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

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...

tired and unfulfilled

Bowling with the 'Incestuous Lesbian Sisters'

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!!!

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!!!

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!

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!!!

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...