Christmas Day Happenings!

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry christmas , we wish you a merry christmas and a happy.. SHOPPING!

Good morning OG, good morning Bugis street, good morning Bugis Junction, good morning Sim Lim Square! Shopping shopping shopping... DISCOUNTS!

First up, Sim Lim Square! Time to buy new laptop! But not for me =( Walked around and around.

Conditions:

1. Laptop had to be lighter than 2kg
2. 3 years warranty parts and labour with 1 year international
3. Windows Xp to be installed instead of Vista for compatibility issues.
4. discrete graphics card if possible
5. 4GB ram
6. HDD 160gb or bigger.
7. Cost + - 2k

So, we finally chose btw a SONY SR and FUJITSU S6420 well, Fujitsu won, cuz of its warranty and it is made in Japan. It fulfilled the above criteria.  I did have an observation that Sony was very cool despite having the same processor. The Fujitsu lappy was hot on one side though, I wonder how did sony prevent that. Sony's keyboard was also a joy to type on. Fujitsu had the same plasticky feeling since eons ago, but it traded looks for size and form factor. There wasn't really any other brand that i trust and also fulfills the above criteria.

If it was me though, i would choose LENOVO X200!

Alright, we are already late for the BBQ after this long shopping. Well, bugis street was too difficult to resist! Not enough time! Too many people! Ok tried to shop something and in the end, only got a pair of shorts for $15. Its considered a steal of which i will explain later.

Ok so i went on the Bugis Junction and walked around inside. Seeing all those shops that didn't have brands that I could recognise, I thought i could buy things for a steal.

T29 reunion.

On the fateful day of 21-12-08, I woke up early at 8am preparing myself to leave at 9am such that i can reach pasir ris @ 1030 as originally planned by yimin. I was quite sure that I told dad that I would like him to give me a ride to the MRT @ 9am. Hmm.. he woke up at 9am and asked, "u need a ride to the place?"

Puzzled, I asked " er didn't i asked u yesterday?" "Nope." 

Ok nvm, told howard i will be a little late since i wanted to meet him on mrt downstream. Den arson sms me.. want to meet at YCK? oh.. right on the dot, since I'm late anyway. I might as well meet him and go together.... Called mr howard and.. OH found out that he was already @ orchard when i'm still at YCK. So i thought, damn i'm gonna be super late!

The journey was to be long, about 1 hr i guess, but ultimately, i was proved wrong to take approx 45 mins. The journey down north south line was long as always, but going to the east was very fast. In the end, despite starting at YCK @ 0950 we reached pasir ris @ 1045. Thats wow sure was fast compared to my usual train trips. Or maybe cuz there was arson to talk cock with.

Anyways, around 1020 we got a call from mr howard that yimin wasn't coming.. oh shit.. main organiser wasn't coming! I was thinking.. i guess this will be another boring T29 outing... from the start they were already talking about going home.. But since its the 6 of us guys only, we still went ahead, since it was already planned and we don't want it to fail just like that too.

So.. the first gal that arrived was cherie, could see she's kinda outta place cuz its all guys only @ subway when we had our lunch. After the lunch though, we played some arcade games, of which i hadn't been doing for a long time. Shooting time crisis 3, owned stage 1 and got owned at stage 2. Man, I am lousy lol. From then on, came the arrival of another 2 more people... val and shu yan. Now, its time to enter the ESCAPE theme park.

Escape themepark is having a promotion now with tickets going for $8+. I would say its price is ok for a theme park since its rides are not phenomenal.  Rides in other larger theme parks overseas cost about $50 per person. But to me, the time we spent together was absolutely the kind i wanted to experience.

Out of all the rides there that i have sat with 2 on repair, I think that viking and go-kart is the most fun. Seriously, I didn't thought that the viking would got that high, until the first time i sat it. Man, It was more scary than the larger scale 1 I sat in Ocean Park. Probably because I was sitting at the side at Escape while i was sitting in the middle at Ocean Park. Go kart was more here with a more challenging course compared to Genting's and the kart had more oomph. The rest of the rides were quite kiddy though.

Finally, for the one thing that owns them all, the haunted house! Actually, it wasn't much fun until you hear people scream like never before... OOPS, since the first time they know that you are afraid, they will aim you and you and you again. The haunted house was larger than I thought! we were able to walk around about 50m before reaching outside, I thought its gonna be short since the house is so small. The gals faces were so white with fear, I think it was a bit too much for them. Static displays ain't even worth mentioning. Those mobile ones are not bad, but the guy working inside rules. Flexible and stealthy is the word. Guess who's face was the whitest? NO prize for guessing it RIGHT!

Bowling was uber expensive and the waiting list was long, so we decided to go cycling. The cycling shop didn't have enough bicycles and the time left was too little, so we decided to chill by the seaside. The seaside was not sandy but had mangrove trees growing at the edge of it. The view was not great, but it had pulau ubin in it. The situation was not good, but the atmosphere was perfect. Just watching everyone chill together on the breakwater that wasn't even lapped by the waves was so tranquil, so blessed.

With the super short amout of time i had left, I had to ensure we have seats for our dinner. Suprisingly, when we wanted to get seats at new york new york, it was easy peasy! I thought it would be so damn packed that we probably had to wait a long time. However, everyone was still so caught up with playing the rides again, howard and I decided to book some seats for everyone first. Sry that i started eating first, but I really had no time left. It felt like time was moving too fast, and such great times will be over in the blink of an eye. But, I will remember this day as the day when T29 had its best outing since we ever had one. HAHA

Pics to come laterz...

Great Happenings over the weekend

Sitex was on over the weekend!

Despite the bleak outlook of the economy, the amout of people purchasing goods was still respectable. In fact, I didn't even thought that we are in a technical recession! Most of the stuff was cheap. I guess its due to the resellers wanting to clear stock in exchange for cash before the recession sets in. GREAT discounts, GREAT products, POOR me. Lol, I didn't buy much.

The purchases I made, a Norton Internet Security 2009 3 licence. Full Stop

I think this is the first time which i bought so little stuff. Probably there won't be another time when I only buy 1 software. Well, there were other purchases for other people and probably thats why I didn't feel hand itchy even though I didn't buy much.

Purchases for other people:

3 X Western Digital Ext 1TB HDD

1X Seagate 2.5" portable 320GB

Large files on USB 2.0 is simply too slow and won't cut. I have made it a point never to buy USB 2.0 products without E-SATA. 100+ GB files take an hour or more! Enough is enough. E-SATA all the way!

Today I experimented with Raid 1 on my computer. It is the feature called Drive Expert on Asus Motherboards. I know that the performance of my HDDs could well hit 90MB/s. After setting up a Raid 1 on this Chipset, I don't think i would like to use it again. Transfer rates of about 70MB/s sounds like quite a bad performance hit... Its back to the Intel Matrix Controller for my next set of Raid 1.

Why raid 1 you ask? I personally prefer Raid 0 for speed. Raid 5 for security. Raid 10 for both speed and security.

Raid 1 is the economical reasons since i already have 2x 500GB drives which i intended to raid from the start. I have decided to raid drives for performance is simply a waste of effort. Now you can get 90-100MB/s on a HDD you raid 2 of them for approx 160MB/s . 1 year later, 1 HDD with the same capacity as 2 drives and can achieve 140MB/s. It is a good as a slap in the face for me with the decreased failure rate and reduced energy consumption.

Hence, Raid 1 sort of won't get outdated so fast, since I have to buy 2 drives and reliability for 2 drives storing the same data is 100% better than 1 drive. 2 X160gb HDD i bought 4 years ago can each do 40+MB/s and Raid 0 65+MB/s. Now 1 HDD can do 100 MB/s check that improvement out!

What's happening now?

Finished my course, I was expecting to be suffering much more than what i actually did during the course. Lived in the forest again, attacked the objectives like what i would do as a trainee, but with more knowledge on what is really happening and how I could contribute to the success of the attack. It was more like experiencing what is and will be happening. There is simply too much that we have to do and for everyone to do.

I have learnt more ways on how to control people. I believe that my platoon requires somes changes and i hope to make it happen before i leave this place. The program for my company is quite unforgiving for an ord spec like me. It is the high key season when I am about to leave. Being the responsible me, I can't possibly ignore the events and do just lobo at home right? Lol.

The next intake is coming in and i will be feasting in the island again. Well, that's not neccessarily a bad idea since I am saving money o.0

On course for 2 weeks

Yo dudes, sorry in advance if i can't join u peeps to go out on the coming and probably the next weekend too. I will be on course for 2 weeks.

Well, this course will enable me to increase rank n allowance and of course much more responsibility. With responsibility comes power, with power comes money, with money comes =). But money is irrelevant for the next few months before i leave since it is only a short while. But, who can deny the chance to earn more? =)

In the course, there will be more periods of chiongsua and also, learning stuff and probably relearning even more stuff that i have return back to the school since i haven't been using the skills for a long time.

To Howard, next time go shopping together. Pay little $$ to get gd quality goods. 

Sleepless, Busy Gaming

Suddenly my life became occupied again. Well, still watching anime and recently playing games again.

Hehehe... why suddenly start gaming a lot again? Because, Company of Heroes Gold edition (Original + Opposition Fronts) is going for $24! Now it is affordable to everyone! So why not buy and game? No connection woes and smooth game play. Well, it is certainly better than to tax 1 system with server roles and yet use it for gaming. I guess that is one of the reasons to why gaming is slow when I am the server.

No going out for this month it seems. The girls are busy mugging and the guys don't mind gaming. HAHA. It is getting kinda stuffy at home though. Going out just isn't the same when with family and when with friends.

Ending Oct starting Nov

By the next time i come online again, it will be november or at least oct 31. How time flies, my course is coming up soon.. and i haven't make enough arrangements for it! Time to study all that i need to start studying!

Driving is now done, and suddenly there's a void now since there's nothing occupying me. Well, i guess there will be some things coming up that i need to spend my time working on ultimately.

Haiz, last week was spent driving and yet this week there's no outings. Maybe i should have postponed last week's driving lessons. But den again, who knows? who can predict?

OK driving frenzy continues...

This weekend is free... hmm quite unusual... and thus I continued the frenzy of booking driving lessons. 

On friday, I booked 2 lessons. 1 at 10.30 and another at 13.05. First was a manual lesson and next was an auto. MAN auto is so easy to drive. But do i regret taking Manual? NOPE! Drag gears... challenge of using the clutch... thrill of high speed free wheeling. Well, although dragging gears can be done on an auto... there seems to be a common consensus that it will spoil the gears... i dunno y.

Today I had  3 lessons at 10.30 13.05 and 15.20. WOoOooo it was tiring and kinda stressful too. Who the instructor is seriously plays a part in whether u will be stressed, bored or interested. Only lesson 2 was boring and stressful cuz the instructor is quite hard to understand. I feel that he might be teaching me the wrong stuff. Once you go up a slope, and getting ready to go downslope immediately after the upslope without time to react, your clutch should be fully release with gear 1 engaged. This caused my car to jerk. To me : WTF how can i even release the clutch fully when the speed is so Fing slow?

So i asked the next instructor and he says, yes you should use engine brake. But... HOW TO USE IT WHEN THE DISTANCE IS SO SHORT? Half clutch or rather try to keep it engaged but don't release fully. Maybe the previous instructor means this, but i am sure it is his inability to communicate to me. So basically to me... not good.

Soon, the basic parts will be over and i shall carry on with the more advance stuff. People say from now onwards it will be slightly more difficult and challenging. Well, I guess I should be up to the challenge =).

2 more lessons tomorrow...

Sunset...

Sometimes i really wish i had a DSLR... and mow all the houses in front of mine down to see the horizon...

THANKS FSV

Thanks for celebrating my Birthday today. Although its not full attendance, its pretty rare nowadays. Thanks those who made an effort to come despite looming tests n exams. It was fun today and  I tasted new food. Waraku's food is nice and The Central has quite a few other nice Jap restaurants. Guess I shall be heading over there soon again ^_^

24" of Goodness!

New indented item in my inventory!

Drive Drive!

2 more lessons on driving today. Mastered use of clutch, checking blind spots, turning right, handbrake and moving off on elevated terrain. I still think driving is fun. I wonder do you people think so too?

Surprisingly, I got the same instructor twice despite being in different time slots. Haha, strict but fun instructor. He taught me some tricks to score well and of course the 1 point only exploit of his TP exam. I can't get enough of driving lessons.. c'mon give me more!

OWNAGE! PWNAGE!

CH has just pwned the freaking GD. Absolutely no sleep, whole "morning" just stoning and doing what is necessary. Own the other guy too... haha he sleep so much more than me. Cool experience for a birthday in camp. This is miniscule compared to last year though, attacking objectives in the jungle. WEEE seems like overnight birthdays are here to stay!

Driving Gets tough

Driving in heavy traffic is rather tough sia. Today is my 3rd lesson and I got to try driving around, checking my blind spot and changing lanes. Quite amazing wor, I couldn't believe that I can go onto the road so fast, 2nd lesson onwards I am on the road lo. This is COOL!

At night, people knocking off from work clog up the lanes of the road. At the side comes one stupid cyclist that wobbles when cycling. Wa lao, just to avoid this bugger I have to filter right and yet watch out for him and vehicles from the outer lane. It is quite dangerous lor, and I have to make sure the right side is clear enough. Well, there are more cyclists but none seems to be as bad as this.

SOLUTION! Keep left enough such that there is no space for them to squeeze in to the left of me HAHA! No cyclists n no motorcyclists to the left of me!

Changing gears up is no issue. Changing gears down when stopping is an issue. Well today was the first time I could test the performance of the car. Due to the traffic condition, I was required to accelerate quickly from standstill, especially at the traffic junctions. Heh, so changing gears was swift. But when I stall, it is quite sad.

There was once, I stalled just after the pedestrain crossing when the traffic was light. Damn that taxi behind, wait a while also cannot. I jsut need to restart my engine 3 sec nia.  Horn once enough le.. how many times must u horn? (>.>) U watch out one day you will get your just desserts. 

Happenings

Sunday

First of my driving lessons. HAH man it was fun. I doubt paying $70 of arcade games for 2 hours of driving on daytona or initial D will be as fun as driving a real car. Hmm manual cars are undoubtly difficult to learn. Clutch and acclerator must be synchronised. Hmm most engine stalls are caused by clutch control, well i don't really like to step on the clutch. But after all, per lesson i only stall about 2 times. Quite good for a beginner ba?

After my driving lesson, went to East Coast Park for dinner. MMM Chilli crab, crayfish I still don't like crabs though. This is probably the first time i ate the crayfish knowingly and trying it. Ah.. for those who haven't ate it before, it kinda taste in between a prawn and fish. Well, as the name suggests, it is quite aptly named. Less of prawnish taste though and more tender meat.

What is an east coast trip without a beach visit? Heh heh 100 sparkling sticks + lots of solid fuels (candles won't stay lit in the wind). Sparkles are cheap and the joy is exponential. Lets BUY MORE! Hmm i discovered an amazing phenomenon. When you place the sparkle at the blue flame portion of the fire, it takes longer to start the sparkle burning compared to the yellow portion. Anyone care to explain this phenomenon? Because the yellow portion of the flame is suppose to be of a lower temperature compared to blue one I assume the blue flame should start the sparkle burning faster.

Maybe the blue portion is just the solid fuel vapourising into gaseous fuel and the yellow flame is the burning part? I think i need a thermoprobe to test this or maybe an infra-red camera. Doesn't science just keeps ur brain thinking?

Monday

Err played Navyfield whole day. Was wasting time...

Tuesday

Driving Lesson 2! Heh Time to drive again. This time I learnt how to brake properly such that I don't induce motion sickness for the poor souls who will be sitting in the car with me. Have the chance to go to gear 3. Ah, the car can finally move much faster. On the roads I can accelerate more and faster relative to the public traffic. C'mon when the cars are zipping past, will you remain in that slow life of yours? I have learnt how to change lanes, watch for traffic when changing lanes. Well, it is just part and parcel of the lessons. Even though i am learning faster than the lesson plan, I guess the extra practise will help me to pass the test with flying colours. 

Later I will be having lesson 3. Heh more driving around!

Spring clean

Sweep sweep sweep.. everything goes...

Driving round & round burning weekends

This is crazy! I booked 30 driving lessons in advance! That amounts to about 2k of dollars and many weekends burnt!

The reciept is so long it stretches 1m (o.0)

The driving school premises will be shifted to woodlands next april, thus the need for me to chiong the lessons. Hopefully i can get my license by march next year!

Every saturday and sunday I have lessons from 1-5pm unless i can't make it due to work reasons. So do expect me to Pang Seh quite a bit during this period!

Finally finished something and bored again

Woot... Its been 5 days since i started watching wei xiaobao having his fun on tv. And many hours of free time and also sleep deprevation to finish watching it. Finally, I have finished watching it and freed myself from the grasp of the tv serial.

According to the maslow's heirachy of needs, in order of importance:
1. Psychological
2. Safety
3. Love / Belonging
4. Esteem
5. Self-actualization

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs.svg/400px-Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png

Psychological
Hmm I am not very psychologically sound now i guess... Life is tough, even when you are not studying. That doesn't mean that its not tough when you are studying. But since life is a struggle, what is its significance if all is smooth sailing? Humans are good at "what ifs" and it allows us to peg our desires according to the benchmark. Indeed it is the most important need, its all in the mind we say, and indeed it is.

Safety
No worries yet at this age... roof over my head, enough money to spend, lovely parents.

Love/Belonging
Sense of belonging to friends. It is in these periods when we are truely free on the weekends and can spare time to have fun and rot with my friends that I found it fun sometimes to just do nothing. Love? Don't think I have really found yet. There might be somebody 远在天边，近在眼前。 Although I don't feel like going into a relationship yet, subconciously might be otherwise (>.<)

Esteem
Hmm, I am quite happy with myself. So, generally high self-esteem. Confidence when doing my work since I am already used to it.

Lastly, SELF-ACTUALISATION
I AM PERFECTLY OK! actualised! Ah watever the reasons.

Duke of mount deer ^_^ Zw the pooh bday

Haiz, sorry was too lazy to type this and was too busy at the same time to make this come up on sunday.

Sunday morn was spent swimming and afternoon till night was spent watching DUKE OF MOUNT DEER (2008)! Pardon me for the delay heh. As of now i am going to start Disc 5. Well, there's 5 more to go! I am seeing this story for the second time now, the previous 1 was done by hong kong actor and actresses (2000). So, i realised that this story is still so intriging, despite seeing it the second time. Well, I guess the content of the story appeals to me very well.

Comparing the two, they interprete the story quite differently, but the main character Wei Xiao Bao is more or less the same. Each character is witty, sly and similarly obsessed with ladies (@_@). Well, the actresses for the chinese 2008 remake are of better miss universe calibre than that of the HK 2000 make, but they seem a bit greehorn at acting too. Either way, does anyone hope to become Wei xiao bao just for even 1 day? (^_^)

Ok back to the topic, about Saturday.

First, me edwin and zw went to watch WALL-E. Man i do love that kiddy show. Even though its meant for children, it does emphasise about love, determination and result. In the sense of a relationship, ugly & outdated wall-e vs pretty & high class eva. Dumb, innocent and persistent wall-e finally wins eva over with his determination and just being himself. Wow! lots to learn from the pixar animations. Well the things wall-e did in the show wasn't too far fetched either compared to some other stories that would intrigue movie-goers. Now now, people there's lots to learn.

Coming out from the movie theatre still reminiscing about the lovely movie, we head over to serangoon garden to eat chicken rice. Man, the chicken rice and food was expensive and it wasn't exactly top grade. It is time to head somewhere next time. I think i would enjoy chomp chomp better. Stomach's not entirely filled, went to a secret's shop to get a cake and secretly went to Edwin's house for the next phase of operation ZW Bday.

Drinking Continues

It is my cousin's Bday and my aunt prepared a mini spread and celebration for the rest of my paternal family. Most people came except the usual suspects. But it was full attendance though for the usual people.

The usual chinese oriented food we usually eat for these kind of gatherings. But with the addition of red wine, cabernet sauvigon and merlot. Man i think i drank about 300ml of the 12% and 15% alcohol wines. Heh, was grogy for the entire afternoon (o.0) Was drinking the 2 types of wine considered mixing?

Ok i have discovered the feeling of going to become drunk and although havent really approached the limit to finding out how much can I drink. I guess I shall leave it till another time. At least I haven't went to the stage where I Don't know what I am doing and blabber nonsense.

By the way, I am still coughing LOL. Bad diet bad bad...

Cough cough, drink drink, cough still

Man, why am i always sick at the wrong time. I was coughing since saturday and still haven't recovered yet.

Saturday was Zara's bday celebration at sean's house. First and foremost, I want to thank sean for hosting a bbq event at his house again. Without his family's kind understanding and sean's generosity, FSV probably won't have met so many times. Of course, rachel's and chin yang's undying passion to plan activities for the group for the people of different years.

Deciding Zara's present was a tough choice. Sean and Victor had went around looking for some possible items before I came. But somehow, we decided that puzzles was quite a nice thing to give. We had some puzzle designs within our sights and when rachel came, we all decided the panorama 1 was the best. Despite the other designs being equally attractive and we were even itching to buy some for ourselves.

Sean practically prepared most of the BBQ himself and rachel always provides the all time favourite jelly. Victor the satay and otah. I am sorry guy's I haven't really been contributing and I only came to eat. What's more I went late to help pieceing up the puzzle as I overslept on the medication i ate for my cough. But I did help to piece up the remnants of the missing jigsaw pieces. Heh, we didn't do it in time such as to surprise Zara, but it was fun doing it still. 950 pieces done in about 7hours. FSV all the way!

This day was a rare occasion with everyone present. It was full strength man. I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there. In fact, it feels like the time wasn't enough. How i wish we could all just stay there and time would stop. I am sure that we all had fun. More and more cars are popping up, man its time i pass driving too haha.

I must confess again, I didn't help to cook the food at all that day. Poor Sean, paika still prepare so much. Oh yes thanks to Sean's parents for sponsoring Mascato for us to drink. Little the alcohol content might be, but it was still alcohol. Food portion was slightly too much, but we had come a long way since the previous BBQs where we frequently bought too much food.

Perfect Day I must say ^_^

Finally the right thing has been done

Its the end of the 15 weeks. Its the start of my holidays. Well yesterday.. haha. Lazy ain't I?

I feel a power vacumn. Suddenly, noone is asking me about any instructions, noone is calling me. No calls to entertain. I am free! FREEDOM! or so i thought lol.

Now what am i going to do with this free time? Next week is practically no existant, the week after is the real deal and so is the next. Oh yeah! Now the usage of time begins. Spend time going through maths? Learn about music? Learn about how to use some programs? Go out with friends like crazy? How many friends are free now?

As of now, i am mostly using my time to watch anime and borrow movies from the dvd rental. Time to tidy up my room... and remove all these stupid clutter.

I can ride my bike with no handlebars...

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

And I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
I'm all curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
Cuz I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
And I can split the atom of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all healed of their lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
Because I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars


This song was played many times over when i did my duty lol. It isn't really that nice but it is a song that grabbed my attention.

Money Squandering

My current configuration

Intel Q9450 2.66ghz, 1333mhz, 12mb cache
Asus P5Q Deluxe Motherboard
2x2GB Crucial Ballastix (Micron) 800mhz CL4 4-4-4-12 Ram
2x4GB Aeneon Xtune (Qimonda) 800mhz CL 5-5-5-18 Ram
Seagate 640GB 32mb Cache HDD
2 x Seagate 500GB 32mb Cache HDD (salvaged)
Asus 4870 512mb Graphics
LG Dvd writer w lightscribe
LG Dvd writer (salvaged)
Cooler Master CM690 Casing
Cooler Master 700w Modular True Power
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit + SP1

Wah this IT show spent a lot of money!
1.Pre-ordered an Asus 24" MK241H monitor cuz my previous 17" philips is in smokes...
2.Bought a new set of audio technica GK52 earphones as my previous 1 spoilt.
3.8GB kit of Aeneon Xtune as i need the ram. I can run more programs and with less lag than before. (data loads much faster from ram then HDD ^_^)

So $599+$46.8+$339 = $BROKE!
OMG how to survive year 2008 sia.

NO i cannot buy anything in IT show at december

DO NOT i repeat DO NOT tempt me with more technological upgrades!
Btw i think my com has zheng to the max le... no more zheng required till about 2 years later?

After effects of 21km

Man, this has got to be one of the most painful muscleaches i have gotten in my life. Its not like i haven't gotten it before, but it affects a much larger area than i anticipated.

Not only the running muscle groups on my legs are aching, my whole body too! Calf, hamstring, quadriceps, you name it on the anatomy of the human leg, it hurts. My sides do ache slightly from the twisting motion of the lower torso during runs. Shoulders hurt from the swinging action when running and even my elbows hurt from the bent position when we run.

Now that sounds like a long list of complains right? Lol, I'm not complaining but it is quite interesting to experience such an extent of muscleache after so long. It has been quite a while since i had really exercised till this degree. When i ran up to 12kms it was only ever the leg that hurts. I guess everyone who truly ran and probably didn't prepare enough from it will suffer from the same effects.

Walking up or down stairs is a bane and even standing up hurts. I guess i shall just lie and bed and stay there whole day haha. I wonder will i ever recover before the fateful 24km route march thats coming up?

Running 21km a challenge? Definitely!

Fireworks? It was absolutely fantastic. Crowd? It was beyond comprehension. Spot selected? Best of the best. Time I slept? Late Time i woke up? Early. How it feels to wake up? WTF.

I slept at around 0030hrs, and woke up at 0445hrs. I always thought, why in the world does the marathon start so early. WHY must we meet up at 0530hrs and start running at 0630hrs. WHY! When i reach there, then i realised. It takes a long time to find everyone, it takes a long time to do anything. After i met up with most of the other people i was supposed to meet, we had to decide where to put our bags. After we placed our bags, the toilet queues are so damn long we even decided not to use the toilets.

The morning was purrrfect for a run. The air was cooling, relatively high humidity and cloudy skies. If we didn't dilly dally searching for some stuff that should have been told to us, we would have started on time and probably went back even earlier! So ultimately, we started about 1/2 hr late and my finishing time was 2h 53 min. That would roughly mean i clocked in at 2h 23 min.

When i started the run with a group of my friends,it was the 4 of us running together. Gradually at the 3km mark, it became the 2 of us and by the 10km mark, it became myself. It would be wrong of you to say that they are unfit. I believe they are well as fit or even more than me. However, they just didn't want to run (^_^). After all why run so fast? why tax yourself so much? Slowly la... Enjoy the scenery, live the moment.

From 16km onwards, i started to suffer from cramps and had to walk quite some distances. Stretching, walking until it recovers run for approximately the same distance as i walked and the cycle starts all over again. Damn the rain the day before for the muddy grounds that made my shoes dirty and running across cross country surfaces a pain. The path from east coast park to the marina barrage was totally cross country.

People were walking on the tarmac and so we who want to run faster or overtake them simply ran cross country. Skipping potholes of water along the way. I was rotating between running on the tarmac, mud and in between. It must have been dangerous as an after thought, I felt that i was on the verge of spraining an ankle or a knee if i do Mis-step. The marina barrage at 16km was cool. I didn't thought that it would be a part of the route, it was my first time there and i guess a first for many others too!

From then on, the cramps got worse and i started thinking about what it would it feel like for the next few days of muscleaches? AH HECK! just finish running asap, go home and think later. Despite my faster pace, due to my cramps i realise the people i keep passing always slowly jog back to be beside me. It made me feel slightly demoralised. No matter how much more effort i put is futile... My body has reached its limit. After all, it is the furthurest i have ever ran in my life and continously. So i have broke some personal records haven't I? Haha

This has kinda awoken the fitness vibe in me. I feel like its time to be fit again. Its time to train up again. More of such runs for me in the future? Most probably.

Fireworks festival @ the bay! 230808

I was quite sad that my camera wasn't powerful enough to take night shots of fireworks. BUT i was glad that i was able to see the whole firework show without feeling the need to take pictures of it. After all, my main reason was to watch the fireworks display ^_^.

Sorry for the blur photos but i had to put the iso low so as to make it less grainy. Its basically taken from the place i was standing. It was a day with high humidity, so little surprise the whole place was covered in smoke. LOL imagine u pay top $$ to stay in Ritz Carlton just at the right time and moment to be covered in smoke (o.0)

They were using long range high power spot lights as though they were calling for batman, and these shine straight to marina mandarin hotel + ritz carlton. Pay to be disturbed o.0 Batman Gotham City needs u!

The weather was unforgiving, but luckily it stopped before the fireworks started and ironically started just as the fireworks ended. Act of the supreme being?

Ziqian Bday Celeb on 16th Aug!

Many many photos this time. I finally got the opportunity to grab everyone long enough to take this many photos. We had full attendance (minus jinhe who has been missing for more than 1/2 year) and later (minus may who had to mug for exam).

Ok so we first met up at PS to watch the stupid Jet Li latest MUMMY show. It seriously was just another MUMMY show. nothing out of the ordinary MUMMY style. Still i believed that it would be more interesting than the journey to the centre of the earth since its 2D version of the 3D.

After that, we went to PIZZA HUT to make a reservation. THANKFULLY we did that, we didn't waste time rotting inside there nor do we have to compete with the others for space. So we went to Carrefour to search for Edwin's delicacies and some chocolate. Haha the girls were like HUH they going Carrefour again. Wei come-on, its a kind of shopping right? Just that we guys are more practical =P.

Alright, met WOEY THEE (whoa how long never see this bugger already? Now he's BOTAK too) and of coz his girlfriend ^_^. Proceed with paying at the cashier. Gd bye Woey Thee see u again. Ok proceed to PIZZA HUT. WHOA so many people waiting outside heh. Sry.. we go the advance to go ticket (collect $200).

Deciding on something to eat seems to take donkey years, especially when May is quite uncontactable. BUT oh well, we still ordered anyway with may coming soon with her NOTES. NONO, why are you studying on this joyous ocassion, +1 mugger factor! MUNCH! feel happy. Embarrassed Ziqian on her bday seems to be the main idea at Pizza Hut. "happy birthday to u.. Happy birthday to u my dear friend.. Happy Birthday to u" Corny song.. Ok it wasn't really that bad. It ended pretty soon.

So, its kinda early i thought... Why not we go to ground level and have a breather? Ok.. there is nothing happening here at all. "Heh" I sniggered, " Ok now i brought u all up to have a wiff of fresh air, where shall we go?" Discussions... "OK! how about we go to esplande by walking?" Lol noone is interested to taking the MRT as opposed to edwin's bright idea. XY was quiet. ZQ n CY was can we have air-con? ZW was always behind me. YX was enthusiatic (maybe?) and I probably was the 1 who made all of them do this route march ^_^.

So.. we walked from PS to Esplanade. Took some stupid photos along the way.. Had fun, rotted together. YX ur overexposing the PHOTO again! "I must take the photo until it is perfect and free form handshake" I admire Ms Poh's detemination but i am scientifically sound enough to determine it is impossible to have no handshake at 1s shutterspeed. =P . I dunno why leh, but i must agree with Ms Poh, we so do this more often in the future ^_^. I find this kind of time spent is quality time especially when we are quite free now.

Btw.. I walked home from YCK Mrt too. I am built for walking!

Bday Celeb!

Sat was a busy day with 2 bday celebrations. It sure wasn't easy to get things going but still it was fun.

Xiuyi's Bday together with the rest of our zhss group.

Steffi + Victor's Bday


After this the remainder few survivors went with sean to the amazing singapore swimming club where we had our dinner. It was fruitful though time was short. Weekends are so precious..

Back from the wilderness and on with the computer

Finally, after quite a long period of lull, I have decided to spend some time adding info to this page.

I have just came back from the field camp and left the wilderness from a while. Rain sunny rain sunny rain. What weird weather... Can't we have cloudy weather all the way? Rain drops keep falling on my head...

Anyways, I have just built a new computer last week after months of consideration and here are the specs. It includes some of the parts i salvaged from my older computer.

Intel Q9450 2.66ghz, 1333mhz, 12mb cache
Asus P5Q Deluxe Motherboard
2x2GB Crucial Ballastix 800mhz CL4 4-4-4-12 Ram
Seagate 640GB 32mb Cache HDD
2 x Seagate 500GB 32mb Cache HDD (salvaged)
Asus 4870 512mb Graphics
LG Dvd writer w lightscribe
LG Dvd writer (salvaged)
Cooler Master CM690 Casing
Cooler Master 700w Modular True Power
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit + SP1

So all in all, its a new rig since all the salvaged parts are less than a year old too. I spent about $2300 whoo a big hole in the pocket. Most of the time it will be my bro and father using, so i have no fear about it being under-utilised. The amount of ram still seems to be too little in fact.

When running 8 instances of the program (I could do 4 with my older com) it draws 7+ GB of pagefile and 3+ GB of ram. I am trying to reduce the use of Pagefile since it is slower and kinda kills the HDD. I am heading towards 8gb of ram if i can get my hands on them. I wanted to get another 2x2GB of ballastix today but it seems i am out of luck. They are currently out of stock.

I also want to encode videos hence the processing poweress of 4 processors which i want to harness. I hope the adobe softwares can handle that though. It will be a perfect computer if they can accept multi processers to render and encode the video. The previous computer was slow like a turtle man!

Anime or serials anyone?

Anyone have anime or tv serials to intro? I am now following a few animes now.

Namely:
Soul Eater
Spice & Wolf
Vampire Knight
Code Geass : LeLouch Of the Rebellion

However, they don't seem to be enough.
I am not interested in those that take more than a century to finish though.
E.g.
De-greyman (watching once a while on kids central though =X)
Naruto
One piece ( an episode here or there?)
Chobits

When the animes only have a few episodes, I can stop soon enough and probably suffer from a bit of withdrawal syndrome while waiting for another one. However, those with 100+ episodes are simply too much for me. I can't stand being hooked and having to finish 100 episodes one shot. Will die 1.

Reflections

Today was suppose to be a wonderful day with typical program and everyone of us being in a happy mood. In the morning, my colleagues and I went to this large scale dialog. The main aim was to to motivate us to bring out the best in us.

I loved what the speaker said. Especially the part that states, "do not expect everyone of us to be motivated fresh out of the oven. Everyone needs to be motivated to work once awhile as we might be frustrated by our work and ultimately start to lose hope."

This was especially true for me. Positive examples and negative examples were quoted to remind us what is the right thing to do and what are the wrong things. I believe that we should perform better as they deserve better.

Snap back to reality and no more doubts

Why did u make it so difficult for me to fathom? Things were made clear but still there were doubts. It was difficult to snap back to reality. Perhaps it was me. Perhaps i was dreaming and i didn't want to wake up from it. Having read up today, I guess i have finally snapped out of my dreamland, cleared my eyes and mind. It is now clear to me. Its too soon. I still wanted to live in my fairyland which i thought i mattered.

Time has passed and we have both moved on. There is no uncertainty, there is no doubts, there is no what-ifs. There will now be answers, a certain direction, no hard feelings. A path which was once hazy is now clear and its the only one i have. No more dwindling around the same place and get let time pass while i rot in-situ. Its time to board the lamborghini and speed to the next destination.

Squeaky Clean Computer & slacking

Why does my computer crash so often? It always start to show problems after about 3 months of usage. Thats when i feel so pissed, i decide to do a clean install. Now that its squeaky clean, things go faster and that gives me a better usage experience.

I wonder what am i doing over the weekends? I feel that i am seriously wasting time away, without really moving forward in my life. I have recently regained some knowledge about adobe premier and photoshop. Seems like people only learn fast when there is a need. I wanted to edit a video and a picture for the passport. I sat down and cracked my head, doing some trial and errors. I got the results out finally.

It is quite difficult to become totally pro at the software cuz i don't use it often. But such expensive software should be appreciated ^_^. Use it more often! I saved a few dollars since i am doing it myself instead of going to the photographer's. I was able to remove pimples too haha for a nicer picture!

New gadget!

Went SLS today and bought a cute little gadget that i believe will serve me quite a while ^_^. I shall share with everyone.

http://www.vantecusa.com/demo/front/product/view_detail/297

Oh well, i can't make the pictures appear here. You might wanna take a look at their website. Now i am able to make use of my Hard disks as though they are cassettes. Save on HDD enclosure, and this allows support for multiple HDDs.

Well, i did some cost calculations and found that HDD are cheaper than dual layer dvds, so if u must store data larger than a dvd can hold, HDDs are the way to go. This is based on my calculation of a 4.7GB disc costing $0.30 = 15.6GB/$ and 8.4GB disc costing $2 = 4.2GB/$. Since a 500GB hdd only cost $137 = 3.64GB/$. So much for the ease of transfer, speed and storage all in 1 place. I rather buy a HDD. The only concern is that, i lose the data if the HDD crashes. Losing 500gb of data is damn painful i must exclaim.

I have lost approx. 120gb of data due to hdd failure. However, i am sure i will recover them in time. I was glad though that they were able to give me a 1 to 1 exchange for the spoilt HDD.

SICK, SICKLY, SICKER, ILL

I am so sick of being sick. When will i recover from this sick illness? It is making me lose focus of the things i am doing. Make me feel like a zombie whole day long. A zombie without even taking drowsy medicine. Sian SIAN SIAN. Now lets recall when it started and how long it took for me to recover.

Monday

Woke up in the morn with my throat feeling a bit sore. Well, i guess its just another hot night and i am with a heaty body, so drink more water n i should be fine.. Moreover, the day before i drank alcohol, so not enough water intake, dehydrated? But its not like i haven't been dehydrated before, so I carried on eating my tasty and oily lunch and dinner. They sure helped my throat to get worse and infected. But well, i guess my immune system should be gd enough.

Tuesday

Throat is definitely infected. Drank lots of water, brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth before i took a nap in the morning, hoping that by sleeping i can battle this out. Wrong, by lunch i am sure i am screwed. Eating the oily fried foods is painful and i decided to go see the doc. Took some medicine and ate it diligently. Was selective towards my dinner so as to ease my pain.

Wednesday

Woke up feeling as screwed as the day before. Decided to ate porridge whole day. Constantly hydrated myself and rested as much as possible. It did help, my throat was feeling better!

Thursday

Holy shit! Another misfortune has befallen me. My throat now still thingling has now contracted a coughing disease. By midday, i was coughing and starting to suffer from running nose. Maybe the cold morning combined with the winds caused me to catch cold. SUX! The whole day was miserable. I had no mood to work, I had no strength to carry out my duties, it was the start of my zombiness.

Friday

I will be booking out today! But i was feeling even worse then the day before. I needed sudden surge of adrendaline to get myself to work. I am still as zombiefied though. My coughing has become more regular and worse. I changed my own medicine to the WOOD's peppermint cough syrup. Yes the one you saw the advert on the tv with the kungfu faster healing his student. I think it came too late. When i returned home i think i contracted a fever.

Saturday

With almost sufficient rest, i still feel sick and the running nose shows no sign of relenting. WHEN CAN I RECOVER? god knows...

Sean's & Rachel's Bday

A little late update on the amazing lunch I had at Sean's House on Sunday. Although it was his birthday, he threw a party for us and even personally cooked a meal for my friends and I. This was the first time i had tasted Peranakan food. I also tried new food and dishes. It is different from the usual dishes i have ever eaten. Maybe someday i should try to eat at a Peranakan restaurant.

And of course, the best part was the wine ^_^. Damn, i think i'm starting to drink more alcohol. I tried white wine and Mascato. Although i drank only around 200ml, i am sure the alcohol affected me. LOL. So i must not drink too much.

101th post!

On the 4th May, i hit my 100th post on my blog. Now i shall continue over the deca to make it a kilopost.

Time really flies, especially when you only get to see home once every week. Its been just 2 more weekends since my last post and its already the end of the month. It has just been less than 2 months since I last said I was stressed due to out-processing and now i am facing it again.

A few days of rest and its back the the fray. This time even better! With a confinement week, by the time i am back home, another month would had passed. I always say, when you see me online, its a marker that you have lost 1 week. HAHA. Right, you should panic cuz you are running out of time! However, to me and many others, its just o-r-d is coming closer and closer.

My relationship with my job so far has been a love-hate type. I have learnt many things from, making decisions, giving orders, taking on responsiblities and maybe learn how to make sure people listen to me. Well ,its schedule isn't always perfect and most of the time we lose sleep around once a week. Its like having periodic shift work. Getting screwed constantly has been a gripe for my previous batch. However, this batch seems to give me less problems. Its been more fun taking them. After all, there isn't much time for them to "climb over our heads and shit" which was frequently said by my superior.

Every batch has people who listen to us, give us no problems and those who joke with us but still accept their fate that they have to go through this course. BUT there are those who we just want to strangle cuz they give me multitude of problems. Its a challenge to be a sgt and yet not show my anger when they simply screw me up due to the simplist reasons. We have to be firm and yet compassionate.

Overall, a batch that has been will be a batch that leaves a memory.

完

No Taiwan, Singapore's fine

Bon voyage to the 4 who went taiwan today.

Sadly i can't join but i am still happy the trip materialised. Hence, in the future, more of such trips will be a possibility

MAYDAY MAYDAY SEAN'S BBQ PIT ON FIRE!

Its on fire with charcoal (^_^)

Yesh its bbq on jeanette's Bday.

Its always a bbq at sean's house when i taste new foods. Just that this time, the new food was introduced by me! Pepperoni Salami! Yes if you don't know, Pepperoni is BEEF. I first tasted it at a bbq somewhere when i was damn sian and most unhappy to be there. Hence, it tasted damn nice and i wanted to taste it again at a bbq.

The attendance was nothing short of amazing. Almost 100% came minus those who can't. Before the bbq, we went cycling at east coast. It was a terrible experience. The tracks were overcrowded and it wasn't safe for riding at all! there's no express n slow lanes, leading to traffic jams with quite a number of near-misses for me. Hell no will i ever cycle at east coast on a weekend again.

Guitar Hero's a nice game on Wii to play but i guess its meant of the experts when we want to really want to play it like a pro. Not really for people like me who has no musical experience at all. It is still fun nonetheless. We talked much more than we actually hoped to, since the Wii brought there should be played. Hence, there wasn't much gaming on them anyway.

My com's still not up, hence i am unable to post some pics here. Maybe next time.

电脑狂

在这两个星期的假期，我发现在我最无聊的时， 我只想读关于电脑的质料。

During these 2 weeks of holidays, I found out that I was only interested in reading computer materials when i am absolutely bored.

当我读完了网上的电脑质料， 我便再次陷入我低沉的状态。

When i exhausted all the information that i could get online, i returned back to the moody state of boredom.

我真的没有其他的网站好读，好参考？除了电脑和电脑游戏我真的对于其他的东西毫无兴趣？

Do i really have nothing else to read and extract information? Other than computer parts and computer games, do i really have no interest in anything else?

我想这是大错特错的想法。 我对脚踏车的兴趣是靠我当时的心情。

I think that this thoughts are utterly wrong. Cycling is a sport i like, but it also depends on my mood.

上街逛逛，看电影，购物， 都是同朋友一起共处的。

Shopping, watching movies and roaming the streets are activities that we do with our friends.

大家星期一至五都没空，只有我一个人在弄费时光。 竟然大家都没空，我只好把我自己沉迷在我的电脑世界里。

Everyone is not free from monday to fridays, leaving me alone to waste time consuming my leave. Since everyone is busy, i shall immerse myself in the world of computers.

不过， 我对于这种生活方式有严格的控制。 我累时便会去看电视， 休息以后再想要做什么。

But i am in control of my life. When i am tired, i will go see the tv, rest a while and then decide what to do next.

Ultimately, its still boring.. zzzz. But i am sure i will do more productive and diverse things than just computers

Going back to the Military Life

2 weeks have passed, and its the end of the holidays. Man, time passes so fast... i will have to go back to camp. It is the start of non-stop working till the next batch.

So boring, yet so inefficient is the mind at doing productive work other than just wasting the time away. Maybe i can start a quote? It is effortless to laze and just as effortless to start working. All we need is the mood to do something we want to do.

As anyone could have found out, people only treasure what they have lost. The time i lost could have been better spent doing other more productive and self-improving stuff. However, do i have the mood to do during those times? Such is the reason why we do not take long breaks. Long breaks nourishes laziness. Short breaks emphasises the limited amount of time we have.

Feeling philosophical lately? I guess this happens when the mind is in a state of absolute boredom or reached enlightenment. I think u can guess which 1 i am experiencing. Bored and yet unwilling to start work. Running on empty...

Passion

Not exactly high quality but its a nice song enjoy! I not so sure but its either Italian or Spanish.

Sean's Housemoving + WERNERS!

It was "early" in the morning ( or at least when i am slacking ) 9.30am, CY gave me a call.

"Hey Sean is moving house do you want to help?" Still in my sleepy mood, "dun want la i want t o sleep..."

"He will be picking us up at City Hall MRT, so if u want to go you will have to wake up now.."

"Yawnz.. ok la ok la since got transport.." and i woke up to prepare.

So off i went to meet Cy at YCK Mrt and ended up at Cityhall albeit early. Perfect, i need to draw some money too... Raffles City is quite a nice place to walk about and stone! So many kinds of food, of course is those high class ones. I actually dunno how to walk around the basement... almost got lost o.0 but i guess a labyrinth of this size won't be too big either. Moreover, I have Cy to bring me around...

There was a shop full of gift wraps, cards and many other products. The stuff there isn't really cheap but the concept of the shop is cool. It is quite similar to one of the specialised gift wrap, box and ribbon shops at Citylink. As long as there are teenagers and people willing to spend to make their gift more special and better decorated, there is business!

Ok next up, we met with vic n Sean, off to lunch we go! Went back to one of our favourite yong tau fu shops and ate till full. Weirdly, vic and I were full but the other 2 claims that they are not full.. (-_-!) Not full den dun make us eat so much la!

Sean's HQ is in a mess! Boxes everywhere that don't seem to serve any purpose than to brick up the living room. Spent the either afternoon opening boxes, shifting stuff around and throwing stuff into the store room as though it is a 无底洞。At first the storeroom was quite properly and tidily stacked with boxes. Soon, it was stacking as much as we can as possible into the storeroom. By the way, almost 1/2 the boxes are TUPPERWARE! We joked that we should open a Tupperware Garage Sale LOL!

Man and Jean came later to give a helping hand and by the end of the day, the house went under a makeover. It was so much nicer as opposed to what we saw in the first place. I would say, it was wonderful to help Sean's family they are nice people.

However, the best is yet to be. WERNERS! german crusine. Pictures describe a thousand words, so see the wonderful food that i ate the first time! The beer is so much nicer as compared to the other beers which i have drunk so far. It is smoother and easier to hold in the mouth before u drink it down. Feeling guilty that we drank some alcohol? Nah.. as long as the driver don't drink too much haha!

Shuyan's Bday Celebration

Hmm, planning wasn't haphazard, everything went as per planned except a few little glitches.

Haven't went Novena in ages, but it sure was better than before. From a measly mall, it has since expanded to something like toa payoh hub. I would say its somewhere where you can hang out. Food aplenty and shop selection enough. Singapore is growing... and so have the malls.

I was quite glad i made the reservation and the restaurant didn't just strike me off the list thanks the 2 changes in the timing of the reservations. (who was the cause of it? U can guess it!) Luckily howard was there with me to waste away the time lol. We were able to spend some time discovering square 2.. so all's fine we are not so petty (^_^).

Oh back to the story, yeah we went to Nihon Mura @ revenue house to have our fill of Japanese food. Eh, it wasn't as what i had expected. The food wasn't as good compared to what i had the previous time. However, i still had some cheap sushi, salmon and swordfish sashimi. The udon i had was quite tasteless, the amount of sidedish that came with it was also pathethic, making it quite impossible to finish the udon (>.<). But we had our fair share of fun there though.

Haagen Dazs to the rescue! Heavenly ice-creams, good waiter n service. I sure will patronise there again if i feel like haagen dazing... There we discovered how to make our own 魔鬼镜片thanks to someone as childish as Howard. It was a good load of fun though. Hmm and time is running short, novena shops are closing and arsenal had drawn with liverpool. So we do as per what adults will do... DUMP her the presents, Happy Birthday and go home!

Cycling mini expedition

The bicycle expedition was planned a week before, and i was glad that it happened. Given myself alone, i would not have the urge and willpower to complete this mind and physically tormenting activity of cycling long distances. hence, its important to have a buddy who is just as crazy or bored or just someone who will make u think twice about your decision.

The route wasn't really planned beforehand but it is basically a very straight route to Sembawang Park, so there isn't much deliberation. I had thought a lot about going where. But for such activities the more people going the more fun it is and the harder to quit. I really hoped to have zw along with us, but since he's not on off or leave, it will just be me n xm.

It was quite a smooth trip to sembawang park. XM came ill-prepared, tires not fully inflated and his manual gear transmission was automatic (o.0). It will auto up gear to the highest ratio and hence, its a difficult ride for him. Especially hills, haha i always see him struggling up using the crazy gear ratio.

Rain came at a screwed up time, when we just had about 800m to reach my house. Well, what to do? it isn't just drizzling its quite a crazy downpour. It provided us time to talk though, so it wasn't so bad afterall...

Paging ZW! ... come 1 day bring us around s'pore again!

Fabulous songs just keep coming by the dozens

Scanning through the web, i found 梁靜茹's new album and heard through the songs. But 原來你也唱過我的歌 canto version was the best in my opinion. Absolutely highly recommended.

My canto isn't that gd, so i can only figure out the portion when she sung the song title after trying to say the song name out in canto, so its kinda piece it up. I think i have done a pretty gd job picking out the pro-nun-cia-tion of some words so enjoy!

Going out especially to those trying to learn canto aka zw and xm.

听说过 这边失恋的人 也会点唱分手快乐

旁人话过 这里有个大男孩 欠缺勇气想示爱 唱勇气来当替代

分开两地都不紧要 即使距离也会再变小

从旋律中的感觉再把我们连系了

如乐章的变调　连过客也变得亲切了

原来你也唱过我的歌 陪同见证年月的经过

感激有你 肯相信我 我们随旋律的高低挽手走过

原来我唱你也在拍和 亲昵犹如我是情人吗

即使从未认真拖手过 却也彷佛爱过

听说过 这边厢的恋人 唱我喜欢都很快乐

宁静夏季 分享多一首亲亲 完全无条件为你

我也觉无穷快乐　分开两地都不紧要 今天我陪你唱到破晓

如像熟悉的歌曲已把友谊维系了

唯望好好答谢　能碰上原是有多奇妙

原来你也唱过我的歌 　陪同见证年月的经过

感激有你 肯相信我

我们随旋律的高低挽手走过

原来我唱你也在拍和 亲昵犹如我是情人吗

即使从未认真拖手过 却也不愿离座

原来你也唱过我的歌　陪同见证年月的经过

悲喜对错 一起去过 　我们还未共分享的尚有很多

原来再见仍然未生疏 心底埋藏我每段情歌

感激从未认真相识过 却这么宠爱我

As what my GP teacher once said, canto songs sound much nicer than chinese coz its has 9 tones vs chinese's 4. I thoroughly agree, u try out those songs sung by twins and compare their chinese and canto versions. Hell lot lof difference!

April Fool's Day and I ain't Fooled

How to get fooled on a stupid April Fools Day when i am not out of the house? You're right! I wasn't fooled at all! But things got seriously too serious!

In the morning, I woked up still being oblivious to the fact its April Fool's (in fact i wasn't aware all the way till i read shu yan's blog at night) but i sure do know its 1st of April, except it didn't occur to me. I think I have grown up, unlike some others [Hint Hint ;P ] .


BIG EVENT OF TODAY

Come noon, and its time to eat my lunch in peace. Ring! goes the bell...

"Sir, Hi I am from the PUB, and we are registering your house having a severly heavy usage of water. Are all of your valves offed?" said the stranger.

"Yes, noone is bathing now and all washing is done, is anything the matter?" goes the puzzled inhabitant.

"Sir i suspect that a pipe of yours has ruptured and is spilling water." he shows the inhabitant the water meter which is ticking furiously. Petrified, the guy went back to the house, ran around checking the taps and made sure none of them are on. He comes out panting and looked at the meter once again. The meter isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"So what do you recommend? And how much water have i lost so far?" asked the guy who was half enjoying his meal until interrupted.

"Ok, let me calculate." PUB guy taps the calculator with ease and routine. " $360 till date without including the waterborne fee." Eyes buldging and brain refusing to register the newfound fact, the guy gave his dad a call and told him that he will be calling in a plumber. He informed the rest of the family in the house to take their last bath and stock up on water before the main water supply is shut off to conserve water. Stunned at the adversity the family finance is in, Dad called for situational updates.

"Hi, is this the plumbing company? I have a pipe leak suspected at the rear of the house, the washing point. What time can you come?" asked the guy.

"Eh... I am on a project now, so around 4pm to 5pm" answered the plumber.

"OK, make it quick" replied the guy.

Meanwhile, he continued to finish and made all preparations in case the water had to be cut off for a long period of time. Checking the pipes again, he confirms the leak is at the rear washing point. The taps are not running and yet the sound of running water can be heard from an exposed external pipe. Done all he could, he retreated to his room to call a few plumbers to check the rates and pick the best. However, none of them gave a time that would be before 4-5pm. So, he just leave it and waited for the plumber. Plays Day of Defeat to make time go by faster.

OK, the saviour, the plumber, the copper pipes, the taps and whatsoever comes at 5:30pm.

"Hi, I'm here to do plumbing works" said the plumber.

"Great come on in, we seem to be in quite a lot of trouble. The pipes are all internal, I am not so sure how it runs" quipped the guy.

"Ok I see, hmm."said the plumber while examining the tap.

"To my knowledge, the pluming pipe goes straight down , so most likely it will be underground" said the guy.

"Same sentiments, ok we shall knock up a tile and find the pipe. If its easy the work can be done immediately" goes the pumber. So the works begin. "Er, seems like the pipe is not here, it might be in-wall."

"OMG, this will be so difficult and costly, are you sure?" asked the guy.

"OHOH here it is, quite deep for a pipe but its here nonetheless" said the plumber. (continues digging .. ) "Ok i shall cut off here and we shall see if it still leaks, I suspect it might be underneath the sink if that is true, its serious trouble" (repair works are done...)

Twist fingers and pray that cutting off the pipe here will save all troubles. Both the plumber and the inhabitant heads off to the main water supply and switch on the tap. Tick Tick Tick Tick.........Slower ....... Tick.... Tick.... TIck... STOP! BINGO! We have severed the leak.

"yeah finally can have water again" thinks the guy.

"yeah easy $350" thinks the plumber PROBABLY.

Rest of the time was spent rerouting the pipe and connecting water supply back to the washing machines. JOB'S DONE.


END OF EVENT

Haiz finally life is back to normal, back to playing my Company of Heroes. GAME ON!

Songs Galore

Yesterday night, or to be exact, early this morning went on a 寻找经典歌曲 rampage.

First up, found many nice songs via ITunes.

Given by Artist - Album - Song Title

1. Colbie Caillat - Coco - Bubbly
2. Colbie Caillat - Coco - Realise
3. Jesse Mccartney - Leavin
4. Chris Brown - Exclusive - With You
5. Chris Brown - Exclusive - Kiss Kiss
6. Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad - Don't stop the music
7. Westlife - Back Home album
8. 吴克群 - 为你写诗 - 为你写诗
9. 吴克群 - 为你写诗 - 我不管
10. 苏打绿 - 小宇宙 - 小情歌
11. 苏打绿 - 小宇宙 - 小宇宙
12. 苏打绿 - 无与伦比的美丽 - 相信
13. 苏打绿 - 无与伦比的美丽 - 无与伦比的美丽

Most of them are not new actually, released late 2007. But since when do nice songs ever die out? The songs are more of less grouped in chart topping factor.

However, 吴克群 is alright if you don't listen too many times. His songs are rather repetitive 为你写诗 has a nice tune though.

Nice song!

Friday off and leave

A surprise twist of events, cy and zw took off and appeared with me and mousey to play LAN GAMES!

I met with cy first, to go shopping at harris and bought a few books. I had wanted to buy golden compass, but i saw chronicles of Narnia. Hmm, since i was more interested in Naria and it was cheaper, i decided to get it. I might just get the golden compass next time since i have Narnia to contain my boredom for now.

We were suppose to meet retard for lunch, but we were too freaking hungry and decided to have a small tea break at the killiney kopitiam. Never did i expect the "brunchtea" to last till the night. Oh well, we went gaming at around 3.30pm at IRC penisula plaza. We were waiting for ZW to come who came at about 5pm. Its not his fault that he will come this late, but its his camp's fault. Ok, we played some CS, Starcraft, COH and i think we can do better than this. But this was up until about 7pm.

Of the so many places we can eat in Funan, we had to eat SUBWAY -_- zzz. Ok ate it anyway, and another strange turn of events. DHOBY GHAUT! game at IRC PARKLANE. We decided that the computers at penisula plaza was too shitty. We had to be members to enjoy the game too. What a waste of money, ok la feed them the $2 for a year of useless membership. This time we lan from about 8 till 1130. COH again and some CS to boot. Fortunately, dad was fetching my bro at east coast BBQ, so it was on the way to me. So weee! late night home but with transport

CY Bday 2 with the SPAS

Today had another celebration of CY's birthday. This time with the spas group.

I forgot how was my morning spent, but it definitely wasn't properly utilised. Woked up quite late, had a light lunch and off i went to AMK hub to have my dose of movie mania. I watched 10000BC today, albeit the late but i think the 3 guys were waiting for me to watch too. This was a rare occasion when a movie like this was not watched by at least one of us.

I was absolutely sure i had informed each and everyone of them the time and location. However, i dunno why all of them didn't read my messages. Today zw woke up quite late, didn't know the timing of the show and ended up at the cathay instead of AMK hub. o.0 Totally screwed man.. However, he still turned up at the cinema anyway albeit 40mins later. But to me, he didn't really miss out much actually.

Next, we took 166 to sim lim, which is like the 3rd time i went there this weekend. We were trying to psycho zw into buying his new comp, his current 1 is totally wrecked. It lags, is unreliable and so totally busted. But he still refuses to change it. Oh well, nevermind, i kept myself up to date with the cpu prices too. We wanted to go over to bugis already, when it rained cats and dogs, so we waited.

Around 5.30pm, we went over to meet xy and zq. It was still drizzling so we tried to make our journey as quick as possible. Met may at parco bugis juction, and headed on to kim's crusine where we ordered a bit too much food to consume. Being gluttons, we managed to finish the food though lol. Although it turned out to cost about $18 per person, it was good food i must say.

Out of the blue the decision to come to my house appeared and sure, why not? They went to "swim" mahjong at my house and although we wanted to play boardgames, i was totally not in the mood since tml i have to go back camp for COS. Haiz, 我不入地狱，谁入地狱。However, i always feel happy to see my friends still meeting up after such a long time. You know like how a parents see their children grow up, I am looking at our friendship still continuing. There will come a day when this will slowly decrease in frequency, but thats in the future. Will miss you guys.

CY's Bday celebration 1

Its like kinda wrong date now for this blog to appear, but it happened yesterday 21-03-08.

We went to eat soba at shimbashi soba, paragon it was damn expensive for some stupid noodle. It wasn't really filling but it does taste rather authentic. I still cannot really get over some exorbitant soba + soy sauce + salmon + some tomato bits and that adds up to $22 + gst and service. It was nice but not that worth the price. What to do? we're at paragon, orchard. Whats orchard without people getting chopped? LOL.

Ok many photos of the people who were there, and some of the stuff that we did. We had fun, and the cake was one of the best though overly sweet cakes i had. Creative i must say.



Aftesr i finished the celebration with them, i went to Clarke Quay, Liang Court, Audiohouse to find my dad. My refrigerator has broken down and there was a need to find a new one. At the same time, we were eyeing a tv upgrade. However, due to excessive spending this month, there was no way we can afford a tv that will cost $2100. So after much deliberating, we decided that the tv could wait despite the "great discounts" they were able to offer us. I somehow think it is a marketing gimmick.

So out when $799 to the new fridge and bonkers went the new tv. Next week, to the garang guni goes the old fridge + old 43" projection tv that costed us $800 in repair costs before. I decided it was too wasteful to invest anymore in this trash and follow technology instead.

Clark Quay was too nice a sight to miss. While walking there from the mrt to audiohouse, i simply must take photos. It was on the way anyway. I will not leave without taking photos of the area.

Finally they pop

YEAH! finally they have passed out, and i can enjoy my life a little.

This batch of recruits have really brought all sorts of problems to us. They come from all sorts of background. Although i had a great time interacting with some of them, i had a fair share of people whom i detest.

We as commanders always wish to have men who are obedient and listen to us, follow the instructions as stated and don't question. However ,it is not the case with this bunch of recruits. Almost all the time, they will keep asking questions, why? why? why? when? how come? They will keep pestering us for smoke too, although they most certainly have a private stash up there and they oftenly smoke in the toilet. As such, air freshener is common and unavoidably important. They stupidly leave traces of ash behind sometimes so that we can give them a good one.

Haiz, going to pop le also got people want to steal money. Kena DB seems common in my company, and it also don't seem to affect them that much. Maybe they think that they are recruits so most of the punishments go lightly on them, thats y they blatantly commit mistakes. When i had problems in the past, i will always try to solve it at our level. If we lacked something, we always try to find it ourselves and avoid telling our sergeant so we won't get scolded. These people are different, they will tell us anything they don't have and expect us to get it for them, wtf we are not their slaves.

All in all, POP LO! good riddance

IT Show 2008

My time for last week was totally toasted by the IT show and going out. But it was fruitful nonetheless. Because of the darn early book-in timing and i having to follow them in, i had no choice but to leave the 3 musketeers at the lan gaming centre on sunday. We were having fun playing COH, but time was not on my side.

IT show was crowded, as per usual.. But the amount of stuff i purchased was unusual. I never expected the small little camera comes with so many accessories and the weight of these things add up about a fieldpack. I was lugging it around suntec too... what injustice i was doing to my hands. During such times, i seriously wished i had came out with my dad and i could just throw all of them into his car, problem settled. But this was not the case since i made it a point to go out with arson, howard and shuyan.

I dunno how many times we shuttled between level 4 and level 6, but the show is as such. Since we wanted to buy so many things which are on different levels, we had to walk to satisfy our needs =P. After about 4 hours walking around and stuff, i finally finished processing my camera warranty, got the freebies and counted my damage.. Ouch, its very expensive... Unfortunately, arson left about 3pm leaving us to continue with his commitment, ok howard let me hear u say it, "Went back to his trinity college".

Feeling hungry of course after the shopping mania, we headed on to NYDC! Never ate before never tried, so its new to me. It seems so to shuyan too, but not howard. Howard orded a weeny which he claims that only it tasted nice. I had my Pigs Can Fly spaghetti and it seems quite pastamania, quite a bad experience i would say. But it could be due to me not really feeling hungry too. Following the time after we ate, of course we went shopping...

Ok me and howard are moving around with electronic goods, its not hard to imagine what would the sensormatic detect. In we went carrefour bought some DVD, and out we go BEEP BEEP BEEP, but it was so soft noone suspected anything. Not that we did anything wrong anyway. It was quite an annoying situation though. Next up, we went to HMV at citylink. When we entered, BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP LOUD and ANNOYINGLY. Ok, the shop assistant saw that and waved at us, nevermind carry on. Damn the security guard now looking at us suspiciously, ok its time to get out of here not nice to bother the old man from doing his job.


Since suntec has no taxi avaliable due to the it show, i thought its better to go howards house first look around and then go home from there out of cbd cheap taxi. We had this last minute plan to go his house take stuff den go my house transfer files to him. But the view at his house was just so breathtaking i had to try out my new ixus 80. Tried my best to reduce handshake to bring you these beautiful photos.

Blog Changes and updates

I have been seeing this blog for like 1 plus years and its still the same skin. Thus i have decided to change it a bit. There are still some glitches which i have been unable to iron out. Seems like i will have to engage the help of more seasoned bloggers like may n zq who knows quite some shit abt html. I guess its time i learn more about html.

Airshow rockamania!

I am suppose to add many posts today. But dunno y i just dun have the feel to write anything sianz... Anyways i shall force myself to come out with some updates. It is partially due to the fact that those stuff i wrote in my diary in camp either cannot show here or too boring to even transfer it here because its always the same things.

Singapore Airshow 2008


It was crazy to go squeeze with so many people. There were planes on display, but its just a few. Mainly the US military planes and those sold to singapore. Of course, we cannot forget the new A380 flying sausage! I dunno why, but it looks quite ugly up close

I think u can see howard there

Oh a bandage on the plane's butt

I think its time the Boeing's dreamliner come out to rival this lumbering giant. It was a spectacular sight seeing it fly and i hope i can soon get to ride on one. Its so large, i think from the wingtip, i can't find a lens with an angle wide enough to capture this beast.

The 3 of us who went and no my head's not botak

I think the haze due to the riau fires work quite well for this event. The sun is not as hot as it is on a normal day thanks to the haze particles. It is still very capable to cause heat exhaustion and sunburn nonetheless and thankfully i escaped the sun's photon barrage totally unscathed.

A bird's eye view not possible if qumar n howard isn't inqusitive enough

Another 1 featuring a B-1 what a sleek beauty...

Ok on the way home the stupid A380 was taxing on the runway back from its airshow flight. It somewhat delayed 20min of our time. By the time we rushed to the exit from the end of the airstunts and performance reviews, it was well 2pm. crowd management not bad, but lacking in content.

Fieldcamp for dummies

Had a re-fieldcamp for those who missed the original fieldcamp. It was not fun nor practical at all. Only a handful of names were submitted. Especially those who had missed 3 days or more of the fieldcamp. So another spec and i were volunteered to do this re-fieldcamp. Ok how was the selection done? Platoon 3 n 4 has the most number of people re-fieldcamping, so we had to provide the ground support. Duty schedule was checked, and it points to me who is free. Arrows flies... right on target.

However, to me the re-fieldcamp is a worthwhile trip out of the urban area. Time pasts much more slowly when we are inside the greens. Unsuprisingly, we the specs were given the task to teach the noobs how to survive in the forest and all the skills they require to survive. There isn't much to teach them even if we get into the details. If we spam too much onto them they will not remember too. When i was still a recruit everything just went in and out too, minus the important parts. Because what we teach is so basic, it might not be practical for use in the future but that will be up to their next unit to see if it makes sense to change the teachings.

There was insufficient time to let them practice what we taught them. But the main aim was jsut to let them feel how it is like to survive out in the field and to spend a night there. It wasn't really that close to being the real outfield, but its a start.

Valentine's Day/ Bro's Bday

Its 2008 and my bro has grown hell fast, to 8 years old. When was the last time when i though this time wont come? Man, its been 8 years since i saw him grow up from some fragile cute little toddler to the mean monster with some serious brute force he is today.

I must be a source of bad influence for this little kid. He has far more computer gaming knowledge than any of those little brats out there. I wonder if this is a negative factor, since his studies is only average and more interested in physical activities than classical.

HUAT AH!

Had some fun HUATing around until its almost time for me to go back to camp =X. How sucky.. 3 days leh just end like that.

Of these 3 days, i only went out the first day, visit some relatives. The 2nd day was spent at home waiting for people to drop by and visit my grandma. Since she is sad to say,wheelchair bound now she can't visit people at their home le. It has been so for the past 2 years or so. Its quite disheartening to see her age and gradually lose the use of her legs. Most of the time a drastic change in her health happens overnight.

As for the 3rd day, it was spent rotting at home playing some computer games and stuffing as much games as i think i would play into the computer so that next time, when i feel like playing at least i have something to play. Ok la not bad usage of time already haha. Although i feel that i should be going out on the 3rd day. Many people in my extended family went to malaysia to visit a distant relative. So i was left here and even so, i guess i have no choice since sunday i have cos duty so can't join them.

Zoo!

Woke up early to meet up with the spas to go to the zoo. I am glad its going to be a different kind of outing. If it was the same it would be so boring to do it all over again. So in total, 7 of us embarked on the crazy journey to the ZOO!

I was supposed to meet cy at 815 at the bus-stop. Instead, we were both late and met about 830. Coincidentally, we boarded the same bus that goes to the zoo "138" despite boarding from different locations. So the bus ride was about 30mins and we reached:

Mousey reached there earlier than us on a taxi and was on time despite waking up late! OK amazing feat considering him and zw were dotaing the day before. So we decided what tickets to buy and entered the zoo. The first animal exhibit we saw was:

They were damn cute and they even posed for the photos! Absolutely Incredible!

Next up was the 1 in 10000 tigers:

The White Tiger! Somehow, i feel like whoever is reading my blog is going on a educational tour. Haha. Nice tiger, it was just pacing around the edge of the rocks Probably being restless and being super bored. I can imagine how sad is the life of the tigers living in an enclosure instead of roaming the forests.



We went on to see many animals but this 1 was the most eye catching and outstanding.

Haha, this was at the kiddy land at a stable where ponies roam and the other farm animals are housed. I went to the PIG section and i was thinking how lucky were they. Instead of being on my dining table, they are just a showpiece here.