I wanna go…



Santorini | Valletta | Giza | Istanbul



Cesky Krumlov | Seville | Sofia | Mostar



Bilbao | Petra | Moscow | Pula
I wanna watch…

I'm listening to...

Visiting Relatives

>> Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Went to my relative houses today to "bai nian" and my family ate a lot of new year goodies in each house. We cleared almost 1 container of shrimp rolls at my grandmother's house and ate a lot of bak kua as well. Since i don't have much to talk to with my aunties and uncles, my sister and i just sat down and ate.

We had dinner at my aunty's place and i played blackjack with some of my relatives. My parents were busy with their mahjong as usual. My luck was really bad in the beginning but it gradually got better and i gained back half the money that i lost.

After playing for about an hour, i went to watch my mum play mahjong as i had nothing better to do, besides watching tv. Most of my cousins were either married or still in primary school. There was a "lao jiao" (experienced) ah ma playing as well and it was quite interesting to see her complain in cantonese.

I waited for hours for them to complete their round of mahjong and they finally left at 3 am. I was tired but i'm quite accustomed to sleeping very late these few days.

My total haul of angbao is now 40. Ha...

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CNY Day 1 (Chu Yi)

>> Monday, January 30, 2006

Quite a lot of people came my house today and my total haul is currently 32 angbaos. Since 2 pm, people have been coming in and out of my house until about 2.15 am when everyone left.

Most of the adults downstairs were gambling blackjack or playing mahjong. I was interacting with my young cousins as usual in my room and they took turns playing maple story. One exceptionally naughty cousin started bouncing on my bed and throwing pillows, which started a harmless fight between me and the 3 young ones. The 3 of them tried to overpower me with no avail and they got thrown onto my bed one by one. They wouldn't stop and we were on top of my bed, trying to press each other down. So naughty right? I admit that i'm quite childish sometimes and i do like to play with children. (Please don't mistake me like Michael Jackson)

Anyway, after our ruckus and mischief, we were sweaty all over and my spectacles unknowingly slipped out from my face landing on the floor breaking into 2 pieces. It was the fourth time i broke my own spectacles! Arggg..... The first time was doing standing broad jump in 3 Guards when my knees bent my glasses out of shape as it fell out immediately after the jump. The second time was in Pulau Tekong acting as enemies for the guards officer conversion course when i placed my glasses on the ground beside my field pack, went to the toilet, came back, and split my glasses using my knees again while putting back my stuff into my field pack. The 3rd time was in Pulau Ubin with my fellow scouties when Jiekai accidentally swiped my glasses from my face and my frameless glasses had a rather visible crack after landing on the ground. Should i do away with fragile frameless glasses? Perhaps i should get a pair of specs which can hold more firmly instead.

Anyway, we all had quite a lot of food for dinner as my mum had food catered for 50 people. It was very "re nau" as there were many people. These are a few random pictures i took.

Adults gambling

Kids playing

After everyone left, i helped my mother to tidy up the house. Luckily my mother is not too superstitious as she swept and vacuumed the floor which has bits of litter and food lying around. Coz some people believe that sweeping the floor during Chinese New Year means sweeping away good luck.

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Reunion Dinner

>> Sunday, January 29, 2006

My relatives arrived at around 7 pm and we had our buffet dinner together. After 2 servings of food and dessert, i was very full. One of my uncles was quite well-versed in palmistry (just found out), and my sister and i took the chance to let him examine our palms. One of the things my uncle told me is that my heart is not very strong and asked me whether "Wo hui bu hui rong yi qi chuan?" Yes, i'm rather prone to panting when doing strenuous exercises. Those people who have been with me in Brunei during my army days will surely remember my extremely loud breathing when we were pushed to the limits by walking up and down numerous hills to find checkpoints from dawn til dusk.

It's quite an accurate analysis and he briefly taught us which part of the palm refers to which organ or which aspect of life.

We then gathered to "lao yu sheng" and i took several photos.


After eating a small amount of yu sheng, i had to entertain my younger cousins by letting them use my laptop to play online games like neopets and battleon. Watched tv and played with some of my young cousins. I ate quite a lot of new year goodies also. We watched Channel 8's countdown programme together.

Happy Chinese New Year people!

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Pre-CNY

>> Saturday, January 28, 2006

Helped my parents to decorate the house today by stapling angbaos and rubber bands together and putting them on the plants outside.





My dog is cute right? It learnt to sit upright after training from my dad.

I'm now waiting for my relatives and grandmother to come over to my house for the reunion dinner.

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Last Min Shopping

After my lessons ended at 4.30 pm today, i went Queensway shopping centre with Derrick and Clarence for some last minute shopping. Derrick wanted to buy a pair of shoes while i might need some new shirts for Chinese New Year. There were lots of people shopping there as well.

Derrick bought a pair of retro-looking Nike shoes and 2 tees while Clarence and i each got a shirt and i bought one more tee. Spent a total of $38 after walking around in the shopping centre for 2.5 hours. We then met up with Gs, Jimmy and Terence at Bukit Timah for our supper. Jim had brought his laptop along as he wanted to ask us for some suggestions to improve on his project regarding relationships. The project is to come up with a business plan to woo a girl the student fancies.

We discussed his project at KAP while having more food there as well. All of us came up with quite a number of useful tips to complete the project. I drove Jim's car back home from KAP after that. It has been almost half a year since i last drove a car and i was naturally nervous that i might have forgotten how to drive properly on public roads. The driving techniques i learnt since 2003 instinctively came back into my mind and the journey was rather smooth. Actually, there were very few cars on the road at that time so the driving wasn't much of a challenge also.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

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Tired

>> Friday, January 27, 2006

Had lessons from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm today with 3 hours of break in between. Went for a run with Clarence around the campus and my stamina improved drastically since last week's feeble attempt. Ran without stopping throughout the 5.6 km running route and i was extremely exhausted immediately after the run. Have to maintain my fitness before i take IPPT in the june holidays.

Watched Kill Bill Vol 2 DVD after having our supper at Hall 2. I need some sleep! Gotta wake up at 7.45 am later.

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Movies.........and movies

>> Thursday, January 26, 2006

Went for my elective today and watched Formula 17. It is a gay romantic comedy made in Taiwan and was released in 2004. Singapore had banned this movie as it "promotes alternative sexual lifestyle". In recent years, there have been quite some movies which revolves around homosexuality. Most notably is the Golden Globe award winner Brokeback Mountain which garnered Best Picture and Best Director this year.

This relates to what the lecturer had been teaching last week which includes materialistic feminism, the most recent development of feminism that disregard all notions of gender (stereotypes of gender). For example, a woman can be the breadwinner of her family while the husband can take care of the children in present day and not be insulted unless this were to happen in the past. Metrosexuality is popular and it is now not considered queer if guys go for facials and slimming centres, etc. The development of this form of feminism and the demolishing of the ancient binary system has empowered the gay, lesbian, transexuals, etc community. This is one of the reasons why Formula 17 was chosen to be one of the movies to be screened as we had to examine the "Queer Theory".

Back to the movie, some guys in the lecture theatre cringed at the sight of two guys kissing, but the movie's numerous jokes eventually won them over. Personally, i do not like the movie a lot as the storyline is too simple and idealistic. Lan Yu was a much more resonant movie that is more in touch with the pragmatic present-day society. Stereotypical gays who wear tight-fitting, bright tops and speak in effeminate voices are added into Formula 17 for comedic effect. If this movie was rewritten for a straight romance, i'm sure it will be a romantic disaster as we would have seen this type of movies a trillion times before.

Went out with Clarence and Derrick to watch Le Grand Voyage in the evening at Orchard. It is a father & son road trip all the way from France to Mecca for pilgrimage. They disagree over small matters along the way and have different sets of thinking. The impetuous son gradually come to terms with his headstrong but wise father after crossing national borders, and overcoming the numerous difficulties that they encounter. The two leads are superb in their protrayal of each character, and the story is moving and thoughtful. We get to experience the pilgrimage along with them and have a panoramic view as well. We also get to see Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, Mecca and the Saudi Arabian desert. Intriguing, entertaining and affecting, this film is indeed a rare movie-going experience. Highly recommended.

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Vote (Black or Silver)

>> Wednesday, January 25, 2006

After reading the good reviews Sony T9 got from Cnet Asia and Cnet Global, i have seriously considered purchasing it. Most probably not so soon though, ha... Unless i get lots and lots of angbaos this year.

Anyway, which colour is nicer?




Black or silver? Any comments?

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Exercise, Study, Play Combination

>> Sunday, January 22, 2006

Went swimming with Ks at Jalan Besar Swimming Complex in the morning and the weather was quite sunny. I was feeling rather energetic today and swam a total of 22.5 laps.

Met up with Gs in the afternoon to do our tutorials at National Library. I completed almost 2 tutorials in 4 hours. That's what happens when i don't listen to lectures and have to refer to the lecture notes to do every question.

We then met up with Derrick, Edwin, Clarence, Terence and Jimmy for dinner at bugis. We had our dinner at an eatery along Liang Seah Street and walked around in Bugis Junction as we couldn't decide what to do next.

After contemplating for some time, we decided to go Mustafa Shopping Centre. I was quite interested to go there as i had never been there before.

There are a lot of watches, electronics, toiletries, clothes and groceries sold there. When we passed by chocolate section, i noticed the amount of chocolates that they had stocked up.

Tons of Toblerone


Tons of Ferrero Rocher

It is surely the first time i ever see entire shelves filled with the same items.

We were cracking lots of jokes about air fresheners, perfumes, chocolates, etc as we were in little india.

Next up was supper at Newton Circus and we headed back home after that. A day of exercising, studying and chatting. An ideal day indeed.

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Weekend! Yeah!

>> Saturday, January 21, 2006

Went for my weekly geyong activity today and we were supposed to present a song with edited lyrics. The people who attended this week's activity were only slightly more an half our current strength.

Fuli had rewritten Shen Bian by Wu Ying Liang Pin and changed it to a song about friendship. I was given the part sung by Ping Guan while Fuli was to sing the parts sung by Guang Liang. Due to my make-up lecture in the early evening, we were unable to rehearse for the song and went to Students Activities Centre quite unprepared.

One of our seniors conducted a lesson on how to pick correct songs for a performance and repeated the proper techniques to "open voice". No one else did the homework given to us last week except Fuli and we went to perform Shen Bian after the senior's lesson.

As there was only 1 mic, i had to pass the mic quickly to Fuli after singing my part of the song. I mispronounced a few words and sung using a wrong rhythm at some parts of the song. There were many errors like harmonisation problems and word discrepancies during our presentation as well. I had expected that the song will not turn out good due to no prior practices and i was right. The presentation was more like a rehearsal. Ha...

The activity today concluded rather early at 8.10 pm when we normally will stay til around 9 pm. Went back to hall to pack my stuff and Derrick who saw the lights turned on in my hall came and fetched us back home. I'm lucky and grateful to have helpful friends who own cars. :)

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Body Aches

>> Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Went for a run around NTU with Clarence yesterday and my stamina had decreased drastically. I stopped for many times to take a break along the 5.6 km running route. That's the result of almost 5 months without running. I guess i should run once a week to keep fit.

Went for my elective today and we watched Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. It was made in the 1970s and i didn't know that the Chinese film industry then was already quite liberal. The female villain in the show was a lesbian and there were a number of intimate scenes. The story is about a young girl who was kidnapped into prostitution by a brothel and she seeks revenge after the sufferings that she had gone through. It's refreshing to see all these old movies and we get to know how film had evolved.

The lecturer also discussed feminism prior to the movie and he gave us much insight on movies which is a representation of culture, patriarchal society in the past, liberalisation and many other factors that influences film which in turn influences audiences.

Too bad there isn't film study as a major in Singapore, but there isn't much of a film industry in Singapore anyway.

Wednesday is my favourite day of the week coz it's the shortest and i get to watch a free movie every week. The lecturer is humourous and amicable as well, and his knowledge in film is extensive. The best part is that there are no tutorials for this elective.

Went to watch Blood and Bones with Clarence at cineleisure in the evening. The story is about a violent man who treats his wife like a slave and beats up his children. The sprawling saga centers about the man who oppresses people around him, his torrid affairs and ill-treatment of his workers and his family until his eventual death. The hatred accumulates as the story progresses and it culminates into suicides, fights, rapes, death and separation. Even the most optimistic people who watch this film will be affected by the brute violence and the bleak reality that sustains throughout the entire length of the 2 hr 30 mins movie. An effectively depressing movie which boosts incredibly good acting chops (Beat Takeshi) and great storytelling skills.

By the way, i got aches all over my body from yesterday's run. I definitely should exercise more to maintain my fitness.

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63rd Annual Golden Globes

>> Tuesday, January 17, 2006

63rd Annual Golden Globes Winners List

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

FELICITY HUFFMAN - TRANSAMERICA

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN - CAPOTE

BEST MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

WALK THE LINE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

REESE WITHERSPOON - WALK THE LINE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

JOAQUIN PHOENIX - WALK THE LINE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

PARADISE NOW (PALESTINE)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

RACHEL WEISZ - THE CONSTANT GARDENER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

GEORGE CLOONEY - SYRIANA

BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE

ANG LEE - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE

LARRY McMURTRY & DIANA OSSANA - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MOTION PICTURE

JOHN WILLIAMS - MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MOTION PICTURE

"A LOVE THAT WILL NEVER GROW OLD" - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Music by: Gustavo Santaolalla
Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

LOST (ABC)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)

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Studious Day

Had 2 hours of tutorial, 2 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab today. Spent almost my whole night doing a physics tutorial which some of my friends said it's easy. Either i'm getting stupid or i don't have a physics mind. I prefer to think of the latter.

Brought quite a lot of dvds and vcds to hall to watch.

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Study

>> Monday, January 16, 2006

Went to King Albert Park with Gs this afternoon to do our tutorials and i finished my chemistry and maths tutorials for this week. If i were to stay at home and do, i guess i will watch tv and surf net instead.

We then met up with Clarence, Terence and Derrick for dinner at Holland Village. Went block 46 for the famous XO sliced fish bee hoon and ordered some other dishes. We were ranting on about computing, maths, material science, electives, etc. Gs wanted to improve a program that he created to calculate GPA and i consulted Derrick for a maths question in my tutorial. We chatted til about 11 pm before heading back.

No public holiday this week.... Sian... But at least i completed some tutorials. :)

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Sister's Birthday

>> Saturday, January 14, 2006

Went to Jalan Besar Swimming Complex with Ks today as the weather was quite sunny. After i swam the first 2 laps, i felt really lethargic as i had not exercised for a very long time. The next few laps were slightly better as my body got warmed up.

We had lunch after our suntanning cum swimming session and went Sim Lim Square to see if there is anything we need. Went shopping for a while at Bugis Village before heading back home.

My family then celebrated my sister's 23rd birthday at home with some of her friends. My parents got her a LV handbag which costs around $900. Waste money! I could have got a new computer with $900. Ha....

Me and my family

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No motivation to study

>> Friday, January 13, 2006

Been sleeping during almost all my lectures, doing a bit of my tutorials and slacking most of my time. The drive to work hard which i had last sem is definitely missing. With the aerospace lab project, numerous tutorials and lectures, i feel i can't catch up with the workload. With computing, physics 2, chemistry (i dropped it in jc) and maths 2, i face a challenging semester. :(

Went for my cca today and it was a slightly boring session for me as one of our seniors, Melvin, conducted a long lesson on composing songs and i don't have any interest in composing. They then released the audition results and i was selected among with 9 others to sing during various events and i was to perform during HSS week. It was a pleasant surprise but i was quite nervous as well. Will be performing on 9 Feb during lunchtime. Fuli helped me to narrow down my selection of songs and advised me on which singers i should pick. Thanks a lot Fuli!

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Concert

>> Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Went to school today for my elective which is Understanding Chinese Cinema. The lecturer is quite humourous and we watched a movie called One Armed Swordsman. It is a Shaw Brothers film made in the 1960s. Quite a good swordfighting movie less the spectacular special effects we get to see so often today.

Went for Gong Shi Jia campus concert in the evening with Edwin, Terence and Clarence. The queue was quite long and we waited for around 45 minutes before entering the lecture hall.

A picture of her singing on stage


A picture of her when she is signing autographs

Her voice is not bad although it may not sound as polished as some other professional singers. She sang a total of 3 chinese songs and 3 short english covers.

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Weird Quiz (Tagged by Ks)

Below Are The Rules:
Rule 1: List 5 weird or random things about myself.

1) I can be easily depressed. That happens sometimes when i'm alone at home or in hall especially when i'm very bored. My parents and sister go out quite often and my house is empty half the time. During the 2 years in the army, i would constantly have people to chat with in camp but not necessarily now. I have to go out often or i'll either die of boredom or depression, seriously!

2) I'm drawn towards the supernatural. Having seen "it" before, it doesn't seem to satisfy my curiosity towards them. Of course, i do not want to see it but i do enjoy the adrenalin of visiting haunted or eerie places (definitely not alone though).

3) After a childhood accident trying to climb up a sink, one of my front tooth fell out from the impact and the subsequent tooth that grew out is yellow-tinted. It's permanent and the only way to remove the color is to have an operation where the outer portion of the tooth is shaved away and replaced with a hard white substance.

4) I'm quite "sadistic". Love to scare people especially my mother when she is hanging clothes late in the night. Some of my closer friends have mostly received my msn message before asking them to view a site which turns out to be a scare site with a creepy head popping out without warning with a large screeching sound. I laughed my head off with every successful scare. Used to have poking sessions in the army and i loved to "torture" Jiekai!!!! His reactions are always animated and hilarous.

5) I'm a restless person. Most people would have noticed that i always shake my legs at any time and any place. My mum has tried in vain to stop me from shaking my legs as superstitous people think that people who shake legs will shake money away. When i'm attentive (eg lectures), i will sometimes pluck tiny bits of skin from my fingers. When i'm nervous, i will be pacing around to ease the tension. I guess it must be due to my high metabolism.

Rule 2: 5 people whom I want them to do the quiz.

Anyone who wants to do it lor.

Rule 3: Next, leave a comment "you are tagged" on their blog and ask them to read your blog for rules.

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Rain.......and Rain

>> Tuesday, January 10, 2006

It's been raining like nobody's business these few days. Good for sleeping but definitely not good when going out. Stayed at home during the weekend and watched tv. Wanted to do my tutorials but my laziness was way too overwhelming. Watched the RenCi Charity Show on Sun and Venerable Ming Yi really touched our hearts with his sincerity. The viewers responded with an incredible surge in caller rate. The stunts attempted by him were a great feat as well.

Had lessons today and the aerospace lab was definitely the worst. We had a 3 hour session of lab and we had to listen to the professors' introduction and explanations, finish an experiment, complete an MCQ test and discuss questions for the group report which have to be submitted next week. Some questions require exceptional brains to figure them out and some questions require various textbooks research! It's like doing a project every week on top of doing 4 tutorials. The lab is actually not that important as it is only 1 AU (credit).

Ok enough about studying, i went out with my jc friends to have dinner at orchard today. We went to a food court to have our dinner and chatted for hours until we were chased out by the cleaners. Orchard was strangely deserted at night and i guess many people stayed indoors due to the earlier rain.

We then headed to Chinatown as there are some Chinese New Year festive events there. We spent around 20 mins finding a parking lot as there were quite some people there. Walked around for a short while as we did not have much to buy and settled down on the open-air hawker centre on Smith Street. Went back home at around 2 am.

Tomorrow is another day to relax!

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Audition

>> Saturday, January 07, 2006

Had 2 hours of lecture on Friday and met up with Fuli after that to practise our audition songs in my hall for the lunchtime concert on Valentine's Day. I was going to sing Si Lu by Fish Leong. Some may think that it's a difficult song to sing but for a guy to sing it is quite easy actually. The male singers whose songs that i mainly listen to are quite challenging to sing, eg songs by David Tao, Jay Chou, JJ Lin and Jones Shi. Afraid that i might zou3 jing1 during the audition, i decided to give their songs a miss.

Fuli had not chose a song yet and he decided on David Tao's Jiu Shi Ai Ni. Some parts of the song need transition to falsetto and the last verse of the song is incredibly high pitch as well.

We then met up with Ly for dinner and went for Geyong at Student Activities Centre. As expected, we waited around half an hour for the activity to start. When the seniors were briefing us on the activities later, we realised that the audition was in front of everyone! Naturally, i got nervous as hell as there were around 40 people in the activities room. I was stretching myself when i noticed my fly was open! Oops! I was seated in the front row and i don't wanna pull up my zip and "inform" everyone that my fly was open. I pulled my t-shirt down to cover the appropriate areas and waited for a break to go to toilet and fix it.

I brisked walked to the toilet and found out that my zip was freaking spoilt! I was thinking SHIT! I have to sing to sing a song in front of so many people later and the worst thing happened. Liyuan went to the toilet to take a breather as he was nervous about the audition as well. I told him my embarrassing problem and surprise suprise, he got a safety pin! Liyuan is my life saviour! Haha... Still, I tried to fix my zip but gave up after many attempts. Secured the safety pin and tried to conceal the pin before returning to the activity room.

I was the fifth to perform and i had brought along the ktv disc with the song inside. The music helped to ease my tension a lot as i don't have to care about setting the tempo of the song. The first few lines were not very good in my opinion but it gradually got better and it was the first time i felt so relaxed in front of so many people. The ktv session during the new year party helped a lot as i am more at ease singing with many people around. I was practising what the seniors had preached last semester; making small steps and keeping eye contact with the audience. Another memorable experience and i'm glad i auditioned for it. My voice still needs improvement though, i would consider it quite a worthy effort but definitely not great or impressive.

There were several commendable contestants who nailed the songs they sung. The quality of their voices and their technique was really good. One of our cca members borrowed my ktv disc and browsed through some of the songs inside. He then decided to participate in the audition and sing Si Lu as well! I wasn't really happy that he would be repeating the song but bring on the competition. The first line he uttered stunned everyone as no one expected that he would be singing in the female key! It made many of our goosebumps pop up as he continued singing in purely falsetto. I have to admire his courage though.

Only a few botched their songs and the audience had to vote for 3 of their favourite singers among the 14 people that auditioned. I wasn't one of them as i myself expected. Nevertheless i didn't regret participating in it and one of the seniors commented that i had improved a lot. She also asked me why i keep singing songs by female singers. As Fuli had previously said, the mood of a song sung by females is hard to capture if a guy sings it. I guess i should prepare a song by a male singer next time. ;)

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Army outing

>> Friday, January 06, 2006

Junchen came back from US during his school holidays and organised an outing for our scout platoon. We went Fong Seng near NUS for dinner and there were quite a number of people present. The murtabak i ordered is tiny! Bukit Timah's murtabak is nearly twice its size and they also give more chilli sauce cucumber. The food at Fong Seng is quite expensive also. I ordered bandungcinno (bandung with condensed milk) as well and it is quite good.

After having our dinner, we proceeded to Jianyu's hall in NUS and i coincidentally saw Whelan there. The 12 of us squeezed into the room and we had an hour of chat inside. Good to see some of my platoon mates that i haven't seen in quite a long time. Took a picture together before we left.


Went back NTU hall with Keng Han and JJ while the rest headed back home. I then watched Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo with Clarence as he had bought several DVDs in JB. It's only funny at several parts of the show but we laughed very loudly as there were no other people around.

I'm gonna bring more DVDs to my hall to watch next time. Horror and comedy shows would be best!

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Major Quiz

>> Thursday, January 05, 2006


You scored as Dance. You should be a Dance major! Like a lithe ballerina, you dance because you believe there is beauty in expressing the physical form.

Dance


92%

Mathematics


75%

Journalism


75%

Psychology


75%

Theater


67%

Engineering


67%

Anthropology


67%

English


58%

Philosophy


58%

Art


50%

Linguistics


33%

Chemistry


25%

Biology


25%

Sociology


25%

What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com

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2005 Recap!

>> Wednesday, January 04, 2006

I seriously loved 2005 to bits. Except the school part. Well, i never ever liked studying since i was young anyway.

Jan 2005: Was posted to Mindef in Dec 2004 and did admin job there. It was a much different experience compared to when i was in 3 Guards. We were in an office environment, typing stuff, photostating stuff, faxing stuff, despatching stuff, etc. Had more interactions with people of different ranks, from privates to majors. It was more like a working environment than an army experience. Also, we had to pay for our own food when we were in Mindef.

Feb & Mar 2005: We were clearing leave and i was busy learning driving to get a civilian license. Spent around $1000 and got my driving license on 4th March. Was really darn glad that i passed and got 6 points only! Haha.... The rest of March was spent going back camp a few days to help out in the new batch of BMT recruits passing out parade, and going out for outings and stuff like that. ORDed on 21st March! Officially stepped into the civilian world after 2 years and 2 months in the army.

Apr 2005: We were mostly looking for jobs and i clinched a job at InCall System. Data entry was super boring! The pay was not bad at $7 per hour. Worked for only 2 weeks though, as there was excess of manpower. Tried another job which is distributing leaflets from door to door and quit after 1 day. It was very tiring and the pay is not very good. Desperate for another job, i took on a street survey job and it was not only demoralising but tiring as well. Quit after 1 day as well.

May 2005: Department of Statistics accepted Clarence and i to be their survey officers and we were the backbone of General Household Survey 2005 (once every 10 years). The pay is good and the working hours are flexible. The best part is that the survey is compulsory under the Statistics Act and we just have to travel to different people's houses and ask them some questions. (Although many were not at home and some insisted not to do the survey) This job not only improved my navigation skills, it also improved my confidence when talking to strangers, my persuasive skills and it increased my tolerance for impatient people. Was extremely pleased with my first month paycheck of $1860.

Jun 2005: I was still doing the same job and my supervisor decided to assign me with more challenging households. I had to walk long distances to visit the specified private estates and there was once when i walked from Bukit Timah, Newton, Novena, Balestier to Whompoa (a total of 11 km). The money was worth it though. I would normally wake up at 12-1 pm and work from 4-10 pm. Went to KL in late June with my JC classmates and it was great fun. Earned around $1500 as a result of 5 days without work.

Jul 2005: The workload was lesser as GHS 2005 is coming to an end in late Jul and we had completed many of the household cases. Itchy for another overseas trip, my JC classmates organised a trip to Bangkok. It was good fun as well although we got sick of shopping in the 3rd day. Got a paycheck of $1000 for the last month of work. Entered NTU in the last week of July. Started hostel life in hall 1 with Clarence but we did not participate in any of the hall activities.

Aug 2005: We were all jittery about our brains and whether we can absorb so much of the stuff thrown at us during uni. I started to become a mugger with some peer pressure and fear of doing badly. From Mr Slacker and Mr Sleeping Beauty, i changed to Mr Mugger. (Actually many people are more hardworking than me also) Uni life is all about studying and i got so sick of it i decided to join a cca with Fuli. It is Geyong (chinese pop song singing) under Chinese Society. Celebrated my 21st birthday with many of my friends and relatives!

Sep 2005: Studying...........Studying..........and Studying!

Oct 2005: Exams are nearer and nearer. Studying.....Studying.......and More Studying!

Nov 2005: Exams have arrived. I was 85% prepared for the exams and had spent an average of 4 days studying for each exam. First exams after 3 years. Exams ended on 25th Nov and everyone was really glad it was over.

Dec 2005: Finally, an entire month to relax! Spend money was all i did and i went to Langkawi with my course people. Watching movies, shopping and eating was my main activies during the Dec holidays. How i wish everyday could be so carefree. The examination results were also released and my results were within expectations.

2005 is indeed an eventful year for me. Sadly, 2006, 2007, 2008, and half of 2009 will not be as eventful coz i'll still be stuck in university. I'll be old when i get out of uni. Argggg....... Haha....

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New Year Resolutions

1) Get a Sony T9.

2) Get a new computer.

3) Increase my GPA to above 4.5 this semester.

4) Stop complaining so much about studies.

5) Stop feeling so sick about studying.

6) Make my course people more stupid so that they won't have to compete with me. Haha

7) Exercise my lazy muscles more (although i'm still slim and trim after eating so much, hehe)

8) Get gold for ippt (yeah right, ha...)

9) Spend less money and earn lotsa money during holidays

10) Learn how to slack in uni! And get good results! That would be the best thing ever!

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JB (Last Outing before school re-opens)

>> Monday, January 02, 2006

It is public holiday today and i went JB with some of my jc mates. As tomorrow is a working day, there were not a lot of people going over and we did not wait too long except at the Malaysian customs. We went shopping at City Square and we had lunch at Secret Recipe shortly. The grilled chicken i ordered is enormous (RM 11 only) and we had a rather full meal. Shopping was next and only Derrick bought a pair of berms. The rest of us did not buy anything else except food. We then bought cheap ice cream from a supermarket and ate at a nearby cafe.

We took cabs to Taman Sri Tebrau (aka Da Ma Hua Yuan) again for our dinner. We ordered cray fish, stingray, beggar chicken and some other dishes. The gigantic drinks made me turn from full to bloated. Coincidentally, i saw Jing Ru at the hawker centre and we helped each of our group take photos.


After having our dinner, we took cabs back to the checkpoint and there was a huge jam on the road towards the Causeway. The taxi drivers were smart by taking detours and we got off along the small roads in front of City Square.

Left Malaysia at around 8 pm and we walked across the Causeway due to the traffic jam. We then had dessert at a woodlands hawker centre. We are gluttons right? Haha..... We played some lame games and had a blast while testing Derrick on some lame questions. We were totally animated while getting him to guess the "qian bian wen da ti". After many demonstrations, he finally figured out the answer and we left for home.

Sianz...... I'm going back to school tomorrow!!!!!!!!! So sad.....

I hate studying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bye people, i'm signing off this blog to suffer again.

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New Year Eve Celebration!

>> Sunday, January 01, 2006

Went for K-Lunch with Ks on New Year Eve morning and found that the price has increased from $5+++ to $9+++. There were lots of people there and we were "chased out" promptly when our time was up.

Met up with my jc mates after that and we headed to the supermarket at Bishan to buy some disposable plates, spoons and forks. Most people were late as usual and we headed to Zewen's house in Terence's truck. We were like illegal immigrants inside the enclosed truck container, swinging from left to right with every turn of the vehicle. When we reached his house, we settled ourselves in the living room watching some taiwan variety programmes.

We didn't have much to do as Derrick had not arrived with his stash of bbq food, charcoal and his portable bbq pit. After he arrived half an hour later, we started building the fire and preparing the food.

We set up the fire successfully and it was extremely hot. The sausages that we cooked first become charred within a short time.

There were enough manpower to continue bbqing the food and i set up the karaoke system with the microphones i brought and the ktv cds that were given to me by Ks. We then sang the songs while eating some barbequed food.

Derrick ordered some crabs from a nearby hawker centre and we had a very full dinner. The crab bee hoon soup is very delicious and we ate a lot.

Thanks to Derrick for treating us to the sumptuous dinner!

A group photo before Weilin had to leave to meet her boyfriend.

Another group photo on the staircase.

We then watched the tv countdown programme for Taiwan and Singapore. There were hundreds of thousands of people attending the countdown party in Taiwan and the fireworks was incredibly spectacular at the current tallest building in the world, Taiwan 101. The tv screen at one moment went totally white from the intensity and number of fireworks. We then watched several singers like Stefanie Sun, Jolin and FIR perform during the show.

Edwin arrived slightly after midnight to join us after a wedding dinner he attended and we took several group photos as well.


We then got a bit bored of watching tv and we played Indian Poker, taught by Ade. It was a game in which we had to stick a random poker card on our forehead (we dunno our own card but we know other ppl's cards) and the loser would be either the smallest card, or the biggest card, or some other conditions pre-determined by the previous round loser. We then have to persuade people to exchange their card for another either to help them or cause them to lose. The forfeit is to drink a concoction of red wine, yakult, milk and potato chips!!!!

I had the "lucky" chance to taste the concoction and it was incredibly awful! Eating the potato chip soaked in the mixture was super yucky! Almost puked when i swallowed the chip. My retribution for bluffing too many people. Hahaha....


Some suggestions on how to make the mixture worse was suggested by Kp like using a used sock as a filter and draining the mixture, and using water from toilet bowl and adding to the mixture! But of course we didn't do that, ha.... I can't imagine how gross it would be if we did that. We were all complaining about the drink throughout the game. Haha... We played quite a number of rounds and then switched to playing scissors, paper, stone using our feet. Scissors represents the feet diagonally apart, paper represents the feet horizontally apart and stone represents the feet together. Ade is very unlucky! She had to drink 5 portions of the nasty mixture in a row! Hahaha....

We then warmed up the leftover food with the microwave and had our late supper. We then spent some time cleaning up the whole place before we left.

An awesome new year celebration! Got back home at 4.30 am, slept at 6.30 am and woke up the next day at 5.30 pm!

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