It ain't a merry x'mas for me...

Received my exam results a few days back. Felt really depressed for a couple of days. This is one of my most "hardworking" semester, but the results i have got doesn't commensurate the amount of effort, sacrifice and time i have devoted to my studies. Kinda spins me off my track, cos i have always tot that if i have put in more effort into my studies i would naturally get better results. Now i have been proven wrong.

Law of diminishing returns: if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain point

I’m fearing the worst that I might not get a 2nd upper Honours after so much effort, cos my results for this semester just warrants a bottom 2nd lower… The only consolation is that the system that I used to calculate this is not applicable to my batch, so there is still some respite and leeway I can work on.


A brief recap on the stuff that I have done during this short ‘holidays’ :

FYP…. (super sianz already, really no life doing this every day n night)
Went for TMS 25th anniversary dinner (nice catching up with teachers n old frens)
Completed my 3rd SC Marathon. (still recovering from a creaky knee now…)
Played my last 2 Sepak Takraw game for Hall 15.
Had a BBQ and Camp at East Coast Park with dear!
Rejoined Titans after some consideration…

On rejoining Titans:
I was pretty disappointed with the players’ commitment to Titans last year. I was willing to make the effort to travel from Tampines back to NTU for every training. But to see only abt 3 or 4 players present for every training really puts me off. The fact that we were almost not able to field a playing team (no reserves or subs!) on match day really pissed me off. So I wasn’t really keen in returning to the team this year, unless I see proper attendance and commitment in the training sessions.
Call it coincidence or whatever u want, but somehow I would always have something on everytime when I wanted to go to the field to check the team. Until last week when I finally found the time to go down by cutting back on my FYP hours.
I’m not sure whether I mistaken or wat, but the attendance on the session when I first returned was unbelievable. However, the subsequent training on Monday had only 6 players around doing nothing much.
Hopefully we’ll get better commitment next training. Our first match day is on the coming Friday. Praying hard that nothing cocks up.

My thoughts for Sepak Takraw:
Been playing this sport every year since I joined Hall 15. one of the primary reason that I liked this sport more is that nobody is really proficient in this game until that it was quite a level playing field, so unlike soccer, one doesn’t need many years of experience to pick this up. With some efforts, I managed to develop quite some decent skills. However, it will always be a regret of mine not to have won any regu in my time. I admit i wasn’t good enough in my 1st 2 years, but I’m sure I could have won some matches in my senior years had I have had more dedicated team mates. There’s only so many points I can score or save individually. But if the ball doesn’t come to me, there’s nothing much I can do about it.
Oh well, not that its going to haunt me for life anyway. Retirement from sepak takraw for me…

Finally I’ll going for a holiday in Malaysia this coming weekend with dad, mum and dear. We’ll be spending X’mas eve at KL and x’mas day at Genting. It’s the first time I’ll be spending my x’mas out of sg. Think it will be nice!

Exams

Exams from 2 to 21 nov. Won't be updating in this period.

Interesting quote: The higher your expectations, the greater the disappointment when it fails.

My words: no expectations = no disappointment!
But its really tough to exercise this in exams... i always set high standards for myself

Off to "maintain" the high standards...

Chicken Pox...

I’m really unlucky! Down with chicken pox at this critical period. Exams are going to come in 24 days time and I’m stuck at home. Why can’t the stupid virus choose a better timing.. Must have caught it from some bugger in NTU who is sick and still went about in school. Damned. Curse him/her get constipation and cannot shit forever.

Burnt about $200 to buy the strong medication which will let me recover faster. Really expensive. But no choice since exams are so close. Half of my IPPT money is gone. Crap.

My temperature keeps going up n down like yo-yo. Sometimes I feel very cold, sometimes I feel very hot. Highest recorded temperature is 39.3!

Luckily for the past few days my dear has been taking good care of me. Wet toweling me when my temperature goes up. Helping me get all my stuff when I’m too sick to go about. Buying all those food and fruits for me to get well faster. Accompanying me to the doctor. There’s too many to state! My dear is so nice to me! I love shan!

Xiao Pang passed away...

One of my hamsters, Xiao Pang, just passed away this morning. So sad...
Think this is the first time i cried over the passing away of my pet hamster. Had a lot of hamsters in the past, but it was always just foul mood for a short period and no tears.
I doted a lot on Xiao Pang, and since he was shan's pet, it felt even worse.

Buried him in the garden outside my room.

Hope he is leading a better life now up there.

Haiz, I always get too emotional over animals...

Wishing Francis n Sis eternal Bliss!!!!

Today is my Sis’s Engagement Day!!!!

She looked so beautiful in her gown. I still can recall the days when we were all still small and fighting with each other over petty stuff, and boy, she’s getting married today. Time really flies. She looked so happy during the ceremony and even more so after it. Wish Francis and her will be forever in Bliss!! Looking forward to her traditional wedding! I'm sure it will be fun!

Term break really flies by when u really needed it. It seems like I din do as much as I would like to. Plenty of projects and assignments to do, and I’m still not quite done with some of them yet.

Gotta step up a gear now, must be on par or ahead of the class progress. And quickly depose off all the projects. Must score straight A’s this sem!

Just took my IPPT on Saturday. Gold again! Ha ha. I dun expect anything lesser than that anyway. Actually I can feel that I’m not as fit as in my prime years, and I’m taking longer to recover from the exertions (actually its more of due to insufficient time to warm up). Whatever. Still got 2 more IPPT in CAT X before I can get an easier timing! Dun you guys think that life hits the expressway once u go beyond 21?

Strange day

I had started to stay-in, but since dear’s mum was in hospital, its only right that I should pay a visit. So I had planned to visit dear’s mum and go home today.

My family was going to have a dinner with De Bao’s family today (for those who dunno yet, De Bao will become my bro-in-law in 1 week’s time), and I wasn’t informed cos they thought I was too busy with my work in school so they left me out.

Dear n I went to the SGH to pick up her mum as she is discharged today. She had a surgery to remove her kidney stones on Wednesday. Her mum looks so happy to see me, and even more happy to leave the hospital ASAP. After having dinner with dear’s family, I parted with them to take the MRT back home.

Just as I was stopping by the video shop to watch one an old show on the tv, I checked my HP for sms and found that I had a missed call from mum, so I returned the call and mum sounded surprised and the first thing that she said was “How did you know it?” I was puzzled and din understand what’s she talking about, then she told me that they were involved in an accident, and are going to CGH. So I rushed there immediately.

After I reached CGH, I found mum in the A&E and to my relief, only dad n sis got slight impact injuries. Bro and Mum are alright. Then did I know that they were hit from the back by a taxi on the expressway in a serial accident. Luckily they did not hit any cars in front of them. Then I traced back the time line of events to discover something strange.

Mum called me at 1939 to tell me that they were having dinner with De Bao’s family (I missed that call), but I had knew that already from an earlier call. When I returned the missed call at 2040 outside the video shop, it was almost directly just after the accident had happened. That explains why mum asked me “How did you know it?”, when nobody had informed me of the accident yet. The timing of the events is so strangely coincidental.

Anyway, dad n sis had outpatient treatment and only had complaints of strains on their neck. Luckily it wasn’t a serious accident. Otherwise… scary, better dun think too much.


Am I lucky to have avoided this accident personally? Or I’m so jinxed that people around me always end up in the hospital?

Hopefully this doesn’t start off another series of me having to visit the hospital every now and then, just like 3 years ago. It feels terrible to always send/visit your loved ones/frens to/in hospital.
Well, to those who are interested, my bro’s carplate number is 3901, go buy the 4D if you want. It’s a lucky number anyway. Used to turn up in various permutations on an average of once per month or so. Go figure.

Staying in liao

Been quite a busy week

Attended the Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) preview seminar conducted by Adam Khoo on Monday. It feels pretty like some of the MLM talks I had been to b4 (I’m not in any MLM!!!) But some of the things which he said actually coincides with what I had read before in a Napoleon Hill Book. To summarize the useful stuff I had picked up from this seminar:

Set clear goals (it is ok to set goals which may sound ridiculous now)
Plan how to work towards them (its pointless to have goals without action)
Take ACTIONS!

I liked this quote: “Success is not a want, it is a MUST! Do whatever it takes!”
I dun advocate stepping on other people or doing unlawful or unethical stuff la, do whatever it takes means going out of your comfort zone to do the things that you have to do. Its good that I’m taking HRM now too. It is also emphasized “stepping out of your comfort zone” to get some of the tasks done.

Done an interview with HWA on Thursday for the HRM project. Skipped 4 periods of lessons just to conduct this interview. Luckily I managed to stun BC’s car to go there. Ha ha ha. Its so ironic in a sense that when BC was around, I never went to HWA with him, but when he’s away then I have to go there.

Will be starting my retreat from this week onwards, meaning that I will not be going home till exams are over. Anyway I feel it’s getting quite pointless to waste so much time to travel home n back when the only incentive of going home is just to see my dog. Everyone is not around most of the time. I feel so alone when I go back. Might as well feel alone but still be productive in school when I stay in over the weekends. Can’t really study well at home anyway.
No Life.

Back to Company...

Went back to Flextronics this morning for the interview I’m supposed to do for HRM. Its been about 2 mths since I last saw my colleagues. Most of them gave me the surprised look when I sneaked up on them. (it’s the 7th month now) It’s pretty fun to go back once in a while and lunch out with them.

Been pretty stagnant in fyp. Tutorials are not being done as I would prefer it to be. In short, I had been slacking. Was not quite motivated to stick to the monk lifestyle (stay in sch to study till 2300 everyday) since dear is not around to accompany me. Luckily Eric has exactly the same modules as me, and he is one of my ‘god’ frens. So mixing around more with him has actually spurred me on to put in more efforts in my studies. (to keep up with him)

Think I have grown fatter over the last few weeks. Must start to step up on the intensity of my runs. Also gotta start preparing for my IPPT. Hopefully I can retain my gold level. Ha ha

Not happy...

First week of school is over already.

I had been startled into doing some soul searching by some events lately. But there are more important things to do at hand.

Got a ‘C’ for my IA. This really throws a huge wrench into my endeavour at getting a 2nd upper. I had done my fair share of work during IA to at least warrant a ‘B’. Even my frens in the other departments have gotten ‘A’ when they had did less work than me and my EEE IA mate in my department (he got a ‘B’).

The only conclusion is that our stupid NTU tutor did the damage.

Anyway, he’s got a lousy reputation that even my bro had singled out him as the sup to avoid for FYP during FYP selection (my bro din know he was my NTU sup for IA then). Speaks volume about him huh. Dun wanna waste my time bitching on this worthless sh*t

Anyway, I din know that we can appeal against this result just like the normal exams until it was too late. So nothing can be done to remedy this now. The only thing that I can do now is to score as many A as I can in the final year. This lousy grade for IA will be my motivator.

For this semester : 7 modules
Target : 6 A (the last one being my biz minor, a min B would suffice)

Well, back to the soul searching part I was talking about earlier.

Din really enjoy myself during the FOC, but truthfully speaking, this year’s FOC is the most organized among those that I had attended so far.

I was the videoman for the camp. I dun get to mix around much with the people, partly due to my job, and the other factor being that I’m not sociable. It doesn’t really affect me that I dun have much frens sticking around with me most of the time, cause I’m pretty much a loner. But during events like camps, when u see people in groups having so much fun together, more or less it does affect me as I realize that I dun have anyone around me, and I’m not having fun. I’m an outcast.

This is something that I have to do soul searching on. In the midst of my pursuit for excellence in every tangible thing that I do, I missed out on one of the most important yet intangible thing in life. Socialising.

Humans are social creatures, that’s why civilizations are formed. To be able to survive, one must be strong. To be able to succeed, one needs more that his individual strength. And that comes in form of networking. Or simply put, you need friends to back you up in your ultimate quest. (unless it is something that can only be done by yourself alone)

I need to open up more and social more. I dun want to be the loner standing at one corner of the auditorium during convocation when everyone else are busy taking photos with their frens. I need to do soul searching.

Back from Redang!

Haven been updating my blog regularly since I finished my IA, since most of the time i spend blogging is during office hours on IA.

Anyway, a quick update on wat has happened in my life in the last few weeks

Went to KL on 18 n 19 June with Dad, Mum n shan. Pa n Ma were going there for some health talk (sounds like MLM to me, din bother to find out more) and I made it clear to Dad that I won't be joining him for the talk, so it was shopping n sight seeing for me n shan.
It was on this trip when I realised that sometimes its better to handle your holidays yourself or someone whom u know u can rely on. There was huge timing problems with Dad and his frens. We arrived 2 hours early for our departure bus trip, and arrived another 3 hours early for our return bus trip. All thanks to Dad not getting the proper timing with his frens who organised this trip. I had to waste another 2 hours running around KL just to accomodate to Dad's request.
Otherwise, the trip was pretty fun.

Lessons learnt from KL trip:

1. Always do your homework on your destination before you go there. It really HELPS a lot.
2. Never let people who dunno a shit about travelling and scheduling to liase for your transport, they will just simply burn your precious time in huge quantities, and they still think they are always correct!
3. Never travel along with people who dun have the same mentality on travel as you. Unconsensus during travel is simply a waste of time and
   spoils your mood. (those tai-tais really can drive you nuts)
   

Just came back from Redang a couple of days back. It was pretty ok too. Shan did the searching and booking of the resorts, as well as for the bus transport as well. We saved probably around SGD60 this way. Stayed at 'Redang Bay Resort', which was pretty good, compared to the Pelangi Resort we had stayed at 2 years back. Redang is still as great, just that it is sad to see those needless pollution going on, and the effects of global warming which raised the sea levels. The coastline have receded quite a bit since my last visit. The dives were pretty good. Finally got to see a sea turtle after so many dives!

2nd Last Day of IA

Tml is the last day of IA. Had a farewell lunch with my colleagues at Jack's Place. Quite a coincidence my frens and I patronized that restaurant at the start of our IA and to end the IA with a meal there as well.

Baked some cookies to give away to my colleagues as a parting gift just before I leave. Specially packed 4 small bags of cookies to give away to my mentor n sup in the 2 dept. Spent 3 nights to make the cookies. Made 2 batches of cookies on 2 nights, and the last night was spent packaging them. It was fun, but pretty tiring to bake them in small batches cos of the small oven that i used. The taste is there, but the presentation is a bit off target. Ha ha. At least not too bad for a first-time baker. Thanks to Dear for pointing out all the mistakes that i made on the 1st batch. Will try out some of the recipes in the cook books that dear had borrowed from the library. The food in the pics look good!

Will be going to KL this weekend with dad mum n Dear. It will be my first visit to KL as far as I can recall. Just a short trip to eat and shop. Sort of like a celebration to end of IA. Hopefully I can get to walk across the sky bridge on the Petronas Towers.

End of IA !!

Its the final week of IA. Its really amazing how time flies when u are not suffering (note: i din say enjoy, i just say NOT SUFFERING). Going to leave my company soon. Gotta take a few pics of the office and with my colleagues. Gonna miss some of them. I'm thinking of baking some chocolate cookies for my department. Sort of like a farewell gift. Afterall they had given me quite a bit of guidance and helped me a lot. Maybe I getting a farewell card for my mentor n sup as well.

Had an uneventful weekend. Saturday was spent rotting at home doing nothing. Basketball on Sunday was lerthargic, slow and boring. Even the trip to sentosa was no good either. Poor weather and no Ais-Kream for the eyes. Half a day of tanning on the beach din even give me a slight shade of red! The only redness that I have on my shoulders and back is from the abrasion on the sand. The only interesting thing is the sedap Green Thai curry that BC let me try at HarborFront after we left the isle. Its the first time that I tasted green curry, for I had always tot it looked yucky. Now I'm getting interested in Thai food again. Ha ha ha. But Jap food is still my fave!

Think Ah Di is having some health problems lately. The patches on his skin is getting worse, and he keeps on licking and scratching at it. The medications that i had got for him seems not to be working, or did have the chance to work on him. The bitterants I apply on his wounds to prevent him from licking does not deter him for licking at the wounds too. I really hope that its just a minor problem, for he is an old dog already, anything serious would have far fetching consequences. Gonna take him to the vet soon.

Growing Up

Was reading JS's blog a couple of days ago, when he mentioned about a basketball match we had against some other sunday basketball team, which was like during the sec sch days. Makes me reminisce about the good old times when JS, CS, Bek n me would gather every sunday to play bball then. It was nice to have such a close bunch of frens loving n doing the same things together. Now, CS is always missing, Bek has already given up playing bball. Only JS n me are still playing, infrequently. Its sort of like a reminder of how much we have grown, and have our own world now. So there's less time for each other. But their places in our hearts will never change. Meeting up less doesn't mean that we will drift apart. Though there may be lesser common topics to talk about if we are all doing different stuff. I definitely miss those days when we would always hang out together, but we have all moved on. Well, so much for Growing Up.

9 days break

Had 2 of my wisdom tooth extracted last Monday, and was ‘rewarded’ with a 5 day MC. So in total I had 9 days off from work. Shiok!

The surgery wasn’t as bad as I thought it to be. Couldn’t feel a thing after the anesthetics kicked in. The only painful part was the dentist trying to stretch my mouth. Otherwise it was a relatively simple n fast surgery. But the pain started to act when the anesthetics wore off, and I was almost down with a fever on the first night. Luckily I got better after dinner (porridge with some fish. I couldn’t chew and had to swallow directly)

Had a swollen jaw for the rest of the week, and spent most of the time at home, playing games. Ha ha. Slack all the way. Thanks to dear for taking care of me during this period. (not to forget the chicken porridge she cooked for me on Tuesday as well)

Went to JB with dear, BC, Ivy n Adrian on Friday. Spent half a day in there, shopping, buying CDs (games, music, video) and of course, EAT the cheap n nice seafood! The buttered Cray fish was heavenly

Bought a Jdorama there: Last Christmas. And oh boy it was a good show. Nice music, story and good acting too. Would recommend this to all Jap culture worshippers.

Sleepy in office...

Wrote this some time earlier in office, so its a delayed post:

Feeling quite sleepy n bored in lab, so tot i might as well write somethingjuicy for my blog to keep myself awake. Not many pple might have knownthis stuff. Perhaps only with the exception of lishan. Well, dun tink it will hurt to share. Its above my love life, which has been pretty quiet all the way till NTU.

Back in primary school, around primary 5, there was a girl named Yvonne who was said to be interested in me. I was a fat,ugly, short-tempered nerd back then,so i wondered what did she see in me. I din really take to her in the firstplace. Nonetheless, to an unpopular ugly guy, a girl interested in you is a rarity and flattering, and it is always tempting to give in, even though when one has no realinterest in the other party or not. I was tempted to get closer to her then.But as BGR is unheard of in our generation at that age, it progressed no further than the occasional childish teasing like "eeeee, she likes you lei!". She stayed at the flat facing mine on the opposite block, so we could clearly see each other when we go home. But i suppose it was just a passing puppylove/crush back then. Which I din hear of anymore since we left primary sch.What I would later get to know in sec sch is that she died in an asthma attack.Feels bad when u have a fren passing on so early in life.

Anyway, the 2nd girl on the list is Daphne, whom shan n i always refer to as"almost has been". Yes, Daph n I were an almost have been. I was in Sec 2then, she was a freshie. It was during the NPCC annual summer camp that wegot to know each other. She was in my group and I was the team leader then.I was one of the fitter guys, ok, I'm the FITTEST, in the sec 2 boys squad. So naturally I impressed many with my finesse in the games and my capability to lead the group. However, I was too focused on winning games for my team andguiding them to realise that she was interested in me. It was only i received the "best camper" award then one of the freshies told me that I had garnered quitea bit of attention. Somehow Daphne had gotten hold of my number and began to callme frequently after the camp. And we found out that we actually stayed in theopposite block, and there was a line of sight where we could see each other inour rooms. I din have any interest in her at all initially. It was until sch reopened and we got to know each others' frens then I got to know that she wasinterested in me. Then again, the unpopular guy theory I had stated above set in again.There are some other guys after her as well. Somehow there came a lot of people between us (guys after her, and girls after me; her claim, i dunno if its real or not), but we were unfazed. We were getting closerto each other all the time but somehow, at the end of Sec 2, things just did not work out and we just ended as almost have been. Guess I'm just in this just for the competition, not the girl. I quite a competitive person. So most probably I just got bored with thecompetition, and din really like her after all.

The 3rd girl is Wenxin, whom shan n i refer to as "zui mei de" (prettiest in chinese) She was in my batch in NPCC, and was EXTREMELY popular withthe guys. I started to have a crush on her since Sec 3 camp. She was pretty, fun and frenlyto speak of. I never had the courage to go after her, even though I took steps to get closerto her. It was pretty obvious to everyone that I had a crush on her. So much so that even "mum" (my form teacher) got to know about it. I had the impression that she was also kindainterested in me too, since she was quite frenly to me. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive then.Somehow we start some correspondence in Sec 4which continued all the way to JC2. She went to TJC and me, TPJC. I wanted to go to TJC allthese time, partly because of her too. But just too bad that my grades couldn't get me in.I had expected a girl like her to be able to get a BF quite quickly in JC, and not before longshe really got a BF. Not that I'm surprised but I was still pretty heartbroken that she's gone.Actually I had quite a few chances to date her before she got a BF, but I just din have theballs to do it and chickened out a few times. Cos I always felt inferior. I never really gotout of the mindset that I had back in primary school that I was undesirable, and read: unpopular guyThis is probably the reason why I would never get any girl then. I thoughtshe with such good qualities would look for a handsome, sporty and intelligent BF. But I knew I was wrong when I saw her BF. Not to backstab him but I'm just stating the facts. Her BF wasn'tgood-looking and had bad grades (we r just using a simplistic formula here, intelligent = good grades,dun flame me), but pretty sporty. Nonetheless, I was still hopeful that someday I can get togetherwith her. My crush on her lasted from Sec 3 to JC2. That's probably the reason why I din try to getany GF in JC. Not that I tot I could either. Throughout my army time, I would still occassionally think of her, for she was the only girl who had ever left such a huge impression on me back then. But it was also during my army time, then I finally realised that the the person I liked is the Wenxin in 1997, not the current person. And this managed to help me drop the idea of waiting for herand move on in life.

The first semester of my NTU life was pretty tranquil. Too focused on studies and I still looked fresh fromarmy with the nerdy black plastic specs from army and a crew cut head. It was only until yong qiang draggedme for a hair dye with him then things finally started to change and I started to attract some attention from theopposite sex. By the time exams were over, my copper red hair grew longer into a floppy style and has faded into a nice blonde color, and I made my first pair of contact lens so that I could play rugby in IHG.

The 4th girl in line is Jenny (3rd which I know to have had interest in me, put as 4th just for numbering sake)Got to know her through a canvassing job which she got for us for hall stuff at the PC fair as a sales promoter. As all my frens know, that I'm quiet with strangers, and only talk crap with close frens. Somehow the sales promoter job had forced a change in me in making me open up n be more talkative so that sales would come (n commission $ as well) When the job ended, I managed to get her number and took a photo with her with my arm on her shoulder. Thus She got to know me under that impression, that I was like one of those "buaya" from ACJC. But all that were do in the moment of fun. I din intend to call her or proceed any further than that. It was until we went back to hall, and there was once when she came over to chat with me in front of all those horny neighboursof mine. Everyone was shocked to see a "chio bu" approach me, and soon everyone was teasing me and egging me to go afterher. We progressed quickly, but soon I came to see the differences between us and realised that we aren't suitable foreach other. The person she liked is the junx during the PC Fair, the one who was outgoing, talkative and "buaya", and ofcourse, physical attraction plays a significant part too. I fitted into the 'ideal' BF description which I had set earlierin sec sch. Sporty (i was still damned fit from army), intelligent (simply speaking, good grades) and handsome (i lookedbetter then with the stylo hair n contact lens and bothered to dress up a bit). But such things cannot last for long,for i wasn't being myself during the PC Fair. I will revert back to my original bo chup mannerisms before long.She wasn't the type of girl that I liked either. I admit I was in it was largely due to peer pressure, physical attraction and the unpopular guy theory. Since i knew clearly we weren't made for each other, then I just started to drift away from her.

It was around this period when I got to know my dear better. First got to know dear when we were in the night cycling committee together but wasn't that close then cos I tot she was bryan's GF. It was also during this IHG period when bryanwas after another girl then I knew that she was single. I totthat she would make a nice GF, and was the type that I liked too. Fun, sporty, sporting and frenly! During this period, the guys would always go for late night suppers and she was always onz for supper, so I just called her to come along whenever possible, or buy back some supper for her. She liked to play video games too, and we would spend some time playingtogether as well. Some times we would eat lunch/dinner together and chat a bit online. But all this while we were just normal, close frens. When I hit the rocks with jenny, then I turned to her for some advice cos she was my only close female fren, so I tot she might give me some good counselling. (for the record, jen n me were never an item). Then somehow dear n i got closer and we started to take an interest in each other. Then its was during the CNY period when I needed some help to buy new clothings that we went to JP together as frens, and returned to hall as a couple. And we never looked back since then.

Hopefully dear will always be the final character in this story...
Mmmmmmmm, I'm fully awake now!

Finished my Final Report!

Finally finished the friggin final report that i had been putting off for so long. With the final visit of the tutor over as well, it is literally holiday now for me!

Went to the National Dental Centre last friday for a check up on my wisdom tooth. Got scheduled for the extraction on 30 may. Will be getting a 5 day MC for that, meaning i won't be reporting for working for 9 days straight! (surgery only available on mondays) Actually I feel pretty bad about this, cos my mentor has been very nice to me and I dun 1 2 play slack n shrink from my responsibility to the company. But the pain is coming back again, and I think its best to get over n done with the wisdom tooth issue ASAP. Maybe I'll just talk to my mentor to arrange n c when is the appropriate period for me to AWOL (absence WITH official leave)

Got my first choice FYP. Went to see the sup last saturday. Think its highly possible to get an A this time, since the sup is pretty nice, my partner is hardworking, and I understand most of the stuff that needs to be done. On top of it, I have capable backup staff to help me in the form of my bro n sis! Ha ha ha. Think this is a happy ending for me to the FYP saga.

A new engineer came in yesterday. And he took my place! *Hmph!* Anyway, its good that he took my place too, since it is quite 'exposed' and the monitor faces the pantry. Ha ha. Got a new nice workspace next to my mentor. No more unlimited whole day msn chats anymore, but heck! I gonna leave this place in exactly 1 month's time!

Jap Food...

Bro just left for France for 2 weeks for work. So nice to be able to fly around for work (and for free) I'm so envious! Haha.

Yesterday was mummy's day. Dear came over and helped me with the Japanese cuisine that I wanted to make for mum. Well, its been about 10 years since I last made sushi, so I almost totally forgot how to do it. Luckily those recipes can be easily found online.

Out of the 3 dishes that we prepared, the agedashi tofu turned out to be the best. Its surprising how easy it was to make this dish.

There were 3 types of sushi that we made. Unagi, Prawn Roe and Crab stick. It was during the making of this sushi then we realised that making sushi ain't as easy as it looks. It really takes a lot of skill to make nice sushi, not to mention good tools as well (a super sharp knife is damned important, no wonder the katana is renowned for its sharpness)

The tempura was a failure. Ha ha. All thanks to mum for giving me her (thai) 'tempura' powder and messing up my original recipe. Well, I was getting a bit lazy to manually make the mixture already, so I tot it would be a nice short cut to use the (thai) tempura powder. The shrimps turned out to be just like ur standard fried prawns instead of tempura ebi. Lousy. Haha. Will attempt to do it properly next time.

Now I understand why Japanese food ain't cheap. Their ingredients are damned ex. Think making this meal costs me well over $50. (but not all is spent on one meal, there are plenty of leftover condiments and talc rice). Hope mum likes it

Luckily dear was around to help me to make this. If not I dunno how long would I take to finish preparing! Thank you dear!

Home-cooked Jap Food anyone? Damned free loaders, bring your own ingredients! I ain't loaded!

Quiz to waste time

Was reading thru Terry's blog and I did the quiz on his site. Had actually wanted to do up such a quiz a long time ago, but was lazy to do so. Now I just write up a simple bo liao quiz for fun. If you got too much time to burn then go do this quiz.

Wisdom tooth...

Went to the dentist again on saturday as the toothache kept coming on n off. The registration staff was much nicer this time. Maybe mature malay ladies are much more friendlier than chinese-left-on-the-shelves-hens. Anyway, conclusion of the dental visit: I have 3 wisdom tooth and one requires extraction soon. The dentist then referred me to National Dental Centre for wisdom tooth surgery. Hmmm, maybe after the final report is submitted, then i'll go. Not too urgent anyway. But think i'll have to spend all the money i earned from part-time work on the surgery......

Made Tiramisu and chocolate pudding for dear to eat last weekend. The both had the required taste but the texture wasn't good enough. The tiramisu was a bit soggy as i din add gelatin to it. The chocolate pudding was a bit runny cos I forgot to adjust the ingredients to accomodate the reduced Tofu content. But nonetheless, I'm pretty satisfied with these results on my first try. Mum and sis were impressed by the tiramisu. Hahaha. Then I tried my hand at making the coffeebean style ice blended mocha. It turned out great. Looks and tastes almost exactly like what you would get for 6 bucks. Pretty neat huh. No more getting my money sucked dry by those money grubbers!

Been going for windsurfing the last 2 weekends. Its been so long since i last went. The last date being 8/8/04. The feeling of riding the waves is great! But weicheng gonna leave for US on 8 may for 2 months. So I had been enjoy the company for surfing while it lasts! Gonna make a tiramisu/choco pudding birthday cake for him (at his request) to celebrate his birthday b4 he leaves.

Dear is going to finish her exams soon. Finally can hang out more often with her without having to worry about sending her back to school and nagging at her to study. My final report will also be due soon, though I haven really started on it yet. (No idea how to write)

Cooking is actually pretty fun... (minus the cleaning up)

Blogpet !!

Came across a blogsite with this cute thing: blogpet. Looks pretty cool and also acts as a counter for your blog. Not that i care though, but it looks really cute. So tot I might as well change the template of my blog and add this blogpet in as well, since i'm getting a bit tired of the old template.

Been playing on the PS2 late into the night everyday since I borrowed it from Baocun last week. Haha. So typical of me to play like there's no tml. A good stress buster though. But the lack of slp seems like to have caught up with me and I'm getting dizzy spells. Time to get proper slp. Maybe lay off the games for a couple of days and revert back to my healthy activities. Hope that it doesn't rain. Haven been running for a week already!

Wanted to visit the dentist for my wisdom tooth last saturday, but the uppity registration staff was so guai lan and din let me register when i was just 5 min shy of the registration closing time. She then told me to come back on monday at 0730 and her attitude was like as if I owe her $$. Wat the heck. Why are there so many rude pple around? May she get a wisdom tooth herself too. Though dun think its really possible for that old hen!

FYP woes begone!

Finally solved the FYP partner problem, and i'm pretty satisfied with the outcomes. Din expect one of my closer EID mates to be unpaired too. Tot he probably saw my post on the bulletin board, and approached me last morning. Since we had worked together b4, and we had similar goals n interests, on top of the fact that we are on pretty good terms, we came to an agreement pretty quickly. I reckon its a good ending for this chapter.

Actually I really have to thank Ryan for helping me dispel the cynicism i had against posting on the bulletin to look for fyp partners. Was really apprehensive towards it at first, but when i learnt that he had got plenty of hits once he posted, I knew I had to do it too if not I'll just be sinking deeper by the minute.

Also thanks to Derek & Ivy too, for trying to help me by introducing frens to me. At least I know there r still some true frens around willing to take the trouble to help when the need arises.

As for the company fyp i had earlier tried to get. Courtesy of the inflexible NTU staff, it fell thru before it even got started. Anyway, think my mentor and sup are pretty nice too in a sense that they were very willing to try to help me thru this hurdle. My mentor was shocked when she heard I faced this problem, and gave me plenty of advice, and even to the extent of granting me half day off to go back to school to talk to the profs. (too bad i'm attached to other dept now, so she can't do much until i go back to her dept)

Lucky to get out of this shit fast! Now its the fight to get the project I want...

What have I done to deserve this?

FYP selection was opened on this Monday, and we are supposed to make our choices by 2nd May. This time the system is a bit different. It used to be a balloting system. But now it has become 1st come 1st serve. Not in the form of the 1st person who registers for the project would get it, but students could approach the supervisors directly and if the supervisor is willing to take them, the project would be closed for registration. Now this has caused panic, to me.

Andrew and I made an agreement before IA that we would be partners for our FYP, thus I was rejecting others early on. But yesterday (3rd day of opening for selection) when I asked him, then he told me that he had already taken up a FYP by his company with his IA fren, and forgot about our agreement.

I was like WTF! It was the 3rd day of selection, and almost everyone are already paired up, and now u fly me a fat 747? How do u expect me to get a partner now? The least u could do is to tell me earlier for me so that I can make the neccessary arrangements. And if I hadn't got hold of u and asked u about it, r u never gonna tell me that and let me wait till the world's gone by? (and it wasn't easy to contact him either; HP, msn, but no replies)

I was surprised that I din scold him or shoot any vulgarities off my mouth (ok, it was on msn). I dunno whether its because I not that short-tempered anymore, or am I just being practical. There's no point in getting mad at him for what has been done cannot be changed. It would be more useful to channel my energies into solving this problem than mourning over it.

My first course of action is to ask all potential partners but everyone was attached. I dun wan to get paired up with a China man or India man (local indians r ok, but not india). I had my fair share of free-loaders from these countries, read my first few blogs for more details. I would rather bite the bullet and carry the load all by myself than have to wipe the crap off someone else's ass.

So I asked my NTU tutor and my IA mentor whether it was possible to ask the company to raise a project for me, alone. Talks are currently still ongoing and I dunno what is the outcome, but to me this is one of the better options as I would know where I'm going and what I'll be getting.

Being unpaired would be at a serious disadvantage, for one would have to wait till the last 3 days before they can make their choices, which by that time most of the better projects would have been taken up already. Maybe leaving only a couple of lousy projects which are too useless or tedious and irrelevant to what i studied.

As for whether I would get a project from Flextronics, and whether the school would approve a late submission (the deadline was 31 Mar), to speak the truth, I can only be hopeful and pray hard. Chances are that probably either side would reject the proposal and I'll be back to zero again.

So much for working so hard for exams all these years... This could be my undoing and would probably cost me my 2nd-upper if this doesn't get solved properly. Thanks huh, Andrew.

Guess I can really mellowed down a lot. Its really surprising how I din get angry at all this turd thrown in my face

Farnie Dream....

Wanted to write one more entry about all the good times that dear n I had together, but had a dream some time last week which was sooooooooooo farnie that I think its imperative that I must share it with all those who frequent here.

The scene was in a hospital, where there were a lot of pregnant women going to give birth soon. (lishan was one of them.... hey its a DREAM ok...).... then there were not enough staff in the hospital to direct all the men to their wives, so everyone was running around like mad. Saw Yong Qiang (my close buddy) there also searching for his wife, and Baocun was also there too. I wass searching for Lishan, and then I came to corridor where there were 3 babies being carried out by the nurses. Saw Baocun's baby. I recognised it was Baocun's baby not by the look of the baby (think most babies look the same) but I saw Baocun's name as the baby's father on the Birth Cert.
It wrote :



















































Father
Surname: Ugly
Name: Gongkia

A tribute to my dear Lishan...

After harping on the things I had done for dear for so long, its time that I gave credit to dear for the things that she had done for me:


I still remember our first valentine's day, dear gave me a white Man Utd jersey and a hand-made 'card'. It was made from mounting board and had 2 hearts stuck together. It was my first ever valentine's day gift. I really liked it cause I can see the effort she had put in to make and decorate the 'card'. I had kept it pinned to the board on my table in hall so that I could always see it. Now back at home I would take it out from time to time to read the messages she wrote for me on the 'card'.

My favourite present of all would have to be the CD she made for me. It was a sweet short clip of some photos that we had taken together on various occasions. And of course with our fave ballad playing in the background! I had always wanted to do something like this for her, but she had beaten me to it!

During the time when she was still on IA, I was still a regular mugger at the 69 tv lounge. There was many occasions that dear had made some food for me and brought it over for me to eat. But the one that I remembered most clearly has to be the "Big Breakfast Set" that she had made for me on a saturday morning. It made everyone else in the lounge die of envy!!!

I din go to her place often. Always felt a bit out of place even though her parents are very nice to me. But sometimes its too nice to the extent that it makes me feel uneasy. Dear knows this and had always been making excuses for me in front of her mum when I din really feel like going to her place. (esp last year's CNY!) Sometimes when her mum makes some request and it isn't really up to me to decide whether it can be done or not (like driving them to Chinatown on CNY eve, when I dunno if I'm able to get the vehicle cos Dad would probably be using it), dear would try to help me out of the situation, cos it ain't easy to convince to her mum.

Dear had always been a pillar of support for me in my sporting endeavors. Coming all the way back to school on sunday mornings to support me during my rugby matches, even to the extent of wanting to skip her bursary presentation ceremony! Of course there is also the yearly Standard Chartered Marathon when she would always be at the ending point waiting for me, caring for me when I'm beyond my exhaustion point. She even went to the extent of picking up windsurfing so that she'll be able to ride along with me on the waves! (though she still got a long way to go). Thank you my dear!

Although I may claim to be her human jukebox, always singing songs for her, dear is also a jukebox to me in another form. She had always helped me to find the songs that I wanted (with the exception of one ultimate ultra extremely difficult to find song), and recorded them for me on soooooo many occassions. Because she knew that I really liked music.

Dear used to go out with me, decked out in t-shirt and jeans. But now she has put in the effort and taken the trouble to learn to dress up when we go out together, just because I had told her that I'd like to see her dressed up. She has ditched her denim skirt and jeans because I din really like it. I like my girlfriend to be and look more feminine, so she kept her hair long for me (even though I know its not really comfortable and had told her that she can cut it if she dun feel comfortable, but she still maintains it for me!)

Although I seem to be more healthy than her, it is dear who does more of taking care of me when I'm sick than the other way round. Well, maybe its because I more susceptible to fevers and headaches, which requires more attention, and dear, colds and coughs. (hey i do buy cold medicines for her but there's not much else i could do! Excuses! muwhahahaha)

Now this is one point which I'm quite ashamed of. More than often, I'm the one who's late for our dates. But Dear never gets mad at me. (this is a rare merit in modern women! I unearthed a gem!). I'm trying to improve on this! She had been craving to eat at Pariss (the restaurant, not the capital!), and I had promised to treat her on her birthday. She knew that it would be quite expensive for 2 persons to eat there and I was on a pathetic payroll on IA, she made a compromised and chose a much cheaper alternative to help me save money. So understanding!

She travelled all the way to town on her own to look for me when I was working on the Guinness Stout road show, just to pass me some herbal tea for me to drink, and waited there for 5 hours so that she can accompany me home for supper after work, but had to go home empty-handed because I had to do OT. Even amidst such disappointment she still took the effort to free me of my guilt (though i still feel very guilty and cruel..) in saying that she came and waited on her own accord and I din ask her to do so. And din want to follow my dad to wait for me at my place because it would had made me feel worse. How many girls would be willing to travel so far just to pass some herbal tea to her sweetheart and wait for him for 5 hours before leaving empty handed without tears or anger? It was so caring, sweet, noble and understanding of my dear! Love her deep deep!!

As the saying goes, love me love my dog. It is especially true for us. Dear really loved my dog. She took good care of ah di when I went to Taiwan with my family for 4 days. She would also occasionally buy some snacks for ah di. She knew that I loved this dog a lot, and she loved ah di as much as I do!

Dear always made the effort to walk to the south spine to meet me for lunch, dinner, or study with me, even though all her lessons are in the north spine. There are many reasons why we want to eat n study in the south, but the main reason being that she wants to pei wo. So sweet!

There are definitely a lot more things that my sweetheart had done for me, and I really appreciate all of it!

Recounting 2

Adding on a bit more for the record :)

To commemorate our 6 months anniversary then, I planned to go to Fort Canning Park to collect Saga seeds. Thought it would be pretty nice to get her a large bottle of this xiang xi dou, since she have never received any as a gift. On the day of the FOC appreciation dinner, I went to the fateful hill and spent about 5 hours under the afternoon sun (bumped into Jay who was in the area also, and had to lie my way thru to excuse myself to do the needful), combing the hill and managed to collect around 800++ seeds. (there were many curious stares from passer-bys and endless attacks by mosquitoes) Think i looked pretty much like a fool, climbing in and our of thick bushes (its where there are the most seeds cause most of the seeds in the open have been cleared by others...). It was the reason why I was late for the dinner and din want to take the chartered bus from hall. Back in hall, I washed the seeds and dried them in the dark (was worried that the guys at 69 might laugh at me for doing this). And finally gave it to her on our 6th month anniversary.

She had always wanted to visit the zoo. It would be a nice place to go, since the both of us r animal lovers. Then there was a good opportunity, when it was during the term break, and I had borrowed the car from dad for the day. I had promised to bring her to the zoo that day. However, I wasn’t feeling too well the night before, and on the morning of the visit itself, I can feel that I was going to fall sick with fever. Nonetheless, I still went along with the original plan, since it was such a rare opportunity and dear was so excited about it. Thus I just endured and toured the zoo with her. She liked the elephant show. I loved to see the raccoons. The white tigers were awesome. And we both agreed that the polar bear was so pitiful with the layer of algae sticking on its coat. But after we toured one round about the zoo, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was a sunny day but I felt cold and pain whenever the wind blew upon me. The tough front I had put up had collapsed. Then dear knew that I wasn’t feeling well. After some rest at the kfc, where we had some fun trying to feed the 2 roaming birds with our bun (remember how we favoured the timid one to the aggressive one?) I felt slightly better after that, so I thought it would be nice to finish the day by bringing her to our fave prata shop for some prata and milo dinosaur (even though I knew very well that I shouldn’t be eating that since i was sick). My fever took a turn for the worse when we returned to hall. Dear then took the trouble to keep rubbing me with wet towel to try to bring my temperature down. And thanks to her efforts, my fever finally went away that night. Thank you dear, sorry to make u worry!

And of course there are so many small small things and gestures that I did for her:

I hated shopping a lot, especially window shopping, just like any other normal guy would. It was a waste of time to go round n round the shopping malls, looking at things that guys wouldn't buy. But ever since IA started for me, I had been going window shopping with dear for almost every weekend cause that was 1 of the activity that we can spend a lot of time together. Although I still dun like shopping, but I'm still willing to go along with her. Just spending time together is happy enough. (though i still dun like shopping)

Talking on the phone was another one of my most dreaded activity. Being the "telephone operator" at home since young (receive a lot of calls, but absolutely none r mine) made me hate the telephone. Used to hate receiving calls, even if it was from dear. But ever since IA started, I took the initiative to call her every other night, cause she said she like to hear my voice. Initially it was a pain for me to make the calls. But as time went by I gradually got to enjoy talking on the phone with her.

Whenever we have our meals together, if I see her cutlery falling onto the table (the tables r not very clean in NTU), i would just exchange mine with her. If we ordered the same food, I would give her the plate which looks better. During our daily studying days at Canteen B, I would always buy yakult for her after dinner everyday so that she will be healthy! (i tink its a bit ex to buy the individual bottles). I would pass her my windbreaker whenever she felt cold (even if i'm feeling cold too, but its ok since I can take the cold better than her) I would always try to help her carry her bags, especially when its heavy, from the school to shopping malls to trekking. It doesn't matter whether the bag she is using is girly or not. As long as she won't get tired. Although I know many of my guy frens consider that opening the car door for ur girl is pretentious in the modern society, I'd do that whenever its convenient or appropriate (not the type where I have to get out of the car, go over to open the door for her, then get back into the car again). If she is happy when I do it, then I'm ok with what others perceive.Whenever its dark, I would insist on sending her home (irregardless of how late or how tired I was) and would always walk her to the doorstep, without fail, because I dun think the area looks safe at night.

I never liked to borrow Baocun's car. I knew that he was fine with lending people his car (esp me cos he trusts me and I'm his roomie!), but i dun tink its appropriate for people to constantly take advantage of him because he is nice. However, I would still occasionally borrow Baocun's car to help buy supper for everyone (only when dear is hungry!), bring her to JP for a quick meal or buying groceries, or even fetch her from her workplace (during her IA) Thanks Baocun! (sorry for borrowing 'my' car for so many times!)

Dear wanted to borrow my laptop to do her fyp in school, and I lent it to her (that's y i have to write my blogs in office; because that was my only comp at home!). It was pretty heavy and she had quite a bit of notes to carry then. Dad's van wasn't available then, so I couldn't drive her back to school and she had to take the train instead. I was worried that the luggage might be too heavy for her, so I accompanied her back to school on train, just to help relieve her load. It added up to a total of 4++ hours of travelling time on a late Sunday night. (i still have to work on monday morning!). It was an awful long time for someone so used to personal transports.

Last semester when we were both in school, dear din have any free periods on friday for lunch. I thought it would be good that I buy her lunch and send it to class for her. So with the only free period i have for the day (1230 to 1330), I'd go from South Spine to North Spine to buy her a Macdonald's Lunch, and go up to the tutorial rooms and wait for her outside. Sometimes she would sneak out from her tutorial class (she claimed it was Not Too Useful too) to eat with me. It was a pretty cute sight, and the cleaner auntie (who was scheduled to clean the toilet around the area at that time every friday) would always comment that "u r so sweet to ur girlfriend" whenever she saw me waiting there with the MacDonald's meal.

Whenever we have to walk in carparks, along pavements next to the road, or on the roads where there are no pavements, I'd always put myself between her and the road, or go infront of her when there are no pavements, to reduce her exposure to dangers. So that in case if anything bad happens, she would be less likely to get injured. (I'm more aware and reactive to the surrounding dangers, so it better for me to face the dangers than her. Actually I'm rather selfish, I'd rather go earlier than her... CHOI !!!!)

Love u my dear!!!

(coming up next: Things that my dear did for me!! I remember and appreciate them! )

Recounting some of the stuff i did for dear makes me realize that i really love her soooo much!

I had always tried to fulfill dear’s wishes. No matter how big or how insignificant it may be. Many a time it may be just a casual remark on her part, but to me it is always a mission to be accomplished. It had always been so. From the moment we got together till now. From replacing her missing necklace to cooking the fish & chips for her.

Still can remember the moment when she told me that she liked NYDC mudpies, I secretly went alone to try it, and tried to memorize what types of mudpies were available there. So that next time I can bring her there without looking like a klutz myself (prior bad experience on my part ).

When she lost her necklace during the IBG basketball session at SRC, I was secretly happy that it was a good chance for me to get her something that she can wear everyday. Then I searched for something similar to the one she lost. Can’t be too similar either, otherwise it won’t feel like a new present from me.

I remember that when we were organising the night cycling event, dear did not get much chance to cycle. All she cycled were just that short stretch near orchard road. I thought it was a pity that despite all the effort she put in organizing the event, she did not have the chance to clock some proper mileage on the bikes. So I thought of remaking the event the best portion of the night cycling event for her on our first valentine’s day. Re-tracing the exact path of the event, only going thru the most fun part of the route so that she won’t be worn out. Even to the extent of remaking the bridge lined with lit lanterns so that it would look exactly like the actual event. However, things turned out differently. I had to discard the plan cause it would cause too much inconvenience to baocun if I had to borrow his car. So we ended up only with a small part of the grand plan left. I remember that she had said that she liked those ‘glow-in-the-dark” thingy. So I planned to hand-make some of these stuff and asked yifan to help me to surprise her with it.

I thought that it might be good to get a pair of matching earrings to compliment the necklace I had given her, so I searched around for it on a limited budget. After all I had spent quite a bit on the valentine’s day. When I finally found the pair I wanted, it turned out that it costs 3 times the original budget that I had planned for. But it was so perfect for that necklace, so I just bought it, breaking the ‘fat piggy bank’ I had saved up during my army days.

Dear was so enthusiastic about going to Redang during the holidays. I wasn’t too keen in the beginning, but seeing that she was so excited about that holiday, I just went along with her. Luckily it turned out to be pretty good as I pretty much enjoyed myself on the island as well as enjoyed her company on the holiday.

She had been craving for steamboat for a long time. But I had always thought that it was pretty pointless for just the 2 of us to go to marina south for steamboat. Luckily last x’mas nobody had made any programs, so I jumped at the chance to bring her there. (to put it bluntly, that x’mas gathering was possible because she wanted to go there)

Knowing that this year’s valentine’s day is on a Monday, I was actually quite willing to go back to office to work on the Saturday before CNY, so that I can have a stronger claim for an Off on valentine’s day. She had not had any BBQ for quite some time already, so I secretly prepared the BBQ for her on the Sunday before V-day. Luckily I managed to get an Off on V-day as well, so I went back to hall on Sunday and waited for her to finish her lessons on Monday morning before going out with her again. She had often said that she feels lonely and misses me a lot whenever she see couples walking around in school, especially so when it is V-day. So I planned to pick her in school to dispell that feeling she has, and surprise her with a bouquet of roses so that she can bring it out and show that "she is taken", on V-day.

For her birthday, it was another elaborate and slightly lavish plan. She had mentioned before that she hope to be able to go to a hotel 81 someday to relax and enjoy after her frens had told her how nice it was. So I had planned to fulfill her wish on her birthday, as well as provide her with a bit of fun n relaxation before she start to work for the exams. Checked around on the internet and found that most of the hotel 81 branches are in geylang, so I asked Baocun for suggestions cause he had been there with Johnson and KK before to watch soccer. I din wish to see dear having to go pass those sleazy places in geylang, and thus I took the recommendation that Baocun made. Marina Mandarin Hotel next to Suntec. The cost of a room there is already more than double the budget of that I had planned, but nonetheless I still took the 5 star hotel to be doubly sure that she enjoyed her birthday. Beforehand, I had actually scrimped and saved on my daily expenses on IA to make sure that I had enough money to spend on her birthday. Strictly $2 lunches with no drinks, no newpaper, cycle to work so that I can save on the bus fare, even to the extent of not buying any new year clothes for myself. (Actually I still could afford it with the savings I have in my bank, but I can’t bear to take out most of it as I still haven quite given up on taking class 2A lessons even though I kept putting it off for more than 2 years already because I can’t decide whether to blow the money on bike lessons which may not be useful afterall, or spend it on dear) Thus the drastic measures to save up, even though I would spend quite a bit of money every weekend when I bring her out. I always try to pay for all our meals together, so that I know she can keep her money for meals in school. I dun want her to skip meals because she has no money to eat.

All I wanted was to make her happy and live comfortably. I really dun mind doing all these for her. As long as I can see her smile happily.

There are so many more things to write about, but think I should stop here for the moment. Still in office now and gotta work ya know

Guinness Stout

Burnt quite a bit of moola over the last week, so I jumped the chance when Richard came knocking to invite me to do part-time work.

Worked for the Guinness Stout Irish Party which was held at the empty grass patch next to CHIJMES. It was pretty good money for an assignment type part time job. Not too tough either (garung guni was crappy!)

It was a 1 and half day assignment. Started on Good Friday and ended on Saturday night. Nothing much to say about the work, just that Richard and I had free flow of stout on Saturday night. Haha. Somehow the stout din taste too bad on that night, and we kept drinking n drinking since it was free for us.

One thing that made me feel bad was that both Dad and dear came to wait for me to knock off. I had specifically told mum to tell Dad to not come to pick me as I wanted him to have more rest. More importantly I din know the exact time as to when I’d knock off, so I din want him to wait aimlessly and waste time there. However mum did not do as I told her to and Dad came way the work had ended. Anyway, dad came and though I din wanted it to be so, I was still quite touched by what dad did.

I din expect dear to travel all the way to come and visit me. And she had brought along some herbal tea for me to drink just when I desperately needed some drink. So sweet…. She came around 6pm, and waited for me to knock off so that I could have some company when I go home and I dun have to travel to her place to pick her for supper. So understanding… she waited for me around the area till around 10pm, when I finally got to know that we had to work OT. Dad came around that time, so I thought of asking Dad to send her home first, in case all the shops closed and she’ll no place to stay while waiting for me. When I called her to tell her to go home with dad first, she sounded so disappointed. I had sinned. To make her wait so long and go home empty handed is so cruel… I’m so sorry dear!

In the end it was the right decision to send them home first. Work ended around 2am and by the time I reached home everyone was asleep already. I wanted to make amends by asking dear to come out for supper, but she was too tired (sleeping when I called her) so I had to go to sleep with an empty stomach and a guilty mind. I felt so bad...

Dear's birthday

Expected dear to be quite contented with the weekend programs, so she probably won't expect anything more on her birthday. Planned to give her another pleasant surprise by cooking for her on her birthday itself.

Since we had enjoyed the “Traditional English Fish & Chips” so much at the hotel, I decided to remake it for her. (though definitely will not be as good as the hotel standard). I wanted to make everything by myself.

Went to the supermarket the night before her birthday to buy the ingredients. White snapper fish, cabbage, potato chips, tartar sauce, lemon, chicken wings, baking powder, coleslaw dressing, milk. (now I think it costs more to make our own meal…)

Went back home and started immediately on the preparation of the coleslaw. The first attempt ended up a large bowl of coleslaw which was not even close to what I thought it was supposed to be. All of us were used to seeing coleslaw with some whitish dressing. But the recipe indicated that I should use vinegar as the dressing. I did. And I got a big bowl of edible but overly sour coleslaw. I was quite skeptical about using that coleslaw, so in the end I stayed up to make another bowl (a much smaller one this time) of coleslaw, finally using the coleslaw dressing I bought (cheat!)

The next day I rushed home after knocking off to make the final preparations for the meal. Made the fish batter, ate a light hurried dinner at home, before borrowing the van from dad to travel back to hall. (initial plan was to go back by bus cos dad needs to go out, but luckily bro lent dad his car, so I could save loads of time by driving)

Decided to make this surprise a more power one, so I went to buy a slice of cake (chocolate of a thousand leaves) from the Coffee Bean at Tampines. (getting a full-sized cake is pointless, not yummy and we can’t finish so much food). Wanted to get a bouquet of roses there too, but was shocked to find that the florist had closed down. Eventually I had to travel to JP to get the roses, as well as a cup of Ultimate Iced Mocha (our fave!) It was pretty embarrassing to get seen running around in the mall with a bouquet of roses in my hands….

Dear got a surprise when I went into her room with all the barang barang I brought along. Soon we got started on our “happiest ever fish n chips”. (sorry I can't provide the photos here, cannot load anything from the office). The cooking was pretty fun too. Though could had been better with better cooking utensils.

Finally settled down on dinner with the cake looking filmsy with a candle on top. Sang her a 2nd birthday song of the day (her 1st was at 12am sharp in the early morning over the phone)

The dinner was pretty nice, just that the food had cooled down a bit (can’t cook everything at one go with limited utensils!). Fried fish, home-made coleslaw, baked beans, potato chips, oven-baked chicken wings, home-made iced lemon tea, coffee and cake from Coffee Bean.

Hope that she really had an unforgettable and enjoyable birthday. Love you dear!

Super Happy Weekend with dear!

Spent the entire of the last weekend (19 ~ 20 Mar) with dear to have a pre-birthday celebration for her. It was filled with the feeling of happiness and bliss!

It started on 19/03/05, Saturday. This day is supposed to be a "Rich Man's Life" as I had planned to have everything good today with no expenses spared (not really literally la, u think wat, i print money one ah!)

We had arranged to meet at Tampines Interchange to go to Sakura Restaurant at Tampines SAFRA for a buffet lunch (which dear had craved for so long!) We ended up the first customers to enter the restaurant, and I showed no mercy in swiping off half of the salmon sashimi on the shelf. The food was pretty ok, with the tempura ebi being the most gratifying. Then came a situation when we were having our deserts: a prong broke off from the plastic fork that she was using. We suspected that she ATE it. I was so worried as she kept coughing and dunking drinks. Luckily she felt better after some time.

After that we braved the drizzling rain together to the bus stop to return to the MRT station. Next stop: City Hall

I had booked a room at Marina Mandarin Hotel for a day in advance. But to my horror, I found that half of marina square was under construction, and I couldn’t find the entrance to the hotel (I only knew of the entrance from marina square shopping centre). So we ended up walking around marina square, and all these while I was trying very hard to not let dear know what I was going to do. I wanted to see the pleasantly surprised look on her face when I approach the check-in counter at the hotel directly. In the end we had to enter the hotel from the main entrance facing Suntec. Another shock greeted me. I couldn’t find the reception counter on the ground floor! Only the concierge and cab counter was available, so in the end I had to ask the concierge where to check in and lost the chance to spring the surprise on dear. (what a disappointment after so much effort on my part!) All these while dear had been expecting me to bring her to some shop to buy some items for her as her birthday present.

Got room 1404. Not too shabby eh. But amazingly I forgot to request for a room with harbour view. Ended up with a room with Westin and Padang view. Ha ha. The room was pretty comfortable, though it can't be compared with that of Fullerton's! (can't compare the prices too!)

Went off to Carrefour to buy the green tea ice-cream (from meiji) which I had been craving for so long. Managed to get the last piece off the freezer, but the box was broken n so we tot maybe we should taste the ice-cream a bit before buying, in case it sucked. So we walked around the store as I tried to pinch bits of the ice-cream off the box for tasting. The conclusion: It sucked. In the end we settled for a Haagen Daaz Rum n Raisins ice cream. Dear bought a packet of US strawberries too. Yummy!

Went back to the hotel and feasted on the ice-cream. Sedap sia. It was really heavenly. As we were both still pretty full from the buffet, we decided to skip dinner and go for the Jacuzzi and a dip in the swimming pool. After that its back to the hotel room and with glowing recommendations from Baocun, we ordered a set of “traditional English fish n chips” via room service. I watched the Man Yoo - Fulham match as we chomped on the food. It was the first time that I had tasted such delicious fish n chips. (their chips were still warm!). All these while we had been taking photos of the city in daylight and night view. The esplanade looks pretty cool at night. We had endless chatter on everything under the sky till both of us fell asleep.

Woke up early at 730 the next day to catch a view of the city in the early morning. Pretty! Went for the Jacuzzi again and a morning dip. After that we had the complimentary breakfast buffet by the hotel. After that we slacked off in the room till around the check-out timing, then had to rush to pack everything to leave, like as if we were thieves making their get away. The sight was damned farnie….

After we checked out, we went over to suntec to get a subway sandwich as lunch for our macritchie reservoir excursion. I planned to bring her to the HSBC Tree Top Walk, which she had wanted to visit. Armed with just a vague lousy printed map, I thought we could reach the TTW in no time as I had planned to take the shortest route. In the end, we found that there were many small road signs directing us to the TTW, so I din bother to follow my preplanned route and just followed the road signs. In the end we ended up going the wrong direction due to one wrong sign and went further n further away from the TTW until we came to a large sign post which gave indications of where we were then I realized my mistake. Luckily dear held out as we back-tracked to the correct place and finally managed to go up the TTW before it closed.

Well, that was the last program for the weekend. Dear did not expect that there was more to come on her birthday...

......

Went to sentosa with dear 2 weeks back. It was sort of like a holiday for us 2. The highlight of the day was the Calsberg Sky tower that we took. The view up there was simply too good! I kept taking pictures until my cam got overheated. Dear seem to be pretty happy that day. We also had a stroll along the dragon trail, and had some nice pics of the area. We also went up Mt Imbiah. There was nobody there and it was so quiet, how I wished we could camp up there for the night and watch the stars at night. If only I brought along my hammock. It was so sweet and comfortable to go out for such a date with dear. (the only downpoint was that I was pretty tired that day, so I ended up sleeping on the tram most of the time)

Been rewatching the entire series of Slam Dunk lately. (or should I just say watching, cos I had never really watched the entire series properly. Only bits here n there) Its making me itch to play basketball again and again. Played with cedric’s gang last Sunday at Feng Shan CC. Think the ring there is pretty much lower than my home ground. I could easily grap the ring with a slightly pumped jump. Maybe if I train harder, I could be able to dunk there. (thanks to slam dunk for once again making me wanna train myself to be able to dunk) Ha ha. Anyway that will have to depend on my knee injury, cos I feel that it is getting worse. So I have drastically reduced my running sessions to maybe only once per fortnight. Maybe I should visit the doctor someday and see if there’s anything I can do about it.

Chingay Procession

Went to watch chingay procession on Saturday at orchard with dear. Waited so long for the event to start. In the end I dun think its really worthwhile to make the effort to go there squeeze with the crowd and wait for so long to watch something which you can watch on tv at home. The local atmosphere there isn’t any much more special (as compared to soccer matches or CNY celebrations)

Went to our fave coffeeshop after the chingay procession. Tried out some new dishes from the northern Indian cusisine stall. Their tendoori briyani set was out of this world! I couldn’t find any words appropriate enough to describe it. It was just simply too amazingly sedap! I’ll definitely go back to try it soon enough. Great food!

It was beach day again at sentosa on Sunday. The usual suspects were there, only with the addition of pam and DL gf this time. This was the first time that it rained on sentosa, after I had been there so many times. Played some beach soccer with some boys over there. It was pretty difficult to play on wet sand. I kept slipping n lost a contact lens. But it was still pretty ok, less for the abrasions due to the wet sand sticking to the ball.

Looking forward to the next weekend. Gonna bring dear to sentosa for a date. Dun think I’ll be visiting sunset bay again this time. Sentosa is more than just a beach!

Been quite bored at home these days, so I started to play CM4 (yesh I know it’s an old game now, people are playing FM, but I like old games, can?) I finished one season with Man Utd and won everything (less for the community shield where I lost 0-3 to arsenal). Then I thought it was so easy to win with Man Utd, so I chose to start a new game with boro, a team which I’m quite neutral with, and is not too strong to make it no kick. (as a Man Utd fan, I’ll never take Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City or Liverpool, in case I have to beat Man Utd) Maybe next time I’ll take a team from the lower divisions (I like Exeter from the conference! They have the same colours as Man Utd) Now let’s just see how I’ll win the Champions League with Middlesbrough!

Nothing else to update for this week!

Chines New Year!

This CNY was sort of a repetition of what I had been doing every year; visit grandma n granny, go Pu Ti Lin for dinner on New Year Day 1, visit Mrs Yeo, slack at home most of the time. Think the most notable new activity was that I went blading with dear, bro n sis at East Coast on Friday afternoon. It was pretty fun, considering I had never bladed at East Coast before (all I ever had were just self practice at the void deck n multi-storey carpark) Though I spent all my time with dear at the beginners' corner, it was still a new experience to go somewhere else to blade. Fun!

Well, at least CNY eve was also fruitful. Went to Marina Bay to catch the Fireworks with Dear, Dilong, Baocun, Dave, Gary, Dan & Gf. The fireworks was good. The bazaar was not bad, just that the crowd is a bit too heavy (but its really much better compared to Chinatown!)

Surprised dear with a mini BBQ at East Coast as a pre-Valentine's Day celebration. It was just for the two of us, on a quiet stretch of the beach. (the hammock n groundsheet I had kept since the army days came in useful. Ha ha) When it got dark, we had tealights to act as out light source. Pretty romantic sight! Lazed on the hammock when we got tired. The weather was good too, plenty of stars with little cloud cover. Too bad the camera won't be able to capture what we saw in the sky. Anyway, think Dear really enjoyed herself at this BBQ. Only if she did not have to come back to school on Monday, we could had slacked on the hammock all the way till morning!

CNY eve today...

Last week was bad, had OT for 3 days and came back to office on Saturday for a full day. Damned lousy company. Low pay and want to deduct some more (my original pay is 550, last month got only 430!). Still wanna exploit us. The only saving grace is that most of my colleagues here are quite nice people.

Supposed to shop for my new year clothes last sat, but after some trying and too many people buying clothes at last minute, I was put off and decided not to buy anything still after CNY, when the prices might be lower than what most would offer now.

Then went to our fave coffeeshop for chappati at night. The waiter there actually recognized me and dear. Haha. Had a little tete a tete with him. So funny to actually being recognized as a regular there. But I must say that the food there is pretty good and value for money too.

Went to sentosa on Sunday with Baocun, KK, Junfeng, Dan and Terry. Think it’s the first time that I have witnessed such low head count in sunset bay on a Sunday. Probably due to the CNY effect. Anyway, had a pretty cool (or hot should I say) time there. Perfect weather for suntanning. And think Baocun got burnt. Luckily I put sunblock instead of suntanning lotion, so think I should be the one with the least pain (of becoming human bak gua). Hopefully more guys would come on the 20th outing!

Today is CNY eve, and I still dun have the CNY mood yet. Maybe later after work when I go home to clean my room then will start to feel it. Its really quite true to say that kids enjoy CNY the most. As you grow older, you dun feel that much for CNY anymore, it just becomes another public holiday which lasts for 2 days, with big scale celebrations. Kinda sad huh. Well, enjoy the holiday while it lasts!

I still won't bother to beautify my blog!

Delayed Updates

Went to Chinatown with dear on last last Thursday. There’s still 3 weeks to CNY and the place is so crowded already. I was quite happy to go there for a walk with dear. Think she felt the same way too.

However I fell prey to fever after reaching home, so I had to spend the next day, which happened to be Hari Raya Haji, at my place. Wasted a good day at home. So sorry dear! Thank you for taking care of me while I’m sick. Love ya!

Went shopping for dear’s clothes on Saturday at Tampines Mall. Actually I thought dear would have more choices if we went to town, but too bad I have bad shopping stamina and by the time we reached town I would already be half-gone. Luckily we still managed to find some pretty decent stuff. She bought a white skirt (I like it!) and a pink polo tee. Then after more shopping then we found a very nice looking top for her (the type which I had been wanting her to try. It looking like a sweater with a shirt within). She din want to buy it at first as she was only trying out the top at my request. But it turned out that she looked pretty good in it, then I decided that I want her to have that top and in the end I volunteered to pay for it. Which boyfriend dun want her girlfriend to look good? J

Had a pretty happy weekend with dear. Looking forward to the next!

Though there’s no luck in basketball again. No basketball this week!

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Bro went for a cruise on last Friday, meaning that dad will be taking his car whilst I can gop dad’s van for the weekend.

Went to JB with dad mum n grandma last Friday night, din really get to see or buy anything, cos it was around closing time when we reached sentosa. Dad and me were hungry and had thai steamboat. It was pretty good and reasonably cheap. Other than that, nothing much was achieved. Wasted a good Friday night.

Was supposed to meet dear to go shopping for my new year clothes at orchard, so that we can end the day with a nice mudpie at NYDC. Picked up dear at her place and we went for prata snack at our fave shop. This prata session ended up costing me $37. $7 for the prata, $30 for the silly parking fine. (I wanted to put the parking coupon, but was too lazy. Should had followed my intuitions…)

In the end the weather was too fine to just go for shopping, therefore we finally decided to bring ah di for a walk at east coast. At the park, I mistook a big malamuk for a husky until the owner told me it’s the former. It looked exactly like the other husky hanging around there too, just that it is much larger. Their feature, coat, behaviour and even colour were identical, less for the size. The husky was only about half the size of the malamuk. I like these BIG, pretty dogs. Too bad I can’t keep them in HDB flat. After that, I brought ah di for a soaking session in the seawater, he din really enjoy it, but at least he din struggle too much when I carried him into the water. He looks much thinner when his coat is wet. Soon after we met a Pomeranian which played around with ah di. It was too fast for ah di and kept running circles around him, which ah di desperately trying to catch up. It was a pretty hilarious sight. Soon after the Pomeranian left, ah di saw a jack Russell on higher grounds and kept trying to find a way up to the park (we were on the beach, the park was about 70cm above the beach). Despite me trying to make him stop his search to chase the other dog (when it was already long gone), ah di continued to ignore my orders and kept trying to do his own stuff. I was pissed at such disobedience and immediately brought him back home. Next time I will make sure that he is 100% compliant with my orders before I bring him back to the beach to let him roam without leash.

Went to marina square for dinner at Kenny rogers’ with dear. After that we went for some shopping at carrefour then ended the day at NYDC. It was supposed to be a make-up celebration for our 2nd year anniversary which falls on Wednesday. The NYDC shop at suntec was also the place where dear and I spent our first v-day.

On Sunday morning we went to clementi for breakfast, before going to the Hay dairies farm for a visit. The goats were so cute! We had much fun feeding the goats and it was pretty ticklish for the goats to lick my hand whilst feeding them. So many people were afraid of getting bitten by the goats. But trust me, most of them are very tame and won’t bite. The goat milk was pretty yummy! Maybe next time I’ll bring dear to visit a dog farm.

Pasir Panjang Market

Went to Pasir Panjang wholesale market with Jiawen on tuesday night. It was quite an eye opener for I had never been there. The place was huge and goods aplenty. Though the timing was exactly good for seeing all the activities, but seeing the place would roughly tell you how the people work there. Maybe I’ll visit there again some other time. Pretty interesting. (why I went there? Its confidential)

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IA

Been cycling to work for the week. Feels good to save money and time this way. Here’s a breakdown of the tangible benefits:
Time:
By Bus: Leave home at 0747 to take bus 293 arriving at 0750 (60cents?)
Reach the interchange around 0805, wait for 10 or 31 (80cents?)
Usually reach office around 0830.
Total time: around 45 minutes. (Timing for getting home is worse)
Total cost: $1.40 per trip

By Cycle: Leave home after 0800
Reach workplace around 0820
Reach desk around 0825
Total time: around 25min
Total Cost: Nil

Actually I dun even break into sweat whilst cycling to work, so its still not too bad, at least I won’t smell and there’s no need to bathe. (no bathrooms here too)

Downside: Bad weather

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Think my sup saw me playing free cell on the comp on Monday. Though he didn’t say anything about it, but now he comes over more frequently. Probably to check if I’m still on the game or not. (Using MS Word to write my blog isn’t that attention-seeking) Ha ha ha. Well, its time to get serious at work. Got plenty of stuff coming in, must clear them ASAP.

Got a runny nose at my work place, but it seems to heal miraculously whenever I set out of the building to go for lunch or home. Perhaps the humidifier is spoilt or something. But only me n my EEE mate are the ones suffering. Maybe the old birds here are accustomed to it. But now I’m down with fever. Probably the runny nose I got from the office was the catalyst for it. One public holiday wasted at home….

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Dear

I was a bit surprised when dear told me that the guy who bought a textbook from her kept trying to get to know her better. Hahaha. Ok, to those who are reading this, I would ask you: Would you feel flattered or bothered if someone you don’t know tries to ‘approach’ your BF/GF?

Initially, I used to feel the former. Somehow it sort of like proves that your partner is attractive, and it indirectly boosts your ego (to have such an attractive partner). However, when it gets too disturbingly close and frequent for comfort, it calls for some concern.

Brought dear along with jiawen to boon lay market for supper on Tuesday night. Whilst she was looking at the menu of one of the stalls, a table of beer-guzzling uncles were staring at her (dear didn’t notice it). I immediately stood in between her and the uncles to stop them from looking at her (no thanks to her FBT shorts). Until then did I realize that it doesn’t feel good if when your partner is attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Now I wonder? Why would any BF allow their GF to wear revealing mini-skirts to go out shopping? Free eye feast for those guys out there? (I admit I’m one of them) I’m not against mini-skirts. In fact, I love it. (on OTHER pretty girls) Just that I’d never allow my dear to wear it to go out. Cause she is mine.

actually i wanted to post this on wednesday night but i couldn't access the website. perhaps 56k is really that lousy

change the name of my blog?

Since Kelvin has took over my number 9 and now I'm number 7, think its not appropriate to use junxtitans9 anymore. Maybe I'll shift it someday when I'm free

Updates

Stopped blogging for 2 weeks cos I was contemplating the idea of getting a thumbdrive so that I can write this at work (while slacking) and then bring it back home to upload (no net connection at work). Tried using floppy disk but it failed me.

Went to SL square with dear to buy her mp3 player yesterday. (No I din pay for it, though I really wanted to get her one as her present. Too bad, gotta think of something else now) Well, I din get my thumbdrive. Still considering whether to get an mp3 player instead. (No dear, dun ever buy this for me. Its way beyond the budget I had set for you)

Here are the updates of what has happened for the past 2 weeks.

Rugby
Lost at the quarters to Hall 6 by a score line of 5-0 (just one trial was scored).
Should have won this, we had plenty of good breaks, but just that somehow we din have the luck. I had a knock-on when I was clear thru and just 5m off the try-line. The backs had many good runs but just couldn’t get past the final man.
I was confident of scoring a drop kick from open play that day, if I had the chance. Too bad the circumstances didn’t allow me to try it. (1 dropped goal = 3 points, and we were trailing, so no chance)
But too bad the off-field incidents overshadowed the game. Shouldn’t dwell on it any further, enough has been said on the hall forum and I had already made my point known to all.
Although I planned to retire after this year, somehow I still feel something’s lacking.

IA
Its my 2nd week into attachment already. Getting a bit monotonous and boring with the lab work and reading up. Hopefully things will pick up and I’ll get more fun stuff to work with. Otherwise this 6 months would be a drudgery for me were I to continue doing what I’m doing now.

Basketball
Supposed to have 3 sessions of basketball this week. 1 at bishan and 2 at my place. In the end it was all crap.
Missed the bishan session on Thursday cos dad’s van went for servicing and he wanted to use bro’s car so we ended up with no transport, thus no basketball to play.
Played at TP on Saturday morning with bro, choo ter and ivan. Think we only played about 15 mins before it started to drizzle and exercise was cut.
Supposed to have Adrian n Jsheng join us on Sunday session, but Jsheng wanted to stay at home and Adrian was sick. Plus there were too many kids playing at the court, so we ended up going for dim sum without any action.
SO BORED!!! No basketball = No life….

Movies
Watched “The Aviator” with dear at Bugis Junction yesterday. Pretty long (3 hrs) and cheem show. Maybe its not really that cheem, just that they use a lot of American terms which neither me nor dear could understand. Cannot really figure out what the show is trying to convey too. Maybe I watched too many simple comedies at the cinemas, and went into this show with the wrong mindset. Hmmm, should have watched “My Brother” with dear instead.

Crap…
Bought a spoof Nintendo set last weekend at just $28. just to relive the good old days through playing those old games ( battle city, Mario 2, contra, etc) Pretty nostalgic huh.
Really missed those times when games were simple pure fun. No story lines or fancy complex gameplay. Just shoot the guy infront or stomp on those creatures’ top. Simple and little addiction too since there’s no need to spend many hours just trying to complete a game.

Dear
Had a pretty happy weekend (discounting the lack of basketball) with dear. Went ‘shopping’ and caught a show at bugis on Saturday. Went for prata at our fave haunt and a slow romantic walk at lower pierce reservoir. Nice weekend spent!
Sorry dear, for my lousy ‘stamina’ at shopping

Finally another blog!!

Its been quite a long time since I last blogged. Since today is my first day of IA so I decided that I might as well update a bit. I have done quite a bit of things, so maybe it would be nice to share it with those who r reading this.

Exam Results:
E311 – A E312 – B
E314 – A E316 – B
E317 – B E370 – A
E371 – B E372 – A
MB218 – D

Although I’m still short of one A to my target, but I must admit that this result is pretty neat for me. Though I think I still suck at examinable modules. As for the business module, it doesn’t really matter what grade I got as long as I pass it. So, there comes my 1st ever D in NTU. Hopefully it’s the last as well.

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Holidays:

Vacation to Taipei, Taiwan (27/11 ~ 30/11)
Went to Taipei with my family. It was pretty chilling up there, averaging 18˚C in the day. Pretty cool huh. Though I feel its not as fun as my last trip there (probably bcos its winter, I’d prefer summer anytime!!!), I have at least fulfilled a long time desire of going back there for vacation again.

Standard Chartered Marathon 04 (05/12)
This is my 2nd try at the 42.195km run. Though I thought I had performed better than last year, my timing has slacked by a mere couple of minutes. Think its probably due to my over-cautiousness of over-exerting myself too early in the run, but its even more so on the super ultra lousy logistics. (I have paid $35 to join this damned run, some fools paid $70. But where are the god-damned drinks at every 1km mark? Why isn’t there enough water for everyone? How to expect us to keep running when we dun have water to drink for a consecutive good 4km? Darn! )
Well, hope it will get better next time (it better be)

IHG

Sepak Takraw
Got knocked out again in the first round. Lost two matches straight, when the 2nd match against hall 5 should be won. All thanks to those who are too lazy to come for training and those who treat sepak takraw with such contempt. As usual I’m the only fool who is taking this sport seriously. But sad to say, one man doesn’t make an island.

Rugby
Although I’m quite disappointed with the attendance and attitude of some of the guys towards the trainings, I must say that I’m surprised that we made it to the quarters. Its mainly due to us getting a good draw this year, avoiding those traditionally strong teams. Hopefully we can go far and make this a fruitful and glorious final season for me before I retire from rugby.

IA
Flextronics Design Asia.
2 Changi south lane
Today is my first day at work. Met 3 others guys from NTU on IA with me. Min Huat, Wei Li and Alan. Getting along well with them. Nothing much to do today actually. Hopefully it won’t be too stressful here.

Dear Lishan
Hopefully you are not sick of the BOMBARDMENT of smses I sent to you this few days. I’m really starting to miss you. Hoping that Friday comes fast enough so that I can see your adorable face. I LOVE MY DEAR LISHAN!!!!