YUYAN'S.

Saturday, May 15, 2010, 12:12 PM

I AM BLOGGING IN THE OFFICE. can you believe it?? (not about the fact that i'm blogging in the office, about the fact that i AM IN THE OFFICE ON A SATURDAY, FML.)

but i am handling the events dept in the company. and events people are always busy every single second of their lives. i wanted to do events at first cuz it's so cool; you needa be quick-witted, able to handle the unexpected, be resourceful etc etc. and then you get to meet all sorts of people, run around (no desk-bound job for me thanks) and also earn alot of money. O.o O.o

BUTTTT. i realize now that it's no easy task! you need to be meticulous and patient, and these are characteristics i seriously lack. for example, there were a few chairs out of place at the event venue just now. i totally didnt see them until my supervisor pointed them out to me. after it registered, i then realized it IS really quite unsightly. =S yea yea, i know i can console myself by saying 'but i'm only learning, i just started!'. but i think such things are really innate. you dont have it in you means you DONT. it's just like how i'll never get my mom; how on EARTH did she know i used her makeup on the sly, when i made sure i put everything right where i found it?! or how on EARTH did she find out i dropped 2 buttons on my top(and proceeded to mend it awwww) when i didnt even realize?! ... you get my drift.

and then you need to give up alot of timeeee. omg. i am a born slacker. i like to do nothing at all. when people tell me 'wah i feel damn sian and boreddd, got nothing to do at all!' i would be like 'wah lucky you.'. then they usually go on saying 'where got lucky! i feel so unproductive. at least you are on internship, you are learning something...' and i'll be like 'i'd much rather do nothing at all.' and they wont understand!! they'll say 'no lah, serious. wait till you REALLY have nothing to do, then you will WISH you have something to do.' well. guess what. you're not me. how'd you know what i'll wish for? and i HAVE experienced doing nothing for a long period of time. i loved it.

i am the kind of person who's been seeking the easiest way out in things i do, for all my life. in sec school and jc, i am famous in my CCA for being the chao slacker. can siam i will siam one. in studying, my most used phrase is 'this chapt no need study lah right... wont come out in exam one right..' i'm so used to drifting along in life, taking whatever comes at me, not planning for anything at all, that i am starting to doubt if this job's suitable for me at all. =(

sigh.

oh but well. we'll take it as it comes la huh. hahahahaha.

joy of the day, i met a cute guy! i think i'd better not divulge so much, scarly people stalk my blog(who knows right, things are getting so public these days). had been spamming queenie(who works on saturdays too, sad life like me) on bbm about the guy, HAHAHAHA!

and also since saturday is slack one, i had time to surf around(and blog) and find some real interesting logic puzzles! there was one i found quite interesting, which i shared with jacq and she posted it on her blog, can go check it out if you want. i'm gonna share another one here on my blog, try it if you want!

THE PUZZLE:

In a faraway island there were 10 inhabitants. One day, a ferocious monster invaded the island and declared he wants to eat all the inhabitants! The people begged and cried for him not to eat them, and the monster decided to give them a chance.

He said: I shall give you a chance to redeem yourselves! I will play a game with you. The rules of the game will be told to you now, and you will have one day to discuss your best strategy. By dawn tomorrow, you shall all assemble before me and the game will commence.

Rules of the game: The 10 people on the island would line up in a single file the next day. They will stand in a straight line, all facing the same direction. They will face the back of the person in front of them, ie: the 10th person can see the 9 people in front of him, the 9th person can see the 8 in front of him and so on, until the 1st person who doesnt have anyone in front of him and obviously cant see anyone.

The monster will then randomly place a hat on their heads. The hats can ONLY be in white or black. The order is random, he can put anyhow he wants, can even put all black or all white. After he is done, he will start asking, STARTING FROM THE 10TH PERSON, 'what is the colour of the hat on your head?' all the way until he finishes asking the 1st person. If the person answers correctly, he will be freed, if not, he will be eaten. NOTE: The person can ONLY answer one word: black/white. He cannot specially intonate the word, like saying 'blaaaaaack' or 'wwwwwhite' or what nonsense, if not the monster will eat everyone! NO CHEATING ALLOWED.

Devise a strategy whereby these islanders can maximize their survival rate.

If you are stuck, you can scroll down for some hints. If you damn gungho dont want hint then good luck! (cuz this puzzle not easy sia)

HINTSSS:
1) You have one night to strategize! Cannot intonate the word, but can encode the word with a special meaning. Example if you say black, can mean 'the person 2 spaces in front of me is wearing black' and if you say white can mean 'my mother washed my butt' or what nonsense. you get my drift.

2) Keep in mind you have TEN people on the island. The 10th person can see ALL NINE HEADS in front of him, the 9th person can see ALL 8 HEADS in front of him. Also keep in mind certain properties of numbers: perfect square? even/odd number? prime number?

3) The question is to maximize the survival rate. Not ALL will be guaranteed survival. But the answer actually guarantees the survival of 9 people, at least. so if u only get like half survive, you WRONG LIAO.

HAHAHAHA. good luck peeeeps!! if you all think you got the ans and wanna see if you are correct, can text/tweet meeee!!