Shaun's Blog

2010-03-14T16:25:00.003+08:00

test

2010-03-04T13:17:00.001+08:00

i am stoned...

test

2010-03-04T13:17:00.000+08:00

i am stoned...

Google Apps Test

2009-11-16T09:40:00.001+08:00

My Baptism Details

2008-12-24T18:21:00.002+08:00

Hey guys! The church service is from 9.45 am to 12 pm...Take the lift or walk up to the 3rd floor and go into the main hall...Call me when u reach so i can usher you to your seats...If cannot, the front row centre block is for guests...Please be early...We're expecting a lot of people tmr! Merry Christmas eve!

On how to get to the church...Refer to my previous blog entry below...Thanks and cya!

Some cute YPL kids...

2008-12-21T23:02:00.003+08:00

Above: That is Peter...He is like a mini-mafia boss...The way he talks and behaves...He commands NOT follows...Rough voice included...

Above: Thai gal called B...Why anyone would call himself/herself B is beyond me...But she's a hardworking and helpful student...

Above: My current fav student Jae Hyuk...Y? Cos he looks like a "gong-kia"...A bit cock-eyed and complete with bowl-over-head/coconut hair-cut...

Sorry to disappoint Chris, i din mean "cute" in that way...

Church Play

2008-12-15T10:30:00.002+08:00

Dear students,

Hope you had a great time at the party...I know I did! Thanks for coming and being such wonderful guests! Photos on facebook!

On another note, the youth from my church will be putting up a play this Saturday (20th December) from 4pm to 7pm and sunday (21st December) from 7pm to 10pm and you are invited! Please let me know which day you can make it and I will make arrangements accordingly.

My church is called Bethesda Bedok Tampines Church (BBTC) and is located along Bedok North Avenue 3. You can visit the website at http://www.bbtc.com.sg/

As for how to get there, you can take the following buses: 18, 28, 66, 69, 168, 228, 506, TIBS 67.

The nearest MRT is Bedok but you will need to take a bus (66) from the bus interchange there.
Once again, if you are unsure of the bus route, please visit the SBS transit website (instructions and link given in previous blog post) posted below. From what i know, you can take bus 28 from Toa Payoh interchange and drop off at the stop called "Blk 403". From there you will see a grey modern-looking building at the opposite side of the road...That's my church! Alternatively, you could take a train to Bedok, take bus 66 from Bedok interchange (behind Bedok MRT station) and stop at the "BLK 403" stop (just 3 stops from the interchange).

As for the other buses, please check the SBS website yourselves...
http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/transport/trpt_bus_timetable.aspx

I hope to see you all there...Details on my baptism and Christmas service (where my Dad will be speaking as well) will be up on the next post...Watch out for it!

Shaun

Details of Christmas Party

2008-12-10T10:32:00.004+08:00

Dear students, details of the party are as follows:

Date: 13th December 2008 (Sat)
Time: 7pm
Place: 20H East Coast Avenue (My Place!)

How to get there:
Buses: 13, 16, 31, 36, 43, 48, 55, 76, 135, 196, 197

If you look at the map/route information put up at bus-stops, you should notice a stop called "MANDARIN GDNS " OR "OPP MANDARIN GDNS ". Stop at either of these stops. "MANDARIN GDNS" is actually a very tall light blue condominium in the shape of waves. It is across the road from Victoria School (if you are coming from Bedok) and one stop away from Victoria Junior College (if you are coming from Toa Payoh or town).

Alternatively, the nearest MRT station is Bedok. Take bus 197 from Bedok interchange and drop off at "MANDARIN GDNS" bus stop.

If you are unsure of the bus routes, please visit this website:
http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/transport/trpt_bus_timetable.aspx

Scroll down to "basic services", select a bus number and the route information for that bus should appear.

If you dropped off at the MANDARIN GDNS bus stop, you will need to cross the big road (please please cross carefully) and get to the other side. Once there you should see a light blue roofed 3-storey house with brown walls behind the bus-stop (opp MANDARIN GDNS). That is my house! However, because there is no gate in the back wall of my house, you will need to walk one round to get to the front gate. On the right-hand side of the bus-stop, you should see some construction work taking place over a large drain that is in the process of being covered up. Walk towards the drain and you should see a small sidewalk alongside the drain. Walk along it (quite long) till you reach a road. Then turn left and walk (short distance) till you see a two-storey kindergarten for kids. Turn left into the road with the kindergarten and walk all the way to the end of the road. Look for house number 20H and TADAA!!! Get ready to paarrrttyyy!!!!

If you get lost please give me a call on my handphone...See ya!

Teacher Shaun

2008-11-28T14:07:00.005+08:00

So yesterday was supposed to be my last day at YPL..."Supposed" because they actually want me back for another 2 and a half weeks next month for half a day...I wasnt expecting it though the crustacean had warned me many a times before that a return was very likely...Guess i was looking foward to a month of rest and relaxation...Nonetheless, i am grateful cos i kinda need the $$, what with christmas coming and all...Also, i doubt i will be able to sit still after 3 days...

This year's batch of kids were generally much more cooperative and serious in their studies than the past 2 years...I realli enjoyed teaching most of them-save for the last 2 weeks when they completely switched off. But i guess i won't realli miss anything about this experience...I'm the sort of person who tries to maintain a professional distance such that there is a clear divide between my private and working life...Also, no matter what, work will be work and teaching there for hours on end is no laughing matter. Some of the kids also expect to be constantly entertained such that sometimes i feel like a circus clown rather than a teacher.

But i do like this batch of kids a lot and the working environment at YPL is great...The other teachers there are very supportive and helpful and i am very grateful to them for that. Anyways, here are some photos:

2008-11-24T21:24:00.002+08:00

It feels good to be remembered and to know that you are in the thoughts of someone else...Thank you QL and Christine-My soulmate and best (BUT NOT ONLY) fren...

More Spain Photos

2008-11-15T15:40:00.004+08:00

All in all it was a gr8 trip though there was a lot of travelling...Some days we did nothing but sit on the bus till our butts hurt...But it was nice to juz get out of the country and spend time with the family...Needless to say, i love travelling...Gr8 form of escapism...No worries, no cares, no work...THat's the life...YEH!

Spain

2008-11-12T21:37:00.002+08:00

Some photos i took while on the bus in Spain...Bus rides lasted 8 hours on some days but it was great to just look out of the window and see nothing but sky and vast expanses of land...

Stella's Birthday

2008-08-19T22:27:00.004+08:00

Went to Kushinbo to celebrate Stel's birthday...Couples' nite out...Had a gr8 time...I think we all got along well...Was especially comical when Christine tried to eat dragonfruit with the skin still on...Furthermore, just a while before she popped the entire thing in her mouth, she had called me stupid 4 getting the fruit mixed up with beetroot...Well, at least i wasnt the one wondering why the fruit was so hard and chewy to eat...The girl also couldnt tell the difference between soba and sorbert...So stoooooopid! heh heh...Anyways, here are the photos:

Above: Cheryl and Erwin win the award for being the most kiasu couple hands down...Cheryl took 2 plates with about 10 crab legs each and 3 plates of dessert while Erwin would rush to the counter everytime the annoying Kushinbo theme song played to inform diners about some limited delicacy being offered to the 1st 25 customers...

Above: Stell and Cai both went for some kind of makeover...They look better though of course, still not as good as me and Chris...

Below: I'm pretty sure Cheryl was high on something last nite...Either then that, my charm, wit and humour must have really gotten to her...As a consolation to Erwin, who mite view me as a threat, Christine is quite smitten by your moles...I had to use my blow dart with tranquilizer-tipped arrow to get her to quieten down...Next time, i'm bringing my harpoon...

The end...

2008-07-24T21:28:00.001+08:00

Peppy passed away last night...

When i got home y'day afternoon, he still seemed ok...But by evening, he had begun crying and whining in pain...There was even a time when he started gasping for air and had a fit...That was when i knew it was time for him to go...Needless to say, it was all extremely painful to watch and i was pissed with my mum who wanted to wait till the next day so that he mite haf a chance to pass on naturally and because the fee would have been $100 cheaper...

The very frustrating thing was that she had not been around to hear him crying and whining and so did not really know the severity of the state that Peppy was in...I, on the other hand, was there the whole time...Had tried to convince her to change her mind but she just told me to leave him alone...Maybe i din make myself clear or din sound decisive enough (as she put it)...But there are some things in life where the signs and signals are clear enough and do not need any spelling out...

Long story short, by the time we all agreed to send him, it was about 9pm...So we had to bring Pep to the 24h clinic at Whitley road...By then, Peppy had foamed at the mouth, shitted in his blankie and was too weak to lift his head...I cradled him in my arms as my mum drove all the way down to the place...Then, i was more relieved than sad because i knew that his suffering and pain would be coming to an end soon...The misery of seeing a loved one suffer is indescribable and inexplicable...When we finally arrived at Jame's veterinarian, Peppy was half-dead...They placed him on a metal table and injected him with some sedatives to make him groggy...I have a strange feeling that "putting him to sleep" isn't at all the painless "die-in-your-sleep" ideal that most of us have...After that, the vet told us to wait outside while he injected Pep with the "poison"...When i next saw him again, he was lying motionless on the metal table with his eyes half open...I guess that's why i dun think he died "in his sleep" as he was supposed to...But i guess at least, it was a faster death than a natural one...

I din cry at all then...Like i said, i was more relieved than sad...But it was when i was about to sleep and all the thoughts and memories of him came flooding back that i started to cry...again...My parents told me not to let my emotions get the better of me but the truth is i don't think i do...And anyway, what's wrong with grieving? Besides, it's not like i've stopped eating or gg to work or am losing sleep...I dun know what they meant by that comment at all...And i'm sure they weep secretly when no one's around too...

For the most part, i'm ok when i'm working and not at home...I've been blessed with an excellent class that makes me laugh and feel good about myself...But it's really those times when i'm at home that i'm beginning to dread...Just looking at the spot where he used to sleep stirs up an inconsolable sadness in me...I've turned photo frames bearing his photos face down so i won't be reminded of him...But its the time before i sleep that is the worst...I start remembering his scruffy little face with big black eyes, his cute little black padded paws, him headbutting my thighs as i sayang him, him climbing all the way to the 3rd floor to look for me, him sniffing at my door to wake me up for breakfast, his nice unique smell etc. and the tears just keep coming...

I hope i get over his death quickly...I thot i would be ok and that his death would spell the end...But i guess i'm not that strong after all...This one's gonna bruise...

I will see you again someday baby...

Peppy 2

2008-07-21T21:54:00.000+08:00

Today, i came home very ready to send Peppy to the vet to put him to sleep...I kinda hit saturation point emotionally and was honestly quite ready to move on...This was further fuelled by the knowledge that he had not eaten nor drank anything for about 2 whole days now...And as i was telling Charmaine (EL), i drew some comfort from the fact that Peppy kinda has dementia and can't seem to recognize any of us anymore...

Then, just as we were lifting him up to go, he started whining loudly and struggling violently to break free...Things which he had not done in a long while now...My mum then put him down and he immediately peed...I was and am convinced that he knew what was happening and was afraid...We got in the car with me cradling Peppy in my arms while he continued to struggle and cry...As i stroked him and tried to comfort him i really questioned if today was the day that he was meant to go...In fact i was quite sure it wasnt and began suggesting that maybe it would be a better idea to just let him be for a little while longer...I din want to take him b4 his time but my parents were adamant that we bring him tonite cos they din want him to suffer and like me, were eager to move on...

So herein lies the dilemma...Leave him and let him pass on naturally or put him out before things get even worse...At first i was quite certain about the latter option, but having gone through what i just did, i'm now even more sure that the former is better...It's a life we're talking about here, even if it's just a dog's. Furthermore, to us, he's family...Hence, the matter shouldn't be simply treated as a problem that should be resolved asap...

In the end, as we were reaching the clinic, i prayed for a miracle...And guess what? My mum went in and came out saying that the nurse had told her to return another day cos it was too crowded...I was dam happy to say the least...Peppy didnt want to go and God din want to take him yet too!

I guess at this point, i've pretty much accepted e fact that he would have to go someday and that that day is probably very soon but i've decided that i will NOT put him to sleep till it becomes very clear that he is ready...Even if it means feeling down for however long it takes...I will not be so selfish...It is after all, his life not mine...

Peppy

2008-07-19T17:06:00.007+08:00

As some of you already know, Peppy my pet dog and best fren of 17 years is very ill. His kidneys are failing (or have already failed) him and this is causing toxic built-ups of creatin (by-product of protein) and other by-products. Needless to say, i am absolutely heart-broken...It's very difficult watching a loved one suffer and degenerate and it pains me to see him in pain...It realli doesn't look good this time...When we got him back from the hospital on Monday, the vet said it would be downhill all the way and that it would only be a matter of days before we would have to bring him back to put him to sleep...I cried for a good 2 hours after that...

It's Sat. now and he's still alive though not in good condition...He hardly eats anything and drinks very little...There's a little part of me that's still secretly hoping for a miracle though everyone's telling me that the end is near...But i need this bit of hope to carry on...I knew it would happen someday but i realli din expect it to be so soon...I knew he was deteriorating fast even b4 we brot him to the vet but i thot he'd still have at least a couple of months left in him...I realli wish he would stay a while longer...

On another note, I know i'm supposed to organize the EL gathering, go on a hol with Char and gang, and mit up with other frens like ZQ, Army buds etc. but i am currently in no mood to so, sorry guys...

Singapore Flyer

2008-07-07T22:03:00.000+08:00

Char's Birthday

2008-07-04T21:59:00.005+08:00

After returning from the church camp, my family celebrated Char's birthday...We went for a monkey-theme cos my sis likes monkeys...Bot her a stuffed toy monkey that reminded me of Curious George while my mum got her a card with a chimp on it...

In the afternoon, we went to Vivo to watch Get Smart...It was quite funny and entertaining despite its poor reviews and we all had a good laugh...Went to Marche for din after that..I forced Char to wear a bib...It was really quite cute...In fact, i wore the bib longer than she did after she had her photo taken...I m such a sport! Christine flatly refused to wear it though she was the messiest eater at the table...spilling her pasta everywhere...I had to wipe her mouth with the bib after dinner...

Church Camp!

2008-07-03T19:49:00.006+08:00

Hafnt been blogging in a while so will need to back track a bit...Came back from my church camp about 2 weeks ago...It was absolutely great...Firstly cos i got to bond with my cell mates (especially James...heh heh heh...) and secondly cos i felt like i got a kind of spiritual awakening that i needed badly...God realli worked wonders through our camp speaker Michael Ross Watson and i felt like he touched on nearly every issue that i've been struggling with such as immaturity, deliberate sinning, disobedience etc...On the second nite i went up to be prayed for and before i could even utter anything i was in tears...Not reali sure why...And before i knew it i was sobbing like a baby...After that i felt this incredible peace that i've never felt before (more than just a "cry-finish-so-very-contented" feeling) and an assurance that everything would be alright...I guess only time will tell if it was a real spiritual connection or not but i'm pretty sure it was...

Anyways here are some more photos:

Above: Mitch (in red) and Vi sleepin on the bus...The bus ride was supa long...About 8 hours...

Above: Photos to show just how tall i am hahaha...Mitch holding a "short" bottle

Below: My affair with James mwahahahaha...Too bad Jeremy couldnt join us to form a threesome...

All in all it was a realli good camp even though the hotel food sucked and i fell sick from all the cheering at the telematch on the 2nd day...Definitely look foward to the next one...

Locked Jaw?

2008-06-10T14:37:00.002+08:00

When i was eating breakfast, my jaw kept making this popping sound...After a while, couldnt bite normally and open my mouth wide...Haf no idea what happened...Locked jaw perhaps? i think it's cos i grind my teeth in my sleep so my jaw's kinda overworked...Hope it goes away soon...Wanna chomp down a carl's jr. guacamole burger some time this week...hmmm...

Some random photos of me and my cousins...

2008-06-09T22:42:00.005+08:00

These were taken about 2 months back at my cousin Evelyn's wedding...In the first photo are my 2 fav cuzs...The chio-bu in peach is my sis...What can i say, good looks runs in the family...

Back at YPL

2008-06-08T22:24:00.002+08:00

Went back to do a bit of relief teaching at The Young Prodigy Learning Centre on Friday...That's the place i've been teaching english for the past 2 years during the 3 month break...And that's also the place i introduced Christine to and where our frenship grew...And man...Are the kids getting harder to teach...Maybe it's just the sec one class...They are realli hyper and would walk around class and talk to their frens when i'm teaching...I thot i'd close one eye since i would onli b taking them for that one day...But after about 1 hour, couldnt help but start imposing break reductions everytime i spotted someone talking...Now that worked for about 1 minute...And soon they were up and about again, throwing things at each other and chattering like monkeys...Thank God i'm onli taking them for 1 session each day when i start proper on the 23rd...I realli hope the sec 3s are better behaved...

But i was realli glad to go back...My savings were running low and i was getting bored staying at home...Plus, shopping without earning is no fun at all...Just came back from Vivo with my mum and sis and it was stressful trying to get around the crowd and make buying decisions with a pathetic bank account...

Anyway, as mentioned b4, will be back at YPL from 23rd June to November? Working hours are 9-4 onli and the pay is good...Plus, i think teaching is my calling...Not intending to join MOE yet though cos to put it simply, teaching in Singapore schools is shit...The workload doesnt do justice to the pay and the education system is crap so...

Montreaux Cafe!

2008-06-05T19:15:00.002+08:00

Oh yeah...Btw, tried Montreaux Cafe at Siglap centre...Ate their mushroom melt sandwich and carrot soup and it is realli good!!! The ingredients are absolutely fresh and i love that they use realli good quality bread to make their sandwiches...And i'm not talking Subway trash...Here, they use olive bread and stuff like that and it is absolutely fragrant and fresh...The mushrooms were juicy and complemented the olive bread nicely...They also gave quite a large portion of carrot soup, which was thick, consistent and served piping hot...However, i must say that it was a bit too thick for my liking...I mean, i realli like cream soups and all but this one got a little to the point of being paste-like...Overall however, i was impressed...Another place to bring the gf when she gets back though i doubt that she would want to eat another sandwich or burger after eating it non-stop for 1 month...When she comes back, i'm gonna put her on a strict one stick of carrot and asparagus per meal diet...Otherwise, me and asraf will break our backs carrying her again...Asraf, i know u'll be very happy when u see her but u may want to lay off the carrying for at least a month...Otherwise...*Ni-noh-ni-noh-ni-noh* (ambulance siren sounds) ;p

More of nothing

2008-06-05T19:13:00.002+08:00

I could get really used to this...Just nua-ing all day at home...I'm beginning to really like it in fact...Now, if only it would rain to make it complete...

Coduroy Cafe!

2008-06-03T22:14:00.003+08:00

Went to Coduroy Cafe at Vivo today and it was real nice! The place is decorated like one of those Old English cafes with victorian chairs and dark brown and white tiled floors...Not somewhat unlike the candy store i used to imagine in Roald Dahl's book "Boy"...Though much cleaner and more atas! There's definitely a quaint old-school kind of charm about the place and it is exactly this ambience that 1st attracted me to it in the 1st place...Too bad i din get to eat there for my birthday last year though...So this visit was kind of like a past wish fulfilled...

What's more, got to sit by the window that overlooks the part of the sea? river? that separates sing. from sent. The place IS however, quite ex...$19 for fish and chips and $8.50 for milkshakes...So i had to think for quite a while before deciding on what to eat...This is the part i hate about being a student or on holiday w/o a job...You cant spend as freely or unthinkingly and must deliberate and ponder over every purchase...Finally, i decided on one of their "milk infusion" drinks which is like a milkshake but only less sweet and thick and a chocolate muffin that was covered in freshly melted chocolate...It was a great combi cos the former din make it overly sweet and rich but wasnt too bland that it seemed like you were just drinking plain milk...Btw, "milk infusion" is supposed to be some fruit and tea blended with milk but you can't realli taste the tea though...I tried the banana one and it worked well with the choco muff. That came up to $10.

So for a good 1 and a half hours, i just lazed on the red cushioned chair, looking out at the sea? river?, sipping my milk infusion drink and indulging in the rich choco muffin...Yep! This is the absolute life! And it was great that it wasnt crowded too...It just feels good to have "me" time and to know that you're being good to urself I guess...And after all those years of rushing essay deadlines, group projects and cramming for exams, I DEFINITELY DESERVE IT!

Of Restlessness and Good Movies

2008-06-02T19:44:00.002+08:00

It's onli the beginning of the 4th week of the hols and i'm already feeling restless...I guess i'm not the lazing about kind after all...Or maybe the restlessness is the result of something unfulfilled...I'm not exactly sure...After all there were holidays where i was absolutely content to just do nothing...Hmmm...

I do have some stuff i would like to do before i start work for real...Nothing major though...Just superficial stuff like gg to downtown east, wild wild wet, nite safari, Corduroy cafe at vivo etc. And organize the EL gathering which i have been too lazy to start on...

On another note, there were some good movies i caught this hol. so far. One was What happens in Vegas and Juno. The last part of the former kinda spoke to me. You know the part when she quit the job that she hated despite having been promoted? I think she did the rite thing...My resolution is to not take a job just because it pays well but because i relli enjoy doing it...As for Juno, it was a feel-good movie with a lot of wit...so kudos to Diablo Cody...

Ok...that's it for now...

Hawaiian Cousin Lindsey!

2008-05-31T11:52:00.003+08:00

About 3 weeks ago, my aunty who lives in Hawaii came to visit...We celebrated her 60th birthday here in Singapore and were pleasantly surprised when her daughter came down to celebrate with us...It was quite funny cos Lindsey pretended to call her mum from back home in Hawaii when she was actually in Singapore and told her to open the door of my grandma's place (where she was staying)...It was then that she was supposed to appear at the doorstop and surprise my aunt but when my aunt opened the door, there was no one there...Turned out Lindsey was on the wrong floor so she had to call my aunt to tell her to close the door and reopen it again while she dashed up to the 4th floor...

Anyways, above and below are some peektures of her stay here...The cousins brought her to Settler's cafe and on the last nite they were in Singapore, we played Cranium at my Grandma's place...Cranium has many versions and we played the family one which requires teams to perform some stunts every now and then...The one you see below required 2 team mates to pass 6 cubes held between the fore-fingers above their heads and below their waists making for a good laugh...

Also, above, you can see my cuz Darren trying to act out a vampire...He looks more like a crazed wascalli wabbit though hahaha...All in all it was great that they came to visit...It was a good excuse for all the cousins to mit up and hang-out especially since we probably wouldn't by ourselves...We aren't exactly close so it was great to just take this time to get to know each other better...

Results!!!

2008-05-30T11:18:00.001+08:00

Check it out:

1. English as a World Language: A
2. Gender and Text: A-
3. Evaluating Health Claims: A-
4. Cinematic Discourse: B+
5. Social Psychology: B+

This brings my total CAP up from 4.21 to a final CAP of 4.24. I am totally psyched! Hard work has realli paid off...My goal was also to see that my CAP improves with each semester, and it did without fail for my entire 4 years at NUS!

Sem 1: 3.8
Sem 2: 3.95
Sem 3: 4
Sem 4: 4.05
Sem 5: 4.16
Sem 6: 4.16
Sem 7: 4.21
Sem 8: 4.24

For this particular sem, the surprise was Evaluating Health Claims...My original intention was to S/U it cos i put in minimal effort for my essay and studied only 1 day before the exam...So getting an A- was realli sweet! But i was realli interested in the module so i guess passion and interest must have helped...However, was abit disappointed with Social Psych cos i realli studied like crap for it and even got an A on the group project...But oh well...All is good in the end!!!

Thanks once again to all my family and frens who have been so supportive all these years...Finally, thank GOD!!! All glory and praise be to YOU!!! Some of you mite be thinking "What God? You worked hard so you reap what you sow!" NOT TRUE...Hard work doesn't gurantee success so i really want to acknowledge His hand in this part of my life...Yeah!!!

Gonna celebrate and enjoy life now!

Lasik

2008-05-29T10:06:00.000+08:00

Just went for my lasik surgery in the morning and it was a success!!! I have been wanting to do it for a couple of years now but my mum advised me to wait till all the exams were over just in case my degree went up while studying...So finally, after four years in NUS, the time had finally come for a life without contact lenses and glasses...I was so excited that there were times during the pre-evaluation where i would smile or chuckle to myself because i was so freakin happy...I hate wearing glasses! Hate it when my glasses fog up when coming out of an air-conditioned place into the open, when they jump up and down on my nose bridge when i jog and slip off when i look down...Plus, u cant wear contacts all day too such that when i'm out all day i have to worry about my contacts drying up and my eyes turning red...And they usually do within 6 hours of wearing...That totally sux! My main reason however is simply that i m very vain. I think i look awful in glasses cos it accentuates my already big nose that needs no further accentuation...So rather than go for cosmetic surgery, I'll just do the eyes instead and restore it to what God had originally given to me.

As some of you already know, i chose to go to Parkway eye centre (at Gleneagles) as opposed to the Singapore National Eye Centre (at SGH) becos the former was offering a package that was a whopping $1.1k less than the latter. Also research on Dr. Lee Hung Ming, showed him to be a really reputable guy with a great track record...

Initially however, i was really impressed with SGH cos within 2 days of my booking an appointment, i received a letter from them with a CD containing a video on lasik to watch. Parkway din send anything. They even told me that i could do lasik within 3 days of not wearing lenses when the actual stay-off period whould be about a week...This made them seem hard-up for customers and i din take to that too well...Also the front-desk pple at SGH seemed much friendlier than the ones at Parkway...But because it was cheaper and given Dr. Lee's reputation, i decided to give it a shot...

When i went for the pre-evaluation, my eyes were assessed twice to ascertain my degree...There were also some tests to check if my eyes are suitable for lasik or not...This was done very professionally and i was quite impressed by the optometrist there...(Yep...It helped that she was quite pretty) Then finally, i got to meet the doctor himself...He was very smiley, friendly and assuring...Told me that he had done some 10000 pairs of eyes or so and said all turned out well...Then he told me not to break his record...By then, i was totally psyched and confident that he would do a good job but what realli sealed the deal for me was when he told me to just do the conventional lasik instead of the much more expensive intralase method...That is good! It shows that he wasn't trying to hard-sell me a more expensive procedure and has my interests at heart...So i confirmed my op with him and left...

The next day i woke up at 8am and cudnt sleep cos i was so excited...We eventually arrived half an hour earlier than the alloted time and i went for a final eye assessment...Long story short, I was very nervous by the time i lay down on the op table...The doc kept telling me to look at this blinking red light and i could see them forcing my eyelids open with some device before using some other instrument to open my cornea flap...Although there was supposed to be no pain, it was a little painful at these parts...Other than that however, it was okay...Everything happened so fast that before i knew it he was painting my eyeball with some antibiotics i think and moving on to the next eye...There were times on the 2nd eye however, when i was not so sure where i was looking anymore...Could no longer see the blinking red lite and cud hear him telling me to look straight...This worried me cos a straying eye could be disastrous...Somehow, it turned out okay eventually and everything was over in like 10 minutes...

Now, my eyesight is still a little blurry and it would take about a while more for it to stabilize...No regrets gg for lasik...Its probably one of the best things that i did for myself....Thnks everyone for all your prayers and concern...From Christine's mum to my neighbours and cell group mates...Thanks!

Dinner at Tapas Tree

2008-05-23T03:16:00.000+08:00

Had a great time last nite...Went to Tapas Tree at Clarke Quay with Moo moo (Karina), Stel and Cai and though we had to sit outside in the freakin hot weather (Cos there was some function gg on inside), we could enjoy the live band that was playing and some Spanish dance performances that went on through the nite...The food was not 2 bad though a little on the ex side...We tried Pellas (check spelling...i'm quite sure it's not spelt that way) or what we joked was Spanish fried rice, and this Spanish omelette with potato inside, which we joked was Spanish egg fu yong dan...

There were a couple of times when we tried to dislodge ourselves from our seats to make for another place for dessert but failed cos we cudnt stop talking...This is what truly makes for a great evening i guess...Just enjoying each other's company and getting to know each other better in a really relaxed manner...We should do this again soon!

Then when we finally left the restaurant we had some of those cheap but good ice-cream from those uncles that sell them from their bicycles...I was very touched by this particular uncle though, who said he was donating all his earnings to the China earthquake victims...Such altruism to me is especially admirable cos clearly he doesn't earn much and yet he was willing to make such a sacrifice...Puts me to shame...

Then we sat on the steps at the entrance of Central mall and continued talking...I wanted to sit the reverse bungee ride but Cai said he mite rain vomit and pee all over the people below so i immediately changed my mind...Guess i'll just wait for Christine to return...Ok Chris?!

The "Started-Out-Shitty-Turned-Out-Great" Day

2008-05-17T02:48:00.000+08:00

Y'day, I suddenly felt like gg swimming so I called Chris to ask if she wanted to go downtown east. We've been toying with the idea for some time and since y'day was so freakin hot i thot it would be a great idea...Then when i met her at the MRT, i noticed that she was dressed in a blouse and a jumper and carrying a really tiny bag...That was when i knew something wasnt right...So I asked her if she was wearing her bikini inside and she was like "OOOHHHHH! I thot u said we were gg downtown east?" The thing is, both Wild Wild Wet and Escape Theme Park are in Downtown East so i guess we both made the wrong assumptions...That said, i suspect she may have known that i was referring to WWW all along but purposely dressed that way in order to force me to go to Escape theme park with her cos she doesnt want to go to WWW and get tanned hahaha...I tried to hide my disappointment and she tried to get me psyched up about Escape theme park by force-feeding me green apple tea and telling me how fun escape is...

I guessed that worked cos i was soon very excited about gg to Escape, adrenaline junkie that i am...But when we walked all the way to Escape, we saw that the shutters were down and that it was closed...Just our freakin luck! So we tried to make our trip down to Pasir Ris worthwhile by gg to the newly opened shopping centre there to catch a movie...But guess what? Two out of the three movies showing were Ayak Ayak Cinta and Congak and the timings for the shows were absolutely horrible so we ended up gg back to Tampines...

On the way to the bus-stop, Chris's 6-inch platforms came loose and she had to shuffle her way to Tampines...She was so desperate she wanted to buy those white flip flops with blue straps from the mama shop that those old uncles in the kopitiam wear but in the end her vanity prevailed and she persevered all the way til she reached Charles and Keith in Tampines Mall...

Then, because we were thinking of gg to The Night Safari, we decided to catch Accuracy of Death even though she wanted to catch Made of Honour instead, simply cos the timing for the former was better...The movie was weird but watchable and we went for dinner after that...But by the time we finished it was 1930 and it was too late to go to the night safari so we ended up at the Siglap HK cafe instead...In the words of Chris's sister, "tian bu rang wo men qu" so we ended up not doing any of the things we intended to do that day...But all in all it was actually great fun just being together and not knowing exactly what to do next...As i always tell her, it's not what we do but the people we are with that matters...

(Above: Christine's face is like a Kua-li...She uses at least two blotter sheets each time)

Needless to say, the day ended great...In fact i think i had a better time than the past two days when everything went according to plan...I will realli miss you when you're gone.

IT'S OVER!!!

2008-05-10T13:45:00.000+08:00

GRADUATE LOH! I am very very happy that my exams and academic days in Singapore are finally over!!! Student life in Singapore was an absolute nightmare and i'm realli glad to be rid of it...Whatsmore i ended on a really high note today cos i think i did well on this final paper...

There are a few people i want to thank for seeing me through my final sem...1st i realli want to acknowledge God...I could not have done it without Him and thinking back on today's paper, i realli believe that He gave me things to write as i am realli bad at this kind of exam...U know the need-think-on-the-spot kind...Anyway, i wanna thank Him for seeing me through the shitty times...Secondly, i wanna thank my parents for supporting me though they were also a big source of all my pressures hahaha...U know my parents never directly say it but they always harbour hopes that i will get at least a second upper class...Thanks mum for making all those cups of fruit juice and for understanding when i act like a total ass around the house...Thanks Char for buying me gifts and supporting me by feeling my joy and pain throughout those 4 years...

Then for this sem specifically, i wanna thank Christine...You have been incredibly supportive and i am very thankful to have you in my life...Thanks for buying me apple pies, ah-balling (my FAV!) and making me almond jellies and little notes here and there to encourage me...Thanks for always being so sympathetic when i whine and complain and for always providing a listening ear...I am very fortunate to have you...

Thanks to my fellow EL sufferers? hahaha, for enriching my NUS days and for making them that much more memorable and enjoyable...Thanks especially to Mandy and Delia (and Matt?) for making the EL musical and the CODA banner and flower cards and coming all the way back to school after the exams to cheer the rest of us on and share in our joy! You girls are great and i am so glad to have gotten the opportunity to know both of you in lexi...

Finally, thanks to my other frens like Qian Ling and my cell group who i know have been praying for me and dropping me encouraging smses along the way...It was greatly appreciated...

And now it's time to PAAAAAAAAARRRRRRTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

Exam shell-shock

2008-05-01T07:14:00.000+08:00

I got this feeling on my last two papers...The dun-know-wat-to-feel kind of feeling...That is actually quite worrying cos it usually means i churned out mediocre stuff that isnt good or bad...Or if 2 questions are involved that i did well on one and not so well on the other...But its realli quite hard to say cos u know how it is...life can be realli ironic and when u think u do well it turns out that u din or the other way round...

Today's paper was extremely frustrating...It was easy but cos Talib din gif proper instructions alot of us ended up rushing through 2 short essays in the first half-hour of the exam..What happened was that he told us to write the essay from 1 to 1:30 and then he will commence on the MCQ portion at 1:30...So alot of us assumed that we only had 1/2 an hr to write the 2 short essays and ended up rushing like mad...What he din tell us was that we could continue after the MCQ was done...And the MCQ was done real fast...We ended up hafing a good 1 hr to continue writing and it was very frustrating cos most of us had by then already churned out mediocre "i-wrote-this-in-15-minutes" kind of essays which had to be either reworked or rewritten...I tried to re-write the 1st essay for a good half-hr and eventually gave up...So yeah...I wasted 1/2 an hr and ended up not writing so well for my 2nd essay as well...It was a classic too much time to spare turned into not enough time scenario...

But i guess its over...So that's 2 down and 3 more to go...I just hope everything turns out alright...

If you need to pee you need to pee...

2008-04-27T12:22:00.000+08:00

I learnt a lesson today...Always go to the loo before a paper and if you do need to go in the midst of one...just go...Holding it all in today realli messed up my concentration...By the time they gave the a-ok and released us i was sitting cross-legged and looking realli constipated...Dashed out and din even bother to answer weimin's mother who asked me if i had seen him...

What am i doing in NUS?

2008-04-26T14:08:00.000+08:00

Dam tired cos i studied non-stop today...again...But afraid i wun be able to sleep tonite cos of first day exam jitters...So blog lor...I went through EWL readings what muz haf been a thousand times...Its just a matter of piecing things together tomorrow...I am so glad to be rid of this module i tell you...Way too much work...

2 days ago, i was just thinking to myself...Why on earth did i pursue a course in EL? I guess i din realli know what i wanted to do when i was younger but it is also so easy to go with the flow and do what everyone else is doing precisely because everyone else is doing it...Now this is a problem...I think our education system is screwed up...My advice to kids therefore is...The sooner u knoe what u wanna do the better. And dun let anyone stop u even if it means gg to poly or ITE...Better some direction than no direction...Dun ever let pple tell you wat u should be doing cos u will regret it...U know y pple get quarter and mid-life crises? Cos they've always been doing not what they want to do but what they think they should do or what others want them to do...

This may mean destroying your parents' dreams...But you should just do it...Dun let them live your life, dun let anyone live your life...Live it the way you want to...just dun regret it...

2008-04-22T15:20:00.000+08:00

I know i totally MIA for a good 2 weeks but realli cannot help it man...Up to my neck in work and still am...It does not help that the weather is terrible...So hot dat i can feel my thighs sweat when i am studying...But final lap...I keep telling myself...The last time i will be doing this or at least not until quite a while later...Unless my job requires me to study...I seriously hope not though...I have had enough of chanting to myself for a good 10 over years or so...

Anyway, i was very impressed by the video mandy and de put together...It is realli good...I am realli glad to haf taken EL cos it led me to mit so many people that made my journey in NUS that much more meaningful...So glad to know all of you and will miss the times we shared in the honours rm...

On a totally separate note i just found out that my church fren who is my age is getting married this year...I cant imagine getting married at this age...I still feel so young, unsettled and immature....I mean come on, we are only 18 can...scary...

To everyone taking modules with me this sem...you can bite my dust this coming exam hahaha...
To everyone else, all the best!!! It will be over real soon...

Feeling Absolutely Lousy

2008-04-02T11:39:00.000+08:00

I dun know wat's wrong with me this sem...Maybe i'm just very tired but i cant seem to make things rite...I dun understand how all my hard work isn't paying off or showing the results that i would like and i'm very frustrated and disillusioned...How can someone go out with frens, party etc. and yet have a better grasp of concepts or do better in tests than me?- the nerd who studies 24-7...I realli want to give up...Not fishing for compliments or anithing but i realli think i m not as smart as others...Maybe that is why i haf to work doubly hard at everything and that sux...So for the third time in 2 weeks i am redoing my presentation again...All 12 slides the 2nd time and now all 17 slides the third time...I haf no one to blame but myself...I wish i had but i don't...It was my own undoing...The result of me thinking too hard...Working too hard and not smart...I nid balance and i'm gonna try and find it...

Wednesday mornings...

2008-03-23T14:38:00.000+08:00

Last wednesday Janice was dam funny...She started speaking to Asraf in broken English in the hopes that he would subconsciously internalize it and blurt it out during his RGS interview...I joined in soon after...We started saying things like "you wants to goes to canteen?" and "good lucks to you", just so he would say "i believes i has the potential" when the interviewers ask him why they should hire him...But no lar...No malicious intent, and Asraf is a little smarter than that...Then again for someone who said "NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HOSPITAL" when pointing out NUH to a group of pre-U students...hmmm...

Then last last wednesday i wanted to smack prof chng...We were doing an article on the male body for gender class and started talking about what the ideal male body type is for Singaporeans...Quite unanimously, the class said it would be toned...U know, neither skinny nor mesomorphic...Then Rachel, my good'ol reading buddy said an example of such a person was...*drum roll*...ME! (I bot her kopi after tt). Then, Chng was like "shaun? no he's too skinny" and my ego went from PHWA! to PSsssss....Calling a guy skinny is as bad as calling a girl fat...Big no-no...and i realli wanted to let her haf it...Wednesday mornings are so fun...

Haf to stop making empty promises

2008-03-20T14:00:00.000+08:00

i think i'm letting studies take over my life again...i've made so many promises to others on my time that i cant seem to keep that its frustrating and disappointing for both them and me. I realli got to stop asking pple out when i know that there is this possibility that it mite not happen becos of work...The thing is alot of the times i realli think i can make it and i realli want to get out of the house but as i get closer to the date i realize that i cant cos the works not complete...I realli apologize to all my frens...

Goatee!

2008-03-17T14:51:00.000+08:00

I'm trying to grow a goatee! And as a couple activity, (you know how they have couple tee-shirts rite?) Crustacean has agreed to grow armpit hair...I gave her a choice...It was either she grow a goatee with me or grow armpit hair and she decided the latter...so okay lor...I will grow mine long and thick enuf to curl while she'll grow her's long enuf to perm...Beat that couple tee-shirt-ers!

Decided NOT to relief teach

2008-03-14T14:17:00.000+08:00

Although i told Wendy (the teacher i met from TPJC who briefed me about relief teaching there) that i would be ok with relief teaching starting from May 12th, just two days after my final paper...I was and am not. Post cognitive dissonance set in. I found myself constantly having to reassure myself that it was a wise, rational decision and i had to keep telling myself what a good experience it would be. You know what...When you find yourself rationalizing this way, it is NOT a good decision. Just like when you shop, buy something and start having to reassure yourself that you made a good buy...The minute you start doing that, it is NOT a good buy. Good buys and good things don't require any rationalization. You know you want it the minute you see it. You don't have to tell yourself that you do.

So after three long weeks of consideration, including the fact that i can't submit my relief teaching application because the MOE online system is so screwed up (i took more than 1 hour trying to fill up the forms and in the end still couldnt submit the application), i have decided NOT to take up the job...Sometimes you just need to do what you want instead of what you should...And i am going to have a hell lot of fun after my final paper this 9th may...No waking up at 6am to be in TPJC at 7:30am, no marking of 80 essays and comprehensions (they want me to take 4 GP classes...Crazy rite!?), no lesson preparations etc. I'm gonna sleep throughout the day, laze around cafes reading comics, shop, catch movies etc...In short i'm gonna relax if it's the last thing i do and nothing's gonna stop me...

Shitty Morning

2008-03-07T16:03:00.000+08:00

Today started off quite badly...We received our quiz back and i din do too well...The class average was 45/50...i got 42. What was worse was that i was expecting to do well cos i thot i gave a really good discussion and analysis...And i had spent four whole days studying for that bloody 10% paper...Then after that demoralizer, i kinda crashed and burned for my presentation...There was a moment when standing there, in front of the entire class, i completely blanked out, had no idea what i was saying and had to read directly from the slides...And just the day before, when practising with Claudia, i was very fluent and concise...I had also spent alot of time preparing for this presentation...The shit just piles up when it hits i guess...It's very discouraging not to get back what you think you deserve...But in the end, I guess i'm bound to lose some battles though eventually i'm gonna make sure i win the war...just watch me...

Feng Chen's Birthday Last Week

2008-03-06T15:33:00.000+08:00

I've been really busy so dun haf the time to blog...Anyway, just thot i'd post some pics on Feng Chen's birthday dinner (sort of..) at Pasta de Waraku...We've (army frens) realli come a long way and i'm realli glad to know all of you through all the blood, sweat and tears...literalli...I'm gonna do a little intro...

The guy in the cap is Choon-lin...He's very into jap. anime and he's forever wearing a cap...Last time in camp he liked to do some kung-fu moves on others...Twisting poor hapless people's arms etc...I tink it's a consequence of watching too much anime...The guy in blue is boon phang...We used to call him smurf...No prizes for guessing why...and it's quite funny cos coincidentally he's wearing blue in the photo...Anyway he detests that pet name and will kill you with his wicked tongue for using it...Yup..He can be a chilli-padi but he's really nice lar when you know him...The guy with folded arms is Yiding...He probably has the most nick-names of all of us...One-ding, Evil-Ding, etc. We also used to call him protein shake-boy cos that's what he used to drink...Then the guy in dark gray is Qiyong...He's very humourous...Loves to play the guitar and loves the Beatles...He used to own this pair of dark-rimmed specs that made him look like Austin Powers...Dam retro this guy! Next, the one with orange-rimmed glasses is Feng Chen...He's the birthday guy! He's all in all a nice guy with his own wicked brand of humour...He also has quite a soft heart...I din know that till recently when i found out that he loves dogs and that his dad owns a pet shop...He's also very good-natured...Never realli seen him blow up before...

Lastly, the guy in grey with the black tie was probably the best looking guy in camp...Very intelligent, nice and good-looking to boot...He would remember people's birthdays and organize dinners to celebrate...Real good chap! No wonder so many people like him hahaha...

We went to Pasta de Waraku at Marina Square...The service and food were realli realli good! I ate this thing called hamburg steak and it was absolutely yummy...Kinda like a hamburger patty but much thicker, juicier and bigger...Boon Phang ate this squid ink pasta...He said it was not bad but i think he fake...He ate alot of birthday cake later...Above, he's showing off his black lips...Goth smurf...New addition hahaha...

Above: Feng chen and the cake we bought him...

Okay that's it...

2008-03-04T14:52:00.000+08:00

Is it just me or are the days passing faster and faster?

LIME Flea Market

2008-02-24T15:22:00.000+08:00

I was actually very excited about selling all my old clothes today...Just cudnt wait to take all the unwanted stuff out of my closet and make some $$$ out of it...Even if it's not much, i just dun like seeing or knowing that there are unwanted clothes clogging up space in my wardrobe or simply lying around...It's kinda like a reminder of all the wrong buys i made and it just isnt representative of me as a person anymore...In fact this is my 4th time selling clothes at LIME, and considering that i sell an average of about 20 odd pieces of clothing each time, u can imagine how quickly i grow to not like my clothes...But i think it will be a while before i do the flea market again...Stylistically, i have found a very comfortable form of expression...One that i think does my good looks justice such that whatever i buy now is bought having a much more heightened sense of who i am and the identity i want to project...In other words, after going through many phases (the vintage tee phase, the surfer tee phase etc.), i've finally found myself stylistically.

Anyway, today started off badly enough...What with dark clouds looming overhead in the morning, the threat of being called back to camp for amber alert and being late...But in the end, things really worked out well...It turned out to be one of those "seems-like-a-bad-day-but-turns-out-to-be-a-good-day" days....In the end, long story short, the sun came out (and now i'm sun-burnt) and there wasn't a single drop of rain, had a good time with Char gossiping and finding out stuff about her i never knew before, and sold a hell lot of clothes...There was a period however when i thot i wasnt gg to make as much as before...That was during 5pm to 7pm, when i din sell a single thing...But strangely enuff, it was onli when it started getting dark around 7:30pm that business picked up again and i sold another 6 or so items...Like i said i guess, it was a "seems-bad-but-turns-out-good" day....So realli thank God man for the good weather, good business, great company and no mobilization!

I also realli needed the cash...Cos i'm saving up for lasik and i need to buy work clothes soon...Btw, does anyone wanna donate to the Help-Shaun-Get-Lasik fund? You will get my eternal gratitude hahaha...ETERNAL ok!?! Cash or cheque accepted...

I talk alot...

2008-02-21T09:16:00.000+08:00

Today, after dropping Matthew Black off at the bus-stop (nearly spelt "bust-stop"...And yes Chris, he sat in the front seat of my car today and for $50 i will let you lick the seat)...I realized that i talked alot...To the point that i dominated the conversation and said abit too much...Not that i shouldnt have said what i said but that i din let him get a chance to talk hahaha...Sorry Matt...I guess i'm dam afraid of silence...That it will signal a lack of chemistry and familiarity though ironically, silence itself can also be a marker of familiarity between realli close people...But more than all that however, i guess i was just in an extremely talkative mood today...After two days or so of being cooked up at home studying for a test tomorrow (studying for me is an extremely lonely activity since i can only study alone and in absolute silence), i was just very happy to finally get to meet people and socialize...Admittedly then, i actually prefer gg to school than staying home cos the former means being surrounded by people while the latter means being surrounded by readings...(i'm such a nerd!)...So it's true that i am a pretty social creature. On the other hand, as some of my closer frens and relatives have found out, i also do have moments where i enjoy being alone...Space and time to be by myself and do things that i like to do uninhibitedly without fearing how people would judge me...I guess it's just a matter of which one i have been experiencing a little too much off...But in general i think i can safely say with certainty that i talk alot...No?

On a totally unrelated note, i miss Christmas...

The $600 Dinner

2008-02-18T15:54:00.000+08:00

A few hours ago, my cousin Jamie treated my family to dinner. It was at a Peranakan restaurant called "True Blue" at the substation and it was real nice! The decor was so authentic and the food was good...That said, the bill wasn't hahaha...And so i really want to thank my fav cuz (me and my sister have pet-named her fav cuz i.e. favourite cousin for some time now) for her generosity...The thing especially is that she is genuinely happy giving and it is this that i admire alot...In fact this dinner only scratches the surface...She does other things like give her mum her pin number and card to draw $ as and when she needs it, constantly treats me and my sis etc. Wow! I am blown away! I really nid to learn from her!

2008-02-16T13:21:00.000+08:00

...After a 3 hr talk on Wednesday, we decided to try and take it one step further...

Saved by PIXIE!!!

2008-02-13T15:02:00.000+08:00

Today when i wanted to transfer photos from my computer to my thumbdrive so i cud bring it to the shop for printing, i realized that my thumbdrive was missing! Worse, my mum was already in the car waiting so i din have time to properly rummage thru my bags and stuff to check for it, much less transfer photos to it to print...SO, my plan to print photos for V'day was ruined, i din know for certain if i had realli left my thumbdrive in class or simply lost it in my gigantic bags (as you know, my bags are really quite big...'Overniters' is the term i think) and my mum was getting pissed about having to wait...

I realli hate the feeling of having lost something...It's one of those moments when u wished u cud turn back time (cue Aqua song) to undo the stupid, careless deed u've done but know that u cant...I think more accurately, the feeling mite be something close to regret...The ever haunting "if-only-i-hadnt" or "if-only-i-had" kind of thots that make you feel so helpless and at the same time want to kick yourself in the ass...It's definitely true when they say "you dunno what you've got till it's gone" (cue Janet Jackson song)...Cos i never realli tot much about my thumbdrive till i lost it...Actualli my thumbdrive doesnt contain anything important...some old essays, presentations and photos...Nothing new or current...But as i said, i just hate losing things cos it's still a loss and i cud have been better off with it...So for the rest of the day, my mind was just plagued by thots of whether i should go back to school to search for it and everytime i tried to do something else, the thot that i just lost my thumbdrive kept popping up...

Fortunately, i managed to get Pix (my good ol' argumentation essay buddy-i say good ol' cos we got 85% for the essay ;-) )to help me check the classroom i gave the presentation in...And whaddya know? My thumbdrive was still stuck in the computer! Thank God! The relief, needless to say, was just incredible...And tomorrow, i shall be reunited with my thumbdrive again....Thanks Pix!!!

CNY Day 3

2008-02-11T15:48:00.000+08:00

Went to my E-e's (Mum's elder sister's) place for dinner...My E-e is an incredible cook...Her dishes look simple but always pack a punch...The boy in the golden outfit is my nephew...He's very cute...What happened was that i pretended to stick my foot into his toy car in an attempt to hijack it...He then 'shot' it and i pretended to groan in pain thus leading him to take on the role of doctor...Soon he was bandaging my giant size 11 foot with some brown coloured paper and using ribbon to mask the ugly paper...The scary part was when he approached my foot with a pair of giant orange scissors that were approximately the length of his forearm in order to cut off the excess ribbon and paper that he had already wound round my foot...But it was all good in the end and i had a lot of fun playing with him...

CNY Day 2 Nite

2008-02-10T16:02:00.000+08:00

CNY Day 2 Lunch aka Tribute to Chris's Parents

2008-02-10T15:51:00.000+08:00

Had lunch at Christine's place on Thursday...Her parents are very hospitable and warm people and i was very honoured to get a chance to taste her mum's excellent cooking...Her mum cooked up a storm! What with 2kg of beef balls and 5kg of beef rendang...But it was all very yummy, especially the rendang...There was also this healthy (heh heh) indonesian dish which consisted of fried fish cake? that had to be eaten with this special sauce...In the end, i think i ate about approximately three rounds though still nothing in compared to the amt Chris ate which included a grand total of 15 beef balls (no kidding), and other stuff...Either she was very hungry or the middle-child syndrome kicked in and she was silently competing with Min to see who could eat more of the beef balls that their dad had brought in from Indonesia...Overall, it was a great lunch and i want to thank her parents for having me over...

After that, we played bridge and as expected, Chris and Min kept losing...In the end, they had to do a forfeit...Dewei kept suggesting that Min and Chris french kiss for the duration of a photo shot (i think he has a thing for lesbianic acts) but i was kind enough to suggest that they just kiss each other's toes...So that will explain the photos above...Perhaps the one thing that was realli heart-wrenching that day then was when i went to see Christine's so-called 'newly refurbished room'. After surveying her room, i casually asked her what was in a cabinet above her desk and she replied that it contained rubbish...But when i opened it, to my horror, i saw a gift that i had thoughtfully bought for her lying in the midst of other miscellaneous items like rough paper...Tsk tsk...

CNY Day 1

2008-02-09T16:01:00.000+08:00

Day 1 of CNY celebrations...Went to my grandma's...As you can see, i haf lots of cousins cos my dad has 11 brothers and sisters...That means alot of ang-pow giving (for the adults) but also alot of ang-pow taking (for the kids)...$$$...hahaha...Had an especially enjoyable time cos we played quite a few games including heart attack and bridge...

Sweeny Todd with Chris and Zhi

2008-02-07T12:27:00.000+08:00

On Tuesday nite, went to watch the incredibly twisted film called Sweeny Todd. It was a good show with some twists at the end but it was the company that i enjoyed most. It felt great meeting zhi after so long, and it reminded me of the times we (chris included) used to hang out after work for tea at Taka delifrance or dinner at Marche and just laugh the nite away at things like the reverse mohawk that we proposed Chris to have in order to get rid of her stray baby hairs...Thankfully, it was no different that nite...Although this time, it was zhi who was at the butt of our jokes, what with her requests for salmon sushi with the white part of the salmon angled at 90 degress to the way it was cut, her pronunciations of "he-rarchy" for "hierarchy" and "mah-you" for "mayo" etc...Chris would always burst out laughing and point accusingly at Zhi everytime she pronounced something wrongly...

Anyway, before that, did some shopping as well. Bot a new pair of converse shoes and a tee at revoltage...Orchard was freaking pack for a weekday but i guess it's near the holidays and people must have taken leave to get the whole week off...Met shuzhen, my mkting project group mate and fellow Hooked member at Taka...She reminds me of Famke Jamsen (who acted as Jean Grey in the X-Men movies), who i think is incredibly hot, and she's got a great personality to boot...I think it's her eyes...It's slightly slanted like Famke's and she's got what i call "bright eyes"...Almost as if you could see her soul thru them...

The next day (new year's eve), went to school for lessons in the morning...Still having trouble speaking out in Chng's class though...i find that everytime i plan on something to say, i get very kan chiong...But if i just say something without thinking too much about it, i dun get the "i-can't-breathe" syndrome...After dat had a good chat with Claudia over lunch...The kind where you feel good about after it ends...I think it's great that we can connect and understand each other both at a professional, academic level and interpersonal level as well and it's been great knowing her and working with her on so many projects...I remember when we did EL1101E together...Our first project in the first year, first sem of school...She invited us to her place, treated us to pizza and cooked other snacks for us...And although we got like 50/100, it was still a great experience cos she was so incredibly generous and thoughtful...And this hasnt changed for the near 4 years that i've known her...Additionally, she always brings great insights to whatever we're working on...The thing is, i can be so sure about what i want to say that i fail to take other perspectives into account...But i can always rely on Claud to look at things from another way...In other words, i think we complement each other very well and i'm always glad to get to work with her...

Ok, dat's it for now...Happy Chinese New Year guys!!!

Mouth Ulcer

2008-02-06T05:08:00.000+08:00

Haf a giant mouth ulcer at the back of my mouth near my wisdom tooth...I think it was caused when i assaulted my own mouth with my toothbrush when it accidentally slipped from my hand...Hurts like hell especially when i swallow...Dang! And so near CNY somemore...Hope it heals by then...I wanna eat all the cookies and kueh kueh!

2008-02-04T08:10:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it realli takes an outsider to point out to you all the things that you take for granted...So thanks Christine for constantly reminding me of how much my parents love me and my sis...Especially my mum...I cannot deny having a relatively more antagonistic and contemptuous? relationship with her but recently i'm beginning to realize how she's always been there in the background for me and how she gives and gives unceasingly to us and i can just brush it all off as part and parcel of a mother's duty...How obnoxious and ungrateful of me!

As they grow older and i grow older too, i'm gonna try to show more love and care for them...Even if it means throwing aside all internalizations of male machoismo bullshit to hug them, kiss them and tell them i love them...What a pack of bull society is sometimes...to construct emotional restraint and inhibition as hegemonic masculinity and to socialize all males into becoming the "strong, silent type". After all, what's the point in saying "i love you" only after a loved one passes on? That's not displaying strength, that's outright stupidity...And i shall endeavour this year to not let such foolishness continue for me anymore...

Horror of Horrors

2008-02-01T13:03:00.000+08:00

On my way to class this morning, Christine called me twice to tell me all about her five minute interview...I think she likes me...But that's beside the point...

When i finally stepped into class and sat down, i noticed the zipper of my jeans poking out a little bit from under the zipper flap (the part of the jeans that covers the zipper)...Thinking that it may have been caused by the way i was sitting or the tightness of my belt (overly tight maybe?), i sorta brushed it aside until it hit me that i may not even have zipped it up in the 1st place...

So for a good ten minutes, i kinda sat there trying to look calm and collected while fretting like mad on the inside...Then when i chanced upon a sneeze, i took the opportunity to excuse myself...Once in the toilet, my worst fears were confirmed...Horror of horrors, my fly was indeed undone...again...This is like the second time in 6 months...The last time being at YPL (when i was heading to the tuition agency at Toa Payoh to teach)...Crap...No wonder Yun ping gave me a really funny look when i first walked in...On the brite side at least i found out early...Btw, what's the nicest way to tell someone that his or her fly's undone?

Creative Industry Talk

2008-01-31T13:11:00.000+08:00

Stayed back in school 2day for the creative industry talk at 1830...My lesson ended at 1530, so i basically waited 3 hrs for the talk to begin...It started off somewhat promising enough with the speaker being this old looking tai-tai who's supposedly some big-shot in mediacorp...She said she would be talking about jobs like dee-jaying, television production, script-writing etc. so i was pretty psyched...However, by 1930, i was convinced that she wouldnt be covering any of those...And i was rite...She spent her allocated time of 1 and a half hrs talking about artistes like Billy Koh and Jamie Yeo and saying the most redundant things like "if you want to join the creative industry you have to be hardworking, flexible, perservering etc" Well, DUH?! Isnt that true of every other industry or job for that matter? She even talked about the difference between the right side of the brain and the left side...I mean how useful is that? I kept hoping that whatever she was saying would eventually lead up to something more but that din happen...She never got down to any job specifications whatsoever, and she basically spent the whole time talking crap...What a rip-off...And what a bloody waste of time...

On another note, i may be doing relief teaching from July to October this year at TPJC...Already sent Hannah my contact details so if all goes well i'll be teaching GP during that period of time...

Why I Love My Dog

2008-01-29T16:04:00.000+08:00

How to Talk Like a Man 1101E

2008-01-29T15:11:00.000+08:00

1. Don't talk too much...It may not be true that women actualli talk more than men but many people still subscribe to this belief...

2. Speak in a low voice...Low like Liang Cai...Cai's is the epitome of the hegemonic masculine voice...
3. Minimal fluctuations in tone...
4. Sound certain and determined even if you dun know what the heck you're talking about...(No "i think...", "i feel", "errmmmm...")

5. Single-word responses are most desirable...

6. Laughing is okay but make sure it's done in a low, manly pitch (*low-pitched* hahaha or Har Har Har...Never ever *high-pitched* hee hee hee). Also, dun ever giggle...Giggling is for school-girls with pig-tails and freckles...

7. Never over-emote, never appear over-excited even though you are...A bomb may explode in front of you, and the most you can say is "Shit". If you find a $1000 bill on the ground, say "wow" or dun even say anything..."OMG!" is strictly for sissies...

8. Also be selective about what you show emotions about...If Sue tells you that Jane just broke up with Peter, "ugh", "so?" or "i dun care" are ideal responses...Never exclaim "OMG!", "really?" or "TELL ME MORE!" even though u may, which you realli shouldnt unless you're gay, be dying to find out...

9. Swearing is highly recommeneded...Shows others how tough and macho you are...

10. Use of intensifiers that betray too much emotion should be kept to a minimal...Try not to use "very" as in "very happy" or "very very happy" or "extremely" and the like...

11. Topics wise, soccer, beer, cars and babes are most welcome...Start talking about fashion or desperate housewives and you're toast...make that GAY toast...

To be continued...

Sunday Lunch

2008-01-29T14:25:00.000+08:00

Had lunch with Jeremy, Serena and Christine after church at Different Tastes Cafe...It was quite surprising for me cos they've never asked me to join them before, or at least been so adamant about it, and i've always joined my family instead...It's great of cos since my purpose of being in a cell has always been to find a sense of belonging in the church of which i've been a part of, but yet not really a part of, all my life...

So anyway, things started off quite akward at first cos we din realli know each other well. But with my superb PR skills, the ball was soon rolling...Christine couldnt stop ogling Jem's 16-inch biceps and kept asking him what he looked for in a potential mate...Then she kept saying how pretty Serena was which is quite confusing if u think about it...But the ultimate clincher was when she asked Jeremy why he and Serena weren't a couple...And suddenly, we were all back in "akward" mode again hahaha...I mean, if not together then not together lor...There's no "why" about it rite...If it happens it happens and if it doesnt then it doesnt...But NOOOOOOOO...Aunty Christine wouldnt accept this as an answer so she continued proding and questioning the two of them till i saved them by saying "Ok, let's go home!"

Christine is realli funny that way...She claims she's super PR but i dun think so sometimes hahaha...She can be outrageously upfront and direct and in a way it's good cos it tears apart any form of superficial politeness and ceremony, but sometimes, just sometimes, i want to scotch-tape her mouth and bundle her out of a conversation...Like she has this habit of asking women "How old are you?" or "what's your weight?"...U know, questions that even i as a guy know not to ask...But then again most often than not, it works in her favour cos i find that people actually become less "ke qi" and more honest about their feelings and opinions after their guard has been caught down by her directness...

Then there's Jeanie's kind of direct which i have no idea what to make of...Like when there's an akward silence, she'll be the one that exclaims "WAH! THE SILENCE VERY AKWARD AH!" or she'll walk up to you and ask "Are you wearing a wig?" Very random, out-of-the-blue comments or statements that people will usually keep to themselves...It's a very disarming directness that leaves you wondering what hit you but which you will come to find very amusing and funny later...

I'm not saying being direct is bad...Actualli, i even advocate it...It's a refreshing change from the usual polite small talk kind of performance that people put on in interactions with unfamiliar persons...But in the end, Serena went into the car and very gently asked Aunty Christine "Next time can don't ask about Jem and me not...Very weird leh". Hahaha...After all, I said MOST of the time...Not ALL the time rite?

Matthew Black's Birthday

2008-01-25T16:00:00.000+08:00

Jus came back from Mat Black's birthday celebration at Waraku Marina...For all of u out there who dun know who Mat Black is...He's Christine's Ex.E.C.2...In other words, he's not as good as me but he's a realli nice guy anyhow hahaha...I remember when i skipped the last lec of Interactional Discourse and he actualli kept notes for me and even took the time to meet me in school during the exam period to pass it to me and tell me what was coming out 4 the paper...It's realli things like that makes him so likeable and i realli appreciate and admire him for his thoughtfulness...

His surname's not realli "black" of course. I added it there cos there was another Matthew in EL and i cudnt remember their surnames so i added Black and White to distinguish between the tanner, darker Matt and the other fairer one...Makes life so much easier...Anyway, the party was great! Cai managed to get Waraku to give as a private function room and it was realli cosy! Imagine having 14 EL honours students sitting at the same table talking, laughing and having dinner together in the capacity of frens and you can more or less get a feel of how close we are as a batch...I'm realli thankful, therefore, to be able to know all of you and graduate in the knowledge that i have made some good frens in EL...i think it's great that we can spend our last year in NUS like this and to have transcended beyond just a classmate or hi-bye relationship...After all, it's not all about the grades, but the friendships forged and the memories that we create together and carry for the rest of our lives...

Above: Ex.E.C.2 and Ex.E.C.1...Matt promised to wear that sign for a week so Christine...You can rush down to school next week and finally get to legitimately hug Matt...As for what mods he takes and their timings? $50...inclusive of photo if i happen to be there with my camera...

Above: My scallop and udon in cheese and cream sauce...It was pretty good...

Above: Moo moo and me...Y she's moo moo? Cos her email add is moomoo@yahoo or something like that...

Below: Stella...Hahaha...She's gonna kill me...But somehow it isnt that bad...Cheryl was saying that even though it's supposed to be an unflattering shot of her...She somehow still manages to look quite good...Cudnt agree more...That's being good looking for you...I totalli understand...

Below: Mandy and me...I actualli have a photo of her looking up at me in the same way i am in this one...Role reversal...

Above: Cheryl doing some kind of dance...The gal was quite high and was giggling and laughing non-stop the whole nite...Muz watch her sugar intake Erwin!

Above: The birthday "cake"...There were like 24 donuts there i think...We had so mani left-overs we played the numbers game to get rid of them...At first i realli wanted to lose cos i love donuts but after losing 3 times...I wanted out...You know the saying, "careful what you wish for"? It's true...I lost 5 times and ended up having to eat 5 donuts in all!!! I dun know if its realli bad karma with the donuts or realli good karma...Whatever the case, law of diminshing returns set in by the third donut and soon, i was asking pple to help me eat...5 times?!?! Like, what are the chances rite? Everytime there will be two numbers left, i wud haf to pick the "winning" one...or like over a range of 51-60, i would pick 52 and kena! Wah lau...I dun ever want to see another donut again...

Below: Me and Rach...I'm realli glad to have sat beside her cos i got the opportunity to know her abit better...She's realli fun-loving and quite a health nut to boot and i din know that b4...

Ok...That's it...Thanks to Cai and Stell for organizing...And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

Random Thoughts

2008-01-24T15:31:00.000+08:00

My sis is back and i'm real glad...Missed her alot...She's the sort of person who can feel genuinely happy for someone else...This, and her genorisity and thoughtfulness that makes her such a blessing in my life and those of others...Alot of the times in fact, when she goes out shopping, she comes home with something for me, my mum or her frens...To all her frens out there...Especially those who treat her like shit...Dun take her for granted, cos you will regret it when she decides to give up on you 1 day...It's very tiring to keep on giving...and frenships are sustained through reciprocity...

My dog's hind legs are getting visibly weaker cos of old age...And the thot of losing him one day realli scares me...He keeps on sprawling on the floor unintentionally...At 1st i thot it was the marble floor and the long hairs under his paws that causes it...Increasingly however, i am beginning to be convinved that it's not...

I am gonna ditch my group in cinematic discourse...Filming at old changi hospital before the break of dawn? Not my idea of fun...Sorry...and i dun share your artistic vision Ravin...And most importantly, i'm afraid of ghosts (though i know i shouldnt be)...I cant even sit through I AM LEGEND without looking away at some bits..So how? And i realli dun know about your self-assuredness...Either you realli are dam zai, or you are another of those all show no substance, all talk no action kind of people who cant perform when the time comes for the show to begin...Either way, i'm not sticking to around to find out...

Why or why are my readings so freakin boring? I thot the modules i picked were quite interesting...So how come?

Gender and text is turning out to be a whining session about how women are such poor things, always and in all aspects kena marginalized...Puhleez...Get over it!

I love to speak out in class but i've been getting panic attacks recently each time b4 i say something...You know the heart racing, tightened chest, cannot breathe , head exploding feeling? Must speak out more to become immune...

I'm realli glad that we've sorta established a weekly lunch session on Tuesday for a group of honours students...It's sad that i dun see alot of u guys in class but at the very least, i'll still be able to keep in contact with some of you every tuesday...I'm realli glad that we're this close...

Cloverfield or National Treasure anyone?

Rock Climbing Again!

2008-01-22T03:59:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, went rock-climbing at Farrer Park again and it was dam fun! I think it's true, when i'm with Christine, i haf more fun than the poor girl cos she has to do things like initiate, organize, belay me and be the butt of my constant suan-ing and disturbing...And yesterday was no different...We went to the rock-climbing place after having lunch with my cell group and body-builder Jeremy was very nice to drive us around and drop us off at the MRT station...Btw, jeremy is a guy who in my opinion, challenges gender stereotypes. He is this hulking bodybuilder guy with 16 inch biceps but who loves soft-toys and isnt into soccer...And yes, he's straight as a ruler...Anyway, i wasnt particularly feeling like rock-climbing and was at some pt even quite tempted to call Christine to say i wasnt gg...But am now very glad that i didnt...

On the MRT, we were quite bored so we started comparing and ranking frens (Christine's initiative)...She would ask me something like "Michelle OR Serena" or "Linnet OR Viv" and i would haf to pick one over the other. Soon, i reversed the questions on her and found out that i pretty much beat everyone on her hierarchy of frens 'cept Hong Lay...Hong Lay, u r my new rival and i shall attempt to beat your record of talking to Chris on the phone for 3 hours by talking to her for 4...Then i asked her who would she pick "hong lay or yan ying?" and she went silent...For her answer, you got to ask her yourself lar haha...Hong lay, you would prob ask Chris to eat shit (which i, being a very good fren of Chris, won't) but i know in your secret heart of hearts, you are dying to find out...I'll tell you for $50 ok?

When we finally reached, it was about 4pm...quite late but we got into action fast. Thankfully, there was Ryan, Christine's best-fren's ex, who gave me some proper tips (instead of just telling me to "step up! step up!") about using your toe-box when stepping, twisting your body sideways and having a 3-pt contact with the rocks as opposed to a 2-pt hinge-like contact...I think Chris din teach me much the last time probably cos the competitive her is secretly afraid that i will become better than her in climbing like i am in badminton...So in a way, y'day's climb was much more fruitful than the last time...I was particularly impressed with Chris though when i saw the way she skilfully did splits when climbing and employed other tactics like the side-step (i think) in scaling the walls...I was even more impressed when Ryan and Yanying told me that she was so hard-core in the past that she could lead "the roof"- the horizontal 90 degree part of the wall, and that she would scale the same wall up to 18 times at one shot in order to train her arm-strength...Wow! i realli had no idea judging from the way she is such a gu-niang, what with taking 20min to change into her sports gear, her whole-day fretting about how short her fringe is, her 1 cm thick make-up and her KFC-crave-inducing arms...

Also, managed to get to know some of her frens abit better...Yan ying was alot more conversant y'day and we had a good time disturbing Christine...Serene was shouting throughout (the gal admits she's abit deaf) about playing mahjong and how one ang-moh's guys balls were showing through the thin fabric of his pants (she says it's a turn-off but then again kept looking like she couldn't resist)... Ryan was patiently teaching me how to climb properly...And Kelly (ex-national climber!) let me in on how she took 6 months off to travel to europe to do real rock-climbing and how she recently just got a job at CAAS....It was great and i had a realli good time...

Finally, we went to the airport to send Yi Kwee off...Yi Kwee's my cell-group mate and he left for Spain y'day for his exchange program...On the way there, the fatigue realli set in and i din wan to stay long...Fortunately there was Jeremy Air to East Coast and Michelle Air (which had to transit at Tenah Merah before going to East Coast) around and we took Jem Air home...So thanks Jem! At some point during the send-off, Christine discovered a zit (with pus) in the area between her neck and her boobs, and so, spent the rest of the nite self-consciously buttoning her blouse that refused to stay buttoned (or so she claims...My suspicion is that she may haf been trying to seduce me or Jem) or using her hair (with now short fringe) to cover it up...Then she also discovered that she left yanying's shoes at climbasia and found out that yingzhi had already recieved her letter from MOE...What an eventful nite for her...And for some reason, she also fretted about her impending interview with MOE...Scary meh? Just say i want to mould young minds can already lor...Anyway, i'm sure u'll do fine...I think the competitive you is more worried about not getting the letter and 'losing out' to YZ than anything rite? Haha...i understand...

Here we go again...

2008-01-16T15:14:00.000+08:00

School started just y'day and my kiasu instincts haf already kicked in...Yesterday, i attended my first lecture of my final sem and it lasted 45 minutes (of 2 and a half hours)...So i decided to go to central lib to start printing readings in anticipation of my free day today...So kiasu rite? Then today, i completed all 3 sets of readings (amouting to about 70 pages) that i had printed the day before so that tomorrow i can start on others that i haf yet to get my reading lists for...I just can't seem to help it...(Stop rollin your eyes Christine!)...And there's nothing else to do so mite as well rite?

It's very surreal that school has started yet again...Time seems to fly faster and faster every sem and it's almost as if the school holiday din happen at all...It's just weird delving into readings again and i find myself asking "din i just do this y'day?" XIAN!!! But then again, i WAS starting to get abit restless so i guess it's good that school has started...in a way...

And it just sort of hit me today that i wun be able to spend as much time with Christine, YZ etc. as i did during the hols...It kinda saddens me especially knowing that things will onli get progressively worse, wat with increasing workloads and their contract teaching. But i guess some things jus cant be helped. Btw Christine, Zhiqian wants to meet me for lunch tmr to ask me about you...And it's bound to be either because he thinks you like him or because he likes you...I'll let you know for $50 ok?

The Past Two Days

2008-01-13T16:02:00.000+08:00

On Thursday nite, went to meet Cai and Stell at cuppage for dinner...Was abit worried that we wouldnt be able to connect and talk at first (Cai is supa smart so the things he talks about tends to be pretty high-level stuff like evolution theories haha...) but it turned out ok cos we have alot of frens in common so we jus talked about them. The restaurant served good jap food but the shopping centre it was located in was realli dingy and old...Like one of those Katong Shopping Centre sorts...Anyways, i wanna thank Cai and Stel for taking time of their busy schedule to have din with me...Also, for having coordinated the video for my birthday...Thanks guys!

Yesterday, went to Settler's with Jeanie, Yingzhi and Christine. While walking to the cafe, Christine 'accidentally' stepped on YZ's slipper from behind causing the strap to burst...As a result, YZ had to walk with a rubber band around her foot for the rest of the day...And we made sure from that point forth that Christine walked in front of all of us just in case she decided at some point to vent any of her pent-up frustrations by stepping on our shoes or slippers again...

It was realli good meeting Jeanie again after so long...i really missed her spontaneity and laughter and i remember once when we laughed through lunch along the AS6 walkway till people stared at us like we were two sutdents who had completely lost it...So i was realli glad when y'day turned out to be no different...Nothing short of Jeanie's usual hysterics and contagious laughter and her speak-my-mind behaviour...

Above: Jeanie and her manic smile

Above: Jeanie doing her impression of a wasp...It was so funny that i laughed out loud for a good 10 minutes...As you can see, she stuck her hands out like an airplane and went "Bzzzzzzzzz" interpersed with snake-like hissing sounds of "Pss Pss Pss" in an attempt to mimic the wasp's stinging action...The result was a schizophrenic spitting bee with stationary wings...Dam funny!

Below: In the end, the team of Jeanie and Christine lost...Their defeat was sealed from the start...what with Lingzhi's and my intelligence and great acting skills...I brought this BK crown as a forfeit and Jeanie sponateously picked up this calendar to make the photo look like a mug shot.

Above: We were playing this advanced version of pictionary where on some of our turns the drawer is required to control the wrist of the guesser to draw the pic...So Jeanie had this crazy idea of pretending to be paparazzi snapping up scandalous photos of me and christine...

Then, in the evening, i headed down to Kwee's place for our cell group's BBQ dinner...It was supposed to be a cell-meeting cum Kwee's farewell cum house-warming all rolled in one...I had some trouble finding the place though...Took the MRT to Novena and instead of gg to UE Square, i went to Velocity instead...So i called Kwee to ask him for directions but Mitch picked up instead. She asked me where i was and i told her "I'm at Veh-Low-Siti". She replied "Veh-Low-City huh? You wait ah..." and then passed the phone to Kwee. Kwee picked up and was like "Veh-Low-City? You're at VELOCITY (as in speed and velocity) huh?" And at that moment i realli wanted to slap myself...What with being an English Language major and all...Oh boy, this one's gonna go down in history...At the very least, Mitch fell for it too and c'mon, i was thinking of VIVOCity when i said it...

At the BBQ, Ernest's (Christine's ex-crush) younger bro, Jason, was there...He's kinda looking for a cell-group to join so i turned on PR mode and started talking to him...Turns out that he has a twin bro and at some pt, I asked him how old he was. Jason replied that he was born in 1984...And then i did the retarded thing of asking him how old his twin bro was...I think i muz haf been realli tired y'day...

On the whole, the BBQ was great...There was alot of food and we played some games in the patio above Kwee's house...It's kinda like a penthouse and it's like one of those ideal bachelor's pad...Great for parties and stuff...We played the number game in order to finish up the leftovers and in order to speed things up, i suggested doubling the stakes such that 1 piece of chicken became 2 and so on...I was lucky till the final round, when i opened my big mouth yet again to raise the stacks even further. This time, the next person to kena would have to finish up the entire bowl (very very big) of fruit cocktail in order to get rid of the leftover dessert and guess who that very lucky person turned out to be? Me. So i took the giant bowl and the giant scooper, sat out of the next game and ate...After that, super sugar high...Couldnt sleep till 3 am i think...

Above: Linneto who was driving everyone nuts with her piano playing...But she can play lar...Albeit only a few songs...And halfway onli...hahaha...

Above: Kwee and Me

Ok...It's a wrap!

Yesterday Continued...

2008-01-11T08:02:00.000+08:00

Din haf time to explain y y'day felt like it was gg to be a bad day...U know how some days everything just dun seem to go ur way...Well, y'day felt like dat...

First, i din get the modules i wanted. Then, when we reached SGH, we couldnt find a carpark and it was pouring...So i dropped my mum off and ended up parking realli far away from the colon-scopy building...After finding a space, i tot i'd wait a while for the rain to subside abit but it din so i decided to grab my big bag and lap top and run...And though i had a broli, the rain was the kind where u still end up wet umbrella or not...Then, halfway to the building, i realized that i had left my car key in the car! So i trudged back in the rain, lap top and all to the car park. And it was a big mistake to wear slippers...nearly slipped thrice...The arms-flialing-stupid-looking-shout-out-loud kind of slips...Dang!

Then, just when i found Delifrance to settle down, haf lunch and continue my bidding, I realized that my lap top had run out of batt and there was no power outlet in Delifrance to power my lap-top...Great rite...So i was about to go home when i passed Polar Cafe and saw this unused power outlet there...I plug in my lap-top and TADAA! I could connect and bid...And that was when things started looking up again...

THE END

At SGH and realli need to pee...

2008-01-10T08:56:00.000+08:00

I'm currently at SGH accompanying my mum for her colon-scopy (check spelling) and i realli need to pee...Cant go to the loo cos that would mean having to uproot, take all my stuff and come back to the cafe...And i'm not gonna do that so i'm gona blog to take my mind of peeing...

Today started off badly enuff...What with not getting two of the modules that would allow me to get a 3-day week...Yesterday, it seemed likely..But this morning, the number of bidders, and hence the min. bid, sky-rocketed and i dun haf enuff pts in my general acct to take both...One is cross-cultural communication (no exam! and which i intended to change to a UE) and the other Evaluating Health Claims (To fulfill my stupid science gem)...I was trying to plan my lessons such that i would only be required to take 4 exams but looks like it aint gonna happen...I find that when i haf 5 exams to take in a sem, 1 would always suffer...In the end, i had to choose between taking some engineering module or "understanding the universe" in order to maintain this 4 examinable modules thing and i chose neither...

I know i may regret this in April/May but as of now, it just feels right...I called chee kian (thanks chee kian!) to ask him about "understanding the universe" and he said it was quite easy...However, as i was surfing the net to find out more about the module i came across some tutorial answers for past sem questions and boy, were they awfully mathematical and technical! Also, i just cant bring myself to take a module that i haf absolute no interest in...So whaddya know...I'm went to bid for health claims in the end, which means i got 5 exams to take this coming sem...But okay lar, at least can S/U it...

Okay, my mum's out...And that means that I CAN PEE!!!

Movie Yesterday, Badminton Today

2008-01-09T14:18:00.000+08:00

*Warning: Contains I AM LEGEND spoilers

Caught I AM LEGEND with the kinky lesbian sisters and ling zhi last nite and it was dam good...It was a nail-biting, edge of your seat kind of show which plays with your emotions throughout...Just ask Crustacean who at one point, jumped backwards into her seat (the cheap shock when the lion pounced on the deer) or ling zhi whose sobbing (when the dog died) could be heard a few seats down...As for myself, i admit it: i'm a real wuss when it comes to horror movies and thrillers...And this one was no exception though most of u are likely to say "scary meh?" YESH! Scary! Especially the part when he entered the dark abandoned apartment to look for his dog...I mean i've watched zombie flicks like Resident Evil before but what was scary about this show was that it was very real...No big guns, no kung-fu dishing babe, no gore for the sake of gore...Rather, it presented a frighteningly real possibility grounded in realistic rather fantastical, superfluous imagery and concepts...

And okay...I nearly cried when the dog died...Being a dog-lover and having a dog myself, the scene was especially moving...There's just something extra innocent about dogs that make them so endearing...Their loyalty, their non-judgemental eyes, their silly but genuine ways...I mean u can be ugly, skinny, a total a-hole and they'd love you just the same...They'll still be waiting at the door for you when you come home and they'd still be sad when you leave...So yeah...Dogs rock!!! On a separate note, it reminded me of my best fren peppy and how he would one day leave me like everything else would and the prospect of this was terribly upsetting...I dun think anyone can ever get over loss...One can only cope with it...

Overall though, it was a great nite...And though we brought cards to play, we ended up talking through dinner...Here are the photos:

Above: Min looking unfazed despite having eaten 10 plates of sushi...

This morning, i woke up and immediately proceeded to bid for modules after breakfast...After deliberating for about 3 hrs and with the help of Crustacean, i finally decided to do a GEM B as a UE and 'Health claims' as my science gem...Just hope i have enuff pts to get them...Then decided to try our luck at tampines to play badminton...It was supa fun and i cudnt stop laughing at some pts cos we were so competitive (what with slaps at stack) that we would try to bluff each other regarding the score that was being kept...In the end, though Crustacean's pretty good (i think she's being secretly training for this day), i stil won..But of cos, being the gentleman that i am, i din slap her...In fact, she slapped me real hard across the face instead for no reason when i was about to send her home...Strange gal...

Of zits, rock-climbing and frog porridge...

2008-01-08T04:59:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a good day despite this giant pus-filled zit beside my nose...Increasingly i find that it doesnt matter how many precautions i take to prevent them from popping up but how much at peace with myself i am that is key...In other words, my complexion is a reflection of my inner state...When i'm happy, i tend to be zit-free...And when i'm not, i'm zit-ridden...But if yesterday was anything to go by, i'll prob. be zit-free for the next few days unless something crappy happens...

I was a bit nervous meeting Crustacean's rock-climbing 'frens'. I use inverted commas cos she claims that they are her frens even though she doesn't even bother talking much to them. In fact, when we met Serene at Bedok MRT to go together, she even denied knowing serene at first all becos the poor gal was decked out in neon orange track pants...We were looking for serene at the control station and when i pointed to this gal wearing neon orange track pants standing at a corner, Crustacean was like "No lar, not her!" I think she was horrified especially after telling me how hot Serene is and what nice legs she has...Anyway, despite all the making fun of serene and her neon orange track pants, we decided to buy her a neon red and purple one for her b'day to complete her neon rainbow set of track pants...Needless to say, we got along fine and serene is a very easy person to talk to so it was great...

When we got to the Civil Service Club, I had to stop serene and crustacean from stealing this pot of yellow nasi bryani rice left outside muthu's curry house (below the rock climbing hall)...Then we had to trudge through the 'smelly room' to get to the toilet to change...There we met Crustacean's climbing 'frens' who lent us their equipment and even helped to belay us...And we were on our way to climb...Crustacean belayed me most of the time and i had full confidence in her even though she had to ask yan ying a couple of times if what she was doing was correct...She would tie a knot finish, look at it for a while and then say "eh?" and that would make me nervous...Then i would holler for yan ying who would then proceed to check if everything was ok...

All in all i think i muz have climbed about 5 or 6 times...And boy, was it fun...The last time i went with Karina aka moo moo, we went to Safra Yishun which had much higher and tougher walls to scale such that it was very demoralizing after a while and i eventually climbed only twice...Also, Crustacean's 'step-up' advice was also very helpful...where step-up just means raising ur leg to a higher rock and using it to push yourself up as opposed to using pure arm strength...In the end, i managed to scale all the easier ones finish and the sense of accomplishment felt was definitely fulfilling...So thanks once again to Crustacean for organizing and belaying me (even though she took the $1 i gave her for my apple tea drink) and to yan ying and her bf for lending us their climbing equipment...

Here are some photos:

Above: Crustacean and Serene

Below: Something i learnt about Crustacean is that she is secretly very very competitive...I jokingly told her to compete with ying ying (left) and before i knew it, Crustacean was climbing like she never climbed before...SO FAST!!! And with so much ferorcity and effort that by the time she reached the top, she was so tired that she did not climb any more walls that day...

Above: Everytime Serene belays Crustacean, she would sing, "spider pig, spider pig..." Also, she would look at crustacean's arms and say, "I got craving for KFC"...That gal is dam funny...But to be fair, Crustacean's not fat lar...She jus isnt as toned as she used to be in her hey-day of rock-climbing...

Below: There was this giant hole in the wall and Crustacean volunteered to sit inside...Act cute, act young...

Above: Crustacean and her climbing 'frens'...I told her to go and talk to them and she switched on small-talk mode immediately...The "so...what-have-u-all-been-doin-this-hols"-mode..It was hilarious as i watched from the side...

Above: (First photo) The middle person is Kelly, a national rock-climber. We all clambered to take photos with her so that when she becomes even more famous, we can sell our photos of her on ebay hahaha...

After everything, i headed to Geylang to meet my army buds for frog porridge...

My good ol' army buds bought me a cake to celebrate my birthday!!! And though i acted cool and said a very macho "thanks", inside i was very touched! So if you guys are reading this, thank you very much once again! As you can see, each cake slice turned out really humongous cos there was only 8 of us and the cake was pretty big...It was dam funny as i was dividing the cake and giving it out cos none of us had seen such huge slices of cake before...It was law of diminsihing returns after a while and we tried playing some games to see who would have to finish yi ding's extra large slice...

Ok, gtg for lunch...

2008-01-04T15:19:00.000+08:00

tired and unfulfilled

Bowling with the 'Incestuous Lesbian Sisters'

2008-01-03T11:31:00.000+08:00

That's what Daniel calls them and it's not difficult to c why...Crustacean and her sis, Min, are creepily close...The kind that would make your hair stand on end...They even have this thing called "pee pee pee" where upon saying it they would put their cheeks next to each other and rub (oil , caked make-up and all) ala Maori's nose to nose thingy...Thing is, they do this very very frequently and even admitted yesterday that they french kiss for pleasure...Eeee...I'm not renewing my side of the contract anymore...But then again, 2 sisters for the price of 1 sounds like a pretty good bargain though on second thot, can i just haf Min but not Chris?

Yesterday started off pretty badly...We went to Marine Bowl at ECP McDonald's but i insisted on trying Regent Bowl at Burger King instead cos the price of one game at the former was $3.60 and i thot that that was a bit steep...To our horror Regent Bowl had closed down and was now a Korean restaurant instead, so we walked all the way back to Marine Bowl to do some serious pin-knocking...By the time we got back however, all the lanes were already taken and we decided to try the bowling alley at Katong shopping center instead..But guess what? The bowling alley there had closed down too!!! What luck...So we ended up in Crustacean's house playing bridge and it got realli boring after a while cos i kept winning...Long story short, i managed to book a lane later that evening and we all eventually got to bowl...The End...

Above: Me and Crustacean's very badly treated pet turtle...The turtle has never been out of its small container...and its water has only been changed 3 times in years...

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-02T03:13:00.000+08:00

Wat made this new year better was my finding out that i got another week of hols before school starts...Blur c*ck me thot that school is starting on the 7th when it actuali starts on the 14th so...YEAH!!!

Yesterday, went to town to change Mr.Z's present cos it was a size too small...I realized that the running vest he got me from New Balance cost $36...WOW! That's mighty generous of him...plus i realli needed a new vest given my healthy, active lifestyle (where do you think my fab bod comes from?)...So thanks Mr.Z! Then went down to Herren to get my Herren priviledge card...After that, went home for a run in the beautiful sunny weather at east coast before heading to church for watchnight service...

Crustacean had no party to go to so she begged me to let her come to my church for the service...Once again, i took pity on her and said ok, even picking her up from her home to go to church...

Above and Below: The place was packed so we had no choice but to sit on the steps to the entrance of our church...And there was this cat which kept looking at us with this realli sad and pathetic looking face that i fed it some of my chicken...Heartless crustacean kept wanting to kick it away but i prevented her from doing so each time...

Above: Act cute, act young...Crustacean insisted on wearing the burger king crown becos she said she wanted to look like a princess...

Above: Moments before midnite, we lit up candles and sang the aud lang sai (obviously wrong spelling) song...

Anyways, HAPPY NEW YEAR peeps!!!

My Birthday!!!

2007-12-30T14:37:00.000+08:00

To be honest, i was a bit disappointed for a while...But it is so easy to look at what people have not done (NOT referring to u: Chris and YZ) and be unhappy than to look at what they have and be grateful...And for this i really want to kick myself...After all, it would not be fair to expect of others wat one has not done for them...So i look at you and those around me and m glad...Thank you for having been there...It means a lot to me...Your carefully made and purchased presents were a bonus but it was your presence that made the difference...Thank you so much!!!

At Settler's:

From Left: Yuliana, my ex-student from YPL and Crustacean

Above: Crustacean and YZ actualli made for me my own customized Halli Galli set!!! How cool is that! Now everyday i can practise with my family members hahaha...

Above: Crustacean and Zhiqian

Above: Cue JAWs or PSYCHO music...Sometimes i think Mr.Z has issues but then again it may just be Crustacean driving him nuts...

Then it was dinner at this realli cool place at Katong called Aston's Specialities...The food is realli good and the prices are dam reasonable...It's a restaurant but it charges near coffee shop prices...Quality chicken chop at $5.90...All in all, with creamy mushroom soup, drinks like Snapple and side dishes like curry powder dusted fries thrown in, it worked out to be only $10 per pax...Amazing!!! But i muz warn u, the queue was quite long, though it was definitely worth the wait...

Back home for cake-cutting:

Above: Me and my deer.

Below: Me and my best fren.

Above: Trying to plant a sloppy saliva-drenched kiss on my sis...

The end...I'm finally 18 years old...

Very Touched!

2007-12-30T03:20:00.000+08:00

A very big thank you to all who were involved in the video...was totally speechless the 1st time i watched it...just kinda sat there grinning from ear to ear like an idiot, laughing out loud at parts and melting away at others...So so touched! Can tell that a lot a lot of effort and time was put into it...But since it was for me it was worth it rite? Hahaha...Newae, thot the bits where Chris and YZ pretended to be victims ala 'Get Real!' was most ingenious and creative....And i was pleasantly surprised to see people like Zhiqian, rebs, char char, juls on the vid...How on earth did you all do it? Like i smsed Christine earlier, this is THE best gift i have received and i will treasure it always! Thank you all for being a part of my journey thru life and making it that much more meaningful and wonderful...Thanks once again for all your time and efforts!

Thanks especially to Christine and YZ for masterminding and organizing the whole video...You gals mean a lot to me and as i have mentioned b4, i am truly blessed to get to know the both of you better through YPL...

To YZ: I've never realli known you even when we were working together on projects in NUS, but i'm certainly glad that i have had the chance to do so more recently. Like your love for cats and kids, your artistic talents, and your absolute lack of a sense of direction (can get lost at cityhall) and blurness (keep losing attendance sheet at YPL) hahaha...But what i discovered also is that you have a quiet determination and will, an inner strength that does not always find expression outwardly but which prevails nonetheless especially when you set your mind and heart to something...Additionally, i want to say that "you are better than you think you are" and that this inner strength you possess is more admirable, in my opinion, than all outward shows of confidence that lack any substance at its base...My wish for you this year then is that you will find an impenetrable peace with yourself and a purpose that is meaningful enough for you to pursue with this determination and will...and which you will then eventually succeed in accomplishing...

To Crustacean: I dun know abt you, but i believe we have a chemistry that makes our frenship special. I can be absolutely crazy and boh-liao with you, doing things like wearing the burger king kid's crown in parkway parade and hiding behind pillars to scare you without a second thot that you mite judge me negatively for that...And to me, that is a level of comfort and familiarity that is at the moment unsurpassed...It may seem trivial, the childish things that we do sometimes, but i believe it speaks volumes at an interpersonal level...Thanks for being so sweet, thoughtful and caring, for those smses you sent during the exam period and for organizing this entire event...Renew contract for another 2 years? Can rite? So my b'days for 08 and 09 will be covered...Hahaha...

Thanks peeps!

Settler's with Primary School Frens!!!

2007-12-28T16:20:00.000+08:00

I thot i'd better blog about this while it's still fresh in my head...Honestly, i din know wat to expect and was quite worried about meeting my primary school mates since i'm not exactly close to them and it was my 1st time meeting them to play board games at settler's. As you know, playing board games isnt exactly everyone's cup of tea and different pple like different types of games, so that was a concern...Second, i was worried about akward silences setting in and stuff but thankfully none of that occurred...In fact, i had a terrific time and there was many a time where laughter juz filled the air...We were the only group on the second floor and while the service was poor (we were often neglected as a result), a nice exclusive and intimate setting resulted, contributing in part to a very comfortable and laid-back atmosphere...Whatsmore, the lighting upstairs was dim, the air-con was blasting away and it was all so cosy...Perfect!!!

We started off with a response game (halli-galli! My fav!) and switched to cash and guns after that...Cash and guns, as it turned out, was a realli fun game cos we ended up snatching each other's cash instead of distributing them equally amongst the survivors and Jason kept shooting himself with real 'bang' cards...In the end, because of my superior talent and intellect, i won...

Then we switched to cluedo...Weizheng won both rounds and the realli amazing thing was that for the 1st round, he won in like 5 minutes...No kidding...By his second turn, he guessed the muderer, murder place and weapon correctly and it was all over!!! ON HIS SECOND TURN!!!! What are the chances?!?! He claimed that he was just lucky...yeah rite...I bet he cheated...hahaha...But seriously, it was an absolute jaw-dropper...He asked the question, and no one had the three things he had asked for and before everyone else could even enter a room, he had solved the mystery and the round was concluded...

Above: The winning cards...The combination Weizheng guessed on his 2nd turn...

Above: Weizheng keh-king 'say'...

Qian Ling (above) bot me a slice of mudpie to celebrate my b'day...She's incredibly sweet and i sincerely thank her for remembering and doing so...I feel very blessed to have people like you in my life...Thank you so much!

Actualli, I was kinda hoping tt Yida would turn up today cos he is one of the pple i can talk to more easily with in the grp but he din and in a way it was good cos i got to interact a bit more with Dennis whom i dun usually do...And man, is he one nice and easy-gg chap! All in all, it was a dam fun evening and i thoroughly enjoyed myself...Thanks guys!!!

Also, a big thank you to Jason (Above) for sending me home...He actually lives at Ford road so it's the opposite direction from my place...But he still insisted on sending everyone back...I wouldnt have been so generous and it puts me to shame...

Ok that's it...

Christmas Day at My Place

2007-12-27T03:21:00.000+08:00

Y'day, my mum organized a Christmas day party at our place for her side...And with me organizing the games and my dad leading the carolling and giving the christmas message, it was a darn good party alright! So good that my favourite cousins din leave till past 12 midnite hahaha...

Above: My sis and her frens from the Home Team Academy (Prisons)

Above: My most adorable nephew Reynan

Above: Me and my fav nephew

Above: Me and my fav cuz Charlene
Below: Me and my cousins from my mum's side..Good looks runs in the Seow family

Christmas Eve at my Grandma's!!!

2007-12-26T09:12:00.000+08:00

Went to my Grandma's (my dad's side) at SengKang last nite...My dad has 11 brothers and sister (with him being numero uno) so you can imagine the crowd during family meetings and holidays like Christmas and CNY...But i love it! The large number of people just adds to the mood and festive atmosphere and last nite was no different...We had a spread for dinner, wat with turkey, honey-glazed pork ribs, sausages, shepherd's pie (made by my very own mother!), mango and strawberry salad, chicken curry, log-cake etc...And it was all absolutely delicious! I ate for about 1 hour non-stop...And after singing carols, playing games and exchanging gifts, went back to the dinner table to whack the burbor hitam that my aunty made...Needless to say, had a wonderful Christmas eve and really enjoyed myself...

My dad, the resident poh-piah maker...He does it really well...

One-half of the spread (above)...

Some of my cousins...(From left: Matthias, Michelle, Matthew, Darren)

Singing carols...

Above: Collecting Ang-pows from grandma...She has a bit of dementia and arthritis and so has trouble controlling her movements, even the clenchin and unclenching of her fists...For some cousins, she had a death-like grip on the ang-pow but fortunately for me, she gave me mine easily...Guess she was charmed by my good looks...That happens a lot hahaha...

Below: My sis laughing at my dad who kept shouting across the room, "GRAB IT!!! JUST GRAB THE ANG-POW!!! QUICK, MAMA IS FALLING ASLEEP...NOW'S YOUR CHANCE, GRAB THE ANG-POW!!!"

Below: All the successful grabbers hahaha...

After the party...Zzzzzzz...

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2007-12-26T08:04:00.000+08:00

had a nightmare last nite...dreamt that i was in this realli weird alley of sorts and that in order to get home i would need to walk through this giant museum and would have to do so before sunset, if not...So anyways, i saw that the sun was already beginning to set and quickly ran inside...The museum was big, eerie and deserted, with not a soul in sight...So i was very glad when i saw 3 of my Army buds (Feng Chen and dun know who were the other 2) at a lift lobby...They told me to get out of the museum but i din know how...Soon, night fell and it was dark...i ran into a toilet to hide...There, i met 'sleepy cheryl' from my honours class...She was hiding too...She said she would go out to check in the coast was clear and left...i locked the toilet door behind her and waited. Then, i heard this piercing scream followed by frantic knocking on the door...But i refused to open it...I remember thinking to myself, "What if it isnt cheryl?" and "What if it is cheryl but only in body (ala invasion of the body snatchers)?" I decided to take a risk...I cud never abandon my frens (i'm such a kind, loyal person even in my dreams) so i unlocked the door and in flew cheryl. She slammed the door behind her and said that we needed to find a way out of the toilet at once...This was immediately followed by loud bangings on the toilet door...Whoever or whatever was out there obviously wanted in...We found a small window in the toilet and broke the glass to get out...I was still a little suspicious of cheryl but helped her out of the window anyway (the window was quite high up on the wall)...The banging grew louder and louder and the door looked like it was going to burst open at any moment...Then i woke up...It was bloody cold in my room...(I sleep with both the fan and the air-con on) And for a minute, and even though i needed to pee badly, i din dare do anything cos the nitemare was still fresh in my head...I think i've been seeing to many I AM LEGEND trailers...hahaha...Plus the show "The invasion" din help too...I'm sleeping without the fan tonite...

Chipmunks with Charmaine

2007-12-22T14:23:00.000+08:00

Today was the 1st time i actually went out with Char to shop and watch a movie in the 3 and a half years that i haf known her...It's quite strange especially since we've been to each other's places numerous times to play board games and mj but have never actually hung out like this before...Anyway, we caught Alvin and the Chipmunks and boy, was it boring (Guess when they said it was 4 kids, they really meant it). But Char makes for good company...We can talk about almost anything under the sun, from school stuff to clothes to food and more food...

Before the movie started, we headed to Armani Exchange to c if we could exploit their year-end sale...But Char couldnt get the right size for her berms and i didnt exactly like the clothes...Also, i got stuck in the changing room...The door lock was located on top of the dressing room door and had to be gripped in your palm and pulled left and right to unlock and lock respectively but i had no idea...I mean how is one supposed to know how to work such an unconventional locking mechanism?!?!? In the end i had to call Char from inside to ask her how to get out and by the time i did, people were not-so-secretly laughing at my predicament...They muz have seen my hand trying to work the stupid lock and my dressing room door shaking with increasing ferocity as i did so...Dam!!! So embarrassing!!!

After the movie, we went to Meridien food court to eat...Char ate a large slice of pizza, 5 nuggets and proceeded to buy 12 glazed doughnuts to munch on...She was still gg home for dinner after that some more...Small girl, big BIG appetite...You know what they say: never judge a book by its cover...

Cycling with Crustacean

2007-12-21T04:15:00.000+08:00

Crustacean's back from Indo! She came back alone so I took pity on her and decided to invite her to my place for dinner. I knew that if her mum wasnt home to cook for her she would have no choice but to microwave sardines and eat cup-a-noodles instead. Of course she wont admit to it...She even smsed me saying "Dun underestimate my culinary skills! its not that bad, mayb abt 5-star hotel standard or better", but we know better. Poor Vancouver gang who had to be force fed her cooking (microwaved tuna and bread) for 1 whole sem...I pity them...

Got to her place at about 5pm and we cycled from opera estate down ecp where we came across this dingy underpass that supposedly leads to bedok reservior park or something...Christine was grumbling on and on about being bored with her life so i took the opportunity to challenge her to go and explore where the underpass leads to...We found out that it leads to the back of Bedok Guards Camp and out to Bedok eventually, and decided to stop by this hawker centre for a drink. There Christine tried to spit ice thru her straw at me but becos she was so slow in doin it, the ice in her straw melted and she practically spat water and saliva all over my shirt and pants...The things i haf to endure...Then we began our journey back...

By that time i had to stand and cycle cos my ass and balls were sore from the hard, uncomfortable bicycle seat...But we made it back eventually...We din manage to take any photos of our cycling trip though cos we were afraid it mite pour but here are some photos taken at her place and mine:

These were taken at her place...Christine was grumbling that she din look good in any of the photos so i told her to pose properly...I din expect her to lie on the sofa like that though...Act cute, act sexy only...

These were taken at my place...And although she said she was on a diet...She ate and ate...Pouring the fattening coconut-milk-rich fish head curry gravy all over her rice...I think she was very grateful that she din have to eat grass from her garden and microwaved tuna that nite...

Ok that's it for now...Have to get gg to Orchard now...

Army Buds Outing!!!

2007-12-20T04:03:00.000+08:00

So went out last nite with 4 of my Army buds to catch dinner and watch The Golden Compass. It was quite a sad turn out cos some of them have already started work and dun haf the time to meet up on weekdays...Not to mention, some are already attached and so have re-prioritized their commitments...u know who u are hahaha...Admittedly, there were quite a few silences bordering on akwardness especially since we hafnt met up for about half a year...I think it reached the point where when one asks "how are you?" or "what haf u been up to?" there's just too much to say, too much ground to cover that you end up saying "nothing much" or "ok". I realli wanted to kick myself for not having bot tix to the earlier 8:30pm show...Cos we had run out of things to say by 8:20 and had a good 40 minutes to spare...So i suggested gg to Music Junction to kill some time...

That said, i truly missed those guys...We had been through so much together and it was good just feeling their presence and being there with them. I think i was extremely fortunate to have them as army mates cos all of them are very amiable and humble people with no airs or attitude about them...Needless to say, it was easy getting along with them...I believe that when you live or have lived with certain others for some time, there will always be this special bond between you and them that is not the same as with other frenships that you may have...The reason is simple...When you live with others, all the different types of "pattern" one may have, will almost definitely come out and you have to learn to live with each other and accept them for who they are...And it is this kind of acceptance that is difficult to replicate in other frenships since usually, in the relatively shorter amount of time spent with other frens, one tends to "accomodate" and converge towards an identity that they think is consonant with the group identity rather than being themselves.

Anyway, the movie was actualli quite good..I say "actualli" cos the way Yiding put it, it seemed like it was gonna be quite a bore...But it wasnt..It was fun, engaging and fantastical, and i enjoyed it (So much better than Eragon and Narnia)...Next on my list: I am Legend, Alvin and the Chipmunks and National Treasure...

Photos:

Piece of Midnite Heaven

2007-12-20T03:15:00.000+08:00

Love taking the late bus home alone...When there's no one around, the air-con blasting and soft, mellow music playing in my ears...That was exactly what happened last nite after catching The Golden Compass with my army buds...Went up bus 36, sat down, put on a sweater and gazed outside the window at the lonely city lights as Rachael Yamagata cooed softly from my MP4 player...Just me and my music and a blank slate of thots bordering on sleepy time...A feeling of untouchability...As if nothing, not even my conscience, could touch me and threaten to pervade this solitude...I think i know wat it was...It was a feeling of freedom-a liberation from everything and everyone (including myself) for a good 20 minutes or so...A respite from the world and all its encompassings in that moving four-walled closet...

And then i got off and life began again...

Mitch's Birthday!!!

2007-12-17T15:00:00.000+08:00

2day was my church's community service day and boy, did it bring out the ugly side of some Singaporeans...Just mention the word "free" and they're there like bees to honey...Wait a minute...Shouldnt it be bees to flowers? Anyway, this guy some how managed to find like 18 coupons for free cornetto ice-cream and he took away 18 cones at one go...I mean like have some dignity please...Doesn't mean buffet only that you can take the entire tray away from the buffet table rite...

Overall though, it was pretty fun...I helped out at the water dunking game station where hitting a red target successfully would result in a church member being dunked into a pool of water...But that to me wasnt exactly the fun part...It was marshalling people around, giving out prizes and stuff that i loved...What can i say...I just love organizing stuff...

Then it was off to Mitch's birthday party. Mitch (Pet name for Michelle Kwok Lui Yu) is my childhood fren cos our mums are more or less childhood frens too and we grew up together in Bedok Court condominium...We used to cycle, blade and watch movies together and i remember there was once my sister was "tong-panging" Mitch on her bike when she fell, cosing Mitchie Kwokie to scrap her knees...Then there was that trip to Cameron Highlands when Mitch was very little and she would hold up a book and pretend to read it...We knew she was only pretending cos she would say out loud "A-peas-a-cos-a-peas-a-cos" which made absolute zero sense.

At the party at her place, i managed to see her brother Daniel whom i haf not seen for about 4 years...It was strange cos when i actually met him face to face and said hi he totally ignored me and looked around me at my mum instead...I haf no idea wat to make of that but the last time i remembered i dun recall havin done anything to offend him...Actualli, i'm more pissed off then anything cos i resent being treated like i'm invisible...I'm kinda kickin myself 4 not having said something like "HI!!! I'M SHAUN, REMEMBER?!" Or maybe that was it...Maybe he genuinely forgot...I dun know but i just need to get this out of my system.

Mitch makes a mean apple crumble pie...I din take a photo of it though but it was good...That said, i was very bored. I knew the people there but they were more or less doin they're own thing. Watching tv in a room, reading newspaper etc. And the birthday girl was so busy baking that she din haf time to sit down and interact with her guests...Classic Mary and Martha case. Anyhow, i just wanna wish Mitch a very happy birthday! Hope this coming year will be a God-blessed one for you and that you will continue to walk close to Him always...Happy 22nd Birthday!

NUSSU Colours Awards

2007-12-17T03:36:00.000+08:00

Ok, so y'day went to church to help out with the logistics...And after shifting tables and chairs for about an hour, we were made to tie balloons together. TIE BALLOONS?!?! Darn! I HATE balloons! You never know when they're gonna pop in your face...So anyway after trying unsuccessfully for about half an hr (in which time i only managed to tie 4), i gave up...Tying balloons just isnt my thing...By the time i got home, it was nearly 6 and i was supposed to be at the ceremony at 6! Wat was worse was that i had a red left eye cos some wood shavings from the tables we were shifting had been blown into it by the wind and i was sure as hell NOT gg to go to the awards thingy in specs...I was pretty pissed off with God at that moment...Everytime i try to do something good, it always seems to work out for the worse (for me) eventually...And i sorta ranted at Him...It was something like, "Wah lau God! Why is it that everytime blah blah blah...You better fix this...*whine whine whine*..." I know, i know, very childish, and there are a million things worse than a red eye...But at that time, it was significant ok...However, amazingly, by the time i reached Bukit Timah Campus at 7, my eye was no longer red and the dinner had not yet begun. In fact, i was early! So God does listen after all! I think He must have been like "Ok, just shut up and go and i'll take care of it" or something.

The dinner was actualli pretty good...I wasnt expecting much to be honest...And we just got certs of merit in the end (There were actualli a lot of 'winners'...Not so great anymore i guess). But the food was quite good and i ate a lot, the old campus was beautiful in a rustic, 'old-charm' kind of way, and we got our photo taken by a professional photographer. That, i thot was ingenious...Cos she had the 5 of us from HOOKED positioned nicely on some sofas and the photos were printed on the spot for us to keep...Good job NUSSU! Also, managed to catch up with shawn, sinnie, zhao xiu and 'this-Malay-gal-whom-i-cant-remember-wat-her-name-is', and that was good too. Actualli, i dun feel much for HOOKED. It's not like one of those societies that you get very involved in nor is it one which requires you to meet up and work with each other constantly. But that doesnt mean that there isnt any nice people in it. I'm very glad to have met karina, shawn, zhao xiu, sinnie, shu zhen etc. And i was surprised by Sinnie cos she always struck me as an introvert and today she's HOOKED's new chief editor!!! I was particularly impressed when we had HOOKED's 1st awards ceremony at my place, and she was the only one who asked if i needed any help cleaning up after everything had ended...I always take note of these little things that people do...Even if it may not eventually translate into actual action...At the very least, it shows consideration and that's impt to me. So anyway, i had a good time and i want to thank shawn for filling up the application forms for this award thingy and also to congratulate him for winning an actual award for himself for his article on 'the leak'.

Kim's Birthday!!!

2007-12-16T02:40:00.000+08:00

Last nite, went to Char's house to celebrate Kim's birthday. The theme was "Fictional character" and we had to dress up...again! I hate these themed parties i tell you...I tried to get away with not dressing up by telling them i was gg as myself ala prince charming but they laughed real hard...Crazy...dun know wat they were laughing about...very funny meh? But good thing there was lin yen and i re-used the wizard costume i wore to jul's party. Anyway, the party was not bad...They had a mini choco fountain set up and i just set there stuffing my faced with choco-coated marshmallows for a good while...

Today, will be heading down to church to help settle some logistics for tomorrow's community service day carnival...Then will be rushing off to NUS bukit timah campus for the NUS Colours Awards ceremony. HOOKED, of which i was copy-editor of, won an award and we would be having a dinner and prize giving ceremony in honour of our greatness...Shaun, you really are the best, talented, good-looking and smart...What more can a guy ask for? Hahahahahaha...

Meet up with Mr.Z

2007-12-15T01:01:00.000+08:00

Mr Z. is actually Zhiqian...I call him Mr.Z cos as u know my mandarin sux and i haf problems getting the han yu ping yin rite at times...Also i used to listen to this Christian tape on Bible stories when i was really young and there was this reader who called Zacheaus (clearly wrong spelling please refer to your bibles), the infamous tax collector. Mr.Z. So anyway, if u all din know, Mr.Z was my secondary 3 and 4 classmate. In sec.2, i did well enough to go to a triple science class and when i was transferred over to sec 3B from sec 2D, i din know anyone there. What was worse was that most of the sec 3B people already knew each other (as most were from the same sec 2 class) so cliques were already formed and this made it harder to penetrate groups and forge new friendships. Mr Z. however, was probably the only one who bothered to get to know me and to sorta bring me into his clique of frens. And it is for that that i am very grateful to him. Otherwise, i may not have known anyone back then.

So i met Mr.Z and Zhiren (also very Victoria School) at PS y'day for dinner. We ate at pasta mania before gg to Cartel for dessert. Wah! Mr.Z and Zhiren can really eat man!!! And i thot I ate a lot. Mr Z. ate pizza (not shared mind you), soup, garlic bread and a waffle (about whole) in all. Here are 2 photos:

The one above is Zhiren, the one below is Mr.Z. Glad to have met them. Mr.Z seemed so stressed out. I'm realli glad that i chose not to do a thesis or i'll prob be as busy as he is with his fyp now.

Before meeting them, i managed to do my Christmas shopping. Bot most of the stuff i intended to buy for people...and now am super broke! I decided NOT to look at my bank account from now on till after CNY when things should be a little more encouraging than it is currently. Is it realli better to give than to receive? No. But it still feels good to give anyhow...

Mum's Birthday

2007-12-14T15:22:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was me mama's birthday...Yup, same day as Char's...We went to vivo for lunch and to shop and i can proudly say that i din buy anything...haha...I nearly bot a tee from river island but as usual the tee was too short...that's the problem with being tall, shirts and pants are always too short...anyway, i juz wanna wish me mama a very happy birthday!!! Hope this year would be a healthy, happy and blessed year for you!

Some photos of my mum's birthday dinner:

We went to this realli nice restaurant called Foster's at Holland Village. The ambience was incredibly cosy and the food was superb though abit ex, and it was a great dinner all in all...

Char char's B'day!

2007-12-13T04:00:00.000+08:00

We had a real mini b'day celebration for char as a prelude to the big one on friday at wan tsin's place...It was nice cos i hadnt seen then since the sem break and it was small but intimate celebration...Bot Char the Dead or Alive dvd which we had planned to catch together for a long time now but never got down to it...And it was real funny trying to get her cake prepared while she went to the toilet...We couldnt find the candles, nor the matches to light them and by the time we did, char was already out haha...Here are some photos:We played this game called 'Gift Trap' which involves giving people and getting from people the right gifts in order to move your token foward...But as you can see, both me and kim lost a round and 2 rounds respectively...Then we played jungle speed which Char lost twice, hence her red and yellow sticker...We did some table swimming afterwards and i burst out laughing when Kim wanted to ask "Anybody want?" as she threw out a tile but ended up saying "Anywan Body?" instead...

Happy Birthday Char!!!

Fake Scare

2007-12-13T03:22:00.000+08:00

I was talking to some frens on MSN when my screen started scrolling down by itself...When i tried to scroll back up, it simply moved back down again...Then i tried to go to control panel to try and troubleshoot but when i clicked on 'start' the highlight (whenever you put your cursor over a selection and it highlights it) just kept moving down pass 'internet explorer', pass 'my computer', pass 'search' etc. over and over again in a very rapid fashion. I thot 'die lar...got virus liao'...and started running some tests to try to find out...But everything seemed ok leh...That realli got me puzzled...So i thot it muz have been the recent MSN upgrade i downloaded a few days ago...So i uninstalled all my MSN applications including the one in Windows configuration hoping that it would go away but to no avail. In fact, doing the latter was a real stupid move, cos now my internet explorer disappeared from my computer altogether and i could not access the net at all...Lesson learnt: when they say dun change anything in windows configuration, DUN CHANGE ANYTHING. I checked the mouse...but nope...that wasnt it...and everything else i could think of...and for a good 3 days i cracked my head tryin to figure out what was wrong...Then it dawned on me this morning that maybe it was the keyboard...and whaddya know....IT WAS THE FREAKING KEYBOARD!!! Oh well, at least now the problem's solved and it wasnt some virus or hacker...

Doing some serious couch rotting...

2007-12-11T15:00:00.000+08:00

Ok...I hafnt bathed the whole day...I meant to do it after my afternoon run but the rain wouldnt let up...So it was like 4pm and i told myself i'd wait an hour for it to stop but it didnt...Then i told myself i'd wait another and it still din stop so whaddya know...I ended up doing some serious couch rotting that i had meant to do for a long time now...I deserve this...This lazying around with some nonsense playing on TV and the rain falling outside...This guiltless indulgence of nothingness that is such a bloody simple pleasure but which we, as busy Singaporeans, are disgustingly deprived of...My mum was about to ask me to clear my room...I din exactly hear it but i could sense it comin when she walked out of my room holding two clothes hangers in her hands...I only heard "Shaun, can you..." and i covered my ears singing "OH WHAT A BEEAAUUUTIFUUUULLL MOOOORRRNIIIINNNGG!!!" Then during lunch, my dad was like "Shaun, this afternoon let's fix Char's (my sis) display cupboard...It would be our project during the hols". I really REALLY resent that...REALLY!!! I mean it's as if i din have enuff projects to do during school term and he just had to add some to the hols to fill it up as well. And it's not like i wun help him fix it but do we really have to do this just 3 days after the end of my exams? Why is Singaporean culture like that? Why izit that people are terrified at the prospect of having nothing to do or of others doin nothing for that matter? I just dun get it...I worked hard for this break and i intend to do with it whatever i choose to even if it means not bathing for a whole day...

Decisions decisions...

2007-12-11T04:20:00.000+08:00

I was horrified to hear that the pre-allocation exercise was on and that i only had a few days left to do it...SHIT!!! And i was hoping to take my mind off all school-related activities for the next few weeks!!! So anyway, am left wondering if psycho-ling is a good choice or not...cos after taking a lot of socio-ling modules like LIP, am beginning to really enjoy these kinds of mods though they're harder to do well in...And psycho-ling suddenly sounds very technical and boring to me...Think i'll prob. do 1. Cinematic discourse 2. Lang, society and identity 3. Lang, gender and text. Oh well...c how lar...

So these were some photos taken at Jul's b'day party last month...We were supposed to come dressed up in costumes and it was a really good thing that always-ready lin yen had some cos i hate themed birthday parties and costumes for that matter...so mah-fan and most certainly NOT fun when its 30 degrees out...And it was an even better thing that i got the wizard costume rather than the superman one...poor ching yong hahahaha...he was sweating like crazy as his costume required him to actually wear it as opposed to just draping it over his shoulders like mine (cos mine consisted of just a cape)...Jul's (e b'day gal) din even come dressed up...She wore an artist's hat and that was it..mite as well have held a pencil in one hand and come as an NUS student instead...Tsk tsk...

Nothing much gg on today, supposed to catch Enchanted with Linnet but she go fly kite last minute...Stupid gal...Ur treat this thurs...

PAAARRRRTTTTYYYY!!!!

2007-12-09T01:15:00.000+08:00

It's finally over!!! Still hasnt quite sunk in yet...I woke up this morning thinking about what i was going to study today when i remembered that the exams were over...The feeling of liberation and relief was incredible! Definitely NOT overrated...Yet...

And yesterday ended on quite a high note...I thot i did a satisfactory job on the lexi exam which was surprisingly difficult. Of all the numerous concepts Ooi had to choose to come out for the compulsory question, he had to pick some obscure one that is not even a concept and was not even in the notes and readings. For a good 10 minutes i sorta panicked, flipping through my notes hoping to find something on the stupid database called WordNet but to no avail. Thankfully, God gave me some insights and i managed to write about 5 pages worth of stuff for it.

After everything was over, i headed down to Temasek Hall to change into some hipper clothes to go shopping and meet frens for dinner. I always use their toilet after exams to change...always...I have a set of "exam clothes" which comprises of plain v-neck t-shirts and jeans cos they're the most comfortable but which are not 'hip' enuff to hit town. Then i was on my way to Marina Square.

My cell group was supposed to mit at prego but the reservation got cancelled (long story) and we eventually decided to eat at Swensen's instead. While waiting to mit them, i commenced operation shop till i drop phase 1. Bot a pair of black berms from Quiksilver which i've been eyeing (Berms for tall guys like me r really hard to find cos most are always above the knees and become shorts instead) and a singlet from Reef. Then suddenly, got hit by stomach cramps...the go toilet and shit also no use kind...That realli scared me cos that was exactly how i felt before i had food poisioning some few months ago...And of all the sicknesses, i realli hate stomach-related ones the worst! I rather have a cold or a fever, but puking and feeling sick in the gut realli takes the cake...

It was quite bad. But i stayed on...I mean i refuse to fall sick on the 1st day of my hols!!! So i went to mit my cell for dinner, grimacing throughout and acting as if everything was a-ok. And guess what...After i got some food in that rum-tum-tum of mine, the stupid cramps stopped...guess i was just hungry...But still quite worrying though cos i've been feeling bloated since sunday...and i hope yesterday's incident was a random one and not a sign of something bad...

Anyway...Did i mention? I'm realli glad the exams are over! Will be heading to Orchard to shop and catch the Kingdom starring my fav actress jennifer garner w my sis today. Then monday will be catching enchanted with Linnet, Tues will be playing board games at char's and wed will be celebrating my mum's b'day! OOOOO yeah!

THE haircut

2007-12-07T11:45:00.000+08:00

On the day of the LIP exam, Cheryl took one look at me and exclaimed in all her sleepy-eyed earnest-ness "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR?!?!?!" And that was when i knew i had to cut it...Stella chipped in by saying that i looked like one of those british soldiers wearing one of those tall black hats ala the Nutcracker...And i was like "OK OK I'm cutting it tmr". So i did. But so far both my dad and sis think that i haven't cut it so there clearly hasnt been much of a change apart from the fact that it looks slightly thinner. In a way tt's good cos i want it long and i told my hairdresser, who has a propensity to go scissor-happy, repeatedly that i wanted to keep the length. Hell, i even brought a photo of this guy from the Taiwanese boy-band Faranhiet (Or watever its spelt) to make sure that he gets it rite...I look better with long hair no? I mean i know i look good whatever hairstyle i haf but i do think i look better with slightly longer hair...rite?

Anyway, i really can't wait for the exams to be over tmr...It's probably been the most relaxed sem for me but exams will still be exams and i hate it all the same...Cant wait...Realli can't wait...Hope i can sleep tonite...

2007-12-06T13:43:00.000+08:00

Living a life of need is not a life worth living at all...

The case of the slipping pants!

2007-12-05T15:12:00.000+08:00

Today, i wanted to try wearing my jeans a bit lower at the hips..Act cool mah...XXX...bad move...As i was walking to Kent Ridge hall from the carpark to sit for the exams, i could feel my jeans slowly but surely slipping lower and lower off my waist...I really dun know how some guys can wear their jeans so low that their undies show...Do they sew it to their underwear which is in turn glued to their skin or wat? (I need to attend "How to wear your pants low-low without it slipping off" 1101E i tell you) Anyway, i stole a secret pull on the way to the hall (the stupid carpark was so far away) but still not good enough. Upon arriving at KRH, i was about to rush to the toilet to readjust my belt when Hannah stopped me to pass me a book she had bought for me on Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. I quickly thanked her and was about to make my way to the toilet again when Claudia came. She asked me if i had brot our superbly written and skilfully argued project and wanted to know what Lazaar had said. All these while my jeans was slipping down lower and lower (and i cudnt steal a pull with so many people watchin). I rattled off some comments about our project being wonderful and well-written and seeing claudia's satisfied face, quickly excused myself to the loo. FINALLY!!!

When the exam started however, i realized that this time, i had made my belt too tight such that whenever i leant 4ward to write, the belt buckle pressed against my bladder..Win aleady...In 15 minutes i was out of the exam hall to pee...Waste time only...

I wun say the paper was good..In fact it was quite tough...While the issues the exam dealt with were certainly not alien to the course, it was the way she framed them in her questions that really made it shit. You know, sneaky details like "To what extent is power negotiated" which in a moment of anxiety can easily be glossed over as "How is power negotiated" especially since the latter is so much easier to answer...I wrote really little...6 pages for 2 and a half questions to be exact. In fact 1(b) was only half a page long and that worries me. I really hate exams that require you to apply what you learn...I just havent mastered the ability to think on the spot and organize my thots and translate them into words in a short amt of time...But i told myself that i would at least try by avoiding regurgitation of stuff that i memorized and it is on this point then that i would say that the paper went ok. Hope it turns out as ok as i think it did though...We'll just have to wait and see whether regurgitation (hope i'm spelling this rite) or my attempts at application is a better approach to tackling exam questions especially for such modules...

Random Photos

2007-12-01T16:30:00.000+08:00

Feeling Thankful

2007-11-30T06:30:00.000+08:00

I just wanna thank some frens of mine for their always being there for me and supporting me behind the scenes these few months, and for some, these few years. First, a BIG thanks to my sister's fren Linnet, who is also now my fren and cell group leader, for her unending patience and understanding towards me..I've been skipping cell group regularly to study but she never once did confront me or judge me for it...When she sees me its usually "When are your exams?" or "How's it gg?" or "let me pray for you" and that really encourages me.

Another person is Crustacean, who always makes me laugh thru the smses she sends me but through which i can also sense a genuine concern. Thanks for all your encouraging and assuring smses, i really appreciate them...

Then there are people like Stella and my primary school fren Qian Ling, who sent out smses before the exams to tell everyone to "jia you!". I think if there's something to be learnt from all these pple is that frenships need not only time to develop but effort as well. And it doesn't have to be effortful in a big, time-consuming kind of way...Just a small sms here and an email there can go a really long way...And this is something i think i really need to inculcate and learn. So thanks peeps! Also a shout-out to Zhiqian, my long-time secondary school fren, who always makes effort to catch-up with me...I admit that i've neglected our frenship and i really want to apologize...I resolve to make more effort and to not let our frenship fade...

Finally, the dragon boat tragedy in Cambodia has made me so much more aware and conscious of my own mortality, given that those guys were around my age. Life is so fragile and it is an illusion to think that just because we are young, we are invincible. In other words, try to live life to the fullest and try not to take things for granted...Easier said then done sometimes but it is at least good to recognize that being alive is in itself in many ways a blessing. If you think about it, there's really a lot to be thankful for...Waking up to a brand new day, having your loved ones around you, having good health and being able-bodied, being able to taste and enjoy good FOOD! etc...

Thanks for exams too! No? NOOOOOOOO!!!! That's one thing you never need to be thankful for...Good riddance on the comin 7th hahaha...

Kicking myself...1st paper was bad!

2007-11-29T06:27:00.000+08:00

So today was the day my exams started...Slept badly last nite, was real tempted to call Crustacean who was mean enuff to tell me to listen to her phone ringing in order to fall asleep i.e. she's not gonna pick up...Then, i made the mistake of not visiting the toilet before the exam even though i had the time to and i had to go within 5 minutes that the paper commenced. 5 MINUTES!!! The air-con in SHEARE's-freakin-cold-HALL was blasting like it was 17 degrees...I mean, please...we know Christmas is comin but we're in the middle of a freakin exam!!! Whoever set the temperature of that place ought to be shipped to Antartica. Then the girl in front of me kept flashing me her grandmother undies whenever she leant foward to write. Please girls...unless you have a nice bod and undies to complement pls pls pls DUN ever wear a tee that's too short for you...Needless to say, it was very very distracting in a bad way.

I think i answered the 1st question ok...But the 2nd question was like ???
It had to do with how english in SEA needs to be taught in terms of multilingual goals and local contexts and not as a dichotomy between English and local languages...And we were supposed to say if we agreed with this solution and why...I said that i agree with the position that ELT in SEA needs to be grounded in local contexts but disagreed with the implication that a dichotomy is necessarily a bad thing.

It was only during lunch that it hit me what this question was really about. It was about glocal english education and how we should be looking at teaching an english that is intertwined with local languages since english is no longer just a western imposition but a locally adopted and adapted language. Wah!!! I really wanted to kick myself man!!! KENA SAI!!! !@#&^%(*)!! You know, the frustration at knowing that you could have done better is absolutely killin me now...I thot i could score on this module...but with a bloddy b- on the group project and now this, the most i can hope for is a B+.

The only saving grace today was my LIP project and presentation grade with claudia. We got a nice A on the former and an A+ on the latter...That was really satisfying...So i went to Orchard to kinda celebrate and take a break from work...But the thot of the stupid question 2 just kept on bugging me and i lost all urges to shop...So i'm writing this post now to try and get it out of my system...

Had the chance to sample PJ Harvey's White Chalk album...In the past i would have bot it straight away but recently i find that my taste in music has been shifting quite radically over the past few months...I dare say it's a reflection of the kind of state i'm in. I think i'm a much happier and contented person now than before and so i no longer dig as much, the dark brooding self-piteous music of some artistes. I'm actualli quite into good ol' top-ten kind of music these days...and this surprises me cos i used to realli hate bubble-gum pop.

Man, i realli hate exams...

Studying sucks...work sucks more!!!

2007-11-23T21:19:00.000+08:00

My mum was telling me about my friend Joy whom she is mentoring, working from 9am to 10:30pm at Citibank...the norm it seems...On good days she gets off at 8:30pm...Absolute madness!!! And she isn't the first one i heard working their asses off and their youth away...But people think its normal...In fact some think that we are young, in our prime and that this- working our youth away- is exactly what we should be doing...Personally, i dun see the logic in that...We're young, we're alive and energetic but we coop our bodies up in air-conditioned shit-holes for the good of some elusive abstraction called "the company"...Down with working hours that pass 5pm i say!!! We're in our prime...We should be enjoying life when we can enjoy it to the fullest...NOT when we are old, frail and unable to do things we could do but would not in our youth!!!

Actually, i used to prioritize money over everything else...I would see a sports car drive by and tell myself that i would be driving that before i hit 35...But not anymore! My priorities have changed...I would rather a relatively low paying job (Not too low haha) but one which allows me time to myself...Time to live life and breathe...Time so i can do other things in life...In fact, and contrary to many people's belief, i'm trying to practice this now..By not letting studies be my everything...To not let it be the centre of my universe where everything else revolves around it and i have to fit things in accordance with it...Bottomline, there's definitely more to life than work and studies...

Life in Singapore is shit...No? I can see why people migrate to Australia...There the shops close at 5pm sharp and everyone can go home and have dinner with their families and spend time with frens...Ok, enuff ranting about shitty work and study life in Singapore...More photos pronto:

Kena abused by that crustacean (1st photo) despite organizing her b'day party...Last two photos were taken in a more recent outing to the movies...We watched Bee movie and the 3 of us had to share a couple seat...I ended up sitting on the arm rest (so self-sacrificial--> i m sucha gd fren!) but the tix were free so...The last photo, we were in NYDC and crustacean was gg to smash the mug against Yingzhi who was complaining about scars on her flawless complexion...That crustacean is a really violent person...She needs psychiatric help i tell you...