Covertly Overt

lepak readers...

2011-08-11T23:24:00.001+08:00

I wonder if anybody else other than those who literally lepaks around my blog reads my post!

~Who else I know lepak here?~

After the 2nd 15-hour flight...

2011-07-12T01:02:00.000+08:00

Some thoughts about the experiences in UK and Europe... ...

A small city in the northern part of England. The main town area is small enough for a day tour. You could almost walk to wherever you want to go, unless you are going somewhere away from the town. That's probably why their public transport and taxis are charging so expensive! It's like going from Serangoon to AMK by bus/taxi would cost you SGD4/SGD14! Preparing your own food would be the best option even for tourists as a meal in UK can be quite expensive, unless you don't mind eating mayo chicken from macs at SGD2, which was deemed as the cheapest stomach-filling food you can get. University students are given more freedom to act on or speak about whatever they want. Bills can be pasted around the campus without student union's approval, peaceful demonstrations etc. Calling professors by their first names is something that will not happen in Singapore! Generally, UK people are quite approachable and talking to strangers seem to be a norm while waiting for traffic lights, on trains, etc...People from different regions have different accents, but I still prefer the accent from London! haha Speaking of London, it is great to be in London as you can visit lots of museums for free on certain days! Metro is very well-integrated by much have to be done on escalators in stations, more spacious carriages, and air-condition/better ventilation in carriages. Checking the status of the metro lines is as important as checking the BBC weather. Expect delays/termination of trains when you least expected it.

Europe has been on many people's wish-list (especially Asians) to visit. Travel shows on TV may have given much video-editing and fixing filming angles to capture the beauty of the cities in Europe. However, when you are actually there, things does not seem to be what it was as shown in pixels. Imagine a metro which smells like a sewage, pavements with spits and rubbish, hoards of street-sellers pestering tourists, the poor/beggars almost everywhere, conman, pickpockets....these are some common sights in most (not all) European countries. On the contrary, some countries like Amsterdam, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Germany have rather clean cities, nice people and relatively safe place to walk at night. We can't deny that they have some of the world's most scenic views and awesome architectures. It is as if there is a developing region within a developed country. Probably it is because of the on-going European crisis, or are they already in such a state a decade ago?

Things the Britains do differently (Part 3)

2011-02-17T02:30:00.000+08:00

26. Within the university, most of the main doors to buildings are automatic.

27. Students are given 10% discount for taxi fare.

28. The bananas here amazingly survive the cold weather and does not sustain any chilling injury.

29. You will have to pay £3.20 each time you use the washing machine in on-campus hostels.

30. A public bus service allows students to board the bus for free while travelling on one of the main stretch of road in the campus.

31. Buses do not have cashless payment modes.

32. Urinals flushes themselves at specific intervals automatically.

33. Went into the cinema hall without having my movie ticket checked.

34. Trains travelling within the specific town seldom check your tickets. However, you'll be fined £200 if you are caught boarding without a ticket.

35. Fish and chips are seasoned with vinegar and salt.

Things the Britains do differently (Part 2)

2011-02-05T18:09:00.000+08:00

16. The final grade you will get is the overall raw score. No such thing as a bell curve here.

17. It will take weeks or months to get a problem fixed.

18. Most parts of the streets are fixed with CCTV. Your every movement is being watched in public.

19. They do not offer chilli sauce in eating places.

20. Waiters/Waitresses write a 'Thank you' note on the receipt during payment. Hoping to get some tips?

21. They have assessed workshops instead of mid-term tests. However, it is open to discussion with others (i.e. lecturer, lecturer assistant and other students) and you can refer to your lecture notes as well.

22. The walls and even parts of the flooring is hollowing in my flat.

23. In shops, you will be greeted with phrases such as 'love' / 'darling' for girls and 'mate' / 'duck' for guys. People will also tend to say 'cheers' instead of 'thank you'.

24. Their tax here (VAT) is 20%.

25. Their milk and bread expires within days.

Things the Britains do differently (Part 1)

2011-01-28T19:04:00.001+08:00

1. There are 2 separate taps; one for hot, one for cold. You have to mix the water yourself.

2. The switch for the toilet lights is by using a string to pull.

3. They are into recycling as there are recycling points around the campus and accommodation. They even have instructions on packagings as to whether things can be recycled after use.

4. Their university system has way more support services. Each student is allocated to one of the eight colleges and a supervisor who is a staff in their department so that they could approach any one of them for help. They have special services such as disability services, equality and diversity office, open door team (for students experiencing emotional, psychological or mental health difficulties), chaplaincy (providing contacts for various Faiths), health centre (absolutely free of charge for consultation for full-time student or visiting student studying for more than 6 months...but medicine must be purchased from pharmacies with a doctor's prescription), nightline (offers a totally confidential listening service anonymously), various skills workshops such as for information literacy, academic integrity, language, english language and study, maths and employability.

5. All their lectures are within an hour. Workshops can last for 2-3 hours.

6. Notes/handouts are printed and given out by the lecturers. Students do not need to print them.

7. Data booklet is given for free with much more information in it. Sponsered by an external chemical company.

8. The associations/societies here organises way more activities and events. An average of 1-2 a week.

9. They have about 18 eateries, of which 7 of them have bars. Also, there are 2 supermarkets within the university (although they are more expensive).

10. Shops here usually close around 8pm, and 4pm if it's on Sundays.

11. There are ducks of different breeds, pigeons and other birds wandering about the lake and walkways.

12. Class size in my course is about +-100 students.

13. There are cycling tracks on most roads.

14. Roads are all single lanes.

15. The green man on the traffic lights only last for less than 10 seconds.

...to be continued....

when stranger speaks

2010-10-16T23:41:00.000+08:00

Last Friday a perfect Caucasian stranger (most probably European) just passed a remark to me about my shirt.

"Nice shirt! I like it!"

It's the shirt my 二姐 bought for me from the country down-under. That remark was uncalled for and I had yet to comment as he left hurriedly at Clementi station as the train doors opened.

Haven't got a chance to interact with strangers since the Taiwan metro incident.

Wonder if Singaporeans will be that outspoken and approachable to start a small talk in the lift, escalator, train..(or any other place where you'll spend a substantial time with a stranger)

Looking at the shirt once more, it made me realise that I liked it too~ =)

Year 3

2010-09-02T12:25:00.000+08:00

The 1st week of Year 3 is tiring.....even though only 3 days had passed by...

But it's a great start of the year as the add/drop mission is perfect on the first day!!! =)

Just applied for INSTEP. Hopefully can get into York!

All the best for the new semester to all uni ppl!

Labor Omnia Vincit

2010-07-24T12:08:00.000+08:00

Yesterday marked the last day of my school attachment at St. Gabriel's Secondary and it has been an enjoyable 3-week stint together with a bunch of fun-loving colleagues! All the breakfasting, boardgaming, project meetings, toilet-going and trying our best to knock-off on time!

Watched 3 movies in a week!!! Despicable Me won over the hearts of people with characters like the minions and the little girl. I find that the villain changed for the better far too quickly though. Nonetheless, it's a cute movie. 7/10.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was engaging in the beginning but the transition for the protagonist to use magic without the ring could have been elaborated. What happened to the other bad sorcerer again? 7.5/10.

Inception was way over my expectation. The storyline was intelligent enough to use infiltration to other people's dream to inplant ideas into their minds. The sequence was weaved too closely that some people may have difficulty to follow through and wonders whose dream was that. As usual, the end left the audiences hanging. 10/10.

Back to holidays!

台湾十二天之旅

2010-06-03T14:09:00.000+08:00

这次的行程比两年前的香港行程还走得更多，现已开创了新局限！在台湾我很喜欢那里的不潮湿，不干燥。天气晴朗的时候最高温度可达到 35 摄氏度！比新加坡热！但唯一的优点是我们不会那么容易流汗。他们的空气和食水品质还有待进步。记得在日月潭住宿的时候，我大概已经煮滚了多过 5 回的水，但是还不能了解那一片片类似水晶的白色物体到底是什么。

在当地能感受到台湾人对陌生人的亲切与诚恳。时不时就会有一位台湾人跟我们聊起天来。这个情节在新加坡很罕见。

在台湾的最后几天，我才满满的了解当地的文化民俗。。。

1。台湾人很热衷算命。

2。台北捷运和高雄捷运大不相同，不能用同样的易通卡。

3。在厕所不能丢弃厕纸进马桶里。（我到了第十天才知道！＝x）

4。当你要问某个东西的价格时，应该说 ”这个怎么卖？“ 而不是 ”这个多少钱？“

5。麦当劳的猪肉汉堡只有在早餐时间提供。

6。下雨时只下一整天的细雨，没下过倾盆大雨。

7。若要去夜市，去士林夜市就够了。那里比任何夜市还跟齐全。

8。诚品书店的人潮络绎不绝，购物商店的人潮寥寥无几。

9。乘搭捷运要排队。

10。若时间允许，最好搭公共交通工具，避免叫计程车。（好些计程车师机有急性子。。。）

抵达新加坡时，我们又被关卡人员”逮捕“，把所有行李扫描检查一次。好像历史又重演了！

End of Year 2

2010-05-08T23:42:00.000+08:00

What a way to end the semester and academic year with a paper many times easier than the 100 MCQ from the Pass/Fail MPS811 - Defence Sciene... ...CBC933 is indeed a paper done without any anxiety. lol...but I guess the bell curve will be more the the higher marks...hope I won't be the scapegoat of the cruelty of the bell curve. =/

The time of emptiness crops up again after the final exam. However, after 1 day of rest from exam, I had to spend 2 days to clean up my house after the installation of 3 new air-cons! =) I can say that it's as bad as training during the NS days less the sun. It's a great achievement after clearing up the mess twice and even sleep bed-less at home for a night, unprecedented. At least we had a dinner at crystal jade after the 1st day. =) (But the service was just a point better than plaza singapura's cafe cartel....memory fail, service poor, barley drink was thick and bland....the fish was good but could be even better than their rival restaurant lolx)

Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS for the uni. people and feels flabbergasted for NTU people who got 2 weeks of holidays stolen legally for AY 10/11.

Now, when shall I get my PS3 Slim, FFXIII and HD monitor?

虎年有点闷

2010-02-15T23:26:00.001+08:00

The start of the Tiger year was more quiet than Cow year. Maybe it's because there are more people overseas. But it's a good 1 extra day break tomorrow and I'm more or less recovered from my flu+cough! Yea!

Forgot to take pictures on 初一 for those people overseas. Maybe we'll meet again on 初七 or 元宵.

Gone were the days when we were still kids playing the legendary CNY game - Darkroom and rushing to the playground after dinner ~~to set the playground on fire~~ to set sparklers alight. Now, we shifted our fun to playing boardgames...and still playing ban lat.

Still waiting for Queen Mary to reply my email....I got a feeling that I won't be able to go next semester.

Last day of holidays tomorrow and most probably it will be spent doing unfinished homework and revision. Mid-term tests is coming soon...sian....

Wishing every regular die-hard fans of my blog a HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

恭喜发财，学业进步，身体健康，虎福临门，岁岁平安，万事如意。

honeymoon week over

2010-01-16T23:04:00.000+08:00

Honeymoon week is over!!!!! =(

Time to get back to an academic frenzy... ...printing notes, attending lectures and tutorials, meet-ups for the daunting academic writing groupwork assignments, drawing of green chemistry posters, working on endless questions till final exams... ... and then... ...back to holidays!! =)... ... ... ...NOT! Thinking too far away...

down by 0.04

2009-12-31T13:36:00.000+08:00

B- was back....results being pulled down by 0.04 to 3.98. Need to improve to at least 4.00 next semester!!!!

It's 2010 in about 10 hours time! 10 more days of holiday left. =(

Wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! =)

1 month break!

2009-12-07T19:13:00.000+08:00

After a month of sleepless nights.....EXAMS ARE OVER!!! Now it's the time to think about what to do during this break....

1. Planning of next semester's timetable is daunting. There are modules you want to take but can't and those you need to take out of no choice. Don't understand why do we need to study defense science and entrepreneurship as core electives. It's not like we want to establish many other DSTA-look-alike private companies on our own.

Up till now, I still can't accept the school's stand and rebuttal on the notion of S/U options before the release of exam results. It's not a decision based on right or wrong, but basing their reason on letting undergraduates to broaden their disciplines and not wanting them to use it as a tool to manipulate their GPAs.

True enough, students will be able to take other modules out of their regular modules from their majors. Students will be able to get better basic insights on other disciplines like humanities, business and science.

However, they just can't accept the problem which may arise from this side of the story, whereby students will just take a module having in mind to S/U that module already. These students will not be even interested to know more about the course but just take it and pass it so as to get a 'S'.

Having S/U options after the release of exams results has its advantage. Students will study well for that module to get the best results they can get. If there's a 'freak' result (something less than a B+), students can then choose 'S' instead of a lettered grade, which might affect the GPA.

The latter scenario is much better choice to broaden a student's perspective in other disciplines as they'll try to study as hard as any other modules and try not to use up S/U options. Even if they were to use S/U after they knew their results, at least they have put their heart and mind in studying and get interested with that module.

Critics may say that students may have settled to S/U a module even before exams and not study it well even though the options is after the release of exam results. Isn't this the problem which may also arise from the side of the story the school is leaning on?

So which choice is more sound? The choice where students will choose to S/U a module which they can't be bothered about and probably even get a poor grade in order to maintain their GPA, or the choice where students will study hard for all modules but still need to S/U a module to maintain their GPA?

2. O4S3A movie outing, steamboat gathering and x'mas gathering. Don't know what are we watching, don't know what are we getting for steamboat and not sure whether x'mas gathering is going to be possible...as of now. lolx

3. '77' gang almost 1 year long-awaited gathering. Probably this week?

Fact about my blogs:

People from Singapore, USA, Germany, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Lithuania, Malaysia, Indonesia, Slovenia, Brazil, Ireland, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, Taiwan, Egypt and India read or came to my blog before! hahaha =)

long awaited break

2009-09-30T19:25:00.000+08:00

This new semester is getting too fast!! Who doesn't agree with this statement?! That's why I took such a long time for this latest entry. lol....1 month 3 weeks to be exact...

Let's see what happened during these period...

-received Ms Jazilah's treat on the 21st Aug at olive & fig at vivo after I got my TA

-Suffered alot during lab this semester. Some of the Teaching Assistants treat us like how NSFs are treated during NS. We ought to know what to do during lab even though we do not know much of the procedures/administrative stuffs. After learning the ropes for the pass 5 sessions, I think most of us are getting the hang of getting out of trouble by acting busy, 'siam' those CSM-like TAs when we see one coming, no eye-contact with TAs, learn to hide our flaws, extend our lab network with those doing the same experiment etc...

-Had 2 mid-term tests and done 1 report on a concert. CBC213 was crap after making a stupid mistake, but I have confidence to score well for HS814. To think that I will score better for 'Social Inequalities' than 'Organic Chemistry'! The concert report was kind of tedious as most of the time is spent on translating English to Chinese. What's worst is translating music jargons! =x

-'77' gang's suggested gatherings was an anticipated flop even before semester. Will we ever meet this coming Sunday? No replies yet...lolx

Back to slacking...

MOE TSPC 2009

2009-08-09T16:44:00.000+08:00

It was at the MOE Teaching Scholarship Presentation Ceremony that I found out there were even more ex-NYJCians who applied for the TA. lol Also saw a circle of CBC peers.

Nothing much at the rehearsals; just need to know where to sit, where to stand and how to walk. But I felt most of the time we were practicing how to be an audience. lol

Taken after the rehearsal before lunch...so of the NYJCians I didn't know of...haha

me, ms chiew, shane and yong xiang

Will I be posted to zhong hua sec/yang zheng pri/maris for attachment next year?

The holidays are holding on to its final day...=(

events for the past fortnight

2009-08-01T17:33:00.000+08:00

20/7:

I was feeling like I'm one of the working class group who rushes not to work but to ~~board~~ squeeze through in the public transport in the early morning. The MOE TA induction course was enriching and philosophically inspiring but not totally necessary as certain episodes of the program could have been either done during out meet-up session previously or just forgo it. lol But the idea of having free tea-break and lunch wasn't that bad afterall~ =p

Saw a few familiar faces of NYJC...

24/7:

It was a day of museum-hopping with leslie, lim, zhen cong and zheng yu. First-off was Da Vinci Exhibition at SSC. The exhibits wasn't that spectacular but the secrets found, or rather the assumptions made, was quite an eye-opener. (Especially the one on the history of Mona Lisa and The Last Supper)

Mint the museum of toys was next. If you're born in the 80s and beyond, you might not find much to reminisce about, really. 'Cause there were no sight of POWER RANGERS! lol I think it's more suitable for those born in the 50s to 70s era. =)

Due to being free admission, we went to SAM to enrich ourselves in the realm of arts in many aspects. The photography section was more appealing; the rest was totally disengaged. Science students are advised to get pretty bored at most of the galleries.

Dinner was vegetarian as john wasn't with us. LOLx Nah, it was because the auntie was so hard-selling that we over-ordered and can't order other food from other stalls to share. In the end, we accompanied zheng yu to be a vegetarian for that night.

29/7:

Mt phone rang at 07 00 hours. It has been approximately 2 months since my phone rang at such a timing. Opportunity knocks at the most unpredictable moment. Maris (sec) actually called me for the first time (to be more specific Mrs Tan-Chin =) ) for relief teaching and I've no reason to object!

To my second surprise, eric was also called but it only came to my knowledge when he sms-ed me. lol We went macs for lunch at around 14 00 and talk cock until 15 minutes before 18 00! (which was the time I was suppose to meet 04S3A for some boardgames =x)

I wasn't that late afterall! lol Ho kong (+gf), johnny, leslie, lim, zhen cong and zheng yu (+random character) went to minds cafe for some fun although the ending came with a mind-boggling inquiry for the cheapest receipt! xD

30/7:

Declined to both relief teaching offered to me on this day to go for the treetop trail with leslie, lim and zhen cong at 09 00 at MacRitchie reservoir. By the time we walked out of our mini-expedition, it was already about 14 00! It was great going back to nature but the nature didn't seem to be what it is. Nothing much to see other than the repeated memory of the almost exact trail-track and a dozen of monkeys lurking around. I even suspect that those sounds made from insects/birds were coming from some faraway speakers! hahaha

Evening was 'suppose' to go to SCH for the SYF closing ceremony for CO but it turned out to be at the esplanade instead! Fortunately julian called me, if not ken and I would have gone to SCH stupidly.

when guitar meets 中阮...

2009-07-19T00:12:00.000+08:00

Before Earth meet a full lunar eclipse on the 22nd this month, guitar met 中阮 just this evening. lol

The most anticipated concert for having played all the 3 movements of 《云南回忆》！

Being old and out of touch with 中阮，刘星 had a hard time during rehearsals and even on the actual concert for 《云南回忆》。Although he's technically inapt, his rendition of this self-composed song was actually great! Anyway, credit should still be given to him even though he made some glitches in the concert as it ain't an easy feat to complete this concerto even for a young adult! lol

Manuel Barrueco's guitar performance was rather safe...at least comparing with 刘星. However, his 基本功 in guitar can be clearly 'seen' through his performance. lol

All in all, both the soloists performance was rather sterile in their tones. Maybe it's the age of the piece, but anyway it's a once in a lifetime to hear 《云南回忆》complete and a guitar+中阮 concerto all in a night! lol

funny advert on singapore

2009-07-08T14:40:00.001+08:00

Japan's ANA created an advert on spending your weekends abroad...to singapore! lol

XXII again!

2009-07-05T12:17:00.000+08:00

It's as if I'm reliving the first day of my 22nd year alive! Thanks to all the cousins (alicia, anthony, aveline, michael, may) + tzehou + yu si (am I correct? lol) + many other elders who celebrated my 22nd birthday!... ...whereby a cousin gathering BBQ was used as a decoy~ =p

The cake was fantastic. Any cake with crispy waffle biscuits or crisps is super-licious! It's from Rive Gauche (sounds like some geometric isomer...) - グアナジャ (Guanaja). "A french top quality bitter sweet chocolate mousse and ganache, with two layers of chocolate sponges. Comes with a bottom layer of crispy biscuit." Great!

Didn't expect to have a basketball as a present! With a personalised bball, there's no need to borrow from people anymore! Double Great!!

This was the first BBQ I've been to with all the food consumed...well almost...if you cover 1 eye for a couple of prawns + chicken wings + fish. lol

Anyway, thanks for the surprise celebration well executed~ =)

22nd birthday

2009-07-03T13:17:00.000+08:00

Thanks for all those well-wishes from you guys out there! =) Really appreciate it. Like what Eric blogged, a birthday is merely a normal day but families and friends made it a special day. =)

For those who sent pass midnight... ....SLEEP EARLY LAH! lolx

Credit still goes out to leslie, lim, low, xiao hui and zhen cong for celebrating with me and treating me to dinner and dessert! =)

We dined at the Japanese Gourmet Town at Vivocity. Ordered a curry pork katsu and potatoes+cheese. The potatoes+cheese is quite good, with a thick wedge+melted chesse+corn, but only when it's piping hot. The curry is abit too salty and not that spicy. However, the pork fillet has the honorary mention for being crispy and soft. The outdoor tables ought to be changed as the condensed water from the cups dripped through the holes of the table, and they feel sticky to...6.5/10.

Dessert was at Haagen Dazs. Chocolate explosion doesn't looks like it. From the chemistry point of view, it's like what you get while testing for hydrogen gas in a small test tube...a surprising 'pop' sound which flattens out in a second. The brownie need to enter the sauna; a tad too hard. The service was quite unexpected as they still remembered our orders. 7/10.

We gave a 25% off voucher we got after our billing to a big family nearby. Their reaction was quick to grab the voucher and pass it to the cashier before everything was too late. They must be from Singapore. lolx

And the pages continued to be scribbled with words of friendship... ...

first night cycling

2009-06-09T23:33:00.000+08:00

Just had a last minute decision to go for NYCO chalet at ECP coasta island and an impromptu night cycling event yesterday.

It was a day full of events. Early in the morning had to return to raffles medical for my blood + urine tests and had to wake up at 06 45! Thought that the hospital will open it registration the same time as its operating hours. But I was 45 minutes earlier! Registration starts at 08 30 and there wasn't any form of queueing system prior to registration, giving those who came early, and could be in time to rush in line once the registration opens, a disadvantage. They should improve their customer service...private hospital leh!

Anyway, went back home thinking that I could sleep alittle but didn't! lol Went for a quick bath and then met jon jr., julian and siu hon + other current nyco people at parkway parade at 16 30. Took a taxi to the chalet. The classic joke of the day is one of them waved for a taxi and told the taxi uncle "I want to go chalet!". LOL! Isn't it like telling him "Uncle! I want to go home!" Screwdriver! haha (private joke)

Only had a plate full of beehoon, 1 crab stick and 1/3 of bbq peppered dory fish. The bbq production line was too slow for so many people! lol

We had a talk-cock session in the upper room and it was really training our abs while laughing so much! hahaha All the gossips, arrowing, blame pushing etc...

It lasted till about 23 30 before we prepare for our night cycling journey with casper, estelli, eugene, jon jr., loba, siu hon, yu cheng and zhi wen. Firstly, we headed to geylang in search for the 豆浆油条. We went round and round before we asked for directions from afew stall holders. Finally we found the 永和 shop! The 烧饼油条 was quite a creative idea, but the 油条 lost it crispiness (maybe they used the less fresh ones =x). After which, we rode all the way to the singapore flyer (stopping at the starting line of the F1 racing site). Took a few lame photos and even tried to race! Esplanade was the final pit-stop and we rested awhile there. Looking at the powerful spotlights from the construction site of IR was magnificent. It was my first experience and it was quite shiok! With the entire stretch of road to ourselves, we can ride on whatever lanes we want! Especially the stretch along esplanade.

Fun-ny things didn't stop to happen the this morning when we were at macs having our breakfast. A random character purposely sat next to us at the long table and that auntie started to talk about "what are we doing?" and also about singapore culture and history. Suddenly a change of topic to energy in our body system and other philosophical albeit surreal stuffs.

Indeed a random encounter.

Well, it all depends! lol

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

2009-05-23T18:48:00.000+08:00

Just came back from the concert and it simply FANTASTIC TTM!!!

Able to see Nobuo-san in person...in his simple, traditional Japanese costume, long socks and slippers. haha...but he didn't talk much though.

The stipulated time was about 105 minutes (inclusive of 20 minutes interval), but it was delayed to about 2.5 hours!! Nobuo-san even went to sing with the choral for One Winged Angel! lol It was a great finale!

Back to playing FFX...

Can't wait to play FFXIII!! =)

results are out!

2009-05-22T09:20:00.000+08:00

Semester 2 results were better than the first! It didn't meet up to my expectation of 4.1, but at least I've improved. =)

I've survived Human Resource Management!!!

Time for fun! =D

teaching it is

2009-05-12T20:37:00.002+08:00

My MOE TA was approved! Woohoo! Double celebration~ .... Must I take maths minor? =x

南洋初院华乐：荣誉金！

2009-05-08T12:15:00.000+08:00

今年的《新加坡青年节华乐比赛》，南洋初院终于获得了他们应得的荣誉金！而这个荣耀得来不易。有了负责老师的支持，指挥（丁老师）的指导与训导，以及学生们的努力拼搏与团队精神，今日才有那么辉煌的成绩。

因为这是第一次得到这个荣誉，我们都疯狂地喝彩！有的尖叫，有的喜极而泣。大家都为自己骄傲，为学校骄傲。

“昨日我以华乐为荣，今日华乐以我为荣！”

flawed system

2009-05-08T11:57:00.000+08:00

In light of the recent H1N1 virus attack around the world, the DORSCON Alert status have risen to ORANGE. It means that everyone have to take their temperature prior to entrance of some public places like government buildings, hospitals, theatres etc... Students have to take their temperature twice in schools during curriculum time.

However, there are a couple of loopholes with the current system. First, visitors were lining-up in groups without any protective equipment on. This would have resulted in cross-contamination even before you take your temperature if there was a virus-carrier in the line.

Second, students were asked to take their temperature in the classroom before the first lesson. Shouldn't it be taken before they step into the school premise? Another example is during the SYF at SCH on Wednesday. The audiences were crowding around the area to have our temperature taken, and it's inside the building! Is precaution really taken into consideration or protocols were carried out purely based on personnel's convenience?

Also, hospitals were grouping all patients together in one assembly area to have their temperature taken before any consultations or visitings. Shouldn't they separate those with flu and fever from those of other illness other than those of the symptoms of the flu virus?

Apart from the risk of cross-contamination, some places weren't environmentally-friendly. Large plastics were used to cover the thermometer's tip while taking temperature from the ear; and facemasks were thrown away unnecessarily. Isn't it better to use infra-red or use smaller pieces of plastics?

If we are to take these precautions, we might as well go back to the GREEN status.

First year is over!

2009-05-01T18:10:00.000+08:00

It's the end of exams and end of first year! Time seems to pass-by so fast in uni. Hope I can maintain my GPA this semester. lol

Holidays are here. Went to watch X-men Origins : Wolverine yesterday with ho kong, leslie, marcus and zheng yu. It's not a bad show. A mix of thriller/action/horror? haha However, I think they should have done this as the first sequel of the X-men quad-logy?

With the swine flu on the rise, planning to go overseas at this period of time seemed to be more tedious. Shall be spending the holidays locally.

MOE TA interview next week! =x

working as planned

2009-04-19T00:18:00.000+08:00

Exams had already started last Thursday with calculus. Took my time elaborating the first few questions, so I'm left with the last question half-done. =(

Don't know how will I fair for my human resource management. Hope that the correlation is there, since I did well for my combine humanities. lol

Revision is going on as scheduled. The peculiarity of the questions Dr. Sumod might set is the most important factor to surmount. What's he up to this semester?

Must get 100% for biochemistry to compensate for the lost of marks for mid-term III. Can't stop thinking that the final exam is going to be easier than the mid-terms!

9 more days...

Distant Worlds

2009-03-25T13:32:00.001+08:00

Distant Worlds not so distant

2009-03-13T20:52:00.002+08:00

Yeah! Finally got my hands on the shit hot Distant Worlds concert tickets! There are still available vacancies even up till now. To think I sacrificed my physics and modern chemistry lectures just to buy it... *roll eyes*

Didn't get enough sleep as the preparation for the biochemistry test and communication skills presentation kept me busy this whole week! Shall have ample rest this weekend. =) ...then back to more studying...=(

Yesterday, a student was conducting a survey about the stress university students are suffering as their final project. Got an inspiration from that unfortunate event?

Axiom of the day: Living in Hall 2 is like wasting your money away.

passed TP!!

2009-02-26T16:48:00.001+08:00

Finally, after 2 attempts, I passed my TP with 8 demerit points!! =)

time to relax

2009-02-21T12:48:00.000+08:00

It's RECESS!!! But, no, we're not going down the canteen to buy food nor are we going to the field and playing catching. It's time to take a breather and await for the fun events coming soon next week!

But before that, I have to rush to finish my essay for the MOE - TA...=( back to drawing some inspirations... ...

Did I know?

2009-02-02T17:14:00.001+08:00

More than a decade may have passed since the last visit to my 大舅 house. Things and events had evolved. Little did I know I'm a 表叔/表舅 to 7 of my 表侄子 & 表侄女.

In the past, I'd very hazy memory of the multitude of achievements of my 表哥 & 表姐. Now, everything becomes vivid. They had claimed some of the many prestigious awards & scholarships like President Scholarship, EDB Scholarship, LKY Prize for Mathematics and Science etc... and one of them was even the first Singaporean to be the Valedictorian in Princeton University!

Some quotes from him during his speech was quite thought-provoking...

"There's no point in learning something which you're not interested in. And one sort of maxim that I have is love what you do and do what you love. I believe that if something is worth doing at all, it's worth doing well."

"One general guideline, something that I picked up from Princeton, is that I want to live a life that matters. And I want to do something that would have a positive impact on this world that we live in."

One intriguing comment was that he kept awake till 8am in the following morning just to study and that he hated his life. However, his perseverance had definitely paid off.

Be it an intelligent or intellectually-challenged person (or anywhere between the extremities), you'll definitely achieve your own personal expectations if you persevere and strive for what is worth doing, and doing it well and cheerfully.

Now I know.

Chinese 牛 year!

2009-01-27T22:53:00.002+08:00

Compared to last year's 9-day long leave from station duty, this year's break seemed to be ticking fast. Fetched 二姐 from airport on Saturday evening and it's a day gone! On 除夕, alicia, tze hau and me went for lunch at great world city before watching 赤壁 2. I was playing gooseberry when aveline 'pang-seh' me saying she'd watched already. =x

The 2nd sequel wasn't better off than the 1st, but it was a good movie nonetheless. As predicted, the actions were against the law of physics; mythbusters should do some experiments! Apart from the tactics used by that smart-ass 孔明 being good about this movie, the pace of the movie is taking ages from chapter to chapter. The battle wasn't even the bulk of the movie! 7/10.

After the movie, we had our mini-reunion dinner at 二叔 place. From then on till today, I had consumed food which will be worth for 6 days!

This year's celebration was a mild one. Nothing extravagant; nothing euphoric. Just 2 days to get-together with family. A decade ago, most of us wasn't suffering from the wrath of the working society or the stress from tertiary education. We have practically nothing to worry about. We had loads of time to spend enjoying this festive season. Now, we have to work, study or even serving our nation. Less commitment to freedom. But we'll still try to find ways to put down our burdens for awhile; that'll be a freedom more appreciated than before.

Organising for a BBQ anytime soon for the cousins...please keep your weekend free!

2008 rewind

2009-01-05T00:42:00.000+08:00

The last few days 2008 was spent chilling out with my cliques...

There was the 04S3A post x'mas, pre new year gathering at lim's house where we had a variety of finger snacks, over-ordered pizzas and topped-up with 50 satays and bbq chicken wings! It was a night where a person who was on a week starvation need not eat for the following week. lol Playing Wii was our only form of repentance for taking in so much calories. It can make you lose some calories with just 1 hour of play time. haha

Then was meeting aveline and ah hao to get a gift for 大姐 at wisma. Before that, aveline was hungry, so we had a 'high tea' at 鼎泰丰. The fried rice with prawns was still great (albeit a little expensive) but their service was still mediocre. 7.5/10. Finally, we settled with a cross necklace in no time! We wanted to watch 叶问 but it was full house by then...

Watched 叶问 with 大姐 with the complimentary tickets I got from HomeTeamNS. The ticketing counter auntie gave an austere expression and we didn't had a 2-way conversation while trying to exchange for tickets!!

I can say that it was the movie of the year 2008! The storyline was superb, action was flawless and fluent, needless to say the acting. A mixture of action, comedy, romance and culture. 10/10!

After having our rounds around the shops in bugis junction, we had our year end dinner with the cousins at ministry of food. I ordered the char siew ramen and it was great, but I thought the char siew I had at shokudo was a bit better. Anything to do with red beans for the dessert, you'll think that you're eating 100% sugar! Service was so-so. 8/10.

Went over to aveline's place and we had finished-off the entire game of taboo in just 3-4 hours!

Finally, the last day of the year was spent with the '77'党 at jian cheng's house for a round of steamboat while watching death note. This was the first time I ever finished a steamboat with no food left! No food wasted! Spent the new year playing citadels, pictionary and watching the beautiful mind. It was 6 am in a blink of an eye and we went for macs breakfast while leaving behind loba to continue his beauty sleep! lolx Went back to the room and slept for another hour while aidan and eric went back. Jian cheng was sleeping like a dead log, literally, before I handed over his 21st birthday present overdue. Anyway, we still had to give his mum a reply for the 初二 dinner over at his place...=)

23 strikes

2008-12-30T13:46:00.002+08:00

Woooo! This year made 23 strikes off the wishlist! =)

More to go next year!

Merry X'mas to all!

2008-12-25T12:23:00.000+08:00

It has been nearly a month since the start of the break and I can say it's a break well spent! =)

Went to watch NAC competitions...year after year the performances clearly showed who was the better one but perhaps it didn't resonate with the judges. We had a mini MSCO gathering on one of the days having dinner at shokudo. The ramen was great but the rosti I had was no better than the one I made myself! =p

Celebrated 3 birthdays this month - leslie's, xiao hui's and zhen cong's 21st birthday!

Finally able to meet up with the 4 Francis guys, and it was the largest turn out ever! We had a long dinner at cafe le caire, introduced by Ms. Jaz. We waited for a long time for the food to be served. That was why we had dinner from 19 30 till 23 00+! It was more like a buffet than a proper course meal.

Performed for the beautiful sunday at esplanade. After 2-3 days of practices and it's on-stage already! Since the alumni were only involved in the first item, we became audiences straight after that. lolx

Took my TP and failed it... ...

Watched Yes Man on a Thursday night with ah hao at J8. On the way for dinner, I saw my tutee and family. Coincidentally, they were watching the same show at the same time! haha This show hit the nail at the very first scene. 8/10.

The NYCO reception was abit out of focus and purpose. No signs of activities going on other than the 'ikea cup' presentation (which was the 3rd cup I've received!), photo-taking and eating.

Had a late christmas shopping with da jie. Went to bring ah ma for lunch on the way. lol A long journey we took to buy almost all the presents. Chill-out with alicia at starbucks till the eve of christmas! xD

Watched bedtime stories on the eve and this time it wasn't as good as the previous movie but still worth watching it. The predictability of the story made it lost the punch of the humour.7/10.

Now it's left with 04S3A gathering, cousin's dinner party and '77'党 bbq overnight mayhem at jian cheng's house! =)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! =)

trying again

2008-12-16T11:32:00.002+08:00

Oh no! Failed my first driving practical test! 32 points! =(

Initially the circuit was great but when it comes to the test route, points starts to accumulate. If I could break faster on amber light and there wasn't a long vehicle on the left, I would have barely passed. Shall practice more with traffic lights and breaking.

Luckily the 2nd re-test is on the week of the mid-term break... shall pass on 2nd attempt!

prison break

2008-12-02T22:24:00.002+08:00

EXAMS ARE OVER!!!! =)

At last, freed from the 4 walls of my hostel room and the slack genes will be at work for the next 5 weeks.

Uni life isn't exactly like what our JC tutors had described. On the contrary, I got the feeling of being back to the final 17 weeks before A levels, where we mugged all day and night. In college, you can afford to have a mediocre or failing grades for promos and prelims or any other class tests as ultimately, it's the A levels result that matters. However, in university, every quiz, mid-term test and final exam counts. Even though you made it through the final exam after all the hardwork during revision week (if it really ever existed!?), you still can't run away from the poor grades which you've gotten from the previous quizzes and tests as it'll siphon a significant amount of marks overall.

Final verdict: Consistent mugging from day 1 of every semester is a must to retain and explore more knowledge so that you'll be less stress-out when it's high time.

Now back to slacking... ...=)

peak of a rollercoaster ride

2008-11-05T12:19:00.002+08:00

1 more week before the 1st out of 8 semester exam. That also means semester break is around the corner too! =)

Much of the time was spent studying, gaining the maximum potential energy before accelerating down from a 3-week long trail.

Other than mugging all day, I'd watched disaster movie and the guard post. Disaster movie was really a disaster. I thought scary movie 4 was bad enough, but this movie had taken over that place. Not even worth to spend $1 to watch. 1/10. The guard post was a korean horror and gore movie, using a virus as the basis of the plot. Another gory movie with a subtle message. Can safely say that it's just one notch below saw series. And talking about saw, saw V is out in cinemas. Should catch saw IV first then...

It's announced that video games live is coming to town next June holiday!! Can't wait!!

~Nas may you rest in peace... ...~

impromptu late supper

2008-10-12T23:25:00.000+08:00

The '77' 党 had an impromptu supper at bukit timah for prata at 22 30 on a Saturday and lasted till about 03 00 in the early morning of Sunday. wOOt! This was the first time we ever stayed outside in such wee hours. Talked a lot about psychology, which was the niche area for eric. We then linked it to other social issues, and how theories were introduced to explain such phenomena was rather intriguing. But was too tired to even think critically. xD Had a extremely long day~

Another mad rush for mid-term test part 2! Things are really getting exponentially difficult. Anyway, things will turn out right naturally, no? xD Can't be too stressed up, if not there'll be an increase in the loss of brain cells; like what eric said!

Shall see our facebook group by tomorrow! =)

1st wave

2008-09-28T12:42:00.000+08:00

3 weeks had passed since I last blog. Can see that mid-term I tests had taken up way too much time in preparation. Including this recess week, more than half of the time were spent catching up what we were taught in week 6 and 7. Without the break, I think most of us will be lagging 1-2 weeks behind time. That's how fast paced uni life is. And I presume that's how work life is in the real world too.

That aside, recess week was well spent. Took up lots of tuition sessions and driving lessons. Also, I tried to cook the long awaited cordon bleu at my ah ma's house and some of my relatives being the testers. xD First trial was quite alright, however I should have done it with chicken thigh instead of breast meat. Next time shall try grilling it.

Watched wall.e on the first Friday night. It's hybridised with eco-education, love and comedy aspects. A movie for all ages. It's an epitome of action speaking louder than words. It also depicts how humans were blinded by all the technology and totally forgot all the surrounding nature around us until someone drags us out of our myopic lives. 8.5/10.

Friday, we celebrated lim's 21st birthday by having a dinner at pasta de waraku. The food quality was great, but quantity wasn't comparable. Dine there if you won 4-D or don't mind spending for a quality meal. 7/10. The chocolate cake with corn flakes was superb. After which, pei wen suggested to go for prawning since the night was still young. I think trying once will do unless you are going to prawn at a public area for free. It's way too absurd to spend that much cash on waiting and staring on the stick if you are not a hardcore fan of prawning. It's as if we're spending money to chill out by the pond side talking cock under the night sky.

Now recess week is over, it's back to more questions, 4 walls and a bathroom.

roasted under the blazing sun

2008-09-07T14:12:00.000+08:00

Mid-term tests will be a 2-week long affair starting next week. Concepts are getting more complex than last month. I wonder how so many people could still find time playing games or chilling out in times like this?

The archery trials duration could be minimised without the initial 3-hour long practice session. Under the hot sun for 4-5 hours got me roasted and the guy who said guys do not need finger tabs must have metal fingers! xP

自己吓自己

2008-08-29T23:37:00.001+08:00

It was about 01 00 on last Monday when marcus called me while I just got self-hypnotised to sleep. It was the 2nd time in 1 week's time where he got accident from his riding. Some say it's the camera he took back from the toilet near canteen A... lolx Godspeed to marcus~

The following night was scarily awoken by triplet knocks on the door at around 3+am. I thought marcus was back. haha It was actually the security guard telling me that my bunch of keys were left outside the keyhole!! =x I was so lucky not to have anyone taking it from the time I returned back to hostel.

Since the first few days was without a roomie, I went to see-see look-look at NTUCO. They were planning to go to Hong Kong at the end of the year for exchange programme. Don't know if can go or not; with my TP falling on that month and I'll be spending christmas over there.

Missed the bridge and scrabble/boggle sessions for my hall wing games. Didn't even see the registration area in the futsal court!! How to register?!

Tutorials are coming faster than we could finish them. Time is definitely not on our side. Mid term tests are getting nearer and I thought my 1st maths quiz had a score of 2.85! I should have seen the calculated score which was 3.4 instead of looking at the average score. nOOb~ xP Completed 3.7% out of 4%! =) 加油！

It was good to know that my toilet mates were china students and coincidentally both of them are in SPMS - one in CBC and the other in PAP. Not bad; at least can ask questions. haha

Time goes by just like that... ...

E.C. ... let fate decide... ...LOL

too many episodes

2008-08-26T10:40:00.000+08:00

Lots of things happened and it's daunting to even blog about it as I do not have the drive and energy to blog. lolx

Weekends are like luxury to us (especially those staying in hall) as it seems too short and time passed-by like nobody's business.

Lab work is making us look DUMB as we do not have prior knowledge of the know-hows to use those sophisticated tools to conduct our experiment, and you don't expect them to teach everybody unless you ask them individually.

The first wave of tests and quizzes are on the way within the next couple of weeks. Can we make it?

weekend liberation

2008-08-17T13:03:00.000+08:00

2 weeks had passed, and we really can feel something with an astronomical mass, which will continue to grow exponentially over the next 3 months, pushing us with 'Gianormous' force... ... and that equates to a pressure limiting to infinity!

Comes Friday night, those forces seemed to be negligible as we got back the control of our timetable. Comes Sunday night, those forces starts to pile up again.

It was akin to the time when we were still trainees in camps; booking out - liberation; booking in - captivity.

It was yet another back-to-back night movies. Watched money no enough 2 on Friday night with jin jie, les, lim, low and zheng yu. I say it would be quite an entertaining movie for the locals if they removed the overt advertisements from their sponsors. It was definitely a slapstick humour and I rate it 6/10. This late night movie made me missed my last bus just on the dot and I had to walk the 40-minute journey back home.

Yesterday night ah hao and I watched batman - the dark knight. It was a long movie all because of the cops not being able to suppress joker's counter-measures. What a joker! However, the action was rather good with all the sophisticated gadgets which I think it's only being used in the reel world. Will there be a 3rd sequel? I'm waiting for some riddles. 8/10.

first week of school

2008-08-09T22:35:00.001+08:00

The first week of school wasn't an event which I was looking forward to. lol It'll mean back to study, tests and exams.

I already had problems on the night of day 'zero'. I was killing 7 cockroaches for a period of 2 hours on the first night in hostel!! xP...the 8th on the 2nd night. =x

Apart from that, it was difficult to understand certain accents from lecturers from foreign countries. Some were all right, but some were almost like babel to us than a proper English language! Biology was also killing me! Fortunately, biochemistry is more of molecules than terminologies and long explanations!

Next week will be the post honeymoon period and by 3rd week we'll get the full wrath of our merciless schedule...

Anyway, Olympics had arrived and I can say that it was the most spectacular opening ceremony I've seen in my life...and much better than any NDP; sad to say. And sigh...I still can't have the freedom to watch the games anytime I want; since Sydney. Have to wait till I graduate I suppose. haha

All the best for Singapore athletes in the games and happy 43rd nationhood to Singapore! =)

P.S.:By the way, did anyone notice that the China flag, which the boy beside yao ming was holding during the opening ceremony walk-in of the China's athletes, was upside down?! =x

for the sake of...

2008-08-02T12:17:00.003+08:00

For the sake of getting through the university admission red tapes this week, I've missed out very much of the outside world. Recently, there was a global survey done about career paths chosen by Singaporeans.

It turned out that "more than half of workers in Singapore regret what they chose to study back in school, polytechnic or university." "One in three is also uncertain about their ultimate career choice, according to an online survey by Kelly Services. It was released on Wednesday."

Let's see why were there so many Singaporeans crossing wrong paths in their peaks...

Basically, you can split into 4 quadrants - talented (all-rounder prodigy), not talented (little or no talent in all areas), interested (very keen in a profession), not interested (not keen at all in a profession).

For those who are talented and also interested in their profession, they really have no worries at all as their path is clear - get that degree and just like an object given a slight push in vacuum, they'll continue further until they're lost in sight. These are the big gamers and huge earners - millionaires.

Those who are talented but have no interest at all are possibly those whom parents want them to follow their footsteps. It is likely that most of the high-flying parents would want to mould their children into the exact or similar profession as them. In this case, they could have 2 options: 1. follow what their parents told them to do and continue to be stable and successful albeit boring; or 2. heck with their parents and go on to the track they wanted long ago. Either way, they are smart enough to be in the managerial positions and earn rather high salaries, but not as high as board of directors.

The not talented but who are interested in a certain profession, most of the time, will not be able to get what they want... ...unless opportunity comes knocking on their door, and the rest of the success is up to the individual's determination and hard work. If not, it's time for them to move on with life and carry on with the humdrum routine work. These people are the bulk of higher-middle income or middle income group.

Lastly, the not talented and without any interest category will have no choice but to do something which will require little or intrinsic skills to ensure survivability. They have the lowest paying jobs but still able to have food on their tables for every meal, just that quantity and quality might contrastive with those above. Their children have a high chance of getting caught in the vicious cycle. They are the low income group.

Where do a typical Singaporean fall into? What about you? =)

new dining found!

2008-08-01T23:56:00.000+08:00

Bracing myself after a night's sleep; taking it easy for the 1st semester is the first step in a healthy mental preparation. A good start is half a battle done! =)

Today went to 开房 with marcus! xP Family and friends, feel free to visit us at Hall 2 BLK 11 unit 11-1-165. =]

It was definitely something which I didn't expect after hearing the condition of low's room when he first got in. Loads of FOs (not F*** Off but foreign bodies xD) can be found almost everywhere - furs+hair+dust on the floor, layer of dust on the shelves and bed...the worst is the TOILET!!! =x It was like some abandoned haunted room; with hair stuck together in a sticky substance, almost attached permanently on the floor, halls sweet wraper (definitely not issued by hall 2 lolx), plastics, ear buds, BLACK flooring, BLACK drainage sieves, BLACK basins, YELLOW tiles...the list goes on...

Now, it has changed into a 3-star room look-alike! All thanks to marcus and I cleaning for more than 2 hours religiously with him cleaning the entire room while I was scrubbing with a leftover toothbrush and 2 scrubbers in the toilet.

The next door toilet room mates better be grateful about it and hopefully able to be self-motivated and pro-active in clearing up any mess done in the toilet. =)

Anyway, here's giving ho kong best wishes for his 21st birthday on Sunday!! =) Thanks for the treat as well. And I've found another great dining hide-out too! =p Somewhere near boon keng mrt - 文东记. Taste and quality are apt enough to obtain a 7.5/10.

News of the week:

1. Serangoon central's macs had taken over NaBeh's cafe!! That might just mean more jobs for cardiologists! xP

2. Met my FJ coincidentally while I was walking home; went for wrist operation by inserting 2 metal strips. Sad life... ...

3. Going for routine reporting next wednesday and I won't be skipping my lectures! Lose-win situation in any combination.

into the alienated

2008-08-01T00:14:00.001+08:00

Into the alienated world we went. All the unknowns filling up our perplexed mind, and with the start of the first semester drawing nearer each day, making us feeling edgy. Maybe they should go through more on the allocations of AUs for the different requirements instead of just breeze through them.

It's comforting to know that we have a legion of approachable lecturers but it's unnerving to know that we are indirectly, and perpetually, being pressurised to out-do ourselves consistently like how coal are being pressurised to become diamonds under a long period of time.

Can we turn into valuable and rare diamonds after 4 years, where everyone yearns for it; or we'll remain as the cheap and insignificant coal, where nobody will even give a single glance?

Some might say '天生我才必有用.' We'll be used for warmth; but how long can we last till we are of no use?

Nonetheless, we shall stay optimistic and confident, guys! =) (for those who are on the same boat xP)

experimenting

2008-07-30T15:05:00.000+08:00

We have been busy preparing for uni since last weekend. John, les, low and I went to ikea to buy my ULTIMATE pillow (with duck feathers) and its cases last Saturday morning before going to vivo to make use of the 40% giordano voucher. In the end, I was the only one who got home with items. lolx

After Sunday's last archery lesson, I'm declared a ~~nOOb~~ beginner archer! =) Hopefully can compete in uni and earn points to stay in hall in year 2. xD Late dinner was at amk hub subway with low, and we did a little window shopping at giordano and ntuc.

Monday was the rare badminton outing at 09 00 - 12 00 at hg; and god knows when was the last time we ever played badminton! haha Quite a large turnout - ho kong, john, les, lim, low, marcus, quek, zheng yu and me. We went to chill out at zheng yu's place after our lunch. Saw some cornetto ice cream in the freezer! =p

And yesterday was the first lesson with my current driving instructor. It was troublesome as I had to change to his modus operandi, which was better. It was also my first time to try out in the road of the REAL WORLD. I was in a bad fettle as I wasn't used to his new technique and car, but it was still not too bad, just that I still couldn't find the biting point fast enough to stop the engine from stalling~ xD

John, low, marcus and I had a late dinner yet again at sr gdns, then went to talk cock at cartel until way past midnight...and I had to do relief this morning~ wOOt!

Anyway, here's my first experimentation on the swiss rosti! Tasted great! =p

target in life

2008-07-24T14:55:00.001+08:00

More than 2 months have passed, and finally I got to start my archery level 1 course last Sunday at bukit batok HTNS. I was told that I was ~~abnormal~~ extraordinary as I'm a right-hander and left-eye dominant, so I had to do it the left-hander way of archery. xP

Straight after the course, I rushed down to nyjc for bball session with 04S3A. It was probably one of the last couple of sessions left before we enter uni. The following day, lim, low, zheng yu and I went to KTV at serangoon gardens. Not bad singing for 4 hours with 2 drinks at a price of $10/pax.

Tuesday night, we went to changi airport T3 for dinner at popeye before sending sok fong off for attachment in Shanghai. I had a very late night sleep that night...xD

I was too tired to even reject to go for relief the next morning. haha After school, went home to slack for awhile before going for 2 tuitions straight from 17 00 to 21 00. What a tiring day!! =S

Fortunately, today I wasn't need to relief, so I could sleep longer to compensate yesterday's fatigue.

Finally, my current driving instructor ~~sucks~~ is not suitable for me. I've decided to stop continuing with him for the good of both of us. lolx

tired of economics

2008-07-18T14:50:00.000+08:00

The global economics is making me sick of the perpetual rise in inflation. Everything from basic necessities (food, home, education, bus/mrt) to lavish items (leisure, material needs, taxis and other miscellaneous stuffs) are increasing albeit slowly and surely; and without anyone noticing, the cost will stay almost the same even when the inflation has ceased. That's the downside of globalisation!

With tuition fees, hostel fees, driving fees and other living expenses to spend, it's no doubt that I'll continue my 3 tuitions for as long as possible. I had to spend about 5.5k starting from today till end of this year just for my tuition fees, hostel fees and driving fees! Doing part-time job is inevitable.

On a lighter note, yesterday les, lim, quek and I went to cineleisure for dinner at BBQchicken. The quality and quantity isn't that fantastic to be charged that greatly. Food were served rather slow even though there wasn't many customers around. Service quality was average. I rate it 4.5/10.

We then watched 赤壁 after our meal. It was comparable to LOTR and naria. The scenes editing was nicely done. Cinematography was just nice for my liking; nothing too far-fetched. The scripwriter also did a superb job in bringing out several connotations to various dialogues. Can see that the director is a perfectionist himself as he wants to show each and every details of all the scenes; that turned it into a longer-than-usual movie. I rate it 9/10; better than fearless and warlords anytime!

PCN cycling trip

2008-07-15T20:39:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the test of mind over body. I had to wake up early in the morning 06 30 to work as a PE & English teacher. Zhen cong and I had an early lunch so that we could go off straight after school at 13 45 to ECP for a cycling trip with the 04S3A guys.

We arrived at around 14 50 and we thought we were the late ones, but it was the direct opposite! lol We soon met up with leslie, lim, low and zheng yu. Nonetheless, we were still nowhere far from our flag-off time.

The bike shop we patronised were doing some hard-selling, so much so that he's grabbing by my arms *roll-eyes when desparately giving us the 'choice' to choose the cheaper bike or his so-called new bike. After taking a look at our bike photos up-close (thanks to leslie =p), I finally found out the truth! LOLx

NEW~G~SPORTS a.k.a. 'New Bike'

*and what a sleazy name~ xP

We rode all the way out of ECP towards changi beach park using the PCN (park connector). The long, seemingly endless road was tiring us out with a couple of obstacles (road bumps, stones, uphills etc) hindering our smooth cycling.

Before flag-off~

Along the way, it rained. Zhen cong was rather paranoid about whether we could stick with the stipulated time planned or not, so he went to check out the map in the rain. Look how ~~nOOb~~ calmly is he trying to wear the poncho. hahaha Luckily it was just a light drizzle and it stopped rather fast.

Don't worry, zhen cong is not a 3 year-old kid, he won't get suffocated! =p

Zhen cong trying to see our route ahead... ...in the rain~

fork-end of the bike; artistically taken by leslie.

We stopped intermittently to take some nice shots... ...and zhen cong 'hitched' on a girl from NUS who was also on a cycling trip to changi village market for orientation. xD Also, I met kee meng in the same orientation; we even asked him to help us take a photo for us~

Nice secluded beach =)

But a head turn and it became like this!! =O

The ugly side of SINGAPOREANS!!!

Fun shot at the shore~

Group photo courtesy of kee meng =)

Cool shot with SIA plane at the top!

*Who's that zai photographer? lol

Zhen cong was at the brink of falling off the 'cliff'!

Terrorists' new way of hijacking commercial airplanes?

Soon, we reached our destination for dinner; and we were on time. We had nasi lemak at $3; quite a reasonable price. After appreciating the picturesque view and lots of photo-taking, we headed back to where we had started. By then it was about 18 20...

Zhen cong strongly requested us to take this photo~ haha

The picture says it all~

New couple in our class?! xD

Venice in Singapore.

The return journey was even more tiresome. We interviewed some of our 'cycling club members' (that's what a stranger thought of us) on this inaugural cycling adventure on videos! lol (videos will be given on demand =])

Route to Mordor?

Can give the bike uncle this photo as his advertisement for his 'NEW BIKE'! xD

Riding off without me~~~

Still didn't find the perfect settings for night-time shots.

We reached the bike shop slightly before 21 00. Supper was some market near marine parade; after our wash-up at macs.

The shagged.

The bus ride was snooze-inducing. I slept the entire journey. Got back home at around 23 00 and I nearly gave up waking up for school today! lolx

movie spree

2008-07-12T15:04:00.000+08:00

After the late night movie last Tuesday, hao and I went for another not-so-late night movie at amk hub again on Thursday. lolx He must be thinking that he'll miss all the good stuffs in Singapore when he's at Taiwan (now). He even commented that "Oh no, I forgot to eat prata!" xP

We watched Hancock. It was somewhat like a superhero movie, but when you see it in a different perspective, it's a whole new league in itself. They're (the kind of extra-ordinary people in the movie) abit of a mixture of X-men and superman. The activation of their supernatural powers was a rather fresh idea. However, the setback was there wasn't any powerful villians and the whole movie revolves around how hancock find out about more about himself and his own kind. But it wasn't all humdrum 'cause the humour was good! 7/10.

We had a rather heavy supper at his dad's stall! Fortunately, we were still able to catch our last train/bus!

Yesterday went out with hao again for a late lunch at j8 pasta mania and we've redeemed our VIP card! ... ...eh...but what privileges are we entitled to anyway? lolx He thought of catching the third movie this week but there were no slots as I had to go for my FTT at 20 00. So, we just window-shop around j8 then travelled to amk hub for another round.

WOOT! I passed my FTT! Fortunately, I didn't waste money to take their practice test. xP The bad news was I lost the number of the driving instructor! Sigh...had to ask for it again~ lol

one after another

2008-07-09T15:50:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was busy throughout day and night. After relief teaching in the morning, I went to tuition after lunch in school. Not soon after, I was jio-ed to go out with john and leslie to town as john want to use up his taka voucher. lol

Also, I was suppose to meet ah hao for movie in the late evening. So, after walking about an hour or so in town, I went straight to amk hub to buy the tickets first. Little did I know that he'll book out late! haha So, I had to wait for more than 1 hour at the bus interchange. I was somewhat playing a prank with the commuters as I was ~~seated~~ half-seated at a bus waiting lane with no existence of any bus services. Some of the commuters were confused as they walked into my lane and then found out that it wasn't the lane they should enter. xP

It was until 21 00 then we ate our dinner at fish 'n co.. I suppose it was my first time as to order food so promptly in a restaurant. We weren't even seated down and we had finished our ordering. lolx

We thought we were still on time for the show but we were a tad late; missed the first few minutes. Don't mess with the zohan was anti-terrorism; showing peaceful messages of how people (Isrealis VS Palestinians) should react during times of misunderstandings or arguments...in a damn hilarious way!! Goof job done by adam! =p I rate it 8/10.

Hitched a bike-ride with ah hao back home...if not don't know if there'll be any more last buses. lol Went back home and saw the airborne gift all the way from Australia. My 二姐 bought me a calendar cufflinks as my 21st birthday gift! =) Thanks alot!

the very day

2008-07-04T17:25:00.001+08:00

2 July 2008 went past rather calmly. That morning went to ikea queensway for the last minute breakfast meal at 10 30. We were in luck to get the final 2 plates of french toast sets left! =p After our meal, we went to shop for leslie's bag while I do some market research on my running shoes. We walked the entire shopping centre too!

We travelled to vivo for lunch at 15 00 with my burger king voucher. haha The large fries was late though. We walked almost the entire vivo also! lolx At the jetty, we saw a Russian 19th century ship (somewhat like from the pirates of the caribbean =p) which was doing a world tour for some marines study exchange for the locals.

The impromptu dinner was flopped in the end 'cause it's just leslie and me who are free that night. lol

Back to school the next day and it feels like you just came back from a long medical leave where the teachers there greets you and say "Eh, you're back!" and "Oh, it's you!". Many of my ex-students came to write messages on my birthdays guestbook, even my former form teacher as well! =) Who still receives birthday wishes from a primary school teacher when you're at 21?! haha

my 21st birthday gifts! =)

2008-07-02T20:33:00.000+08:00

Here are the photos of the gifts from family and friends!

Energie leather wallet!

Goldlion belt!

Bvlgari shampoo & shower gel!

Rip curl t-shirt!

Lee Coopers t-shirt!

G-shock watch with free G-shock toilet radio + 2 topman boxers!

(Thanks for not getting me a G-string! lolx)

Guess cologne!

odm original watch with free levi's organiser and handphone strap!

Didn't notice this brand in HK~

Car model (1:18) - Chrysler!

It was suppose to be a fire engine!

Black & white stripes casual tie!

Autobots belt!

The one which I wanted to buy in HK!

Zhen cong, next time we can wear out together! haha =]

Fossil watch!

Hard gay leather cap?! o.O

Ink bag!

Cloud Strife & Hardy Daytona!

Awe-velous!

The full masterpiece! =)

And definitely not forgetting the samsung camera, which I took all these photos with, my family and cousins gave me! =)

the wedding planners & the birthday boy

2008-06-30T19:39:00.000+08:00

It has been rather busy for the past 2 weeks. We had been busy helping out in planning the wedding of tze hou and alicia, which was last, last Saturday. (I was the one running the errands and reception during the dinner =])

The rehearsal was at the outdoors for the solemnisation. However, on the actual morning, it rained, so we had to get indoors. It went smoothly even though we didn't rehearse there! =pBack at Alicia's house for 'zam cha', and *WooT* was the weather HOT! But it was worth it as I get to 'zam cha' to a newly wed for the first time! All of the cousins got our 紅包! =p (The 燒豬 has the uncanny looks of skippy! lolx)

The cousins with 姑媽.

Simply beautiful!
Both the bride and the photo! hahaha

I got the bouquet?! xD Nah!~
Just took a photo for fun! =p

The 燒豬 which looks like SKIPPY (one of their dogs)! lolx

Artistic view of the tea cups.

Soon, the wedding dinner was about to start. The attendance taking of the guests is driving may zi and me nuts! Most of the guests came and ask which table were they at or where their friends were seated repeatedly!The 2nd March-In was nice, but isn't it a bit too fast a pace? lolxAfter all had ended, we stayed back at the hotel! This was the first time to stay in a local hotel! Due to our tiredness, all of us slept after washing up... ...

2nd March-In dress! WooT!

The receptionists and the in-house security bodyguard!

1st March-In

Waiting for the 2nd March-In.

2nd March-In

飲勝！

Shoeshine Service anyone? LOLx

Wish them a blissful marriage~ =)

The next day, we went to aveline's house to slack off the entire day. lolx At night, I went to meet up with the '77' 黨 at jc's house. It has been a long time since we went to his house and thon!
That's 2 days of thon-ing outside! lol But I slept quite alot at jc's house~ xP

Last week was to plan for my 21st birthday party at wei xiang's place at sunglade condo. As I was the only one planning for it, I wasn't sure if it would turn out well. Luckily my cousins & S3A guys helped me out in logistics. Thanks mate!

The celebration turned out pretty well, other than the cancellation of 1 activity due to time constrain. And it was yet another sleepless night! xP

I want to thank the following people:

family - for helping out in running the party smoothly

ah hao - for buying extra drinks

john - for getting the food for me while I was too busy entertaining friends to feel hungry

quek & yong xiang - for helping out in the table setting

kevin & yong xiang - for helping out in getting the cake in position

tze rong & wen shu - for attending while at risk of signing extras

station 12 rota 2 - for attending albeit having duty the next day

gary & meng tak - for coming down after a tiring NDP rehearsal

gary - for writing me a letter (when he knew he probably couldn't make it for the party due to NDP rehearsal)

MSCO, '77'黨 & NYCO - for fulfilling some of my items in my wishlist =]

everyone who attended the party - for making a point to come & thanks a million for the gifts!

No thanks to those guilty of smashing cakes at my face (on my hair and in my nose as well! >_>) lolx

With 嬷嬷 and 大姐.

My Family...二姐 still in Aust. though. =/

The 曾 Trio-Bro!

Maris Stella High - 4 Francis!

Maris Stella High Chinese Orchestra!

Gary & meng tak came late due to NDP rehearsal...hai...

'77' 黨!
(our official gang colour - red was announced that night! haha)

Nanyang Junior College - 04S3A!
(Class gathering strength record of 17/21!)

Nanyang Junior College Chinese Orchestra

21ST Emergency Response Specialists brothers!

Alexandra Fire Station - Rota 2 Colleagues!
(With me carrying my mentor...again! I thought those days were over~ xP)

Cya next year?! xP *NOOOoooooo.....~

Post overseas holiday syndrome

2008-06-13T22:05:00.000+08:00

It has been 1 week since I came back from Hong Kong but I still have the holiday mood feeling! =p Too lazy to do anything constructive. lol

Last Saturday was out with 大姐 to visit 嬷嬷. After that, met ah hao in town to fix my 3-pin adaptor for my new macbook and also buy some accessories. Not only we got what we want, we even went to G2000 to buy shirts, pants, tie and blazer for alicia's wedding!! After the over-shopping, we followed 大姐 to settler's cafe to meet with her friends.

Sunday was another bball session with 04S3A. Now the ball is mine to take. lolx

Monday resumed my tuition after a 1 month hiatus and it was my PAYDAY as well! My financial status is in the RED ZONE now! xP Dinner was rather late - at 21 00++ with leslie at J8's 灣仔茶餐廳. The portion was not bad; 5 big 雲飩 with rather fresh prawns and seasoned minced pork inside.

Thursday met low early in the morning 09 00 to sign the reply form then went over to 阿姨's house to fax for leslie, low and myself. Afternoon met fazly and he was suppose to let me see something about life science project and need some opinion from me. I thought it was some SCDF's WITS project or his part-time study project. Low and behold, it's another MLM brainwashing session! Everything looks nice, but as usual, nothing is free in this pragmatic world! So I shall say ~~over my dead body~~ no thanks for this 'job offer'. =p

In the evening, the '77'黨 (excluding eric) had an impromptu meeting to purchase eric's 21st birthday gift. Fortunately we were rather on time for the dinner. xD It was the first time I dined at marche and I can say that of all the food we ordered, the swiss rosti was the only good one. lol

Woot! Shall tighten my budget till the end of year!

5D5N Hong kong Trip with PW guys

2008-06-08T21:45:00.001+08:00

The following will be the journal of the Hong Kong Trip. For those who think that it's too long to read, you may want to read the summary which is highlighted in blue... ...enjoy~ =]

Day 1 - Arrival, Symphony of Lights and Avenue of Stars

It was 09 30 when I arrived at Changi Airport and the rest of them were waiting already. (Paiseh…sis was late xD) After taking the first photo, we start our shopping at the many duty free shops in the departure hall. It took quite a while to buy ah hao’s iTouch. In the mean time, I was contemplating whether to buy the MacBook as it was cheap, since I’ve been planning to get 1 anyway. In the end, I still bought it. Due to the spending limit of my debit card, I’ve to use jin jie’s card instead. That took a lot of time and we were almost late for the departure! =p Sorry guys for the rushing~

Group photo at Changi Airport Terminal 3

After close to 4 hours of flight, we arrived at Hong Kong International Airport. Terminal 1 was not that bad, just that it’s rather small. We took the airport express to Kowloon. The express train was really world class! There’s this idiot-proof LED journey indicator, which gives you the direction of the train it’s moving toward and an estimation of how far away are you from the next station. Moreover, there’s a TV in front for the whole cabin to view and audio system right on the headrest of your seat with volume tuner on the back of the seat in front of you. Glass doors separate each cabin and they set aside a couple of cabins as quiet zones. Together with the baggage compartment at the side of the doors, you wouldn’t need to worry about having difficulty in finding space for your baggage.

Airport Express train platform

Journey indicator in Airport Express.

Upon reaching our hotel rooms, we settled down first before heading off to our first destination. The room was small but cozy nonetheless. The provide almost everything you need – bath and face towel, shower gel, shampoo, heater, basic toiletries (shaver, shaving cream, shower cap, toothbrush, toothpaste), bed with 2 pillows and a thick blanket, TV, hair dryer, water heater, internet connection cable and about 7 power sockets!

Hotel room

After putting our stuffs, we went for our first meal at Café de Coral (大家樂). The 楊州炒飯 was the best fried rice I’ve ever eaten. The serving was so large that we had a very full dinner.

On our way to the avenue of stars, we saw a few Christian hip-hop dancers challenging one another. Seems kind of cool of them~ =p Went to see the clock tower, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre building and the grand view of the sky scrapers opposite at Hong Kong Island lit with myriads of colours. The thought of being able to see a spectacular lighting show was thrilling. However, the Symphony of Lights turned out to be a bit boring and repetitive; nothing fanciful.

Skyscrapers in Hong Kong Island

Later we walked the whole stretch of the Avenue of Stars. We saw quite a handful of celebrities we knew, but most of them were unheard of, or is it just us? Lolx Some of the celebrities did not have their handprints yet, we wonder why? (besides those who were already dead =x)

One of the icons in Avenue of Stars.

On our way back to the hotel, we came across Tsim Sha Tsui Fire Station. It would be good if they have an open house or something to the public. It’s the first day and we were back at hotel at around 11 30+. That’s how time efficient we were! xD

Tsim Sha Tsui Fire Station

Day 2 - Disneyland

We woke up earlier than we usually do at 07 00 for the first morning so as to meet at 07 30 for breakfast. We ordered dried noodles but it seems that every other locals were eating soup-based food. lol Eventually, we arrived at Disneyland more than ½ hour early. The special train to the Disneyland was decorated with Disney’s icons. Not forgetting the nice seats!

Photo taken in Disneyland Resort train.

We took loads of photos with the surroundings and with the characters as well. (snow white and gang even asked us where were our princesses~ LOLX!) The first ride was the climax of the day! It was pitch black inside with minimal lighting effects, which made it thrilling as you wouldn’t know where the cabin would turn next! And due to this excitement, we ordered the photo taken by them. It was only until we saw a tourist taking the photo on the TV screen then we realised we could just take on our own instead. xD

Main entrance of Disneyland.

Group photo with sleeping beauty, snow white and cinderella.

Group photo with pooh! =)

Group photo with Mickey and Minnie in casual.

The rest of the rides weren’t as exciting as the first one in Tomorrowland. The water parade was not too bad. Luckily the heavy downpour was after the parade. The 3D philharmonic orchestra was full of surprises. They had special effects like wind-blowing and water-splashing right in front of you. After all the rides, we went for a shopping spree! We bought loads of souvenirs and it’s the place where we spent the most on! =x Dinner was at one of their restaurant. Oh, the waitress there was jin jie’s ‘friend’. lolx

Tarzan's treehouse

The finale was the fireworks at the castle. Synchronising with the classic Disney music, it was no doubt the best fireworks I’ve ever seen. (but I think there’s sure some other even better ones, but this is good enough for my liking =])

The finale which wasn't recorded in my video ... ...T_T

It was another late night when we returned to our hotel… …but this time we decide to meet at a later time for the next morning~ =p

Day 3 - Ocean Park, Madame Tusauds' Wax Museum & The Peak

After the fast breakfast, when jin jie ordered ‘coffee’ by saying ‘kopi’ haha, we bought the tickets to Ocean Park. As usual, we got there earlier than expected, but that’s what Singaporeans are suppose to be, no? haha At least there’s no need to rush for the rides with the crowd if we got there later. We got up to the top for all the rides via the cable car. It was about 20-storey high!

The first orbiting with 360 degrees ride made us giddy for quite some time. The rest of the rides wasn’t that bad as it seems. Too bad we can’t try the multi-looped roller coaster due to maintenance for the day. The finale was the dolphin show at the ocean theatre. Their performance was marvelous.

Ground main entrance of Ocean Park.

The highest point at Ocean Park cable car ride! =x

Taken before the show starts.

Dolphin moving towards the spectators.

By late noon, we came down from the cable car, made a quick walkthrough around the ground level before we head to The Peak.

The Peak Tram

The tram was unique as it was tilted about 25-30 degrees. We could see residential areas along the way. Suddenly, it rained heavily, and together with the thick mist, we couldn’t see much scenery.

We entered the wax museum initially. Lim was encouraged by 2 ang mo tourists to make a kissing pose with 陳慧琳 at the main entrance with many other people around us looking. xP There were still a handful of famous celebrities not seen in the museum. Halfway on our trail, we braced ourselves to enter the scary walkthrough. It was so embarrassing to see us screaming away. Wonder what’s the difference if it was only the 4 of us? xD

We went to the sky terrace to take a glimpse of the peak view. However, the thick fog obscured it. It was like a natural air condition, with off-white fog gushing from the sides and from bottom-up.

Taken at the peak. Can see the mist? xD

We had a very late dinner at 22 00++ back at Tsim Sha Tsui. On our way to find the perfect restaurant, we met an environmental activist who protested against drivers who doesn’t switch off their engines!

Environmental activist at work!

Lights-off was about 01 00+… lolx

Day 4 - Ngong Ping 360 degrees and shopping spree

The last tourist attraction we planned to go was the big Buddha statue. This time we got there later as we were dead tired after 3 days of long hours of walking. The 25-minute cable car ride was another heavenly experience as we were somewhat engulfed by the extremely thick mist. We could only see our own cabin and a few meters of the cable wires and a light drizzle followed it. We could see the entire airport initially though. =)

After walking about 250 steps, we walked around the statue and prayed. After having a quick dessert, we got back onto the ground and headed to city gate shopping centre.

In the cable car~

We went onto another shopping spree. We bought t-shirts after t-shirts and forgot about our lunch. We had a late lunch (about 15 00) at spaghetti house.

In the evening, we went to prowl around Ladies’ Street and the one next to it. We bought even more t-shirts and other stuffs. Jin jie was tempted by lim to buy the drama DVD there. Lolx

After leaving our shopping bags in our room, we went to search for our dinner. By 22 00, we couldn’t find a suitable one, so we just stop at one of the Shanghai restaurant with 煮炒 style. We thought since it was rather expensive, we should just order more and top up the rest ourselves. In the end, we could barely finish the dishes we ordered. All I can say is that the locals were very generous with their serving quantity better than Singapore. xD

Lim and low went for another round of night walking around the streets while jin jie and I stayed in our room to wait for them to buy some supper back, but there’s nothing much sold at such hours.

It was about 01 30 when we slept… …what a long last night… …

Day 5 - Dim sum, shopping & Departure

We had been searching for our dim sum restaurant since the first day, but it was until day 5 when we actually found one. The food was fresh and the price was never seen in Singapore! We ate at the price of about SGD40+ and we ate to our fullest.

The heavy breakfast made us slack for quite some time in our rooms. We checked out in the late morning and went for last minute shopping at harbour city and the other extended shopping centers.

By 16 00, we returned to our hotel to retrieve our baggage. The free bus ride back to Kowloon was thrilling. I think all the drivers there are fast and furious drivers. Upon reaching Kowloon, we made an in-town check-in before taking the airport express to the airport.

Terminal 1 of Hong Kong International Airport

We walked around Terminal 2 as there’s this sky plaza. We spent the last of the petty cash on doughnuts and drinks and donated all of our coins. Not before long, we boarded the plane. We had a delayed take off as there was some technical problem with SIA’s krisworld. And for the half of the journey, I had no signal for my TV screen! Sigh, couldn’t view the entire movie at ease.

And sitting beside jin jie and me was this weird ang mo that talked rubbish. Lolx Perhaps he drank too much beer. We had to bear his gibberish for the entire flight journey, or rather it was jin jie who suffered the most. Xp

It was 00 00 exactly when we touchdown. Jin jie rush ahead to the immigration counter while we took our time to go toilet. Lim, low and me were too engrossed in our conversation that we actually walked into the transit area. I thought it was kind of peculiar to have our baggage checked again when we were arriving in Singapore. It was only after we saw the numerous gates in front then we knew we walked into the wrong exit. Lolx

The officer let us through the checkpoints and we went down to the arrival checkout point. After dividing our stuffs, jin jie took lim’s dad’s car back while low took my dad’s car back.

It was home sweet home!

The busy street in Hong Kong

What I’ve learnt in Hong Kong:
1.Try not to walk on the outer walkway as water might drip on you anytime.
2.Feel safe as there’ll be at least 2 policemen patrolling along the streets every time.
3.Restaurants aside, you need to have in mind what you want to eat before entering the 茶餐廳.
4.It is an offence to talk to the bus drivers.

5.Commuters who rush to the trains will be fined.

~END~

leaving on a jet plane

2008-06-01T01:10:00.000+08:00

Less than 12 hours and I'll be flying over on my own, for the first time, to hong kong for holiday!~ =)

This week's schedule was rather packed... ...but in a good way! =p Tuesday was having dinner, for the first time with alicia together with mei zi and my da jie. It was also the first time that she was treating us, or that's what she said. xD We dined at Straits Kitchen at Hyatt. It's an asian buffet style. Can say that it's good, but not all the food there are fantastic. I think the dessert is the best. lolx Their prawns were damn fresh too! The service efficiency was just nice; there when you need assistance and disappear when not needed. =p I rate it 8/10.

Wednesday was having a mini-steamboat at ah hao's place for dinner. After which, we went to north point to watch the chronicles of narnia - prince caspian at 21 35. The plot was interesting and the war between the 2 kingdom was very good. Overall it's rated just a tad less than LOTR - 7.5/10. By the time we left the hall, it was already past 00 00! Head back to his house to chill for awhile before he drove me back home at around 02 00+. wOOt, that was kind of a new experience to be on the road at such wee hours~

Thursday was out with hao to go shop around orchard. There're lots of things that are under the "WANTED" category but I think saving is more important. =] Ate chicken rice at lucky plaza for pre-dinner. The rice and chilli was good but the meat was a bit dry at certain parts, but it was still nice. 7.5/10. For the real dinner, we ate at TPY's pasta mania. Ordered a 12" hawaiian pizza. Anybody will be dumbfounded when you see hao spreading the entire bottle of cheese flakes on his pasta! = O We were damn full after 2 meals! Headed to ah ma's house to visit her.

Friday was a rest day. lol

This morning went to checkout wei xiang's BBQ area. The bad thing was 1 BBQ pit per unit, but the good thing was we know his neighbour pretty well. He's none other than Lan Ying Xuan. Have to pay $10/pit and a deposit of $50/pit. Went out to watch movie with hao again! lol This was the first time I watched 2 movies in a week~=p Accuracy of death revolves around the controversial issue of life and death. What's life without fufilling your purpose? What should be the correct perception of death? I like the quote - "It's like the Sun being up there; it doesn't seem to be special but it's important to us." That's life~ =)

Just came back from errol's 21st birthday celebration at aranda country club. And coincidentally, xiu ping's (ex-BDSCO) 21st was also held there. What's more is that hui qi (ex-SACCO) held hers at coasta sand! That's 3 celebration in 4 hours!! Could have gone home earlier to prepare my HK trip~ xD

Anyway, will be away for a short stint. Will be back with more updates and pictures =)

early arrival

2008-05-26T14:48:00.000+08:00

It was unusual of ho kong to take the initiative to organise the bball session for yesterday. The turnout rate was quite good, although the heavy rain in the morning in certain areas made some people late.

Lunch was at subway at J8. Aveline came along as I was suppose to meet mei zi and her at 13 00. However, there was an impromptu message that 'er shu' was hospitalised due to heart attack, so aveline and I went to TTSH after lunch. (Sorry to pangseh the 04S3A guys xD)

Before that, we went to the basement to photocopy something for aveline's friend. It was self-service and they are charging $0.10 per printed page without any discount for certain numbers of printed pages.....tsk tsk....

Went straight to TTSH to meet up with mei zi. Fortunately, 'er shu' is alright. As what aveline said, "heart attack is the worst thing you can get from smoking, seriously." Together with the consumption of seafood and alcohol, it's the perfect concoction for someone to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which results to heart attack. So, to those ignorant people who are in self-denial - stop destroying your body and polluting the environment and start cherishing your vital organs and save the earth from climate change. Geez... ...

Moving on, I quickly went to lim's house after the visiting as I was really late for the discussion! I was amazed myself for getting to his house through the maze while I was just using my instincts. xP

After completing the draft if the schedule, I left them to finalise it before I hasten my pace to meet with aveline and mei zi again at din tai fung at J8.

It was a pleasant surprise that they bought me an advanced birthday present. It was Samsung L100 camera with 8.2 Megapixels!! It was for my hong kong trip this coming Sunday as I said that I need to use my friend's camera to take photos when they told me to take as much photos as possible to sent them. =]

A big thanks to mei zi, aveline, gu ma, da jie, ah hao and ah kat (did I miss out anyone? =p) for the gift! =)

a whole new world

2008-05-24T13:02:00.000+08:00

Vesak Day was out with jon and ken to army market to search for ken's backpack for his china holiday and probably his 2-year attachment to china's university.

Ate the kok-kok mee, which I think it's rather unusual compared to the normal fishball noddle but overall it's about the same, and ahballing. Don't know why is the 'tang yuan' called ahballing. lolx However, I don't think the yam is nice.

Yesterday was the last day of Term 2 for schools and it was also my last contract as a relief teacher for Term 2. The last 2 days were quite good.; not much problem. Think the only minor problem was that there were a few students who could not eat red bean and the catered food was red bean bun! Didn't their parents tell the caterer what type of food their sons were allergic to?! Anyway, I had to fork out my money to buy food for them in the canteen. Wanted to buy egg-mayo sandwich, but it was sold out, so I bought them chicken burger. Maybe this was my karma for eating too much of their catered food! xp (but isn't it wasteful if the leftover was thrown away? =])

They had a charity sale and a pot luck lunch after school. (but we didn't stay for the lunch =p) 4B sold kacang puteh going at 50c during recess. After school, there were a handful of stalls in the hall and around the old porch. There were snacks, toys, health products, female accessories, old magazines and they even sold boardgames at low prices! I bought the, in my opinion, pirated version of blokus - The Strategy Game, at the price of $10, which I think it's selling at $20-30 outside. Good buy! =)

1 more week to HK trip... ...are we ready?

BTT passed!

2008-05-16T13:41:00.000+08:00

I went 1 hour earlier to the actual time for my BTT. Have to sleep for 45 minutes... ...

Some of the test questions were not reflected on the theory book, so how can they expect us to know how to answer them?! But anyway, I've passed!!! So, there's no need for me to know what's right or wrong. And how stupid of me to go back home without booking for the FTT in advance.

We celebrated quek's birthday with jj, lim and low at amk. (although low still working, his spirit is with us lolx) Quek treated us jack's place. I can say that if you are not the steak person, don't even think of stepping into jack's place and leaving happy. Other than their steaks, everything is just average. But anyway, thanks quek for the treat! =]

Shall go and book my FTT later... ...

over-binged

2008-05-12T22:10:00.000+08:00

The past week had been hectic. I had to plan with the HK trip guys, plan my own 21st birthday party, celebrate mother's day and celebrate ah kat's and ah mei's birthdays!

HK trip has been confirmed and we'll be there from 1st to 5th June. Now our discussions are at the final part of this big project. Hou ye~

The initial plan of booking the HTNS chalet flopped due to the unsuccessful balloting. The contingency plan is to search for the cheapest chalet and caterer for a day... ...still finding... ...

Celebration of mother's day was on the day before at a restaurant at the grassroot's club together with my family and ah ma in the morning. Ate most of the food since the rest of them didn't ate much! xp Overall the food is slightly higher than average, however if given a choice, I'll choose other restaurant's than this one. The deep-fried soon hock fish and hei zo are fantastic. The rest are not delectable but edible nonetheless. I rate it 6/10.

In the afternoon, went to my cousins' house to celebrate their birthdays. Bought her belgium chocolates and bought the gamer a cushion for his gaming sofa. lolx Again, I binged on food. Chips, KFC, and cakes made my stomach bloat in the middle of the night; can't sleep well that night.

The birthday cake!

Belgium dark chocolates~~~
silver: champagne, orange:orange!, white:almonds, roche-like:pure dark chocolate - hard on the outside, soft on the inside

Group photo... ...where is the photo of the cushion? xD

escapades

2008-05-01T23:13:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday was damn bored. Stayed at home the whole day playing PSP. The playing was so saturated that I went to study chemical equilibrium and electrochemistry instead! lolx

Sunday jio-ed ah hao and aveline for a pre-monday blues outing. To our surprise, aveline was on time! lolx Ah hao and I thought that she would surely be late so we had an idea to reach vivocity later. xD We went to buy movie tickets before going for our late lunch. We were glad that even though we're all above 18, we were prompted to show IC~ =p

We had our lunch cum dinner at white dog cafe. The food in the menu looks good but it's what comes next that's not quite as it seems. Firstly, the starters arrived after the main course. Secondly, some of food is heavily seasoned with salt. However, the rest were still okay. The serving was great. The service was higher than average but still not god-like! XP Photos will be posted shortly. I rate it 6/10.

The overly-salted wedges. =x

The a-bit-too-hard sausage. But still okay to put inside your mouth. xp

No comments as I don't eat beef~ =p

The idea similar to cordon bleu but with mangoes instead. The citrus syrup on the plate overkilled this dish~ but overall it's still okay...better if it was chicken thigh (as what they have written on their menu).

The starter which came after all the main course had been served for 10 minutes. It's beef so I only ate the wrap. It's damn salty!!!!!!!! xpp

Ah hao's idea to pose in front of our main course =p

Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay was a parody made to mock the US government on how they mishandled the terrorist suspects incident which was accentuated by the drama-documentary - The Road to Guantanamo. I personally liked the G.W. Bush character. I was suspecting whether our government have the same mentality as how that character said about the issue on hypocrisy at the last part of the flick. Apart from their primary objective of making this movie, they have bits of 'side quests' which show the KKK clan etc. Definitely better than scary movie 4! 8/10.

Nobody will be punished but us

2008-04-23T20:35:00.002+08:00

After the not-so-independent Committee of Inquiry (COI) had released their report slightly longer than the 1 month they promised, PM Lee quickly uses Mark I, Diazepam, DS10 and other neutralising agents to mitigate yet another tsunami of public responses. But did it convince me? Not really!

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that public officers, including Ministers, should not be automatically removed or punished just because a lapse has occurred down the line. ~CNA

This I agree as we shouldn't be judgmental before we find out what really happened.

In his statement, PM Lee said while the government must admit its mistakes openly and honestly, Singapore should not encourage a culture where officials resign whenever something goes wrong on their watch, or encourage witch-hunts. ~CNA

It's good that he said the government MUST accept their incapabilities overtly and sincerely, but did this really happen?

Quoted from MM Lee response over the furore of whether the government should be blamed and punished he said "Singaporeans are being complacent when they believe that the Government will take care of all security matters. MM Lee disagreed that the Government deserved to be blamed."

Are the citizens being complacent? No, because the people who should be escorting our dear Selamat are not locals! And shouldn't we citizens give full faith and trust to the government to take care of all security matters? If not what for we pay them multi-million dollar salaries? For them to take care of toilets? Oh sorry, they can't!

He (PM Lee) acknowledged that the Minister is ultimately accountable for the policies and operations of his ministry, but said a rational approach to establish who is responsible for lapses has to be taken.
These include finding out who failed in their duties and whether there was negligence or incompetence. ~CNA

This is what I call a decoy. It's undeniable that when NSF does the drills or exercises wrongly, or goes AWOL or misses fire call regularly, while their immediate superiors (the PC/RC or OC) didn't do any checks or rectify those problems immediately, the NSF himself will be punished by confinement or go to the DB (Detention Barracks) while the PC/RC or OC will be given warning, a decrease in their performance bonuses, a demotion or worst, sacked. by CO or anyone higher.

When putting this system to the government it seems that it can't work. Yes, the escorts and guards might be punished (demoted, sacked etc...) like what the NSFs will have to accept, but their superiors - directors, minister etc... will get away scot-free... ...maybe a smack on their ass with a roll of toilet paper!

Such superior authorities I see them as figureheads as their men do all the shit work and get all the blame when things screwed-up, but they'll still be seated nicely on their throne and continue to have their salary increments annually.

This is the world class, multi-million dollar, sovereign-state government for you!

esplanade performance

2008-04-16T22:43:00.002+08:00

A few days have passed since I took over as a PE and maths teacher for P1s and P2s. I think it's the most challenging period of my entire relief teaching experiences as PE is a different subject compared to those taught in the classrooms. And I wonder why would a teacher wrongly accuse me of playing, switching off the fan as punishment and letting them make swords out of their rulers and fight among themselves in my maths lesson~ xD

Yesterday was the concert as part of the many episodes of Maris Stella's 50th founder's day celebration. It was the first time for MSCO to perform on the stage of esplanade concert hall; and that includes me as well! The back stage is like a secret labyrinth, where security is rather high.

'beautiful' bathroom! (there are no pipes...hahaha) The back stage is filled with highlyThe waiting room is cool 'dao'~ With lockers and a dressing table would be enough. However, they even have air-conditioner control, a toilet with 2 washing basins and not forgetting the sophisticated sound system technology and the heaviest score stand that I've carried! Apart from those rooms, there are other outstanding facilities from other performing venues. Like the ones from the theatre, there are rooms with sewing machines, washing machines etc... No wonder it's so expensive to book that place.

Shall put in the photos next time... ...

Room for CO~

Taken during their afternoon rehearsal. I was still in school at that time. xp

MSCO alumni performers!

rapidly changing roles

2008-04-10T22:37:00.000+08:00

From being an Art and English teacher to a math and PE teacher (with many other subjects in between), things have been changing rather fast. Have to adapt fast tomorrow for my first PE lesson.

Anyway, today was zhen cong's first day as a relief teacher. Finally he got the taste of how teaching is like in primary school~ lol

Founder's Day performance is coming soon... ... can't wait to have my first performance in esplanade. =)

small people

2008-04-03T20:18:00.000+08:00

Forgotten to review on the movie 4B and I watched last Thursday - Horton hears a who. It's a childish show but has a lot of meanings in it. It teaches trust, perseverance, forgiveness and acceptance. I especially like 2 quotes from the movie - "I say what I mean, and I mean what I say." and "No matter how small a person, a person is a person." I rate it 8/10.

A few of the 4B students calculated my mobile phone number because of a yearbook when I was in Primary 6! lol Luckily they never call me unnecessarily... ...other than de shuen (which in a way sounds like my name! xp).

This week was chaotic as I need to take care some of the lower primary kids. They're always running around, screaming in a high pitch, talking loudly (but when it comes to answering questions, they speak in a volume almost inaudible~), fighting... .... the list goes on. There is one particular kid who's easily provoked and tend to punch, push, kick and sometimes using weapons to take 'revenge' on his classmates. His actions are due to his father as he said his father is like that too. I kind of pity him as he has a bad childhood. He's a child with a father who's too abusive and has no good friends in class due to his aggression learnt from his father.

Telling him violence cannot solve any problem but will worsen it and retaliation will only make both parties at fault. He seemed to have understood it but after awhile he's back to his old self. Change in attitude takes time. Hope the teachers will not be too harsh on him or else it'll backfire.

give me a break

2008-03-30T22:30:00.000+08:00

Whites against blacks; westerns against asians. Those radicals will always look down on others with disdain. Whatever it is, it's bad enough to say racist jokes let alone practising it. No matter what colour, a person is a person. If you are apathetic about racial tolerance, come to Singapore! Our government is very good at it! Just look at their achievements from after the independence. To those racists from down under, maybe you all should just go to Mars since Earth is a place with with different types of people who should be living in harmony.

Anyway, this afternoon was supposed to go ktv but due to the foreseen and unforeseen circumstances, it dampened my mood, so leslie, lim and I went to coffeebean to chill out instead. After the short drizzle, we went to ice3(in superscript) for ice cream. The service is good, the creativity of the desserts are good but the main courses aren't that many though. What an impromptu outing!

The next day will go back to the days where I anticipate for morning calls. Tired of all these uncertainties which comes with sudden changes... ...give me a break.

Anyway, here are the bunch of kids whom I've endured for the past 2 weeks.

The more docile (albeit a little noisy) class of 4B.

The at-the-brink-of-out-of-control class of 5D.

the last lesson

2008-03-28T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today was the last day for me to teach my 4B and 5D English class. It's quite surprising to see that we bonded quite well in just a short stint of 9 days. As a token of our 'friendship' (although we have an age disparity of a decade!! xp), I gave away all my chocolate waffles and other edible stuffs to them. A couple of them gave me gifts too! =] Thanks ashley and jacob! =) Awww........ This sense of satisfaction and the feeling of being respected by students are what you can't get from other jobs.

Low dropped by my house to get some PSP games from me. Woot! Next time can play multi-player games le!

It's back to the 'waiting for turn-out by 07 00' kind of job... ...

OPERATIONALLY READY!

rice bowl cracked

2008-03-25T19:38:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday went for KTV with the NYCO seniors at serangoon gardens instead of going for MSCO practice. =x

Sunday morning was the usual bball session with the 04S3A guys and girls. We had ho kong, john, leslie, lim, low, sok fong, xiao hui and yong xiang, so we played the last game with full court. Nearly sprained my ankle. lol

Lunch was at kovan. After that, I went to meet my da jie for shopping. For the whole day, I bought 2 shirts, a pair of cute cuff links (which comes together with a tie), a toy USB hub (it's usable!) and a practical key chain. Dinner was at manhattan!

Today received a bad news - a permanent teacher will be taking over my timetable but I'll be given a new one. Hopefully it's not those call-you-up-for-a-day-and-stay-at-home-the-next-day kind of timetable~ xD Should have told me that they are considering to let new teachers take over me before the March holidays so I could take up the long term offer from catholic high instead... ...

27.5GB worth of GAMES!

2008-03-21T00:18:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow will be school holiday! Finally I am able to get the feel of what a public holiday should be like after 2 years! It's good that I've no leftover work to be done, that means I can have the long weekends to myself! =]

Yesterday went to leslie's house to get the missing episode of 'ima ainiyukimasu'. Complete episodes now; can start watching~

Just now went over to my cousin's house to get some games to play for my PSP. Shared a slice of new york pizza for snacks with ah kat 'cause I didn't had my dinner but I'm not that hungry too. Anyway, I uploaded 27.5GB worth of games in about 15-20 minutes!!! Not that I got such a MSPD which has that big of a memory space just that I upload all into my external HDD. lolx God knows when will I finish playing them all?!

PSP in the house!

2008-03-18T20:40:00.000+08:00

There are tons of homefun to mark day by day. Luckily my teacher offered to help me mark some of the march holiday's homefun. =p Today knocked off rather late due to the remedial lesson. However, what I cannot comprehend was why did they still allocate other non-present teacher's periods into mine!? >_< Ain't I busy enough already? Now I know how stressful a primary school teacher is! xd

After school, I went to meet with leonard to buy our PSP! =) Gonna' get games from my cousins soon~

in a vantage point

2008-03-17T21:23:00.000+08:00

As usual, people are late for the bball session yesterday. But it's rare to see marcus as well. lol The spirit was dampened by the on and off drizzling.

Straight after that, went to AMK Hub to meet up with the '77' (without aidan....i.e. with jian cheng xD) for lunch at NYNY. We wondered around ntuc to buy some of my 'basic necessities' for my relief teaching. We were coerced pitched by a sales auntie to buy a pack of 4 ice cream cones. It took us more than the time to finish eating the ice cream for us to come out with a fantastic idea for the next activity - to watch Vantage Point. xp

The movie has parallel concept to lola rennt and babel, just that it keeps going back to the past over and over and over... ... ... ...perhaps that's why the movie wasn't at least a 100-minute. The plot was developing well from the start but when it comes to the crunch time, all the laws of sciences were denied and good luck seemed to be occurring so frequent like it's a norm in the real world. I rate it 7/10.

Today was the first day taking full charge of my ex-primary school form teacher's classes. In my opinion, even normal academic students are easier to teach compared to primary school kids. However it may be, I think I can manage them. It's just a matter of time. Anyway, there are tons of holiday homefun (aka homework) for me to mark!!! xP Shall finish them all by this weekend.

Due to the sudden hike in the yen exchange rate; PSP slim is selling at a slightly higher price. Hope to see a drop by the end of this week.

window shop

2008-03-15T00:31:00.000+08:00

Thursday was a day filled with events. In the morning I went back to maris primary to prepare and settle some things with my teacher. Yes, I'm taking over my former form teacher! lol I went over to the secondary side for the first MSCO practice for the coming 50th Founder's Day performance. Don't know why but all the scores are like cryptics; they are written so ambiguously! Dinner was with adelene, marcus, sok fong, xiao hui, yong xiang and zhen cong at TPY pasta mania.
Today had a 'date' (as what she claimed to be) with ah mei. I was supposed to buy shirts and use the voucher given by HTNS, but I couldn't confirm with the CO people what colour must we wear for the concert, and the thing that I wanted to exchange with the voucher was out of stock! lol So, had to go down again next week. =(

Can't wait for SUNDAY! =)

busy week

2008-03-10T15:06:00.000+08:00

Didn't have time to update about last week 'cause I was too busy for the last 4 days.

The J1 Level Wide Camp, which was on Thursday and Friday (full days), was tiring, but it was time well spent. All the best for the current J1s and congrats to all those facils who took their 'A' Level results last Friday.

Saturday yong xiang and me went to the IT Fair to buy adelene's birthday present. Suntec was filled with people so much so that the security guards even had to stop visitors from proceeding up to the venues! Met jin jie, lim and low on the way. Les came later. Since we were already late for the 18 00 shuttle bus, yx and I went ahead with our external HDD. Both of us bought Maxtor 160GB at $139 (it was $120 less than 1/2 hour ago!! =( ).

We got on the 19 30 shuttle bus to NSRCC. The place was quite big but cosy. I felt that there shouldn't be BBQ as the large number of people she invited really couldn't let everyone BBQ their own food, let alone eating them! We didn't feel welcome by their families and relatives as they are much in their own world. We got to eat the cake but damn we missed the last shuttle bus because of that. Jin jie, john, johnny and lim took a taxi on the way out while the rest of us (Les, low, marc, yong xiang, zhen cong and me) continued to walk all the way to the 'nearest' bus stop at tenah merah ferry terminal. Luckily we were just in time for the last bus, but I missed my bus home when we reached tenah merah interchange. I went back with the hougang gang and had a proper dinner cum supper with les and low before I was invited to stay at les' house for the night.

The next day I woke up rather early 'cause I'll be having brunch with my ah ma and cousins. Ah hao suggested jack's place but all of us thought that there was nothing appropriate for ah ma to eat. lolx Eventually, we went for yum cha. The food there overall was abit over-seasoned, but the ju cheong fan and carrot cake was nicely done.

In the afternoon went to zhong ming's father's wake. He seemed restless. Take care ya. Jon went to buy his dinner at KFC drive-thru. It was the first time for me to experience how ordering from a drive-thru is like.

Will be in a hiatus this week before the kids break loose~ =p

a week after the escape

2008-03-04T17:12:00.000+08:00

It has been a week after the escape of one of the 'platoon commander' of the JI. He most probably have either got in contact with his comrades or have escaped overseas with the help of his comrades. As the government says, "poverty has been eradicated; nobody in Singapore dies of hunger." He'll definitely find a way to survive; which escapee doesn't?!

Since then, alot of people starts to gather lots of questions - 'What went wrong to our security?', 'How did it happened?', 'Who should be responsible?' and 'What's next if the escapee couldn't be found?'.

And what the government, who is usually on the other side of the banks, will answer - 'We'll take the Gurkhas, Special Operations Command (SOC), and selected personnels from (maybe) SAF, SCDF and SPF to have an 'Orange' Alert Search for the escapee.', 'We'll make up a three-member independent Commission of Inquiry (COI).', 'We should be focusing on capturing the escapee and let things move on from there.' and 'He is sure to be found as experts say he is sure to be still in the mainland.'.

However, all these answers were superficial and loopholes are too obvious! Why it took them about 2 hours to give out an order for the search? Why did the COI have a member who is from the authority which made this disastrous mistake? Why are you all diverting the subject to how united Singaporeans are to this incident or why citizens shouldn't worry much as the escapee doesn't hold weapons and "was of no imminent danger to the public"? Why the police officer (if any) didn't take a good look-out to the detainee while escorting him to the toilet?

If the fault really lies in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and more specifically - SPF; and if T T Durai was at fault in not fulfilling his position as the CEO of National Kidney Foundation (NKF) well by misusing his authority on the usage of the organisation funds... ... ... ...what should be the next step for the government?

Perhaps they are thinking of dusting away the evidence, wash our minds with yet another unsatisfying reports and sweep in more bonus at the end of the year as a consolation! That makes a chain of escapees!~

be different; make a difference

2008-03-03T12:34:00.000+08:00

I have been busy these week. Relief teaching and giving tuition in a long-run can be tiring. The short trip to the career and education 2008 doesn't have much to see for me... ...and most probably to many of the others as well. Unless you are not registered to local universities and want to apply to overseas institutes; or you are finding job opportunities in the areas of hotel and tourism, civil service or building and construction, this exhibition is not for you!

The pass 2 weekends - tiredness and refreshing. They are oxymoron but I thought that was what people felt after completing the workshop. Through this workshop, I'm more aware of myself and others around, and also about making a difference to myself. The level of intensity of the activities we participated were high; high enough to make some people to let their emotions out. Like what newton said, "every action will constitute a reaction of the same force propagating in the direct opposite"; so be giving your 100% to all the activities will you get the most out of it.

Anyway, this morning I was offered by maris pri. to a long-term relief teaching contract due to a teacher going for maternity leave soon. I had told them about my medical check up in April but I forgot to tell them about the camp I'll be involved this week! =x

your numbered days

2008-02-24T00:32:00.001+08:00

I had it all planned to celebrate aveline's belated birthday yesterday - a dinner at fish and co. with their crews singing a birthday song to her with a cake together with a movie as a package. As she couldn't make it for the dinner due to her project at hand, we got to have a plan B!

Fortunately, kat was able to arrive earlier at amk hub. We walked around from 17 00+ to 18 00+ and we got her a necklace and a paris hilton perfume (will she get dumb after using it?! =p). With about 1/2 hour to the stipulated dinner time at 19 00, we went to Macs to sit and had fries as snacks first. Kat wanted to go for subway but hao wanted to stick with fish and co., so kat suggested his brother to treat us to fish and co.; and that he did!=] Thanks for the treat, hao!=) (I ordered the coriander catch but the bulk of the coriander leaves overkilled the grilled dory fish =x maybe next time I'll try the new york fish and chips...)

As usual, aveline was late since the last few outings. (or rather all outings lolx) The show starts at 20 50 and there she came at a little more than 21 00. She made us missed the first few minutes of the show and we even thought we went into the wrong hall as what it seemed to be screening, as what hao said, was rambo 4! lolx

Talking about the movie - death note 3 - L change the world, it wasn't much about the death note per se, but was more on the life of L after he himself sentenced his numbered living days. With the 23 days left, he tried to solve crimes all over the world, and one major crime was the annihilation of part of the human race (mostly referring to the poor and non-talented people) in order to create a new world and ecosystem.

What I thought were the underlying messages were that the world is degrading day by day and we; as the super-species on Earth, should do something to salvage this once self-recuperative planet; and also to make us ponder what would we do when our days are numbered like L's. That aside, the humour and wittiness portrayed were excellent. I rate it 9/10. (be sure to stay till the end for a few seconds of 'real ending'!)

After the show at 23 00, I passed the fake presents (that includes plasters, umbrella, clorets etc) to aveline. She doesn't seem shocked or flabbergasted. hahaha Luckily she didn't dislike paris hilton! xD

Due to the tickets being sold out, the airshow outing tomorrow with the cuz will be cancelled...=(

1st Youth Olympics in Singapore!

2008-02-21T23:26:00.001+08:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO

SINGAPORE

FOR
~~HAM-TAM-ING MOSCOW~~
~~THROWING THE MOST PAPERS WITH S$10,000 VALUE EACH TO THE 97 IOC DELEGATES~~
SUCCESSFULLY WINNING THE BID

TO HOST

THE 1ST YOUTH OLYMPICS

IN 2010!

obstreperous kids in the 21st century

2008-02-20T23:39:00.000+08:00

The recalcitrant kids in this contemporary society is getting from bad to worse, or so many adults are complaining. (which was why couples didn't want children xd) After relief teaching my own primary school yesterday for the first time, I thought that my generation wasn't that bad after all. But I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Lots of little events happened in the classroom - talking, shouting, throwing things, running in and out, fighting and even played a prank on me!!(they hid my WS and I had walked back to the staff room to check only to find out that some unidentified culprit did it!! >.>) On the other hand, there are a handful of kids who are deem as the obedient type. (One of them even look like the small 'boy' from 長江七號! =p)

Can't even 1 secondary school contact me instead?! lolx

P.S.: Wish shariff a fast recovery and my condolence to azman and family.

CJ=chicken joe?

2008-02-18T22:33:00.001+08:00

Yesterday had 2 impromptu outings surprisingly. Met up with jon, ken and mengtak at N&B for a drink around 15 00 then went for a jog at 17 00. After that, met up with les and low at J8 to watch 長江七號 aka CJ7 (not the kind of CJ we talk about in station! =x).

This comedy flick has it fair share of emotional scenes in it, which is rare for stephen chow's usual comedy films. The film is cute, hilarious and heartwarming altogether. Like 功夫 and 少林足球, this film is based heavily on CG animation. The bad part about it was that the audio and the mouthing of words wasn't synchronised. (maybe it's just the cinema's fault =p) With the good acting of himself and the 'boy' ('cause 'he' is a 8 year old girl! =0), it gets 8.5/10.

This afternoon went to book my BTT. I waited for about an hour before my number was called. Anyway, my BTT is on 15 May!! Sian...have to wait somemore...

This morning received a call from maris primary, so I'll be going down tomorrow morning! =)

ORD LOH!!!! =]

2008-02-14T14:29:00.002+08:00

First attempt - CSM (Company Sergeant Major) not around. Second attempt - storeman not around. It's the third attempt that I finally got my pink IC back after 1 year 10 months!!!=)

The Enlistment

My enlistment was on 11th April 2006, 10 40 HRS and I was suppose to report to SCDF - BRTC (Basic Rescue Training Centre) at Jln Bahar. After 3 days of being a Recruit, we got our first public holiday -Good Friday before some of us got posted for the 21ST Emergency Response Specialist Course on the following Monday.

21ST ERS Course

The first few weeks were very 'fierce'. Some of us even thought of getting OOC (Out Of Course). However, we continued to strive on and endure the full 24 weeks of rigorous trainings (i.e. fire, rescue, HazMat, comms, Outward Bound Brunei Darussalam etc.) before we had our POC (Pass-Out Ceremony) and became full-fledged Fire and Rescue Specialist - Section Commander after earning our Fire Badge and Sergeant rank.

21ST Emergency Response Specialist Course group photo

The various certificates I earned during my ERS course

From left - Recruit rank, Junior Specialist Cadet Trainee rank, Senior Specialist Cadet Trainee rank, Sergeant rank
Center - Fire Badge, IPPT Silver Badge

Posted to Station 12 - Alexandra Fire Station

After a week of block leave since our POC, I was posted to Station 12 - Alexandra Fire Station; a HazMat station, on the 9th October 2006 and was taken by Rota 2 RC (Rota Commander) - CPT Shaiful (then LTA). I was told to go back and report to work on Rota 2's duty which was on the 11th.

I didn't like the environment and working style due to many reasons. However, with some of the buddies I'd made during the first few duties, I'd came to fit into this lifestyle better.

The station life

The daily routine was mundane but we still had to carry out. We had our daily morning scenario drill at 09 00 (except Saturday which is meant for station open house) followed by CAAD (Chemical Agent Acclimation Drill) at 11 00 (starts at 11 30 for fire post crew). 12 00 will be our equipment checks and we'll have our lunch OTOT. 14 00 fall in to do another round of equipment checks and then some of us will go out for operational survey, enforcement checks or hydrant testing; if not it's OTOT again! 16 30 will be our PT (Physical Training) where some of us will be playing soccer or go to the gym. 18 00 to 20 00 will be our dinner and rest time before we fall in again then proceed for night lecture until 21 30. The fire post crew will have their time doing their own things. That's why the DO (Duty Officer) crew will randomly do spot-checks every now and then. After night lecture will be OTOT again and we'll fall in again the next morning at 05 55. (For the fire post crew, they need to leave the fire post by 05 30). 06 00 will be our equipment drill and 07 00 will be our BTM (Basic Tasks Manual) drill before we have a morning roll call and hand over to the next rota (Rota 1) at 08 00.

For the whole 24 hours, we had to be alert for fire calls. After missing 1 fire call =x, I was able to adapt to this lifestyle of being woken up by sirens and phone calls in the middle of the night.

Rota 2 group photo after the Change of Officer Commanding Parade

*Some of the 100 over fire calls call chits I've kept. But can't show it here 'cause it's restricted documents! =x

The plot of land I 'bought' during one of the hydrant testing at sentosa cove >.<

Apart from going for fire calls, we sometimes had to organise certain events such as community bonding day, station function and rota bonding day. Moreover, we'll need to attend to workshops, ceremonies and parades every now and then.

Rota 2 at station function 06'

Azar, azim, me and jihad at community bonding day

ORD LOH!

During my stay in STN 12, I'd learned alot of things from lots of people like sharif, azari, fazly, lina, irman, md noor, woon, wira, bashir and razak. I also met alot of nice buddies like aris, azar, azman, azim, adil, dino, dingding, jihad, jason, ow, sharil and abdullah. And not forgetting my welfare senior officers OC - MAJ Lim and RC - CPT Shaiful.

Yesterday, I took back my pink IC together with my NS certificate. On top of that, I was awarded the Perfect Attendance Award and was given a certificate and a Swatch watch! (OC even gave me his name card =p) Before I left the station, I left a message in my locker xD. Hopefully they can see it.

My ORD certificates!

My 'no-MC' watch xD

Not only did I took back my pink IC home but more importantly, I also brought home several life skills and precious experiences which not many people will ever be able to learn and experience in their lifetime.

I made it myself =] ('Zeng 12)
wire - courtesy from the station function 07' committee

TRIPLE CELEBRATION!!! =]

2008-02-10T20:48:00.000+08:00

TRI...TRI...TRI...TRIPLE ~~KILL~~ CELEBRATION!!!

Yesterday was going to mama's house for the usual cny celebration, but strictly for the cousins only. Aveline, hao, kiat and sis came for the dinner which was suppose to start at 6pm but as usual, aveline arrived at 7pm. Maybe we should improvise the idea of ERP at the front door! xD And finally, I have no more duties as of 17 00! A day worth celebrating by having a cny dinner.

As part of the usual cny celebration, we always get ready our matches, lighters and not forgetting the sparklers to set them on sparkling at the nearby playground. This year, we tried making 5 rockets. We even use the laws of physics like cutting excess metal weight, increase vertical propelling force etc...but the most we got from our results were 1 rocket tilting sideways and hitting the ground and the other promising one burning into flames spontaneously as the cupboard caught fire afew seconds after all the loud whistling. Mei came to the playground from work while we were working on the rockets.

The 3rd celebration was hao's lunar birthday. Since he can't possibly be planning of a party or something as he was stuck in camp, we thought of helping him to make his 21st birthday a memorable one. (who doesn't want one~) Surprise after surprise...it's hilarious to see him taking up all the ~~punishments~~ challenges while selecting from several unknown options. Glad that he likes the photo frame collage and the HUGE crumpler bag he wished for. We ended the ~~sabo-ing~~ fun with a chocolate cake made from a customer of gugu, a non-alcoholic champagne kind of apple juice and a game of citadels.

In the midst of playing citadels.

Kiat taking over from mei after she failed to open the bottle.

The motion was too fast for the cam to take a focused pic =p

We wanted to carry on pictionary but it was almost 12am! Next time then~

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

HAPPY 21ST LUNAR BIRTHDAY HAO!!

HAPPY ORD-ED ME!!!

P.S.:We still have leftover sparklers =p

新年快樂 08'!

2008-02-09T11:41:00.000+08:00

This year's house visiting was rather out of the ordinary. Went to my ah ma's house on the first day alone until around 18 00 where the rest came. Luckily my 二叔 drove us off to have a drink outside during that waiting hours. We had a sumptuous dinner and had a game of 'blackjack 21' aka ban lat. After 2 hours of continuous 'gambling', I had a profit of $3! lol The rest of my cousins - aveline, hao and kiat played 'citadels'. (before dinner there was an argument among us on how to pronounce that word =p) It was already 23 00++ when we finish just 1 round of game.

Later, I went to hao's place to stay overnight to continue our game. We played till around 04 00 before we went to sleep. The 2 of them really are fast and heavy sleepers. They slept in a minute and won't be disturbed by a W900i mobile's alarm ringing loudly at 05 30! (hao even suggested to go for a run xD)

The early noon went to his mother side relative house for CNY visiting. Big family means... ...

Went to ah ma's house after that for dinner. The adults were watching 'warlords'. It can be summarised by these 4 words - brotherhood, sacrifice, gore and betrayal. I rate it 7/10.

The secret will be revealed...today!

me, hao, aveline, mei and kiat.

meng 仔叔叔 is cam whoring with us. lolx

The '老的' (姑姑, meng 仔叔叔, 姑媽, 嫲嫲, 二叔 and my dad) also want to copy us. =p

Featuring this year's game - Citadels. Pictionary was being left out. =p

bball back-to-back

2008-02-07T23:53:00.000+08:00

After playing bball with the nyco guys on Saturday, Sunday's session with 04S3A guys was much improved. lolx We had lunch at sr gardens market again but this time round it rained heavily when we left.

Monday met up with aveline to do something at popo's house. And we definitely spent more time on eating than working. xD Since we did not have enough photos ('cause the machine can't read certain pictures in the memory card), I'll complete the other half on the eve of CNY.

The eve of CNY was back to finishing up the masterpiece but due to certain unforseen circumstance, it'll only be 80% complete. Today shall complete it after everyone is there.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! =)

新

恭

年

喜

快

發

樂

財

年年有餘
But not your last semester's modules! xD

super high pitch!

2008-02-04T10:36:00.000+08:00

This Russian countertenor vocalist - Витас (Vitas) sings super high pitch; even increase the pitch at the last one! =x

Vitas - Opera 2

'77' overdued outing...yet again

2008-02-03T00:44:00.000+08:00

Friday was my rota bonding day held at labrador park in the morning 09 00. We got there around 09 45 and started our first activity - Rota 2 race, at 10 10. My group 2 -galactacos star (don't know if it's spelled correctly) won the 3rd placing out of 5 groups, and the price was $50 starbucks voucher. In addition, I answered a quiz question about my sir being a signal storeman during his army days and got myself an addition of $5 starbucks voucher. (I traded 2 $5 burger king voucher for 1 $10 starbucks voucher with azim.) =p

Saturday morning 10 00 was bball session with an unusual group consisting of mostly nyco alumni-jon, jon jr., julian, juncheng, kelvin(present member) and mengtak plus 2 other ex-nyjcians-eugene and i-forgot-his-name. lolx We went for lunch at ex-s11 then jon jr. and I headed to msco practice till 17 00. Accompanied changsheng for his dinner at macs before going to clarke quay to meet up with aidan, eric, jiancheng and jon for yet another of our overdued outing.

I got there 1/2 hour earlier than expected time of 18 30, so I window-shopped abit at level 1 of central. It was rather rare to see all of us being on time (some late for a couple of minutes). We had fun and dinner at settler's cafe until 21 00. I bought citadels for the coming cny gathering. Since the night was still young, aidan suggested to go for dessert at some nectarie(don't know if I misspelled again or not) at clarke quay. Tasted quite alot of desserts -chocolate truffle, cheesecake, honey lavender ice-cream, mud cake, almond-liquor white chocolate cake and some ham pie thingy.

Later this morning will be another session with the 04S3A guys. Don't know if I'll have the energy to play. =x

the poll is open

2008-01-29T12:57:00.000+08:00

Attention to all cousins and family, MSCO Alumni, 4-Francisians, '77'党, 04S3A, NYCO Alumni, 21ST ERS and Station 12 people:

You are cordially invited to my 21ST birthday celebration which will be held at HomeTeamNS Pasir Ris Holiday Chalet. The map to the place can be found here.

To make the celebration successful, I need more people to attend, so I need all to make your vote on the dates you prefer the celebration to be held at the right side of my blog.

For the both options; 1st day will be purely for recreational activities; 2nd night will be the celebration itself; 3rd morning will be booking out.

The voting poll will cease on 29 Feb 2008.

Happy voting. =)

P.S.:Ingrates please identify yourselves! xD

no toilet breaks =x

2008-01-27T23:52:00.001+08:00

That's the most suitable title I can think of for this entry, 'cause this whole day I didn't get to go toilet until dinner time.

Don't know what happened to my biological clock, but I couldn't get to sleep well these few days. Perhaps I'm too excited about being liberated from all the obligations as a NSF fire fighter. Without having a proper sleep, I woke up early in the morning 08 30 deciding whether I want to go for fazly's wedding or not. I went there anyway as I took woon's car to fazly's house at 10 30. After having a rather hasty brunch, we left around 12+. Woon drove me to bishan and I took the train down to town. Thanks woon for the trips.

I reached taka around 13 00 and they were still eating. Either they were enormous eaters or late-comers, they took a long time to finish their lunch since they met up at 11 00. We eventually left the restaurant at 13 30+, and we splited into 2 groups (hokong, les, low and zhencong; john, lim, yongxiang and me) to shop around town.

Around mid-noon, it started to have a light shower, which didn't last long. We took a bus down to suntec around 18 00 to meet with john after his Mass. Anyway, I bought 2 shirts and other special items for someone's special day. (*top secret which can't be revealed yet)

Finally, we were able to take a rest for our legs as we stopped for dinner at the food court, while les, low and zc went to subway. (and I was able to go to the toilet and stayed at the urinal for more than a minute xD)

What a day... ...more shopping spree next week? hahahaha

Anyway, here are the photos we (cousins) took during our outing yesterday...

It looks very bright...as what the stranger photographer said.

So we decided to let the cashier take a 2nd shot...much better.
(From left: ah hao, me, mei zi, aveline, my sis;jingyi)

world class airport

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

Went to NYPCO charity concert for the LLF (leukemia and lymphoma foundation) with jon and ken. Their standard was not too bad, maybe it's because of the 'alumni' or rather those strong people from cheng san. lolx Mrs Goh (Mr Goh chok Tong's wife) was there as their patron I suppose; and I assume she'd ~~escaped~~ move on to another one from her fomer foundation - NKF.

Saturday morning was jio-ed to go for NYCO practice with jon and wanying. Their standard is improving due to the J1's I guess. And darn it, I left my watch in the room...have to get it back on Tuesday.

In the evening, went to Terminal 3 (T3) with jinjie, lim and low. (It's interesting how our government decides on the naming of significant architectures such as the IR(marina bay).) As usual, low overslept and he was late by 1 hour but we took this opportunity to take a tourist-view around the premises. It was the first time I (and lim) ate at popeyes. Can say that it's better than KFC but their cashier could be alot more faster.

Wanted to take more photos but the battery suddenly died on me...

Glass wall at the entrance of T3 at B2.

Water fountain at B2.

Large metal plates hanging precariously at the ceiling.

Auto check-in machine.(the blue part at the bottom left is the baggage weighing machine) Cool~

Departure hall.

This morning 09 30, lim, yongxiang and me went to nyjc to play bball. The ideal timing was 09 00, however due to ~~unforseen~~ forseen circumstances, low and john came at a later time. Quek escaped yet again; xiaohui overslept and marcus uncontactable. We only played a game of 2(lim and low) VS 3(john, yongxiang and me) and the score was 6-7. After bathing, we walked to serangoon market for lunch. They wanted to take a lift from lim's dad's car but didn't in the end.

P.S.: Don't ask low what happened to him with his soccer ball when we were waiting for lim's dad's car. xD (caucasians are really polite and forgiving people)

10 days break

2008-01-17T23:36:00.000+08:00

Four days had passed since the start of my 10-day break. I was called back to station yesterday, not to be back on duty but just to take a rota group photo... ...again! lol I was just in time for the photoshot when I just stepped into station, so I just wore my No.4 shirt over. =p Stayed awhile to play scrabble with abdullah, dingding and nas. Evening had tuition and it was a nice weather that night. =)

The other days were spent at home slacking, onlining, gaming and watching bleach (episode 112), eyeshield 21 (episode 101) and tv.

My station 'members' are thinking of going for kayaking for the next outing, but I don't have the interest (for now) to do that. What's next?

Mei zi was suggesting to go for a 'cousins outing' so as to utilise my long hiatus from my duties at station but ought to receive a confirmation from her.

rollerbladez

2008-01-12T20:26:00.000+08:00

This morning 10 30 met azar, dingding (with dingding's friend from control room) and ow at ECP for rollerblading. Since aris and jihad was late, we had our breakfast at Macs first. Afterthat, we rented rollerblades for 2 hours @$7.

This was the first time I ever tried rollerblading and I'm proud to say I didn't fall at all! I'm good at balancing eh~ Tyty....haha xD Aris(bike) and jihad(rollerblades) joined us about 1 hour+ later. Just when they came, we were about to go back to return our blades, so they didn't get much of the riding and blading. lolx

Me trying out rollerblading the first time.

It looked as if it was going to rain by the time we returned all the stuffs, and since dingding was dead-hungry, we went to BK for lunch. Some of us wanted to continue with cycling but afew of them were leaving for some other things, so we all headed home. Luckily we didn't stay for another round of cycling 'cause black clouds were already gathering in the vincinity of my home. =x

Group photo at BK.

In the evening, ah hao came for a trim. As he was just let loose into civilisation after 3 weeks of confinement, he didn't know much about the real world. That goes to say that he doesn't know about the taxis now are going at 35% surcharge at peak hours and ticking at $0.20 every now and then! I had to go down and give him extra cash. xD He still have 8 months and 1 week more to go! Jia you!

Was thinking about buying PSP slim and lite from bao sen. It's going at $360 for the brand new console including a 4GB memory card filled with 6-7 games. Who wants to buy too? Maybe can get more discounts~ =)

time-off clearance

2008-01-11T00:38:00.000+08:00

WOOT!! This was the first time my RC approached me to let me clear my remaining time-off hours. That's why I'm at home right now. Thanks to CPT shaiful. =) And this was my third time clearing my time-off. Hopefully can clear for 1 more duty (out of the remaining 2 duties left =p).

P.S.: 2 MORE DUTIES TO GO!!!

poor info-communication system

2008-01-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

Our station function was a good one compared to last year's. More emphasis on the decorations and prizes. All of us got a door-gift - a 5R-size photo of our rota. We had a PS2 winning eleven 2008 challenge finals where Rota 1 PTE james clinched the champion trophy and SGT zainal was the 1st runner-up. The bonus challenge between my Rota 2 RC - CPT shaiful and our STN 12 OC - MAJ lim came to an end when my RC beat OC with a score of 1-0! =p

The lucky draw prizes consisted of a 2-way ticket for 2 to bangkok, 2nd-hand PSP, several akira electronic products, ntuc vouchers (that's what I'd got...a $10 one) and other miscellaneous prizes.

I played the pass the ping-pong ball with the plastic spoon game, and my group (azar, azim, azman....all the az...lolx and myself) won! The prize was a beverly hills polo jacket. It comes in a two-way function whereby you can flip inside out and wear it.

Too bad, didn't get the top 2 prizes; SGT riduan and SGT yip got them respectively.

Anyway, it's better than getting nothing at the end of the night. =)

Here are some of the photos taken yesterday night... ...

Grand entrance with metal sensor!

Alexandra Fire Station full family photos.

Azarudeen, azim, azman and nas.

Azari, aris and sharif.

Ramli and azarudeen.

Lina, aris, jason, irman, me and ~~animal~~ nimal.

Lina(facing back), ding ding, aris, jason, irman, me, ~~animal~~ nimal (facing back), ow and azarudeen.

The 'chinese gang' of station 12 - dom, me, bin and yip.

Ow, woo, me and low at the watchroom.

Kevin, teo, me, errol, ?(forgot his name..will fill it up soon =x),vivienne(hiding), ken, tammy and yewyew at the paramedics room.

Me, sittiq and whitney outside station just before I was leaving.

Today, just received a call from my station admin clerk saying that I had to go for the medical check-up at CDA medical center. And god knows where it is?!! Think all of us thought there's only 1 medical center and that's at BRTC. The final date is this Friday. To think that I was continuously trying to contact them that day and all I'd got was an engaged tone. What a short notice for me, but I still have to go down to that troublesome place.

....Just got back from the first tuition session of the year and it'll be cut down to 1.5 hours with the same pay! =)

Anyway, these are the pictures from ah hao's OCS charlie wing family visit day... ...

Me and hao at OCS dining hall....(I know u can read...xD)

Hao and me at the tower after running up from ground zero....10-storey high!
(okay....we walked from the 6th storey onwards lolx)

first tour to an army camp

2008-01-06T23:02:00.000+08:00

Yesterday went out for lunch with changsheng, ken, mengtak and tzerong at indo riverside place. Too bad alvin woke up late and jon was in the midst of his cousin's wedding and only can join us later for games. The food was not bad. 7/10.

Afterthat, we wanted to go settler's but there's still not vacancy, so we called for mind's cafe. What we got was a table suitable for 4 people and we had 7 people! We proposed to boycott them but was later asked whether we would like to take another more spacious; but still not ideal for 7 people, table, and we took the offer. Anyway, I got a $7 discount for the next visit. Who wants to go?

WOOT! Today was my first time touring around an army camp - SAFTI MI as it was the family visit for my cousin's OCS course. I went together with ah hao's family. The first thing came to my mind when we were at its front gate was that the place was like a huge country club. The buildings and grass patches were of tip-top appearance with little or no signs of old age of more than 5 years.

What I thought was funny was that the officer-in-charge or his PC2 will have to announce through the PA system for ah hao to come down and see us. "Anthony Zeng Jun Hao, your family is here, please come down now." What's wrong with him waiting below? It seems like he's called to get out of his jail cell as his family members were visiting him! xD

Anyway, ah hao became our tour guide and guided us around his camp. Took some photos here and there. Went into his bunk - a cosy room for 2 with decent cupboards and shelves and comes with a computer too; went to their sports area - you can do swimming, tennis, badminton, volleyball, basketball and street soccer (but as usual for all uniform group government organisations - it'll be of little or no usage at all xD; went to their cadet's mess - it was clean, big but with a cosy feeling; went to their parade square - it was sleek and looked too nice to put a foot onto it lolx; went to their OCS dinning hall - it's big with high ceiling and it's a structure on its own; went to their tower - a 10 storey high structure with lots of nice scenery plus a story about it....Last opinion - it's way better off than SCDF's CDA and on par with SPF's HTA.

Period.

Bidding goodbye to us was the hardest part. Jkjk...hahaha. The rest of us went to causeway point and have our dinner at the soup restaurant. Most of the dishes there was of top notch standard, like their samsui chicken and homemade dou fu. Dian xiao er is slightly better. I rate it 8.5/10.

P.S.: Will post the photos once I get it from ah mei. =p