotic Guy

Today, Dan* from Engineering joined me on lunch at the Pasta stall I used to have. He's a nice guy - ever smiling. We first met at a workshop ("Motivation" I think.) He sat next to me in that workshop and we were having a good time. It was like several months ago. I had roasted chicken with pasta while he ordered chicken chop with pasta. 

We talked a lot with topics ranging from hobbies to research interests. His research is about robotics (I mistakenly regarded that he's into chemical engineering, what a shame!). When asked if he's a chance to play with many toys, he replied a "Yes". I asked if it is possible to visit his lab and see his toys, he willingly invited me to come someday.

He had told me that he's looking for a new roommate, therefore, I asked him if he found one. Then the conversation steered about my roommate. My roommate is, in fact, my senior back in my undergrad years. But we haven't met each other until we knew each other online. Then we'd become roommates. I told him about that and Dan* seemed amused at this story.

We didn't left out the topic of food and cooking. Dan* can also cook but not now as his new land lord doesn't allow him to do so. In Singapore, the land-lords are really like dictators for the tenants - no nailing, no cooking, no lights after 12 etc. So funny. I feel like the government should set up a law enforcing a standard living condition for all occupants. Afterall, it has prospered from the foreign expatriates.

We also talked about the languages and their structures. I learnt that Malay is not a tonal language but Chinese (4 + 1 tones) is. I was amazed when he revealed that Vietnamese has 9 tones ! (For Burmese guys, tones are like "အ", "အာ" and "အား" which are different sounds of "-ာ") He tried to clarify the difference between the second and the third tone - which, many Burmese have difficulties with. I told him that Burmese has only three tones. 

Dan* also like to take photographs. If we both have a free time, we'd go Sentosa to take sine photos. When we parted, I told him he's gonna featured in my blog. He seemed surprised but replied he's looking forward to it. Now here it is Dan*.

By the way, Dan* also have a blog.