The New Year

A year has came and gone by.
Amidst the cheers and celeberations,
Some are still crying.
Some are still fighting.
Grievances are still not sufficiently placated
Resentment are still not adequately quelled.
There is joy and yet also anger at a death of a tyrant.
Bombs are going off, just like the fireworks that lit the skies in celeberation.
The ever present divide between poverty and wealth continue to exist.
The thousands of emotions and feelings,
Perhaps it doesn't come together well.
But let's try to let one of it prevail a little more this year.
Lets try to give a little more.
And to love a little more.

Christmas

Weather's been very cool the entire day. Fitting for the eve of Christmas.
Its this time of the year that I wished I'm in some chateau in England. Its snowing outside, and I am in this big armrest right by the fireplace. I'll have a good book in hand and a mug of hot chocolate at my side. There'll be this huge dog napping by my feet (and a good leg warmer too). And I'll stare out the windows as the snowflakes come fluttering down from the sky.

Anyway, I'll like to dedicate this post to all my friends that have once been in my life. Perhaps many have never visited this blog of mine, nor will they ever see what is to be written. But I'll still say what's to be said. Let's hope I'll remember to mention everyone. I don't really have many friends, but those that I've known well, have really became important to me.

To all those who have ever been a part of my life.

Jennifer - I think JC is the point where I really felt like I've broken out of this comfortable little bubble, and start seeing the world not behind some veil. Though with the stress of the studies and the As, I think I'd really enjoyed it alot. Things were made all the more fun with you around. Thanks for being part of that period of my life.

Andrea - Remember how you would make me vomit blood? And you are so blunt that it hurts sometimes. But thanks alot for the times when you listened when I was feeling down and giving me the much needed encouragment.

Eunice - For being a friend. Here's wishing you happiness, ya~

Celene & Iris - Life will be very dull at ARC if you two weren't there to crack jokes and talk nonsense. Lunch was also fun with you two around, and when things got too hectic, I was glad that both of you were also around and feeling that same work related stress with me.

Of course, I can't ever forget to mention Xiao Zhao and Ah Biao. Had the both of you around to share the pain and fun at ARC. And the games that we played. And the movies that we watched.

And to Bernie too. Because she's my "lao da" and I can't forget the times when we would use to OT. There was Tracy too. For being sweet and such a good conversationalist whenever I was bored with work.

Oh, not forgetting Wilson. Who seems to be around my life ever since after Army. Went to the same university and who is now also one of my DotA and mahjong khakis. Though you really really get on my nerves at times, for the most part, I think you've been great company and a nice buddy.

Jeffrey - Another DotA and mahjong khaki. Funny, because I don't really know you that well yet. But I think we at least click to a certain degree, eg, disturbing Kok Leng. hur hur hur.

Nicholas - You are a nice person to chat to. Thanks for always being so cheerful too. Glad to have known you.

Xiaoting - Because you are my lab partner, and we survived many viva together. Also thanks for the times when you took time to patiently hear me say my nonsense when I was feeling down.

And not forgetting Kelvin, Angel, Shufen, Zhiwei, Mervyn, Felix and the rest in our humble Mat Sci faculty of 37(?) people - Because we would all (most of us) sleep during lectures and pull our hair out over Shrodinger (at least I did), and I am glad for the company along the way.

To Zhiyang, Jonathan, Gigi, Alex, Wengsoon and Viknesh for the wonderful company during my IA. Had lots of fun with you guys. Thanks for being around. And I didn't forget to mention you Ernie. Purposely put your name at the end. =)

And last but not least. To this group of friends whom I've known since my primary - secondary school days. My life's journey started 23 years back, and since they've gotten onto this train, it seems that they've never left. Perhaps if they'll never alight, on my end of days, as this play called life flashes by me, this following group of friends will probably be in most of the scenes.

Kok Leng(another DotA and mahjong khaki) - You can be so irritating. But I'm quite glad for the irritation (er, with a few exceptions. haha) because it reminds me that I have a good friend like you. Bother bother bother bother~~~. Thanks also for hosting all the DotA games. LOL!!

Zhenrong - A DotA khaiki. Still remember all the nonsense we would chat to each other about, long long ago in IRC.

Christopher - Because we share some common interests. Besides, I think I've known you the longest, since primary 5.

And there is Zhangkai, Soonyong, Roger, Fabian..and er...Kelvin...Thanks for being part of my life's long journey.
Really glad for the company you've all given me.
Cheers to you guys.


Merry Christmas.

Eminence: Passion with Mushrooms and Garlic

Met up with Christopher this evening at Raffles City. Tried out the..er...Pizza Place? (Forgot the name of the restaurant).

Anyway, I orded Mushroom and Chicken Baked Rice, while Chris ordered something else which I can't recall. I didn't really scanned through the menu...seeing the word MUSHROOM was enough to make me want to order that. I always seem to fall prey to yummy mushrooms. Every dish should have mushrooms. Except maybe that black coloured mushrooms usually found in Chinese dishes. Don't know the name of it...
Delicious delicious mushrooms.
After mushrooms comes garlic, but I'll leave that till the end of this post.
Anyway, my MUSHROOM and chicken baked rice was delicious.
The Pizza Place - I think it was called. Located at the basement of Raffles City. Worth a try.

After dinner, we went over to the Victoria Concert Hall and met up with Chris' sis and her friend. Caught the Eminence: Passion concert.

It was certainly a very different kind of concert.
It was just an ensemble of a percussionist, a pianist, a guitarist, one pretty violinist, and another violinist.
Anyway, they don't play the usual obscured classical pieces of some obscured musician, but actually performed quite a variety of popular music. This includes music from games, animes, Walt Disney classics and as the MC said, they managed to also "sneak in some popular classical pieces too".
The atmosphere for the concert was a jovial and lighthearted one. Heck, towards the end of the first half, all the musicians suddenly donned Christmas hats. With the first half closing with a cheeky Super Mario Brothers medley and a Whole New World from Aladdin, it certainly did felt a bit like Christmas.
They pulled a similar stunt in the second half, where everyone wore sunglasses this time.
The star of the night was probably the 2 violinist, and their individual prowess was certainly impressive, as was heard from pieces like Hungarian Dance and Dance Macabre.
Unfortunately, for some of the pieces where the whole ensemble came together, the 2 violinists seem to go out of sync at times. My other gripe would be that the guitar amplifier sounded a little too bassy.
Apart from these flaws though, I enjoyed the entire concert immensely.
2 hours went by quickly, and I found myself wanting abit more.
Hope they'll be back again next year.
I've also fallen more in love with violins.
I once heard that violins produce the most beautiful music, and I totally agree.
The music of the violin is capable of conjuring up so many beautiful emotions. That is probably the reason why, in an instrumental version of a song, the violin is usually used to replace the vocals.

After the concert ended, Chris' sis brought us to Lau Pa Sat for supper.
Ordered:
Satay - Didn't taste nice at all. The peanut sauce was too oily and too liquid-y
Butter Sotong - I don't generally like sotong. Butter flavour wasn't really there. More oily than flavourful
Teh Chino - It was just milk tea. Tasted normal.
Kankong fried with garlic - I found myself eating the most of this dish. Maybe because of the nice tasting garlic.
I love garlic. Just don't give me raw garlic though.
Mushrooms fried with Garlic. Someone tell me where to find this dish!

Came back home, and was told by my mum that the woman opposite my flat was shouting again. Then she said someone from our block apparently got fed up and shouted back, asking that woman to keep quiet.
That began a shouting fest of both sides.
Hmmmmm......

Anyway, It is now the 24th of December.
It is the eve of Christmas.
I suddenly feel happy.
I would like to imagine its snowing.
Magic is filling the air.
I love Christmas.

20th December 2006 already!!!!

OMG. Time passes so fast.
Too quickly.
The other day, when I was filling up the form for the song writing compeition, and it asked for my age.
I realised that I wasn't so sure that I was already 23.
Age is catching up to me without my knowing. Or maybe I don't bother to keep count.

Just realise school is reopening soon, bidding starts next week, and Christmas is only round the corner!!!!

oh, and don't think I'll be sending Christmas cards this year. Very lazy...and I lost alot of my friend's address. Heh.

Anyway, I watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 2 days ago. It was enjoyable, even though it's such an old show. Still have The Godfather and Blade Runner to go through. All the classics.
Hope they'll all entertain me sufficiently.
Speaking about classics, I found this site recently : www.retrojunk.com
Relived abit of my childhood. So nostalgic. And you know, that when you feel nostalgia, you are probably getting old.
Can't forget the very first cartoon I loved, M.A.S.K (and its not that Mask made famous by Jim Carrey).
Used to pester my mum to record it down on tape, and this would entertain me for years down the road whenever I was bored.
Then there was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where again I would record and watch it whenever I was bored.
Not to forget all the other old cartoons like Gummi Bears, Ducktales and Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers. Can still hum all those tunes out. And there was Reboot and Animaniacs and Transformers. Cartoons filled my life.
But gone are the whimsical wonderment of yesteryear.
And America don't make cartoons like they used to. The young nowadays are overun by Pokemon, Digimon, Naruto and Yugioh. Domination by the Japanese Market.
Ah, but what do I know?
Too occupied by Grown Up Work.

And finally, I want to say,
I dreamt about the end of the world again last night.
What the hell.

Gearing into Christmas mood.

So Much Rain

Been raining alot the last few days.
I hate rain...please stop.

Went back to school on Friday to submit my IA final report as well as the competition song. Realised that it is actually very difficult to get around NUS.
Made alot of changes between buses A1, A2, B and C.
Also realise that since I've stop going back to NUS for 6 months, I've actually almost forgotten how to get around the area, even forgetting what buses I need to take from home.
Anyway, I think nothing should ever be built on hills.
The steps at King Edward tormented me. And climbing it was made the less pleasent with the rain that day.

Today's the second day with my stomach feeling bloated. Lots of gas in it...keep belching. Very very uncomfortable.
And it caused me to miss a game of DOTA!!!
Don't have appetite for anything. (How the hell am I going to achieve my new year's resolution?)
Anyway, carbon pills are wonderful. Love them to death.
And I have to add that I had a horrible night yesterday, what with the rain and my uncomfortable bloated stomach...I even had to contend with the barrage of mosquitoes.
Granted, it was probably only one mosquito...but it felt like there were many.
Sustained many wounds. Couldn't sleep.
Itch like crazy.
Kept buzzing near my ears, and I hate that sound.
Eventually I guess mama mosquito had enough, and went off to lay her eggs.
But by then, day had broken.
I was still awake.
And my Mum's alarm started to sound....
Anyway, carbon pills seems to be doing their work at adsorbing all the nasties in my tummy.
Hopefully I'll get a good night's rest today.
Yay to carbon pills again.

Recently clear up my desktop.
Heres the before and after photos.


Before


After

To think that I am an advocate of neatness.
Anyway, left the essential files on my desktop.
KL, Jeff,
Come back to Singapore soon.

Tuesday's Events

Met up with Nicholas yesterday. Did some shopping, and bought a new pair of shoes.

Anyway, we went to sushi tei for dinner. The following pictures are from Nicholas~~


I ate salmon (raw) rice with egg roe.


Eating the egg roe made me happy, but too much of it really could make one sick.


Nicholas ate curry rice.


Among other things we ordered was one undentified dish that tasted of prawn.


Fried tofu with unagi and vegetables, called Unagi Tofu Ankake, which tasted "different". Too much vinegar, and the fried tofu became soggy tofu because of the gravy. Horrible-est dish of the night.


Than we tried taiyaki ice-cream. Tasted quite nice. Just like how a dessert should be.


Finally. we ordered hot sake. Didn't know why I had this craving for sake yesterday. But after I had my first sip of it, I kind of regretted it, as I don't really like the taste of that bitterness in most alcholic drinks, and that "taste" in sake is especially strong.

Like Nicholas put it, it wasn't a terrific meal, but it was interesting. Wasn't very expensive, and the meal filled me up pretty good.

So anyway, I always seem to dream about the world ending. And I did again last night.
I already forgotten some already, I guess... But here's 2 that I still remember. Here's a gist of them..

1) I was at my old house, looking out the window at night, when this huge blue strange symbol(yes! I dream in colour!!) appeared and covered the whole sky. - This dream was short, and it wasn't exactly the end of the world, but it sure gave that surrelistic feeling of doomsday happening

2) I was running around in a dark and deserted city, seemingly trying to look for something, when this bomb exploded and destroyed the world...haaha

So my doomsday dream yesterday took place around my old house again. (Why do I not dream of my new house? Especially since I shifted here so long already.) Anyway, something was causing the world to end, which I wasn't sure what. The dream is quite fuzzy now. Here's some of the things I remembered happening,
1) The city lost its electricity, and I had to use my handphone to light the way as I ran back home.
2) It started to snow in Singapore.
3) Everyone was worried.
4) I ended up in a room where people was gathered, Anyway, this was where my dream ended.
5) Everyone will probably not understand this. But I saw Chris in my dream, and said to him. "Looks like eternal recurrance did not happen." LOL

Hate dreams like these. Its like a nightmare and not. Like I was stuck in limbo or something....

While I am typing all these, the woman across my block is shouting again.
Don't know what happened, but whenever she shouts, it could go on for about half an hour.
Can't hear what she says, but she always seems to be shouting the same sentence over and over again.
Okay, now another man seems to be shouting in exasperation.
Doesn't seem to be a couple quarreling.
Really wondering what is happening...oh well.....

Busy Week (Cont.)

Just to add...
I also have a friend going to Myanmar...

There, to the person who said I forgot to mention him.
Don't angry lah. I've said it.

Busy week

Monday, 11th December. I am home.
End of IA is happiness.
Learnt from my IA that I actually 吃软不吃硬. If you need my help, better ask in a nice way. Think I am just rebellious...something that I have to change....

Anyway, last week was quite eventful.
Can't really remember what happened on which day, but here's a breakdown of what I basically did.

Went to Kok Leng's house quite a couple of times to compose and record the song for competition. Learnt a few things about myself:
1) I am a perfectionist? Think Kok and Chris got quite bored since I wanted so many retakes.
2) My singing sucks.
3) I can't compose.
Anyway, song's all done. Just need to edit it now, burn it onto a CD, and I'd be ready to send it in. Thanks to Kok and Chris for helping out. Don't know why I still want to send it in though, 'cause it sounds awful. But oh well, since its done....

Also met up for dinner with my friends and my primary school chinese teacher, 苏老师.
Primary school.
Amazing right?! I don't stay in touch with my secondary school or JC teachers, but can still meet up with my primary school teacher.
Actually, its thanks to Zhangkai who still keeps in touch with her.
Was very very surprise 苏老师 still remembered who I was, since I haven't seen her in such a long time.
Anyway, dinner was really nice.
谢谢您，苏老师

Went to Kok's house with a bunch of my friends too, to play mahjong and slack around.
As usual, I lost at mahjong. The tiles just don't want to come. Very funny. I have no luck indeed. Anyway, lucky its all for fun, and no money was involved.

Also, went to the airport to send off Kok Leng as well as some of my other friends.
They're going off to Australia for a student exchange program. So lucky eh. Too bad I don't have the money and time...
Alot of friends going overseas this December. One to Japan, one to Vietnam, a few to Australia, a few to HK.
Which reminds me...I need to go back to Thailand....

Busy week came and gone. Still got things to do this week too.
1) Go shopping. Need shoes...the soles coming off, and water is seeping through...
2) Cut hair
3) Meet up with the Mat Sci gang (Maybe)
4) Go to school to hand in my song and my IA report
5) Meet up with a friend to help him check in for his chalet.

Short and quick update

Went for a la carte buffet with the IA gang today.
3 hours lunch. Lunch is getting longer and longer.
Supervisor did stunt again.
Lucky it didnt affect me much...but poor Vik.
And now my supervisor say he taking half day off on Wednesday too?
Okay. My IA ends tomorrow afternoon.

And to the person who said my previous post not touching enough.....
Sorry I never make you cry.
I not sentimental enough leh.
But I will work hard. Don't worry.
=D

Industrial Attachment Afterthoughts

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog
That’s because life has been very boring of late.
Weekdays are spent doing work in the office, and weekends are spent doing my attachment report and presentation.
And friends are all having their exams…

Wanted to update on Friday night…but was quite busy over the weekend.
Then I got scolded by Ernie yesterday!!!!!!!!! So fierce….
…that’s why I am going to update it now.

Just had my presentation last Friday, and it was especially grueling.
4 hours stuck in the room. So many butterflies fluttering in my tummy.
Anyway, that’s all done, and my attachment is almost over!
1 more week left to go.
Rejoice~~~!

Nothing much left to do, just have to clear up some lose ends.
All the NTU IA students are gone. Left the NUS ones.
Becoming very slack already.
Supervisor going to take leave on Thursday & Friday…
That means I only have to work till Wednesday right? Heh heh…
And he took halfday today, so we decided to go to Vivocity for lunch.
Like Vik said, my first time to Vivocity….is during office hours. Too slack already!!!!

But I like.

So the NTU bunch is gone. So quiet in the office today…
Lots had happened throughout this attachment. In particular the Khoo Saga…
BUT ANYWAY,
I am just glad to have known this bunch of great people, without whom my whole IA would be an extremely bitter and cruel experience.

Thanks to ACTION MAN Ernie for his nonsense. Since he asked me to advertise him….girls who are reading my blog, if you like action beh deh people, you can ask me for Ernie’s number
Thanks to Zy and Jonathan, for…er…..“managing” me
Sorry to Gigi, for being pulled into becoming an innocent victim when everyone was teasing me. Remember to go join Superstar next year.
Thanks to Alex for his hairdresser. I will…er….try to go and cut my hair……
Thanks to Viknesh. For his car (heh..) And also for sharing my pain of being under the same supervisor.
Thanks to Wengsoon too….for I don’t know what. But just thanks for being around.

Thanks everyone for the great fun and the memories.