I'm still not quite done yet...

Good sleep.

2008-10-02T17:19:00.004+08:00

Greetings mortals,

I have finally decided to awaken from my seemingly eternal sleep.

I have nothing much to say, really, so I guess I'll just post random thoughts collected off the surface of my minute brain:

1. I'm hungry
2. I love Melissa
3. I love sex
4. 2 and 3 are independent events of each other.
5. My awesome bestfriend's birthday is just next week, I'm so 3xcit3d.
6. I think I'll get her that $1,635 LV bag. OF course it's not expensive, nothing's too expensive for my bestest friend.
7. Maybe I'll sell my house too to get her the A|X dress she's been lusting after.

.
.
.
.
.

Okay being the very busy man that I am, I have to stop here for today, and happy waiting till my next entry!

ps: it's obviously Amy speaking, not kaiyi, for he'll never post his love for sex so openly.
Sexy sexy time!

22nd August

2008-08-23T00:42:00.001+08:00

For the first time in a long time, the author of this blog sleeps with a smile on his face.

Every Road Pay

2008-08-18T20:24:00.003+08:00

Sorry for the drought of blog posts, I've been busy with studying, driving and racing.

Virtually of course.

I'm listening to Mssr LHL speak about ERP and other such related stuff. Not to sound very political but...

Why not just do away with ERP?

Bah. I can't understand some of the policies instituted by the large man up there on the screen.

Anyway, exams are up! Yeah there be witches and dragons in the coming days ahead. Let's see how they'll go.

Human Factors, 19th (that's tomorrow. More luck, please.)
AAFES, 22nd
AES, 25th
ACNS, 27th

Thankfully I'm going to have some sort of break in the middle. Going to go out with Melissa on the 22nd for the fireworks display at Marina Bay after the paper. It'll be a good one I think. Yay.

L is for the way...

2008-08-04T18:22:00.002+08:00

Running on just 2 hours worth of sleep on a Monday is not the best thing that could happen to you. Especially if what fueling you happens to be caffeine.

Lots and lots of it. See, I had to finish this video for my group and it isn't the easiest video in the world to edit, so I had to stay up the whole night, wrack my brains and steel my resolve in, well, resolving it. Instead of my budgeted 3 hours I spent damn near 5 hours fiddling with transitions, effects, cutting, splicing, joining and general finagling. Hell, it would have been much easier to teach a lamppost to tie some shoelaces. Upside down.

Exams and lab tests are just around the corner and I need to buck up very fast or there'll be no more left of me to go around once the vultures descend, in the form of lecturers and parents.

OK I really need to sleep. Catcha guys later and so sorry for the ridiculously worked post.

Gram

2008-07-28T23:16:00.002+08:00

Goodbye Grandma.

Thank you for the years you spent with us.

Thank you for the stories you shared.

Thank you for your sound, parted advice.

Thank you for the love and care you showed.

Thank you for everything that you showed you cared.

Thank you, too, for all the idiosyncrasies you ever showed.

Now as we see you lying, peacefully in this ornate wooden box, we think back on the times that you spent with us. They weren't always happy times and no doubt many unwelcome events did happen, but you were first and foremost our elder, our grandmother, and for that we respect you forever.

Goodbye Grandma.

We remember you forever.

A Day To Remember

2008-07-25T00:30:00.002+08:00

It's probably too late to be regretting what I should or should not have done. The inevitable's coming, be in no doubt about that. It's just a matter of time. Days, rather.

Her right lung has already filled with fluid and her left is barely functioning - just down to one-fifth of its total capacity. My grandmother is one strong lady but even Mother Nature has her way at times and this unfortunately is one of them. She is completely dependent on oxygen because the doctors tried to take her off it for 2 hours today and it went downhill from there, so they put her back on.

She can't eat because she's already so weak and can barely breathe. Just 4 mouthfuls is enough to make her exhausted. Sleeping is the only way the body knows how to conserve what little precious remaining power there is and that's exactly what it did. To that effect it has slurred her speech and has made her totally unable to finish more than 6 sentences before running out of puff at the 7th.

I guess after 90 years, your body simply does not want to work any more. It's seen its fair share of abuse and care over the years but no matter what you do, us being humans, it all comes to an end one day. It's never in our psyche to believe that we can fall one day and never get back up again but this is exactly what's happening to my grandma now, right in front of my very eyes.

Whichever holy being is up there, I strongly urge you to send your messenger down and deliver the final rites. It would mean so much to us. Please.

My friend who was

2008-07-23T12:53:00.002+08:00

I am fed up. Utterly, completely fed up. I felt have pain in this friendship for too long and it's time I did something about it.

I'm not going to care any more. I cannot waste my time on someone who does not understand that I do.

You have ceased to affect me now.

A letter to the Man Above

2008-07-20T18:26:00.002+08:00

Dear To-All-Entities-Considered-Holy,

I'll keep this short, because you guys probably get stuff like this a million times a day. How you keep track I have no idea because even with all the organizers in the world, I couldn't either.

My grandmother does not have long left. We all know this - and you guys should too. With what remaining time she has left among the human race, please grant her all the happiness you could possibly give to anyone, ever. Absolve her of her transgressions, violations and shortfalls so that when she finally does go, it'll be a moment of realisation to those that surround her. For we know that if you guys do that, she'll be in a place that is free of all Earthly sins and pain and that she'll be happy ever after, for eternity.

Thanks fellas. Hope to hear from whoever does your emails up there.

I love the whole world

2008-07-17T20:27:00.004+08:00

I shall not beat about the bush on this. Because it concerns how I feel about something and ultimately, something which is close to my heart.

I cannot maintain my composure on this situation because it would be tantamount to lying to the feelings which run deep.

For such a long time I have given chance after chance but somehow nothing ever seemed to materialise. I am not one to grasp a modicum of a chance to end it and I never will. But as all humans go we are, after all, created with emotions and feelings which infinitesimally influence our actions and temperament. And I declare that as of today, I shall be giving no quarter any more. That is my final decision and try as you might shaken I shall be not.

How do I look like to you? Am I a person of comparatively lesser importance then any others? Or are you simply an individual with such morals that each time you encounter something like that, you demonstrate an entire lack of compassion and simply turn the other way. To put it very simply, it makes me feel like shit. Time and again it has been in me to forgive you, to think that all this was merely a veneer of your true self, that what you had underneath was a greener, more mercifully tender side. I guess it's a little bit different now. It makes me think myself a fool to have unconditionally given you chances all these years.

You have been compassionate - concerned, even - these years and those were times which I enjoyed most. We have enjoyed many pleasant times together and it was then which I believed that we'd be pals forever. But why did you turn around so fast and leave me addled? Why this change that too changed me? Why can't you see what you're doing to me?

Friends, they say, last forever. Friends stand up for you when you're in the deepest muck ever imaginable. Friends share your tears, your smiles, your frowns, your sarcasm, your idiosyncrasies, your sadness, your love, joy and laughter. If it ever came to it I'd unhesitatingly lay down my life for my best friends because I know they'd do it for me too.

I wonder if you ever feel this way about me.

P.S. Thanks to the two guys (you know who you are) who talked me through this. You guys come second to none. As always.

****

Do watch this video. It's so lovely and uplifting. It almost brought tears to my eyes, it did. It's Discovery Channel's new mashup and it's the best I've seen in my life.

Random

2008-07-16T00:11:00.002+08:00

Do you know how many books can keep you alive for a few months? Well a million, if you consider Homer's The Iliad, which I've just bought along with a few thousand others. I mean you'd buy Clarkson's books if he was an author you liked too. Just like people like James Patterson or Tom Clancy or whomever suits your fancy this week, I like Jeremy Clarkson. No coincidence there that he's the main presenter for Top Gear. Extremely witty and quick thinking, he's the backbone of the program, the backing of things. His metaphors are the stuff of legend and his similes are simply, utterly brilliant. No other word for it.

I wanna be Clarkson. No. I want his job.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper

2008-07-10T21:32:00.002+08:00

Peter Piper did no such damn thing. He was on dope.

Anyway, how has life been. I know how mine has been because it basically is stuffed full with so much nonsense and rubbish that it makes a garbage truck look like a Fiat 500. In pink.

But like every Fiat 500, there are good and bad points to it. Chiefly the good points, because it's such a darn good drive every time you hop in. And one of the good points I will mention is about my friend, A.

A is a friend of mine ever since I started school and we've enjoyed a cordial friendship over the past 2 years. But recently we've started to talk more and be more genial and for lack of a better word, be friendlier to each other. We've had our share of bickering and misunderstanding between each other. So it's surprising that despite our rather strong personalities, we've survived. And I can tell you that A is one of the friends whom I can sincerely call close and immediate. A true friend in every sense of the word and I can safely bet that not many people can lay claim to be that. In my eye A is one of truly unique people whom I'm more than fortunate to be acquainted with. Let there be more of this.

Enough of the soppy commentary. Did anyone see the British Grand Prix? I tell you, lap 4 of the race was the most exciting chiefly because Britain overtook Finland and Hamilton shot to the front of the pack in one decisive pass past teammate Kovalainen. Not to mention the 6 utterly spectacular spins Massa performed for the cameras every 5 laps. I don't blame the poor Brazilian. The track was sopping wet no thanks to the atrocious weather at Silverstone. And something was wrong with his car's setup too. He only needed to touch the throttle a wee bit more coming out of the corners to make his car spin. Terribly odd. I'm sure everyone else was doing that but only he was the one doing a Swan Lake.

Let's have more of that too.

Happy 4th of July and chicken rice

2008-07-04T12:49:00.003+08:00

Bah I've been so lazy to blog these few days. Must be the horrid weather I think. Everytime I go out, I feel like I'm breathing through a sponge and that a small weather system must have formed inside my clothes. It's beastly. Honestly I think it would be cooler inside a blast furnace at full power. With me inside an anorak. With double insulation.

It's 4th of July! Happy Independence Day USA! Sadly our single day of rejoice for our beloved country is a couple of months away. And I maintain that that is probably the only day I feel proud of Singapore, the rest of them being spent on bitchings and grumblings about high COE prices, endless fare hikes and that expensive chicken rice which used to be $2 a plate. Enough is enough, I say. It's time we petitioned the Government and make them give us cheap chicken rice. This preposterous increment in food prices cannot be tolerated.

Bah I'm just rambling here cos I dunno what else to say. Plenty of things that I could talk about, naturally but I can't be bothered to announce them to the world because 1. no one could be bothered and 2. the $2 plate of chicken rice will still be $3.50.

God Save US.

Who the fuck are Ferrari

2008-07-01T22:02:00.004+08:00

Glory, glory, McLaren,
Glory, glory, McLaren,
Glory, glory, McLaren,
As the Macs go marching on, on, on.

Just like Alain Prost in days gone by
We'll keep the Silver flags flying high
You've got to see yourself from far and wide
You've got to hear the V-8s roar with pride

McLaren! McLaren!
We're the boys in Silver and we're on our way to Silverstone
Silverstone! Silverstone!
We're the famous McLaren and we're going to Silverstone
Silverstone! Silverstone!
We're the famous McLaren and we're going to Silverstone

There you go, Ferrari. How about some silverware for the finish, eh? Let's hope Lew gets his act together this weekend and we see a great spectacle of proper motor racing at its best. It's your homeground Lew, so stop thinking about the next girl you're going to bed and focus on winning the damn race.

Don't forget the offer Ron made you if you won that 08 and 09 season.

Exams are over!

2008-06-28T01:27:00.003+08:00

So the dreaded 3 horsemen of the Apocalypse (yes yes there are more than 3) have passed and now I only dread their results. Please horsemen, give me a chance. I'm only 19.

Went to The Adelphi for the first time to Jaben to try on their sex toys aka aural sex toys aka earphones. If you guys don't know, Jaben is to the audio community here what Cold Storage is to the supermarkets in Singapore, except with exclusivity thrown in. They stock a huuuuge range of audio products and brands and it's no exaggeration to mention that they really do know their stuff well. Obviously they don't go right down to the nitty gritty technical details but they do know how to help you make a purchase. AND I think I'm gonna get a pair of sexphones from them, the Koss Portapros. I'm deliberating between them and the beyerdynamic DTX800 but the Koss appeals so much more on price and dynamicism. It's just totally unbeatable for that price and they look oh-so-good. Thanks Jerold for turning me into an audiophile yes, albeit not as insane as you.

Oh and they throw in free food every Friday. Go visit at 1 Coleman Street, 04-16 The Adelphi or simply visit their website. To some, it's a porn site. To others, pure listening heaven or as they call it, "Audio Salvation".

Oh and I introduced Jerold to Timbre today. Went up to Armenian Street and watched from the outside as 53A performed yet again. The minute we crossed the street to Armenian I could hear Sara doing their routine of Stop and Stare again, the same song we heard when Audrey, Yiming and I headed there after a failed attempt at MoS. That song now reminds me of that day we went there and the atmosphere at accompanied it which is pretty nostalgic and just captures the essence of that outing so well. Hope it happens again. Ah.

Koss Portapros. The ultimate in aural sex. Sort of. Almost.

eman Street 1Oh
04-16 The Adelphi

Blather

2008-06-26T23:02:00.002+08:00

"Echelon 2-9, fifteen thousand heavy, come around to two-one-seven, maintain flight level three-eight-five."
"Roger Sentry, coming round now. Where's the sonofabitch?"
"Ah, he's, ah, at two-one-zero at four-two miles"
"Fuck him. What the hell's he doing? He's been there for the past hour."
"No idea, Echelon. He's been keeping pace at that exact speed and position. We're working on it"
"Damn well better hurry up. If he shoots one more of those things the gloves are off, man."
"Careful Echelon. We don't know what this new stuff can do. It's totally untested."
"Yeah but I don't give a shit. Thing is, he's - oh shit he launched! He launched! Fucker just fired! Fuck!"
"Echelon, break, break, break. Vector one-zero-five, deploy chaff. Echelon. Echelon, do you copy?"
"Echelon, Sentry. Do you copy?"
"Echelon. Do you copy?"
"Echelon. Do you copy?"
"Echelon come in, this is Sentry."

*****

My right ankle's busted man. And it felt worse than previous days. Monday when it happened, everything was fine, even if it was a bit painful. But today, 4 days after I went running, it simply became worse. Like it's completely broken, though of course that's not the case.

I need some ligaments!

Exams are going to be over tomorrow and none too soon, thank goodness. Even though I know exams are a way of testing yourself and seeing how much you know yadda yadda but hell, who likes examinations?

We've only got 4 Minutes To Save The World

2008-06-21T22:50:00.003+08:00

"So, Mr Sunderland, have you made your decision?"
"I'm afraid I haven't, sir. Could I please have more time?"
"You have had most of the day to ponder it. That's quite enough."
"But the mechanisms for it aren't up yet. It would take me some time to rectify it."
"That's your problem. This triviality delays me."
"But it isn't finished! This is a critical time now. It's unprecedented in what we do here and it entails deeper deliberation."
"You do understand the consequence of this, Mr Sunderland."
"No, please sir, just give me three hours. Just three is all I ask. Please sir. Don't do this."
"I'm sorry Henry, but that's just 3 hours we don't have. Sean."
"Yes sir."
"NO!"

* * * *

Exams are so near, so near. I wished I had more time. But I don't, so Kai Yi, go for it.

We've only got four minutes to save the world.

Top Gear July Issue

2008-06-19T12:06:00.003+08:00

As close to sex as car geeks can come to.

Exactly who can resist the sight of 3 of the most powerful supercars on the cover of the most titillating magazine ever? That'll be 3 Veyrons on Top Gear magazine, please.

Oh and that large box there with "Summer Supercar Festival"....oh boy.

Firefox 3...DOWNLOADED!

2008-06-18T02:45:00.002+08:00

IT'S HERE!

I'VE GOT IT DOWNLOADED!

THE CURE FOR CANCER! YES!

THE BIG O

Firefox 3

2008-06-18T02:15:00.002+08:00

Latest update from the frontlines is that the Mozilla site is down and no one is getting anything from there. Nothing useful to be learned from that quarter then.

Apparently some industry experts are cautioning against rushing to download the hallowed FF3. Mostly because of bugs and security fixes, they say. But I don't care. I should care, but I don't care.

IT'S FIREFOX 3 MAN IT'S LIKE THE CURE FOR CANCER

Till then, we shall wait.

www.spreadfirefox.com

www.mozilla.com

Download Firefox 3 Day!

2008-06-17T11:04:00.003+08:00

Probably the most important browser release of 2008 would be that of Firefox 3, which is slated for release at 12am 17th June US Time, which translates into probably 1am on the 18th for us.

So for those of you who abhorr the Dark Side (i.e. IE), wish to repel those subversive demons wanting to gain entry into your hallowed computer via a loophole (i.e. IE), and want to be seen as savvy and understanding and safe and NOT to follow mainstream (i.e. IE), then you just have to get yourself a copy of Firefox 3, the latest browser from the people who know what to make of them.

Bolero

2008-06-16T02:03:00.002+08:00

Seeing as things are a bit quieter now (2 in ze morning), I shall blog...

Had dinner with Amy just now. Thanks babe for helping me pay for my dinner cos I was flat broke and that's quite embarrassing. Shall return the favour. I was bloody full because we had shitloads of desserts to eat. In fact, I think no breakfast for me tomorrow. Hmm =) . We walked around a fair bit and listened to songs from her phone. Have yet to return your notes. Remember.

What the hell, the ending of Lost Season 3 is mucho disappointing. I have Season 4 and I'm looking forward to watching it but WHAT THE HELL. Jack becomes drunk and Kate falls in love and marries another guy? Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Kate supposed to be the one who was supposedly to be madly in love with him on the island? The way I see it, Jack will be the next to go. As in John Locke go. Mad. And I think all those flashes of themselves back in civilisation? Ah. Herein lies the confusion.

People wonder whether they had been rescued. In actual fact yes they have and those flashbacks to their lives in civilisation aren't flashbacks, but the main part of the story. The parts that are on the island are the flashbacks. Get it? It's in reverse.

I've just realised that my life isn't as shitty as I'd thought it was. Some people's lives are in pretty bad shape too, some more so. Well as they say, your life is in your hands. You have the POWER to make things happen. Suits me just fine.

I'm a father of two

2008-06-14T23:14:00.004+08:00

So I met up with my Music Appreciation group today to complete our project on Monsieur Ravel. I lied. I actually met - out of the remaining three - Melissa, who was nice and uncomplaining enough to come down at 10 to City Hall. They thought I was kidding when I texted them the day before to come down so early. Must have mistyped, him - should have been 1pm! Sorry guys, I know I have should informed you all sooner. Muh bad.

Anyway we went to Starbucks at City Hall where I Melissa had a hazelnut latte and I a dinky doppio espresso, which in actual fact is nothing more than coffee grounds with a teaspoon of water thrown in. Effing bitter shit for $4.20. Sonofabitch. We managed to complete a good bit of the powerpoint slides before Simon (minus Alvin and Theodore) came to join us from Jurong West. Didn't know chipmunks lived that far west =) . Cuthbert, sigh, ultimate. I guess he kinda forgot that I had texted him yesterday and therefore he had no idea we were meeting. It was great fun anyway - we managed to complete everything. Hope you guys can pronounce all that French. If not, learn French. Not that I do.

Ha ha XD .

Oh here's a Wikipedia article you all should read. Gilbert screenshot this the minute it was changed because the second I went to view that entry, it was changed to its rightful state, a.k.a. with Italy being champions...

All together now: GLORY, GLORY, ZAMBIA...

Sigh

2008-06-13T22:39:00.003+08:00

Sigh.

Sigh.

I'm starting to think that it wasn't such a good idea after all to have __________________.

Sure it's fun when you do it, but when you stop.

Everything stops.

You feel exhausted.

Sure you were the one who initiated it. But should you have followed through?

It's dangerous when you do it, without necessary precautions. You might get ___________.

Or something worse.

You might regret that you ever did it.

Things might happen. You'll start to blame yourself.

For not thinking through it properly.

And you can't reverse it.

Your life might forever be changed by the reckless decision you made.

So the next time you think about doing it, stop.

And think.

Am I making the right decision?

Patrick's POP

2008-06-10T23:36:00.005+08:00

Viper Company! Hoo-rah!

Parents coming through! Parents coming through!

So dear Pat's parents couldn't turn up for their son's POP, hence Gilbert and I filled in the roles of paternal leaders instead. It was pretty odd to be among the hordes of parents waiting to see their son through this very special time in his life: a time where the men are distinguished from the boys, and the weak weeded out from the strong.

His passing-out parade.

I was quite happy to be there for him, since we've all been friends since the dinosaurs were babies and Jesus was still a small boy. And I'd like to think he'd do the same for us too. Okay enough of the soppy shit, let's get down to the real business. PHOTOS. Huazhi, James Tan, Gedeon and some other Cat High guys were there too but we didn't manage to take pictures with them. Mucho apologies guys, but still...CONGRATS ON POP-ing!

Patrick and David Hauw in the photo. Can see?

Gilbert with Patrick. My camera could not detect Patrick's face. Presumably he has none.

I with Patrick

Some random fat guy, Patrick and Gilbert. Again my camera could not detect Patrick's face.

Hamsum guy sial

Chick 1

Chick 2

Eh last two pictures were Patrick's idea. We would have taken more if my darned photo-capturing device hadn't run out of extra juice. There were like 5 more chicks to take photos of.

Funny pics

2008-06-09T23:37:00.001+08:00

Indian Police Force...NOT

Americans do not understand geography

Just hilarious

Thanks Gilbert for the laughter that brightened my day

New MP3 player!

2008-06-08T02:00:00.003+08:00

Many thanks to Audrey for looking at the Creative Zen and deciding to tell me to buy it. She did notice I kept having to delete songs from my overloaded player and was nice enough to help me buy it - albeit refurbished - and I'll soon have a new mp3 player! Thank you so much for all that :)

Now I can safely junk that Zen V Plus which I have been babying for nearly 2 years now. The reason why I wanna get rid of it is because 1. the screen is dying (dumbass OLED. I TEACH YOU HOW TO FABRICATE IT LA COS I'M DOING IT TOO), 2. the screen is too small, 3. it's got a pathetic battery life. Strange then, seeing as I also did buy it using my own money. Ah but well it's inconsequential. Stuff gets thrown away.

*****

START STUDYING MR WONG, START STUDYING OR YOU'RE GONNA GET FUCKED DURING MST

Camps...zipped and over

2008-06-05T02:14:00.004+08:00

Finally...finally

All my camps are....wait for it...OVER!

Not to say that I'm enjoying the fact that they are over. I really relished them while I could and wish I could relive them over again. But ah well that's why the saying "All good things come to an end" exists. So that's what you get. And do pardon the disjointed and perhaps even meaningless sentences that I may sporadically eke out during this long essay that I'm about to write.

Aviation. Not a word you'd associate with camps but we did have one and it was pretty spectacular. Not to say that we didn't have our fair share of major and minor fuck ups but overall I think we performed pretty well for planning a major camp for the first time. I hope no one feels badly toward the camp because plenty of people did put in Herculean effort to make everything come true, so here's a huge JOB WELL DONE to everyone who made it possible. Especially to Edwin, Lina, Wai Siong, YM - you people were nothing short of brilliant. No matter what you say, you people made the camp run. Not exactly like clockwork, but something like that.

As for me, bah. I think that although I did my best to contribute, somehow that didn't seem enough to me. I'm not calling for a second chance but somehow it seemed that even though I was part of the camp committee, my position was diminished for whatever reason. Not exactly sure where I went wrong, ehh but well, could have been worse!

SP JCC camp! Now it was my turn to have fun. We made camp at 1230 on Monday, which was just one day after Aviation Camp. I think at most I had slept just 8 hours - should have been more, like 10 I think. Met up with Audrey first where we had lunch, then after some admin work the group came together and I met my new, eh clubmates for the first time. No surprise that I was the only year 3 there. God, did that make me feel old.

During the camp, we had to come up with a cheer plus a flag. Not going into the boring details of how we made both, but I will say that it was strange that we thought both of ours was going to be worse off than the rest, but which in reality was totally different. Our flag in fact looked better than the rest and skit - even though it was totally last minute, stole the show and got 2nd place.

We had an encore.

4 encores to be precise. We would have honoured the 4th if I hadn't run out of lyrics to chant about, my bad. But whatever it is, Ding Liang, Jack (spam material and cannon fodder, lol!), Kin Phang, Wei Sheng, Sheng Yang, Jing Xiu, Yvonne, Meiying, Zachary and not to mention our fantastic facilitator Audrey (promotion, cough) were simply brilliant and made the skit a true success in every sense of the word.

I could not have been in a better group.

Camps, Camps, Camps

2008-05-29T23:20:00.002+08:00

The start of 6 days' worth of consecutive camp days. SPAVC camp followed by SP JCC camp straightaway after that. What could be more tiring or taxing. Sigh Audrey, I dunno what possessed me to let you psycho me into joining JCC =) Ah never mind...I'm sure we'll have fun at the camp and I'll make some new friends. First things first though and I have to make sure the SPAVC camp runs smoothly on my side so that no one shall doubt my abilities. I think it's about time I showed myself to be more than able to handle such a task.

At least some proper R&R is in order after Camp Hell Week. LOTR concert!

Such a day...

2008-05-27T22:39:00.003+08:00

Actually, if you listen to James Blunt's songs very closely and pay attention, they're really quite emo in a way. That is of course you're feeling kind of depressed that day and you want some sort of company on your emo bus journey home. Oh the humanity of it all.

Hmm....

Well Yiming's plane is taking a super long time to build. I have just finished constructing the cockpit and now I'm on to fitting the wings and main body on, plus a few little sundry items on the side. Suddenly it's all so complicated and very intricate, but by no means exhausting or mundane to construct. Hope to finish it in a reasonable time or it'll be kind of sucky to like, hand someone a birthday gift a coupla weeks after. Nah.

Not been able to go out these few weeks partly due to my inadequate planning and partly also due to the stresses tasked to my group for FYP. It's seriously mind numbing. That plus so much work from school and the stress from the upcoming MST is giving me that pressure-cooker syndrome so prevalent in secondary school, pre-O Levels. But no matter. This time it shall be overcome. Like all other times. Ehh...

LOTR concert and 2 camps coming up! I can't wait. For them to end. Not really. I'm pretty much looking forward to all 3 happening, especially the LOTR one. The first time I forked out so much money to watch that. Thanks to Audrey of course. Partly it was because of her urging that I paid that stratospheric sum for a ticket. Couldn't blame her though, those were the unsold ones, the cheap ones were all gone...

Hmm...

2008-05-24T20:03:00.004+08:00

Trouble is her only friend and he's back again
Makes her body older than it really is
And she says it's high time she went away
No ones got much to say in this town
Trouble is the only way is down, down, down

As strong as you were
Tender you go
I'm watching you breathing
For the last time
A song for your heart
But when it is quiet
I know what it means
And I'll carry you home
I'll carry you home

I think that it is true. For a long time I never believed it, because I was blinded to everything but the most poignant and painful. But I have seen it and I believe now. It is here and it has shown me The Way.

Please let it be.

Final Theory Test....PASSED!

2008-05-20T21:18:00.001+08:00

I was on Youtube watching Simon Cowell puke his guts out at rubbish contestants on Britain's Got Talent while mostly everyone else was studying. I fell asleep for 2 minutes during the test. I never studied a single page of the booklet....

But....

I PASSED!!! WHOOP DEE DO!

Cadillac CTS-V round Nurburgring

2008-05-18T13:18:00.005+08:00

One more Nurburgring record for the books and this time its courtesy of the Cadillac CTS-V. Driven by driver John Heinricy it managed to break the 8 min barrier in a time of 7m 59.32s around the Nordschleife of the Nurburgring. Impressive for an American brand which had a reputation for barge-like cars with equally sloshy handling, but even more impressive when you factor in the fact that the car - besides a fire suppression system, harness bar and six-point seatbelt - the CTS-V was completely stock. Which says much about the type of tire fitted to the CTS-V and the enormous 6.2l V8 under the bonnet which produces 550bhp and 550lb ft of torque. Most of all, it's testimony to the tremendous amount of effort GM's engineers have put into this car to put it in contention with the likes of Mercedes' AMG and BMW's M Division.

Bring on the Germans.

Lotsa

2008-05-14T00:44:00.003+08:00

Certain sign that someone is suffering from the irrecoverable effects of stress: he starts listening to phantom Jay Chou songs on his Winamp.

-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP

Normal programming has been resumed.

It has been so busy these past few weeks that even with my mobile modem to be able to access the Net anywhere, I just don't have the inclination to do any sort of writing after I'm done with my project stuff. But for you loyal readers out there (which I know I do have quite a few) I do humbly beg your kind understanding and forgiveness for leaving you without juicy updates from my world for the past few weeks.

BMTC visit tomorrow! Now there's an interesting tidbit. Due to some anal directive by the Education Ministry to make sure poly students have all the exposure they need to prepare them for army (and apparently JC students have all gone through National Service already. Naturally...), we have been selected to go to BMTC Pulau Tekong for some pre-Freshmen Orientation. No files or free ice cream to be handed out but you can be damn sure there'll be free mosquito bites and bundled broken ankles. Thanks to this completely pointless and frankly utter time-waster, our debate preparation - another source of my constant misery now - will have to be pushed to Saturday.

School's just fantasstic sometimes. Asstic. Fan-ass-tic.

It's too easy

2008-05-14T00:17:00.002+08:00

It's all too easy to compliment, praise, flatter someone's work. But it's also another really easy deal to simply brush his work off and dismiss it as the irresponsible and perhaps even mindless chatter of a wandering mind.

So tell me, is it?

......

2008-05-02T23:58:00.002+08:00

Stressed.

Pissed.

Stressed.

Fucked up.

Doubly fucked up.

Annoyed.

Agitated.

Desperate.

Irritable.

* * *

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Musings

2008-04-30T00:02:00.003+08:00

I'm a bit worried.

Today we were just discussing "The Dirty Dozen" in Human Factors class. Basically what those "Dozen" are are these 12 things that could happen to you in the workplace that might generally affect your mental state and hence your good judgment and situation awareness. We were talking about fatigue and stress. Specifically, stress that you give yourself and the fatigue that may arise from its relatives.

And I think I might genuinely have a case of fatigue and stress-related behavioral disorders. None of that shoot-em-up stuff that arises when a man cracks and begins gunning random fellas down, but rather more subtle stuff.

When people undergo stress that pushes them over some limit, they begin to exhibit changes in their behavior. In our handout today, we were shown some causes and signs of stress. Most worryingly to me were the signs listed, because I've realised that for a long while, I've been exhibiting some of them. I'm fully aware that I have changed, but I never knew how until I read this article. Some signs are:

Errors in judgement. They occur more frequently
Personality changes, including increased irritability
Memory loss becomes noticeable

Well, sounds like I am suffering from some form of stress. Now for the signs of fatigue:

Reduced attention
Becoming less aware of performance
Reverting to old habits
Development of a "don't care" attitude

I don't fully undergo the full manifestation of these signs nor do they manifest themselves all the time but I think I do suffer from at least some form of fatigue and stress. I have noticed too that recently I have difficulty forming coherent sentences in speech. I have the ideas in my head but somehow when I open my mouth to tell someone the thoughts suddenly swirl around in a big whirlpool, disappear into the vortex and I have to pause to recollect. It does make me look kind of slow, imo, having to pause mid-sentence to collect your thoughts.

It doesn't stop there either. Recently it seems like I can't even form thoughts about discussions at all. People talk about this particular subject and seem to have so much to say on it whereas I just sit there like I'm some mannequin. I have opinions of my own, sure, and I want to voice them out but somehow I cannot think of the words I want to put them in. It's almost as if there's a massive void somewhere in my head that my thoughts have to cross, but they never make it.

I have to stop this, or I will go mad. Very soon.

Top Gear May Issue

2008-04-27T13:49:00.003+08:00

In all the things that greet you on a Sunday morning on your dining table, the least expected would be a brand-spanking-new, hot off the press, steaming May issue of Top Gear magazine. But that's precisely what I got.

And here it is. In all its splendour.

I'm probably the first person in Singapore to get this. OK maybe not the first, but definitely one of the first. Hell, April isn't even over yet. All thanks to my sister.

Haha.

Timbre

2008-04-26T14:41:00.004+08:00

So YM, Audrey and I never did go to MoS in the end. The queue was so long it would have made a dragon look over its shoulder.

We went to Timbre @ The Substation instead (photos in picture gallery).

What had happened was that we had decided to go for this party that SP had organised at MoS at Clarke Quay. Some sort of back-to-school-get-drunk-get-laid party for the young and promiscuous. Not exactly but it was a back to school party. Anyway, we reached CQ after dinner at Central and promptly realised that we would never make it in because the queue to get in was of immense proportions - wide and long both. We decided that waiting was out of the question so we walked around Liang Court for a while before having icecreams, thanks to Audrey. And then we decided that we didn't come all the way down, dressed in our Friday best to not go somewhere.

After much standing around looking like gormless idiots, we went to Timbre on the sage advice of my Er Jie.

Now I must say that I'm not the clubbing sort, but I was feeling particularly excitable tonight partly because I was in the partying mood and partly because this is one of the first times I'm out with friends to such places. We hit Timbre and since Alvin (band name "53A", with the white and red guitars, go see him on Fridays) was there performing I thought it would be good to get ahold of him during the break and see whether he could secure a table for us, bypassing the queue. Booya. We didn't get that so we queued and within 5 minutes got a table.

And the drinks. Phew boy expensive, but I suppose it's standard price. $14 for mine, $15 for Audrey's and $10 for YM's. As usual Mr Tay was feeling pretty gutless so he ordered a Red Bull Punch while I had a Lychee Freeze and Audrey a Martini.

I'd say Timbre's a really nice bar/restaurant to hang out if you've the stomach for loud, blasting music and good drinks. It's not a club where you go and PARTEH AND MAKE HOUSE ROCK WITH BLASTING MUZEEK. It's more laidback and generally a very nice place to spend a night out. The bands there are good and from what I heard last night, very popular as well, judging from the applause they received. Or at least 53A is. Comprising of Sara Wee, Alv, a bassist and drummer whose names I don't know, they used to play jazz tunes only but have now expanded their repertoire to include contemporary pop tunes, acoustic modern rock and blues. I want to go back there and listen The Goodfellas play because apparently they're one of the sensations there. You must go there at least once for the music, if not the ambience (if you're the stay at home type, forget it). Go there, you won't regret it.

Gilbert and I have already made a deal. Go out with wallets and pockets full, come home broke as shit.

Mobile for Real

2008-04-25T14:42:00.002+08:00

The sounds of Youtube never sounded better. How do you like it? Surfing in the comfort of your home - or perhaps aboard the bus on a long trip?

It's reality for me. I can do that :)

I've just signed up for a 2 year, $15 a month Broadband on Mobile plan from Singtel. It's very simple. Once past all the frivolities and formalities, you'll get a portable modem that you plug into your laptop computer. From there it will access the Net for you via a 3G network where available. Since 3G has literally blanketed Singapore ever since its inception, what that means is that you can surf on the go. And it's real.

Because I'm blogging on my way home now.

Through the Fire and Flames and everything else

2008-04-21T01:05:00.003+08:00

Sorry Gilbert for bastardizing that title but I think it's tastefully done don't you think?

Whew I have just finished creating SPAVC's new blog. Not too shabby a job but it definitely needs some sandpapering, especially needing some graphics and little other tidbits here and there and that would make it almost perfect, if a bit dull.

And I've just realised that Firefox 3 Beta 5 screws up its own built-in dictionary. Some words that I had used on the virgin post on the club blog were obviously wrong yet the browser didn't make a single attempt to draw a red line under them to indicate that they were incorrect. And now it has just drawn a line under "didn't" to show me that such a contraction is obviously wrong, that the computer knows better and that I should shoot myself. Comforting.

School's starting tomorrow! New challenges! New work! New encounters! New shit! I believe I'll weather it through because as you can see from my obvious and expressive outburst of newfound enthusiasm for school, it shall guide me through my darkest hours. Though I do have a flash on my phone camera.

Things are looking up in general. I haven't felt this good in a while. And I do owe Joyce a huge thank you for doing what she did. It's an indeed warm and genuine gesture on her part to have helped me partly solve a problem that had existed. I'm not sure whether that problem is gone but since she wants to help me, I've no qualms about facing it. Goodness me since when had I become emo?

School work (in that order)

2008-04-18T15:57:00.002+08:00

Gosh I'm so tired from all that work. Boss has asked me to stay one more week till the end of the month because apparently it takes two weeks for my resignation letter to be processed.

How come they can't just kick me out now and SHOW ME THE THE MONEY?

Oh right, the money. Apparently that's not gonna be instant either because they have to process the claims for 3 weeks or so before I get to see a nice large stack of blue Yusoff Ishaks in my wallet. They said that I am a part timer and hence need to wait a bit longer for your pay compared to your full-time counterparts. That plus the fact that they pay all their part timers in cold hard cash. Well I don't mind working an extra week. I just get more money. Thank you TCC for making my decision easier whether to buy that pair of red Ferrari-themed Pumas or a classic black-and-white. And oh plus a couple of extra Nintendo DS Lite games too.

It's not going to be long before I start school proper. This week isn't counted as much since it's the first week and the lecturers are all still on holiday rather than the students. But I have gotten a taste for school and so far it's looking quite manageable. The lectures are straightforward and engaging and the work isn't tough. Well again, that leaves much to be said as yet.

Life's looking up for now.

Random

2008-04-14T15:31:00.002+08:00

Nope don't have any idea what I am supposed to be blogging about either, hence the name.

I think that the reason why I'm so uptight over this all is that I think I want things to come to a close, never mind the consequences or the problems it might create. I just want it to come to an end, or at the very most to seek some sort of compromise between us. I can't keep giving in every time something like this crops up. I know something has to give but I can't be the one who always backs down, you know? I know you want this to work out as much as I do, and this isn't the way to go about doing it. It does take two hands to clap, to coin the old cliche. Could you be my other hand?

First day of school happened today. It struck me that SP really does have a shitload of students to feed. I was heading to the bridge with all the freshies around me. Seriously damn a lot. No major lectures today but you can be sure they'll all start right back up starting from tomorrow. And I honestly believe that I'm going to enjoy this semester and indeed, this year.

Show him what terror really means.

Musings

2008-04-11T23:54:00.001+08:00

Why is it I feel what I feel toward you? Why is it that I can't break away from this vicious circle of mistrust and deceit that I feel has been levelled against me. I can't help thinking I've been betrayed. If I am right - and I solemnly swear and hope I am not - then you have tricked and deceived me with cunning and savagery. If that were so, you would have hit home the final nail in my coffin. Because I don't know what do to if that were to happen.

Don't assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good.

Working @ Anchorpoint

2008-04-10T15:56:00.005+08:00

So yesterday was the start of working at Anchorpoint, which to me is off the coast of Mars, which is in turn situated off the meridian of Jupiter. To wonder why they I - out of the gazillion employees that TCC has - got chosen to staff this brand new outlet is a mystery because 1) I hardly live anywhere near there and 2) I've never been to Anchorpoint. Obviously these two factors don't matter to TCC because regardless, they've shoved me there.

And I've broken a glass on the first day on the job. =D The boss doesn't know about it. Shh.

The best thing I think about working there is that the staff are all generally very nice people who genuinely want to welcome you. When I first walked into the outlet I was greeted by the very nice manager and the service captain, plus the other staff who worked there. Stark contrast indeed to my former outlet at Bugis where most of the staff there are pretty anal about everything and perpetually seem to have cattle prods shoved up their behinds. With the electricity turned on. Full. Constantly. It's such a pleasure to be working there.

But I've decided to quit after the end of next week, as per my resolution couple of days back. I honestly don't think I can cope with holding two jobs and a hectic year all rolled into one. It's going to stress me out and that's not right. Joyce also wants to quit soon and I think she's doing that right about now. I wanted to transfer to her outlet but I think they mightn't allow it because the Anchorpoint outlet just opened 2 days back and they're seriously understaffed.

Bah.

April 6th, 1989

2008-04-07T00:40:00.003+08:00

Yep, I'm nineteen. 19. Neunzehn jahr alt. Last teen year.

I feel so old.

* * *

First off, a really, really sincere and huge THANK YOU to people who have wished me a happy 19th birthday. In absolutely no order of merit:

1. My entire family, Taylor included. The lunch was great :)

2. Gilbert, Jerold and Patrick, the 3 closest guys I'll ever get to know

3. Amy, my best friend for forever

4. Audrey and Yiming, my best friends from poly

5. Michael Cheng/Richard, the guy with the best audio gear

6. Bernard Leong, Web 2.0 advisor extraordinaire

7. Tulip a.k.a. Flower Power, my one-stop source for manga/anime knowledge

8. Joyce, my favourite phone companion and nicest person in the world

9. Lina, She-Who-Does-Backhands-Like-The-Back-Of-Her-Hand

10. Hui Mei, She-Who-Sells-Clothes-Via-My-Blog-(Only)

If I've missed you out, that was by pure accident and I thank you for allowing me to experience one of the best birthdays I've had in recent years. For the past 2 years my birthday celebrations have been a bit crap. Several factors were to blame, no doubt, but I'm 19 now and that's all that matters. One year left to leaving the teen fraternity and couple more to the inability to be absolved of crimes committed, not that I plan on performing any. As Tulip mentioned: one year older, one year wiser.

Met Amy in the morning where she treated me to a breakfast of McGriddles. No idea what they were made of but damn were they good. Got 2 t-shirts that her mum bought for me (awesome stuff) which I intend to wear to make myself look more 19. She couldn't go out because her mum wouldn't let her and she had things to do. It's okay, there's always later in the week :) Lunch with my family was fantastic at Melt - The World Cafe. Standard fare there was most scrumptious, as per their usual high standards and I stuffed myself so full a python would have been nervous. Went to meet Audrey and Yiming for their dinner treat at PS some time later and it was just a most enjoyable outing with just us 3 having fun together. We've grown much closer of late, which is no bad thing at all. I definitely want it to last. They presented me with this photo frame which contained a shot of 3 of us together taken at dinner some time back. Awesome.

Today has been the most enjoyable and indeed deeply moving birthday I've ever had. It also is the first time my friends have actually arranged something for me, a meal of some sort. Even though it wasn't anything elaborate, I don't think I would have missed it for the world/Bahrain Grand Prix, which is about the same thing. It was just such fun.

On a more sombre note about the Bahrain Grand Prix, I've just learned that Lewis Hamilton scored a miserable 13th place to put the Englishman 5 points behind Raikkonen in the drivers' championship scoring, after a bad start and a collision with a certain Fernando Alonso. Robert Kubica, though on pole for qualifying, took home a very respectable 3rd place, with Kimi on 2nd and Massa rounding off the top. An apparently good race from Massa who did well to open up a good lead from Kimi early on. Seems like the BMWs are troubling both Ferrari and McLaren this season.

Super tired and a super long day tomorrow. Gonna sleep happy today though.

Birthday!

2008-04-06T00:52:00.002+08:00

Remember this day, people.

The 6th of April is when the author of this blog was born.

I'm really so happy that tomorrow I'll be having breakfast with Amy, lunch at Melt the World Cafe at Mandarin in Suntec with my parents, then later at night with my two best pals in school at Plaza Sing. Dunno what those two goons have cooked up for me, I need to wait and see. For the first time, my friends are actually celebrating my birthday for me and with me. It's strange, yeah, but for the past few years I was quite a loner. Still am though, just that I met two great people who bothered to celebrate it for a loner like me =D.

Well then. 19 years of age, one year older (and supposedly wiser) and a whole bunch of baggage left over from the year past. I do hope that the sheer enjoyment and ecstasy of spending the day so nicely will just remove all that I've been burdened with.

19 years of age, baby. WOOHOO.

Eighth Heaven

2008-04-03T00:43:00.002+08:00

Can't believe it just happened.

My da jie just got me 13 months' subscription of Top Gear magazine, UK edition. I am shocked and stunned and ELATED into silence. It's like the big Man Himself came down from above and gave me 13 months' subscription of Top Ge -- hold on, it did happen. Jeez I can't believe it.

THANK YOU DA JIE!

Didn't go to work today. Ponned because I didn't feel like it and after bawling my eyes out yesterday I felt better and oddly enough, more in control. I think that I was really stressed for the past few days and that coupled with my newfound outlook on life (no really, I do have a new one) just made me break down. Yeah I don't mind telling you that I just had a big, unmanly cry last night. I called Joyce and Best and they were both lovely souls to hear me out. Really nice of them to do that for me.

Maybe I should elaborate on my newfound outlook on life and how I acquired it. I recently went to Amy's granddad's funeral. It's the first wake I have gone to in recent memory and when I looked at the coffin and all the elaborate ornamentation, the entirety of it all just struck me and it hit home. Hard. During the day before, we were talking about her granddad and how weak he was and how anxious she was about his health. Little did I know that later in the night she would call me while I was at work and tell me her granddad had passed away that very same day. It just hit me so hard and I felt that a sort of emotional switch had been flicked inside of me and that made me realise how fast someone's existence in the sentient world that we live in could so fast be taken away so silently. It struck me so hard to see that life could be so transient at times. One minute there and then bam, the next minute with eyes shut and into another world, out of this earthly one.

Then, yesterday, my mum came home with this huge rash covering her body. She had aches and pains all over and my dad wasted no time in rushing her down to the hospital. I called my dad from home sometime later and asked him how she was and he said that it was some kind of viral infection and that she might require hospitalisation if it came to that (thankfully it didn't). But when I put the phone down, everything - the stress over the past few days and all - came crashing over me like a giant tsunami after a huge earthquake, and I started crying. I never had felt such sadness before. I knew the worry for my mum was an almost-irrational one because I knew with a certain degree of surety that she would be okay, she'd be home in no time and I didn't have to worry myself sick. But I couldn't stop thinking: what if she's not okay? What if it's worse than what the doc said? What if something happened and I wasn't there? What if? What if? What if?

I'm changing now. With one or two exceptions, I realise that I have not been treating the people around me with the care, respect and concern that they deserve. Friends, family alike, it doesn't matter. What matters now is that I show them the compassion and concern that I have failed in giving them all this while. It is something I think that almost demands to be performed.

Because giving is always better than receiving.

Nothing to blog about, so I shall...

2008-04-01T13:44:00.002+08:00

Yeah there's really nothing much to blog about now, unless you want to hear more griping about work :P

Waiting for JEROLD to call me back. I'm in school now, pecking away on my laptop and wondering when the hell he will. Was reading a couple of interesting articles on CNN.com. The price of oil just dropped $5, did you know that? Not exactly a mind-blowing amount when you read that it's now $100.86 a barrel. Still, a far cry it is from last week when prices rocketed to $112 a barrel. It is scary to see such figures translate directly to those displayed outside your local gas station. Now everyone wants to buy a Prius because we don't have diesel cars in Singapore. Just great, LTA. Put a high premium on cars that could potentially save drivers from future bankruptcy, why don't you.

Ah sian sian sian. Why does every day have to start at 0900 and end at 1200 when all we do is come to school, wait till 12 and then go for lunch. Honestly the only useful thing that we have done so far for this entire attachment period is have lunch every day. Other than the occasional training session, the rest of the days spent are rubbish. For God's sake give us something to do! Is it that hard to follow the schedule that you yourself have drawn up? You yourself said that you'd take over the training but so far all I see is a puff of smoke.

No wonder I want to start school early.

Work, work, work your ass off

2008-03-31T00:48:00.003+08:00

As Clint Eastwood would have said it "your ass is mine", mine really was my boss's today as she hosed me down with some choice words of pure malice which I didn't take to too kindly. Imagine your mother in a state of pure agitation and amp that up by a factor of ten. You'll then get my boss's mood today after further finding out that answer to the power of ten.

Me being me, I didn't give up without firing a few parting shots back over her bow. What a bitch. I'm not making it up. I mean REALLY bitchy. And to top it all off, it wasn't even my fault, I promise faithfully.

Worked two jobs today back to back - TCC in the afternoon and 7-Eleven in the night. Totally exhausted. Gonna go read my Top Gear magazine now. My only retreat for now. My sole solace.

My First Time

2008-03-30T00:14:00.002+08:00

Broke a standee during work today. You know those little signs on the table telling you the month's special? Yeah I dropped that and broke it. Ironically 1. the first thing I break isn't glass, 2. it wasn't on a hard floor (on carpet actually). What the hell. Someone left her name and cellphone number on the receipt she left behind for me to call. No really. Since I was the only guy working there I deduce that she meant that for me. And I was working at the smaller TCC outlet at Bugis. There were only 4 girls and 1 guy, i.e. yours truly, so that narrows the search field further. "Hi I'm ________ (forgot name). My handphone number is _______ (forgot number). I'm single and available."

I'm gonna get laid!

Lunched with Best at Ajisen Ramen at Taka. Nice food, service could obviously be improved. The Audi R8 and S8 were both displayed outside Taka and that drew crowds no end. Obviously everyone went for the R8 because ooh it's sleek and so sexy. But no-one went for the V-10 S8 cos it's anodyne and so unremarkable. Me being me, I went for the S8 because that represents a totally different breed of car. A Terminator in sheep's clothing. Helen Mirren in a leather rompus suit. Bill Gates in a strip club getting it on with the hookers. That engine has more horsepower and more torque than the R8's, stuffed into a completely standard Audi A8 chassis and I can safely bet most of the idiots crowding over the R8 didn't know that. Ah but well, no-one can resist the lure of a perfectly well-balanced supercar - the R8. Sent Best back home after some proper, quality time out which cheered me up immensely before work.

Something happened which I prefer not to say out of respect and deference for the person who has had to go through such a painful and traumatising experience. I'd just want to say that although we live our days out like there's no tomorrow, the fact is that it very well could be just that. For some people, there just isn't any tomorrow. People die and people live, and sometimes for the living it's the only thing in the world which can break even the strongest man.

Life as we know it, is transient. It will never last long, no matter what scientists invent to prolong it. The thin line between death and life will always be there and we should make ourselves aware of it.

Because you never know when you might cross the line.

Ass, Idiot, Moron

2008-03-29T02:44:00.003+08:00

Work Makes You Tired.

Work Is Dangerous.

Work Dissolves Grey Matter.

Work is a peril.

Work Kills.

Work Makes Your Arms Ache.

Work Makes You Hungry.

Just got back from work. Hope you noticed the time on this entry cos it sure as hell ain't early. Or late. Depending how you want to look at it. The company bus drive got completely lost going to my house and when we got there we conveniently sailed past my house because he was on the phone and didn't hear me screaming TURN RIGHT TURN RIGHT. Brings "so near yet so far" to a whole new dimension. I was practically at my house already for goodness' sake. Next time hand me the wheel.

Saw a Lamborghini Gallardo boom past in a bass rumble of V-10 thunder after work. That's what I call proper motoring. Not some second-rate Corolla with a bit of bodykit and fancy rims slapped on. Italian cavallini any day.

Last day of work tomorrow before I rest me poor aching arms and settle down for the rest of the week. I seem to be talking a lot about work these few days right. Probably because I feel quite strongly about it. Joyce seems to be enjoying herself at her outlet and I think I am too. The people here and nice, friendly, very understanding and totally forgiving toward a rookie like myself, even though I did give a shot at attempting a Lewis Hamilton-style takeover of the joint and shocking everyone.

Alas.

Audrey has taken it upon herself to give 3 of us nicknames. I shall let you guess which.

TCC

2008-03-27T00:56:00.002+08:00

I had missed my last bus but thankfully I made it home alive. Without some strange man following me. Nah just kidding.

I can't even begin to describe how exhausted I am. Not only because of work but also because I missed my last bus and that made me walk so long just to take another someplace else, possibly Mexico by the looks of it. Speaking of work, Best came by with her friend and smirked at me and Bert and Jerold also came by and smirked at me. Smirks aside, those visits genuinely helped calm me down in some unknown way and thanks to you three wonderful people who all actually took the effort to come down and see me at work. I am so appreciative of that.

Work's been very tiring but very rewarding. You really have to learn quick in order to adapt and improvise, just as Clint Eastwood said in Heartbreak Ridge. Bah whatever. I'm completely plonked out.

Ouch

2008-03-25T20:18:00.003+08:00

I'm aching like crap all over. Thank you Yiming for dragging me to the gym and torturing my aching muscles further by dousing me in the swimming pool for a coupla laps. I'm hurting in parts of my body I really never knew existed.

Work yesterday was crazy. For the first 3 hours it felt like I was descending through the 7 circles of hell, but it became more pleasant after that because I think I got into the groove of things and then I just started to do things right. Still the odd hiccup here and there but it was all great. The learning curve was so steep it was practically vertical, I tell you. 20 minutes of training and after that bye-bye, you're on your own (though I hadn't wished it were so because I was trained by this really hot chick). Tomorrow's my next shift and I'm pretty nervous about it because since it's my second day on the job they expect me to make less mistakes. I fear :S.

Wish me luck and do visit me, people.

Power (Metal)!

2008-03-23T12:51:00.002+08:00

I suppose it is a bit late to be acknowledging this but thanks goes to Bert for introducing me to Dragonforce and all their Pac-Man music. Not exactly thew-thew-thew music but they used to create in-game music for several games, and their music is heavily influenced by that. Suffice to say their songs are really good if you can appreciate it and I do, albeit being an amateur. At least when I'm bored I listen to Operation Ground and Pound and I feel alive again. Bring on the Pac Man.

Podcasted at Reddot Traffic down Maxwell Road yesterday cos GT was closed. That place is a horror to find, especially if the taxi driver misheard it as Middle Road. Middle. Maxwell. Mellllll. Maybe he heard that instead. He was kind enough to reset the meter otherwise I would have ended up paying $10 frigginating bucks for a taxi ride that would have cost no more than $6. And I won't tell you where I got lost until I had to take a cab. You'd laugh till your sides burst, I tell you.

Went out with the guys after that to Purvis Street for cheeken rise. Quite excellent but the damn chicken was too bony and I kept getting bits of bone crap stuck in between my teeth. It It was a good feeling to be together again, just the 4 of us crapping about and being a nuisance wherever we go. Speaking of being a nuisance, we did live up to our expectations when we went to the foodcourt at Bugis with our pre-bought drinks at Cold Storage and were promptly chased out by the manager after 20 minutes because "no outside food and/or drinks are allowed". Screw him. Bumped into Audrey and TYM aka the Other Two Musketeers before that, paktor-ing as usual.

OH yes I got my job at TCC! I'm so elated. Now I can stop worrying about the lack of funds because guess what: they're paying me $5.50 an hour! Screw 7-Eleven! But the tradeoff - for me at least - is ungodly working hours. They do have transport to send you home though, so that's a good thing. Monday's the orientation/training and Joyce and I are gonna go together. Excited and nervous at the same time. Wish me luck!

228th post!

2008-03-21T00:15:00.003+08:00

Same old bored-to-tears day today except for some fun times. Clean room in the morning as usual with Weller and I fiddling stupidly with diskettes aka 65 million-year-old tetnologee, as Gilbert put it. Pathetic really. For a technology so 21st-century, the least they could give us is some equipment at least belonging to the 20th century. But oh no the fees we pay SP obviously aren't enough and so we remain trapped in the dinosaur age where 3.5-inch floppies were all the rage. Screw them.

Went jogging with Audrey and Yiming and then went for dinner with them after that to Makansutra at Esplanade. Mr. Tay was nice enough to treat us all to dinner, which wasn't cheap mind you. Real naise of him to treat both of us. All 3 of us had really a great time. It's quite a pleasant feeling knowing that you're among friends who really treasure you and really mean something to you, and I think that's what's been happening recently. For whatever reason we've grown closer during these few weeks of holiday. I'd say especially Audrey and I. To be quite honest we never saw eye to eye on certain matters and weren't as friendly toward each other, but it's changed dramatically recently. It's a good feeling this, and I do wish it wouldn't go away.

Some inane stuff from Best's blog about me. She's really gone off her rocker on this one:

OMG HOW ABOUT BESTEST?

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Wong Kaiyi!

Wong Kaiyi can drink over 25 gallons of water at a time.
A lump of Wong Kaiyi the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
It takes more than 500 peanuts to make Wong Kaiyi!
Wong Kaiyi can taste with his feet.
Wong Kaiyi has 118 ridges around the edge.
You should always store Wong Kaiyi in an airtight container in the fridge.
Wong Kaiyi is physically incapable of sticking his tongue out!
Britain's Millennium Dome is more than double the size of Wong Kaiyi.
Wong Kaiyi will often rub up against people to lay his scent and mark his territory.
It is bad luck to walk under Wong Kaiyi.

Personality disorder

2008-03-19T23:20:00.003+08:00

Yeah I always knew something was wrong with me. Jokes aside though, this personality test really is quite freaky in that it really does state what some of the things bothering me now are. Here's the whole thing, and you can take your own test here if you want to:

"You have always longed for tenderness, love and a sensitivity of feeling into which you would like to blend. You are a very gentle warm person and responsive to 'All things bright and beautiful'. This personifies a caring person, a person who 'needs' and indeed 'needs to be needed'.

You are feeling very disillusioned at this time and you feel that you are being left out of things. You know - or you think you know - what you want, but you seem unable to exert the effort to achieve your objectives. As a consequence, you are feeling left out and neglected. You would like to be afforded greater security and fewer problems.

Enough is enough - but the problems never seem to stop. They never stop. You feel, and maybe you are right, that the problems seem to go on and on and you have indeed had more than your fair share of trials and tribulations. But to give you credit - you bounce back time and time again - you stick to your beliefs because deep down you have that inner knowledge, that 'belief' system that in the end, everything will turn out OK - and you are right -it will!

You are feeling trapped by the situation as it stands at this time and what is more, you feel powerless to remedy it. You are stressful, angry and disgruntled. You feel that everything that you try to do to change the situation is thwarted and your hopes and aspirations all seem to be receding into the ever distant future. You have reached the state where you now doubt whether your dreams will ever be achieved and this is not only causing mental stress but heartache. You need to get away from it all - you need to have time to think, to recuperate, to be able to make your own decisions.

You wish to be left in peace... no more conflict and no more differences of opinion. In fact you just don't want to be involved in arguments of any shape or form. All you want is for 'them' to get on with it - and to leave you alone."

Seriously this is uncannily accurate in some ways. Not entirely correct, granted - cos it's the internet, after all - but it's unsettling how correct a program can get.

Australian Grand Prix

2008-03-16T14:27:00.003+08:00

LEWIS HAMILTON TAKES POLE! YES!

It was a completely topsy turvy race, this. I cannot remember a race in recent history when both Ferraris failed to complete and to see Raikkonen outbrake himself into a corner trying to overtake Timo Glock in the Toyota is simply unheard of. The field finished with only 9 of the original 22 cars, with everyone else crashing out. Slight disappointment over Timo Glock and Nelson Piquet Jr.'s unfinished races, with Force India's drivers predictably failing to finish. But Quick Nick and Nico Rosberg took 2nd and 3rd place respectively and that demands huge respect, for having Williams clinch their first championship points so early on and having BMW cement their position as the field's number 3 team after Ferrari and McLaren. Kudos too to Honda for winning their first points of the season through Rubens Barrichello. A far cry from last year where they damn near finished at the bottom every single race.

I can't wait for Malaysia.

Happy Pi Day!

2008-03-14T22:11:00.003+08:00

Not many people know this but today is Pi Day, the celebration in recognition of the most elusive and enigmatic numbers the world has ever seen: Pi, 3.14 - March 14. Yes it isn't enough to warrant to name a national holiday in honor of it. But think of how important Pi is to us: from calculating the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, to astronomers calculating the span of galaxies to helping us fail exams, it's all there in Pi. The BBC has a very good article on Pi Day, you should read it up and see how Pi runs our lives.

" Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
In sacred truth and rigid spelling
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's full weight"

3.14

Remember March 14

Anyway on a more intelligent and coherent note, Best came over to my place for some studying today. In the spirit of helping her concentrate on studying and not do any other monkey business except study, I played my computer games on full blast. Not really, I didn't get to do that because firstly she has the attention span of a donkey with a red-hot poker shoved up its ass (no pun intended) and secondly, we were having too much fun. Always the camwhore she made me succumb to her devious and cunning ways and made me pose for photos. Not that I'm much of a poser. No really. Again it was all great fun. Loved it all :)

Driving

2008-03-12T21:32:00.002+08:00

Goodness me has anyone seen the rain these past few days? It has been pouring so much that I think it has even made the fish drown. Obviously someone down here has pissed off The Big Guy residing up there.

That said, it hasn't made driving any easier. Since rain decreases visibility and your good judgment, you have to drive slower as dictated so clearly by the sleep-intoxicated instructor sitting on your left. It isn't a monotonous experience by far, but rather a scary one. To make matters worse I have my lessons at night now, where every driver on the road is seemingly hell-bent on getting home in the fastest time possible at the fastest speed imaginable. Couple that with lights reflected everywhere and fogged mirrors, and you have a recipe for pee-in-your-pants, knuckle-whitening moments.

Still I managed to hang on and not get stabbed by a random guy in a Suzuki. It's not really that difficult to drive in the night, really. It's your instructor that makes you nervous, with comments like "Aiya you see, like that instant failure", "no no nooooo, cannot cut like that, must slower feelter into the lane". Worse thing was he was taking me on various test routes and familiarizing me with the different routes I might encounter. So it was 2 hours worth of test routes 1, 3, 5 and 9, with me screwing up on test route 5 because I didn't turn in time. Screw the rain.

I don't need no steenkin rain.

Homegrown Shows

2008-03-06T12:18:00.002+08:00

Can I just say something. From the very unbiased and highly informed viewpoint of a bored student taking buses equipped with TV Mobile daily, I fear things have come to a head.

You see, when TV Mobile was first introduced, I remember that although commuters riled its very existence that prevented them from having that nice evening nap on the way home on the bus, it served its purpose well, entertaining the thousands of people who take the bus to school or work and then back home again. It promised snippets of interesting, humorous shows to liven up the otherwise dull and pathologically mundane commute. And for a while, it did exactly that. Good shows like the proverbial Just For Laughs (Jus Pour Gags?) and Switching Kitchens and some makeover show which I've forgotten the name were screened which mentally shortened the journey and made it just that bit more enjoyable.

But of late, things have changed. Instead of the easily-digestible, quirky, short and sweet shows, on have come these hour long, sluggish, uninteresting, ponderous and ultimately nail-bitingly awkward shows. Let me name a few that I've seen gestate in the past few weeks. In no order of merit (because they have none) they are: Heartlanders, First Mums, Lifeline (should have been called Flatline), some Chinese drama serial and some more god-awful English soap operas.

Lest you think I'm some Singapore-bashing redneck who lambasts every locally conceived idea at the slightest chance, I'm not. I honestly want Singapore's TV shows to shine and some of them have. Even so, these shows are pathetic. The concepts of these shows are really quite catchy but the way they are produced just leaves me staggered. I'm not any sort of actor but even so with a bit of training I sincerely believe I can do better than some of members of the cast on some shows. Some of them - if not most - have awkward line delivery. Pauses exist where there should be none and intonations are many. Very good, except that they're in the wrong places. I remember watching one girl act on Heartlanders one week back and I had to physically remove my eyes from the screen and my jaw from the floor because her acting reminded me of my primary school speech and drama audition session. It was shockingly bad. I paraphrase:

"Do YOU really beLIEVE that I will beLIEVE YOU? What KIND of a PERSON are YOU anyway. How DARE you treat my MUDDER that WAY? I cannot STAND YOU you know."

Emphasis on words has been typed in uppercase letters.

You see what I mean?

The thing is though, this rant would have sounded very convincing save for the fact that her face was more expressionless than a fossilized frog stuck in concrete and that her intonations were all over the place. I don't want to even start on her accent because it would really be unfair to her. She did try.

I know you're bored with all this writing (part of preparing for my column, see) so I shall keep it short. I don't want to mention other bad examples of acting I've watched, because I'm sure the actors and actresses are probably as bored of this as we are. But let's face it: we need to bring our acts up to speed. And while we're it, the dialogue too. God knows who are writing the scripts for these shows.

To round off, I propose a few attainable and highly realistic ways to improve Singapore's film industry:

1. Shoot the scriptwriters and hire those that do films like There Will Be Blood, or just stop outsourcing scriptwriting to India.

2. Find better shooting locations that don't include random children running around in a playground and grinning into the camera in the background

3. Pay your actors better. Money may be the root of all evil but damn it works wonders when you dangle it.

4. Hire ugly actors. People don't want to watch highly polished cast members. They want fleshy, bumbling, dopey La-Z-Boy-sized actors to spice up the screen. Must be hired intentionally.

5. Stop the crying scenes. We have enough heartache during work and school in the day and have no more need for screen tears than we do extra armpit hair.

I eagerly await my next bus ride.

The Constant Reminder

2008-03-05T23:25:00.002+08:00

Plastic substrate for OLED. Time to pull up my socks and realise that this project I'm undertaking now is more important than ever. If those few words meant nothing to you, don't worry yet because if our plan goes through, my group will be the first polytechnic students ever to create something astonishing, totally mindblowing and you heard about it here first! Not exactly something brand new and unheard of, because it's seen development elsewhere, but this might be the first time it sees development in the hands of rank amateurs. Keep your fingers tightly crossed laydeez and gennermen.

Anyway owing to the urging of a certain Sabrina, I have now added words into my blog to produce an entry! *shock horror* Speaking of which, I met her today for dinner. Walked around a bit till we discovered Pastamania at Bugis, where we ate. Walked around after that, talked shop and then went home, me sending her to her station before that cos I figured I had time to burn. But Jerold and Bert were at AMK Hub and they had to go soon. Not one for missing a session of TCSS I rushed down and as usual, the sound of the Kopitiam echoed to jokes which only we could understand and laughter which, well, only we could laugh. Long and loud. LOL.

Cleaning the clean room tomorrow. I am not joking.

Physicists Successfully Store and Retrieve Nothing

2008-03-02T14:15:00.002+08:00

I do that all the time. It's called a bank acccount.

If that title wasn't enough to bamboozle you, this article should. I do not boast but my level of language comprehension is pretty competent, above average. Even so, I still could not make head or tail of exactly what they were trying to explain, even after reading it twice over with a fine-tooth comb. See what you make of it.

Mas Selamat Kastari

2008-03-01T12:27:00.002+08:00

All things considered in these past few days, I think the thing first and foremost on our minds should be to look out for that cunning and devious MSK. How the hell he managed to escape from a high-security facility, we only need to wait for the preliminary reports from the Government. It is quite scary to know that for the first time, a terrorist has escaped state custody and is on the run and is dangerous, and that this is happening right in your own backyard right here, in Singapore. It's like a real-life The Fugitive without the stylish countenance of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones gracing the show but instead a steely-faced force of SOC and special forces men and a limping terrorist. Sounds a bit impotent if you're anywhere other than Singapore but believe me, it's plenty worrying.

On a lighter note, the Geneva Motor Show is coming up and I'm pretty excited about it. A lot of new and very clever cars are going to be unveiled. Here are some specifically:

Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe
New Ford Fiesta
Abarth 500
VW Scirocco
Volvo XC60
KTM X-Bow
Koenigsegg CCRX

Holy mother.

Not Gonna Write You a Love Song

2008-02-27T17:02:00.003+08:00

I love the sound of Sara Bareilles's voice. It's so sultry and sexy that it feels like a sheet of silk being rubbed all over Keira Knightley, with milk. And Honey. And whipped cream.

Holy.

NEWS FLASH: YEAR 3 HERE I COME. Yes, it's official. By some blind stroke of luck, hard work, divine intervention or all three, I have actually managed to pass every single module and am now one year closer to completing this diploma and motor racing. I know I know, wistful thinking. But hoo boy what a relief when I felt the ropes tying that burden on my back suddenly cut free. It was as if seventh heaven had come down and laid out a spread of all the supercars in the world and told me to pick one. Or I could have all if I wanted to too. The elation.

Tomorrow's the first presentation for my ITP. Crossing my fingers and twiddling my toes in anxiety. Ms Wendy's a known hard driver and she doesn't take "I don't know" or any sort of answer like that for a response. So I'm trying to get up to speed on my presentation, fine-tuning it and making sure it's all OK.

For all car fanatics, this is one car you must get.

I don't care how, I just want it.

Sick Sick Sick

2008-02-26T21:43:00.003+08:00

Just the week that I wanted to start my column, I fall sick.

My mum's being motherfuckingly anal about everything around the goddamned house. I'm sorry to have to use these words but they are the true manifestations of my feelings so do bear with me. Recently she's been irritatingly picky about every single thing that goes wrong in the house. She's so damn irritable: the slightest spark (i.e. me misplacing my book, a door not closed, a stray hair, a dirty floor) sets off a bonfire of pent-up rage and screaming. It's as if she was PROGRAMMED to sieve out every last wrong, misplaced, extra, missing, excess piece of shit lying around the house and launch into a massive tirade about this book that book lying around. It's so irritating and furthermore I worry if this is a trend that's going to carry on. She's so goddamned negative. Sometimes I wonder why she can't be like other mothers. Understanding, kind, patient, logical, warm, full of fun and positive. Sorry, I talked nothing about me being sick.

My head hurts. My nose hurts. I've got a temperature. My throat feels like sandpaper every time I swallow. I can't think straight. I can't walk straight. My legs hurt.

Thank you.

I've gotten ill

2008-02-21T00:35:00.004+08:00

After much research and careful, meticulous analysis involving Wikipedia, BBC world news and Thai ladyboys, I have concluded that my recent spate of restlessness is due to this. Bert's got some form of it too, and he can't sleep. I'm worse. Mine strikes in the day.

Today in lecture in the lab I had this sudden bout of restlessness so strong I literally wanted to jump out of my seat, flap my arms about and holler at the top of my lungs. I couldn't stop fidgeting. Then just now it came back after an absence in the afternoon. As I'm typing this my legs are constantly moving and I wanna jump around the room and do weird things to vases. It is like there's this small current pulsating inside me, small enough to make me feel vastly uncomfortable and restless. Yahoo Answers tells me that I have anything from Parkinson's to ADHD to sleep disorder to knee surgery, so I'm not believing any of that drivel.

HJUYTRESDBKUYTRDWSDFGHJKIUYTGFD>?PL:{:.l;p>:"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!JAJAJAGOSLFJHJCFNSKNLN

Help!

Drowzee

2008-02-19T23:12:00.001+08:00

Thanks Jerold's mum who ends work at 0230 but who also has a very nice company S-Class and offered to send us home.

I like Mercedes-Benzes. Very comfortable and cosy and cosseting and smooth to be in.

I like the S-Class.

I like Mercs.

I like cars.

zZzzzzzzzzz....

Ponder

2008-02-17T19:02:00.002+08:00

Was thinking of changing the focus of my blog, if it ever had any :)

Instead of typing boring, anodyne, asinine, totally irrelevant entries about my life, which to be honest is not much at all, I was pondering whether to change my blog entries to be sort of weekly columns where I write about some particular topic, with a dash of humour and quirkiness. A la Jeremy Clarkson's Sunday Times column.

What say you all?

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T00:13:00.004+08:00

A day for boyfriends and girlfriends the world over to pretentiously declare their undying, unconditional, unequivocal love for each other FOR ONE DAY OF THE YEAR and then go back to being bitches to each other after that.

While the florists make tons of money out of you ridiculous lovebirds.

What's wrong with having every day be Valentine's Day?

Attachment and the Clean Room

2008-02-12T16:22:00.000+08:00

Someone threw some rocks and stones at my house last night and scared the shit out of all of us. The minute my mum called me I ran out into the street yelling "COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT" but obviously no one - thrower included - heard me because they were either asleep or too busy running away. The police came at around 0230 when we called them at like, midnight. No matter. I've set up a highly sophisticated trap consisting of a state-of-the-art motion detector and two papayas to catch the bugger if he does it again. You have been warned, hoodlum.

First day today in the clean room of SP. For those who have not been to a clean room before - and I suspect there aren't many - it's a place you surely will believe to be some sort of chemical/biological/germ warfare center. It certainly did feel that way with us wearing white jumpsuits and other associated apparatus in order to keep the dirt and dust generated by us stinky humans to a minimum. You suit up in a HEPA-filtered Class 1000 room (that's hair net and face shield, gown, booties and latex gloves in that order), followed by an air shower, then it's into a Class 100 clean room bathed in bright, stark white fluorescent light that makes you feel you were in the middle of a lightning bolt. Around you are various machines that if you didn't know better would seem to be centrifuges for refinement of nuclear material but obvious they aren't. Warning signs are liberally scattered around with ominous words such as "DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU", "ACID BURNS", "DO NOT REMOVE ANTISTATIC CLOTHES WHILE IN ROOM" and my personal favourite, "WARNING: EXPLOSION-RESISTANT REFRIGERATOR" (I am not making this up). Obviously that bottle of Heinz's wasn't what we thought it was.

Obviously we didn't have time to explore so we got to the down and dirty of the matter at hand, which was to learn the workings of all the machines and to learn fundamental wafer fabricating procedures. The seniors sure as hell weren't joking when they said it was the waiting that was tedious.

Let's put it into perspective. You complain when a bus takes more than 5 minutes to arrive while you pace up and down and listen to your MP3 player. In the clean room, this machine - like the others - takes damn near a one-half hour to warm up. That's 90 minutes to you, without the benefit of an MP3 player or pacing or any sort of time-wasting activity to while the boring minutes away. I have a suspicion that the best friend I make there will be the tweezer.

Anyway, Thursday's coming up and I still haven't gotten anything for Best. Die la. Gonna need to start cracking my head.

Attached to attachment

2008-02-10T21:37:00.000+08:00

Fa Kin Su Pah.

The minute the CNY holidays end I get my schedule for my ITP (that's industry attachment for you uninitiated). To make matters worse I booked my first auto lesson tomorrow, so the selling of my slot is all the more difficult, compounded with the misery of it being at 815 in the bloody morning, makes it the perfect way to start your week. FA KIN SU PAH.

I was supposed to go to Xian, China, but no sooner did I get the confirmation that I was on the team to go did I get the notification that I had to serve my attachment in school because of the complexity of the fabrication process for my project would be so great it would require 10 weeks for us to undergo training for it. And there went my chance to go to Xian. Sian.

Morose thoughts aside, I went out with Best, her mum and her aunt for lunch today. Plenty to like about the meeting, more so the Formula 1 driving her mum displayed. All that needs to be summed up can be done so in one word, though. For those who understand: waterboarding.

CNY day 3

2008-02-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

So fellas.

How be your CNY pickings this year?

Any good?

No?

Yes?

Keep begging.

Here's to good pickings on CNY

2008-02-07T16:35:00.000+08:00

The quintessential time of the year is here again - where children look forward to the gifts and adults talk nonsense the whole day while the children, well, look forward to the gifts.

And I'm not talking about Christmas either.

It's Chinese New Year.

Money! Food! Fun! Irritating relatives! Sore throats! What excitement awaits all during the Lunar New Year. It's always such a grand thing and it's one of the highlights of the year.

No actually, I don't.

Let's spell out the reasons. First, I don't visit many relatives during new year. That has been the norm ever since I had a conscious memory and it hasn't changed a beep since. Every year, I don old clothes (except for a new jacket this year) and go to my uncle's place for 3 days in a row, eat and ROT TO DEATH AFTERWARD. I guess I do join in the occasional game of mah-jong, which I lose in a spectacular explosion of banknotes. So I give up, walk to the dining table, eat myself silly and spectacularly explode in a confetti of lap cheong and red barbecued meat. Suffice to say, the only thing that Iook forward to is the familiar red packets, contained wherein are highly sensitive documents of intrinsic value which only must be opened by the end user.

Has CNY lost its value? Has visitation turned into a green-eyed, meaningless action befitting its intended purpose of nothing but acquiring the most number of red packets and then doing nothing after that? The answer for some might be an affirmative one, because they - like I - have been sufficiently jaded by past experiences to have lost all faith in the value and meaning of proper rites and values of CNY to have only left the sole purpose of visiting and reaping the tangible benefits - ang pao.

To those more trad ones, however, who still treasure the warmth and familiarity that Chinese New Year brings to your hearts, the only thing I can wish you is to have fun and continued prosperity throughout the year acquired through your visits and reaffirmation of your Chinese roots.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO ALL THOSE HAPPY/SAD/RICH/POOR PEOPLE!!! =D

BarBQ

2008-02-06T01:04:00.000+08:00

Have you ever been to one of those parties where you were the host's close friend, but somehow that prevented you from mixing with others because they thought you were kind of uppity and therefore reasoned you probably had none of the brains required for proper socialising? In the end however the story ends nicely with you making friends with the people you meet around you.

This is exactly how I felt during the CCA barbq that I just came back from. In the beginning I did dread that it would be another one of those dreary, boring barbq's where I would just sit there by my lonesome, mope around, pull a long face a wonder when the hell would everything end and be done. For a while I did act in that manner typical of me - just busied myself barbequeing stuff and generally being out of people's sight. I did get bored enough to think to myself: please please please let this end like this so I can go home and rest and read my unfinished Top Gear. And it did seem like it would end like that.

Until we got to the games, that is. It all started out as a waterbombing session so beloved the world over for its simplicity, instant fun and the capability to turn any boring old bozo into an prancing participant. So my plan of dodging all waterbombs didn't work and the next thing I knew, I was getting hit on by so many bombs that a tornado seemed like a mild shower in contrast. But that wasn't the end of it. We played next a game where you had to guess a number. Game rules state that you have to guess a number - dreamed up by our friendly Sabster - and if you guess it RIGHT, YOU get to do the forfeit. Make a long story short, I GOT HIT both times because I was standing in a sweet spot where I so nicely guessed the winning, offensive numerals. I had to go over to the next bbq pit for the second forfeit and ask a girl for her number, a picture with her and then politely tell her to throw a waterbomb at me. Thanks to you whoever you are :) that was sporting.

Next two games - Indian poker and Simon Says - also saw me in a spot of good fun as I got hit with all sorts of fantastic forfeits. Seemed like I was the guy who did all the forfeits and used up all the waterbombs. And for those of you who might see my ridiculous attempt at a poledance on Youtube (filmed by none other than Lina, thank you lol), I can only solemnly declare to you that I AM NOT PROFESSIONAL AND NEVER WILL BE, though I did pick up a few tips from Jamie Lee Curtis in one of her movies =D

To be very honest I never expected that I would have fun during this barbeque. But I did have fun in the end and that changed everything. I believe that I would have enjoyed myself, even without being the butt of jokes and the waterbombed guy, because I did give myself a chance to interact more with people whom on a daily basis I never would have. A chance presented itself and I grabbed it with both hands. I got to have fun with people whom I was not close to before and that made a difference to me tonight. It made a difference to know that in spite of myself, I believe I now know that the people around me are not merely bystanders in the walk through life but are unique, quality individuals who deserved to be recognized in their own right.

And I have been humbled by that.

I did try, E, I really did.
But as luck would have had it,
nothing came to fruition,
even though it had been one of the more daring endeavours undertaken.
A chance - I hope - shall present itself again
and let me not let it slip.

BLAH

2008-02-05T00:17:00.000+08:00

AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME! AAAAAAH HE-MAN TOUCHED ME!
As you can tell from the statements above, I obviously am traumatised. 'Nuff said.

V-day's around the corner and I guess it's going to be back to a boring 14th of February for me. Significant the last time, but definitely insignificant this time round. Sad? Disappointed? I'd say not in the least. I keep telling myself that the silver lining in the cloud is that I get to save on that day where other attached and chained (huge grin) individuals spend their lungs out on bouquets and chocolates for their loved ones. I'm probably spending some on Best (if she wants to be my Valentine that is) but that's it. Unless a miracle happens and the girl I like asks me out, I - like most of my guyfriends - shall go watch Jumper :D .

FREIDOM

2008-02-01T02:30:00.000+08:00

EXAMS SIND KOMPLETT UND FINIS!

Der examinationsprufungen ist done und gone! Zey are kaputt und ich bin free! Ich habe many weeksendungen of der freetime to be doing ze blah blah that I vant! Ich bin very happi!

New email address

2008-01-30T23:38:00.000+08:00

This is gonna sound stupid but I'm not releasing my new email address here in case some wacko with underwear on his head decides to spam me with pictures of himself. My new email will be my MSN nick, so you guys who know me and have my MSN, take note. It's not going to be my permanent email, so do keep directing all your email to the one you all currently know, the Gmail one. It's a funny one, the new one ;)

Der Last Paper

2008-01-30T20:48:00.000+08:00

Der finalisten papier ist hier und das ist der dreaded maths papier. Ich bin sehr stressed und ich will now studiere sehr sehr late into ze night to make sure I passieren ze papier if not ich will repeat ze module.

After ze papier ist finito I will be as frei as ein bird. I will not celebratorien because ich bin sehr cautious about ze results. Aber oh! What joy after ze paper is done! Zere will come ze holidaytagen und ze freitime which I cravesenheimer.

Ja, danke.

201st post!

2008-01-27T18:20:00.000+08:00

I've just realised - from looking at my Nuffnang visitorship status - that I've been getting a lot less numbers on Monday than on other days. I think perhaps it's because of the Monday blues, eh? Compared with say, Thursday and Friday, these days are a near-twofold-increase over the first day of the week. I theorize that it could be due to the heavy workload and that...LAZINESS that everyone seems to have. Now I know when to post to have the highest readership - rubs hands. And oh yeah there actually are people who stumble upon my blog from their Yahoo or Google searches or whatever. And you should see the keywords they use. Hilarious.

Monday is really a fun day. No really.

So the exams are coming along with mixed feelings. As I mentioned before I'm still concerned about my first paper. Audrey's telling me not to worry about it and I really and trying my best, but there's a lingering fear of the unknown, of what's going to happen. I better not let that fear conquer me.

Went out to Best's school carnival on Saturday. Wanted to ask a couple of friends along but they were all busy. That woman had to ask her friend Ruben to pick me from Yishun Station when I clearly know my way to the school (note to self: know, or think you know?). Anyway, I spent some time there, getting acquainted and reacquainted with some of her friends. I think one of her girlfriends is hot but I can't say here. Stayed just a tick over 40 minutes before I headed off cos I didn't want to be a hindrance to her. She had her own duties to take care of. Don't worry, that lunch will come :)

One week left, two more papers to go. Thanks Lina for that midweek boost of confidence, wishing me luck :) to be honest I'm really scared for tomorrow's Physics paper. There are like a hundred fucking formulas to remember and I don't think I can remember them all. I think I must _______.

Going for a run helps me to increase brain cell count and stimulate determination. Sounds like a Chinese translation, ha ha. Anyway, I'm going.

* * *

200th post!

2008-01-24T18:09:00.000+08:00

Olé! This post marks 200 non-stop, fun-filled, deeply-insightful-but-at-times-emo-and-damn-depressing-not-to-mention-completely-incomprehensible posts! Although of course you may have noticed that in order to get 200 posts I have typed many completely rubbish ones in between sensible entries. How lucky I am to have survived to this day.

Better not count my chickens too fast yes.

Anyway the post below was typed in a fit of madness. Somehow the idea of an LOTR confrontation appealed to me at that point. Yeah the horsemen are coming. I've killed two already and the other two are still circling for the kill. Need to hit the pause button.

Yeah she's cute, that one. Not entirely unattractive and safe to say pretty smart too.
Why not?

So it begins

2008-01-22T20:27:00.000+08:00

So this is how it begins.

I face down the four faceless riders with my own trusted brethren. My breathing is calm, my horse unperturbed, my senses - heightened like never before. I feel the weight of that sword clutched in my hand as though it were an extension of me all my life. Thunder rumbles in the distance, warning all who hear it to take shelter from the inevitable deluge that will follow. I look up, and the sky has turned a deathly pallor of gray, a foreign hue to this land. A certain peace has befallen me, like a blanket of peace smothering the glowing embers of anxiety. I feel no fear and I feel no regret. This is how it begins, this is how it will end.

The four horsemen, the Evil Ones, the Dark Knights, the angelli rebelli, continue to bear down on us. Their bodies are shrouded in long flowing cloaks, their faces unseen. I can hear their mares now - snorting viciously, black as sin. Even though we have the hill, I can feel the thunder of their hooves as their soulless riders - with venom in their every movement - flash the reins and hone in on us with unbridled fury. In a distant corner of my mind I wonder sagely whether I should first pierce the demon riding, or wait patiently till his mare is upon me and then slash the beast's head off with one single, calculated movement. The sword in my hands twitches ever so slightly. This is how it begins, this is how it will end.

The moment of inevitability is here. Upon this hill we shall fight as countless others have done before - our blood, the life upon which the grass of our land grows, shall flow. Our lives - dedicated to the defense of this place we call home. One call, one bugle, and my men swing their swords high in unison. Let this day be remembered for the glory the martyrs have brought to it! Let this day be remembered for the fight that we brought to the Darkness! Let this day be remembered for time immemorial!

This is how it begins, and this is how it shall end.

Don't need no...

2008-01-20T20:44:00.000+08:00

I don't need a steenkin _________.

I can do without that steenkin __________.

That steenkin _________ isn't really necessary.

Who needs a steenkin ________ when you've got a _________.

Because of that steenkin _____________ I feel bad now.

Thanks for the advice you steenkin _________ but I don't need it.

Thanks for nothing you steenkin _________.

I don't conform to your steenkin ________.

We don't need no steenkin _________.

See if you guys can add any more :)

What on Earth am I here for

2008-01-20T18:15:00.000+08:00

Sigh. Looking at this makes me wonder what the hell I am doing in Aerospace Electronics. Audrey was like "ya Kai, why don't you change." Nah I'm quite fine here, I'm not going to change, but it makes me kind of wish I was born a coupla years later.

The Singapore Government is mobilising some S$76 million to attract and train about 2,000 precision engineers over the next few years. Students from NYP will be the FIRST to benefit from this latest initiative.

As a Digital & Precision Engineering student at NYP, you can now apply for the prestigious National Precision Engineering Scholarship (NPES).

The National Precision Engineering Scholarship (NPES) is awarded by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and SPRING Singapore for studies in the Diploma in Digital & Precision Engineering at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).
"Precision Engineering is in...F1 cars, iPods, mobile phones, fighter jets and more! Be a part of Singapore's new breed of technologists. Choose Nanyang Polytechnic's new Digital & Precision Engineering Diploma."

Snakes on a Plane!

2008-01-19T00:04:00.000+08:00

Lol I just couldn't resist posting this.

Ton of snakes seized on plane

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Authorities in Vietnam seized more than a ton of snakes that were smuggled in on an airplane from Thailand, officials said Friday.
Thousands of the nonvenomous rat snakes were shipped as cargo in 60 boxes on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok to Hanoi's Noi Bai airport Thursday, said airline spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh.
Thanh said the shipment had been declared as live fish.
Many of the snakes, which were surrounded by plastic filled with ice water, have died, said Nguyen Ba Oanh, director of the Wild Animal Rescue Center near Hanoi where the snakes were taken.
The reptiles each weighed between 200 grams (0.44 pounds) to 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds). The official Vietnam News Agency reported that the snakes, which are protected animals, may have been headed to another country.

(Article courtesy of cnn.com)

Soldiers of the Wasteland

2008-01-18T17:56:00.000+08:00

As the song title goes I'm quite happy to have been introduced to DragonForce. Yes that's another power metal band with enough twin guitar solos and riffs to make Jimi Hendrix look like Bill Gates playing Guitar Hero. Interestingly DF add in computer-game sounds into their music. Take for example their hit song Through the Fire and Flames - it's got a hint of Pac-Man dee-dee-do-dee-do right before the twin guitar solo, courtesy again of Herman Li and Sam Totman. That's their signature addition. And oh by the way it could be me, but their choruses always sound so cheerful and melodic. That's right, cheerful. From a power metal band. Strange innit? You should see how Herman Li looks like man - go Wiki him. Doesn't he look strange or what.

Second post in a day, guess I'm bored out of my pores. I need to go study later, haven't completed my chapter of CA which I wanted to. Thank goodness I'm not rostered for work tonight or I'll never get any studying done. It's strange now how I really do want to study unlike some other people who can't answer simple questions during an interview. Yes you I'm talking about you, you half-wit. Think I didn't overhear the lecturer asking you questions and you just gaping there like a goldfish out of water? Obviously you didn't do even an infinitesimal bit of the project and probably left the equations to some poor soul to do. Seriously now, I haven't any idea what anyone sees in you. Well, those bothered enough to talk to you anyway. I'm thoroughly disgusted with your wanton and insouciant ways. You screwed that test up and instead of blaming yourself, you took it out on a friend of yours who at least was contrite enough to offer some conciliatory words. But oh no, you told him so eloquently to fuck off and not talk to you again. Sounds exactly what you did to me too, as I so fondly recall. It's a miracle that's he's still talking to you now. If I were him, I'd seriously tell you to do something to yourself which requires some actual physical, if not voluntary, penetrative action to your physiological being.

In other words, go fuck yourself.

Cripes

2008-01-18T11:05:00.000+08:00

Aiya...it's the exam period now.

I really really can't do anything else other than study but I fear I offend them. What's more I haven't gone to plenty of sessions previously because of my project meetings. Man.

And I don't want to go to work either because I have to study. But again I don't wanna say no cos I need the money (ok, WANT) and I don't wanna seem like a slacker so I'm letting myself go this Sunday. I'll probably get some flak from the folks but I'm gonna study before that so I think it's ok. Man.

What's one gotta do?

Biding my time

2008-01-17T21:16:00.000+08:00

I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I'm dying were the best I've ever had.

You must listen to Gary Jules' Mad World. I swear it's the saddest song ever. PM me for it eh.

Sorry for the lack of updates my dear faithful. Haven't been touching my blog for that period, plus my exams are just around the corner, which really sucks. Not to say that I've forgotten you all :)

Went out with best the other day and bumped into Bert at Far East Plaza, who was out with his mum. No Gilbert don't feel ashamed, it's okay. And by the way I think my friend likes you. No no really. You'll only know if you read this post, by which time I think you might be too late. Dear me.

Exams are around the corner, as I mentioned earlier. Let's list out the seven levels of Hell:

ACS
CA
AMMP
maths

So happened that my font became smaller when I typed the word Maths. No matter how much I tried to make it larger, it wouldn't.

Oh yes and I'm gonna type out my wishlist for when my paycheck comes in. First time I've ever typed a wishlist out but since these are actually NECESSITIES, no harm done la.

1. Gears of War for PC
2. 1GB RAM array for my dimwitted laptop
3. A proper going-out jacket
4. New bag (Audrey I think I want that Crumpler. LET'S GO BUY.)
5. New shirts

Notice that all bar the first two are actually necessities. Oh well, you gotta have hope, man.

What I should be thinking about now

2008-01-13T15:16:00.000+08:00

Right now, I should be thinking how to complete this CA project of mine. But obviously I'm not because you're reading this post. That's procrastination for you.

Last night's work was nothing short of ordinary bar a few incidences that sparked up the otherwise gloomy atmosphere a wee bit. Not least of all was the woman who lay on the road outside the store for close to an hour and who scared a bunch of ah bengs - yeah that's right - into running into the shop thinking she was some kind of ghost.

"Eh wo men nah umbrella lai poke ta yi sia"
"wah chee bye shi gui lor!"
"mei you la shi pontianak lai de...chee bye"
"eh wo men chu qu la"
"bu yao la later chee bye ta wake up ken wo men..si liao"
"wah lau chee bye lor"
"eh wo men mai condom la"
"chee bye la ni"

Mind you I've never heard so much eloquence at 2am in the morning.

Just between you and I, I think I ate so much I nearly ate my day's salary's worth in just one night. Two cups of soup, few hundred sweets (more like 20 la, just exaggerating), 10 cups of Coke and/or Sprite and/or iced lemon tea pretty much kept me company from 11pm to 7am the next day. You gotta survive man, you gotta survive.

Besides that it was a constant struggle to keep my eyes open till 0630 when I was all primed and ready for shift change. Pretty smooth transition, except for the Hemale calling at 6am and shocking the hell out of me. "Just wanted to check how you were doing" (in sweet saccharine voice. "How you know it was me?" -rolls eyes DUH OF COURSE LA WHO ELSE HAS THAT VOICE.

How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where To, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

I don't know how long I have to climb. A constant reminder of my uphill battle.

Radical rethinking

2008-01-10T19:16:00.000+08:00

For those of you who've realised that the post below didn't mean a single thing to you, I can only apologize. That was written at 2am in the morning with my head lolling from side to side because I was so sleepy, I was dozing sitting up. Hopefully it provides more answers than it does questions.

Anyway, it's back to the world of cars! I haven't been posting many car updates recently which has caused me concern too. Nevertheless, I shall put my best foot forward for an attempt now at a review.

Have a good long look at the car on the right. A very good long look. Spot anything? Or rather, spot anything missing? That's right, there's no badge. No matter how hard you rub your eyes in, there isn't a single badge on the front of this car. And if you think about it, it's not very strange.

The car that you see here is the new Hyundai Genesis, due to be launched at the Detroit Motor Show next week and see its inception into the US market some time shortly thereafter. I never thought I would say this about a Hyundai but I am going to anyway: it looks great. I mean, just look at it. The last time the Koreans attempted to design a luxury car they ended up with a blob called the Hyundai Sonata and that's being used as taxis in China. Talk about exclusivity.

At first glance it looks pretty much like a menage of a few major luxury brands' styling cues. The front fascia is very Lexus-esque, bonnet lines, wing mirrors and rear three-quarter view not unlike BMW's. Despite the subtle espionage going on here, I'd say the Genesis has a lot going for it. What's under the skin looks set to give some car manufacturers plenty of sleepless nights, courtesy of the Korean underdog (no pun intended. At all.). The base version gets a 3.3L V6 and the top-tier a 4.6L V8 pushing out a head-imploding 368bhp. A V8! From a Hyundai! Both engine choices drive the rear wheels through a six-speed ZF automatic and 60mph is destroyed in under 6 seconds. I say destroyed because anything that moves this quick this side of a BMW M-Sport saloon must surely be powered by lightning. The Koreans are on to something, surely.

We've no idea whether or not this car will reach Singapore. If it does, it'll be right in contention with its intended rivals - the Mercedes-Benz E-class, Audi's A8 and the granddad of sports saloons, the BMW 5-series, anything from a 525i and up. Surely this will be a small victory in Hyundai's quest for world domination for none of their current offerings even register on the Germans' radar. But looking at all the kit that's being offered with the Genesis, its engine and really quite handsome styling, I'd say that they better pull their socks up.

The Koreans are coming.

(All pictures courtesy of topgear.com)

Yep..kinda. Yep.

2008-01-10T01:18:00.000+08:00

I dunno. This whole thing's been weighing down on me ever since it, well, started. And from day one it's received nothing but bad press. I've tried hard, honestly, but I can't see the fruits of my labor. My actions have been obscured by my own uncertainty and no matter how hard I try I keep feeling that I've hit a brick wall in the middle of nowhere - and am stuck here till I find someone else to bail me out.

Maybe it's time to stop chasing ghosts. Maybe it's time to retract into my shell again as I always used to. Maybe it's time I stop lying to myself and saying that everything will be rosy.

But Man could not have discovered the oceans if he did not have the courage to lose sight of land, now did he?

Fix you

2008-01-09T00:15:00.000+08:00

Do take a moment to read these lyrics. At first glance they don't seem to make much sense for a love song, but study them closer and you realize it's not about love, it's about encouragement and how you support someone. Gosh. What won't I do for someone to see me through this way :)

"Fix You"

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Thoughts

2008-01-08T22:54:00.000+08:00

Some circuits just don't want to be solved.

Just finalized the complete circuit with Shafiq today. Not till late in the day did we realise that all our resistor values were damn near the wrongest values ever, so we had to change all of them. Turns out our attenuation value wasn't where we wanted it to be: it was too high. We were supposed to get 3dB attenuation or lower but ended up getting something like 8dB. In short, the circuit would never be accepted so we had to agak-agak until we got the right values. What a relief when we did.

Potato chips are my new best friend.

Facebook

2008-01-06T13:58:00.000+08:00

After days, months, years of prompting by Jerold Tan, I've finally joined Facebook. You can search for me by my name.

Facebook me!

Just a wave...

2008-01-06T01:15:00.000+08:00

Just saying bye to my friend Patrick brought back so many fond memories that I have had accumulated over the years. It's interesting to see how that despite all that had gone on, us 4 still remain the best of friends. We were over at his house for a sort of farewell party, a parting gift from the civilised world, a transition from civilian to a National Serviceman. Or more poignantly, a period which will see him gone from our scopes for 3 months. For that, I have only good wishes and prayers for him that he may come back safe and sound in one piece. With proper hair. Very soon the other 2 will be going into the hallowed land of the botak too and I will be the sole surviving member of the BBP to still be unmolested by the agonies of National Service. Oh well, my time will come, definitely.

Had a hectic day today. Morning saw me go to Eunice's place to help her with her project - something I didn't do terribly good at. Hope she can cope with that. Then it was off to Sim Lim Tower to get wires for my CA project then to meet Joyce. I ended up meeting her late so we didn't get any lunch done. That's cool, always another time :) Then it was off to meet my pals for Patrick's farewell dinner. Don't feel like typing it here (sorry guys :( I'm actually down with flu now, don't wanna spend too much time on blogging now) but safe to say we had fun, together with some ex-Cat High guys there.

Was always fun, always will be.

2007

2008-01-01T21:34:00.000+08:00

2007.

A tumultuous year gone by.

Many incidences have happened, some best forgotten.

2007 started as a year with me hoping for many things to happen. I did do my best to achieve them but as fate would have it, they didn't happen. I wished some of them would happen but then again they didn't. And that brings me to the topic of resolutions.

I'd like to know exactly how many people follow through on their New Year resolutions. It's customary - compulsory, even - for some people to list out a number of resolutions and then attempt to follow up on them. I say attempt because frankly speaking I don't think many people make good on their promises for the New Year. Procrastination? Lack of faith? Unwillingness? All three? Thing is, none of us have managed to follow up on all that we've promised to no one in particular. And that brings me to the most likely reason why we fail to follow up on our resolutions: we don't tell it to anyone.

It's been known that telling people our goals is one of the factors that determines how aggressive you pursue that aim. If we tell someone what we are aiming for, it somehow makes it more poignant and makes us more aware that that goal exists because we created it for a reason and that we should achieve it. By doing that, the onus is put on us to attain that goal. If we fail, it might feel that we've let that person down so we do our best not to let that happen. In contrast if we don't tell at lease someone our resolutions, then it'd be easy for that person to forget about achieving that aim due to perhaps sheer laziness or a particular inability to do that. There's no accountability, see.

So here I will tell you, my dear reader, my New Year resolutions. If you happen to be part of the BBP or my best, make sure something happens to me if I don't achieve at least half of my resolutions. In no particular order, they are:

1. Study harder than 2007
2. Score higher in all modules than 2007
3. Grow and increase in wisdom (stop laughing, it's true)
4. Make a difference in people's lives
5. Make a difference in my friends' lives
6. Make a difference in my own life
7. Solidify existing friendships and make new friends

8. ____________________________________ and ________

I know you guys are supposed to know all of my resolutions but my secretive side has kicked in and prevented me from writing number 8. Honest it's nothing nefarious but rather something, well, private :P. I leave it up to you all to guess it, but you'll get nothing from me.

Happy 2008!

A very nice Boxing Day

2007-12-26T17:43:00.000+08:00

An outing with my best is always really relaxing and totally no-holds barred. I cannot ever recall one that wasn't. Perhaps some in our more formative years but those never affected anything, I'm sure.

Dispensing with the philosophical verbiage, I went out with her today for breakfast and lunch (if you can even call it that). I met up with her - late - at AMK station. Sorry best I thought I could make it in time but in the end I had to cab there which cost me a whopper. Anyhow I got there and we took the train down to Suntec where the first place we headed to was the carpark. Yes the clever woman thought going down this particular flight of stairs led to the Fountain Atrium but no, it led to the carpark at B2. Smarty.

We shared breakfast at Subway which involved a hearty helping of exactly half a tiny bun with even half a smaller egg inside with the works, in Subway-speak. Can't complain - it was good. Looking over and seeing Carl's Jr open, we promptly shifted our asses over where we ordered a box of beef fries and set about destroying their serviette dispenser. After that we walked around for a bit while we decided whether to makan at Tony Roma's, (what's that other place with ribs?) and Carrefour. Yes.

Here comes the fun part. We went to Carrefour and after some deep deliberation which involved detailed calculation about how much face we would lose while eating, we decided to get some ribs. Bad choice. We didn't know where to eat them and in the end headed to the nearby Starbucks, bypassing our original plan of eating at the Esplanade. We had to order something in order not to get kicked out of Starbucks so Amy got us to share passionfruit tea which was sour as hell. Then we headed out to prevent XtR3me eMB4rrA5m3n+ from eating our ribs. I mean the ones we bought. Suffice to say that while chowing down we felt supremely uncomfortable, more like lions munching their latest kill than proper civilised humans having lunch. Unfortunately we had to hurry because she had some study time with her friend so we had to cut short our outing. You owe me 2 hours, woman ;). Gosh, the fun we had.

To digress, in recent months I think I've undergone something of a revolution in friendship. I've known more pals, gotten to know some of my old friends much better and for all intents and purposes have made friends with them all over again. Call it discovery? I could name a few like S, J, L, A, Y whom I'm grateful to know and be friends with. Without alienating the others in any way I think I should make a special mention about J. J's been a friend of mine for some time now but I've never really talked to her. Recently I've been spending some time with her and I think she is one fantastic person whom I regret not knowing better before. She's a good ear, understands you well and has the ability to brighten your day no matter how dark it was. Her friend S is one nice character too. I am getting to know her better now but I think she'll be just as engaging a pal as J.

Seems like 2007 is going to end on a good note.

Highly accurate translations

2007-12-25T11:25:00.000+08:00

A picture speaks a thousand words, and so I shall let the ones below do the talking.

Enjoy =D

What, now we're policing them?

And the hall of sadness and sorrows too

Nike, eat your heart out

LOL!

I'm sure enzymes and primary school kids make a fantastic couple

talk about health and safety warnings

you can't beat the Chinese now

Indeed!

Imagine that, one whole district gone

and for the kicker...

seriously now!

Merry Xmas y'all!

2007-12-25T01:28:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again, where a certain Monsieur Claus and his merry band of reindeer send gifts to deserving (where the hell is mine) children around the world and who gets to eat cookies and drink milk at every port of call. Fat bastard.

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Nothing beats the Christmas atmosphere this time of year. It's an indescribable feeling that just gives you a sense of well-being and joy. Of course the presents play an important role too :P. But somehow this year, things look a little different for me. In the past I've always wanted to spend this day with friends, going out to party with them and make merry. It's strange then that this year I would have liked to spend it with a certain someone. I'm not referring to any particular person but I do have someone in mind. Nah, I'm just fantasising. It'll probably not come true anyway, even though she's the first girl in a long time whom I've felt so strongly for and for whom I willing to do anything. Not exactly anything, a wee bit more than what a normal friend would do.

Maybe, just maybe.

Well enough of the sentimentality and Merry Christmas once again and a Happy New Year!

Back in the USSR

2007-12-23T23:36:00.000+08:00

Aiya wanted to type an abstract and typically verbose post about my trip to China and my thoughts on it but my mind isn't allowing me to.

Anyway, I'm back!

Landed at about 1730 today after much delay at both the Chinese and Singapore side. Man, you have no idea how is it like to be able to breathe fresh air again and ride in taxis that are Rolls-Royces in quality and ride comfort. The drivers here are angels compared to those maniacs over in Zhongshan. Of course give me a week or two and the grumbles will come back, but hey it's an improvement. I'll never look at Singapore the same way again.

As for those quintessential pictures of those rubbish English translations you all crave...heh heh heh. Let's just say they're coming ;)

A little bit of Monica on my mind...

2007-12-19T22:29:00.000+08:00

So I went back to the place where my mum's dad was born, which was a good 3 hour journey from Zhongshan and its environs. It was a pretty uplifting and insightful journey, perhaps the most meaningful in all my time here (besides eating and getting fat. I've just gained 3kg. Honest.) I took quite a number of pictures of the house that my granddad used to stay in. We met up with a few of my mum's cousins too, who were all - quite honestly - pretty ancient but damned active people. The mum of my mum's 7th cousin is 88 and she's still walking around like some kind of Olympic pro. Fantastic stuff.

Actually what I really wanted to talk about was something that happened during dinner. My parents and I walked into this upscale restaurant next to my hotel because we had no idea where to go makan. Honest to god we didn't expect that it'd be so expensive because duh we hadn't stepped in before. First thing that greeted us on the menu was abalone: 600 yuan. Tea (some special kickass kind): 12000 yuan PER CUP. Yes that's right. My dad nearly fell out of his chair. But nevertheless they had some cheaper dishes and we ordered those.

Well to cut the long story short, the waitress who was serving us tea was a fine specimen of a female as any. Oh my lord she was as fine as a hot cup of tea and a good book on a rainy day. She was so demure and sweet, had the cutest dimples, the most beautiful face and had features which were a perfect blend of aquiline and subtle. A face so enchantingly hypnotic that it takes the phrase "her bewitching beauty" to a whole new level. And oh she had a body to die for too. If your friends have told you that they've seen the most beautiful girl on earth they're talking complete rubbish because I have. She made everyone else in the room look like Cruella even though they all were pretty too. But this girl, goodness. She wasn't just pretty - she was beautiful. She just lit up the room in the brightest sense of the word. Truth be told I wanted to have her number so badly I devised at least 5 ways to go about it while my parents argued about some inane thing over the table. Here are a few.

(Stay behind while parents pay the bill, grab number, go.)
(Pretend to go to toilet, grab number, go.)
(Ask from one of the other waitresses, grab number, go.)
(Ask in front of parents, grab number, and die.)
(Obviously there were more ways I devised but they cannot be mentioned here due to graphic content. Just kidding.)

I cannot even begin to fully describe her enchanting countenance. It was so spellbinding that it left me looking at her almost every chance I got. Which I thought was a good thing until she started looking at me too, with which my inflated ego took to mean that we had something going. Hardly, I think. Oh well, she smiled at me too.

You gotta have a dream.