what's been going on

Sunday:
Rather a busy day, cos the St. Hilda's Community Services Happy Happy (kuai4 kuai4 le4 le4) Carnival was on that day at Kampong Arang. Although, due to various other stuff, i was unable to help in the prep for the stores, glad that i was able to go down for at least the fair itself to help out in one of the games stores. Was a really tiring day, but had loads of fun. The Lord has once again been really good to us, blessing us with good weather, lots of customers, and much more =) Was especially great to see the whole church come down in the signature ang sars (sp?) [red shirts - the uniform of the community services]

A group of us ang sars all dead tired after a long day at the carnival

(sorry can't get it any bigger)

After that went for dinner at bk at parkway with some of the others. I realise that i've encountered at least two or three different staff there who have bungled up my food orders in one way or another. Add another one to the list... But anyway, it was great to hang out with some of the crossover people again. God is really doing amazing things in this ministry...

Monday:

Was glad to note that i participated a little bit more in my two tutorials than i did the previous week, which is always a good thing. For my history tutorial, i said a grand total of three words, which is about three more than i uttered the previous week, so fairly satisfied lah...

After swordfighters, i rushed back home to put away some of my stuff, then i took a bus to the airport to meet Marcus and Suvenna (and much later, Sheena too). Since Eunice's flight was the awfully-timed northwest one, that was schedules for a six am takeoff, it meant check in time was at four am. Definitely none of us fancied waking up at three in the morning in order to catch a midnight-surcharged cab to the airport, so we figured, why not camp over from the previous night, and perhaps even study in the meantime while waiting for the magic hour of four am... So that's exactly what we did... Was fairly productive actually (at least till i finally conked out at around three).

So at four we went to meet the rest (Daniel Vai, Amanda, Eunice + parents), and to cut a long story short, we said our long goodbye...

Bye Eunice, see you come Christmas time...

Sleepy-eyed us... Why are my eyes so small???

Fingering our dear Marcus...

Tuesday:
After that, i went home to bathe and change, then i set off for school again. By the time i got there, was like ready to sleep at any moment. It was then that i discovered the power of arts canteen kopi-o...

Also talked to Sharon Lu for a while regarding MEET and other stuff. Was good to clear some doubts regarding the program, and other stuff like that...

Had another dose of kopi-o in the afternoon to keep me awake enough to do some work..

Talked to Eunice (the CF one) about MEET again. Very helpful to me as well... At least i am clearer as to what to do before the deadline approaches...

Very heartening to see so many freshies at sunset prayer just now...

Time to catch up on my many lost hours of sleep...

a reverse panda

Went swimming today to try and do a token something so as to be able to say to myself that i did exercise this week (especially as ippt looms closer, and i grow fatter).

Dunno how i had so much energy, but somehow, unlike usually when i have to stop after every two to four laps or so, today i just went on and on and on, like the energizer (or is it duracell? i forget) bunny. Think i covered close to fifty laps today (and wasn't gasping for dear life at the end of it too).

Yup, that certainly was physically very reassuring, that i at least have some degree of fitness in me. The downside, however, came when i looked at myself in the mirror as i was about to leave, only to find myself looking at a face that looked like it had been punched all over, save for the eyes, or in other words, i had two white (as opposed to black) eyes, looking like i was a giant panda born in the aftermath of the nuclear plant explosion at Chernobyl, and that hence ended up with a warped colour scheme, all this thanks to the goggle tan on my face.

So went on crossing my fingers hoping that it wasn't too obvious. A visibly amused Ade Fam upon seeing me put rest to that hope...

Thankfully, it hardly looks that obvious anymore. And until the time when my eyes stop getting irritated by chlorinated water (which is to say, never), i guess that i have to bear with that embarassing side note for now if i want to maintain some semblance of a healthy lifestyle.

To add to my skin troubles, am starting to shed skin like a moulting snake from last weeks sunburn... highly annoying...

Ack, do i really have to do my readings??? *displays sorry face*

Oklahoma!

Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day.
I've got a beautiful feeling,
Everything's going my way...
Oh, what a beautiful day...

-Rodgers and Hammerstein (1943)

Ok, i admit, that this song from Oklahoma may not be an entirely (or even largely) accurate depiction of the day, but just have the song in my mind...

Today did go quite well though...

Classes today went rather well. From EL2101 lecture, for example, i learnt how to equate the word 'because' to a man, and the word 'furniture' to a barren woman (don't even ask how that came about). Also, am happy to announce that i did manage more than the token nod of approval at my two tutorials today. While admittedly i still did talk very much merely for the sake of talking (and the tutorial participation marks that come with it), at least i made some sense (methinks, at least...). I've learnt that the best time to add in my two cent's worth is right at the start once the question has been asked, so that i will not have to contend with the added opinions of the rest of the class, who obviously have brains working far harder than mine is, for most of their comments fly right over the top of my head... Me catch no ball.

Also good to know that this blog has provided a public service by informing Debs and Ryan about the recently-concluded GAPS module classification exercise before it ended, so that they could get it settled...

Am very thankful to God for His manifold provisions and answers to prayer even for one particular event, namely the first thursday cg, which went on just now... For stuff like the opening up of a venue, when we were all prepared to brave the unknown frontiers of nus and boldly go where few have gone before to source for a new venue, the facilities of the venue, the many freshies who turned up, the time of getting to know one another, the heartfelt sharing from freshies and seniors alike, the new friendships made... The list goes on, and once again His ability to do immesurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20) amazes me so...

Lord, teach me to trust fully in your unfailing goodness and faithfulness. Amen.

am feeling rather pleased with myself

for a couple of reasons:

one being that i've finally posted my first post of any real consequence on the ivle forum tutorial thingy for one of my history modules that i have been mumbling about as of late. Rambled on for rather a long while, but in actual fact i was merely going round in many large circles before reaching my conclusion of microscopic significance regarding colonisation. But well, a post's a post =)

also cos i followed up on my previously expressed thought to alight from the number 10 bus at Shenton Way so as to buy something from Carl's Jr, especially cos i am still a bit sore that Subway (just up the road from Carl's Jr) is discontinuing the issue of stamps... Sadly, they were out of sourdough, so i (armed with my $50 note, the meal purchase therefore providing a convenient excuse to break it into smaller denominations) had a grilled chicken bbq sandwich meal instead, upgraded to include the beef chilli cheese fries *yum*, which was very good nevertheless.

and there was also the matter of giving tuition to two girls one after the other today, and more importantly, being able to adequately explain elements, mixtures, compounds, atoms and molecules to someone who i suspect has roughly the same amount of scientific knowledge as yours truly... How i ended up giving tuition for math and science, of all subjects, is really an interesting story. God has been very gracious indeed.

plus after that i went over to the parkway/fairprice area to buy more food (including two more boxes of post cereal while the sale is still on *only $4.95* =) and also met Damian from Boat Coy along the way at parkway. Realised that i hadn't seen him since roughly a year ago when i ate at ginza for the first (and since then only) time, when some friends and i thought that the arts canteen was too crowded (some things don't change)...

lastly that my stuck Frasier dvd has finally been salvaged, and i am now able to continue slowly going through seasons four and five (i'm a stickler for watching the episodes in exact order) =)

but also in spite of a couple of things too:

like the fact that there still are so many readings and other assorted stuff to do for school, and it seems like i'll never complete it before more work comes along (and it doesn't help that i am a champion procrastinator too - this post being a case in point)...

also that since downloading the MEET forms i have done little else regarding the whole matter, not even to really pray about it. Have to really take this very seriously...

furthermore that the aforementioned $50 is now down to approximately half of that, all in one day, thanks to Carl's Jr and ntuc fairprice... The more $ at hand, the more i spend... Sigh...

and that i apparently have gained 3kg (that's like a 5% increase...) since like a couple of weeks ago. Chalk it up to eating a lot recently, and not exercising enough... Feel just like Augustus Gloop, such a porker... Oink.

tutorial preparation

After the fairly disastrous affair that was today's first two tutorials, i have been, to put it lightly, persuaded to do much better tutorial preparations before showing up for class...

First tutorial was for intro to computing, and there i was having forgotten to print out the tutorial sheet, never mind that the questions covered featured multiple choice questions as challenging as "What does the term PDA stand for?". Since i didn't have the tutorial sheet, and was too paiseh to share with anyone, i went the whole hour more or less just trying to fit in with the rest of the class which was busy usurping all my tutorial participation points... Silly blur me... On the upside though, formed my project group with two other apparently quite nice guys, hope that me and my total lack of computer skills will be of at least some real use to them...

After that was the tutorial for my level 3 history class, and once again i regretted my (lack of) preparation upon entering the room, chockful of year 3 history majors with a wealth of contributions to make to the discussion, far outweighing me and my token head-nodding in approval... Remained pretty silent for much of the class, apart from introducing my name, year and faculty at the beginning. Like during the previous tutorial, i had hoped to fake having a bad throat to explain for my lack of vocalisation, only to forget that i had already introduced myself at the start... pooh...

The FOC comm finally got around to celebrating Jocelyn's birthday today, exactly two weeks late... Well, at least we know she was surprised... I would be too...

Went for swordfighters welcome tea too, just seeing how things are like... Had a good time, will definitely consider joining them as and when i can, at the least cos i realise i never read enough of God's Word...

New resolution for the academic year: PREPARE FOR TUTORIALS!!!

stratosphere pics

Before i do my readings, here's some more photos, the last set of pics from Vegas, from when we went to eat dinner at this fancy place high up in the air...

The view from the hundred-and-somethingth floor of the Stratosphere Hotel

- the tallest building in Vegas.

Reminds me of the screenshots in SimCity 4...

That's the shadow of the building, as can be seen it's one of those needle-thin buildings
that has the token observatory and revolving restaurant at the top
In actual fact i doubt it's really 100-plus storeys tall

The night view of the Las Vegas Strip, with all the tacky casinos,
oops, i mean, intergrated resorts in their full gaudy neon finery...

One of the amusement park rides at the top of the hotel roof
-they suspend the riders over the edge, with their feet dangling over nothing...

Another over-the-edge ride...
They also somehow managed to squeeze a rollercoaster onto the roof as well...

Singaporean occidental tourism

This evening i followed some of the crossover folks to St. James Church near holland v for some Anglican youth thingy. We chartered a bus there, and it was very interesting to see some of the younger youths especially gawk and gape at the sights of the west, which they apparently haven't seen much of before, since we are, by and large, happy easterners who have had minimal exposure to what the west has to offer (which isn't much in the first place...)

But anyway, i was quite amused when i heard one of them saying "i heard that holland v is qute a nice place" (i.e. they hadn't been there before), and when they went, "oh look, there's acjc!" in such an excited tone... Of course, as much as i am hardly attached to anything in the west, hearing stuff like that was very interesting, to say the least...

Earlier in the day, we finally had our FOC debrief at Grace's house, and after that i ended up with Alicia and Min Zhi at Junction 8 (which changes each time i go there) accompanying them while they were shopping. I have followed so many of my female friends around while shopping before that i know exactly what to do in such scenarios (stand one corner and approve of all the choices made). As i often say, guys (or at least me) don't shop, they just buy. For example, if i were buying a shirt, i'd just go into the store, look for the shirt in the appropriate size, pay for it, and exit the store. No trying on the various sizes to see which one fits best, or being distracted by other stuff in the store, or any of that stuff. Just see, buy and fly...

Did you know that honey roasted honey bunches of oats makes for great eating any time of the day? Well, since i don't eat breakfast, i have been consuming my stash (which is built up while it's still on sale at fairprice till the end of the month) at practically all other hours of the day, especially during supper (which is quite close to breakfast anyway...) Yay to post cereals!

Well i am fairly pleased with myself, cos i completed three very minute tasks that hitherto i had been procrastinating over.
ONE:
I finally did my online booking for ippt today, exactly three months to my birthday... Saturday, November 8, 0730 hrs. Now comes the hard part, actually training for the darn thing...
TWO:
I also went online to do the module classification thingy, which thankfully didn't take even a fraction of the hassle that greeted me during the tutorial bidding fiasco on wednesday. I now am left with an SS, three breadths, five UEs and sixteen history modules to complete in the next five sems if i am able to do honours...
THREE:
Also got down to printing out the MEET forms... So many pages worth of them, quite daunting, to be honest, reading all the stuff that has to be filled in... Still prayerfully considering this whole matter, it's not exactly a touch-and-go thing... We'll see how the Lord leads... Have until 2 september to submit them...

All that's left for me to do before monday is to do my wretched readings... *groans*

seven things to note

ONE:
I am now armed with the $52 bus pass which i just figured makes very sound economic sense, given that each ride on bus 10 to and from school costs $1.45 (used to be $1.43 till the sbs fare hike), and i go to school every weekday, my transport costs to and from school alone (of course i take every opportunity other than this to use the bus too - like taking 95 from forum to lt13 for example...) in a month would work out to $58 (if there are twenty weekdays in a month) which means that i save at least $6 by buying the bus pass [this of course does not take into account the rare times when i tompang the car of some kind eastie home, like Sida (who's now on sep), Mel (who's now graduated) and Marcus (still around!!!)]

TWO:
As a result of taking the bus everyday, i have reached the freaky stage where i can recognise some of my fellow regular commuters, like the group of Korean schoolchildren who board at Tanjong Katong Road and alight in Shenton Way, for some strange reason, or the lady with skin art who boards at the same stop as me, and says goodbye to a little child as the bus pulls away, and this other guy who i think goes to my church as he looks familiar, but i don't dare ask him just in case i was wrong, he also boards at my stop, and today, as i was taking 10 home from the Esplanade (more on that later) he was on the bus going back home too...

THREE:
My back is sunburnt as a result of slacking for too long at the side of the pool with my back towards the blazing sun when i was supposed to be swimming. Owwwww.......

FOUR:
I never realised that the word pi(2) pa(2), apart from referring to the musical instrument, also referred to a fruit [as in pi(2) pa(2) gao(1)], as Kelvin Tan pointed out to me today. He also told me that pi(2) pa(2) ya(1) is so named cos the pi(2) pa(2) fruit is used to season the bird, and not, as i had originally thought, cos the duck is squashed into the same shape as a pi(2) pa(2) instrument... You learn new things everyday... [incidentally, does that mean that eating pi(2) pa(2) ya(1) will ease your sore throat?]

FIVE:
I was on the topic of pipas cos just now i went to my Barker friend (and very accomplished pipa player) Samuel Wong's book launch at the library @ esplanade for his second book entitled qi (i don't know which sound it is as i can't read the chinese character to begin with...). It's basically a very informative write-up on the chinese orchestra and it's various component instruments... Never have i been so interested in stuff so chinese...

SIX:
After the book launch we went to eat at the newly renovated and very-easy-to-horlan-at Marina Square. Had Carl's Jr for dinner - and it's very very good, and also very very large. But also, for fast food, very very expensive. But for the taste, the price is very very worth it. Western Bacon Cheeseburger and Beef Chilli Cheese Fries. 'Nuff said... Too bad their outlets are rather out-of-the-way (The people who designed the new layout of Marina Square really shouldn't be in that business, and the other outlet that i know of is in Shenton Way - but come to think of it, that's on the number 10 route =)

SEVEN:
Speaking of the number 10 bus route, i often stop at Shenton Way to take away some Subway from the outlet across the road from the bus stop on the way home. To my dismay, when i did so on wednesday, i was informed that they no longer issue stamps, which, though i don't use that often for redemption purposes, are still part of the wholistic reason why i buy the sandwich in the first place... So maybe i'll start popping by the Shenton Way Carl's Jr instead =P

jumping on the cors-bashing bandwagon

After a quick browse through some other people's blogs, the common thread that unites them all is, no prizes for guessing, the $%@#* (haha condemning the cors system with CORS language - geddit???) cors system. I think i shall not bash the system per se (not in the least cos so many people have done it far better than i ever could, judging from a quick search at technorati.com, but i shall relate my own annoyances with the tutorial bidding process today, knowing full well that me and the thousands of others who similarly suffered through looking at the "sorry, the server is currently unavailable" and other similar messages on our computer screens have little, if any avenues for reCORS *haha i just had to do that*

I lugged my so-called lightweight laptop today especially to bid for tutorial slots, and didn't think twice about any possible problems that i may have encountered, since as far as i can remember, i had little, if any trouble whatsoever indicating my preferences during the last two sems...

So i really dunno what may have accounted for the almighty cock-up that was today's exercise. Are the freshies this year really that kiasu, such that they have to be reminded that this is not a first-come-first-served exercise? I really didn't care at all last year... no lah, but even if this year's batch of freshies is the ultra-ks type (there was one particular guy in front of me during lecture who obviously contributed in his own small part to the jam - managing to log on, but leaving it like that for much of the remaining duration of the lecture, depriving at least one desparate other {like me, for example... =P} the ability to log on in the process) the onus should still be on the dear cors team (who must be having a whole lot to answer to now to the folks upstairs...) to anticipate such things and take the necessary preCORSionary (heehee=) measures.

And really, eight hours for thousands and thousands of students? Were they trying to attempt a modern-day miracle, like say "the cors team caters to the multitudes hungry for their main CORS (ok admit that one's plain lame...) in eight short hours, and still have miraculously more than enough leftover capacity on the server, and leave everyone happy and contented, praising the cors system till no end"? The fact that (at latest count) the time has been pushed back till nine am tomorrow morning is real rotten egg on the faces of the cors people.

I also am a little embarassed, cos the very idea for this confusing and overtly ridiculous system in the first place reportedly came from the history department at arts fac... *hangs head in shame*

On a more upbeat note, today i went for dinner with the family at Shahi Maharani, this rather upmarket North Indian restaurant at Raffles City. The food was rather good actually, but as usual, i only remember the negative parts...

1) I was happily tucking in to what i thought was the Chicken Tikka Masala that i ordered, only to hear my brother ask me "since when did you eat prawns?" They gave us the prawns instead of the chicken... I nearly puked there and then... But honestly, i couldn't taste or smell any prawn whatsoever (and trust me, usually i am as good in sniffing out seafood as those french pigs are in sniffing out truffles), probably due to the abundance of spices that they put in... Not bad lah, if i ever were to eat prawns, i would choose to eat them this way, when i can't even detect them...

2) The dessert (i forget the name - it's the round dough ball in a VERY VERY sweet syrup) was stewed for a very long while with some cardamon pods (which i can't stand too), which totally spoilt it for me after one spoon...

But all in all a good dining experience lah, i can't complain on a full stomach anyway...

a very slight improvement

Found time to run another (actually only the second) 2.4 since ORD today, good news is, that i had a better time than the first one (11'41"82), bad news is, today's timing was 11'40"19, which means an improvement of only 1.63 seconds, and still a fraction away from a silver timing (not that i have much faith in my static stations either). While even a slight improvement may still otherwise be seen as good news for me, i see it as bad news cos it means that i have to run many more times to see a marked improvement, and running stinks...

Anyway, otherwise i am feeling rather contented with myself, cos i actually managed to get some work done today *sounds the bells of celebration*. Actually, it's not much, all i really did was read pages 1-69 of Osborne's "Southeast Asia: An Introductory History" , selectively highlighting and comenting at the side in pencil along the way... I also printed and collated some of my many readings, and i always get a sense of achievement whenever i do so, although that means that the next step is to actually READ them *eek*

While at the library, the silly fire alarm went off for the third and fourth time since the new sem started (on friday it went off twice too). I think it has reached a point where i (and i believe most of the other chao muggers in the library, judging from today's response, or rather lack of response, apart from the occasional "tsk tsk" here and there, to the alarms) would either die of smoke inhalation or be burnt to death should a real fire ever break out in the library, cos i wouldn't even bother to lift a finger towards the exit...

Oh ya, and don't try the spicy Thai chicken mcnuggets sauce, it tastes horrible, and is neither remotely Thai or spicy (it has mayo in it, for goodness' sake...)

*sigh*

I came home today elated to find my two seasons' worth of Frasier DVDs that i had ordered online delivered ahead of schedule, and on the couch...

So of course i immediately popped the first one into my dvd player and watched while i ate dinner...

Very excited was i...

Then, i decided to go upstairs to do some work, so i switched off the player, but then i thought to myself, hmm, maybe i'll watch just one more...

So i pressed the on/off switch on the dvd player again, only to be greeted to a fairly loud "POP!" sound...

And there it was, my dvd player now refusing to be switched on...

I think it blew a circuit or something...

Sigh...

One dvd is still stuck inside!!!

Maybe God is telling me to stop wasting time and go and do some work...

number two down, many more to come

I just posted my second-ever post on an ivle forum.

Like the first, it was a post of necessity.

The first one, done almost a year ago, was a one-liner to find one more group member to complete a project group.

The one i just posted was a two-liner, looking for someone to partner me to lead the tutorial forum discussion on nationalism in Southeast Asia.

Yup, a tutorial forum discussion. i.e. all the tutorial work will be conducted over a virtual environment, through postings on the forum, and none in a conventional and concrete tutorial setting.

Which means that my forum participation this sem will probably increase by 1000% or so over the previous total.

I hate posting on the forum...

But suck thumb, i have to, or risk losing 20% of my final grade...

Bleah...

farewell, slack, happy birthday

That pretty much sums up my day.

This morning went to send Sida off for sep at UNC Chapel Hill (thinking about doing the same thing exactly a year from now). Thankfully, he was on an SIA flight, which left at elevenish, which is a much better flight to send people off on than the annoying five/six am united/northwest flights, which necessitate reaching the airport at around four in the morning in order to see the people checking in... When i took the silly early morning united flight earlier this year when i went on holiday, i was so peeved at the time i had to wake up. Thank goodness i don't stay in Boon Lay.

Anyway, while i was on the bus to the airport, i encountered a classic example as to how the so-called heightened security measures that are put in place merely serve to inconvenience the innocent while not stopping the really dangerous people (or 'folk', as a certain other person would call them) from carrying out their disgusting acts of terror.

Before the bus could enter the underground bus terminal at both t1 and t2, it first had to stop at a security checkpoint, which consisted of a police officer entering the bus, doing a simple catwalk up and down the bus, while supposedly looking out for suspicious elements, and then alighting less than half a minute later... This is obviously a measure put in place merely for the sake of putting it there. How would something like this pose an insurmountable obstacle, or even just any real deterrent whatsoever to terrorism?

So there were quite a few people there to send him off, in no small part thanks to the favourable timing of his departure... As i have said, will miss him, as much (and not more =P) as i will miss the rides home in the comfy black Corolla Altis... Well, it's only a few months anyway...

Went home with every intention to do some work, but i fell into last sem's familiar pattern, and instead slacked around at home, before falling asleep, waking up just in time to go for Suvenna's surprise birthday dinner at suntec. It really annoyed me that i lacked the self-discipline and willpower needed to actually get work done when it's needed. Hopefully this is just a bad start to a good sem...

Had a really good time at the birthday dinner thingy too, our cell hasd a real knack for throwing these impromptu and surprise birthday thingys. Also, it's great to be spending more time with church people again (especially Serene, whom i haven't had a chance to talk to for a long time)... *grins*

while i procrastinate from doing schoolwork...

Here are some more pictures... No more tempting food pics though...

Now that i look at them again, i wish i had taken some more... Ah well...

The replica of St. Mark's Square (Venice) in the Venetian

I've been to Venice, and this comes pretty close, and it's much cleaner too

This is all indoors btw, the sky is fake, it looked more realistic in real life though

The replica of the grand canal in the Venetian - which comes complete with gondolas.

The owners supposedly want to do the same thing with the Singapore River

should they win an integrated resort licence here - haha...

The m&m world shop - all the various colours of m&ms are available in the background

One of the many tacky hotels on the Vegas strip - New York New York

It replicates the Manhattan skyline,

and comes complete with a rollercoaster and a Statue of Liberty...

a tiny piece of superficially distressing news

This morning i came early to school, at just before nine, only to find a small group of students crowded outside the co-op anxiously waiting for it to open. Even as they were still raising the shutters, this kiasu lot already began to make their way in, all to beat the ubiquitous long lines that are very much the norm nowadays in order to get their books. How do i know all this? Cos i followed right behind them haha...

Anyway, after the long school day (hurray the week is over! Now to try and do all the readings/assorted stuff for this week and next by the time next week comes...) i left a meeting at munchie monkey (the sandwich was nice, but the so-called spicy sausage barely registered the slightest amount of heat on my tongue, even after i soaked the contents of my sandwich with tabasco, albeit the un-hot garlic kind, rather than the original...) in order to rush home and put down my mountain of stuff, before rushing down to Renshao's house for his little birthday thingy...

My stomach never fails to be satisfied whenever i eat his father's cooking... There was such an abundant and wide spread just now - very fresh salmon sashimi, the best soba noodles i've ever eaten (even sans wasabi), a three sausage and pepper cheese platter, salad with a delicious homemade japanese vinaigrette, stuffed prawns (that i of course did not eat...) and lots of other great food... yum...

Well, after that we had a look at some very old photos of us when we all were in Barker choir, and i do mean OLD... I can hardly believe that those photos were taken like seven or eight or so years ago... It was really great to look back at all those photos that we ourselves never had seen before (i also dunno how they suddenly surfaced) from so long ago, and see how we have all changed, or not...

One thing that certainly has changed since then was my weight... I never realised how skinny i actually was back then, and i think that i've put on at least ten kg since those days, five during the ACJC choir tour (where i actually ate fatty breakfasts for two weeks straight), and another five during ns (muscle mass, not fat, hopefully =P).

And yes, this is superficially distressing cos now i may obsess from time to time about how i actually i could afford to lose some weight since i was once this height but 10 kg lighter... Sounds like stuff that i shouldn't be worrying about, i know, blame it on the influence of the vast number of weight concious members of the opposite sex that i constantly am in contact with... Ominous voice booms: YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE...

something worth watching...

I have, in my lifetime, only watched two online videos with much interest.

The first one was the now infamous "Will you take my hand?" webcast (i still remember where it came from - MA1506, Lect 21, 57 min).

And the link to the second one can be found, courtesy of Mr Brown, at this site:

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2005/08/national_day_oo.html#comments

(if i made the link the normal size then my sidebar would drop to the bottom of the page, which happens to look really improper, at least from my point of view...)

According to the comments, the "omigosh that is so farny" moment happened from the 1hr 10min 15 sec mark onwards...

Definitely the only thing that piqued my interest enough to even bother watching even a little bit of this year's ndp... (Of course, i mean no disrespect here, and you gotta laugh at yourself from time to time, rite?)

For those who haven't seen it, watch it, it's a real hoot =)

sensory overload

Just now i went to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with some of the cell-u-lights people at GV grand (incidentally this is only the third movie i've watched at a cinema this year, after Kinsey and Madagascar - have been both too lazy and too cost-concious to watch any more movies than that - but this is better than 2001, when i watched my first movie of the year in August - Jurassic Park 3 - don't ask me why, i also dunno why i watched that...)

Anyway, it was the first movie experience i went to that appealed to all five senses. Apart from the usual sight and sound, there also was smell (they scented the whole cinema with an artificial chocolate scent - gv calls it 'scentertainment' *slaps face*), taste (we smuggled in chocolate to eat during the movie) and touch (holding the chocolate ma...) All in all it was a very interesting experience. Even though i never read the book when i was young (i realise that i didn't read a lot of fiction when i was in primary school, apart from those ridiculous bookworm books...), i enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

(However, this multi-sensory experience still pales in comparison to the kind of stuff you get in places like Disney and Universal Studios parks. The Shrek 3D show at the latter featured water squirting on you when donkey sneezed at the screen, while the bug's life 3D show at Disney's Animal Kingdom featured thorny things poking into you when they released 'bugs' on the audience, as well as a real stench when a stink bug on the screen did it's thang...)

One thing that i (and some of the others) noticed was the very strong resemblance between the oompa loompas and a certain prominent local figure, who has even in the news a whole lot recently... If you watched the movie i am sure you would know who i'm referring to. *LOL*

Looking at how Johnny Depp turned out looking in the actual movie, with the greenish foundation and all, i can understand why Marilyn Manson, of all people, was considered for the part of Willy Wonka too... If it was him then i think that the make up artists would have a much easier job too...

i have a new computer =)

Or at least something to that effect... I sort of casually suggested to my father that we get wireless in our house (so as to finally be able to connect to the internet on my laptop when i was at home, cos being the low-tech person that i am, i had no clue how to connect this cable with that, and configure this to that and all that other confusing stuff), and somehow, when all was said and done, it came together with a new modem, cpu, keyboard and mouse. So actually now my home computer consists of rather eclectic mix of old greyish stuff (monitor, printer and speakers) and new cool black stuff (the rest). Looks very interesting...

So anyway, this is the first post i'm typing on my laptop while at home *big wide grin* (actually, only symbolically, cos since my laptop is now on low batt, and i'm trying to only charge it only when i am at school so as to make my school fees worth every cent - so the laptop is rather merely participating vicariously in the writing of this post through my home desktop)

Today, being national day and all, really felt like a saturday. I had tuition in the morning, which was put off from last saturday, which only served to increase the saturday feeling. Today i had to smoke my way through an explanation of atoms and molecules, which for some strange reason, is now taught at the sec one level... Imagine me trying to explain stuff like proton number, cations vs anions, Na+ and Cl-... There was even one brief point when i forgot what molecules are in the first place...

Went to Parkway after that to eat lunch with Daniel V at pastamania. Ordered the al funghi (side note: how unappetising it must sound for people to order it at the counter as "fuhn-guy", which is why i prefer to attempt a more Italian-sounding pronunciation like "foon-gee"). There was a distinctly saturday feel about the whole place, how easy to forget that there's school tomorrow...

For dinner, i followed my parents to a prayer for national day cum dinner thingy at the Hollandse Club. (I always like to go to these posh ang moh clubs for some reason) The food was quite ok, there was a buffet of barbequed meats, along with other stuff like a supposedly katong-standard laksa (which i didn't try owing to the generous helping of prawns topping each pre-prepared bowl) One strange dish that they had was this otah that strangely took on an almost radioactive yellow colour, obviously they put way too much kunyit (tumeric) in it. What was even worse, it tasted much like (i am serious here) breathmints. It had a very menthol taste to it, almost like i could use it to brush my teeth...

One interesting thing happened though. It was while they were airing the ndp (which i don't have the slightest interest in watching, not in the least due to not wanting to catch the silly ndp song and the even sillier accompanying dance (which i hear is called, so creatively, 'dance number 40'), or even worse, catching the premiere of 'shooting stars' once the parade ended *shudders*. Anyways, they were playing the national anthem, when some people asked, "shouldn't we be standing up?". So then around half of the diners, be they locals, Dutch, or whoever else, stood up. But of course that also meant that half the diners also remained seated throughout the song... I was stationed in Thailand for a month while i was still in the army, and they played the Thai national anthem in the army camp i was in without fail twice a day, at 8am and at 6pm. If ever we failed to stand up and remain silent while it was being played that would have been the end of us... Of course, in the cosy confines of the Hollandse Club, no such rules apply...

as promised...

Here are some of the long awaited (by me at least - even i haven't seen them since they were taken) photos from my trip to the states...

As there are quite a few, i'll upload a few per post. (Disclaimer: these were all taken by me, hence the poor camera work where applicable...)

The inner atrium of the Luxor, my hotel in Vegas. Extremely tacky, if you ask me...
(case in point: the hotel is shaped like an Egyptian Pyramid, as you can see)

The exterior of the Krispy Kreme shop.
It features an open kitchen where you can see the whole process before your eyes

The fabled Krispy Kreme conveyor belt.
That's the doughnuts going through the sugar glaze falls.
That's pure liquid sugar for you.

The full array of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on display *yum*
Pity about the poor lighting though, i was too paiseh to turn the flash on,
lest they wonder what this siao tourist was doing taking pics of their store...

how's this for ultimate blurness?

i only just realised, after a couple of weeks or so of thinking that i had a five-day week, that i actually only have a four-day week, with tuesdays free.

How did this happen? Well being the sotong that i am, i was constantly referring to the timetable of the other breadth module that i eventually passed over in favour of intro to computing, even though i didn't even bid for it at all...

So this puts me in a bit of a quandary, now that i realise that my tuesdays are free, should i bid for tutorials on tuesday, to keep to my original plan of being in school everyday, so that i can get more work done, and not slack off at home, or should i keep tuesdays free of lessons but still turn up in school to do work and then cap it all off with sunset prayer/ft, or should i employ a new strategy by keeping tuesdays free and not show up at all instead? I dunno leh, going to school regardless of whether i have classes would translate into me getting my money's worth of my bus pass, but at the same time that would mean one hour to and fro from school everyday on the stinky, noisy, and tv mobile-plagued bus number 10 every single weekday... Well, if it was the case that it was fridays, and not tuesdays free, then i think that i would probably just not come to school. but it's a tuesday, near the middle of the week, and i don't want to interrupt any studying momentum that i may have actually built up (haha if there ever was even the slightest possibiltiy of that happening...)... How?

Well, at least i have two more weeks to decide my final plan of action...

First class in eight and a half hour's time... HY2248 - Asian American History... I dunno what to expect...

food cravings...

Just now after my cell group finished just now, a page from the newspaper on a table in the room caught my eye, but not for its headline story or some scandalous pictures. Nope, rather, i saw the ad for the Rice Table Restaurant, complete with very appealing pics of all the various dishes that they have to offer, including daging rendang, tahu telor, berkedel, ayam goreng, and much much more... Made me want to go there to eat right there and then...

It didn't help that i hadn't eaten lunch yet...

Good thing i went home after that to see a pot of ayam buah keluak on the table. For those who dunno what it is, well, it's a peranakan dish that is basically a blackish stew of chicken, pork ribs and this ugly brownish mangrove nut the size of two or three chestnuts which contains a bitter, black flesh (the buah keluak)... The black flesh is scooped out of the hard brown shell, sometimes mixed with a little minced pork, then restuffed into the shell again before cooking. If you don't do that, you will be left with a rather unappetising dish that is extremely bitter to the point of revulsion. From what i observe from when my mother makes it, the preparation takes fairly long. Furthermore, it supposedly tastes better when you let it sit after cooking for at least one day... Yup it may not sound so appealing when i describe it, but it's really good, trust me...

A church member had made a big batch to sell at church today for fund raising for an upcoming charity carnival that the church is organising. If i am not wrong, it was sold at $10 a pack, and if i am not wrong, it sold really well... Must be all the peranakan people in my church (we are in Katong after all, so there are nonyas and babas left right and centre) who made a beeline for it... I myself am 1/4 peranakan (though on my father's side, and since peranakan society is matrilineal, then technically, i am not peranakan...)

But anyway, ayam buah keluak is just one dish, and i could go on and on about other peranakan culinary gems like sate babi, sambal belimbing, itek tim, sambal pomfret... The only things that i have problems with in peranakan cuisine is the very liberal use of belachan and seafood in general, since i can't stand it, and can smell any form of it from a mile away (though sometimes i can't help myself and just squeeze a lot of limau on top, hold my nose, and eat it nevertheless, while trying to block out any sudden feelings of nausea), as well as the fondness of using very fatty pork in a lot of the dishes, which to me is just plain gross. But these are just little things, and are far outweighed by the good points of peranakan food, the most outstanding one for me being the abundance of chilli in the food, which is all i ever could ask for...

Yum.

back from a concert

Went for the TPJC concert band (and featuring chinese orchestra) concert just now at VCH (haven't gone there methinks since syf days in ACJC choir) with Daniel V, Nana, Eunice and Tracy cos our fellow cell-u-lights (yes, that indeed is the name of our cell group...) Marcus and Suvenna were both playing in the band (both had solos), and Suvenna even conducted a piece =). It really is wonderful to see people use their God-given talents...

Of course, i am not one to make a full critical appreciation of the concert, since i really am much more of a choir person (and i think this actually is the first band/C.O. concert i've ever attended, as far as i can recall...) [last time in Barker we (the choir) often had collaborations with the band and c.o., but admittedly, i didn't really pay much attention when they played - all i took out of it was being able to remember the names of all the chinese instruments - you name it, i know it - yang qin, pi pa, di zi, gu zheng, sheng, zhong ruan, er hu... - writing them out in chinese script, however, is out of the question] But in short, i did enjoy it... I especially enjoyed the medley of songs from "Chess", especially the song "I Know Him so Well", cos, erm... i know it so well ma...

Was also great to spend some time with some of the cell-u-lights people after so long a period of barely seeing them due to reasons that i've talked about before. Hope that i can see more of them from now on...

The five of us spectators:

bottom row(l-r): Tracy, Sheena (love the dress!), Eunice

top row(l-r): Daniel Vai, me

During the intermission, us with Suvenna and Marcus
(the one with the french horn is Suvenna, in case there were any doubts...)

By the way, these photos were not taken with my camera, in fact, i still have to retrieve my photos from my brother before i can post pics from my trip to the states from long long ago up... (i'm dying to post the ones i took at the Krispy Kreme conveyor belt in Vegas *heart jumps in terror at fear of clogged arteries*)

to suffer for lack of suffrage?

Now, i have strong political views, which i feel are best left unvoiced, at least in my own interest, but anyway the sudden possibility of a proper presidential election actually taking place very soon has intrigued me quite a bit...

Of course, this is in large part due to the fact that yes, i am actually of voting age now, and may actually have a chance to vote should elections actually be called. Of course, i dunno if i have to register myself to be in the roll of voters, or whether it's automatic or anything like that. But in any case, i think it's quite exciting. (And i'm not the only one too...) Or at least as exciting as things can get here...

I would think that there is a greater chance of me being able to vote in a presidential election (since the whole of the country falls under one constituency) than in the general elections, that are purportedly to take place in the near future. This being especially so since i reside fairly near to the now famous "hey look at me i am so big i stretch all the way to Serangoon, even though that is miles away from anything remotely marine, or paradish in nature" ward of Marine Parade GRC, which will probably never see a contested election for quite some time, for reasons that you the reader probably would know... Although my house actually is in a ward that may possibly see a contest in the next GE since it is a single-seat constituency (Joo Chiat), who's stopping it from amalgamating with its big brother neighbour come the next election, especially with all the negative publicity the area has been getting as of late for certain, well shall we say, nocturnal activities... [Just a nugget of info here, actually the president stays all of five minutes walk up the road from me... (but that has nothing to do with the nocturnal activities...)]

So, basically, i am quietly hoping that this time around, we'll see a contest of sorts... If not, i propose doing away with the title of 'elected president' if there is no election in the first place, talk about the ultimate misnomer... Of course, i also recognise the need for credible candidates to come forward. Saw the news just now, and honestly, who would vote for the guy who's not only an ex-bankrupt (nothing against them), but also made a bit of a scene at the elections office today, asking them to give him a chance by letting him know if he was eligible before the actual date given, or something to that effect, in the most raucous manner possible. (Of course, trust our dear mediacorp news to capture it on tape and broadcast it for all to see...) He reminds me of that father and son pair who turned up to send in their forms during the last elections both wearing slippers. And boy did the media play that one up...

And with so much being said as of late about the political apathy of younger Singaporeans, well, i am sure one root cause of this that has been identified has been the rare ability to exercise our right to suffrage here.

But well, i do not write this to make a political statement. This is all stuff that has been covered in last sem's government and politics of Singapore module, so i assume that it's not off-limits, or past the OB markers or anything like that... Beyond this, well, no comment... =)

pigging out at home

Today was the first day that i have spent more or less entirely at home in at least two weeks, i think, and while i definitely am for more days like these, one negative side effect that results is that i tend to eat much more than if i were out of the house. It's not just the good home-cooked food, but somehow i seem to have a larger appetite on days such as these.

For example, today i actually ate breakfast (or as close to breakfast as you would call it since i woke up at ten and ate at around eleven). Some people would know that i almost never eat breakfast, even during FOC, where i hear the breakfast spread was superb, cos, in my own words, my stomach hasn't woken up yet.

I think that the reason behind this springs from when i was still in school, and i had to wake up super early to get to school on the other side of the island (be it Barker or ACJC, the bottom line is that it was FAR), and didn't have time to eat anything worth any real sustenance. Then when i was in army, i either was too grossed out by the catered food (anyone heard of BMT cookhouse's infamous chee cheong fun? *gags at mere thought of it*) or too lazy to wake up at 530 in the morning just to eat mediocre food. Even when i had to bring my men to the cookhouse to eat at those unholy hours, i would never have the appetite to eat.

Oops but i digress once again... What i meant to say was, today i actually ate breakfast (although it was blueberry morning, something that i would never pass up...), and lots of it too (at least by my standards). Just more than an hour later (around 1230pm), i had three plates of my mother's fried rice, one of them topped by another dish of stir-fried pork. At three i felt hungry again, so i went downstairs and ate two more bowls ofthe rice, smothered with loads of hot habanero tabasco sauce, of course... Then i went to give tuition, then to the parkway area for a short while to buy some things, and then back to home when i ate a large toaster oven-sized tray full of my mother's pizza. I thought that that would be dinner for me, but just now, i realised that i was still hungry, so i went down and had two servings of rice with beef curry with lots of potatoes and straw mushrooms. To top it all off, i finished the remainder (around a fifth or so of it left) of a tub of ice cream... This all makes yesterday's big bowl of starchy mee hoon kuay at Clementi seem like a puny ant compared to the giant woolly mammoth that was today's food intake...

I think that the reason why i am so prone to pig out when at home is that there is a ready supply of good food at very close proximity, obtainable with minimal effort and cost. And being the lazy person that i am, home therefore provides the optimal eating environment.

This troubles me somewhat, cos as ludicrous as this sounds, i don't want to put on any more weight. I like the number sixty, nice and round, and wish to stay there (if not dip below ever so slightly...). And if i actually have to exceed sixty, it had better be muscle mass (but seriously, who am i kidding? i have a greater chance scoring As for chinese). So in other words, sixty is enough...

So this all means that i've found another reason to spend more time in school next sem, apart from being free from distractions to studying, which is that of being free from distractions in the shape of delicious, cheap and convenient food.

First piece of random stuff: Have been giving tuition for sec one maths and science recently, and am very amazed that i actually, by God's grace, have been able to teach and understand what is going on without much trouble (which is rather good considering that i probably am not much better off then they are at the subjects - no alarm though, it's for my church's community outreach, so there are little fees paid by the students, and even less paid to me - not that it means that i can put in less effort though...).

Second piece of random stuff: Have gotten the last of my five modules for the upcoming sem (intro to computing). Looking at my timetable, i will probably have a rather relaxed and spread out schedule, thanks to my classes being spread out over all five days *sighs*. But i guess that's a good thing too. Hopefully this sem i will be motivated to work harder, with all the time spent in school...

two 'bloody' songs

Nothing but the Blood

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

©Public Domain
Words and Music by Robert Lowry

It's Your Blood

It's Your Blood that cleanses me
It's Your Blood that gives me life
It's Your Blood that took my place
In redeeming sacrifice
And washes me,
Whiter than the snow, than the snow
My Jesus, God's living sacrifice

©1985 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing
Words and Music by Michael Christ

Lyrics courtesy of higherpraise.com

Today, part two of the arts comm meeting involved our dear Paul Seah to come down to conduct his workshop on hearing God's voice, last heard at AnnTIC last year, for us.

I could go on for a long time, but as time is running short, basically, thank God for the new insights into how He speaks, as well as a reaffirmation of existing means, that He gave to us through the medium of this workshop, and for speaking through Paul in a way that we layfolk were all able to grasp without any problems... Thanks to Paul too.

Personally, i believe the Lord was reassuring me, in part through the words of the above two songs, which He reminded me of (but the above versions are slightly different from the ones that i was actually reminded of) during the time of waiting upon Him, that since He loved all of us so much as to even send His only Son to die for us, such that we are cleansed by His blood, with its awesome redemptive power, that surely He certainly also is with us in all that we do, even the little things.

And even as i may have been feeling rather inadequate in the face of all the stuff that i was, am, and will be doing with respect to service, i thank God that He indeed is with us, no matter what. Furthermore, as Paul reassured me later on, having feelings of inadequacy are actually good, since they indicate an innate awareness of one's utter need for Him in everything. How wonderful to know that...

Barker revisited

Last night i received a call from Renshao informing me of a little thingy our gang planned for today, whereby we come wearing Barker stuff (i.e. old uniforms/related tees), meet outside the school at the bus stop, and then relive some of the silly things we used to do, six years (yes, it has been six years...) since we all left the school.

Fair enough, sounded like fun... Of course, i had to oversleep this morning, and arose from my dopeyness to realise that i had only an hour to get to Barker. Well, after finding some old Barker stuff to wear (i gave away my uniforms to my cousins once i graduated, so had to make do with an old choir tee), i managed to get to the bus stop just a few minutes later than expected (and lamented to myself regarding the rapid loss of value of my ez link card). Of course, as is so often the case when i think that i am late, many of the others were even later...

So anyway, a few of us (not everyone actually wanted to enter the school itself, for various reasons) went in and visited the dental nurse (who the others know better since they knew her from ACPS) and Mrs Lana Wong, the library lady (for most of us were once librarians too - quite a good eca to join in those days - slack and fun - get to do your own stuff while on duty - yours truly was even the co-head librarian when in sec four haha...)

After a brief visit (bear in mind we were all wearing either old Barker uniforms or tees, and hence stuck out like sore thumbs due to things like coloured hair, fancy shoes and jeans) we went on our way to do some of the stuff that we used to do, like buy expensive instant noodles from the caltex station and go to Chancery Court Cold Storage to get overpriced patstries from Delifrance.

Unfortunately, we bumped into the present veep of the school while we were at Delifrance, and those who were wearing uniforms were told by her that we were not doing the school any favours or something to that extent. Ah well, she can't really be blamed lah...

Then we took a short bus ride down to our backyard, otherwise known as Orchard =), to buy the $4.50 teriyaki chicken don from taka, before going to Seoul Garden (yes i know that i told myself not to eat there again for a long time...) to eat, taking advantage of our matric cards to pay only $8.95++ for lunch. This time, i took care not to take in too many carcinogens.

Quite fun lah, i guess. I do miss those Barker days quite a bit, for the experiences that i had there were definitely some of the best i've had so far, although, as always, while there i kept as low a profile as possible... It definitely was totally different from ACJC, despite us all belonging to one big AC family (cheesy yes i know). Truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

Anyways, after that, i went down to city hall to meet with those who were buying a birthday gift for Mel. Since i was acutely aware of my dire transport $ situation, i decided to brave the heat and walk down to raffles city from tangs (while making much-needed air-conditioned pitstops at the heeren and ps). Worth the $ saved, in spite of the discomfort.

Haha, her surprise birthday dinner masquerading as a swordfighters meeting was a very interesting experience, to say the least. As the princess can also attest to, i somehow managed to blend in among the crowd of swordfighters despite never having attended a single swordfighters meeting in my life (i intend to change that next, or rather this sem though, if my timetable allows for it... No more annoyingly-timed mon 6-8pm science of music lectures to go for). And dunno who's (either Meisi's or Ade Wan's) idea of letting the alarm clock that we were giving her ring and vibrate at exactly 830pm to reveal the surprise to Mel was pure genius... The look on Mel's face was priceless haha... Was really funny the way Debz, Meisi and myself were anxiously awaiting the going off of the alarm in the clock, strategically hidden from Mel's view behind some pizza hut menus, and how Debz pounced upon it once it finally started to buzz...

Well, anyway, Mel, if you are reading this, thanks for being a really supportive and encouraging senior, you are very much appreciated. (Wanted to say this to you, but the exact words en Francais evaded me just now) Vous amusez-vous bien a Cazaux, et en France! (if this is wrong, well, to any francophones reading this - alors, pardonnez-moi s'il vous plait, malheureusement, je parle seulement un tres petit peu le Francais. Merci.)

Yay to my dear allo buddy Kevin for getting a job!

One question remains though, how are we going to keep on coming up with new and inventive ways to spring surprises on people's birthdays, judging from the variety of ways that we've managed to do so up till now?

A cors sidenote: it looks like my intro to computing is pretty much sealed up, of course this is only the first day of the current round, but i think getting it shouldn't be a problem... Here's to having an exam on my birthday, yet again =(