's blog
's blog
Hello!
After over a year of not posting anything, I'm finally ready to make a status update! I am making this status update post be on this month partly because of my last status update also being on this month last year.
Just a reminder, although I am starting to use this blog more and more, it might not be as active as my social media. If you want to follow me, also follow me on social media! Links are at the homepage.
That's right! You've probably stumbled and saw this post through the homepage if you see that I've changed the homepage! It now contains more stupid stuff that no one is interested in! Wow! But in reality, there isn't really anything more to add, so I think to be "cool", I'm going to add my "activity log" that only updates once every half hour!
Obviously, there will many other cool things that I may or may not add later, as future updates to this website are still coming up (especially if a major version just released) as bug fixes are needed.
Nothing much. As stated in my "Plans for 2024" post, my #1 priority, just like most high-schoolers, is to still get in a good university, so the things that I'm currently up to are still what I've said in said post.
I guess, that's all for this blog post, but, in interest of not making this blog post give the feeling that I've wasted your time...
Camp 2 for Informatics (i.e., competitive programming) for the 2023 Academic Year started on March 18, 2024, and lasted until April 3, 2024 (for Bangkok, at least.) It is held in one of the four university centers. If you just want to see the results, check my certificate display, or scroll down (to avoid spoilers, I made you check the certificate display to see the results only if you've just reached this part of the blog.)
I scored a 80.5% on Camp 1, making it enough to place me in the Top 30 and allowing me to attend Camp 2. According to a professor there, Camp 2's material is "second-year bachelor's material", so, in essence, I've already got a head start if I manage to get in a CS-related major.
The dorm that I stayed in (yes, a dorm, because no one is driving for 2 hours per day just to get there) is probably the best type of dorm in the university I was in, complete a table, a bed, free air-conditioning, a convenience store just across the dorm buildings, and of course, free internet connectivity per room.
On every learning day, it is a 3-hour lecture, followed by a break, then a 3-hour "lab"/practice session. But let's be real, no one actually paid attention for the full 3 hours or did the "lab" for the whole 3 hours, especially in later days, when, for me, the amount of information is "too much" and of course, sitting in front of a computer, in a computer lab, cases of going off to a non-related website or browser game website has happened, which both I and many others did.
Content of Camp 2 (in my center) ranges from basic C++, to breath-first search and depth-first search, and all the way to maximum flow algorithms. Of course, it is hard, as university-level material is being taught to middle-to-high-schoolers. I believe many centers (both in and out Bangkok) have posted on what is going to be in their Camp 2 material, so a quick search on Facebook should give a good result on what is being taught and tested.
The judging system for my center was actually a custom made one, and actually broke on the first test-day, but was fixed quickly, so no big deal there. But sadly, due to some brain issues on my side, I'll admit that I did not do to well on the first team selection exam, scoring only 150 out of the 300 points, but of course, I didn't give up.
On the second team selection exam, I actually scored 300 out of 300 points, getting full score. But of course, there was a twist after the exam: more test cases after exam has concluded, and the scores are only from the "visible" test cases or the example test cases (reminds me of Codeforces Div. 1 and Div. 2 judging), and obviously my score fell down to somewhere around 200 points (probably because the number of new test cases added was so few that getting a WA in one of them could get you a 20-point deduction, for each problem it was 100 points split equally into each test case.)
The professors and lectures there were actually quite nice and fun, and on the first day, a lecturer came up to me and asked me to take a selfie with him so he could "send it to a high-ranking teacher" at my school (he was an alumni at the school I'm currently studying at), and obviously, that made a fun story that I can tell my other school friends now that I'm back.
While in the dorm, I just played Minecraft and watched silly videos. Nothing much. But there was this time where I tried to unclog my dorm's toilet with a bottle, as it won't flush. I won't get into the deep details of this one, as it might be too dumb and "immature" to state. I did find a shop that sold plungers about an hour after I tried unclogging the toilet with a bottle. (I didn't know there was a shop that sold plungers in the dorm.)
In the closing ceremony, a very powerful person handed out our certification certificates, and of course, we heard a speech of the Dean of the Science faculty inviting us to continue to "upskill" ourselves at the faculty.
Now for the big reveal.
My name wasn't on the team selection results announcement roster, and I am therefore unable to complete in the 20th Thailand Olympiad in Informatics. Only five campers passed. Those who didn't pass can retake the team selection exam, provided they are still in the grade range. Unfortunately, I was already out of the grade range allowed to retake the team selection exam, so I can't retake the exams anymore.
Still, I was grateful of this opportunity and had lots of fun, and sometimes posted my experiences on social media. Maybe if you visited them, you could find some stories about it?
Obviously, this was a non-exhaustive review because I don't want to write about what happened each day (as it would be too much both for me and for you reading the blog), nor did I write about the other problems while in the camp (e.g. the dorm's elevator losing power). Overall, I think this was a fun experience to test myself, to learn more CS, and to meet new friends.
See you in the next blog post/Mathematical Base Defenders update/whatever!
Since 2023 is coming to an end, I am doing what people are doing: setting New Year's resolutions. There will probably be more aside from this, but I don't really know what else to set more. I'm also writing to my blog so that this doesn't feel empty again.
By the way, I have decided that my blog posts will be under the CC BY 4.0 license, so you are free to share/distribute/adapt my blog posts, as long as you give me credit by (e.g.) providing a link back to the respective blog post's URL, or by mentioning my name.
Right now, I am in high school, so my #1 priority (just like most high-schoolers) would probably to get in a good university. I've taken the Digital SAT (Aug. 2023, 1460) and IELTS (Dec. 2023, 7.5, Academic on computer), and I'm quite satisified with my scores. I do not plan on retaking the Digital SAT or IELTS again because I already retook those once, but since my (or the objective) #1 university (in Thailand) also wants to see a science aptitude test score, I might need to study for that as well. I've never really studied for any school test for the past 1.5 years, but still managed to pass (that is, 50% or above) over 80% of the time if I remember correctly.
If you've been OSINT'ing be on my Facebook/Instagram account or on my certificate display, you might also notice that I passed the สอวน. (POSN) Training Camp 1 (Computer) selection test and passed another selection test while in said camp for eligibility to enter Training Camp 2, which I will be attending in March 2024. I really hope that I can somehow get a spot in the Thailand Olympiad in Informatics (TOI), so I'm mainly studying computer science algorithms right now. A reason why I'm trying really hard to get a spot (or even better, a medal) in the TOI is that I can use that instead of my test scores to apply to university, and another reason why I'm trying is that I get to brag to my friends about how smart I am.
(Explanatory Note: If you don't know what the TOI is, it is basically the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), but on the national level, so the TOI isn't that prestigious as the IOI, but most Thai universities only need a TOI medal (or a medal in another subject's Thai national olympiad, or for some universities, diploma from Training Camp 2) for higher/guaranteed chances of acceptance in TCAS's Round 1.)
I do not frequently post stuff on social media, and that includes not posting stuff that promotes/tries to get more players into Mathematical Base Defenders. I want to change, so that I can be described as "more expressive" and "less-introverted" person in real life, and maybe to get more followers like my friends who post everything they do on their Instagram stories (no offense to them).
I switched back to using GNU/Linux. I would also like to contribute to open-source software, but the #1 reason I'm scared to do so is that it might backfire(???), and the #1 reason I can't do it is that I do not think I have anything useful to add to existing FLOSS. I would also like that mindset to change, but I have great difficulties trying to express myself (because I might be an introvert or something). Additionally, I would also like to talk about my plans for my projects:
I plan to really put in the effort to market/advertise Mathematical Base Defenders in 2024, so it can get more players, and maybe use the fact that I am a powerful person in Mathematical Base Defenders for my university application(???). On a side note, if you want to play Mathematical Base Defenders, click here. I am also waiting for feedback from potential users/testers, so that I can improve from it.
As for my personal website, I don't need to add anything on the apex domain itself (since it's just a project listing page), but I might add some new subdomains on my domain in 2024 to spice up my website. I would also like to improve the "stability" of my domains, as well as adding new features to existing domains.
These are some of my New Year resolutions for 2024. Share this blog post with other people so more people can laugh at me if I fail my New Year resolutions, and thank you for taking the time for reading!
Are you expecting a review on the สอวน. training camp that I promised over a month ago? Well, I don't really have any in-depth review of it, since it's a come-and-go-home camp (not an overnight camp). So here is a very short summary of it: Learn, eat, learn more eat, learn more, go home. Except for the middle and the end of the camp, where the teachers gave me the Training Camp 2 selection test. (สอวน. Training Camp 2 for Computer will probably be an overnight camp, as shown by social media posts from previous years.) But at least there's a better chance of an actual review (i.e., a dedicated blog post) for Training Camp 2 because of the more advanced material, and also the fact that it's an overnight camp. So if you want a review, you might have to wait until Camp 2 starts. Sorry...
Happy New Year to Everyone! (I'm 21.5 hours late in my timezone, UTC+7). But I'm pretty sure at least some of you are still here waiting for me. So what happened? What's next for me? Where do I see myself 5 years from now? Here are the answers (not to some of these rhetorical questions)
I'll confess right now. I started to lose interest on developing Mathematical Base Defenders. I have finally come to realize that the game may not have the easiest controls or the best gameplay or enemy generation. However, I might come back to developing it, if some of you can give me some ideas by messaging me.
I feel like the game is already "complete" and that it needed only bug fixes and minor improvements. Singleplayer is done, multiplayer is done, and settings is done.
But if you want to see the game thrive on, feel free to contribute to the one of the repositories! Even though I may have lost interest, but having someone being interested in the project really motivates me into continuing (I will also take a look at your pull request)!
The game was originally created for a "software contest" (more precisely: NSTDA's National Software Contest). The initial, first, prototype version was developed in 2020, when said iteration of the competition took place. I used Java for the language, but I found out that it might not be the best for me now. So I switched to JavaScript with an incomplete TypeScript migration. After the competition and having receiving THB12,000 in funding, I wanted it to be able to be used commerically. But obviously due to my incompotency, it failed. However, I won't be giving up on the project.
Speaking of NSTDA's National Software Contest, I (and one of my friends) have submitted another proposal to NSTDA for this year (2023)'s National Software Contest! The results on whether it will be accepted will come out on 2023-01-20 during the day. If it gets accepted, the development on that "new game" will start! But if it doesn't, well... I'm not sure what to do.
2023-01-20 Update: It wasn't accepted.
The game will be similar to Mathematical Base Defenders, but much easier to play and to survive longer. This game would also be a more "simple" game than Mathematical Base Defenders, containing less math, less RNG, and more speed and skill!
Of course, for my personal website, there will still be updates! I may or may not open-source it in the future (I can't really recall whether I committed sensitive information in). I will also be updating the Prayut Counter if there are news about Prayut once again, you know, just to make things more i n t e r e s t i n g .
Remember when I said I wont be answering some of the questions in the first line? Well, I lied, and these are just rhetorical questions (I don't know if they really are). But if you want to see updates on my life, check out my social media account (not just my GitHub account) where I have a 5% of posting something every 2 weeks!
That's it for this blog post. Thank you for reading this and have a great year!